A Huge Spend Day

Today (Saturday) was a massive spend day for me, but it was all planned.

Scanpan starter Saucepan Pack - $349.50 (reduced from $699)

3 shirts for my cousin's 6th birthday - $32.98

Card and Gift-wrap - $2.50

Running pants - $13.99

Bed Ensemble - $1130

The track-pants were a necessity so that I continue my exercise routine (6am starts) during these chilly winter months!

The bed ensemble, I am very excited about. I bought a queen bed, queen mattress and two matching bedside tables. I really like it and it was heavily discounted, the mattress alone was reduced by $400! So I think I did very well.

But boy, did the accounts take a hit!

Update

Today (Friday), I spent a total of $1.00 for a can of soft drink at work. I added a bit too much sweet-chilli sauce to my lunch and my mouth was on fire so I splurged. Usually I bring soft drink from home a couple of days a week to negate the cost, so this really was a one off.

We are hopefully exchanging contracts on Monday. I am excited and nervous, hoping everything will pan out. So far, so good. Fingers crossed!

I am starting to have a lot of second thoughts, but I think it's just nerves. I had a good talk to my mum today who told me that people raise families on what I earn (whilst paying a mortgage), so I as a single woman should definitely be able to manage. I have no doubt I'll be able to manage, I just won't have as much as a cushion as I would like. But by doing the hard yards now, I think it will be worth it in the long run.

This weekend I am going to check out a couple of second hand furniture stores as I am looking for a bed. I am also going to buy my saucepans. My grandma gave me an early house warming gift of $200 and said I have to spend it on saucepans! So that's what I'm going to do!

I'm Back!

My meeting with the solicitors went well, as did the building and pest inspection. There is nothing that came up in the report, but as an aside, he suggested I re-grout the main shower. Sounds like a job for my handy grandfather! So that was all very good news.

After coming home and doing some last minute chores, I headed to the airport and flew to Melbourne. I spent the weekend with my friend J, who I went to uni with. She is one of my best friends but, since we graduated, I hadn't seen her. So it was fantastic to catch up! I also caught up with my friend M, my closest friend from high school. I hadn't seen her in almost three years so thoroughly enjoyed that!

I did probably over-do it with the spending, but not by too much. I had budgeted for the hotel and eating out, but I also did a little bit of shopping. No big deal, but it will be the last shopping I do for a while. Definitely need to tighten the belt!

I know I said I'd do a daily spending report on here but didn't really keep track over the weekend so I'll start that again tomorrow.

Does anyone have any advice for tightening the belt? Would love to hear your suggestions!

I'm Sick

I was sent home at nine o'clock this morning because I'm sick with a very bad cold. I came home and went to bed. Four hours later I woke up and felt a lot better. I went to the doctor yesterday so I have a lot of drugs that I've been taking. I'm hoping to beat it by the weekend!

I am going to Melbourne for the weekend. It's a long weekend, so will be there Friday, Saturday, Sunday and Monday. This was all booked and paid for months ago, before the house was on the cards. If I'd already been buying the house, I probably wouldn't have done it but I'm super excited! I am going with one of my best friends from university who I haven't seen for six months as we both work in separate places now. So I can't wait!

Yesterday, Tuesday, was another no spend day! Today though, I spent $5 on pizza. I just did not have the energy to cook, so I ordered a pizza. And it was totally worth it!

Tomorrow I have my first meeting with the solicitors to go over the contract. Then on Friday, is the building and pest inspection, which I'll be present for. Then I'll go straight to the airport and head to Melbourne!

No Spend Day!

Today, Monday, was a no spend day :) And I wasn't even trying!

And some more...

I realised I didn't have anything to make for lunch tomorrow so ducked down to the supermarket. I ended up spending $16.10 which brings my total to $65.30 for the day!

Daily Spending

I have noticed a lot of bloggers provide a daily account of what they've spent. I always enjoy reading them but never really thought to do it myself. However, not that I am going to be tightly controlling my money in the wake of my recent house purchase, I want to get onto that.

I will list the day that I'm reporting on as, due to time differences, I am always writing a day ahead of what the date on my blog says. So here goes:

Sunday 6 June

Petrol - $40.75

Breakfast - $8.45

Total - $49.20

Not bad, considering the petrol will last me at least the week. Any thoughts?

My Shopping Thus Far

As I haven't lived in a house/apartment/unit before, I don't own any furniture. Now that I am about to move into a house, I need to start buying things so that I can actually... live.

Last year, my parent's next door neighbours bought a new dining room suite. They offered me their old one for $50 which I snapped up. It's nothing special but is in good condition and will definitely do the required job. Around the same time, my parents asked me if I wanted the two big bookcases that I'd been using since I was a child for my huge collection of books. I of course said yes.

At the beginning of the year, my mum was on a second-hand shopping spree and bought me two bedside tables and a small coffee table. I also have two bar fridges and a microwave. But that is pretty much it.

Last weekend, I went shopping to get some prices. I walked into Harvey Norman which is a big furniture and electrical store here in Australia. They were having a big sale, so I bought a fridge and a washing machine, costing me around $1500. These are two things I think are important to buy new, as I will be using them so often and obviously want them to last. Though I know most people think they're a waste, I also got the extended warranty on both, just to be on the safe side. It just gives me peace of mind.

My parents are giving me one of their leather couches as they were planning to get rid of it anyway. It's a good quality couch and is beige, so will work with whatever colour scheme I decide on.

I have been buying and putting on lay-by towels, sheets and doonas as well. All on sale, so I'm getting a good deal.

Yesterday, I went to visit a friend and she gave me a big TV (mine is quite small), a DVD player, a set top box, a small heater and a TV cabinet. All for free because she was just going to throw them out anyway.

So as you can see, I am getting a lot of help but at the same time having to spend a fair bit of money! I need a bed next. This is another thing I don't want to scrimp on, as I obviously will spend a great deal of time in it. People keep telling me to buy cheap crap now and replace it later, but I don't see the point, why not buy the good quality now? That will save me money in the long run.

So there we have it. Can anyone offer any suggestions on what else I will need to buy? I don't feel like I have thought of everything!

What A Week!

This has been a very, very busy week at work, so I have been unable to blog. Trying to work full time and buy a house doesn't always work smoothly!

So, things are still going ahead with the house. We have renegotiated (my parents and I) and they will have a 1/3 stake in the house and I will have a 2/3 stake. So that slightly increases my repayments but it also increases what I will make when we decided to sell it.

I have also negotiated with the bank to have my car included into the cost of the mortgage. That way my car is paid off and as the bank won't take it as security, it will be mine clear and free. In the grand scheme of things, adding the remainder of my car loan onto my mortgage does not increase my repayments very much, as it's over thirty years.

So it's all happening. I have also been doing some shopping, which I will post about lately.

Excitement!