WISH card challenge end of week ten

As expected, a hideously expensive week.  Both cars needed filled with fuel and we also bought lots of fruit and veggies. I expected to spend around $150 but spent a whopping $202.04. Yipes.

This week will be much less expensive as we'll only need some fresh salad veggies and fruit.

Everyone was feeling much better but as we were all back at work and school,  lots of early nights and no sitting at the computer until late evening was the rule for last week.

I think we may just wring two weeks out of the WISH cards we have left.  Will all depend on how much we need to spend on  fuel. Cross your fingers for luck!

No movement in the stockpile fund.
Week ten, day seven

Gift cards $147.81
Stockpile $237.50
Spent so far $1752.19


Average spend: $175.22 per week

WISH card challenge end of week nine

Another week completed.

Everyone in the house shared a virus, with a bonus ear infection for me thrown in. It meant that we've stayed close to home for the week and have only spent on some petrol and fresh fruit.

Any money saved through no shopping was spent on doctor visits and prescriptions this week.  It's also meant no posts from me as I have stayed away from the computer.

I expect that a massive shop will be needed this week. We're pretty much out of all fruit and veg. We have an onion, two carrots, three apples, some mandarins and kiwi fruit left.
The freezer was a godsend this week as we had a number of ready meals in there and it meant that GuitarMan could heat something up if I didn't feel up to cooking. Thanks to my freezer inventory I knew exactly what we had and where to find it.

Our spending was $83.79 this week as we only bought some petrol plus fruit. I expect to spend at least $150 this week.  I'm dtermined to stretch what's left of the WISH cards to the end of twelve weeks.  Should make for some interesting meals!

Nothing spent from the stockpile money, but haven't added to it as there's enough in there at the moment.  Will have to do a shop for some of my stockpile soon as I'm almost out of a number of our staples.


Week nine, day seven

Gift cards $349.85
Stockpile $237.50
Spent so far $1550.15


Average spend: $172.23 per week

WISH card challenge end of week eight

Well the eight weeks I had originally hoped to complete on this challenge have ended.

I can easily keep going for another two weeks.  Although it will be challenging, I'll squeeze the most out of every single dollar for the coming month. Maybe we can complete 12 weeks!

Thanks to our freezer inventory and full fuel tanks our spending was just $66.40 this week.

Still nothing spent from the stockpile money, but I plan to make a trip to Costco tomorrow as we'll be in the area.  Will stock up on some things using my credit card (to get some frequent flyer points) and then transfer money from the $237 in the stockpile fund.

Week eight, day seven

Gift cards $433.64
Stockpile $237.50
Spent so far $1466.36

Average spend: $183.29 per week

WISH card challenge end of week seven and still rolling

Seven weeks of the challenge are over and a very good week it turned out to be.  Our average spending for both food and fuel has made it under $200 per week, only by 1 cent but under none the less.

There was an article in the Sunday Herald Sun last week which quoted current Australian Bureau of Statistics cost of living figures with an average of $250 per week spent on food and $100 on transport.  We are averaging only 57% of that amount.

This was definitely our most successful week so far on this challenge. Doing an inventory of the freezers and pantry has really helped me plan and reduce costs. The total spending for this week was $114.91 for fuel and food.

I expect that I won't buy much more than basic staples such as fruit, vegetables, bread and milk this week.  Spending for this week should stay well below $200.

No spending from my general stockpile money and have enough funds in that at the moment.  So the 'spare' $40 will be spent on school holiday fun in the coming week.


Week seven, day seven

Gift cards $500.04
Stockpile $197.50
Spent so far $1399.96

Average spend: $199.99 per week

WISH card challenge end of week six

Six weeks successfully completed.  I've managed to keep the combined fuel and grocery spend to just over $200 again.  Fuel accounted for $70 of this weeks spend, so $130 this week at Woolworths.

I found the last three marked down bags of Purina dog food on Monday and bought those.  As the saving is $5 per bag they were too good a buy to pass up even though they cost $60 and almost doubled this weeks Woolies spending. I won't be buying any dog food for at least three months now.

