Out:
milk 2.29
hummus 2.49
popcorn 1.99
crackers 1.49

I went to move my change tin and the bottom fell out. I didn't realise it has a lid, I thought it was sealed like the last one. I didn't want to pay for a new one, so repurposed a 2 liter juice bottle. I wrote the word Britain on it to save for my next trip.

I think being able to see the money in it will be better than the closed container. With the others I was constantly consumed with curiosity about how full it was and wound up opening it before the end of the year (I did put most of the money in the bank). This time my intention is to see how long it takes me to fill it. Atm there is exactly nzd30.00 in it. I also have nzd40.00 in my Christmas Club. I think the year is progressing nicely so far.

Another warm day. I lazed around inside and wasted a lot of time websurfing. And ate a lot of apricots.

Thanks to being away most of the month a surplud built up in my checking account. I transferred nzd500.00 to my EF.

I have started saving for Christmas. I put nzd5.00 into my Christmas Club for groceries, and my spare change into a money tin for gifts. I also found 10 cents so that went into the money tin too.

Halfway through my $20 Challenge. Donig pretty well so far I think. In my envelopes I have:
food nzd16.00
medical/dental 360.00
necessities 9.40
education 16.80
financial freedom 17.40
play 2.40
gifts 1.40
Trans Siberian 128.50
change dish 9.60
mta vouchers 20.00
bus card 6.59

I also have nzd40.00 on my New World Christmas Club card. I dithered over whether I should use this money extra to my 20.00 a week food budget, but I will have to save up for next year out of the twenty so it evens out. I will also use my Trans Siberian money for othe holiday spending as I squirreled it out of my various twentysies a weeksies. I will start saving for Russia again in my travel account after I get back from India and have fully funded my Ef - which hopefully will be done in the next 12 months. Focused intensity, that's the ticket.

Left in my cash envelopes:
food nzd5.00
med/dental 360.00
necessities 29.90
financial freedom 15.40
education 14.80
play 0.40
gifts 0.40
Russia 126.50
change dish 6.30
bus card 12.35
mta vouchers 20.00

I have enough saved in my medical envelope to see me thru till the end of January, so I'm not putting any more in till then. It can go in my EF.

My bill paying account has built up to the point where I have enough to pay 3 months of power bills. Since it will be lower over the summer I transferred $200 to my FFEF. It's nice to have a buffer for when I go to India, as I'll have no income for the 3 weeks I'm away, but the FFEF is to cover other emergencies as well.

Left in my cash envelopes:
food $20
medical $315
mta vouchers $30
bus card $18.11

misc total $102, split up in jars as follows:
necessities $56.10
Financial freedom $10.20
long term savings $10.20
education 410.20
play $2.30
give 10 cents

Trans Siberian fund $110.20

A quiet day at home; no money in, no money out. I earned about 12 cents interest on my savings account and a dollar on my retirement savings.

Payday. Today is the last payment of the electricity supplement, so a total of $286.69. I am capping my house maintenace account at $2,800 and my travel fund at $5,000, so was able to transfer $100 from each account to my EF.

One third of the challenge done. I bought a ring at the thrift store for $6. I didn't need it but it is pretty and I'll get years of wear from it.

I borrowed Jesse Mecham's You Need a Budget book from the library and had a look at the tutorial for the program. It seems a bit daunting, I think it would work well for accounting nerds and spreadsheet geeks. My finances are quite simple so the free EveryDollar and the cash envelopes work well for me. The app doesn't work in this country so no point paying for it.

I did like the idea of aging your money, building up cash reserves so you're not spending this month's paycheck this month. This is actually what I have been doing in my bill paying account. I did a quick calculation and realised I have enough in there to pay the bills for 3 months if the money stopped coming in. So I transferred the excess $181 to the EF, which is is there for disasters like the house burning down.

I am not very sucessful at the one spend day a week. I find it too tiring to do all my errands and shopping on the same day. Today I bought a top in the Orphans Aid charity shop for $3.50. Since I didn't really need it I put an equal amount in my Trans Siberian money tin. I now have $72.30 in there. All those small amounts add up.

