It’s time that I posted, before others things did get in the away again.

I only just updated my Excel so here are the figures for past months not posted so far.

This for Two periods of 28 days each as I looks like I missed one somewhere. As I work on 28 day cycles, my dates may be out to calendar months so here are the figures that will bring it up to date as its every near the end of next 28 day cycle.

Reviewing my monthly daily living allowance

These are the categories for this challenge.

Items === Approx. Budget===Spent
Eating out===$70.00=====$22.95
Groceries===$271.00=== =$229.28
Non-Food===$30.00=====$21.43
Clothes ====$70.00====$7.18
Grooming===$30.00===$20.00
Gas======$50.00
Pets====== $100.00=== $171.25
HH items===$80.00====$11.94
Fares== ====$30.00
Entrainments== $30.00
Garden =====$30.00
Gifts & Donations ==$70.00===$42
Medical & Diabetes Expenses ===$140==$377.06
Misc ======$20.00
Personal Allowance =$180.00 ===$120.38

Note only one amount is a no spend in that category

Budgeted for this period $1200 spent $1023.52 so under budget by $176.48

No spending days22 of 56 days

Personal allowance covers confectionery, lotto, books, stamps, craft & hobby supplies.

Eating out including meals out with family and friends, we all go Dutch.

As for Medical & Diabetes Expenses - this is the extra out of pockets amounts that came up over this period just on medicine that is not covered be refund claims.

My credit cards are still paid in full each month.

I do keep my bill money separated from this summery. This year I will be budgeting around $650 per period month to cover all my bills for these two periods it came to $2867.85

My grocery bill came in under budget for these periods.

If any changes to my spending habits will need to come out of my daily living allowance categories of my budget as my bill categories are very tight now.

I was very tight in some areas of this daily living allowance over these period but I did work out in the end.

Still need to work on a Grocery category.

Strategy: - Track your daily spending down to the cent by writing it down daily.

In the last day or so my last cat took ill and wasn't breathing properly, so at 15 years it was best to put him down. I took at his food, odd and end to pet welfare shelter and paid for him to be putdown. I have told my son that I will not have any more pets here.

I have spent the last 16 years caring for my son’s unwanted pets at my cost and not being able to get away for a holiday as I couldn’t get anyone to care for them.

Sick cats were making me ill so it’s no more pets at all, it better if I donate some money instead.

I think I could find some spare money in my budget if I focused on my food spending for a while.

These will be my target area to work on for now!

Non -Food ---$221--------$184.52---------under target by $36.48
Pets -----------$650------$547.26--------under target by $102.74
Eating out ----$455--------$560.05--------over target by $105.05
Groceries ----$1755-------$1601.08-------under target by $160.42

So money that I have to work with $3081 using 2011 target budget amounts.

In 2011, I came under by [$3081 -2893.10] = $187.90 so I would like to see a bigger drop in this figure this year. Without changing my lifestyle that much knowing that I can cutback harder if things change around here. So it’s to focusing and planning what I intend to do here.

So what strategies do I plan to use to reduce this further with cost of living going up here and my income is only age pension.

I will start with the easiest on first Non-food, this is area mainly covered by items that I can’t eat like Toilet paper, paper towels, and some cleaning items that I need to buy. If do a stocktake of these items, I may find that I will only need buy toilet paper this year. By looking online and some in of my books I will find replacement for other cleaning items.

Next easiest one is Pets this includes cat food and litter for them. As they are old cats I will not be retraining them with new ideas but focusing on any wasteful habits and paying more attention to what they eat. They flea and vet treatments are covered in the bill area of my budget so are not included here. But will try to find ways of reducing these as well.

Now time to think about my food out as I like to call it! This area I can control to a degree but not all the way. I have 12 planned lunch dates each year which I just go along with cost can between $9.00 and $26.00 each time at current prices. Then you have 5 birthday dinners or lunches that can cost around $30.00 each time at current prices. But will not go if it gets above this unless it’s a wedding which a once in blue moon event. Now the other lunches I can reduce or not have depending on my time schedule when out. I do try to keep these to under $12.00 where possible.

So where does that leave my food out budget, thus having budgeted for $350 outing with family and friend as socialising and form of entertainment. I do keep a float aside of $35.00 so that if asked out I can go will out worrying if I can afford that week. I am trying to get the family to eat at home more but it’s an uphill battle.

I will review my grocery shopping in my next post.

I am a very late in putting up my monthly, others things did get in the away this time but that’s another story which you have been reading about lately here. I only just updated my Excel so here are the figures for last month.

