Worth It but Just This Once

Yesterday, I took my sister to a day spa for her 21st birthday. Total cost, $456. This was for both of us, as it's not something she would have wanted to do by herself. A 21st here in Australia is a big deal, so it was a big birthday. However, it was still very expensive.

I did budget for it, but it still hurt handing over the money. We both really enjoyed it, but it's certainly not going to be a very common occurrence. Every so often we need to treat ourselves and our loved ones, we just have to make sure we don't go overboard.

I'm now trawling the Internet for new blogs to read. Any suggestions?

It Was a Hit!

Tonight I had my Christmas dinner and it was a hit. Everything ran smoothly. Everyone loved the table decorations, they all said the food was great (and plenty of it) and everyone got along well and had a good time.

Entertaining is fun!

Bring on Summer!

It is summer over here in the Southern Hemisphere. Today in my city, it was 32 degrees (that's Celsius folks). So, so warm. I am going home to my parents house for Christmas but will be back at work on the 4th of January. This means I will be spending a large chunk of the summer at my own house.

I have a small yard. I suppose you would call it a courtyard because apart from a garden all the way along the back fence, it is all concrete. One half is covered in by a patio. Now that it is warming up, I would like to be able to sit out there enjoying a cold beverage and possibly do some entertaining out there as well.

So I have been on the lookout for an outdoor setting that is reasonably priced. This is a little harder than it sounds, most are ridiculously expensive. Now that I am holding a Christmas dinner next weekend, I was looking for one even more earnestly so that I can utilise the outdoor table to make my indoor table a bit longer for the dinner.

Today I found on. It is a lovely slatted wood and cost $160. The chairs are each $49, however I didn't buy them today. I have enough chairs for my dinner so will purchase one outdoor chair at a time after Christmas. There is no rush on this as I live alone and if I do want to entertain out there, I can move my inside chairs out for the day.

I am very happy with my purchase. It was hard to get it from my car into my house (my brother helped me get it into the car but then we went out separate ways). It only took me about five minutes to build and it's now sitting at the end of my dining table ready for my dinner this weekend!

Truly Important

My younger brother was in a car accident this morning. He is fine but the car is written off.

It has really made me think, some things definitely are more important than money.

The Ball Drops

As previously mentioned, I read a lot of personal finance blogs. I am an addict. However, one thing that always stumped is how and why people would spend so much money on Christmas! I just couldn't figure it out. Admittedly I do not have children, but even for the single people out there, it just seemed like they spent a lot.

That was until today.

Next Saturday I am holding a Christmas dinner at my house. So today I started planning for it and had to do some non-food shopping for it. Wow, it's quite pricey. And I haven't even bought the food yet!

Any suggestions on how to keep the costs down?

Great News

The townhouse next door to mine (so we share a wall) has just been put on the market. It is exactly the same size as mine except its ensuite is a little bigger than mine and my kitchen is a little bigger than its. It is on the market for $395 000.

Now five months ago, I paid $380 000 for my place. So given that our homes are almost identical, this leads me to believe that my house has increased in value by $15 000 in five months.

Awesome!