No Feedback

I didn't get any feedback as to whether I should be saving or spending, so I'm still in two minds about it.

Cursed Motivation

Well, for some bizarre reason, I woke up this morning feeling all excited and motivated about... you guessed it, SAVING!

I'm actually kind of disappointed. Why can't I just make a decision regarding my money and stick to it! Do I want to have fun? Yes. Do I want to save and set myself up for the future? Yes.

Oh what to do, what to do. Any suggestions out there?

To Spend!

I think I have decided to curtail the saving for the next few months. I'm unhappy at uni, away from family and I want to enjoy the last few months I have with my friends. So that usually means spending money and for now, I'm happy to do this. I have enough saved in case something happens, but for now, I think I'm just going to relax a little.

Thoughts?

Time Flies

On Friday, 25 Sep 09, I flew home to my parent's place. I am on holidays for ten days, my first break since February! I'm so excited!

In order to best prepare for my time off, I spent the week leading up to it trying to get as much of my homework out of the way as I could, so that I wouldn't have to do as much when I got home. I still have to do some, but not as much.

So that is why I haven't posted in a little while and I do apologise. I'll post later today with an update on the money side of things!

Broken $1000!

It is pay day today and I have officially broken the $1000 mark in my home deposit account. It currently sits at $1077. Yay! Still a long way to go I know, but every little bit counts!

I was speaking to my mother the other day and she suggested that I curtail saving for the next couple of months in favour of enjoying my last months at uni. Once I leave uni, I won't see a lot of my friends again for quite some time, so she suggested I splurge a little more on going out and enjoying myself with my friends. Then, next year (pay rise and all), I can get back to strict saving.

What does everyone think? Should I forgo some saving in order to enjoy my last months with little rsponsibility and lots of friends around?

Fitness on a Budget

I am one of those very lucky people that gets a free gym membership with my job. I know how lucky I am too! Despite this, some of my colleagues still choose to join the fancier gyms like Fitness First. This baffles me, what a waste of money! Anyway, I digress.

I don’t actually use the gym that often. I use it more in winter as it’s just too cold to be outside, but when the weather is nice, I utilise the outdoors to get my training done!

I know some people don’t live in safe areas and thus cannot go running after work. I’m lucky that I can and I try to do so, either late in the afternoon or occasionally between classes if I have the time. I don’t think anyone needs a gym membership to keep fit. It’s easy to head outside and go for a run, or even a walk if running isn’t your thing. In the comfort of your own living room, you can do sit ups, push ups, squats and lunges- none of which need expensive equipment.

I know there are certain situations that does not make this possible, but for the most part, I think it can be done without hurting the wallet!

Seven Things That Made Me Happy This Weekend

Though I was devastated by our soccer loss, I'm trying this new thing where I look on the bright side of life. So here are seven things that made me happy on the weekend:

1. A chicken and avocado foccacia toasted to perfection, eaten with one of my closest friends over great conversation.

2. My usually dreary, freezing city (it's the end of winter in Australia) burst with warmth and sun shine.

3. Watching an exciting game of men's soccer surrounded by peers, some who I have never met.

4. Having a BBQ at the lake, warm weather, great friends.

5. Snuggling up with my hot water bottle to watch 'Finding Nemo'

6. Spending four hours chatting to my crush- even if it was via Facebook

7. Being able to wear shorts for the first time in months!

What has made you happy lately?

We Lost

We lost at soccer. Devastated.

Crazy Weekend

This weekend is crazy! All of my uni sport teams were in the finals today which meant a road trip going from sport to sport. We had some wins and some losses... awesome day though!

My soccer team is in the semi tomorrow so here's hoping we dominate!

I did go out to dinner last night and buy lunch today, but apart from that, I shouldn't have to spend anymore money until pay day. Awesome!

A Couple of Things I Do To Save Money

Sometimes it’s downright impossible for me to save money, other times, I manage very well! Here are just a few things I do to same myself a little bit of money.

Buy cheap shampoo and conditioner

I was once told by a hairdresser that it is actually better for your hair to use cheap shampoo and conditioner. Growing up, my mum bought shampoo and conditioner called Natures Organics. It costs $1.98 at the supermarket. I don’t know what prices are like in other countries, but in Australia, even the more ‘cheaper’ brands of shampoo and conditioner start at around $6.00. I have continued buying Natures Organics since moving out and everytime I go to the hairdressers I am complimented on how healthy and soft my hair is!

Buy in bulk

I live in a dorm room so I can’t really buy anything perishable in bulk as I have no idea where to store it. We’re allowed a bar fridge between the four rooms in the corridor, but once four people have put their stuff in there, it doesn’t leave a lot of room to store things. But I do buy some things in bulk when I can, such as sugar, washing powder, cordial and cleaning products. Most of the time it only saves me a couple of dollars, but every little bit counts, right!

