My Restaurant Has Caught Up With Me Again

My Usual Ostrich Act

This time I definitely know it's my fault I took my eye of the ball expected others to do the job for me and now I have to face the consequences. It seems that every time I get complacent Murphy visits, every time I think I have my debts sorted I get sideswiped.

When I walked away from The Restaurant thinking that I had sold it, I left behind a Dishwasher, a Restaurant quality one which I was leasing for around $19 a week. The couple who were buying the business from us had agreed to take over the lease, before they changed there minds and left me high and dry. Once my Sister and I closed down the bank accounts for the business the standing order to the rental company got cancelled. This payment came out weekly so about 2 days after the payment did not go through I was contacted by the Rental firm to check on why. I was very ill at the time both emotionaly ( I had a complete breakdown ) and physically ( a bad case of shingles ) and so I gave them the Landlords name and mobile phone number and left it up to them to make the arrangements to pick up their machine.

At this time I only owed 1 payment and 6 months on my lease agreement.

Should I have followed this up, sure, did I follow this up, no. I stuck my head in the sand and hoped it would all get sorted and then it would just go away. But it has not and yesterday I received an email from the company demanding I make a late payment of almost $900.

I must admit I got really angry probably not the right emotion, but why the hell did they not pick up the machine ? Why allow someone to run up months of back payments and never contact them to tell them this was happening ? So they have been gaily slapping on charges for a machine they knew I no longer wanted !!!!!

I sent them back an email yesterday which they have probably responded to by now, but I have stuck my head in the sand again and have not checked my inbox. I never slept again last night worrying about The Restaurant. How many times is this going to happen, instead of giving me great joy this Restaurant has caused me a world of pain. I thought it was going to end up a legacy instead it has ended up a nightmare........

A Fiscal Fast Fiasco

Hello New Friends

Since coming back to regular blogging after my Restaurant fiasco I have some new followers, so I want to take the opportunity of saying a huge Hello and welcome. I have also been able to add some new blogging sites to my favourites. Which means new things to learn, new successes to applaud and lots of new motivation.

My Fiscal Fast ended a lot sooner than expected when The Foxx took me to a new Hardware Store which has opened up near us, there were a few piddly little things I needed like a lightbulb for my Cooker Hood, some Fertiliser for my garden some new fiddly little things for restringing my clothesline in the garden and a new garden hose complete with all fittings and a spray nozzle. This was all we needed but then I added a couple of wants.

This is exactly what I wanted to put on my wall in our Patio area as it is all undercover we use this space pretty much like another room. It is 74cm ( 28inch) and is very rustic looking I love it.

Then I  just had to have this Lanten which is now sitting in the middle of my outdoor table it is pretty solid and now holds a huge candle I had lying round the house. Again I have been wanting something large enough to look showy in the middle of our table and this is now doing the job wonderfully and the candle is casting a lovely warm glow.

This is a breakdown of our spending spree.

Clock .............$29
Lantern...........$19
Lightglobes....$ 3.62 ( for a pack of 2 )
Fertiliser.........$ 2.49
Garden hose...$ 5.90
Clothesline.....$5.94

Total $65.95

Going out with The Foxx ended up blowing the budget and the fiscal fast but I really think for the money we got some pretty good buys. And we also snuck in a visit to our Grandchildren and went to church. Back to the drawingboard next week.

Pros and Cons of Being More Frugal Part 2

Losses and Gains Part 2

After posting my losses yesterday it's now time to look at what I have gained by losing. I neglected to say yesterday that I have also lost paid income, but that in itself has provided me with many gains.


