Dollars

So, the spending spree. It's taxtime again ...Yipee! We opt not to receive any of the family tax benefit A/B etc through the year so at tax time-besides our returns we get a tidy lump sump payment. Its a lovely bonus and a bit of forced savings really.

This year it was allocated towards $1000, for me to spend how I chose, on myself-that's why I have been wearing bras that are falling apart with no underwires & rusted back clasps for the last 6 months. Have REALLY been looking forward to tax time! As I got 20% discount I ended up saving over $100 of the original price-besides 7 bras to last me the year is really the minimum I could get away with.

The days of my whipping into Kmart, Target, Best n Less etc for a $20 bra are far from over. Even in the "plus" sized an E and maybe and F is how far they will go (I'm a GG-H depending on the brand) and to be honest they are poor quality and don't do anything for my bust anyway which is really friggin heavy! Those of you lucky enough to have breasts that fit 'mainstream' bras really can't undrestand how frustrating it is for me. I can only ever ger bras my size from big department stores or proper lingerie shops (which by the way are just as expensive for me-and without the discount :O( ) Besides that, there are always only one or two styles to choose from and they are generally a lovely shade of beige.

I think I have just as much right to beautiful, well fitting underwear as anyone else-and whilst I hate the fact that for me that means I have to spend a whole lot of money-there's not really much I can do about it. So I generally wait till we have saved some money-or tax time-and then go by a few to last the year. This is the first time I have bought a full set of seven, many years of doing this have shown me that when I buy two or three I they get worn out and unwearable in 6 months and I spend the rest of the year feeling self-conscious and uncomfortable about my oversized breasts bouncing about. Not to mention how unsexy it is to be wearing holey bras in the bedroom.

Haydn was also allocated the same amount-he chose to spend it upgrading his computer.

We allocated $1000 to Grace for a new bedroom set including drawers etc. We were quoted $599 for the bed which was $ 200 off the original price & the same price as the white king single we were looking at from fortywinks & the twin bunks from the bedshed. Both sets of grandparents are also contributing to the kitty as part of her birthday present-otherwise we would never have been able to consider something so fancy.

We allocated $2000 towards our holiday -which came in under $1600

and the rest goes on savings/rego/insurance/credit cards.

Phew! That was a bit of a mouthful! Just thought I'd better assure you that no banks have been robbed in the process of making this blog.

Thankyou for the feedback re the bed. I have been really tornsince I saw it. It is actually a standard single-though it looks much smaller in the picture-so technically she'd "fit" it for jsut as long as a normal single-but you are right, I think she will mature out of it in time. I just can't remember how long the 'princess' faze lasts???? I think I might be the exception to the rule because if I could fit in that bed I just might but I'm pretty sure the average girl would be over it a lil quicker than that.

If we had another girl then we would definately use it again and I do wonder if it would be easy to sell something so cute if we didn't want it anymore. I looked at another website and the canopy,circular part actually comes off so that is always an option too. We called the g'parents last night and both of them were happy for her to have it (I expected to hear some negative feedback from that direction but was pleasantly surprised-seems they think she is well fit for a princess bed!).

I'm still very torn though. I have been searching so many types of beds for the last couple of weeks online and it gets to the point where it is really overwhelming. Adding the 5 different bedshops we went to yesterday and I'm at the point where I just want to choose and be done with it. If it was any more expensive we wouldn't have even considered it-just turns out that it was exactly the price quoted for the other single beds we looked at (which I actually love but Hayd says is a bit too plain!). Hayd really liked this bed with little portholes in the head-it was kinda cute and had a kind of 'cartoony' look about it. Must have been the shape or something. It was a bit too odd for me!

And yes Kate-I looked at Ikea, the prob for us is the only IKEA is about an hour and a half away (with regards to delivery) and our car is simply not big enough to bring the flat-packs home (not to mention a mattress). I know because we have attempted it a ridiculous amount of times-including the time that we had to empty the box out and fit a desk into our car piece by piece and have it float around the boot for the rest of the ride home!!!!!!! We really wanted to get something from the big strip of homemaker shops which is very close by. The last time we ordered furniture from brisbane for delivery it took ages and I really don't want to have to wait.

ho, hum I really just don't know.

xoxoxo