Weekly Goal Update

The results from this past week:

Monday:
No Spend Day - Done!
Double exercise class - Fail - I stayed back at work, missing the first class!

Tuesday:
Grocery shop and petrol, plus pay this weeks bills Done -but forgot to buy petrol
No planned exercise

Wednesday:
No Spend Day - Fail - Needed petrol
Double exercise class - Fail

Thursday:
No Spend Day - Fail - but can't remember why!
Step class or walk dogs -Fail

Friday:
Planned spending day as we're going out for drink for a friends going away
No planned exercise

Saturday:
Walk dogs - Fail
Planned spending day as we're going out for dinner and drinks for BF's sister's birthday

Sunday:
Walk dogs - Fail
Will attempt to make this a no spend day, as Friday and Saturday night will be expensive! - Fail

I've done TERRIBLY! AGAIN!!!

Time to make my goals a big more realistic. Also, from now one, I think paying bills won't count as spending. Only spending my allowance, unplanned spending, groceries and petrol are counted as spending.

I'll try to keep my weekly goals aligned with my April goals...

This weeks goals are:

• 2 No Spend Days
• 1 Pump class
• 1 Other class
• 4 Home cooked meals
• 4 Lunchbox lunches
• 4 Breakfasts
• Read 3 nights min 30 mins
• 1 Dog Walk
• Stick to $100 Grocery budget
• Stick to $50 Petrol budget
• Stick to $75 Allowance

Lets see how I go...

End of March Update

I've realised that since I track my spending weekly it might be easier to track a month from a Monday to a Sunday i.e Monday March 30 until Sunday April 26 (4 weeks) would be easier for me to track! So today, March 29th is the end of my financial March... if that makes sense. The only problem with this is I will not have paid my March Credit card bills in full until Tuesday so there will be little change to our debt this month.

Credit Card 1: $6.94 (I'm still waiting on a 53.55 reimbursement)
Credit Card 2: -$175.40
Credit Card 3: $33.44
Credit Card 4: -$58.12
Credit Card 5: $64.07
Credit Card 6: -$13.41
Store Card: -$49.00
Home Loan 1: -$183.90
Home Loan 2: $397.56
Car Loan 1: -$264.41

Total March debt reduction: $242.23
New debt total: $298,098.91

These numbers are a bit confusing. I redrew $700 off our home loan which was an extra repayment we made a while ago, and I used to pay for something for BF's family, which they're SUPPOSED to pay us back for but I'm not holding my breath. The problem with being the "responsible" ones in the family is we often get stuck with these expenses. Little do they all know that we are in so much debt and really, can't afford it. But hey, that's what we do for the ones we love, right?

But at least the total debt number went down, and didn't go up.

My Goals for Financial April (March 29 til April 26) are:

Keep to the following budgets:
Groceries: $400
Petrol: $200

Pay:
$750 onto credit cards

Achieve:
8 No Spend Days
4 Pumps Classes
4 Other Classes
16 Lunchbox lunches
16 Home cooked dinners
16 Breakfasts
4 Dog Walks
2 Books read
2 kg weight loss

I've added a weight loss goal in there. I haven't been trying actively to lose weight but since I've noticed my trousers are a bit tight, I thought I better add one into the list! I need to make sure I do everything to feel my best on the big wedding day.

12 weeks into the year

I've been tracking our spending all year (except our allowance/fun money) and I thought it might be interesting to see how much we've spent in 12 weeks:

Groceries: $1190.08
Fuel: $487.79
Credit card debt: $3447.37
Dog food+Cat food+grooming/worming: $638.48
Mobile phones: $560.64
Mortgage: $5593.25

We're approaching the end of the 1st quarter, 12 weeks into the year, and what surprises me the most is how much we've spent on our animals! That's not a completely thorough account because I know that I've bought toys and cat food out of my allowance. I can safely expect to spend over $2,500 on animal costs this year. Wow. This doesn't include a new outdoor bed that they need. We haven't bought a new one since getting our 2nd dog, so they squish onto the one designed for just our boy - it's a bit cosy now that our girl has hit 22kg!

