It seems very late to be publishing this post as we are already half way through January! But, we have had a lot going on, what with getting married, going on an amazing honeymoon and moving to Sydney to start new jobs.
That’s right! For those who don’t follow us on Twitter, we are officially married. Our wedding was wonderful! We are so glad we decided to do it and we’ll cherish the memories we made. I don’t yet have the official photographs back, but when I do I’ll be sure to post some.
You will also be subject to our honeymoon photos for about the next year! We went to a lovely island off of Fiji and had an amazing time. It was expensive but to us, it was definitely worth it.
Full wedding and honeymoon recaps will come. But this post is all about our December savings rate. Spoiler alert: it wasn’t great.
Expenses are usually a bit higher in December. We spent more than usual on gifts and December is usually when we make our charitable contributions. We had our electricity, gas and water bill due, which all together is not a small amount.
We transferred the registration of my car over to NSW, which involved an inspection and CTP insurance. We also decided to get the windows on the red Polo tinted. We had been putting it off but we do spend a fair bit of time in there and the sun can be brutal on my very pale skin. We’re glad we did it, just in time for the long commute down to Sydney.
I replaced my almost ten year old iPad. I use my iPad a lot for reading but the one I owned was so old and slow, I was using it less and less. We found an excellent special and, given that Apple products are not frequently discounted, we pounced. This time I decided to buy an iPad mini and I have already gotten a lot of use out of it, particularly on our honeymoon.
December also saw us starting to pay rent on our new Sydney house. For the time being, we are paying rent in Sydney while our Brisbane home remains vacant. We have put it on the market and opted not to put tenants in it while we’re trying to sell. Hopefully it will sell soon and we can commence just paying rent in Sydney.
Eating out was higher than usual, mainly due to farewelling friends in the Brisbane area. We also took my parents out to dinner to thank them for helping us get our house ready to sell. We booked tickets to see Chat 10 Looks 3 Live in June which we’re really looking forward to.
Finally, clothing. Clothing was very high in December. The majority of this expense was a complete replacement of all of my undergarments, which was expensive. This was needed and I have a plan to spread these purchases out in the future so it’s not such an expensive endeavour all at once. I also replaced some clothing and shoes.
While we don’t buy clothes very frequently, this does often mean we spend a lot at once on the rare occasions we do buy clothes. As I mentioned in our We’re Aren’t That Frugal post, we opt for quality clothing which does cost more. I don’t expect us to have a large clothing expense like this for quite some time.
Our December savings rate:
No great, especially when you consider we earned an additional $4000 than we usually would in December. This was predominantly allowances through work that we hadn’t previously claimed back which were all paid to us at once. So not a very good month.
Next week, we’ll share our overall 2017 savings rate. We’re not thrilled with it and are determined to make 2018 a lot better (although two weeks in, we are not off to a great start).
How did you go with your savings rate in December?
Woo! I can’t wait to see more wedding and honeymoon photos and hear more about it.
I hope everything went well with the move and starting the new jobs.
Oh and that savings rate thing, that’s alright there is always 2018 to try again!
Thanks for the encouraging words but 2018 is not off to a great start!
Congratulations on getting married! I love Fiji!
We had a good (for us) 2017 in terms of saving – 40% – and it really motivated us to try even harder this year and save 50%, but my husband was off work for the first fortnight in January, and our expenditure so far this year has been shocking! It’s just so easy to spend more here and there when you’re in a different routine. I’m glad he’s back at work this week, the poor guy. 🙂 I’m 38 weeks’ pregnant with our second child, and I can barely make it off the couch these days, which helps me not to spend much. I don’t recommend it as a savings’ strategy though, haha!
We can join you on the shocking expenditure this year. Although I’m sure yours is nowhere near as bad as ours!!
I hope the birth went well!
We’ll take all the honeymoon pictures we can get! Congratulations again. Before berating yourselves for December’s savings rate, look at these numbers: 21. Now go and look at all of your honeymoon photos, think about the wedding, and look around at your new digs. See? Two flat numbers on a page doesn’t compare to the richness of experience you’ve had. Well worth it.
As for 2018, you’ve got plans in place, excellent! I hear you about January being expensive. Last year it was so cheap for us, this year has not been a good start. Just got to make it better as the year goes on…
You’re definitely right, Mrs. ETT. Some of our experiences, certainly money means nothing next to that.
BUT… that’s very easy to say and I believe an excuse most broke people use, so we do need to be careful it doesn’t get out of control. January was definitely out of control- post to come!
Congratulations! I came here for the wedding/honeymoon update. Haha! See, I didn’t even pay attention to the savings rate!
I’m excited to see more wedding and honeymoon photos. If the (pool) image you posted here is only a teaser, I don’t know what else to expect. Textbook paradise?
Oh and congratulations on the move as well. I hope you guys sell the house soon. How are you finding living in Sydney, btw?
Yay! If only everyone would ignore the savings rate (especially us) 😉
We will try to get the update out sometime soon. Sydney so far is good. There’s lots to do which we like. And I am closer to my brother and nephew which is the best!!
Congratulations on getting married, your rings are actually pretty similar to ours haha. Glad you had such an amazing time and we’re looking forward to seeing some pictures 🙂
With item after item you were listing off I was expecting to see a negative savings rate, so good job for still saving more than a 5th of your income after all than that. You had a large number of one-off/sporadic things that all come up at once yet you still did better than 95% of the Australian population 🙂
Mr DDU
Oh isn’t that funny! You’ll have to show us a photo of your rings one day.
Stand by for a negative savings rate 😉