Laceshawl's Personal Finance Blog

In: found .10 cents

Out: fruit $4.80

I ran out of tea today and didn't feel like going to the shop just to get teabags. Besides, I didn't want to spend the money, so I'm giving up tea. Should save me some money and lead to whiter teeth.

Years ago when i was a struggling single parent I used to get paid on a Wed and would immediately make a cash withdrawal for groceries, gas etc. One day there was a bank glitch and my pay didn't go thru for 24 hours. We made it on baked beans and potatoes, but i decided thereafter I would always wait a while before pulling my money out. I started making a withdrawal every 8 days instead of weekly, so consecutive weeks were Thurs, Fri and so on back round to Wed with a week's cash in reserve. After a few months I got ahead of myself, with a buffer in the checking account that I kept in case i overspent in one budget category, I wouldn't have to borrow from another. It also came in handy at Christmas.

I think I will start doing this again.

I am resurrecting this because I have been eating too much, I need to get down to 150 lb. Currently i am 179. I am giving up lollies, cake and cookies, all forms of dessert except fruit, snacks between meals, cheese (pizza!!), fried chicken, peanut butter and juice. I should save some money by not buying these things.

1. save $5000 in my EF. (already have 2,449)
2. increase savings into Kiwisaver by $10 a week.

modest I know but my income is only $210 per week atm. Hoping my health will improve so i can take on pt work.

I am dealing with the insurance company abou the new place. House - no problem, but when it came to contents I realized I have got rid of so much stuff I am now overinsured. Most of my clothes and furniture is second hand, so the company would not give me much for it, and there is quite a bit I would not bother to replace anyway. Not yet a minimalist with only 100 things, but definitely simplifying my life by reducing my possessions.

So I'm working out a list of things I would replace in the event of a disaster and the cost of doing so, buying quite a bit at thrift stores and will insure for that. My plan is to eventually save up that amount in a special fund and self insure.

I think insurance companies play on the fear factor a lot of the time to get us to take out big policies. Yes catatrophes happen, but not that often, or they wouldn't be making a profit. I want to insure myself against reasonable risk, but not get paranoid about losing my possessions.

The only money that went out today was my church offering. I am adopting the Dave Ramsey mantra "Live like no one else, so later you can live like no one else"

I went to the library in town today, leaving my cash and debit card at home. I expected to be regretting it when the impulse to spend struck, but i just breezed past all the shops without a thought of buying. I think because i had made a determination I wasn't going to spend.

The sales start today, so I avoided going into town as I knew I would be tempted to buy some bargains I don't need. Instead I went for a walk in the park. Unfortunately I came home by the supermarket and wound up buying 2 of my favorite Turkish bread rolls, even tho i have a fridge full of food at home. This makes me realise how much i have got into the habit of spending small amounts on impulse. I need to get back to budgeting and tracking expenses - and leaving my cash and debit card behind when I don't intend to spend.

whatever you celebrate. I found 20 cents on my way back from church this morning. Wishing you all lots of pennies in your stockings.

I'd heard about this but hadn't gotten to doing it. Today I got given some Christmas money so I'm doing it in reverse. Just made my first $52 payment into my EF, which got sadly depleted this year, but still had some money in it, so now I have $2,449. I also have almost $5,000 in my Travel account which will pay for India, and I'm putting some aside for renovations at the new house eventually, only $10 a week at the moment, so will add the loose change to that account, which is also just over $2,000.

plus I found .20 cents to go into my change jar. I was at the yarn store where I used to work today and the manager showed me what's going to be in the January sales. Possum/merino/silk laceweight for only $4 a skein. Me want. But I have over 40,000 yards of wool that I wanted at sometime, and i'm going to knit it all up before I buy any more. So I made a $10 deposit into my travel account instead and made a mental note not to go to the yarn store next month.

I have this big jar, the kind bodybuilder protein supplements come in, and my intention is to fill it with all my change from today till next Christmas. This will not be easy, since i'm planning on cutting out all non-essential spending I won't be going shopping very often, so I shall beef it up by adding my $1 coins. I put $4.20 in it today, but as the house is now full of all sorts of goodies, I shouldn't need to buy anything until the end of the year. Wow, a whole week without spending anything, wonder if I can do it.

One loaf of bread ($1), one avocado (.90), one apple (.60), one tomato (.50) and cheese ($3) = one full tummy

I didn't go out today, so a no spend day - just as well, I have only $7.40 in my wallet. I listened to Indian music and sorted out cupboards. I found my old recorder and some music, so spent a while tootling. Next year I am going to be making my own music instead of buying CDs. I also found a textbook on New Testament Greek which i started to study years ago. I'll spend time with that as well and read the Bible in the original.

Wow, it's been over 2 years since i last posted. I've been pottering along, not getting any poorer, not getting any richer. Health a bit worse and i had to quit my job. I did get to make another trip to Britain this year, paying cash. Since then I've been saving for legal expenses and moving costs, since I planned to move.

Well, now the house is sold, unfortunately for less than i hoped, but I was able to buy without having to borrow any more. I will be moving on January 15. The house requires some renovation, so I will be saving for that and doing a little at a time, paying cash.