You may think this seems like a lot of money on pet supplies, so I would just like to mention that we feed our dogs and my cat Eukanuba -$110 for a 15kg bag of dog food, $40 for a 3kg bag of kitty food - and i got my cat groomed this summer which cost $100! We've talked about potentially feeding them a lower quality food like Supercoat or Optimum but we're really happy with how they look and the results we get so we probably will feed them Eukanuba for as long as we can afford it! Is this silly???

Spending Update

Hello kids!

Today was a planned spending day, so I paid bills, did grocery shopping and bought dog food - BUT I forgot to buy petrol so I'm going to have to break a No Spend Day this week because my petrol won't last time my next spend day (Friday). Bummer!

Weeks spending so far
Groceries: $78.08 (plus $10.98 from Sunday)
Dog Food: $111.99

I got a letter from Credit Card 5 Bank today offering me a balance transfer from any non-them card, 6.90% for 6 months, I'm going to see how much I'm allowed to transfer, and potentially transfer the full balance of Credit Card #1 (Last check was $3737.98) although I suspect they won't let me transfer that much! At least then I can cancel one card, and reduce the number of repayments. Plus, Credit Card #1 has the highest interest rate, 18.99%, so I'll save 12.09% for 6 months and then it will go back up to 12.99% so I will still be saving 6% per annum. Good deal. I'll call them tomorrow and see how much I can transfer!

Reading lots of US PF blogs has shown me some serious differences between there and Australia. For example, your credit score affects the interest rate you can get on a loan - whereas here, what a bank offers is a set thing... that's not to say once you have a credit card you can't barter for a reduction, but generally all loans, credit cards, homeloans have set interest rates and fees. We haven't seen credit cards reducing limits etc YET and as this letter shows they're still offering credit - I think I've been offered it as I've made more than the minimum repayment on the balance transfer every month, and have never been late on a payment. I have a lot of debt but I make all my payment on time, making an ideal customer - they make a lot of money from in interest but I'm reliable!

End Of Weekend Report - Goal Results

We went very well with spending over the weekend, the only things I bought outside of "allowance money" was toilet paper and cordial which I forgot to pick up in my shop during the week. I'll be including that $10.98 in next weeks grocery shop, because I could have bought them tomorrow but it's a planned No Spend Day! I bought a few random things yesterday like a bunch of cheap greeting cards, and a couple of doggie chew toys but that was out of my allowance.

We gave a $100 gift voucher at the party on Saturday, and I also bought a new packet of Yasmin pills, but they were both planned and have been on my budget spreadsheet for months, so I think we went really well. I also returned Eclipse, and I got the girl to refund it back onto my debit card so I couldn't "accidentally" spend it! I also put two pairs of pants on lay-by and paid the $10 deposit out of my allowance! I wanted the pants now, because there was a buy one get one half price deal, so i thought I'd pay what i can afford now, and then pay for them when I've got money! Gosh I'm getting good at this!

So, at the end of the week, I have $19.75 left of my $75 allowance. I have put the coins ($4.75) in my piggy bank and put the $15 in an envelope in my bottom drawer to put towards the wedding. When it gets to $100 I will transfer it into our savings. (Envelope total = $20 as I found $5 in a pair of jeans which I'm sure is change from last weeks allowance) I started the piggy bank a couple of weeks ago, which is where I put my coins at the end of the day - once this is full (it's a small pig!) I'll deposit it into our savings as well.

I'm really hoping all these little things will add up! I know we can afford the big things like reception and dress, but my inspiration for these small deposits are the small things in the wedding - like wedding cars or garden decorations (we have to hire a red carpet/aisle and rose ball bushes) which ultimately are wedding day luxuries. So, if I can give up a few of life's luxuries during the year I'll get to have my wedding luxuries at the end of the year! (And if we save enough it may end up being another round of cocktails in Vanuatu! Or perhaps the beginnings of our savings fund for Euro-trip 2010!)

I'm feeling a bit blah about blogging today.... because I'm feeling really really fat!! I have totally FAILED my food and exercise plan!!! Here's the weeks goal results:

Tuesday:
Food: Fail - because I had a crap load of garlic bread with dinner!
Exercise: 10 min warm up on treadmill + weights session Fail - I didn't exercise!
Other: Pay bills, grocery shopping, read book for min 1 hour Done!

