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Archive for January, 2013

Flooding Update

January 31st, 2013 at 03:58 am

Six Dead and record flood levels in some towns in two states.

This rain depression travelled from the Gulf of Carpentaria to Sydney about 3000 km plus very slowly down the coast just inland and with another coastal depression out at sea so both together came the rain and high winds all the way down the coast line.

The flooding in Brisbane and Ipswich was not as high as last time (2011) by a long shot. Most houses that went under were from creek and high tide flooding and not river flooding. Other areas were far worse than our area. One family went to look at the river and a tree fell on top of the mother and 3 year old boy the little boy died on Brisbane. Two men tried to go to work in separate cars both were washed away in the same creek. Why do people take risks when they are told not too! Here in our state if you are told to move because of flooding you can be find or gaol if you don’t go the water is running too fast for someone to risk their life to go back and get you! 1500 had to air lifted out because they were cut off and that area was going to be flooded by morning. Still one city Rockhampton is still to flood as the water is coming from another city before it goes out to sea by the weekend. Hopefully we don’t get another cyclone this bad before the end of the season in April.

I finished off being ok; I didn’t lose power once, but two household in families including my son household lost power for 4 days plus. This morning there were some here without power still. With 250000 household and business out the most ever in the south east area, the ground was too soft for the trucks or they have water around the lines that you can’t to get into as the linemen have been working 24/7 since Sunday, they were down to 17000 this morning hopeful only the ones still with water are left only by night fall, If your suburb or area is not on the list now you have to phone the company and report it. They have got to that stage now!

Now for the big clean up!

Text is Floods news and Link is http://news.smh.com.au/breaking-news-national/floods-rain-havoc-on-qld-and-northern-nsw-20130128-2dfqi.html
Floods news

Text is video about little boy and Link is http://video.news.ninemsn.com.au/?videoid=c57aa67b-514c-4cfb-aaa2-eb2e794b185b&src=widget:suggestedVideos
video about little boy

It’s Flooding again!

January 27th, 2013 at 09:22 am

We had a cyclone in the gulf about six days ago and it was only a category one but the rain it generated is huge, our gulf is 2000 km away from Brisbane but today we have 125km winds and so far over 115 mm of rain so far with another 12 hours to go. Some towns and cities further north are now flooding higher than 2011 flood. Lockyer Valley where all those people died last time is flooding now and all that water is heading for the Bremer river then on to the Brisbane river so around 3500 properties in Ipswich and Brisbane flooding again in the next 48 hours twice as it king tides at the moment so the local creeks are flood now because of the King tides and all this rain some areas have had only year worth of rain in 24 hours so flooding. Tornados are coming with this monsoon rain so far we have had about 8-10 down the coast. Black-out is around in different suburbs my son place has lost power and the linemen are not going out until it safe to fix them. I could have a problem with the loss of power or with Tornado or one of the neighbour trees fall over. I will not be flooded here as I am 45 m above sea level.

Check January 2011 posts for last time it Flooded here.

So I have had no spending day here as I never even opened the front door today to go out.

Tyre fixed and car service done!

January 22nd, 2013 at 10:10 am

I had a puncher in the rear tyre a nail was causing a slow leak luckily I wasn’t driving too far so no new tyre yet! The mechanic fixed it and rotated the rear tyres. Service for the car was good and I got discount $280.00 off the full cost so my outlay came to $254.00. It will need to have a minor service in 5 months’ time to get use of the full deal of this car service package which I paid $189.00. It’s worth $1090 so I will do some jobs that need to be done over the cause of this year. I haven’t had much done for the last 2 years and now the car has no warranty to worry about I will go back to a car service every 5000km or once every year after this year. I will need to start saving for all my rubber and perishable parts to replace in the next three years or so whether they worn or not! For a car that has not done 26,000 km in 8 years it’s in good nick even if I say so myself. I bought it with 13,000km on the clock 6 years ago.

As for the weather here today it’s a lot cooler as it showering on off but not much rain to ease the drought conditions for now!

Surviving the heat here!

January 20th, 2013 at 04:00 am

I think we have got it lucky here as the heat has not been as bad as in some places around the country. Sydney had its hottest day since record begin about 105 years ago 46.5C . Here we got to about 35C and Ipswich got to over 40C which is only 30km away but inland not on the coast. I still haven’t put my Air Conditioner on as I can stand the heat up 36C than I will think about if the there is no breeze, so I am saving money by only using a standing fan near my computer with all the doors open for any breeze. I can’t do any gardening as the sun is too hot to be out in to do it. In January it is always like this so minimum gardening. The lawns are almost dead as we have had no rain for at least 6 weeks then very little of it.

Still no spending here as I am on my six no spending day in a row. Most likely will spend something tomorrow and on Tuesday my car goes in for a major service and new tyre I think I will get the spare tyre put on with this new one and use one of the old ones as a spare. I have to pay some bills this week so may go the city or a major shopping centre to that sometime this week after the car is fixed.

All my money will be spent on bills this month so I have got no money to spend anyway!

Car Problems and Hot Weather

January 17th, 2013 at 09:23 am

I just tried to get on to the Garage that I got that car deal with and haven’t heard back from them as yet!
I will ring again tomorrow just in case the guy who took the call got my phone number wrong as the boss has to phone me!

I want to have a major service done plus a check on my rear tyre as it has a very slow leak. I had a problem about 15 months ago with tyre so it may be the same one if it is then I will save for a new tyre to replace it. It’s a worry as I drove the other day with a slow leak tyre and didn’t know it was that bad. On Monday night I got my son to put more air in the tyres most were 29+ but this was only 13. He put up to 35 in them each time. So I am not taking it out again but to the garage.