As I work on 28 day cycles, my dates may be out to a calendar months so here are the figures for my last period.


It’s time to start again on reviewing my monthly daily living allowance.

These are the categories for this challenge.

Items === Approx. Budget===Spent
Eating out===$35.00=====$22.00
Groceries===$135.50 ==== $78.18
Non-Food===$17.00=====$7.72
Clothes ====$35.00=====$105.50
Grooming===$15.00=====$35.00
Gas======$ 25.00=======$8.00
Pets====== $50.00=== ==$63.19
HH items===$42.50=====$40.44
Fares== ====$9.00====$20.00
Entrainments= $12.00
Garden =====$10.00
Gifts & Donations =$35.00===$3.00
Medical =====$15.00======$37.15
Diabetes Expenses====$50
Misc ======$9.00
Personal Allowance =$85.00 ====$58.29

Note only one amount is a no spend
Budgeted for this period $580 spent $478.38 so under budget by $101.62

No Spending days over the 28 days = 7 days in total.

Personal allowance covers confectionery, lotto, books, stamps, craft & hobby supplies.

Eating out including meals out with family and friends, we all go Dutch.

As for medical this is the extra out of pockets amounts that came up this month just on medicine
As for my medical visits out of pocket expensive if they are related to Diabetes then I will class them as Diabetes Expenses will come under this new category.
Diabetes Expenses – nil

A most will be one off items or once per year expenses. But I need to track these items on my small budget and pension. Each time I pay for some things in this category I will need to cut something in other categories.

My credit cards are still paid in full each month.

Spending on books and papers $38.80 for the month including 4 papers.

I do keep my bill money separated from this summery. This year I will be budgeting around $650 per period month to cover all my bills. This month bills were around $ 378.80 so balance banked this month. This fund does cover all my fixed bills for the year if I can stick to this schedule as I have done for the past ten years or so. On my budget excel modelling chart I can pay the full amount this year.

As for food out, I dined out 4 times this month costing between $5 & $9 a time most were around the $9 mark as I can no longer eat at fast food outlets. That $9.00 meals at casino is still looking the healthiest and best deal in the city for now.

My grocery bill came in under budget for this month.

My clothes and grooming budget was well over this month I bought 4 new bras and only paid for 3 and had a watch battery replaced along a haircut.

Most of my social outing are dining out this is part of my social outings money and spending allowance.
If any changes to my spending habits will need to come out of my daily living allowance categories of my budget as my bill categories are very tight now.

Still need to work on a few categories as you can see but over all I had a good month.

Strategy: - Track your daily spending down to the cent by writing it down daily.

One of my neighbours just came over with a bag of food left at her place by house sitter while overseas. They don’t eat these foods normally, and the fish has bones in it that my cats may like to eat it!



Yes red salmon has some bones but my cats are not going to get much of it @ $5.99 a can and $3.99 for the small can. The soup packets are $1.89 each and can of soups are around $2.49 can here. You guess it I will eat the lot myself thanks very much!
Value Total$26.62 that helps $-t-r-e-t-c-h the budget quite nicely.

This is the seventh in this series

For someone living from pay check to pay check this system may not work for you.
I allow a budget fixed amount to care for my cats each year excluding trips to the vet�s as I have a float for that and the float money from my last trip to the vet�s is back up to $500 again plus the cost of their flea treatments. My goal each year is to come under this amount so far I have won this battle and I have had these cats for almost 15 years.



I buy a clumping cat litter as this what my cats like to use. This is the store brand one, as I don�t like to have to drive my car to the supermarket very week, I try to buy enough to last 3 weeks ,same with the cat food except for the store brand one, that one of my cat likes and it�s the cheapest by far @ 69c! I buy enough this one until I am back into that supermarket chain again or when I get down to the last can. I only buy on special, I check each week the catalogues for good buys in the brand that they will eat. I will drop in and buy if the price is right. As the amount I buy depends on the price and how much I still have in stock from the last buying trip. Normally the price is around RRP $1.59 per can, I will try to buy it around a $1.25 or less the lower the price the more I will buy. If it even comes down 89c again then I will make extra trips to buy as many as I can up to 100 cans.

As for dry cats food I buy three different varieties for them. I will have in stock about 3 packets unopened so that I don�t just go shopping for this item. Lately our supermarkets have lowered their prices on some of their goods and these are just one of those lines that now rarely go on special now! If they do go on special then I buy extras that week.