Wednesday:
No Spend Day Fail :( I can't remember why though lol
Same food as Tuesday : Fail - ate a crap load of chocolate
Exercise: Aerobics class followed by Pump class: Fail!
Other: Read book for min 1 hour - Done!

Thursday:
Same breakfast, snacks and lunch as Tue/Wed and dinner with friend - Vietnamese Pho: Fail - ate corn chips for a snack
Exercise: 30mins on exercise bike - Fail - I didn't exercise all week!
Other: Read book for min 1 hour - Fail

Friday:
No Spend Day (Mr.M owes me lunch, so his shout!) Fail - Mr M couldn't meet me for lunch so I had to buy my own :(
Exercise: Personal training session @ 7am - Fail - He cancelled! So I just slept in!
Food: Fail - ate what I planned but drank a crap load of beer at a friends place and then ate chips and crackers

Saturday:
Exercise: Pump class @ 9:30am Fail - cleaned the house and visited my sister
Food: Fail - JUST! Ate all to plan, and even drove to party to avoid drinking booze but then ruined it all by eating a piece of cake!
Other: Read book for min 1 hour - Fail

Sunday:
No spend day! Fail
Exercise: Walk dogs - Fail
Food: Fail - overate at MIL's place
De clutter study - Fail
Other: Read book for min 1 hour - Fail

Oh my god I suck! This is ridiculous, I've GAINED weight these past few weeks because of lack of commitment to my eating and exercise plan!!

I'm not going to make daily lists of food, but my food goal of the week is NO chips/biscuits/chocolate!! I will go an entire week without them... maybe I should make it late Lent commitment? No junk food.... hmmm okay, lets try!

This coming weeks plan:

Monday:
No Spend Day
Double exercise class

Tuesday:
Grocery shop and petrol, plus pay this weeks bills
No planned exercise

Wednesday:
No Spend Day
Double exercise class

Thursday:
No Spend Day
Step class or walk dogs

Friday:
Planned spending day as we're going out for drink for a friends going away
No planned exercise

Saturday:
Walk dogs
Planned spending day as we're going out for dinner and drinks for BF's sister's birthday

Sunday:
Walk dogs
Will attempt to make this a no spend day, as Friday and Saturday night will be expensive!

Let's see how I go....

Books, CDs & DVDs

When I mentioned buying Eclipse the other day, asgreen from Always The Planner asked a very valid question: "Why not get it at the library?". Hmmmm... why don't I? I mean, I'm currently not a member at any library but that doesn't mean I can't be.

I jumped online and saw that there's a library right near my work - they even have Eclipse there! It is currently on loan and there's a reserve list for it, but I can wait! I mean... free is better than $24 even if I have to wait a month or so! PLUS think about all the other books that I can read in the mean time...

I have shelves of books that I've read a couple of times, I should really sell them on ebay or something. Of course I'll hold onto the ones I love to re-read, but there are a STACK which I probably wouldn't even miss.

Unfortunately I can't do this with my music or DVDs. I love CDs. I love the format, I love the covers, I LOVE LOVE LOVE them. For some reason I don't trust the idea of putting all on my computer and then potentially selling them. What happens if my laptop dies? Or my back up gets fried? I'll have nothing! That worries me... I have, between Mr M and I, a good... hmmm... 300+ CDs? Even if I sold them for $5 each, that would be $1500. And some of them I'm sure I could get more for. They're still $30 in the shops, and I generally keep my CDs in top condition! Geez that's almost tempting.

If I sold my 200+ DVD collection I'd get a bit for that too. Geez, I better stop thinking about this. I'm not DESPERATE for money. It's not like I'm homeless.

I'm keeping the CDs and DVDs... but the books... hmmm the books I might sell!

Wanted: A different kind of life

The main thing that made me want to change my attitude towards money was planning the wedding. When Mr M proposed we discussed the idea of eloping, but decided that since we’re so close to our families it was important to have an event they could all share in – and so the traditional wedding was decided on. (Although I’m still not convinced the white gown and $400 cake is really my style!)