Still nothing spent from my general stockpile money so another $40 added to that.

I'm doing a stocktake of the freezers, pantry and stockpile today.With some careful meal planning, I hope to extend this challenge beyond the eight weeks by living from the freezers a fair bit.


Week six, day seven

Gift cards $614.95
Stockpile $197.50
Spent so far $1285.05


Average spend: $214.18 per week

Where did those WISH cards come from? (making frequent flyer points and my credit card work for me)

When I posted Extra money for little effort, GoGoGoanna asked how I came to have $1900 in WISH cards for my challenge.  A very good question, and here's how.

Our family loves to travel. I think it has something to do with living on the world's biggest island combined with my need to explore what's on the other side of the horizon. Having the funds and the time to travel is one of our biggest motivators in life.  

Wanting both enough money and time to make our trips happen has led us to become increasingly frugal with our time, energy and money in areas of life we are not so passionate about. GuitarMan is happy anywhere in the world as long as the two ladies he loves are with him and he gets to indulge his passion for music along the way. We've been travelling with TootToot within Australia and around the world since she was 15 months old.

The $1900 of WISH cards for my challenge were obtained from Qantas when I redeemed frequent flyer points , but this could just as easily be another major airline or via a credit card reward scheme.  You have to be very disciplined about your credit card use though and I certainly wouldn't recommend getting a credit card just to try this out. If you are fundamentally opposed to credit cards then this probably isn't for you.

Earning Frequent Flyer Points

1. All three of us are frequent flyers with multiple airline programs. Any travel booking for flights, hotels etc will give us miles with one airline or another. We redeem these miles for hotel stays, vouchers etc.  Of the points we redeemed, 47,538 were earned on one overseas trip last year.
2. Qantas frequent flyer accounts allow you to transfer points between family members once every 12 months.
3. I have a credit card which is linked to our Qantas frequent flyer account.  I pay for everything using the credit card. I park the money in our mortgage offset account and then transfer the money when the bill is due.  When I wasn't so disciplined about credit card debt, I would transfer the money each day.
4. I have no annual fee on the credit card as it is part of our home loan package.  The annual fee for my package is more than saved by having no transaction fees for banking plus a considerable reduction on the variable interest rate for investments.
5. I have paid for renovations, a car, plus deposits on land and an investment property using my credit card.  Most businesses are happy for you to do this in a number of smaller payments over a few days as long as they know what you're doing.  We are just about to build an investment property and will use the same strategy again.
6. If we're considering any purchases, going to dinner, concert tickets we will see if the item or service is offered by a Qantas partner and accrue points that way plus on my credit card.  We'll only use the partner if the price is right.  Woolworths Everyday Rewards card is probably the partner most people would use.  The WISH card challenge is in fact giving me frequent flyer points as I use them up thanks to my Everyday Rewards Card.
7. I don't ever fall in the trap of spending to accrue extra points and pretty much ignore 'bonus point' specials or weekends unless I was planning to buy that item/spend that weekend anyway.  The promotion of 'bonus points' has become a major strategy for both major supermarket chains in Australia and the benefits are generally not for the consumer.

Redeeming Points

Planning our spending and maximising the points we can get from multiple sources has really ramped up how quickly we can accrue points. The next step was working out how best to spend them.

1. Experience has taught me that redeeming points for flights isn't effective as you have to pay the fees and charges associated with the flight. For example a return trip from Melbourne to Los Angeles on special costs $1100 buying via the web.  If you redeem frequent flyer points you'll have to pay taxes of $455 plus redeem 96,000 frequent flyer points.  The cost for the non-tax part of the flight is equivalent to 148 points per $1. 
2. Unless you plan your trip twelve months in advance, you are stuck with the flights that nobody really wants. I usually don't want them either as they involve multiple connections or I can't travel on the dates I want.
3. Redeeming points for WISH gift cards, you can get a $500 gift card for 72,500 frequent flyer points.  This is a cost of 145 points per $1. When you use your WISH cards you can also use your Woolies Everyday Rewards card to accrue further frequent flyer points.  Transferring Guitarman and TootToot's points to my account gave me a total of 275,500 points to spend on $1900 worth of WISH cards.
4. You can also redeem for vouchers from specialist retailers at a slightly better rate of 135 points per $1. This wasn't an option that was good for us as we generally don't shop at those retailers anyway, so why start now?

