It Seems to Work

Usually when I get up in the morning, I come downstairs and open all of the doors and windows to let some air in. Pretty soon, it is boiling hot and I often have to put the air con on.

Today though, I came down and noticed the place was actually quite cool, despite being very warm outside with the sun shining. I kept everything closed up and two hours later, it is still quite cool.

This seems very strange to me but could it be the answer to staying cool in the summer? Don't let the sun penetrate into the house?

Thoughts would be appreciated :)

Groceries and Toiletries

Except for one or two specialised skin care products, I buy most of my toiletries from the supermarket. As such, my grocery budget has always been designed to include those.

However, I am finding that I am either going well under my grocery budget or well over when I have to buy certain toiletry products.

For example, today I bought my groceries. I usually have a $65 budget for groceries. So I bought the food I needed. Fortunately I didn't have to buy any meat this week as I have plenty in the freezer. I also bought some deodorant, toilet cleaner, starch and batteries. This bought me in just under $65.

However, this week I had to buy new heads for my electric toothbrush which costs $14 for a pack of two. Now these heads last a while, so I only need to repurchase two or maybe three times a year, so they are not a regular purchase. However, when I do buy them, they tip my budget over. Admittedly it's not a huge problem because I always have spare money in my account to cushion it, but what if I didn't.

I'm clearly not very good at purchasing these one off or once every so often more expensive purchases. I was thinking I could make my grocery budget and toiletry budget separate but that still wouldn't help with the more expensive purchases.

Does anyone have this problem? Can anyone offer any advice to get it more under control?

How Much is Enough?

I have recently started reading Corporette, a fashion and lifestyle blog for professional women. I really enjoy it and as a bonus, every so often there are money related posts on there.

This post was one of them. Here, Kat delves into the idea of what does it mean to be rich, or as I like to phrase it, how much is enough?

I would love to be able to buy whatever clothes I wanted and go out to dinner as much as I wanted. However, to me, that is not what being rich is about. Rich isn't even the right word. For me, enough is when I don't have to worry about money and when my money is working for me.

I am only 23 (birthday last week), so obviously it is going to be a long time before I don't have to worry about money. However, the sacrifices I am making now and the hard work I'm putting in is ultimately not because I want to go shopping, but because I want to be worry free, allowing me to enjoy life even more.

How much is enough for you?

Please. Give What You Can

As I'm sure everyone has probably heard, Queensland, an Australian state, is currently being absolutely devastated by floods. The death toll is rising, as is the truly destructive nature of the water. I have been brought to tears from the TV footage. I have seen many tragedies on the news in my life, but none has moved me as much as this.

If you can, please dig deep and make a donation. So far, $32 million has been raised but so much more is needed. Queensland is a huge state and the majority of it has been devastated.

You can make a tax deductible donation at http://telethon.smartservice.qld.gov.au/.

Your thoughts and prayers would also be appreciated!

Unplanned Splurge

I know I said I was done with the spending, but I bought one more thing this morning. Now I'm done.

As I mentioned in a previous post, my New Years resolution is about getting fit and healthy. I am actually required to pass a fitness test as part of my job, so this resolution is actually also an investment in my career. However, over the last six months I have really let my exercise and diet slide, so much so that in December, I failed my fitness test. Not a good thing!

A few days ago my mum called me to tell me that she had bought an exercise bike for $149 at Aldi for her and my dad to use. I did a bit of research and this is a great price. My brother is qualified in fitness training so I spoke to him and he said it's definitely a decent bike, especially for that price.

So this morning I got up early and went to Aldi to buy one. Though it is mainly running that I do to keep fit, in bad weather that's not possible. Also, in the winter months when it is dark, I don't like running around my neighbourhood on my own. As I live alone, it would take a while for someone to notice that I was missing, so it's not something I like to do. The exercise bike will solve that problem as I can use it no matter what time it is and no matter what the weather is like.

Now I'm done spending, I swear!

Doesn't Seem Like Much

I have just done an absolute bare bones budget. I cab only afford to save $150 per fortnight. To me, this doesn't seem like very much at all.

Thoughts?

Feeling Better

Thanks to Maureen and Chris for their words of encouragement after my last post. I'm definitely feeling better about it. It was just a small stumble and now I'm right back into saving.

I am hoping that by around October of this year, I will be ready to purchase an investment property. This is my main financial goal for 2011. I will be using the equity I already have in my house to purchase it and then have renters in it. I am planning to buy in a rather expensive area but also one that has high rent returns. I think this is a good financial decision for me as I am buying where I want to live in 5-8 years, giving me the added bonus of having a place to live when I do eventually move.

So why am I waiting until October? Well, I would like to build my emergency fund up to around $20 000 to cover any expenses I will have as a landlord and to cover mortgage payments if I am unable to rent it (highly unlikely in that area but something I want to be prepared for just in case).

As such, I will have to live extremely frugally this year. Every spare penny will be going into my emergency fund. I'm excited about finding new ways to save while still living a good life (I'm of the belief it can be done!).

So if anyone has any tips, articles or blogs, please send them through!

Bad Juju

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to everyone.

And that is where my good cheer ends.

Lately, as in the past two weeks, I have been hemorrhaging money. It wasn't intentional, it just sort of happened. I ready a lot of personal finance blogs, and so I know most people have gone through something like this. For some, it goes on for years.

However, it has never happened to me so I am feeling very guilty about it.

But, it is a new year. My resolution has to do with health and fitness, which I doubt anyone wants to read about. However, I have also made a decision (not a resolution, a decision) that 2011 will be an extremely frugal year for me. I will explain the reason for this in a post to come but wanted to come clean about my crazy spending. I have had to dip into my emergency fund to pay off my credit card, something I never thought I would have to do.

Needless to say, I'm very disappointed in myself.

This year can only get better... right?