Money Monday!

Well last week was a bit of a struggle, it was one of those weeks were all the bills seem to show up at once, all demanding to be paid and by the end of the week, you have exactly $13.20 to you name. Not fun at all, but this is why I'm paying my credit card off, because it is the biggest chunk out of my weekly budget, at the moment I am paying on average $150 off my debts each week, I just need to stick to this plan and keep on keeping on and eventually my bank balance will start reading positive figures. I've done it before but this time it will be permanent.

Other than all the bills this past week was a pretty good one, besides the fact that my accident prone nature caught up to me at work and I slice an over inch long gash into my middle finger on my left hand a big whoops. My bosses wife took my to two different doctor surgeries till we found one that was open that late on a Saturday. So after 2 hours of waiting with an impatient 3 year old in the waiting area I was all glued up and ready to go back to work. But it just goes along with my previous injury list, breaking my wrist sitting down in music class, stabbing myself in the leg while husking corn, being head-butted by a horse and breaking 6 bones in my face then 3 months later head-butting the other-side into a gate latch at 4am when starting work. I could give Bella Swan a run for her money in the accident prone department, though she can keep the creepy virgin vampire lovers thank you very much.

the most recent accidental damage

This is what 6 broken bones looks like at 5 in the morning

And at 8 that night

And making the sides match up

So hoping for a better week this week and if you could all keep my mum in your thoughts as she under goes double knee replacements this week thanks very much!

Money Monday..... on a wednesday.....? whoops

because it makes me smile and sometimes we all need a hug

The past couple of weeks have been slightly hellish for me money wise, I've been trying really hard at sticking to my 'budget' and idea of what I have to spend but sometimes I fail,  I've posted about it on here before and I will continue to because being honest and having this blog to report to is a way of keep me on track.

So what have I done to help myself money wise lately?

- Reduced my credit card limit on my original card to $7800 (I'm aiming to have it down to under 7K within the next 2 months)

- Paid at least $150 off my credit card debt each week, some weeks just that much but others like this week I also made a payment on my no interest card of $60

- Started learning to use and appreciate the word 'no', even when its hard, like when my sister wants me to go to a Lady Antebellum Concert with her (yes, yes please!! NO!),  saying no to even walking into all the shops that are having their end of financial year sales (nope keep walking lady), saying no to going out to the movies with my girl friends (how about you come over and we watch one of the 1000s of DVDs I have instead)

I am making progress, it was never going to be a all or nothing statement with me, I can't quit spending cold turkey, I tried that with sugar this week it made me quite ill, but I can do the little cut each and every day that will make a difference in the long run.

I haven't written on here in over two weeks, in doing so I've missed two of the deadlines I've set for myself,  I have had the best intentions of writing posts and gotten to the point where my fingers touch the keys and have stopped myself, unsure of what I want to say. Of what I want this blog to be.

I want it to be a place where I can share and be honest about what is happening in my life, but first I feel like I need to decide what is happening in my life. I'm 25 years old and am finally starting to feel like I might know what I want to be when I grow up and that scares the crap out of me but excites me so much as well because I finally discovering that it is possible. I'm sure I will share more about this at a later date right now it's just a small idea bubbling away inside of me growing more as each day does, and you know how the saying goes from little things big things grow.

I will be back next monday with a new Money Monday, and I'm aiming to be posting here more I already have drafts and dot point post idea on my computer and plenty more floating around my head, but I'm still new at this, but I'm getting there.

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