Just thinking out loud on this one.
people spend money on Foxtel ie approx. $49-00 a month.
Going to the pub to have a few tinnies $50 a week or more
Eating out once a week for a family of 4 is $100
Coffees daily at a café near you daily with a scone etc $10 a hit
If u have one in the avo,double whammy…
Just trying to work out where the balance is.
other than eneloops,what are people spending money on?
+1
Like mskeggs says, stay social but DIY to save money.
E.g. try having card or board game evenings at home with friends and self-cater.
How on earth are you going to fit into an Avocado?
+1 was hoping for avocado comment.
Now I'm hungry.
Honestly I spend money on none of those things.
Free to Air TV + Youtube channels
Pub drinks only 4 -5 times a year for birthdays of good friends.
Drink work coffee and box wine. (never going to educate my palate for either, as once you recognise the good stuff you pay for it. Happy in my ignorance)
Lots of free social activities here (mostly free movie tickets) entering local newspaper competitions (movies, some concerts, won taste of sydney tickets) +1 to board games, and having friends over, though that has required an investment in good board games, I have alerts on ebay for second hand ones set up.
No takeaway. Buy cheap groceries. Often walk by more than one store to get different specials / check out the quick sale section.
I would expect a lot of people that frequent ozbargain would be similarly frugal. That is why I am on here so often, in case a free movie ticket offer pops up with 20 left to claim.
What are some good board games? D&D? Monopoly?
Scrabble.
people spend money on Foxtel ie approx. $49-00 a month.
Going to the pub to have a few tinnies $50 a week or more
Eating out once a week for a family of 4 is $100
Coffees daily at a café near you daily with a scone etc $10 a hit
If u have one in the avo,double whammy…
This does not sound like a very OzBargainly way of living :P
it's sometimes a balance.
I use ozbargain so that i can afford things above.
I spend money on all of those things, scavenging around here for everything else I need allows me to enjoy them. I had a friend who once told me "stop worrying about what you are spending and worry more about how much you are earning" - I thought he was a bit odd at the time, on reflection he was possibly right (to some extent).
I can see the idea, that if you aren't earning much it gets better results to focus on increasing that, rather than cost saving.
But it is diminishing returns. I earn a fair whack above the average, and could earn more if I pursued promotions and worked longer hours.
Or I can rein in the spending and keep a sensible working life and get the same result.
I don't value foxtel/daily coffee/friday night beer/a take away/dinner out as much as the $200 a week it would cost.
Which I think is what the original post is about.
Finding the right balance is the trick.
Of course, I like being home in time to cook spaghetti and meatballs from scratch better than working late and getting it from a take away, but I can recognise the point of view that if you don't like cooking, or have a great local Italian place it makes sense to do the opposite.
And optimum options change.
When I was in my 20s and no kids going to the pub and/or dinner out was pretty routine, but we spent a lot of money.
I think when the kids leave home I will likely change again - cooking for two isn't as good as when there are kids doing homework at the table, and the cheap RSL meal will look like a good regular option again.
Still reckon I'll give Foxtel a miss though!
I'm frugal, but not so to the point that I can't eat out.
Food - fruit/veg from fruit shops in Eastwood, general groceries from ColesWorths
Eating out — maybe 3-5 times a week, usually at a RSL club for the discounted food
Indulgents — a few beers and wines now and then from bottleshop, Aldi chocolates,
Entertainment — TPG unlimited $59 with home phone (old plan), rent movies on Google Play, play games on Steam
Sport — Olympic park, just ride a bicycle or skate around, no need to pay to use the monster x bike track either,
Telephony — $19.99 a month plan with BYO Android phone (LiveConnected)
Transport — I spend craploads of money on public transportation and petrol
Much of my budget goes to
Eating out — maybe 3-5 times a week
Crikey. Maybe if it was just me or me and a partner, but the whole family would ruin me. Even if we got the cheap special, by the time you add a drink it doesn't leave a lot of change from $100 (admittedly, we are a 6 person family).
We never get the drinks. And since Mum is a club member and she plays lots of pokies, they usually have some pretty sweet discounts for the regular players. Dooley's Lidcombe for e.g is 20% discount of all menu items. That, and the drinks are always free when you buzz for service while sitting at the pokey machines.
Still, we would save more if they were more willing to eat my cooking (yes, my cooking is terrible haha)
rent movies on Google Play
You're a bigger man than I.
people spend money on Foxtel ie approx. $49-00 a month.
Going to the pub to have a few tinnies $50 a week or more
Eating out once a week for a family of 4 is $100
Coffees daily at a café near you daily with a scone etc $10 a hit
If u have one in the avo,double whammy…Just trying to work out where the balance is.
The balance depends on how much these things are valued by the individual person & by the family members.
If no one in the home watches Foxtel, then the $49 is a waste, but if family members watch it all the time, then it's money well spent.
And, if a person feels crap if they don't have their daily coffee, then it's better to spend $10 for a coffee & be more productive at work. But, if they replace the coffee with a cup of tea in the office kitchen, and feel no different, then the $10 is a waste.
family ditched the foxtel to buy a tv pad thing which was around 100 and unlimited use (basically all these asian channels)
-dont eat out much except when no one feels like cooking. maybe once or twice a month?
-dad has his weekly coffee so thats only like 4 bucks a week.
-we have a unlimited internet/ unlimited phone calls around the world plan with optus cos mum loves to call her friends from overseas on a daily basis. (much better than buying phone cards and stuff)
transport- im still using a concession card from high school which lets me buy child tickets til the end of this month. next month it'll be $4.80 every day D:
-phone plans. my dad has a 30 dollar one and i have a 80 dollar one (60 dollars and 20 handset fee, T_T )
aaaaaand dad's cigarettes.
Recently I have been spending more money on giving to church and to charitable causes, than on my own expenses.
If you think that's a lost cause feel free to PM me and explain why.
None of the above. We're trying to have a tight budget at the moment so my biggest weekly expense (aside from mortgage) is groceries.
But… There are things that I spend a stupid amount of money on when I need to buy them. I love luxury bed sheets and only own two sets which I rotate. I get waxing done regularly at my favourite place - I've tried doing it at home and hate it. If I have dinner out (very rarely nowadays) I go to good restaurants. I hate thinking how much I'm paying in health insurance.
I guess that's my balance. Give me luxury bed sheets over daily coffee any day.
I have stopped all the things you have listed, starting when I cancelled the Foxtel 14 years ago.
I occasionally buy a coffee if I am sitting down with a colleague, but not for a routine fix.
We go out to dinner as a family for a special occasion, to celebrate something big, but less than once every two months.
I'll still go to the pub once in a while, but not every week, maybe once every 6 weeks? And then I am likely to only have a couple.
The trick is to remain social, but not end up with a huge bill.
The other big change is we don't buy take away food anymore, unless there is a some major reason (it could be the birthday dinner someone requests, or we arrive back from travelling at 8pm with no quick to prepare food), only two or three time a year.
To balance this out, we have a lot of people round for a meal - not really a dinner party, more informal and more often. Or we'll take some sausages and bread down to the park. We pack our lunches for work and school, and take a picnic on a day out. A bottle of softdrink from home with cups, or maybe a 2L flavoured milk to drink (or, you know, tap water in a drink bottle!)
We tend to eat healthier, tastier and cheaper - but it does require a bit of planning.