Money Monday

Failing is not the falling down, it’s the staying down

The past 2 weeks, me and my budget have taken a few hits, from a parking fine ($61) at work though I was parked legally to having to pay the $116 Vet Bill after my dog and my sisters dog had a massive blow out fight. And I ended up falling into my old habits and buying things when I felt bad, with my credit card that made it even worse.

And the boy and I spent a great weekend away, where I spent way more than I should have on spoiling him for his birthday, but he is my boy and he actually yelled at me for the amount I spent on him. He is very aware of the amount of money I owe and the lengths that I am going to have to undertake to pay it all back and I love the fact that he will be there for me through all of it.

So I had a slip up and I moving on its like any diet you have a bad week and move on so that the next one is a better one which is what I’m going to do.

Happy Mummies Day

Mum, Dad and I on one of my returns from Canada

Today, Mother's Day is a day that I am especially thankful for, even though I sent most of it at work and not with my mum I am thankful for her in every way. I have amazing parents even though my dad and I don't always see eye to eye on things and we have a tendency to rub each other the wrong way I love him dearly with all my heart. My mother on the other hand I can't remember a true fight that I have every had with her, I can only remember one occasion when I said something horrible and to this day I regret that I ever made her feel that way. She is the sweetest most caring person that I know, she would gladly give up what she has for others and is always thankful and shocked when ever someone appreciates her.

Besides raising me and my two older sisters to be who we are today, she also went back to school and is now a medically endorsed Div 2 nurse, which is pretty inspiring for me considering she had 3 kids under 4 when she was my age.

She also was brave enough to let me her little baby daughter go overseas by myself on exchange when I was only 16 (well after she convinced me to wait a year when I was 15), I was in Germany for 2 months and missed my family like crazy especially my mum, but had an amazing time that I am forever thankful for. Then she also watched me at barely 20 years old, get on a plane and fly 13,000kms away, and was there for me on my first night when I was crying down the phone thinking I'd made the biggest mistake ever. But she never told me to suck it up, she never said well just give up and get back on the plane and come home, she calmly told me what I need to hear that she loved me and missed me but that I was going to have amazing adventures and that when I went to sleep and woke up that it would be a new wonderful day. So I took her advice, I had amazing adventures of new and wonderful things for 3 years before I came home for good, but I never could have stayed if it wasn't for the love I knew she had for me even though I chose to be so far away.

Mum and Nana

So I am thankful for my mum in each and every way, each and everyday but today is just the day I use words to tell her.

THANKS MUM xoxo 

Money Monday

hehe this makes me laugh

Spending Fast and me, they don’t really work, yes I want to pay off my debt but I am not an all or nothing type person. So my idea is that I won’t buy things that I don’t need but will not cut everything out of my life that I enjoy, because to me that’s not living. I fully intend to live completely within my means, I am still full committed to knocking out my debt but I think a Spending Diet is the way of doing it that is going to work the most for me.

So I will not spend money on…

•    Books (I have plenty that I have not yet read)
•  DVDs (yet again I have a ton that I haven’t even taken the plastic off yet)
• Clothes (I have more than enough in my wardrobe to get by for the next 8 months
•  Home Decorating. Knick Knacks, Treats and Flowers, they are extras than can be purchase paying cash or using my debit card once I clean my debit and cut up my credit cards.

The steps that I have taken to ensure that this will be entirely possible is that I have applied for a 0% interest credit card balance transfer, for a card that will join my current card in sitting somewhere that is as far from my wallet as it can be. This interest free period last for 8 months and will save me approximately $120 a month which is a lost considering that there were some stages last year where I paid nearly less than that off my card each month.

Another step I am taking is removing my debit card from my wallet, I’m going to be keeping it in a safe compartment in my car, so that instead of putting everything on my debit card and not thinking about the money that is leaving my account I will be giving myself a weekly cash withdrawal (of $100) to spend on my expenses but once that is gone I will have to justify going to my car to collect the card to make any further transactions and I would probably just end up going home. Thats the plan anyway.

Current Debt Level - $8,900 (Cracked the 9K mark!!)

Money Monday (on Tuesday)

I'm a day late on posting this because I spend most of yesterday sleeping after spending the weekend accompanying the boy on his overnight bread delivery run after working on Saturday morning so I was up from 6am Saturday till 12.30pm Sunday it was a long day/night but really fun to hang out with him and see what he does ever weekend. But driving home yesterday morning and then working all day was not so much fun, and then after going to the gym on the way home from work I was a but buggered.

Money-wise last week had ups and downs, I did manage to pay an extra $50 off my credit card but then received a fine for accidently running a red light by 1.1 seconds so that was a $305 fine and 3 demerit points off my license, which is a big whoops but I will cop it because I know I did it and it was a big mistake that I made. But $305 is a big chunk in addition to what I have to pay back, I did manage to sick to the spending fast for the most part of the week, but am unsure of how to do it when spending time with the boy. I refuse to let him pay for every thing, thats just not how we work, and the fact that we both still live at home with our parents means that there is no real chance of doing home based stuff all the time.

