Tgavin71's Personal Finance Blog

I am very proud of our whole family for keeping our expenses down. Next fortnight we won't have as much money to play with because DH will be home for a week meaning we won't be getting his living away from home allowance. I also have $840 worth of ebay purchases to pay for as well. I buy vouchers and gift cards. For the $840 I will get $1000 in vouchers that I can use at supermarkets, department stores, liqour outlets, petrol stations etc.

Scottish girl asked me where are you going on holiday. We are going to Western Australia. It is on the other side of Australia from where we are. Depending on DH schedule we will be away for up to six weeks. Because of the extreme heat during summer we are going in Autumn next year. We were going to be going with a tour group but they have changed the itinerary and it no longer suits us. Which is a bit of a pain.
Ideally I would like to have $10,000 saved but am prepared to put airline tickets on credit card and pay it back later. ( smack my hand)

Well its the end of the fortnight and I still have $374.00 left in the the bank. Whoopee!. Last pay period it was $29. I am very proud. Half the money is going into our holiday account and the rest is staying in our normal savings.
Total holiday savings are $1300 approx. When we get our cc's paid off in full in around 6 months then our holiday savings will increase. I currently pay $800 a month to cc debt. When it is clear I will plan to pay $400 on to the mortgage and $400 towards our holiday.

Once a month I meet up with some friends for lunch. We met when my kids started playgroup when we first moved to Newcastle nearly 6 years ago.
We choose lunch because 1. Our kids are at school and we can have some me time
and 2. Lunch is half the price of dinner for the same food.
Today we had Thai. Total cost for four was $30 including drinks.

Got home from taking the kids to school only to find an electricity bill in the mail box. It has gone down from last quarter from 132.46 to 124.44. I have gas hot water and gas stove. From talking to friends our bill is quite low. Probably because we don't have a dryer. A lot of people are incredulous when I tell them this.

It is 1.22pm on Wednesday 22nd March. I have been reading through the blogs and thought hey I can do that. Not really sure what sort of stuff I am supposed to write about so will just ramble on.
Financially we are doing fine. We have credit card totalling $2500. I am paying it off at a rate of $800 a month. Hubby has to pay for a lot of stuff for work on the card and then it gets reimbursed.
The debt wasn't from work it was from a failed business venture. Live and learn, that's what they say.
We are taking the kids to Western Australia next year to visit my sister. It is nearly 9,500 kms there and back.
We are going on a tour with a local bus company. It is a safari where you drive over and fly back. We have been quoted a total of $11,000 for 22 days for the four of us. It seems like a lot to spend on a holiday but it is a once in a life time adventure and the cost includes everything except for souveniour buying.