Isn't it interesting that flights give the worst redemption return?

WISH Card challenge end of week five

Five weeks are up. My original aim was to have the gift cards last for eight weeks for groceries and fuel.  I am well on the way to achieving that.  As we get closer to the end of the eight weeks, I'll move that date as far as I think it can be stretched.

Most of this weeks spending was on fuel for both cars. Normally we prefer to use only one car wherever we can but various appointments and conflicting schedules made that impossible this week.
Nothing spent from my stockpile money so another $40 more added to that.

I'm not really happy about the average spend per week, but being restricted to only one major supermarket chain it's proving very difficult to get below $200.  I'm sure this is mainly due to the high cost of fruit and vegetables at Woolies as I know I wouldn't pay anywhere near their prices where I normally shop.

Still I know that our spending is still well below the amount an average family of three with two cars in Melbourne's outer burbs would consider 'normal' so overall our habits haven't changed too much.

Week five, day seven

Gift cards $818.84
Stockpile $157.50
Spent so far $1081.16

Average spend: $216.23 per week

WISH card challenge end of week four

One month of the WISH card challenge completed this week.

Spending was up this week as Woolies had some great specials and so I stocked up on some really expensive items.  It made for a big spend but as you can read below, the savings were worth it.

First of the expensive buys was $100 on Purina dog food.  This was reduced by $5 per bag, so by spending $100 we got 5 x 8kg bags instead of the usual four.  This will last the dogs for a couple of months.

Next was $39.98 on 2 x1.5kg bags of coffee beans.  These are normally $29.99 each, so another $20 saving.

Then there were the baked beans for $1 a can.  I bought enough to save $8 on the usual price.  These will probably last for the rest of the year as we only use them to shove in a toastie on the weekend.

Lastly, there were the Kidney Beans for 69c a can, saved roughly 30c a can.  Restrained myself and only bought six cans but should have bought more I think.

Added to these bulk buys was the usual fortnightly grocery spend of around $105 plus fuel for my car ($51.25).  Total spending for the week $313.03

Oh, but nothing spent from my 'official' stockpile money this week so $40 more added to that.  I expect this week to spend around $50 on a top of fresh produce and $50 for fuel for Guitarman's car.

Week three, day seven

Gift cards $1068.94

Stockpile $117.50

Spent so far $831.06

Average spend: $207.76 per week

WISH Card Challenge end of week three

WISH card challenge went very well this week.

Our spending was much better and came to a grand total of $108.03 for both groceries and fuel.  Another $2.50 was spent getting apples at the fruit shop, leaving $37.50 to go towards the stockpile funds this week.

Nobody has gone hungry. There has been plenty of fresh fruit and vegies plus home made treats. We had dinner guests on two nights and had enough for Guitarman to take leftovers for lunch.

I'm very happy with this week's spending as it brings our average closer to the $150 per week I usually achieve.

Week three, day seven

Gift cards $1381.97

Stockpile $77.50

Spent so far $518.03 (total taken from card balances as I've lost one receipt)

Average spend: $172.41 per week

WISH card challenge end of week two

As I expected, we spent much more this week.  A bit demotivating but this weeks expenses just couldn't be helped.

Our increased spending was partly because we needed to get fuel for both cars which were pretty much empty.  We drove around Melbourne to appointments a fair bit in the last week and spent just under $150 on fuel.  This week our fuel costs should be considerably less and around the $60-70 mark.

I am definitely noticing a big difference between shopping around and buying everything in the one store.  My local Woolies is fairly small and I've been unable to get some of the cheaper alternatives because they just don't stock them.  Having to rely on more expensive brands really adds up.

Here's where we stand at the end of week two.  The spending looks horrendous because of the fuel we used but I expect to only do a top up shop for fruit, veg and milk this week.

