14 January 2018

WHAT WE SPENT, WHAT WE DIDN'T SPEND AND WHAT WE SAVED WEEK 2

This is what we spent:

Groceries: $4.99 (milk, plain yoghurt)
Household: $260.00 (new mattress)
Chemist: $40.12 (vitamins)
Kmart: $3 (t-shirt)

Yoghurt: NQR had  1 kilo tubs of Greek yoghurt for 99 cents so I bought two and froze them in ice cube trays. The yoghurt cubes will be used as starter for MOO yoghurt and to add to curries and sauces.

We came home on Sunday to a damp bed. We have a water bed and it sprung a leak sometime between Friday night and Sunday afternoon. Ho hum. We  (read: Wayne) tried to patch it. We have a super-strength patch kit with amazingly strong and fast drying glue. After pulling the bed apart and hunting for the leak, we thought we'd found it, so it was patched. And we thought that was the end of it. Nope. There was still a leak, a sneaky, hidden, impossible to find no matter how hard we searched leak.

After a night in the spare bed we both woke up cramped and cranky. After a discussion on the merits of buying a new mattress over hunting for the leak, we chose the new mattress. Then came the searching for a replacement at a price we could afford and were prepared to pay. We found it, with same day delivery if ordered before 2pm. Yes! So I rang first thing, had a chat to the fellow to make sure what I was ordering was the equivalent replacement of what we had and handed over $260 (this included a new liner, water conditioner and delivery). This came out of the household account, which is where I stash the cash to cover replacement furniture etc.

This is what we didn't spend (and what was moved into savings/slush fund/holiday fund):

Yoghurt: Made two kilos MOO yoghurt. Cost: 12 cents for yoghurt (it was 99c/kg!) and $2.88 for milk powder. Plain Greek yoghurt costs $5.30 per kilo. My MOO yoghurt cost $3 for two kilos, leaving my grocery budget $7.60 better off.

Coffee: Wayne is still using his keep cup - and I'm loving the saving.  $21.35 moved to savings from Entertainment.

Lunches: Packed lunches every day, along with morning and afternoon tea. This week I made a batch of scrolls, a large chocolate slab cake and two dozen mini fruit cakes, as well as two dozen sausage rolls for lunches. Our local bakery sells coffee/cinnamon scrolls for $4.80 each. The batch made 14 really big scrolls and cost $6.10 to make; that equates to just  44 cents per scroll, or $61.10 I didn't spend on scrolls (not that I would - we can't afford to spend a week's grocery money on cinnamon scrolls!).

The chocolate slab cake cost $6.20 to make and it filled my large Corningware baking dish (I made four times the recipe). This gave me 60 large slices of chocolate cake. At $2 a slice, I didn't spend $113.80 on cake for morning/afternoon teas and lunches.
Sausage rolls are $3.30 each at the same bakery (and it's not even a particularly trendy bakery). The cost of making sausage rolls has gone up, as sausage mince has doubled in price in the last 12 months. It now costs $4 for a roll of sausage mince, $2.50 for pastry, 30c for onion, 30c for breadcrumbs, 20c for herbs and 25c for egg, for a total of $7.75; that equates to 32c/sausage roll or $71.45 I didn't spend on sausage rolls (and mine are so much nicer, better flavour and not as much grease). Again, I would never buy two dozen sausage rolls from the bakery, we just couldn't afford it, but I can make them without hurting our grocery budget.

Mini fruit cakes are an expensive treat for us. A batch costs $9.45 to make (I get 24 cupcake size from a single recipe). I use Aldi mixed dried fruit I buy for $4.95/kg before Christmas each year and freeze, and Aldi butter. I really noticed how the cost of butter increased the cost of Christmas cakes and puddings this last Christmas, and it has made me think about baking and how much butter is in a recipe. The 24 fruit cupcakes cost $9.45 to make, or 39 cents each. I've no idea how much they would sell for, but regular cupcakes are $1.50 at the bakery, I think fruit cakes would be more expensive, so I didn't spend at least $26.55.

Bread: I've been making our bread this week. Bread at Coles is $1.80 a loaf - my homemade bread costs around $1 a loaf. I've made 5 loaves of bread, not spending $4.00.

Household: My knitted dishcloths in the kitchen were starting to get very ragged so they've been shifted to the laundry and I knitted three new ones. These sell for $8+ each on Etsy, and they cost me approximately $3 each to knit, so I've moved $15 from the household account to the holiday fund.

Chemist: My doctor bulk bills (for which I am very grateful) but sadly medications cost a small fortune. Last week he ordered a bunch of vitamins and minerals for me, to balance the long-term effects of medication I'm on. Some time spent hunting for the best prices and I found them on half-price sale, saving $40.12.

Total spent this week: $308.11
Total not spent this week: $360.97
And moved to savings: $286.70*

*I didn't move the $26.55 for the fruit cakes, the $7.60 for the yoghurt or the $40.12 for vitamins

Remember, money isn't saved until it is safely in the bank. Until then it is just not spent - hence my "what we didn't spend" list and making sure I move money from the relevant categories into our savings accounts.



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3 comments:

  1. Hi Cath,

    Do you have a recipe for your chocolate slab cake please?

    Thanks,

    Allie

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hi Allie, Just added the recipe for you. It's one I've been making for a long time, so quick and easy. One bowl, give it all a stir and bake - perfect if you're in a hurry.

      Delete
  2. Thanks! :)

    Allie

    ReplyDelete

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