Sunday - ahhh lazy Sunday's although NOT today! Today was a busy day! I got a sleep in today which was nice and so already had a late start to the morning so then organised the house chore roster and spent the majority of the time walking up and down the house putting little things away. Probably not the best use of my time but I'm finding these days when I just box stuff to 'go to another room' it stays in the box so this way if I physically go and put it away then it's done!
Some of the house chores got done today - other's didn't but that's ok because the children 'see' their pocket money on the fridge and that they dont' get it until they have 'earnt' it ... I think there are about to be some hard lesson's in the house!!! I really enjoyed a conversation I had today with a girlfriend about her house runs and what chores the children do and how money is given etc and my daughter was standing right there at the time and I hope that she's taken note that her life isn't 'quite as hard'!
The best part about today though is that I got to go to the movies with said girlfriend and her daughter. I won (yeah cause this is me I'm talking about frugal queen tee hee) tickets to go see Pitch Perfect - it was sooo funny. And because I'm always thinking ahead last time we went to Cafe Primo for dinner I bought two movie money tickets at $12 each (beats paying $18 at the cinema) yes there are a few restrictions with using the tickets but I don't mind, it's not always easy trying to go to a movie on a saturday night when you have children these days!
So as I promised my friends if I won tickets we would split the cost into 4's so it worked out to be only $6.50 for each of us to go to the movies! We were happy with that. Then like all good movie goers (or bad ones as I'm sure the cinema would expect you to give them all your movie) we bought drinks else where. We DID go down to Hungry Jacks as they had a special of Frozen coke for only $1 but obviously they killed the machine with kindness and so it was no longer working... so rather than pay $5.50 for the same thing at the cinema I bolted down to the food court (racing my daughter tee hee) to go and get the same product from there. Saving $1.50! Yeah I know it's crazy but we had time and pre calories to burn in a fast 5 minute walk!!
Dinner was lovely at Cafe Primo again (best meal in town for price) and we were joined by my hubby and son and also my gf's hubby and son so it was so nice. The meals are so big for the price so we only got two mains and shared them. Then we got even more lucky because after every main meal you get a FREE pancake per meal you have purchased now I expected to only receive two which I would have shared with my daughter but they brought us 4 so that was nice and also I ordered two children's drinks but because we ordered a main meal they seemed to only charge us $1 each so that was great. So a total of only $40.60 for the 4 of us - hubby's beer was $6.80 for a scooner - a bit excessive I thought but I don't drink so I have no idea about prices!
Home now and feeling well rested for another busy day of cleaning tomorrow and hopefully eBay listing if I can get my act together!!!! xoxo
Today I have been as a busy as a bee. I packaged up all the 'pay it forward' items last night and put out for collection and then setted off on my own 'loop' to go and collect all the lovely things that other's are sending out to the world with much love. It's a great group noone is greedy and everything just seems to work out at the end of the day.
I didn't get very far before the car started beeping I needed petrol so I checked my wallet and sure enough I only enough $49.99 worth of gift cards in my purse so I got $50.00 of petrol - they let me have 1c that was so nice of them. I buy my WISH gift cards from RAA as I get 5% discount and then allocate them towards part food and petrol. Good savings there. So I didn't touch the credit card again today! Win for me!!!
I planned my route with the help of google maps but suddenly found that it keep doubling back on itself so I had the good old street directory in the car so used that as I was aware of a few addresses already. It was lovely to meet and greet everyone and of course my 1 hour round trip took a lot longer than expected but that's ok! (ps this is a map of NY city because I can't publically just display my route for today...)
Of the many things I collected was a glass chess set for my son who is a fan and has been pestering poor hubby for a game ever since. I was able to drop off some items too so that's helpful.
So although I realise yesterday I said 'enough already' these are things that I probably would have 'bought' for the house or for presents, I have been quite strategic with what I am collecting nothing to contain more clutter.
I did manage to get a whole pile of coathangers which are ALWAYS useful especially in our house so a good saving there.
I went to Sam's Warehouse for those of you who know it while I was down south. A discount shop and they had all their Xmas stock out for 75% off. I didn't want to look knowing that I could have saved even MORE money on my wrapping paper but it's ok. I'm all done I need no more. I did for a few moments stop and look through their mountain of clearance items but decided I 'need' NOTHING so let's walk away.
On the way home I needed milk so luckily that's 'all' I bought because I can tell you there are times where milk could easily cost $30 for a quick trip to the shop - I should just buy the cow I know... LOL. I resisted the urge for ALL the bakery items that were marked down because we simply do NOT need any more sugar post xmas and also the tempation for the sale of hot chickens because I already had meat defrosting for tonight's dinner and I RELLY need to use the food in the house first before I buy more. (Going to try a $21 challenge later - more about that later).
So that's it from me... I'm home and pleasantly warn out but a successful day!!!
Today I'm having a BIG clean out!
I am a sales consultant for a well known direct selling company and have collected many 'things' over the past few years - (if you are one of the few that haven't been an avid collector of things as I know that there are a few out there that have resisted the urge - I'd call that success LOL).. Bonus gifts, rewards and prizes all collect after a while and now I'm drowing in clutter - ENOUGH ALREADY!!!
As I mentioned yesterday I joined a local freecyle group on facebook which has been great as I can take pictures and list to give away. People are lovely and not greedy and it's nice to know that they are going to people that would like it or need it rather than just dumping at the local op shop - plus if I go near there I might buy more stuff to come home.