As for vet supplies the online company I deal with here is

Priceless pets I buy enough to last 6 months at a time. This does save on postage again check the sizes and prices before you order. When I went to the vet�s he told me to change brands for a while when ordering online, I have been using Revolution for a few years now, told to change to Advantage for a while different formula but both do the same job as I have 2 cats the same size I buy the 2x 6 packs do check the price of these items at the local pet shop and online.



If things get tough in the future then I will be taking a closer look at some of these websites.

Google -- cat and dog food recipes

I came up with two gems but there are many more there but watch out for ones selling you stuff as you can find a lot of this information for free.
Pet Food Cooking Recipes

this one looks interesting that I may try some of them at some time.

I did take the Cat for his after operation check and then asked why I didn’t get my senior card discount like I did on the first visit, I do know that I forgot to show it again but found out that they should have put it on his file so that discount would be automatic come off next time. So I asked the vet and was told to come back on Tuesday which I did and got $23.00 off the total. In the end all up I paid $575.40 for one tooth removed and cleaning of the mouth. He is fine now and reclaiming my bed if he can.



His quilt cover

Strategy - Ask about any discounts and don’t worry if you forgot to ask about it, worse they can say is NO so just ask.

He is home and much better, he didn’t need to have his teeth pulled but one needed a filling and every needed teeth clean. He has a sore under his tongue and this was cause the infection in his mouth. He doesn’t like car rides at all, but will go into the cat carrier without to much fuss. He has to go again on Saturday morning for a post op check and see if he needs another needle, I hope not at $75.00 each. Today’s operation cost $469.00 with the visit on Saturday included.
For 14 ½ year old I was told his was healthy for his age.

This is post op shot him.

