I am very excited about this month's blog and results!
Month Savings: $1500.40
Total Savings to date : $12,647.71
So where did the extra $$ come from?
Surprise!
When Jim and I sat down to calculate the results for May something just wasn't adding up with the results and our account balance.
The savings balance in our account was significantly more than I had reported.
Imagine my delight when we realised that we had underrepresented our March results!
Instead of the $1100 I reported we actually saved $2827.53! Brilliant!
This, coupled with the savings of $1500 for May has put us at the current $12,000 plus total. I cannot tell you how thrilled and amazed we are at that result.
So what have we been doing for May?
To be honest, I would not have been surprised if we had not saved a cent this month even with all our money saving measures.
We took a week long family holiday to Bali this month. In our May budget all we had to find was the spending money, arrival and departure taxes and the payment for someone to look after our dogs.
Ordinarily when we go on holidays we basically throw our money away on all sorts of nonsense that we don't even look at once we get home. For this trip we worked hard on the savings before we left.
Oscar and I sold some unwanted items on eBay and managed to put an extra $100 in the bank.
We have two large dogs so the cost of boarding them is always significant. This time we asked a friend if she would mind housesitting and minding the dogs for us. The cost was marginally less than it would have cost to board the dogs and meant that someone was keeping an eye on the place for us as well. Win / Win.
Oscar was provided with $50 AUD ( from his eBay funds ) to purchase items that he wanted. It's amazing how careful kids become with money once they realise the supply is not limitless :)
He bought himself a couple of t-shirts, gifts for his friends at school and a couple of toys including a Balinese kite.
I was actually really proud of how hard he thought about what he wanted to spend that money on and the fact that not once did he ask us for anymore than he had been given.
I did buy one item and yes, it is new. I purchased a pair of Balinese puppets on our last day to a grand total of $48 AUD.
I had been admiring them all week and kept walking away. On our last day with the remaining Rupiah in our pockets I relented and I am very glad I did. They are a lovely reminder of a wonderful trip.
Jim purchased nothing and I don't think he has regretted it one bit.
So instead of buying cheap rubbish to bring home we took tours, visited local cultural sites and ate at great local restaurants and took hundreds of photos.
In total, we spent about $1000 for the three of us for one week for our meals, taxes, tours, entry fees and a couple of carefully selected souvenirs.
Anything else?
The sole of Oscar's school shoes started to come away so instead of throwing them out Jim tracked down some strong glue and repaired them.
I had a couple of pairs of socks with holes in the toes so I tracked down my sewing kit and sewed them up. Just like Nan used to do with all my Pop's clothes.
We have been blessed with some fantastic free family entertainment during May. We decided to head out to Clunes for Booktown and had a brilliant time.
We decided not to attend the ticketed events and instead sat in the Main St enjoying a good coffee, watching Punch & Judy shows and Oscar played on the haybale maze. Fantastic!
Plus — if I had have wanted to purchase a book I could have as most of the offerings were second hand.
Takeaway meals continue to take a backseat as we focus on preparing our own meals and planning a weekly menu.
The menu planning has meant that we have been able to keep our grocery budget under control every single week.
Our next project is to set up our own vegetable gardens, but more of that in next month's blog.
Favourite recipe:
It has also occurred to us this month that by accumulating these funds and leaving the balance sitting off our mortgage that our monthly interest repayment is dropping significantly.
We are effectively saving money just by saving money. When we started this project we were paying around $1300 a month for our interest repayment. Now we have decreased that to under $1000 just by having funds in the bank.
It's funny how this resolution has affected all of us.
It occurred to me the other day that when older people talk about 'the good old days' I don't think they are talking about the fact that life was better without modern medicine, flushing toilets, running water or electricity.
Maybe they are just talking about how disposable everything has become. I know that in our house now we certainly give things a second look before they go to landfill.
Our house echoes with the phrase "Can it be fixed?..."
Until next month.
S