So I need to ask the question... "do I want it..."? Yes ....but "do I NEED it...?" No! Probably not!
I really admire Peter Walsh and have read his books and watched his decluttering shows on tv and he is so correct with many things that he states. Things like we wear 20% of our clothing 80% of the time and if things aren't put away and looked after carefully then you have NO respect for them.
Also if you haven't used or looked for something in 6 mths then chances are you won't need it and I know some of the things that I am getting rid of I haven't used or gone on the look out for in the last 12 mths so they are definately not needed in this house!
So following also in the footsteps of Flylady and other organising type groups I have been reading about I'm doing 'Home Blessing's' and freeing myself of the clutter and un-organised chaos and clutter that I no longer need!
I will see if I can find a few episodes on line to watch as they do inspire me as it's about organising and although an American Show they do have some good ideas.
How's the organised chaos going at your place???
Welcome to Day 1 -Today has been a busy day!!!
BUDGET - all good households need a budget and if yours looks anything like ours - you do it and then work out you can't afford to live and keep shopping LOL. It's just because I am a dot all the 'i's type girl and cover for every possible 'what if' I might be doubled up in some areas so naturally at the end of the year I can go woo hoo I'm a legend I managed to save X amount of dollars! Although I'm not sure that this year we ended up with a possible bank balance.... LOL Santa went a bit overboard....
I'm just waiting till tomorrow for the bank to push through the last few transactions that we have on the credit card then I can pay it off and then we can 'start all over again' as they say. Yes I'm that anal with numbers...LOL
I did however decide to go back to the cash bags and allocate so much money for things that need cash eg fruit and veg, school adventures for the $2 here and there.
SHOPPING - today is the first day that the local suburb shops are open, the city and harbourtown was opened yesterday but I wasn't feeling brave enough to fight the crowds and they didn't have the shops I wanted.
Today I hit a shopping ctr about 20 min drive from me mostly for the post xmas stock. All I needed was wrapping paper as I have enough cards to last 3 xmas's. I was surprised at how price varied between shops. With my trusty calculator I worked out that I was happy to pay 13c per metre at Kmart rather than 25c per metre at places like Cheap as Chips (yeah I was surprised too) and I'm sure that the quality is better. So I some how ended up with 50 metres for only $6.50 - so I don't need any more paper maybe for the next two years and also some people's birthday gifts might be wrapped in some nice gold & silver colours this year LOL.
CLOTHING - we dance around this subject every year although this year is different. As you know I've recently lost 22kgs and it's really great but can also be expensive LOL. I have had a major clean out of all my clothes and so now a small restock is in order.
I visited 'Saver's' today as they had 50% off all their clothing and I didn't find 1 thing that I loved so a good saving in there!
I also visited Miller's as I got an email that said they had sale items starting at $3 but there was nothing in store except scarfes for $3 and everything else $16.95 - now I've lost some weight but I don't think a scarf is going to cover all of me ... $3 or not.... LOL. I heard other's complaining too about the email so it seems we were all in the same boat.
GENERAL - I had to go pick up the family trailer today from down south hence why I visited the non local shops and did a bit of a loop on the way home. I recently joined a freecycle type group which is going to help me declutter the house but also I picked up 2 lovely glass design necklaces that someone was giving away which will be great for my daughters birthday in Feb. I start early with collecting presents!
Also had to drop off something to a friends house which was only around the corner so I was clever and mapped out my route.
I've had a successful day!
Hello one and all!!! I'm back!!! What a busy year it's been I see the last time I posted was in July 2012 so figured that I should come back and touch base.
Do you like my new title - Frugal Project 365 - it's exactly what it states let's see how long I can keep this going for LOL. I'm not aiming to be perfect or go that's it I refuse to spend any more money but it's more about the challenges and finding the best way to deal with things!
In the past year as many of you know I've become a Zumba Instructor and have been teaching classes which has been great, getting fit and healthy and inspiring other's to do the same!
I'm managed to loose 20kgs in the past year following the Michelle Bridges 12 week body transformation and adopt a fairly healthy lifestyle which I will have for the rest of my life! I have seen many other friends take up the challenge too so I wish them all the best. After being on her online program for 36 weeks I am taking it 'offline' and not being a paid member and doing it 'on my own' or at least with all the facebook friends I have met along the way.
Also yesterday was Xmas so with that came a mountain of presents and mess! So I figured rather than wait for the new year I'd just dive in right now and get started.
Going to redo the budget today, make a 'plan of attack' for cleaning the house and setting up routines and schedules (I feel like sigh here we go again), organise parts of the house which are WWIII remains and just to remember to 'just keep swimming'...
So this blog is about the next 365 days of the year and my adventure! Being as frugal and organised as I can! It could be the most funniest thing at times I'm not sure I know how to organise myself out of a wet paper bag!
UPDATE: A CAN A DAY
I remembered the other day after I cashed in a whole boot of station wagon filled to the brim about ths challenge and can report back it was a SUCCESS!!! I KNOW that I cashed in at least 365 cans and probably by a loose count nearly at least DOUBLE that I do KNOW that I would have gotten about $150 in cash over the past year for the all the cans and bottles that we did cash in - not bad for picking up the odd one here or there and helping the environment.
