more money! :)

first of all i will do this for Karen :)

Four things about me:
A) Four jobs I have had in my life:
1. Door to Door insurance sales rep (no shit! it sucked!)
2. Supermarket Butchery shelf filler upper!
3. Receptionist
4. Accounts Payable

B) Four movies I would watch over and over:
1. Grease
2. The Shawshank Redemption
3. Forest Gump
4. Number 2

C) Four places I have lived:
1. Auckland
2. Ruakaka
3. Ruawai
4. Edgecumbe

D) Four favourite TV shows:
1. Shortland St
2. ALL the CSIs (and bones etc LOVE forensics!)
3. Ugly Betty (i love it! she reminds me of ME!)
4. The Amazing Race

E) Four of my favourite foods:
1. Sushi
2. Crayfish
3. Fresh Summer fruit
4. Chicken

F) Four places I would rather be right now:
1.
2.
3.
4. Nowhere, i like it just where i am right now :)

ok, back to MONEY! ive had a quick looksie at the website Lil provided yesterday, pretty cool! i havent had time to have a good browse, but will do very soon.

i have purchased a new car today.... $800! bargain! bit scary for me, going from a flash (well i think so!) expensive (well... was when i brought it! haha) car, to a older putty bomb do up, we havent picked it up yet, and it does need a few things done to it, but Darryl knows these cars (Nissans) like the back of his hands, he loves them, so wont take much at all to do up. its pretty funky actually i think! i will show you a pic when i get it, we are hoping to pick it up tomorrow (and REALLY hoping that my car does actually sell on Saturday! you never know with people!)

Yesterday i changed power providers, i went to this website
http://www.consumer.org.nz/powerswitch/default.asp?bhcp=1
and worked out that im paying a lot more than what i need to be, so i changed! the saving is pretty substantial, over $500 a year, thats a lot of money!

i dont know if i have mentioned it or now, but this year i am doing pak n save Christmas club vouchers, $10 a time, will eventually add up and at the end of the year will definitely help at what is for most people a very hard time.

its been a hard slog getting my food bill down to under $100 a week, sure sometimes i will go less, sometimes a bit more, depends on what we NEED at the time (and if i have Darryl with me!) what i do is work out a food plan for the week, write down every ingrediant needed for those meals, delete out what i already have in the cupboard/fridge/freezer, and add in any cleaning products, toothpaste, soap, toiletpaper etc that we may need. then what i do is put it all into www.woolworths.co.nz just like im doing online shopping (sure the specials between the supermarkets change, but it gives you a fair idea) i put in everything that we want/need, then look at the total, keeping in mind that i still need around $30 for my fruit and veggies, from there i take out any non essentials (sorry Darryl, coke is no longer essential!) and how we can replace some ingrediants with other cheaper ingrediants (still keeping in mind nutritional value) takes a bit of fiddling, but really does make you think as to what is essential and what isnt, also gets you back to eating basic, easy, healthy meals, and makes you get a bit more creative in the kitchen! then i print out the list that i have created, and go to Pak N Save, which is of course cheaper than wollies, and ALWAYS take a calculator! do however keep in mind that we dont smoke (so that adds on a heap to your foodbill!) we hardly drink, and at the moment its just Darryl, myself and Kaylee who eat food, Olivia is fully breastfed and probably will stay that way for at least the next few months.

in the next few days im giving up my beloved broadband and going back to dialup... ok not so much a big deal, and definitely not a necessity (imo if you are on the bones of your arse and its either non essential bills or food, then the internet must go, $16 a month for dialup may seem a small amount, but when you think you can get 16 loaves of bread for that.... when it comes to feeding your family that is a lot!)

thats all from me today, whats the bet im boring the pants off ya! :)