We did the wedding budget, and included all the things that most people include… flowers…cake... suits… dress… and the total came to that staggering almost $30k amount you see over to your right under “Wedding Savings”

Wow. How were we going to get $30,000 together in 12 months? A more importantly, how were we going to maintain our expensive lifestyle (including making repayments on over $25k worth of credit card debt, plus car loan, plus mortgage) and still enjoy what we perceived to be “quality of life”?

It became pretty clear pretty quickly that things had to change, and that’s really how this blog came to be: I started reading (and obsessive) over personal finance blogs and wanting to know all the “tricks” and “secrets” of the finance world, and began writing all my own thoughts and experiences with money here.

But what I’ve really learnt is there are no tricks or secrets. And I’m learning and more importantly, believing that the lifestyle I was leading wasn’t letting me have “quality of life”. I always thought the debt didn’t bother me but now I realise I was haunted by it. I was petrified people might find out and ruin my reputation of being a well educated and smart person. I constantly wondered how I would ever be able to afford to stop working in order to have children.

The concept of “money in the bank” was foreign to me. The concept of “saving” for something didn’t exist, instead I believed in paying with credit and repaying it later. If I saw a few extra dollars in my bank account I could quickly and easily find something to spend it on!

Now I’m genuinely looking forward to a different kind of life: a life where I’m not controlled by my debt. A life where I can make purchases with cash, but not on silly home cluttering items, but practical, well thought out and researched items. I’m learning that if I don’t eat crappy take away food constantly I'll be able to have a beautiful holiday every year to a beautiful place with beautiful food, with my beautiful soon-to-be husband. I'll be able to take two years off work to have a baby. Those things are what make a quality life, not Friday night drinks with friends and lots of clothing in my closet. Sure, I love Friday night drinks, and I love new clothes, but once I’ve paid back my debt, then I can really enjoy those things - when I buy the beautiful shoes and handbags I love with CASH and not on a card. God that will be good!

I’m really looking forward to that different life. I can’t wait. I’m impatient that I can’t just wipe the slate clean and start again, but I think the hard slog will make it so much more worthwhile, and will hopefully ingrain this new way of thinking into me permanently.

Holy expensive grocery shop, batman!

Went grocery shopping tonight, and spent $125.86! Woah!

I won't bother with typing out the whole thing but the big costs were:

• $14.98 for 18 cans of Diet Coke with a free 12 can case of Lift thrown in - I bought a can of Diet with lunch today, the canteen has jacked the price up to $1.80 so I've decided to bring them from home and leave in my office fridge. This works out less than 50c a can
• $6.39 Deodorant for Mr Melbourne
• $5.68 Mozzarella cheese for tonight's lasgane (we got 8 serves out of it - 2 serves eaten tonight, 2 in fridge for tomorrow and 4 in freezer)
• $6.20 Parmesan Cheese
• $4.35 Garlic bread
• $4.37 2L Lite Milk (when did milk get so expensive?)
• $5.99 for an Enchilada kit (Mr M wanted it *sigh*)
• $11.14 for mince for lasagne - forgot to defrost the kg in the chest freezer as night *double sigh*
• $5.68 for 2kg of onions
• $4.19 Loaf of bread
• $4.50 card to accompany present for friend's party on Saturday

Now I'm not pointing fingers... but that shop would've been MUCH more within budget if I had gone on my own. Mr M wants EVERYTHING!

Also bought petrol, $45.33, and only other spending was the before mentioned $1.80 on a can of diet coke. No big bills due this week, other than mortgage repayment coming out, so not much to plan. Should be able to have NSD tomorrow no worries!

(If only I could be so sure about my eating. I was pretty good today until I got home and had garlic bread and BEER with dinner! grrrrrrrrr)

This weeks spending, eating and exercise plan

After some thought, I've put together a plan for the week - after today's disgraceful eating performance, I think it's time to make some serious commitments to eating better! Also need to make real commitment to my March goals!

