We have had some luck this month with our account. My husband's great aunt passed away and gave us $1500. So that has been added to the account.
So far our savings is $2,626.14.
We should hit the $3,000 mark by the end of the year I'm hoping!
Thursday, November 8, 2012
Sunday, October 28, 2012
Ways to earn/save money
Wanting to have as much money before we have another addition has got me thinking of ways that I can earn /save some more money.
Sewing - I'm plus sizes, so maternity clothes are just about impossible to find, and even so they are SO expensive. I'm hoping to make myself some maxi dresses, yoga pants, maternity tops that will double as breast feeding tops etc. I've also found a tutorial to turn shirts into maternity shirts. As I'm hoping to lose some weight - I figure my current tshirts might work! Figure I don't need a huge wardrobe. I have plenty of fabric here, and I should be able to buy some more at much cheaper cost than it would have been to buy items ready made! I'm also looking at making some baby things - hats, maybe some bibs (though they are so cheap to buy!).
Survey Websites - I used to do these lots, but I keep forgetting. Last night I decided to look through the ones I have signed up to - and ended up redeeming a $20 voucher, and I am probably close to another $50+! Figure these I can do while I'm sitting watching TV etc - and although the return isn't great - I only have to save $150 for hubby to have a week at home with me - so every little bit counts!
Gumtree/eBay - I'm hoping to be organised and go through the kids clothes/toys etc, even my textbooks etc that I no longer need and look at selling these to make a little bit of extra money. I figure that every little bit counts - and even if I can get $1-2 for something - it's better than nothing!
I'm also going to be using Gumtree/eBay to purchase a lot of things - I figure I don't mind if I don't have things new! Would prefer to have money in my pocket!
SAVING money - I'm hoping to do little things - like ensure that I'm cooking from scratch, stopping non-essential purchases etc. Sometimes money just goes so quickly and I have no idea how! Even if I can save $20 a week - that's still going to be $500+ over the time that I'll be saving.
Sewing - I'm plus sizes, so maternity clothes are just about impossible to find, and even so they are SO expensive. I'm hoping to make myself some maxi dresses, yoga pants, maternity tops that will double as breast feeding tops etc. I've also found a tutorial to turn shirts into maternity shirts. As I'm hoping to lose some weight - I figure my current tshirts might work! Figure I don't need a huge wardrobe. I have plenty of fabric here, and I should be able to buy some more at much cheaper cost than it would have been to buy items ready made! I'm also looking at making some baby things - hats, maybe some bibs (though they are so cheap to buy!).
Survey Websites - I used to do these lots, but I keep forgetting. Last night I decided to look through the ones I have signed up to - and ended up redeeming a $20 voucher, and I am probably close to another $50+! Figure these I can do while I'm sitting watching TV etc - and although the return isn't great - I only have to save $150 for hubby to have a week at home with me - so every little bit counts!
Gumtree/eBay - I'm hoping to be organised and go through the kids clothes/toys etc, even my textbooks etc that I no longer need and look at selling these to make a little bit of extra money. I figure that every little bit counts - and even if I can get $1-2 for something - it's better than nothing!
I'm also going to be using Gumtree/eBay to purchase a lot of things - I figure I don't mind if I don't have things new! Would prefer to have money in my pocket!
SAVING money - I'm hoping to do little things - like ensure that I'm cooking from scratch, stopping non-essential purchases etc. Sometimes money just goes so quickly and I have no idea how! Even if I can save $20 a week - that's still going to be $500+ over the time that I'll be saving.
Savings Account - Plan
This is our plan for our savings account.
Rounding - when I remember - I go into online banking and round my accounts down to the nearest $5 or $10 (depending on how skint we are!) and transfer the leftover to the savings account. I also round to $0 on the night before payday.
Weekly saving - we have $40 a week that goes into the savings account
Interest - we have a few different savings accounts for many different purposes. Each month, ALL of the interest that we earn on all of the accounts get deposited into the baby savings account
Money tin - we have a money tin that we empty our wallets into the day before payday.
Weight Watchers - I was doing Weight Watchers, but found my group not to be overly supportive and I decided that I could do it on my own. As I was paying $60 a month, I swapped to online only, which is $30 a month, so the extra $30 that I was paying will go to the baby savings account
Austar - we currently have austar, but we find we don't use it all that often. We've decided to get rid of it once the contract is up, and then the $65 that we are paying each month will go onto baby savings.
SchoolKids Bonus - we will get a bonus from the government for the kids - I budget for their schooling expenses so do not NEED this money. So it will go onto savings - we'll get $420 every 6 months.
Start up Scholarship - I'm studying full time and therefore get a scholarship from the government. It's $1025 each 6 months. This money will go onto the baby savings.
If everything goes to plan, we're going to have at least $6,000. I'm also hoping to put things in like our tax return, any unexpected windfalls. I'm also hoping to look at selling things on ebay/gumtree and popping the money from that in our money tin.
Rounding - when I remember - I go into online banking and round my accounts down to the nearest $5 or $10 (depending on how skint we are!) and transfer the leftover to the savings account. I also round to $0 on the night before payday.
Weekly saving - we have $40 a week that goes into the savings account
Interest - we have a few different savings accounts for many different purposes. Each month, ALL of the interest that we earn on all of the accounts get deposited into the baby savings account
Money tin - we have a money tin that we empty our wallets into the day before payday.
