Money Monday, my past week and looking forward to the future

This week has been a moving forward week with my life and money, today was an especially productive day, I drove home from the boys house and managed not to hit any traffic which is awesome for a monday. I had my second job interview in as many weeks and the first of three I have organized this week. After which I spent the afternoon in front of the computer sorting out and lodging my tax forms.

My biggest step for me is that I made a delicious dinner for my family, made entirely from ingredients from my fridge, freezer and cupboards. I'm very proud of this because I'm a person who often makes trips to the supermarket full of good intentions, buying lots of fresh and delicious looking ingredients, which then sit in the fridge and are destined to end in up in the rubbish bin rather than in the frying pan.

Sunday was for hanging out with the boy and going out to visit the block that will within the next 6 months become his home, its amazing watching him go through this process and start to see his future and all the bright things that are in store for him. We spent the afternoon washing his lovely dog who had absolute ball running around at the block, splashing through all the deep puddles, climbing dirt mountains, I wish I would have remembered to take my camera but we both left them in the car.

Its exciting looking into the future and seeing little bits of what could be.

Money Monday

My hairdressing attempt not too shabby I think

This past week has been quite a stressful week money wise for me, there was a huge stuff up with getting paid from my boss and I didn't end up getting paid until friday when I was supposed to be getting paid on monday/tuesday and I had all my direct debits coming out on Wednesday. Yep it was really fun, but it all got sorted out in the end but it has fueled my resolve to keep looking for another job and to find a way to make more money as it stands.

I also cut my own fringe, something that I have been debating for the last couple of weeks as my vision was being affected by my weed like growing fringe. I am quite happy with the result and have decided to not dye my hair for the next couple of months and to let the natural colour grow through and then get blonde highlights at the beginning of summer if I have saved enough money. Yes I am putting my haircut and colour on lay-by until I can afford it.

June 30th has rolled around and the new financial year is here, I know my original plan was to be debt free by the end of this year, but I think a more realistic plan is to aim to be debt free by the start of next financial year. I know this is moving the goal posts in terms of my ideal goal but I feel that setting a more attainable goal that I can achieve will be better for myself in the long run.

Money Monday

So this past week has been quite different on the money front for me, for me the whole journey to being debt free (or at least massive credit card debt free) is based on trying out different ideas and techniques to discover what works for me. My entire life up until this point has been lived through trial and error, doing things one way until it doesn't work any more and then trying something different.

My biggest thing is not giving up finding the will and the motivation to keep going, working away at it dollar by dollar until I get where I want to be. It's the biggest thing for me, it won't happen overnight but it will happen.My biggest problem is that I look at the big picture and worry too much I see the huge number in debit I am and get overwhelmed by it, instead over focusing on each dollar that it goes down. So my new plan is to focus on each $1000 that I knock off, I'm on my way and that is what I need to focus on.

After a slight stuff up with hours this past week I somehow ended up with both Saturday and Sunday off so I took great joy in getting to spend Friday night with the boy and I had the middle sister's birthday on Saturday night. After I got home in the wee hours of sunday morning I decided to enjoy the rest of my sunday by going to my first AFL game for the year unfortunately St Kilda lost but I had a great time hanging out with my sister and grandpa at the game, it was a good weekend.

the boys puppy cooking in front of the fire, lovely and warm

my weekly view on the ways to the boys

Gotta love footy under the big lights

I love this city

Older Sis and pappa on the train home

Money Monday, the rainy day edition

So last week I felt my first earthquake and this weekk there has been so much rain and flooding that my neighboring towns have faces evacuations and complete isolation after being cut off by flood waters, hmmm maybe the Mayans had a point. Another big thing I've come face to face with this week is yet again my money situation or more accurately my attitude towards my money. I have had a credit card with a limit of over $7000 since I was 19 years old, so naturally over time it's has begun to feel like its my money rather than money lent to me by someone else that I eventually h r to pay back. Though I am in no way deny that I have not had the most amazing time over the past 6 years using it to travel the world, and to see/do things that I otherwise would of had to say no to. But here is the biggest shift that has been taking place over the past couple of week changing my way of thinking to understand that it is no longer 'my' money that is had basically been a loan that I have to pay off again because yes I have paid off over 7K in debt before and definitely plan to do it this time. But it was in a frank discussion that I was having with the boys parents last night when another new thought process was presented to me, using the banks money. For example getting paid directly into my credit card account and then using that as my regular account so using my pay to pay down the principle money owing and then using the money is the account for paying my car payments, phone bill, insurance and fuel as well as my weekly allowance. I have not put this theory into action yet but the idea is one that may definitely work for my situation. Because currently when I have money left in my savings account at the end of the week I no doubt spend it, whereas if it was in my credit card account then I would you use it because I am very aware of every cent that moves in that account. So my current plan of attack id to implement this theory in the new financial year and see if I can't go gangbusters on my credit card debt.

I feel the Earth move under my feet!

We had a 5.2 magnitude earthquake here in Victoria last night. It struck as I was in bed watching a video on my computer and the whole room started shaking, it was scary and just a bit weird. Facebook lit up afterwards and this was something that was post afterwards and it truly made me laugh.

LOL!

Have a Great Day!

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.