I am a little late in putting up my monthly balance others things do get in the away at times, my cat is doing fine until his operation on next Wednesday to have his teeth removed so far its only two of them.

~~~~~
As I work on 28 day cycles, my dates may be out to a calendar months so here are the figures for my last period.

It’s time to start again on reviewing my monthly daily living allowance.

These are the categories for this challenge.
Items === Approx Budget===Spent
Eating out===$35.00=====$38.05
Groceries===$135.50 ==== $77.51
Non-Food===$17.00=====$18.75
Clothes ====$35.00======$17.90
Grooming===$15.00=====$6.49
Gas======$25.00 ======$25.30
Pets====== $50.00=== ==$4.14
HH items===$42.50=====$44.64
Fares== ====$9.00
Entrainments= $12.00 ====$26.00
Garden =====$10.00
Gifts & Donations =$35.00===$71.50
Medical =====$15.00======$25.00
Diabetes Expenses====$50
Misc ======$9.00
Personal Allowance =$85.00 ====$138.89

Note only one amount is a no spend
Budgeted for this period $580 spent $495.17 so under budget by $84.83

No Spending days over the 28 days = 15 days in total.

Personal allowance covers confectionery, lotto, books, stamps, craft & hobby supplies.
Eating out including meals out with family and friends, we all go Dutch.

As for medical this is the extra out of pockets amounts that came up this month just on medicine. Vitamin D 250 capsules saving on these was $19.95 on the bottle I first bought.

As for my medical visits out of pocket expensive if they are related to Diabetes then I will class them as Diabetes Expenses will come under this new category. Diabetes Expenses – nil

A most will be one off items or once per year expenses. But I need to track these items on my small budget and pension. Each time I pay for some thing in this category I will need to cut something in other categories.

My credit cards are still paid in full each month.

My one big over spend this month was on books as one of the bookstores had a closing down sale Borders here and non- fiction books were going for 75% off so I stocked up on a few that were on my wish list to buy! Spending $100.74 for the month including 4 papers.

I had to buy a birthday gift this month a watch, now I will have to pay for it to be engraved out of next month budget.

I do keep my bill money separated from this summery. This year I will be budgeting around $650 per period month to cover all my bills. This month bills were around $177 so balance banked this month. These funds do cover all my fixed bills for the year if I can stick to this schedule as I have done for the past ten years or so. On my budget excel modelling chart I can pay the full amount this year.

As for food out, I dined out 4 times this month costing between $5 & $9 a time most were around the $9 mark as I can no longer eat at fast food outlets. That $9.00 meals at casino is still looking the healthiest and best deal in the city for now.

My grocery bill came in normal for this month and I was stockpiling a few items both food items and non-food items.

Most of my social outing are dining out this is part of my social outings money and spending allowance.
If any changes to my spending habits will need to come out of my daily living allowance categories of my budget as my bill categories are very tight now. Still need to work on a few categories as you can see but over all I had a good month.

Strategy: - Track your daily spending down to the cent by writing it down daily.

One of my cats doesn’t like being touched by anyone or picked up since he was born 14 ½ years ago, so it’s a nightmare if he is sick to take him to the Vet’s. He was sitting next to me the other night and I noticed that one of his teeth looked black around the gums and his gums were a ghostly white. It looked like an abscess to me by next morning but he is eating and drinking normally.

In the end I rang the vet clinic for appointment and got the only on left for that day so I took him to the vet. After a lot of fuss I got him into his cat carrier and screaming all the way, luck I was only going to the nearest clinic with all fuss he made but by the time we got there the abscess was gone but he had an infected mouth and two top teeth that are gotten and have to come out. He had an injection as I can’t give him anything myself. The injection will last 2 weeks and cost around $75.00, he look better all ready for it. Next week he will go back to have his teeth removed and the vet will check his kidneys first with a blood test. If anything wrong then there no operation on his teeth. Not looking forward to that vet bill.

So first vet visit cost $129.40 including a Senior Card %. All up. In my budget I have $500 in a float for vet bills so will use this for now and pay any extra out of my saving on my grocery bill this month. I didn’t spend any money on anything else since last Friday.

Cat Dental Problems - Causes, Symptoms & Treatment

As I work on 28 day cycles, my dates may be out to a calendar months so here are the figures for my last period.

It’s time to start again on reviewing my monthly daily living allowance.

These are the categories for this challenge.
Items === Approx Budget===Spent
Eating out===$35.00=====$73.45
Groceries===$135.50 ==== $230.61
Non-Food===$17.00
Clothes ====$35.00======$8.45
Grooming===$15.00
Gas======$25.00=======$29.60
Pets====== $50.00=== ==$82.56
HH items===$42.50=====$158.98
Fares== ====$9.00 =====$20.00
Entrainments= $12.00
Garden =====$10.00====$28.56
Gifts & Donations =$35.00
Medical =====$15.00======$44.50
Diabetes Expenses====$50===$43.47
Misc ======$9.00
Personal Allowance =$85.00 ====$51.04
