Is your household budget going down the gurgler?

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Permalink Reply by Kylie on June 19, 2008 at 21:27

Hi Mary,

I have down sized my car from a V8 SS which cost $5 to take my daughter to school each day, to a 4 cyl which costs $3 per day. My daughter is also catching the bus on some days which further reduces petrol costs and helps the environment.

I am doing as DNAbeast, and cooking my own bread ,pasta and biscuits, basically everything I can cook from scratch I will. This also helps reduce my enviro footprint via less packaging etc. and I have cut my grocery bill by over $100 per week (this includes cutting meat intake back to the recommended amount, a piece the size of the palm of you hand, not half a plate)

I now have a great vegie garden full of carrots, broccoli, tomatoes and zucchini (the dog ate my pumpkin vine!), and I now shop fortnightly instead of weekly so that the temptation to buy easy/extra food is reduced.

All I can say is that it helps that I love cooking, and a challenge. I know that this would not help a lot of people as opening a jar of pasta sauce can seem a lot easier than making your own, much nicer sauce, at nearly a quarter of the cost.

I buy homebrand products when the country of origin is Australia, and I shop at 3 supermarkets now (in the same centre, so no driving around) and buy cheapest products from each store. I love one store in particular as they scan something incorrectly nearly every fortnight, this means of course that I get the item for free.

I have the name of a web site that has some great savings tips (not investment tips) but I don't know if I can post it here or not.

Regards,
Kylie

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Permalink Reply by Natalie Bochenski on June 20, 2008 at 0:54

Kylie,

Those are some great tips. I'm asking for myself here - but how do you go about cooking up those sauces? Do you devote a day to making it all up?

I find myself very time poor sometimes, and the thought of cooking even one meal is tiring.

But I agree with your shopping tips - I always scour the catalogues to see what items are cheap - if they're regular favourites I try to stock up!

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Permalink Reply by jacquesk on June 20, 2008 at 11:13

Hi Folks
When it comes to making sauces, soups, and casseroles I couldn't get by without my trusty Crock Pot AKA Slow Cooker. You can assemble all of the ingredients and then let it cook while you sleep or are at work. And the result is pretty damn fine as well. You can also do a excellent curry with them. For those of us who are time poor they are a great option. Combined with a freezer you can always have something there.

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Permalink Reply by Kylie on June 20, 2008 at 11:25

Hi Natalie,

Whenever I cook savoury dishes, I always cook a bit more. If I'm having a roast, I'll cook as many vegies as I can fit in the dish, extra gravy etc. then I divide up the servings and make my own TV dinners to freeze. This makes for a quick meal in the future when needed.
I make a batch of muffins, rock cakes, fruit buns etc. individually wrap them and freeze. I premake sandwiches for the fortnight, wrap and freeze and so on. This may take a little more time in the begining, but when you're running late it is so easy to grab a sandwich, cake or bun of choice from the freezer and off you go.

When you make a sauce, it doesn't take that much longer to make two or three times as much and freeze the excess. The same with a batch of soup, I freeze some in a family serving size, and some as individual serves, incase I want a hot lunch. I use snap lock sandwich bags to freeze a lot of things in too, saves keeping so many containers.

I quite often devote a Sunday to making what I need for the coming week or two, especially if we need some cookies for a change (these only last the week). By doing this I find I have more time to pre-prepare meals which makes my life easier and provides me with convienience foods from the freezer.

But as I said I enjoy cooking, and I realise that this helps a lot.

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Permalink Reply by Miffy on June 20, 2008 at 11:30

Enjoying this thread, but I'm confused - who is Natalie??

Miffy

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Permalink Reply by Natalie Bochenski on June 20, 2008 at 13:07

Hey Miffy - sorry to confuse you!

My real name is Natalie - I'm one of the writers on fatcat.com.au

My nickname is GirlClumsy - it was given to me by my boyfriend due my incredible physical ineptness. So it's what I use on internet forums, blogs etc.

So either way - you can call me what you like! :)

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Permalink Reply by The Wah on June 20, 2008 at 18:25

Can anyone point at a time in the past when things weren't tight financially?

Was there any period of your financial history where you could pay all your bills and mortgages and laugh at how easy it all is to make money?

Don't we all increase of standard of living to fill the amount we earn?

I suppose for me the question are you ready for unforeseen fluctuations in your personal wealth or do you walk blissfully through life thinking the gravy train will never leave the station?

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Permalink Reply by Kylie on June 20, 2008 at 18:54

I believe that the more people earn, the more people spend. It is the way most people are and that would be why people complain there is never 'enough'.

Once you have an 81cm widescreen (remember when they were huge?) you then aim for the rear projection or home theatre room.

I have seen many people consumed with consumerism, but the flip side is being too tight and miserly. I hope to maintain a balance...keeping my money for the things that are important in my life.

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Permalink Reply by Mary M on June 23, 2008 at 11:57

You're right Kylie, the Western world is consumed with consumerism, with the rest of the world quickly learning our bad habits. I'm reading a good book at the moment - Predictably Irrational - which mentions how the founder of PayPal bought a Porsche Boxter, before having an epiphany and deciding to get rid of it in favour of a Prius. This was not "green guilt" but rather the fear of getting caught up in the vicious cycle of upgrading consumer goods that those with wealth fall victim to. This cycle actually creates unhappiness for these people who always want something better.

Once you own the Boxter, you then want to have the 911 GT; once you have the 911 GT you then want the latest Ferrari, and so on. By opting out of this cycle he forwent the unhappiness associated with it. And the green guilt to boot.

Check out this video here by the author of the book.

Mary M

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Permalink Reply by The Wah on June 23, 2008 at 13:00

Boxter to 911 GT?

Bah!

You mean the Mercedes SLK AMG 55 to Bugatti Veyron!

;)

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Permalink Reply by scarecrow on June 25, 2008 at 19:24

Good on you Wah,

That is more like it. Here is a pic of our dream car, 407 km per hour and at that speed the tyres last 15 mins. The fuel (100 litres) runs out before the tyres wear out.

Attachments:

• bugatti_veyron_hires.jpg, 45 KB

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Permalink Reply by jacquesk on June 24, 2008 at 15:26

I think we do increase our standard of living when we get a raise or a better job. Very hard not to. The trick is when you get a rise in your finances is to do something with it before you get used to having it. In the past I have put yearly raises straight onto my mortgage payments or into my superannuation. At the moment I pay slightly more in super contributions than my employer does (the cheap gits).

I try to live a simple life that allows me to salt away money for when the gravy train gets run by Connex and the Victorian Government. Many of my friends are drastically overstretched financially and it wouldn't take much for their entire house of cards to come crashing down around them. Got to have the big LCD and home theatre and the 4WD, the holidays overseas and all funded by debt. Too scary for me!

Consumerism is like drinking slat water. You can alleviate the addiction but cannot escape it.

In terms of preparation I do not follow conventional wisdom along the lines of having X months wages sitting in a bank account but I do have shares etc that can be realised. I also have some annual and long service leave that could be realised if I needed $$ as well.

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