GAINS

1. I think I will start with one which is of real importance to me and that's self respect, I used to feel so guilty about where I was in my life and I used to worry about what my Grandchildren would think of me when they were old enough to recognise me for what I was. A financial disaster, so as a way of preventing them from falling into the same trap I started bank accounts up for them as soon as they were born. I still give them a little money each time I see them and allow them to only spend a portion of it while saving the rest. I am now hoping that as they grow older they will see me as a good financial role model.
2. I have now gained good sleep patterns, I no longer walk the house in the wee small hours counting and recounting money. This stage in my life was particularly bad when I was running the Restaurant and it was time to work out wages and pay bills, during that time I would be surprised if I got more than a couple of hours of sleep a night.
3. I have gained a wonderful Husband, for years we were on a different page financially we worked our wages and bills as a you and me type of situation with both of us refusing to talk about how much savings or debt we had incured. This was especially frustrating for me when I finally saw the light and The Foxx did not. Now we plan together and spend together and save together, how sweet does that word together sound.
4. I am now slowly crawling my way back out of debt. At last I am gaining control of what I thought would be following us into retirement. I now know that by sticking to our plan we will be debt free before The Foxx retires.
5. I no longer pay bank fees I have gained control over my bank accounts, there was a time when all of my direct debits would be late and at $40 late fees per time this happened I was struggling to get through the month ( I have since changed my account name and the fee would now be $10 ) I think now I would be happy to look my bank Manager in the eye.
6. I have gained my home life back and because I am no longer working we have gained a carer for my aging MIL. I now enjoy cooking and cleaning and everything involved with running my home. I remember a few years ago I hired a cleaner to come in weekly and do the work which I never had the time or the inclination to do. Now making my own cleaning products and trying to find ways of living better for less are what occupy my days now. I love being a housewife and The Foxx is loving coming home each day to an organised home with wonderful new recipes to eat ( all bought with my budget in mind ) I am contributing things which money just could not buy.
7. I have gained my own fruit and veg shop as we laughingly call it, this is my backyard. I am growing herbs, veg and we have a few fruit trees. Putting my hands into the soil is so therapeutic I love it. There are some aspects of gardening I just can't manage like heavy digging and spending hours bending over. So I have set up a high bench for all my seedlings and for potting and by regular weeding I don't have to spend a lot of time bending over. And if I need any heavy digging done I have a fit and healthy Son and Son-in-Law.
8. Last but by no means least my financial journey has brought me in contact with some wonderful bloggers who are a wealth of knowledge and support. I have gained some facebook friends through this as well maybe some day we might even meet.

So there we have it, my gains. I am sure there are heaps more which by now I am taking for granted. But after reading back over them I notice that the biggest gains are all about how I feel about me. It's shocking that it has taken me till I reach 61 years of age to find out things I should have always known. Still better late than never..

Pros and Cons of Being More Frugal Part 1

My Losses and Gains Part 1

Since starting to get my life and finances together there have been losses and gains but after  looking at it closely most of my losses have ended up as gains. If I give up something which costs me money I end up with a bigger bank balance, or my bills paid on time, or my car regularly maintained, so which of my lists ends up giving me the greater enjoyment and pride ?? You judge.

Losses

1. I have given up getting my acrylic nails done, this used to be a 3 weekly visit which cost me around the $35.00 mark each time they needed filled or extra if I needed any replaced. I kinda miss these visits, but now that I spend time in my garden I definitely don't miss the nails... $600 at least saved yearly
2. I used to buy a magazine every week, it was a bit of an indulgence coming home every week sitting down with a coffee and having a read. But my local Library stocks this read or I could go online to read it. So I don't miss this at all now....$260 saved yearly
3. Gourmet cooking was a bit of a hobby for me I would get terribly enthusiastic buy loads of ingredients, then forget why I bought them or use them once and then end up throwing them out when they passed theyre useby date. At that time my Grocery bill was sitting around $175 weekly, now I try to spend no more than $100 a week and often less....$3,900 saved yearly
4. My trips to the Hairdressers are very few and very far between now, maybe one every 6 months rather than every 6 weeks I also now dye my hair at home thanks Mr Clairol. I was a Hairdresser in an earlier life so I can actually manage it OK myself if I am in the mood. I am going to have to estimate the savings here as I really have lost track of Salon prices now....$1,300 at least saved yearly
5. Gym membership, oh yes I had one of those where you lock yourself into a contract which you never keep, of course it's all done with the very best of intentions after all who would'nt want to look toned,taut and terrific ?? I now have a garage full of equipment which I was given for nothing so if I don't use it guess what no charge....$456 saved yearly
6. Every Friday night was takeaway night, when I worked fulltime this was a non cooking night I felt I deserved the night off after what was very often a heavy week. Now we use leftovers as our Friday night meal or Hubby throws together a Pizza. So still no cooking for me plus savings....$1,560 at least saved yearly

There are a lot of little losses which I make on a daily basis, like using less shampoo, less toothpaste, switching off electrical appliances and wall switches buying long life light globes these are changes which I can't put a price too but over the course of a year are bound to make a huge difference. Then there are the big losses like the new car I never got into debt for, believe me if I could have found a way of getting myself a more reliable car while travelling to and fro to The Restaurant then I would have got one. So my thanks to the banks who would not entertain the idea of lending me any money. So these losses / gains are saving me a minimum of $8076.00 or $155.30 weekly. The bottom line is am I missing any of them.....absolutely not !!!