Now as to my saving plans, I have been overwhelmed with the amount of stuff I have as I prepare to shift, particularly my wardrobe and the amount of my crafting supples. I don't need to spend any more money on clothes and yarn next year, so I decided I would have a year long spending fast, only buying essentials, like groceries, underwear and busfares. No movies (I still have a ton of ds' dvds I haven't watched), no eating out, no gift buying (everyone is getting handcrafted).

Sound tough, but I know I can do it, because at the end of 2015 I'm planning another trip to India. I have seen how the poor people live there, and if I stay grateful for having enough to eat, a roof over my head, power and running water, and all the other things we take for granted, I'm not going to miss the stuff I don't have.

This is my resolution, but I'm not waiting until January 1 to start. All my holiday spending is done, so I am stopping spending NOW!!

I bought bread rolls, apples, cabbage, bell peppers, chard, celery and lunchmeat for $13.50. I won't be eating out this week.

I ran out of coffee last night and had to go without this morning. I had almost made up my mind to forget about quitting caffeine and buy some after work, but, when I got to work there was orange sock yarn on sale. Wow, I never knew I wanted a pair of orange socks, but I have the perfect pattern for them and I really need a pair of orange socks... Oh but if I buy the yarn I won't have enough left to buy coffee, and I'm supposed to be saving money and I have a huge stash already...

So I had a cup at work, then went home without buying any yarn or coffee. Still got $8 in my wallet.

I took this week's $20 grocery money and bought 10 kg rice, 2 packets pasta and 2 cans fruit, all on special for $19.70. And I have left several cans beans and sardines, potatoes, carrot and 1 egg to help spread next weeks $20 out.

I now have enough rice to see me thru the New Year - good job I like it.

donated my loose change, about $1.50. Found 10 cents on the way home. Apart from that another NSD.

Made it a no spend weekend. This week I am going to eat out of my fridge and pantry. Wonder if I can make it a no spend week?!

So of course the mailbox is chocka with flyers advertising all the wonderful bargains available. I am tempted by the supermarket, but if i buy food on sale I often wind up with more than i need (which is how I have a bulging pantry). Then I eat more than I need, so This week I am ignoring attempts to separate me from my money by repeating my mantra - "there'll always be another sale."

I read about a Kiwi woman who claims to spend $20 a week on groceries and teaches people on welfare to do it. I don't know the details so don't know if she has a veggie garden, lives with other people thus gaining economies of scale etc. I am interested in knowing if it is possible for a single person buying normal food at the local supermarket. I am not interested in driving across town to get the lowest price on 50lb sacks of oat groats, nor do I want to drink homemade dandelion coffee. But I am going to try it unless my health starts to suffer. No point winding up back on disability.

I have been slack about saving over the last few months. I have dad's money tucked away and part of my wages automatically going to retirement, so that's going to be allright. I have been earning more money and it seemed like I didn't have to worry about every cent spent any more so I eased the purse strings and took my eyes off the dream of Financial Independence.

But thinking it over I realise I really do have a realistic opportunity of being FI, and sooner rather than later if I really tighten up on spending now. There is a lot of difference between having to be thrifty when there is no alternative, and choosing to save money in pursuit of a goal. When I had little money I would often rebel and spend on some treat because "I don't have any other indulgences". Now I am going without because I can have it back later on. As Dave Ramsey says, Live like no one else, so later you can live like no one else.

I had to have a fasting blood test this morning and am cranky from missing my coffee

After months of enjoying better health and being able to take on more work, I woke up this morning with my knee on fire, so off to the dr for pain relief. $56 for visit and prescription. I should not resent this creaky old body of mine, but I'm looking forward to the day Jesus gives me a new improved model.

I have decided to stop drinking coffee, or at least cut back. I drink several strong cups a day and it isn't doing me any good. I have tried going cold turkey before and it was awful. This time I'm weaning myself of it gradually. Looking for an improvement in my health, besides saving money.

found 50 cents
spent $1 on a can of peaches

I used to keep a buffer of $1000 in my bill paying account. Kinda baby emergency fund, a la Dave Ramsey. Now that I have almost $10,000 in my FFEF that is unnecessary. I decided to keep $500 in there, as that is roughly the amount of my monthly bills, and transferred the rest to my Financial Independence account.

I was determined to make today an NSD, so deliberately didn't take any cash or debit card with me to work today. Unfortunately, I'd forgotten I was supposed to be meeting a friend for coffee after work, so I had to borrow $3 off a coworker (turned down the offer of money for a sandwich).

Technically I suppose you could say it was still a NSD - I didn't spend any of my own money. But now I'm back in debt!

There was an item on the news this morning about borrowing by local councils. One observer reckons it's far too high. Councils used to use sinking funds for capital projects, now they borrow against these funds. A spokesman came on to defend the council saying they used very sophisticated methods to control the debt and some councils had lazy balance sheets - they actually needed more debt.

I'm just a simple soul (it was all those "sophisticated" borrowers that got us into this financial jam). I see only that if you borrow money, you have to pay it back. With interest, so that means you pay more, or rather the taxpayers do. My rates have gone up a lot since the sophisticates took over the council.

Yes I know, you'll save money in the long run because the return on assets is greater than the cost of borrowing. I'll believe next time i see a council project come in under budget. Somehow the cost always requires more borrowing than anticipated and up go the rates again. If these financial clever clogs want to play financial geniuses, they can do it with their own money, not public funds.

I'm grumpy, can you tell I just got my property tax bill?