Order a main and take half home

I’m 5’2” and quite small, so I don’t eat all that much. Therefore, for about $3 extra, I buy a main at my favourite restaurant (rather than an entree), eat half and then take the other half home for lunch the next day. I get two delicious meals for the price of one!

Living Paycheck to Paycheck

I was reading an article today that said something like 65% of Americans live paycheck to paycheck. I imagine that number would be similar in Australia.

This scared me!

I was once paying for something on a card, but I wasn't actually sure if there was money on the card, I just couldn't remember. That was a horrible feeling. I actually felt sick to my stomach and held my breath as the transaction processed. Luckily, there was money on it and everything was fine.

I could not imagine living this way day in and day out. Do any readers out there live like this? I'd love to hear your story.

It makes me even more determined to ensure my financial future so that, even if I can't enjoy life's luxuries, I can get by without this sinking feeling.

Mystery Solved

I finally discovered where the money came from! It was a travel allowance from my business trip back in July. It often takes a while for those sorts of things to come through to us and, as they're not paid in the regular pay cycle, it can often lead to some initial confusion followed by excitement.

Mine is going straight into savings!

Did you give me money?

On Friday night, I checked my main bank account, something I do at least once every two days. I was suprised to see an extra $240 in there. I had no idea where it had come from.

As it was quite late at night, I wasn't surprised to see that my statement had not updated itself yet and thus, while I could see I had the extra money in there and could access it, I could not see where it had come from.

This was the same all weekend and again, I wasn't surprised because my bank doesn't operate on weekends. Then today, I kept checking it and it still hasn't appeared.

This is driving me crazy as I desperately want to know where the money came from. I have asked all family members if they gave me any money and they all deny doing so.

Hopefully by tomorrow it will have appeared and I'll know if I am in fact a little richer than I thought or if there has been some sort of error.

Oops

Today I had to drive out to an out of the way store to buy my brother's birthday present. I arrived there only to find it closed. I could have returned home until it was time for soccer, but as my game was just down the road from where I was, I didn't see the point.

So I had an hour and a half to kill. What do most twenty one year old girls do to kill time? Shop!

It wasn't too bad. I spent $55 on a bra that I would probably have bought in the next couple of weeks anyway. I bought some socks and a magazine as well, both of which I probably didn't really need.

But this is just a small setback I think. I didn't put any of it on credit, I could afford it all and they were things that I would get a lot of use from.

But back onto the right track, back into saving!

My Share Portfolio

When the global financial crisis hit last year, everyone I knew was complaining about the severe drop in the share markets, worldwide. I got the bright idea that, while the market was low, buying shares would be a fantastic idea.

So, at the beginning of this year, I began to do some research. I learnt enough. By enough, I mean that I didn’t want to become a trader or anything; I just wanted to invest a little bit of money and then forget about it. So I learnt what was needed in order to invest and was done with it.

Then came my next little problem. I had just returned from a three week trip in Europe. While I had paid all cash for my trip, it had depleted my savings quite significantly. My dad suggested that I speak to my older brother. He was apparently interested in share investing as well but as he was on deployment with the Navy in the Gulf, wasn’t able to do too much.

I emailed him, explaining my investment idea. I suggested we each put in $5000 and invest in a few different companies. He liked my idea. I then asked him if I could borrow my share from him as I didn’t have the cash at the moment. He was more than willing.

I invested our money over about a month. We bought into eight different companies, all of which came highly recommended and all of which were companies I knew well. I was seriously planning on never checking on my shares, or at least not too often.

However, I used the online trading account of my regular bank. They recently changed their set up and now, every time I log into my regular bank account, it shows my share holdings and what they’re worth as well. So I see it almost daily.

At the moment, we’re about $1600 up. Doesn’t sound like much, I know. I still think it was a good investment for both of us and we picked the right time to buy. Now it is merely a waiting game.

I have paid my brother back in full, something I’m very pleased about!

Goals Have Changed

I am constantly altering my saving goals. You'll remember, when I first started this blog, I was saving up for a home deposit. Then my circumstances changed so I decided to pay off my car. Well I have one again changed my mind and will be channeling all my money into a home deposit.

Right now, this is $240 a fortnight. I will get a very significant pay rise in either December or January. Except for the first one or two pays, all that extra money will once again be channelled into a home deposit. I don't foresee my living expenses changing too significantly, so I should be able to put all that extra income into my deposit account.

This is both exciting and daunting. I am of the "now" generation. While I don't use credit cards to get everything now, I do get frustrated when my accounts only grow slowly. I wish I could have that deposit NOW, it would just make life so much easier.

But as in every aspect of life, the things you have to work for are the things that end up meaning the most to you!

I'm Back!

I apologise for being gone for the past few weeks. I lost heart unfortunately because no one was reading my blog. However, I discovered in my absence that it's something I really do enjoy, and therefore I'm going to keep doing it whether I have readers or not!