Note only one amount is no spend

Budgeted for this period $580 spent $811.27
No Spending days over the 28 days = 11 days in total.

Personal allowance covers confectionery, lotto, books, stamps, craft & hobby supplies.

Eating out including meals out with family and friends, we all go Dutch.

As for medical this is the extra out of pockets amounts that came up this month, bought a Medicine and vitamins tablets.

As for my medical visits out of pocket expensive if they are related to Diabetes then I will class them as Diabetes Expenses will come under this new category.

Diabetes Expenses – Books $43.47
A most will be one off items or once per year expenses. But I need to track these items on my small budget and pension. Each time I pay for some thing in this category I will need to cut something in other categories.

My credit cards are still paid in full each month.

I do keep my bill money separated from this summery. This year I will be budgeting around $650 per period month to cover all my bills. This month bills were around $1125 so no balance this month. These funds do cover all my fixed bills for the year if I can stick to this schedule as I have done for the past ten years or so. This budget will be tight but just doable. On my budget excel modelling chart I can pay the full amount this year.

My food went up this month because I am stockpiling items that I will use over the winter months hopefully my food amounts will start to get back to a normal range but may be a little higher as I need to change to some more expensive range in a few things like bread is now $5.00 per loaf instead of $1.49 per loaf, and I need to buy more nuts and seeds as well special grains.

As for food out, I dined out a 7 times this month costing between $4 & $18 a time most were around the $10 mark as I can no longer eat at fast food outlets. That $9.00 meals at casino is looking the healthiest and best deal in the city for now.

Another large category is for the household section that was a once off purchase of Gerni (water pressure machine) costing $149.00. This was a need as with all the wet weather we are having slimy paths and steps are becoming an issue.

If any changes to my spending habits will need to come out of my daily living allowance categories of my budget as my bill categories are very tight now. Still need to work on a few categories as you can see but over all I had a good month.

No Savings for this month over by $ 251.27 on budget for amount. This equals the cost of the Gerni and extra I laid out in food stuff this month in stockpiling both for my own and pets.

Strategy: - Track your daily spending down to the cent by writing it down daily.

Went to the first of free diabetes classes, I found it interesting and learnt some things about what is diabetes. The next class is on food so I will be looking forward to that one.

While I was in the area I went too for this class has the top breakfast restaurant in Brisbane so I dropped in for a coffee and had a mini breakfast as I had to start out very early to get to that area on time so had my breakfast 3 hours earlier. This cost $12.65 and when coming back to the city I had a Asian Chicken & Rice Noodle Salad $4.00 with a drink that I had in my bag.

I have been bulk shopping this month so buying ahead to save money down the track. I don’t like having to go shopping for things that I can get cheaper buying else where. By timing my shopping to go with where I shop and whether I have the car with me. So far I have bought $67.82 worth of cat food. For myself I bought yoghurt mix $8.48, coffee bulk $13.30 = $21.78

As I have been changing my diet to more friendly foods for diabetes so the cost of this month is a little high but it will work out over time.

Going to the supermarket for pet food is when I shop most times now. I always buy cat food when on special and this week it was at its lowest price for months. So I set out to stock up on it by 40 cans and some dry cat food that cats have run out of. While there I planned to check out some of the special in the meat and seafood lines. So I bought some seafood and sausages on special to give some variety to my diet. These will give me about 24 extra single meals over the coming months. Along with what already in the freezer this should do for a while. I do still have a lot of can tuna in the pantry. Thinking of making some fish cakes as I have still got some potatoes that need to be used soon!

I get more serving buy making fish cakes /patties than making a Tuna Mornay or tuna bake. There are plenty of recipes around for canned tuna. Mostly I buy in bulk when it comes to fruit by buying the cheapest fruit in season and then buying it by the bucket, this can last up the 3 weeks in the fridge. As for vegetables when they are expensive I stop buying and then buy just frozen vegetables and buy a few items that are cheap at the time of buying my fruit.

Seafood and sausages $18.76
Potatoes $1.00
Pet food $24.48

Ok my pet food cost more than my own food is always been the case when I shop for the cats. It’s not called the cat shop for nothing.

Today I did some shopping at a local shopping centre, I only made two stops one at the supermarket and the other at RSPCA stall, and donated $20.00 on top of what I had already donated in money and goods. I thought that animals should get a helping hand too! Their main headquarters went under just like in 1974. As they don’t get any help at all I thought I better put in something.

RSPCA Fairfield

official webpage

As I said in a comment in last post
Two cyclones to hit Queensland

I will keep you posted on the aftermath or read link inside this article