Tomorrow I will post the gains.

1.  

Broke and Bills Bills Bills

I am going to be joining Lena in her fiscal fast for what remains of June check out her last post http://http://frugalandthankful.blogspot.com.au/

I mentioned at the beginning of the month that I wanted to save $1,000 this month, well I now know that that is just not going to happen, Murphy visited us with car repairs and now 2 bills have come in. I was absolutely not expecting one of them as it was a toll fine, and I was positive that I had paid off and finalised all payments. But this one is for November last year and I had completely overlooked it, what is my head full of cotton wool ???
The other one is our monthly phone/internet/cableTV account and it is $50 dearer than last months I expected it to be a little higher as I phoned Mum every day after her accident, but I am blown away by the amount.
How am I going to manage to pay all of these bills and still save ?? Well I'm not something has to go and it is savings. So this is one p****d of blogger.

On the plus side I managed to save $50 off of our food bill from last week and I managed to keep my fuel bill down as well so this morning I went and banked it, I also have around $60 in my snowflake jar which I have still to bank so I will be OK with the bills it's just the lack of savings which is getting me down...

Blown The Budget

I have just taken the time to read back 5 days of blog posts, wow am I behind I knew I had been a bit slack lately but I had no idea I had been MIA for that long.

As usual I am blown away by how well some of my favourite bloggers are doing with theyre debt repayments. I said at the beginning of the month that I was hoping to save around the $1,000 mark, but after 18 days I am still a long way away from making that happen as we had an unexpected car repair plus The Foxx needed new tires on his car.

Looks like June's budget has taken a nose dive, but I have not given up as yet, yes we may not hit the $1,000 we would like to hit but anything is going to be better than nothing. So it's onwards and upwards.

After decorating in my toilet area last week I have decided to freshen up my Lounge Room but only if we are given another year's lease, normally they let us know in July as our lease expires in August, so this means either one of two things a rent increase or removal costs, I know which one I'm hoping for...

Painting Project

I Am Painting My Toilet

I could'nt wait to get The Foxx off to work this morning as I wanted to spend all day in the toilet. No there is absolutely nothing wrong with me I decided to make my non spend stay home project painting the toilet.
It all started with the toilet roll holder falling off of the wall and leaving a huge hole behind it, this was fixed yesterday by The Foxx on his holiday Monday, if you are looking for a cheap way of spending your day off I can recommend this. So now we have a patch on our Aqua wall. Am I upset not a bit of it, I hated the colour, it was there when we moved in and I just kind of put up with it the way you do in a rental home.
When we first moved into this home the horrible Aqua colour was in one of the bedrooms and in the toilet, yuck, I spoke to the landlords about painting over it and they agreed to provide the paint if I did the work, which was the only way they were going to agree to it. So here I am sitting in the office typing this while my first coat dries. I might add that this Aqua colour does not want to go in fact it may even need 3 coats to do the job, but there is enough paint so it is what it is...

We spent hardly any money at all over the holiday weekend, as we spent most of the time doing our little projects and some gardening.

Hope you all had a lovely weekend I'm off now to check on my toilet, what is the saying about watching paint dry LOL.......

A Weekend In The Garden

This is a picture of my herb bed, it is in shade at the moment but it is in full sun for a large part of the day.

I am pleased to say everything is coming along beautifully, the post you see in the middle of the bed is my clothes line post, so I can admire my plants while hanging out the washing. I noticed my tomato plant has got some flowers on it, can't wait until I am eating my own sweet fruits. The rest of my plants and veg are around the back other side of my yard. Oh and by the way the string and sticks you can see were put there to keep my cat out of the soil, if you get my drift.