Weight Watchers - I was doing Weight Watchers, but found my group not to be overly supportive and I decided that I could do it on my own. As I was paying $60 a month, I swapped to online only, which is $30 a month, so the extra $30 that I was paying will go to the baby savings account
Austar - we currently have austar, but we find we don't use it all that often. We've decided to get rid of it once the contract is up, and then the $65 that we are paying each month will go onto baby savings.
SchoolKids Bonus - we will get a bonus from the government for the kids - I budget for their schooling expenses so do not NEED this money. So it will go onto savings - we'll get $420 every 6 months.
Start up Scholarship - I'm studying full time and therefore get a scholarship from the government. It's $1025 each 6 months. This money will go onto the baby savings.
If everything goes to plan, we're going to have at least $6,000. I'm also hoping to put things in like our tax return, any unexpected windfalls. I'm also hoping to look at selling things on ebay/gumtree and popping the money from that in our money tin.
Savings account - October
Well so far this month - our closing balance is $1006.23!
We've managed to save $247.04 this month.
Breakdown
Weekly savings - $133.62
Extra savings - $100
Interest earnt - $14.74
Our goal this month was to hit $1000 so I'm really pleased that we've been able to hit that target :)
We've managed to save $247.04 this month.
Breakdown
Weekly savings - $133.62
Extra savings - $100
Interest earnt - $14.74
Our goal this month was to hit $1000 so I'm really pleased that we've been able to hit that target :)
Our Budget!
I'm currently trying to save as much money as physically possible. We want to get to about $6000-7000.
I've done a bit of research and I'm hoping that costs will be as follows:
Independent Midwife - $4000
Baby Carriers - $300
Pram - $150
Cot - $350
Change table - $100
Cot Mattress - $100
Sheets/Mattress protector - $100
Wraps/bibs - $50
Nappy bucket - $10
Chest of drawers - $100
Baby Bag - $50
Other - $300
Cloth nappies - $100
Car seat - $200
Total - $5910
Figure other will be things like clothes, toiletries, etc.
I want to save as much as possible, as I figure the more I can buy before the birth, the better. PLUS I've worked out that if hubby's shift pattern stays the same, if they will let him take some unpaid leave, he can have 2 days off a fortnight (at a cost of about $150 a fortnight for us), and then end up working a week on, a week off. Which would be heaps of help!!
I'm also hoping to buy most things second hand where possible. Gumtree and ebay are amazing. I also haven't taken into consideration that people are going to want to buy us gifts to help us out - so anything that we get from people will be money directly saved for us!
I've done a bit of research and I'm hoping that costs will be as follows:
Independent Midwife - $4000
Baby Carriers - $300
Pram - $150
Cot - $350
Change table - $100
Cot Mattress - $100
Sheets/Mattress protector - $100
Wraps/bibs - $50
Nappy bucket - $10
Chest of drawers - $100
Baby Bag - $50
Other - $300
Cloth nappies - $100
Car seat - $200
Total - $5910
Figure other will be things like clothes, toiletries, etc.
I want to save as much as possible, as I figure the more I can buy before the birth, the better. PLUS I've worked out that if hubby's shift pattern stays the same, if they will let him take some unpaid leave, he can have 2 days off a fortnight (at a cost of about $150 a fortnight for us), and then end up working a week on, a week off. Which would be heaps of help!!
I'm also hoping to buy most things second hand where possible. Gumtree and ebay are amazing. I also haven't taken into consideration that people are going to want to buy us gifts to help us out - so anything that we get from people will be money directly saved for us!
The beginning
I've decided to keep a blog on our journey to making our family of four, a family of five! We've wanted three children for a long time. We've had MANY obstacles that have stopped us from looking at trying. Until now.
We're looking at actively trying next year - probably February/March. We'll have to see a fertility specialist. I want to book in to see my dr relatively soon, get some blood tests, and referral to our fertility specialist, as I know he usually closes for a little bit, and he can take months just to get an appointment.
I want to get healthier. I figure I've got about 4 months. Would be nice if I could drop a bit of weight. It'll definitely make TTC easier.
We are also trying to save money. I want to have a homebirth, and they aren't medicare funded. But it will be a well worth it expense!
We're looking at actively trying next year - probably February/March. We'll have to see a fertility specialist. I want to book in to see my dr relatively soon, get some blood tests, and referral to our fertility specialist, as I know he usually closes for a little bit, and he can take months just to get an appointment.
I want to get healthier. I figure I've got about 4 months. Would be nice if I could drop a bit of weight. It'll definitely make TTC easier.
We are also trying to save money. I want to have a homebirth, and they aren't medicare funded. But it will be a well worth it expense!
Sunday, September 30, 2012
Savings Account - September
Well September we opened an account which we have called our 'Baby Savings' account.
We managed to deposit $759.19 in this month!
Breakdown
Weekly savings - $394.28
Interest - $10.55
Money tin - $270.85
Rounding - $83.51
It was a big savings month as we broke open a money tin that had been going for a while, and we had our weekly savings increased.
We managed to deposit $759.19 in this month!
Breakdown
Weekly savings - $394.28
Interest - $10.55
Money tin - $270.85
Rounding - $83.51
It was a big savings month as we broke open a money tin that had been going for a while, and we had our weekly savings increased.
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