Well I didn’t go to the shops today but I did buy something for the cats.



Their Flea treatments online as I have to paid for postage so I order enough for six months for both of them. It’s the cheapest I can fine and they are local vet store on the other side of the city. It would cost same amount in postage to pay for tolls ($6.00 return) plus gas to get there.

So I spend $124.70 including postage.

Top price in pet store for flea treatment per packet is $117.20 and I bought two of them all up for $58.60 each at

priceless pets


Saving $109.70 on RRP

Seeing that I didn’t have to go to my friend place for breakfast this morning I went to a Church Garage Sale instead. Not much in the way of things but I did find some craft books there so I bought what I bought I liked for $2.00 plus household items that I need for my project in the future at the price they were asking its buy now or never. I got metal napkin holder, metal plate, 2 bread & butter plates café style and placemat for $1.00.

Then I went to another section and pick up a beaded belt that I can use the beads for my craft necklace that I wear. I bought four books 3 medical ones and English text book $6.00.
Having spent my money I went home as I was walking I couldn’t buy too much then.

I went back to get some lunch but they were sold out of food. So I bought the balance of the craft books for $3.00 plus another kitchen garget that I didn’t see the first time around $1.00. Bought 7 craft books on the other stall $2. All up I spent $15.00 on both trips just one street over from my place and 4 houses as the crows.

I just did the RRP value of my bootie and I am in shock, the RRP on the books alone $538 and all up $590 on everything. That’s $575 saving. If I ever need some cash I could sell some of them as I will never use all of them, as I may have some of them in my storage boxes but at 20c each you need take it now and sell the extras later. I ask the Rev. if I could buy the balance of the craft books he said if I wanted too so I gave him an extra dollar for the balance so I had two pick then bought the balance as I didn’t buy lunch in the end.


Mommy cat helping me taking stock of what I bought


Some of craft books


The pile of craft books 21mm high, most are cross-stitch patterns

Its time to review my daily living allowance for last month budget.

These are the categories for this challenge.

Items === Approx Budget===Spent

Eating out==$35==$43.85
Groceries==$135.50 = = $57.38
Non-Food==$17.00= =$3
Clothes ==$35==$44.95
Grooming==$15.00==$7
Gas==$25.00 ==$0
Pets== $50.00 ==$88.83
HH items==$42.50==$30.00
Fares== $9.00 ==$0
Entrainments== $12.00 ==$3
Garden ==$10.00==$0
Gifts & Donations ==$35.00== $2
Medical Prescription ==$15.00==$6.90
Misc ==$9.00 ==$0.50
Personal Allowance ==$85.00 ==$50.23

Budgeted for this period $530 spent $337.64

No Spending days over the 28 days = 11 days in total.

Money banked this month $400

Review of Daily living allowance which is part of my waste not want not challenge this year, these are the areas which I have dont a fixed spending amounts but can go over board at any point. But can cutback quickly if the need does rise. Medical out of pocket expenses not covered in the fixed budget. Approx amount are for one month.

Here is a summery of spending this period. More spending in some areas than normal as I had to replacing a stolen handbag, is the reason that this part of budget is over. Pet food this month is over owing to it being on special so I bought enough for a few months. Eating out was a little higher than budgeted for but at times its a can be lot higher than this amount too! I am still trying to cut back on buying too many books this year.

I had to go to the supermarket today. I bought fruit and vegetables that were much cheaper than buying at the supermarket with all this rain the farm are flooded in some places and the supermarket prices, apples and pears at 99c kg instead of $3.98 kg. Along with pet food stocking up on dry pet food as these were on special also my cats treats cat food was on special too! I also got a few bargains in chicken stock satchels for 20c each so I bought what was left. So if I shopped different place than where I did I would spent. Meat Lamb $2.30 marked down from $3.96

So I spend money today
Total Money spent today $43.09 (my cash outlay)
Savings $stretch $28.36

Is a question that I’m thinking about at moment? I have two rooms that have mixed boxes in them. These are my junk rooms where I put any stuff that I don’t need there while I have visitors to stay. Well I did start today on one of the rooms, first that opened only had a few books on top then some coat hangers on the bottom. Another box has my OAMC cookware in it, so that 2 boxes down today.

I had my hair cut today costing $17.00 for a style cut. I did go shopping since I last wrote, buying pet supplies, my cats get a treat each day of more expensive dried cat food just a small handful when I have morning tea each day, O boy do they tell me if I forget to give it to them. They do get another dried cat food normally but they only like one kind of that brand. I am having trouble with their cat litter that they like as the company making it has had problem at the factory. We are being told it could up to six months before they can supply it. So now I need to try a new brand each time at double or triple the cost of the old cat litter, so spent $13.46 on them today. I’m not to happy with that one.

