Our Frugal Lifestyle

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Passionate about eco-frugality. I used to party hard, clubbing my way from pay-packet to pay-packet. Never getting ahead, just getting by. Then came our much wanted baby with no savings in the bank - only an old car. Changes were made to our lifestyle and we didn't turn back. In the past 6yrs we purchased a flat, found employment, lived below our means, built an emergency fund, purchased a reliable car and saw the financial benefits of our frugal lifestyle. Our only debt is our mortgage. Our aim is to manage our cash flow wisely, pay off our home quickly and eventually work for pleasure, not necessity. Join us on our journey, share insights, tips and tricks to help us and others to get ahead while having a good time.

Friday, May 6, 2011

I Made a Glorious Error

Monday was a public holiday that I miscalculated. So I had 11 days off!!! Not just a lousy 10. Happy Dance....

I didn't do too much, as I wanted to do things at home and get ready for the work week. What a waste! It's not like I had to write a report for work or balance the books. Why did I waste my precious minutes on a little cleaning, some cooking, some sorting, some nagging, some more cleaning, more nagging and some more cooking.

Amongst all the boring activities I dropped off our Helpx Jiri at the airport as he was heading to Vietnam for 2 weeks. I gave him 2 magazines (that I picked up for FREE) for a friend in Vietnam who is a village girl working in the big smoke as a domestic aid and learning English in night classes. So ecologically the magazines are having a nice long life. They were read by a person(s), then donated to an op shop, then picked up for free by my mum, then given to me, then Jiri read them on the trip, then given in Vietnam where a whole lot of other people will read them. What a great long life instead of read once and binned.

Dolly and I also went for our weekly grocery shop. My fun girl always wants to come with me.
Playing Facial Games.
I bought some "wasted money" items:

  • A Eco magazine (Because I wanted to see what it was all about)
  • A bottle of cordial (which dropped and smashed as we got it out of the car).
  • A manual egg beater (I could have waited to find one in an op shop).

But... I also purchased 2 toothbrushes on special for $4.88 which scanned wrong at $5.76 so I got them for free. Yeah!!! Love the FREE stuff.

I purchased 3 bottles of laundry liquid as it was a discontinued line and reduced from $8 to $4. So I stocked up.
Groceries shopping not yet completed.
My groceries total was $86.95AUS - my aim is for groceries to stay under $100 a week. I still have a few shopping items to buy at latter in the week, which may take me over.

How did you do with your groceries? Within budget? Out of budget? Smashed all your eggs and bottles?
Posted by Frugal Down Under
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3 comments:

  1. UnknownMay 6, 2011 at 10:29 PM

    You did very well with your groceries! And with the reuse of magazines too. Passing on magazines to friends and family is a lovely idea. I find that groceries is an area I need to improve on. I always spend far too much money on food, but I do think the big supermarket chains are so overpriced. I'm doing my best to buy from local grocery stores, ALDI and IGA, as well as markets when possible. Not easy though!

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  2. cathy@homeMay 7, 2011 at 12:45 AM

    Sometimes spend about 100 Aus$ but at the moment lots of holidays so it is more like 150 Aus$ Last Friday it went up to 250 Aus$ as we have people to stay.I need to have a shopping list other wise i can impulse buy.

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  3. Ms. DigMay 7, 2011 at 6:00 PM

    Gosh, I'm impressed! I used to spend $AUD200+ for three people. Now I'm spending about $AUD100 just by myself. I seriously need to learn more from you.

    Cheers,
    Ms. Dig.

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Thanks for commenting - I love getting feedback, sharing experiences and learning from you.

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