It’s very hot here; Friday will be 33C and Saturday will 35C it has been up to 39C but in some parts of the Australia 49.5C. Birdsville QLD, has been hot most days this year so far and was 49C one day this week and not under 40C since Boxing Day last year. Our lawns are almost dead but for weeds so you have to mow them still which I got my son to do yesterday.

Last Two Days

January 10th, 2013 at 09:23 am

The trip to the dentist end up being a bit of a drama as I couldn’t get my car to start, I had a flat battery, and had to get the car membership club to come and jump start it for me. I had rung the dentist to let them know that I wouldn’t be able to keep my appointment that morning so they made it for the afternoon. After mechanic came I had to drive the car for a long drive without turning off the engine for over 40 minutes. So I took the car off for a good drive instead of going to the dentist. I had nowhere in mind to drive too, but just took off down one highway that went the back way heading for the Gold Coast and drove for 20 km along then took next return off and headed down another cross country road heading for area I thought would take me near my son’s suburb well it did but I found a sign saying City so I took that one. It end up on a new road heading for the road that I would got back onto if I went via my son’s place. They have been doing a lot of road works in this area over the past two years so I am not surprise at finding it.

I did around trip of 42 km in all and got home 60 minutes later. Then I had lunch and a bit of rest and went to the Dentist in afternoon another drive into same area but one road over from the one I took in the morning. I paid the balance on my dentist bill which came to out of pocket $540.00. I didn’t spend on any else that day. At the end of the day after the engine cooled down, I put the battery charger on so I could recharge it overnight.

Today I went to the Chiro for my monthly appointment, and then just bought a Dan Brown book ‘Symbols’ it the picture one and some tissues as I was low on them. Also I went to find out about my house insurance but still they will not say how much it will be for next year as I have to wait until the end of the month. I know that it’s gone up a lot that why I am worried about it. Somewhere between 30% and 500% which I can’t afford if it’s the later then I will only have days to find someone else as I may be unable to look owing to another commitment around this time. I keep you posted on this

No spending days here !

January 7th, 2013 at 10:36 am

Three out of the last four days have been no spending days, I did go up the street to the shopping area today and into the one shop but never bought anything at all just checked prices so that I can buy my diabetic lancets at the best price which I will need by next pay day. These are only thing that I have to buy at full price as I got the Diabetic Blood Glucose Meter for free after cash back deal and test strips via National Health Scheme for around $1.70 instead of about $16.00. I am will have to pay about $18.69 (this is $2.00 RRP now) or below that for the box 100 lancets. I have a number of discount chemists around this area so will be checking out them all their prices before I buy them.

Vandals smashed the bus stop glass panels this morning what a mess, glass everywhere. I don’t like this sort of thing at any time. Its school holidays here so the teenagers are bored.

Tomorrow I go to the dentist so it will be a spending day again.

Annual Budget Report for 2012

January 1st, 2013 at 04:18 pm

Annual Summary Daily Living Allowance parts of my budget for 2012

Here are my final totals for last year.

Eating out- $455---------- $441.95---------under target by $13.05
Groceries -$1655-----------$1368.82--------under target by $256.18
Non-Food -$195------------ $200.41---------over target by $5.41
Clothes -$400---------------$250.28.--------under target by $149.20
Grooming -$260-------------$339.05--------over target by $79.05
Gas -$200------------------- $122.71------- -under target by $77.29
Pets -$200--(5 months)-----$274.52--------over target by $74.52
HH items -$520-------------- $468.29--------under target by $51.71
Fares -$380-------------------$360.75 ------- under target by $19.25
Entrainment -$520-----------$658.58-------- over target by $138.58
Garden-$100------------------$7.00-----------under target by $93.00
Gift & Donations -$455-------$584.73---------over target by $219.95
Medical & Diabetic-$910------$1045.22 -------over target by $135.22
Misc. -$75--------------------$29.00----------under target by $46.00
Personal Allowance-$1170----$1004.28--------under target by $165.72

Daily Living Allowance allotted amount for 2012 was $7495 and I spent total $7155.59 under target by $339.41

Even with being over in six categories, I still manage to come under my budget allotment for 2012.
I did buy new Camera and had interstate holiday that has been included in the above totals.

This does give me the idea that I am subconsciously set myself amount to spend then holding back on some things if I think that I have to cut on my spending because I spend a lot one area that was needed like the medical.

One thing this summery proves that averaging out over whole year is better than worry if you go over month as you can try to cut on other months.

Ok this Daily Living Allowance is the area that I will be working on to stretch and find any extra money I can. I also am looking at cutting back other on bills where I can. We will have a very large hike in household insurances this coming year as I haven’t received the bill, I don’t know how much it will be as yet!

I know that my medical out of pocket costs will much higher for 2013 so some this need to be add to bills section as I already am over by $1000 and the first month isn’t over yet! I will set aside $3500 for this one next year. This is for just out of pocket costs.

I know that my medical out of pocket costs will much higher for 2013 so I need to up my bill budget by known cost. Dentist, 2 specialists with op so will add these bills there. So I will just track medicine and vitamins, glasses and diabetic section in this section of Daily Living Allowance. Allowing around $1250 for these items in next year tallies.

No Spending Days 154 of 365 days

Strategy - Review your bills every six months that you are still saving money with your changes that you made since renewed or changed bill companies. Change your habits if you can’t change the company.