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Archive for July, 2011

Oh! Shopping Spree

July 29th, 2011 at 10:45 am

Its Medical appointments day, once every two months these appointments are on the same day.

Chiropractor and Podiatrist visits both within 1 ½ hours of each other this is so that can do things in between and be ready to catch the bus when finished the last appointment.

Today I planned to do any shopping that I would to do as well these appointments. When I got off the bus I found a pair of shoe that I was looking for but when I tried them on and ready to pay for them, I was informed these shoes shouldn’t have been put in the marked down bin they were full price $139.00 when all the other shoes were $69.00 oh I could have them if I bought gold or red ones for that price but not black which is the only colour that I wanted so I walked out. Not happy with that but I will not be tricked into buying something wanted but could live without. No sale.

Drop by the newsagent and bought GO CARD fare ticket top up $20.00. I don’t need to look for charge anytime I catch public transport with this card and I get senior discounts with it.

While walking around on Wednesday I checked the frypans out that were going on special this Thursday, as I need a new 20cm frypan as the one I got is burning food too much. So I got myself a nice new stainless steel one and a new measuring jug both 30%off all up (RRP $28.00) then marked down to $19.95 after I used my new staff card. When I went to the kitchen shop which had a silicone whisk that I saw on Wednesday RRP $7.95 to $1.55 so I got one of theses too!

I stopped for morning tea and had some pancakes $3.45 with a free Senior % coffee. Off to the book store but in the end didn’t buy any books today. Chiro visit went without any problems so then went to the Officeworks which sells computer programs and I found the one I bought that for $38.09 Saving $6.01 on price tag of which $2.01 was staff card discount. I just get don’t some price tags these days this not the first time the registers scan different to the shelf tags. If it’s lower I now just pay what they ask for it but if higher I pay the shelf price or walk out. In some cases you will get the item for free but not always.

I walked down to the medical refund office as this takes enough time to get my daily walk in as well. Went and did some window shopping in new revamp Wintergarden shopping building stage 1 without buying and shoes were only that I could afford but not my style before going to my next appointment. Off to get my next medical refund before I went home for the day and on the way to the bus dropping in to Crazy Clarks discount store for some hand wash. I found a few bargains while I was there so in the end my $2.49 had blowout to $62.37 I got some bargains while I was there and did buy my hand wash too!

Medium Amber Hair dye was on special this week normally you buy this at chemist for about $16.95 a packet at these discount store you can buy it for a lot less and at 2 for $10.00 all the same colour which is the important part of my system, I bought enough for the next two years $50.00 worth and put it on that credit card. I found a tip that I use to make this work.

Also I bought as well this:
Craft supplies - moulding clay 3@$1.47 & beads for necklace $1.47 = $5.88
Date rolls biscuits 2@ 1.00 & smoked oysters 2 @1.00 = $4.00
Hand wash $2.49

Total $62.37

My savings for the day

Medical Refunds $70.35
Computer program $6.01
Senior % coffee free - saving $2.80
Kitchen items saving $14.45
Craft supplies $12.00
Hair dye $119.50

Saving over all $225.11

I don’t think I have loss my touch. No more unplanned shopping until of

Text is EKKA and Link is www.ekka.com.au/
EKKA show time in two weeks time.

Strategy - Know when the best sale may be on and be ready to go!

Strategy - Only buy what you will use when shopping without a list

Trip one to the city

July 28th, 2011 at 09:46 pm

As it’s that time of the month again to meet up with my ex work friend for lunch and Medical appointments, planning my bill paying and shopping for these two day of the month. As I said my last post that I needed to start using my credit card for next $1000+ purchases and bills. I spend very little so need to plan this very carefully. I started out with paying all the bills that I had to pay first none could paid via credit card so they came out of my debit card as I don’t carry these large amounts around with me. The council rates, water bills and credit card payments were paid up for this period to date. On the spending side I bought book of stamps for my wallet so that I don’t need to go shopping for just a stamp and spend extra money when that’s all I need. I got a 50% off key ring for $5.00 that will make it easy to find extra set of house keys that I have here. Had a cup of coffee at the Coffee Shop, Senior Discount offer medium size cup for the $3.65 instead of $4.80. This is all done before I meet up with my friends for lunch.

