November 9 2009: Starting Anew Is Expensive Business
Filed under Money
Moving out has been hard on my wallet. I’ve always been thrifty, but I’ve pretty much had to start from scratch for everything other than clothes and toiletries. Starting from scratch is expensive business. Over the past ten days, I’ve bought (according to my bank account):
- Grocery basics & some perishables – $48.87AUD
- Food storage containers – $10AUD
- Clothes brush and lint remover – $5.96AUD
- Rent, bills and fruit/veg (two lots) – $200AUD
- Bedroom suite (plus delivery) – $664AUD
- Portable hanging wardrobe – $109AUD
- Queen size mattress – $549AUD
- Free-standing full-length mirror – $31.50AUD (got it at 30% off)
- Powerboard – $6AUD
- Grocery perishables & laundry powder, etc. – $27.56AUD
- Summer-weight doona and sheet set – $23AUD (bargain on sale!)
Grand total: $1674.89AUD.
On a bonus, I have enough dry and non-perishable food stockpiled for about three or four weeks (especially when taking into account the amount of fruit and veg I get) – so my grocery bill will go down in the next month. On a sour note though, there a number of things I still need to get to make life a bit more comfortable:
- New curtains for my room.
- Some fitted and flat sheets
- A woollen underlay for my mattress
- Hooks to attach to my walls so I can hang stuff up as a space saver
- As well as things that I need to get for my car to prolong its shelf life – seat covers, rubber mats, etc.
Which all up, is easily another $500AUD. Thankfully I got some birthday money thanks to some awesome friends who knew I’d need money more than any other type of gift (thank you – you know who you are!), so it’ll cover some costs.
At least things are starting to come together. I’ll take some photos once everything is in place – the bedroom suite is being delivered on Thursday, and the mattress on Saturday. I can go curtain shopping on the weekend, and then my room should be about ready by the next week..and thus, photos! (Yeah, I realise some of you thought that the photo in the previous entry was my actual room…no. Mine’s a lot older and smaller – I just took the photo from the manufacturer’s website so you get an idea of what the suite looks like).
So I guess if there’s a moral to this story, it’s: save money. It’ll come in handy when you least expect a life change!
9 Responses to “Starting Anew Is Expensive Business”
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Glad to hear that you’re settling in and everything looks like it’s going to work out for you. I had to move on short notice a couple of months ago after a falling-out with a roommate and I too was amazed at how fast it added up when I had to stock a kitchen and furnish most of the apartment from scratch.
Best of luck getting settled. I think getting out on your own will be good for you both emotionally and financially in the long run.
Jack on November 9 2009 #
I didn’t have to start (completely) from scratch but still miss a lot of things… but then I think that maybe I should save something, so I’m perpetually full with post-it lists like “buy X, Y, Z… sometime… this century). :P
But at least once you get over buying these, your balance will get back to how it was before :)
Vera on November 9 2009 #
First off, happy belated birthday! And second, I’m so glad you were able to get things set up in such a short period of time. Change is good, even if it’s unexpected and expensive at first. Best wishes. =)
Erin on November 10 2009 #
Couldn’t agree more.
Happy belated birthday.. and Emergency Funds are GODSENDS!
FB @ FabulouslyBroke.com on November 10 2009 #
Portable hanging wardrobe?
Me like!
Serena : Style on a String on November 10 2009 #
I remembered you had a lot of money saved up, so I wasn’t at all worried about you. :P How nice of your friends to contribute by giving you money for your birthday, too!
Stephanie on November 10 2009 #
if you drop by my work on a saturday i can help with hooks and what ever else you need at cost price. otherwise good luck with it all.
adam on November 10 2009 #
I normally know what you’re talking about on here, but I got to “doona” and muttered aloud “what the hell’s a doona?”. Fortunately, Wikipedia to the rescue, successfully translating to “duvet”. :)
Sarah on November 13 2009 #
That amount might be expensive for the Queen of Frugal’s standards, but for all the furniture and odds and ends you got it’s pretty damn good. Hell my own bedroom suite was well over $1000 (only because its got a fancy lift up hydraulic system for large storage underneath).
All of this is actually very exciting… I can’t wait for your posts about how you are putting your life together and all these odds and ends (like, who thinks of the fact you need to buy curtains or sheets once you move out of home?), despite the circumstances that put you in this situation. Sounds like you are doing pretty well too! =)
J on November 14 2009 #