I'm doing inventory of my pantry this week, so see what I have left that I had bought last year! It's good to know what you have to work with, as at times we keep on buying the same items over & over again but never using them all. I did put out four shelves today and checked dates and marked a date on it if I didn’t find date and write it down too! I manage to put back three shelves today but one of my cats decided to have a sleep on the bottom one while I worked. What did I find in my stockpile, that I rarely use 4 packets of sago, 14 packets of 2 minutes noodles, 2 bags of polenta, 3 bottles of apple concentrate and lot’s of sugar white, raw, brown, and caster I mainly use white sugar for chutney. It’s no good give it away as most is past they best before dates. I can use this lot if make something with them soon. Today I made Vanilla Sago Pudding and I got 5 serves from this as I use some latte mugs that I was given for Christmas to put them in.

Weekly Main Meal Menu

Sunday ~Sweet & Sour Pork w’ Rice , Vanilla Sago Pudding
Monday ~ Meat loaf & vegetable, Vanilla Sago Pudding
Tuesday ~ Dinner out
Wednesday ~ Sweet & Sour Pork w’ Rice, Vanilla Sago Pudding
Thursday ~ Omelet with Shredded Cheese and Salad, Vanilla Sago Pudding
Friday ~ Pasta with Tuna & Tomato Sauce Vanilla Sago Pudding
Saturday ~ Curried Sausages with Rice

It's a no spending day here

Oh it’s hot here, not because temperatures are high but for the humidity that is around! The dams have risen 4% so far and one on the Gold Coast is overflowing.

I did go shopping today, first to get some items on special at one supermarket then off to other one to get cat food that it stocks. Oh fuss cats don’t you love them! Grocery shopping for my cats was up in the range of $35.00 and I still need to buy cat litter which was out of stock today. I will try again next time; I do buy a month supply at time so I still have one week’s supply left which is my backup supply. Fruit & vegetables are getting expensive around here , just bought cherry tomatoes, bananas, pears, oranges coming to $5.20. All other fruit & vegetables were too expensive this week; I will use what I still have left instead. I do have a good supply of can tomatoes so use these in cooking.

The total today was more than I normally spend but some items were for my survival kit project in the way of extra powdered milk as I do use this item so I bought 2 bags extra than I would this time. More 2 bags BBQ heat beads giving me about 5 bags now, I don’t use gas bottles for my BBQ’s and I have two different sizes ones. I went to the Two Dollars store and bought my first item for my car’s survival kit pack, it’s a whistle with a compress, key ring & thermometer called a 4-in-1 whistle. I did see other items that I may buy too! I had lunch at my favorite local food stall for a hot dog and milkshake, price $2.50 elsewhere it would be around $5.95.

So I spend money today
Total Money spent today $80.02
Savings $stretch $20.08

IGA is one of our independent store chains for Groceries here. When they have some specials on I will make the effort to drive over to buy the specials that are not available that week if I need too! This week no one had dry pet food for sale at the price I wished to pay for it but IGA, as a dollar in my pocket is better than their competitors. Well I think so anyway! So I got 2 bags of more expensive brand Cat Food for they treats. 3 boxes of Friskies Dry Cat Food all @ $2.99 each, saving $3.80 on cat food here. Can fruit was the lowest for a while so I bought 4 cans of can fruit @$1.99 saving $3.28 on them. I had a treat myself of Christmas chocolates for 99c saving $1.76 As I eat sunflower seeds in my cereal I’m able to buy these in bulk at this store and not in packets. So I had a good morning and it’s rained on the way home so I was able to wash my car also with rainwater!

BREAKFAST Muesli & Milk Coffee
LUNCH Mixed Salad & Hummus on Crackers Fruit Coffee
DINNER Pasta with Pasta Sauce & Tuna

Today’s Full price Tally $35.19
Today’s Savings - $8.84
2007 Total $-t-r-e-t-c-h Savings Tally $9972.35

I got phone call from my son on Saturday evening to say that I was to drive up to his place and we all shall go for a drive to-morrow. Well there were five of us going to mountain behind the Gold Coast to the markets or so I thought but first a detour to a shopping centre at the Gold Coast. Last night they were at one of my DIL sister’s place. When she joking said the she would like a Beagle puppy she seen in the pet shop that day as she had lost her beagle of 11 years two week’s before and still was very upset about it. We went to see it and if it was still in the pet shop, Yep so her mother bought for her, then we had go and give it to her. I will not tell the price but more than I would pay. He is just six-week-old and so cute too! Guess where I spent my birthday, as they got the puppy, the sister went and bought lunch for all of us. So we had roast chicken and Coleslaw and Potato salad and chocolate almond cake for my birthday. This was fun just to see the reactions of everyone about getting the puppy and much more memorable than a day walking around a wet markets anyway. I don’t have any other family than my son here so my DIL family is my family too!

I spent the grand total of $8.20 for the day. When we went back to the shopping centre late in the afternoon. On Bananas I bought 8 of them and gave away half. Bananas are a luxury around here and at times was paying up to $16.99kg, today they were $1.99kg and still in some places $6.99kg. When they get back down to around under $1.00 they will be back on the daily menu.

Today’s Full price Tally $8.20
Today’s Savings - $ 3.00
2007 Total $-t-r-e-t-c-h Savings Tally $9153.85

