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!

I love it!

I am not usually one to place a great deal of value on material things, unless they are sentimental. I think that is why I am doing so well financially, because I don't really care. Yes, of course I like to have nice clothes, but I don't place a great deal of importance on them so I really only shop a few times a year.

This has just changed.

I picked up my new car yesterday and I LOVE it! It is fabulous!

Best $1200 I ever spent!

I just dished out $1200. And it was so worth it!

The area in which I live is quite extreme. In winter, it is ridiculously cold and in summer, it is absolutely boiling! My house is not insulated. It is only the very beginning of summer and it was already becoming unbearable for me to be upstairs in my house, even with the windows open and the fans going! The height of the Australian summer is still a month away, so I could not even imagine what it would have been like then.

I spoke the the man who used to live here before me and he told me that during the summer, he and his wife would sleep downstairs in the living room, it was that hot upstairs.

So I decided to get insulation. I went with the top of the line, because I wanted it to make a big difference.

The men left around fifteen minutes ago and already, there is a HUGE difference! It is so much nicer upstairs, I can actually be up there and be comfortable.

So yes, best $1200 I ever spent!