We are now eating at the cheap venue for members $9.00 for main meal, fruit salad and coffee I had lamb shank and roasted vegetables. Had a play on a 1c slot machine and won $30.00 so came out winning for the day that is rare as I only play with $3.00 per day just to keep my member card active. As it was Wednesday the Farmers Markets were on and I bought bag of broccoli and 4 avocadoes for $4.50 and a newspaper then went home.

Money wise
Bills total $809.00, Lunch Food $12.65, F&V $4.50, misc items $12.10 = $850.35
Gambling outlay $3.00 won $30.00 so $27.00 I came out spending $823.35 for the day.

Senior % saving $1.15

Strategy - Don’t spend your forward bill money on trivia, it’s been put aside for a purpose and keep you stress free.

They just didn’t get it.

July 25th, 2011 at 10:15 am

I was trying to explain to some friends about saving bank fees on credit cards. They just didn’t get it.

These credit cards are ones that I can’t replace if I cancel them as I don’t meet the income levels anymore so I leave them open for emergency use and paying some bills as well as trades people but I do pay them off monthly so far haven’t paid any interest in 15 years just an annual fee.

I have more than one account both have annual fees around $30 each and they are No frills accounts. One account has a loop hole so that you don’t need to pay annual fee. If you spend and put on the credit card more than $1000 in one calendar year you don’t pay the fee for the next year. The first year was free to start with. So instead using my debit card to pay my bills I pay them with this credit card if it doesn’t have a fee for using a credit card as some firms do here. So I can charge some of my bills to this credit card then pay it off with a debit card in full. I just have to remember the annual starting date for this card. So if I pay my car bills with this credit card and any other transactions until this covers that $1000+each year thus saving the annual fee. It’s only a matter of paying it off each month which is the easy part as all these amounts are budgeted for and banked in my bill account. The way I look at it is $30 is better in my pocket than the banks. So I end up paying $30 annually in bank fees as I have worked out how to reduce banks fees all round.

Does your bank have any loop holes you could use? You may have to read the fine print on each account to find them.

Fruit & Vegetable Box

July 22nd, 2011 at 11:16 am

I got a bargain today in my fruit & vegetables box for $7.00. One of the local greengrocer has these bargain boxes most times but I never have bought one before as normally they are of box of one or two kind per box, last time it was Granny Smith apples $2.00 per box but today all the boxes were mixed vegetables and some fruit or mushrooms as the cherries looked ok I bought the one with cherries in it.

2 large red onions
7 lbs (3 ½ kg) small chat potatoes
1 leek
1 Zucchini
4 large tomatoes
1 large ripe avocado
1 Cos lettuce
1lb (500g) Brussels sprouts
8 orange carrots
4 purple carrots (never cooked these before)
4 corn cobs
2 navel oranges
1lb (500g) cherries - grown in US (marked $5.99)

I did cook one of the purple carrots with a normal carrot just got to remember to cook them on their own in future as it dye the normal one and all the water went purple but they tasted ok.

All this will be good for my diabetic diet.

No spending days and surprise in the mail

July 18th, 2011 at 10:27 am

I had a good run of no spending days this week hopefully I can go one more day. I do know I will be spending some money on Wednesday as this the day I buy my paper for the Weekly TV guide, as the Sunday paper is almost double the cost of the Wednesday one. I also need to pay my credit card 2 off this week as it’s due before my next trip to the city which is another week away. I also will need some tuna cat food and eggs as these are on the low side and will need to go another shopping centre for that. So I will be taking the car out.

Shopping List

Pay $10.00 on credit card 2
Paper @$1.10
Eggs @$3.00
10 cans store brand tuna cat food @69c
French stick @2.00

Total $23.00 now to see if I can in on target.

I got a surprise today in the mail, we were told that we would lose our retire discount cards at the end of May this year. But the company has had a charge of heart and reissued them again. I have my retire staff card 5% off again, every little helps in this climate of uncertainty GFC wise. I was able to get some gift cards with 5% off the price so will be able both together when I shop for groceries equal 10% off and get 5% off at non grocery stores.

