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.

Wednesday, March 7, 2012

Catch Up

Changes:

I've been busy still trying to tweak my new work hours around my life, getting myself better organised, creating a vision board for myself, reading about wealth creation, looking at real estate for a house, decluttering, tidying up and developing myself. It's been busy, productive and positive. I can feel a shift happening in myself and it feels motivating.

Health:

The biking to and from work has began to give me a sense of wellbeing. Breathing in fresh air and looking at the amazing array of birds in the morning as I pedal is relaxing compared to the radio and traffic management I used to deal with in the car. My ride is now 20 minutes each way. I have reduced the time it takes as my fitness has increased. My increase in wellbeing has also given me a bit more consciences about my body. I'm looking at eating healthier options however I am still heavily lured by junk food and chocolate.

Money:

We are still the frugal family. Now that we are aiming towards goals on how to spend our savings it will all have a fuller meaning of why we choose to not eat out at restaurants whenever we want like we did in the past. We do eat inexpensive takeout once in a while but we don't buy drinks, desserts and so forth as we used to. Last night for dinner we had roast vegetables of potato, carrot, onion, garlic from the shop and pumpkin from our garden. I also shallow fried 5 portions of barramundi that The Rambling Expat had caught last weekend. I told Dolly we were eating our own version of Fish and Chips. She asked where the chips were and I pointed to the roast potatoes :-) Delicious and frugal.

Our Borneo trip tin is slowly filling up as we collect a few cans and bottles here and there. This week is our smallest pile yet as our neighbours haven't given us many. But I might squeeze in a beach walk and clean up the litter bugs rubbish and gather bottles and cans on the way. As for Dolly her school banking savings account is looking healthy as is her spending money box.

Clothes, Accessories and Make Up:

I am doing well on my challenge on the clothing front. However I must mention my mum gave me 3 pairs of leggings and ex boss lady gave me a pair of sneakers. Both are serving me well on my biking. I purchased 2 purses at the op shop for $15 each. I love them and they have price tags of $69.95 and $79.95. I'm really happy with this find as my 6 year old leather wallet has stretched too much and all my cards were falling out in public places. So I resorted everything in my new wallet and feeling very organised there. (Sorry no photos yet as we don't have out photo shop up yet on this computer).

How is your frugality, non frugality, decluttering, wealth building, motivation or anything else you want to chat about?

6 comments:

  1. How are you finding your new computer?

    Wow, you are an inspiration, fitting in all of that whilst raising a happy family!

    I am feeling very motivated at the minute too! The end of working in a silly minimum wage job is in sight and real research is calling. I should have PhD news soon! Exciting times!

    On the frugality side of things, I'm spending today planting seeds and finally cleaning my car (I was meant to do it last week but the farmers along my lane spread mud EVERYWHERE! And it's not just "mud" with dairy farms on either side of our house!).

    On the health side of things; I have given up chocolate for lent and it's sunny enough to get me out and cycling! :D Good times!

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  2. With all the biking, you can have a bit of chocolate and not suffer the consequences. If I had ever biked to work, I would have arrived a sweaty, wind-blown mess who would be itching all day long from her own sweat, and I would have arrived sneezing and all stuffed up (head and sinuses). People who can shower at work seem to be able to bike successfully.
    Either that or they don't sweat.

    My favorite hen died yesterday. Earlier, I gave her a gynecological exam to see if there was a stuck egg. This has been a rough week. Plus, my blog page said it had been several days since you posted! I just accidentally found this post...lol...if someone has not posted, I go check the blog anyway.

    Health--I lost 12 lbs.
    Money--sold something for $150
    Clothing--clothes should fit better with weight loss. Plus, it will help me not hurt so much.

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  3. Hi Bryallen, My car needs a good clean. So does our home. Ethical to give up chocolate that uses slave and child labour. Each time I buy Cadbury I think of that but my will power is not strong enough yet. I'm not enjoying the new computer, yet.... The interface is not the same and I'm getting frustrated as it's slowing me down because I am constantly looking for this or that function.

    I'm sorry about your Hen Practical Linda :-( Well done for the selling! Hope to read it in your blog. Sounds like the weight loss may be a good thing for you if it hurts less. All the best to you :-)

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  4. Awesome frugal blog.
    I have been frugal for years too. In fact my first husband and I lived so frugally that we managed to save up for a down payment on a home while both only working part time for relatively low wages. I encourage you to save up for a huge down payment, it makes all the difference in the world if you can keep your mortgage payments LOWER than rent would be. As it happened my first husband passed away when our daughter was 5. Thank heavens I knew how to be frugal and was not the type to live beyond my means.

    Sad to hear about the other gals hen dying - I now live on a 10 acre hobby farm and have enjoyed keeping hens for eggs too (could not bring myself to kill the hens and eat them though).

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  5. Love the new blog design, by the way!

    It is almost time for me to start biking to the "second shift job" around here. Temps in the 70s tomorrow, so I'm really looking forward to getting out and getting some air on the way to work. I'm also looking forward to trying my new bungee net for my basket, which was a Christmas present.

    Every penny saved goes into our "Key West fund," which I think is similar to your Borneo fund.

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  6. Hi Brenda, Welcome to my ramblings. I'm looking at paying off our unit and then getting a house. Just a small house with a back yard for Dolly to play safely and me to garden at my hearts content. But we will try to save the most cash possible for our deposit and pay it off as fast as possible. Maybe rent a room out at first to help it move along.

    Hi Jennifer, I'm curious to know what bungee net is. I'll have to go and research it now.

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