September saw us still enjoying our trip for about ten days. With three weeks back in Australia, our expenses should have been a little bit lower than usual… right?
To be honest, they weren’t too bad. Before we left for our trip, we ate down our pantry and our fridge. As a result, when we got back we did do a big stock up but thankfully still managed to keep our groceries at under $400 a month. It is our goal to come under $400 each month, so it’s always pleasing when we do.
We also made some purchases for the new home, the most expensive of which was a new mirrored cabinet for our bathroom. We love it, but it was a bit pricey. We also (finally) sold Poopsie’s car, so had to get a safety certificate for that. Now that we can cancel his insurance, car costs should be a little lower from now on.
Travel of course, was quite high due to those ten days overseas. However, we also spent $560 on tickets to Launceston for a wedding in December, and I also booked tickets to fly to Townsville to meet my newborn nephew.
So here we are, our September expenses:
| Category | Amount | Comments |
|---|---|---|
| Internet | $56.20 | Standard charge. |
| Groceries | $389.61 | True, we didn't spend the entire month in Australia, but we did eat out our fridge and pantry before we left. On our return, we had to do a big restock, so all in all, I am very happy with this amount! |
| Car Costs | $225.94 | We finally sold Poopsie's car, so this includes the final safety certifcate for that. We can now cancel his insurance, so this should start to be a bit lower from now on. |
| Kids (child support, school fees, etc.) | $1,235.74 | Child Support has gone up slightly. |
| Mobile | $131.47 | Poopsie has settled on a new mobile company. It will usually be $18 a month, but there was a requirement to pay a few months up front, which is why this amount is so high. Obviously, we won't pay his mobile for the next couple of months, so it will even out in the end. We are trialling him with this company and if he is happy, I too will make the switch. He will also write a review of it, so keep an eye out! |
| Household | $672.70 | Our bathroom in the new house had very poor storage. We purchased a mirrored cabinet and a couple of other items from Ikea, for about $500 total. We also bought a few fixings, taking advantage of the Masters closing down sale. Also purchased- a Popcorn Maker. No regrets there! |
| Miscellaneous | $76.00 | This was mainly a work related bill for me. It was a one off and should not appear again. |
| Mortgage Interest | $1,006.30 | We expected this to be about double from last month. We have set the goal of this being the only time our mortgage interest is over $1000. |
| Travel | $2,923.29 | Most of this was the final 10 days of our USA Trip. However, we also purchased flights to Launcestion for a wedding in December which cost $560. I also purchased flights to Townsville in October to meet my new nephew. |
| Gifts/Donations | $20.00 | A present for my second grandparent to turn 80 this year. |
How did your spending go this month?
Oh! Clearly I will be very interested in the mobile research Poopsie is doing.
Why were you selling his car? Have you dropped to a one car family? If so, what influenced your decision there?
I reckon $400/month is great for groceries, especially when you have the kids there some time. We aren’t trying hard (or at all) at the moment, but we are always around $600/month, just for the two of us. This is definitely something we need to work on. Food is so difficult for us, I’m leaving it to the last post of my budget series.
Finally, I have to say … I love Ikea! There’s only so much you can fit into one house, though (speaking from experience, here).
Mrs ETT, you always give me the best ideas for posts. Short story is yes, we are now a one car family, but I will definitely write a post on it explaining it a bit more.
We don’t have the kids with us anymore, so this $400 is just for us, definitely not as impressive if it were for the kids as well. But any lower, and we do start to feel like we’re missing out, so we are happy with this number. I also intend to do a grocery post but my best advice, if you aren’t already, is shop at Aldi! It makes such a huge difference!
$18 a month for phone? I wonder who that is – even the cheap ones I can think of only do $5 intervals.
A very nice update from you AWP, I see some bigger numbers like travel and household..but they’re for really good reasons and improve(d) your life! 🙂
Have fun at the wedding!
Tristan
Hi Tristan, thanks for the support. You’re right, those bigger expenses did improve our lives, so we’re pretty happy. It’ll be nice to have a “normal” month though where we aren’t spending out of the ordinary! Not sure when we will get one of those though…