This shot is just me showing off my beautiful Hibiscus plant, the bush has about 2 dozen of the largest most beautiful flower heads on it.

Another weekend with The Foxx and I full of the cold and so we are staying home and trying to avoid passing it around the family. So no Grandchildrens cuddles this weekend.

Have a great weekend everyone..

A Waste Of Food and Money

A Waste Of Food

And here was me thinking I had gotten on top of this pantry of mine. Yesterday I decided to check my staples as a way of eventually keeping my grocery bill down, I took everything off of the shelves washed then down and put all my flour, sugar, cereals and pasta into containers in fact anything which was loose in now in labeled containers.

So why am I so angry ? Because I found dessicated coconut which was about a year out of date I found Porridge oats which had passed there use by date and I also found sultanas which I could have used in my scones the other day hidden away at the back of a shelf which I keep my little used electrical appliances on. So what is going on there ??? Has the pantry imp been up to mischief again or is it the two women in the same kitchen scenario ?

Whatever it was that caused me to throw unused food into the bin I am not happy about, got to keep a tighter rein on what is happening in my own kitchen....

I have nothing to report on the financial front as I have spent most of the last couple of days in the garden weeding and repotting. My Herbs are doing so well in the spot I have put them in and my Veg. although growing well is getting eaten especially my cabbage leaves. I want to keep this garden as organic as possible so if you know of a way of keeping my veg from getting eaten please let me know.

Yesterday blogger was playing up really badly for me and it has been a couple of days now since I was able to post, so I have had to put my blogger interface back to the old original settings just to get my dashboard to work, how frustrating is that. Although I found out that this was my problem by googling the error number I kept getting and I ended up in a chatroom where this seemed to be a problem affecting a lot of bloggers, so if this is an issue for you try going into your dashboard and clicking on the little gear icon top right of your page and clicking on the original interface setting. Although I am still finding I cannot highlight any of my words so I cannot change sizes colours or font Grrrrrrr

Off now to do a little grocery shop, hoping to catch up with the baby tomorrow, see you all around...

June Goals

Goals For June

I have not been setting any monthly goals of late being content to let each month take care of itself, I had gotten myself into a bit of a payment and spending routine and I was not challenging myself in any way. So June will be a little different, I am going to set some goals and they are.

Savings = $1,000

 I have worked out that I will be adding $880.00 to our savings this month. If I can keep my Grocery bill down I would like to see that figure climbing up to $1,000.

Groceries = $400

I allow myself $100 a week for food and household needs, but MIL adds another $50 to that and if I try really hard I am sure I can get that figure down. Allowed $400 hoping to get my fuel off of this amount.

Bills = $500

 Adding all our bills up for the month the total should read around the $450.00 mark this includes the rent to buy scheme for our PC. We will put aside $500 anything left over at the end of the month will go into July's budget.

Debt = $600

Around $600 will be set aside for debt. For the household debts this is only our CC and for my failed business I will be using $250. I do  intend to pay more off of my debt each month so any extra money earned by The Foxx or any Ebay sales money plus my snowflakes will go straight into paying this off quicker.

House Payment = $1,480

This is our rent and as private rental is so damn expensive this costs us $1,480.00 monthly. Actually this covers us for only 4 weeks so in a month when we have to make 5 payments this can become a bit of a stretch. But we are 2 weeks in advance with our payments, so no stress there.

Misc. = $00.00

I am allowing myself nothing for entertainment, clothing, or presents this month. I overspent on my Grandchildren last week buying each of them a new Winter outfit and of course buying for the baby as well as sending his Mum and Dad flowers when he was born. I also sent flowers to my Mum when she came out of hospital and I bought a gift for my Sister-in-law's Birthday last Friday. Did I budget for any of this expense no, which means in came from my pensions back money. I want every dollar to be accounted for, so fun over, it's back to being Mrs Frugal

Holiday Fund = Approx.$350

 We are going away in August and I would love it if we did not have to dip into savings to fund this. Our goal is to get ourselves some scoopon deals before we head off which should pay for all our entertainment in advance. So any deals we see will come out of this fund. I am putting my little pension into this fund can't wait to see how far I can stretch it.


I will come back to this list and check it off as I go through the month, hopefully there will be no variables. Murphy stay away......