The weekends damage

We've been really good lately and decided to try the new Asian restaurant near our house for dinner last night (Friday) as we haven't gone out, just the two of us, for a while. So it was a bit of a treat... Unfortunately it was a bit more expensive than I was expecting, $20+ for mains, so with a couple of glasses of wine the bill was $65, plus we left a $5 tip... (Even tho we don't have to tip in Australia, I still like to leave something!)

But the part I was very proud of was neither of us has spent much of our allowance this week so we had plenty to cover dinner and then some. We didn't have plans to go out at any other point in the weekend either so we shouldn't fall behind. Normally I would've put that kind of dinner on a CC in order to "free up" money for the weekend, with the best intention of paying it back, but really, just end up leaving it and then paying interest on it - or as I said in my last post, I'd end up paying for it twice.

Today I've sort of fallen off the bandwagon in terms of spending. I accompanied my sister on a shopping trip and ended up buying a few things for myself that I've been thinking about for a while. I knew this would be potentially dangerous, as I LOVE strolling around the shops which is why I've avoided them for months now!

I ended up buying the new shoes I wanted (on special, only $23.99) and the third book in the Twilight series, Eclipse (also $23.99) and a DVD (Underworld 1&2, $12.99). The shoes were planned, but I really should have waited til Eclipse was on special... as for Underworld, that was pretty much an impulse buy. I've seen it in the shops for a while, and it had always been about $30 so when I saw it for $12.99 I snapped it up. Also went to the supermarket for groceries and I'm starting to realise that $150 shop at the market we did at the market a couple of weeks ago may have meant we won't be buying red meat for a few weeks, but there are still so many other things we need! Today I managed to spend $88.69 at Coles on pretty much nothing fresh! The list is:

• 4L of extra virgin olive oil - $24.00 (about half price!)
• Kit kat family block $2.00 (on special)
• Paper towels (3 rolls) - $4.00 (on special)
• 2 x gluten free spaghetti - 2 for $6.00 (on special)
• 5 x tuna cans - $6.00 (on special)
• Fresh milk 1L - $2.36
• 2 x UHT milk - $1.88 each
• Moccona coffee - $11.50 (on special)
• 4 x Skinless chicken breasts - $10.58 (on special $10/kg
• 2 x Carmen's muesli bars - $4.00 each
• Omo washing powder concentrate 1kg - $6.50 (on special)
• Ground coffee - $3.99 (on special)

Pretty much everything was on special, and on the list I wrote, except the kit kat (obviously lol) and the ground coffee which was such a good price i knew I should grab it. I shouldn't have bought the chocolate because I ate most of it tonight while watching a movie!

I also stopped in at the Warehouse and bought 3 x 500g packs of Optimum weight management cat food for $1.97 each (very cheap!) plus an oil/diffuser for our bathroom ($7.99) and another tub to collect shower water in ($2.99) so the total was $16.90, but I paid for it out of my allowance this week. I've got about $20 to last til Monday but I know I've totally cheated as the DVD and book really should have come out of my allowance! But I mentioned a couple of posts ago I had given myself a $100 budget for new shows, a cardigan and a lint remover - at least I got the shoes! I might see if I can pick up a good lint roller/remover online!

Good news is I won't need to buy anything until Tuesday when we'll probably need some bread and fruit which I could probably grab for less that $15.

What makes me happy is that even though I made unplanned purchases this week, I didn't put anything on a credit card, and my budget for the next few weeks is still looking good, with nothing going into the red!

P.S In an added bonus, Mr Melbourne's brother paid us back the $200 odd dollars that he owes us! Yes! Straight on the credit card!