From this week, I'll also start shopping at the Woolies near work because it's much bigger and stocks inexpensive options for products.  That store also has to compete with Coles, ALDI and the local fruit and veg market for customers.  The fresh produce quality is always good and they usually match market prices.

Week two, day seven

Gift cards $1490.81

Stockpile $40.00

Spent so far $409.19

Average spend: $204.60 per week

WISH card challenge end of week one

Well today marks the end of the first week of our WISH gift card challenge.  A further $9.65 was spent at Woolies last night.

We also shopped at COSTCO to purchase some things for our stockpile and spent all but a few cents of the stockpile money.  Some items are really inexpensive at COSTCO for example canned tomatoes work out at 66c per can, but you have to know your prices and be prepared to buy in bulk.

We will do a bigger supermarket shop tomorrow and also get some fuel for both cars.  I expect that our week two spending will be bigger.

So here's the tally for the end of week one.

Week one, day seven

Gift cards $1819.94

Stockpile $0.00

Spent so far $80.06

The hidden cost when you don't shop around?

Well, the first of the WISH cards has been dragged out of my wallet.

Purchased fuel for GuitarMan's car on the way home from work as Tuesday is the cheapest day to buy. Total $31.71

Next stop Woolworths for a few groceries. 

Even though it is for this challenge, I have become so accustomed to shopping around for the best price that the price of groceries in Woolies annoyed me . I went along to purchase a small amount of fruit and veg to last through the week, I really could have used more but wasn't impressed with the quality on offer. 

As a special treat, TootToot got her mint choc chip ice cream - it's the only treat I buy mean mummy that I am.  Also bought some dog biscuits for our 5 month old pups "The Poopers".  How easy it could be to slip into my old spending habits and pick up those couple of extras each week that we don't need.

The whole lot could be squashed into one green bag and cost $38.70.  I can normally fill my Nana Trolley with top quality fruit, and veg for that price (and wouldn't be tempted to buy ice cream).

One thing that will become obvious during this challenge is the 'real' cost of only shopping in supermarkets for a family of three. 

Have decided to keep all receipts and look back at the end of the challenge to see if our purchasing habits changed in response to all the pretty boxes and jars on offer.  Is there a hidden cost when you don't shop around?

Week one, day two

Gift cards $1829.59
Stockpile $40

Spent so far $70.41

Our new savings challenge

About two years ago, I joined a savings website called simple savings and that action has in part fueled our family journey towards increasingly frugal living.

I had read an article about simple savings in Money Magazine and thought I'll have a look.  After joining up for the free newsletter, I noticed that there is a guaranteed refund within the first three months.  "What the heck" I thought signing up.

I was in a word hooked.  Until then, my thrifty ways had been viewed by my family and friends with amused tolerance and sometimes complete horror.  What delight to find myself among a group of like minded souls with such diverse backgrounds, goals and opinions. I had at last found my niche.

One of the things that binds simple savers together is the idea and love of challenges.  How long can you go without spending, living off the contents of your freezer etc.  A much anticipated event is the annual $21 challenge month where for one week (or longer) you live off your supplies for all your meals and spend no more than $21 on groceries each week. If you're interested in learning more about $21 challenges,check out this clip You Tube $21 challenge for more info.

We as a family have started our own savings challenge today.  Let me explain.

We were planning a family holiday overseas in June. For health reasons we have had to postpone that holiday.  We ended up with a lot of Qantas Frequent Flyer points which would expire before I could use them.  I've redeemed those frequent flyer points for $1900 worth of WISH gift cards to be used at all Woolworths Group stores and Woolworths/Caltex service stations. 

Our challenge is how far our $1900 of WISH gift cards can be stretched before spending any of our family funds on groceries and fuel.

The only exception to using the gift cards is a $40 a week budget to allow for purchase of additional fruit and veg at the local fruit shop and for stockpiling of any bargains I come across.  Any of the $40 not spent will be accounted for and carried forward into the next week.

In total, we are aiming for twelve weeks on this challenge, but who knows how far we can push it?

Week one, Day 1:

Gift cards $1900
Stockpile $40

Spent so far $0.00