So does anyone have ideas for free stuff to do with the boy that we both enjoy?

Debit Level - $9,129 paid off last week $50

Also news, have job interview for second job tomorrow so wish me luck 

ANZAC Day

Today, April 25th is one of the most special days in the Australian calendar, it is the day when all australians take time to give thanks and remember the sacrifices may by the men and women of our Armed Forces, in the past, present and future.

ANZAC stands for Australian and New Zealand Army Corps, and this day commemorates that landing of the ANZACs at Gallipoli in 1915 which was the first major military action by the Australian and New Zealand armed forces in World War I.   I love the fact that this day is marked so well by all Australians, this morning over 35,000 people turned up in the pouring rain to the dawn service in Melbourne alone, its quite amazing. My aim is to definitely attend the dawn service here next year, and then I really hope to be able to attend the 100th Anniversary in Turkey in 2015, which was an aim of my uncle Gary who passed away from cancer last year, I want to attend for him because he never made it there in his lifetime even though it was a dream of his.


So this is my way of saying thanks to the Service Men and Women of Australia and the rest of the world, past, present and future for what they do, thank you for the sacrifices that you and your families make and for being far braver than I ever could be.

Money Monday

So this week I signed the Debt Free Life Pledge over at and then she saved, because I've been struggling with money and my debt since 2008, over that time I have paid off over $5K in credit card debt only have it balloon out to its current state of $9K. That I can no longer live with so I signed the pledge and I'm posting about it here to hold myself accountable for my own debt. I created it by wanting the newest shiniest iphone and macbook, by thinking that putting something on my credit card was like paying for it myself, its NOT!
So I'm signed up and committed that over the next year I will only buy things I need, instead of just what I want, so to get me started here is a list of my definite needs.

• Car payments and insurance, petrol - $150 per week, (my new car is justified because it cost me $50 to fill and a full tank lasts me at least a week and half if not two, compared to my old car that cost me $70-85 to fill and only lasted for a week at a stretch)
• Food - $70 a week , no more eating out or trips to Nando's before the movies, well no more trips to the movies actually which may be the hardest sacrifice of them all as it is a big part of my socialisation and generally a weekly or twice weekly occurrence, but I'm going to save that $16 and put it to better use. Also no more buying my lunch from at work, my daily food budget is going to be $10 for 3 meals a day which may be the biggest struggle as I love good for but the kicker is I also love cooking, so if I plan out my shopping and cooking I can use my days off to make lunch for my working days.
• Board - $80 per week or 6 hours work, recently I have been working for my parents in lieu of paying board, and as much as I hope this can continue I feel guilty of the weeks when I do less than 5 hours which is what covers my board.
• Phone Bill $30 per week, this is a need as I have already signed the 2 year contract that doesn't expire until Feb 2013, and also the boy lives 2 hours away so the phone is our lifeline especially since the no entertainment budget and limited car usage will mean that we get to see each other less. 

So those are my needs, I'm sure things will come along that will challenge this list but that is what I am to spend per week, and I if I'm successful then I will be able to pay of at least $70 per week of my debt. I'm aiming for more and actively searching for a second or higher paying job that will be solely used to pay down my debt with my current job being used for expenses.

Would one of these be nice?

So this is the plan, wish me luck because I'm going to need it!

Charlie

Living (semi) out of home

Princess Polly

In the past week I’ve only spent two nights sleeping in my own bed, its been a refreshing experience helped me get my mind around things at home and solidify my goals for the future, and just given me a break from worrying about jobs and money related things.

It started by me house-sitting for my sister for weekend, well more Polly the cat sitting. She’s more the hide out and stalk you kitty rather than the lets sit on the couch and cuddle, so looking after her can be very entertaining, including her stealing my hair tie of the coffee table and me chasing her all over the house to retrieve it. I love kittens neither of our cats were ever super playful, so its nice spending time with the bundle of energy.

Lilies from the market

Watching TV and discovering new blogs

This weekend also included a visit to the local monthly market, which I love but generally miss because I’m either working or travelling around somewhere, I got some lovely flowers and a super cute new bracelet.

The Market on the waterfront

Then after arriving at work on Monday and finding out that I had no shifts until Friday, I decided after working for my mum for most of Tuesday that I would take the time to visit the boy because I’m now working all weekend so our time together would have been zero. I had such a lovely time hanging out with him and his family for 2 days it’s a lot of what I’ve been missing lately, with all the work he does with his two jobs added on to the fact that he lives 2 hours our time together is pretty precious.

Port Arlington

So I spend yesterday cruising around in his work truck for the day, which was lovely because while it may be a less than glamorous job, the area that he does in it is quite beautiful to drive through.

We also went out for dinner to a lovely newly open brewery restaurant that had amazing tapas and pizzas to go along side the boutique beer (for him) and cider (for me). It was great because it wasn’t busy so we sat around chatting with the chef and owner while enjoying some great food and drinks.

But now back to work tomorrow, what have you been up to?