Read this post

Text is End of an Era and Link is http://tightwadkitty.savingadvice.com/2011/05/31/end-of-an-era-_69752/
End of an Era this is the card I'm talking about.

Not that I am spending a great deal these days, as I planning what I purchase and when and how.

How I am going make this work will be my next theme for a while as I plan to s-t-r-e-t-c-h my money yet again.

Being a tourist for once

July 16th, 2011 at 10:17 am

My family finally booked the tickets to take me to

Text is Australia Outback Spectacular 2 - Heroes of the Light Horse and Link is http://outbackspectacular.myfun.com.au/
Australia Outback Spectacular 2 - Heroes of the Light Horse for my last birthday which was back January. So I didn’t need to pay for my ticket. We went in group of ten made up of DIL girlfriend family and my son, DIL and myself and we got a group photo taken too!

Everyone gets a special outback hat which has a coloured band on it and this is how you know which side or station as they call it you’re on. The pavilion or shed is divided in two each side has a cattle station name. Each row has 15 seats and faces on to a table bench which has one drawback if you come in late you need climb into your seat from the walking platform behind your seat row if the your row is all most full. A few people in front of us had to do this as they were in the middle of the row.

Best part other than the spectacular show was the meal that came with your ticket. Each person was served the same meal if you weren’t a
Text is vegetarian and Link is http://outbackspectacular.myfun.com.au/The-Show/Dinner.aspx
vegetarian you would need to have informed them when you bought your ticket of that as all tickets are pre-booked. Entree was a mixed Queensland salad mixed with tangy mango dressing and rolled in a flat bread swag, main course beautifully cooked barbecue tenderloin beef steak with rich gravy, seasoned with Kakadu plum sauce and served with garden vegetables and Australian Damper and for dessert you got traditional baked Pavlova with Queensland berries and country cream Drinks were wine, beer or lemonade and water and at the end of the meal there was coffee or Bush Billy Tea. All this was included in your ticket. Photos cost $15.00 each for one or $10 if you bought more than one, our group bought 8 photos between us you couldn’t take your own photos as they have No photo were allowed to be taken inside the shed policy.

Everything was alive or on a film on the screen back wall. There horses, dogs, camels, sheep and cattle. It went for two hours almost none stop as the food and drinks was served as you watched the show by staff dressed in outback that’s around thousand people per performance.

Do explore the link as there are lot of pictures there.
Text is Australia Outback Spectacular 2 - Heroes of the Light Horse and Link is http://outbackspectacular.myfun.com.au/
Australia Outback Spectacular 2 - Heroes of the Light Horse

I only wished that I got to see the Australia Outback Spectacular 1 now!

Pears and more pears

July 9th, 2011 at 10:30 am

I have been busy this past week, working on a few projects that needed to be done before Monday.

I have a lot of pears in the refrigerator so I am looking for a few ways to use them up. Here are two recipes that I found that will suitable for my diabetics too!

Streusel Topped Pears
Dessert

500g stewing or poached pears, cut in half or a can of drained pear halves
1 Tbsp Melted butter or margarine
2 Tbsp Dry bread crumbs
2 Tbsp Chopped walnuts
1/4 tsp Cinnamon -- Stir all into butter

Stew or poach pears that have been cut in half or Drain can pear halves.
In pie plate arrange pears cut side up.
Spoon 1 tsp. crumbs on each pear half.
Bake at 180C - 350F for 25 minutes or until topping is lightly browned.
Could probably top with some whipped cream sweetened with artificial sweetener maybe stevia as this what I have in the pantry.


Pear and Apricot Slices

2 fresh pears
1 cup dried apricots -- soaked
1 tablespoon apricot jam
1 tablespoon applesauce
1 egg or 2 eggwhites
1 cup wholemeal plain flour
1 teaspoon baking powder

Peel and chop pears into small pieces chop apricots mix together with the apricot jam and applesauce
Add egg mix well.
Mix together flour and baking powder, fold into fruit mixture
Spread into a non-stick (silicone sheet and/or paper-lined) 15cmx 20cm tin.
Bake at 190C /375F for about 25 minutes or until risen and golden.