Saving, saving, saving - Half way to my goal of saving $3,000

Its been a few weeks since my last blog on how to save $3,000 - but despite away for a conference I did manage to keep the spending down.  I usually take the chance when I'm away to splash out a bit and eat somewhere fancy - but quite often cheap and cheerful with good company is just the ticket.  I attended the 2012 FILEX Fitness Convention at Darling Harbour - not a cheap part of town, and with lectures running back to back its tempting to just buy at the portable cafe stations dotted around the place and pay for the convenience.  So how did I save $$ at such a venue - just a bit of planning really.

So far I've saved $1,262 - just to remind us . . . .

Tip #41 - take your portable hot drink cup - a cup of herbal tea in a disposible cup cost around $4.50.  I made mine at the hotel before leaving - so over 3 days saved around $13.50

Tip #42 - stock up on snacks, fruit, muslea bars, healthy snacks that you know you'll need and wont be able to find at the portable cafe stations.  I spent about $5 on fruit, I bought some dried fruit and nuts from home, and this covered morning and afternoon tea.  I ate better and saved $$.  I even bought my beloved V so I wouldnt have to seek it out between lectures.  I reacon I saved bucket loads here - at least $25 each day - so $75 over 3 days

Tip#43 - cheap and cheerful for tea - good company - enjoyed eating outside - that is treat enough.  2 pub meals and one chinese banquet (paid for by my buddies Kel and Kel as it was my birthday).  I spent a total of $50 on eating at night - over 3 nights - I think I spent $50 a night last year - I didnt drink as much alcohol-  so I am confident to say I saved $100!

Tip #44 - Bought breakfast muslea and yoghurt and brought grains from home to add to it - and a little of the fruit from the market - so instead of buying breakfast every morning for $10, $10 covered the lot.  I probably ate better too - it was all high in fibre and that's something I really cant do without!  Saved $20.

Tip #45 - nothing new here - bakery bipass, sold some eggs (even got a $1 tip because my eggs are so good!) avoided buying takeaway drinks (at takeaways anyway)  Gotta admit I was missing my coke so i bought a carton of cans - its way cheaper than takeaway and I drink less of it as i only have 1 can a day.  Oh and my mum looked after Brooke when I was away so that saved in childcare costs - but the boys went in afterschool care - i think the net gain was about $15.  Total saving for this lot is around $50 over the last week

Did have to buy an oven.  Its worthy of discussion because we made some decisions, changed our mind, changed it back again, talked, shopped around, and bought something quite different to what we intended.  We were thinking you only buy an oven every decade or 2 its a big purchase, the hot plate unit is also almost done - so we will get a package and ultimately save - buy good stuff - one visit from a sparky to install it . . . . Then a friend said go for second hand parts.  NUTS.  This really was throwing good money after bad - hardly any feature worked. 

I'm not counting these savings to the tally but here's our rationale.  To get a really good oven (pylometric) and hot plate elements we were looking at around $3,000 (familiar figure coincidentally).  We'd need finance for it.  But it would be a one off purchase and we could do a deal. All the deals included rangehoods - which we did not need or want to sell on (or as my father would have done - build a shack around it).  This isnt what we did. We bought an oven with excellent energy efficiency, it looks good, it doesnt have pylometric feature but we own it out right and it cooks like a dream, the light works, the timer works, I'm happy with it.  Sometimes we think we need something, and it makes sense to pay more . . . . but it is something you just dont need right now.

Total savings this last week and this I suppose $$223.50 + $1,262 = $1,485.2

LETS CALL THAT HALF WAY THERE!!