Spent:
oats $5.10
flour $1.60
pasta 70 cents

My travel account had built up more than $5,000 so I transferred $300 to the EF. I now have over $3,000.

left in my cash envelopes:
food 0
misc $93
medical $258
change dish 70 cents
mta vouchers $50
bus pass $21.95

I have calculated that I am currently spending a total of $210 a week. Multiply by 13 and that is $2,730. So I already have 3 months of stringent living expenses in my EF. I want it up to $10,000 to cover any major house repair expenses or having to fly overseas to sick family members.

I had $362.85 left in my checking account so transferred $300 to the EF and left the rest as a buffer. If I can keep saving $300 a month I will hit my goal in 2 years.

Payday. There are 5 paydays this month. I went to Veggie Boys and bought over 2 kilos of carrots for $2.49 and just under a kilo of kiwifruit for $1.87. I also went to New World and bought 2 liters of canola oil for $5. That's all I need for the rest of the week.

I transferred $300 from my check account to my emergency fund. Now up to $2,383.38

Payday. I picked up my prescription, $15.

I want to change my broadband plan but can't ring the 0800 number from my cellphone. Today I got to a landline but forgot to bring my account no with me. They couldn't find me under my name or cellphone no, and their system doesn't search for addresses. So I'll have to ring back next time I get to a landlne.

When I pay bills I enter the amount rounded up to the nearest dollar n my checkng register, for ease of math. This morning I balanced the account and realised I have $28.86 more than I budgeted. Think I'll leave it in there as a buffer.

Payday. A whole $289.61 into my account. The electrician's bill finally arrived so I paid it right away, $222.63. Still left with well over $2,000 in the House maintenance a/c.
I had almost $500 in my check a/c so transferred $400 to my FFEF. I now have $2.082 in there.
I went to Knit Squad this afternoon and made a gold coin donation. I also put a dollar from my misc money into my Trans Siberian trip money tin. If I put a dollar in there every week I'll get there in a hundred years! But if I don't start saving something I'll never get there.
And I bought another cabbage and 4 cans of beans at a dollar each. It's a good job I like cabbage, and it can be cooked in so many ways.

Today I increased the excess on my house to $5,000 and lowered my premiums by $300 per annum. I can afford to pay for small repairs, i'm only insuring against catastrophic loss. I have only made one claim in the last 30 years.

I happened to be at the other end of town today and while I was there I looked in their local supermarket. Prices are around .10 cents per item lower than mine, but i didn't want to carry a whole load of stuff home on the bus. I did buy 2 kilos of salt for $1.90 and put the saved dime in my change jar.

Yay! my FFEF is completed, I have $10,000.89 in an online savings a/c, earning 3.15%, just for emergencies.

I was going to buy a new raincoat, but decided fully funding my EF took priority, so transferred $113. I am now tantalizingly close to my goal. What else can I postpone till nearer winter?

So I cleaned out my wallet. $5 to Christmas Club, $5.80 to House repairs/renovation a/c

I am having such fun with the 52 week saving challenge and seeing the money mount up in my Ef, that I am starting another one. This time I will be saving cash, starting with $1, to spend on my trip to India. As I will be going in December, I won't be doing the full 52 weeks, but i should get over $1000.

Another $8.40 into the House a/c. Total is now $3,338.70. Hoping to get up to $5,000 by the end of the year.

I had $15.30 in my change jar. I was going to save all year to see how much it added up to, but i don't feel comfortable keeping lots of money round the house. Someone my steal it, or I may steal it from myself. Besides, I want even the tiniest little bit of interest earned on my money. So i banked it in my House account, which is the one I use for repairs and renovations, replacing appliances and all the sort of thing. I currently have $2,298 in it.

This morning I put $5 into my Christmas Club. Never too early to start preparing for the holidays.

today I spent 0, and found .20 cents to put in my change jar. I now have $12.30 in there.

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.

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.

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.