Second Hand Bargains

Amie and I met at a shopping centre near where she lives down on the coast on Wednesday. I noticed as I drove in there was a Salvos on a side street that I thought I would check out after we visited the main shopping centre. I'm so glad I did as I found these two awesome jumpers in mint condition (they are both for Kate but she has been letting Ella wear one) and a dancing skirt for Ella. I also got some Tupperware herbs/spices containers to add to my collection (not photographed)

These were taken this morning before jazz, hence the shoes!

Op Shopping

Ella tries on some of her new gear. Love this shirt  - eat, drink, sleep, DANCE! Very appropriate for a dancer!

 Today, I met up with Amie & Jonah at the shops to buy the kids winter pj's for Easter. Yes, it is a tradition here as we believe the kids gett too much chocolate and just do not need it. They always need new pyjamas anyway with growing so far, so we have made it part of Easter. After we finished at the shopping center, we visited some Op shops. We headed to some I have never been to before which was a nice change. First up was the Salvos where I got the girls some cool shirts and 3 brand new dress-up skirts. Next was Save the Children where we got a book for Ella, and a vest and a toy car for Jonah. We walked along in search of more and came across Good Sammys where more bargains were found (mostly for Jonah and Ruby) and I picked up two gorgeous Easter baskets for the egg hunt. Next door was St Vinnies where I snapped up a few bargains for Kate. All in all a good day.

Some of Kates' bargains with the Easter baskets in front

Home-made liquid soap

Today I made a batch of liquid soap (recipe here) 

It was super easy and fun to make

I can't wait to try it out!

March is no spend month!

I am going to give this challenge a try from the Simple Savings website. Now that the February birthdays are out of the way, school is all sorted, I think we can do it!

Wish me luck!

Here goes:

Your goal, should you choose to accept it, is to avoid spending money on ANYTHING in March other than the absolute essentials for your work, education or survival. Let's see how little you can spend. Obviously there will be some things you cannot avoid, such as basic food and prior bills but apart from that your mission is to make sure you don't buy anything that is not essential.

Just for clarification, this month you should NOT be buying:-

• Takeaway food of any sort
• Lollies or chips
• Dips
• Soft drinks
• Magazines
• Books
• Frozen dinners
• Movies or videos
• Fancy brands
• Bought cakes
• Pre-made food
• Ice cream
• Clothing
• Beauty products
• Alcohol

Yes, we know it's harsh, but look at that list. How many of those things do you currently buy each month? Imagine how much you would save by not buying them for a month. Imagine how much headway you could make. Imagine all the things you could do to get ahead financially if you managed to keep all that money in your bank instead of automatically handing it over to shopkeepers for things you don't need. You could use it to pay off a credit card. You could pay some extra off the mortgage and save yourself some interest. You could use it to create an emergency fund to bring a little extra peace of mind. You could use it for a reward or holiday for your family. Put like that, isn't it worth the effort for a few short weeks?

Things you CAN spend money on:-

• Rent or mortgage
• Basic food
• Utilities
• Insurance
• Petrol
• Car
• Health care
• School essentials (meaning uniform, camps or stationery requirements, NOT money for the canteen!)
• Other prior bills (we don't want you incurring late fees!)

To make your No Spend Month as easy and successful as possible, all it takes is a few minutes planning each day. Keep a savings diary and fill it in at the end of each day with the following:

• Write down every item you purchased for the day.
• Write next to each item if it was essential - or not.
• Write down a brief plan for the following day. What do you HAVE to do? Where do you HAVE to go? Can any of these be avoided or at least put off until another day? Thinking about what you need to do the night before will leave you clear headed and organised for a No Spend day the next day.
• Write the following mantras in your Savings Diary and remind yourself of them each night, or during those times when things seems really tough:
• STOP, THINK and SAVE.
  Is it essential for survival?
  If in doubt, go without!

So let's get to it and see how little we can spend this March.

Bargain of the week

Gorgeous raincoat for gorgeous four year old
Milkshake Brand
Brand new
Op Shop
$3.99

The best $9.95 ever spent

The girls have had a ball today in the tent I bought them. They played inside in it for ages, moving it about the house. Then they took it outside when the sun came out. Back into the house and tonight it became a camping place. Blankets and pillows and two very tired children later. Wonder how long it will last?

I've been busy today redoing our budget. Building up a healthy holiday fund, the birthday account is looking good too, so is Xmas. These little things make our life so much easier. I came well under budget in the grocery department too. I'm on a no-buying spree at the moment, which is hard when we are redecorating. I love buying new paint!!! I have all the ingredients to make my first lot of washing powder. I'm looking forward to that - seeing if it measures up to my expectations.

Shopping Budget

This weeks grocery shop was made up of:

$23.75 on fruit, veg and eggs.

$17.66 Woolworths

$57.88 Coles

Total : $99.27

I'm thrilled with that - I did forget sliced ham though so will have to pop back for that, but I allowed $120 for the week so still have some left over for extra milk and fruit. I'm going to keep a record each week just for comparison.

Small Change

Saving all your small change in a tin (that can't be opened until you need it) or a jar is a good way to save for an emergency or extra savings. I personally save all our gold coins in this tin and when it's full (nearly is for the third time) I whack it all on the mortgage. This size tins usually holds between $350 and $500 depending on whether you have more one or two dollar coins. :) As a rule I don't spend gold coins so that at the end of each day if I've spent cash I check to see if I have any gold for my tin.

When you keep a change jar, never take from it, just keep addding adding adding. Half the fun is the surprise at the end when you open it and count. Only count it when you are ready to transfer it to a bank account or to pay off a debt.

You can also add to your savings by adding notes here and there. I occasionally add a $5 note or a ten, I've even added the odd $20 before.

If you are debt-free, add it to your savings account or use it towards a holiday.

For those of you earning a good weekly wage, you may think saving small change is a bit trivial. But living frugally whether by choice or need is all about small steps.

So think about starting a change jar. If you give up a few things and save all your small change, you'll be able to pay off your mortgage faster or take a family holiday without using the credit card.