It’s one of my strategies to wait for next week catalogues to arrive before I buy some items that I will need next week, if they are in this week catalogues. Well as I have run out of dried cats I will need to buy more and it’s on special at another supermarket this week but not as I hoped next week. So it’s drive the car over to this store one suburb away from mine, so not far. I bought 4 packets of dried cat food, one was just for treats as I don’t give them thing different in the way of treat but for this one brand which is a lot dearer than the other one and half the size too! All were 3.19 saving $2.70 here. So lean ground beef was markdown so I bought 2 small trays saving $2.00 here. Some Christmas gift-wrap 50% off that I could use 2 of the roll for birthday wrap so I bought 2 x2 packs saving $4.00 here. I did buy a magazine that I like for a change so I spent $2.60 on that. Groceries that I did buy were cheaper here than I price in other stores so I stock up them or bought a one to try, to see if I like it. Saving $2.60 here.

Today’s Full price Tally $44.63
Today’s Savings - $ 11.30
2007 Total $-t-r-e-t-c-h Savings Tally $9150.85

It’s a case of going to the supermarket for more cat food. Before going I made a list of their lost leaders this week that I use. While there I bought only fours lines only but in multiply buys.

John West Tempers Tuna 95g x 10 @ 79c RRP $1.59 ea. … saving $8.00
Just Juice Orange Juice 2L x 4 @ $1.39 RRP $2.73 ea. ……saving $5.54
Praise Salad Dressing 330ml x 1 @$2.29 RRP $2.99 … saving .70c
Cat Food generic x 10 @ .69c reg. price at the momen, it was 75c each, two months ago it’s the only item that has come down in price around here..
As I get a 5% off the total docket saving here $1.09

I did have a milk shake while I was out saving $1.55 than buying it at Wendy's.

Today’s Full price Tally $39.44
Today’s Savings - $16.18
2007 Total $-t-r-e-t-c-h Savings Tally $8902.45

Well it’s time that start tiding up some of my bookshelves. I have a corner that need a good tidy up and put some of the books back in order, as well cull some of them. I do have a lot of books, most shelved in categories all over the house. When I go looking for a subject I need to look in some of these categories as well the other ones. The information may by in some of these books as they are on multi topics as a lot of these books are like ‘Mother Earth’ magazine that I do have one old copy of. But I have many copies of the Australian ‘Grass Roots’, I like reading these books but can never picture myself living that kind of lifestyle. I have been always a city girl, but a very much ‘Make Do, Use It Up’ person from the old school of thought. I do get a lot of my ideas and a lateral thinking from these books. One bookcase done and ten other’s to go.

I did all the ironing very early this morning, after breakfast I went shopping for the unavailable items in yesterday shop. Pets & biscuits etc. Then I went on the another shopping centre to buy bulk almonds and some markdown meats for the next month. I hope this will be my last large Christmas shop but for drop into my local grocery store. Saving $16.45

Later I went to DF-M for Lunch of BBQ steak and salad (free value $8.50 saving here.)

Today’s Full price Tally $55.89
Today’s Savings - $ 25.00
2006 Total $-t-r-e-t-c-h Savings Tally $8497.73

It’s a trip over the transport department at the another shopping centre near my home. It’s time to pay my registration for my car, I paying it for a full year this time. Saving $90.00 with my pension discount this time. While there I bought a few more books saving $25.00.

This afternoon I went down the hill to another supermarket to buy some pets food and other things. Saving $10.65 here. Our food price are going up here but the cat food that my cats will eat price went down too it’s price of six months ago this time for how long?

BREAKFAST Muesli & Milk Coffee
LUNCH Grilled Cheese with Mustard Toasted Slices Apple Coffee
DINNER Poach Fish & Salad Coffee

Today’s Full price Tally $593.26
Today’s Savings - $ 126.93
2006 Total $-t-r-e-t-c-h Savings Tally $7521.90

As he is again driving he picked me up today, for a day watching DVD ‘Da Vinci Code’. We both have seen it at the movies too! It was nice to just sit and watch it all again, and pause it to find Dan Brown cameo roll in the movie. There is only one scene that I don’t remember at all in this version. I have asked for the DVD - 2CD to be my Christmas present this year. (Fingers crossed)

After we went out to do some shopping and have lite lunch, half of what’s normal bought this time. Saving $1.90.* Then on to the vet’s to get some flea & worm stuff for my cats that worked last time, it’s expensive but it did do the job. Saving $34.69 and much more if I bought it single packs at a pet store.

BREAKFAST Muesli & Milk Coffee
LUNCH lunch out*
DINNER Lamb chop Egg, Onion & Tomatoes Coffee

Today’s Full price Tally $105.95
Today’s Savings - $ 36.69
2006 Total $-t-r-e-t-c-h Savings Tally $6841.92

Well I got another 12 plants repotted and planted Lemon Grass in the ground. While I was at the supermarket today, I saw mother-in-law tongues that I have just repotted today selling for $20.45 just for one plant in ceramic pot. I have around six or more, which is a weed if you grow them in the ground around here.

I went to the supermarket to get some more pet food and few groceries items on my list. Saving $5.30

BREAKFAST Muesli & Milk Coffee
LUNCH Crackers & Blue Vein Cheese Coffee
DINNER Salmon Patties and Vegetables Fruit coffee

Today’s Full price Tally $34.60
Today’s Savings - $ 5.30
2006 Total $-t-r-e-t-c-h Savings Tally $6650.51