Tuesday:

• Breakfast: weetbix, skim milk, coffee and 1 piece toast w jam
• MT: grapes
• Lunch: salad w tuna and corn thins
• AT: plum & yogurt
• Dinner: lasagne and veggies
• Exercise : 10 min warm up on treadmill + weights session
• Other: Pay bills, grocery shopping, read book for min 1 hour

Wednesday:

• No Spend Day
• Same food as Tuesday
• Exercise: Aerobics class followed by Pump class
• Other: Read book for min 1 hour

Thursday:

• Same breakfast, snacks and lunch as Tue/Wed
• Dinner with friend - Vietnamese Pho
• Exercise: 30mins on exercise bike
• Other: Read book for min 1 hour

Friday:

• No Spend Day (Mr.M owes me lunch, so his shout!)
• Exercise: Personal training session @ 7am
• Breakfast: cereal + milk, no toast
• MT: coffee
• Lunch: Subway ham sub, no cheese!!!
• AT: almonds
• Dinner at friends house: unknown but guessing will involve beer and wine!

Saturday:

• Exercise: Pump class @ 9:30am
• Breakfast: baked beans on toast
• MT: almonds
• Declutter WIR
• Lunch: chicken salad
• AT: yogurt
• Other: Read book for min 1 hour
• Dinner: chicken sandwiches
• Other: Friends engagement party, driving so not much booze, gift $100

Sunday:

• No spend day!
• Exercise: Walk dogs
• Breakfast: Toast w jam
• MT: fruit
• Lunch: chicken burgers
• Declutter study
• AT: yogurt
• Other: Read book for min 1 hour
• Dinner: @ MILs

Do you think this plan is too rigid? I don't want to be unrealistic but I also don't want it to be too easy - it needs to be a challenge and there's nothing wrong with aiming high, right?

In terms of spending there's nothing on the radar that I want to buy, now that i have my new cardigan and shoes. (Although the shoes hurt my feet - do you think it's because they're new or because they're cheap? Only time will tell...) I wouldn't mind some new trousers for work but I think I can live without them for a couple more weeks, and my next pay pay (April 15th) is earmarked for me to buy some new jeans! (That should be a heart breaking experience no doubt - I really struggle to find jeans because of my weird beer gut apple shaped boy-like body!!)

I think I might post too often? I should concentrate on less crap and more concise planning, less chatter and more information and links to other sites. If I want this to be something worth reading I think I'll need to plan my posts better!

I wonder if anyone other than myself will ever read this?

More weekend spending & last week in review

I forgot to update yesterday to add that I also bought myself a cardigan ($29.95) which I wanted, pushing my "unplanned" spending to $90.92. Also, I spotted a copy of Eclipse for $19.85 at Big W and am contemplating returning the copy I bought at Target for $23.99 (it's still in the bag) and then buying it at Big W. Is that lame?

Also, I couldn't find a present for my SIL so we ended up giving her a $50 voucher. So, that $30 budget was also blown, but I can live with that, because it's a present for one of my favourite people! (I'm really lucky that I get along so well with my inlaws!)

Today is a planned No Spend Day, and so far I'm doing well, I just ate my lunchbox lunch (tuna salad) and have no plans to break the planned NSD. Dinner is planned (chicken skewers with rice and veggies) altho I haven't planned any exercise because I've got a meeting tonight for one of the groups that I volunteer with so I don't think I'll have time.

I better put up a meal plan, spending plan and exercise plan later tonight!

Also to review last weeks goals/plans:

Tuesday: Spending Day. Walk dogs, have home cooked meal and read book. FAIL! I had a home cooked meal and read my book but didn't walk the dogs!

Wednesday: No Spend Day – Remember to take light milk and weeks worth of healthy snacks to work from home, tuna salad for lunch, go to gym for double class, home cooked dinner. FAIL! Only did one class... But good for everything else!

Thursday: No Spend Day – Brown bag lunch, take the dogs for their walk after work, followed by home cooked dinner and read my book. FAIL! Didn't walk the dogs

Friday: My pay day – Personal training in the morning, breakfast at work, pay bills, no Friday lunch out, brown bag it instead (to make up for today), meet friend for cuppa at her place after work, walk dogs, home cooked dinner and quiet night in with some wine, read more of book. BIG FAT FAIL! Cancelled my PT session, had a take away lunch, didn't walk the dogs, didn't read my book and went out for dinner.

Saturday: De-clutter wardrobe, Pump class, breakfast lunch and dinner all at home, try and read more book. FAIL! Didn't declutter robe, went SHOPPING instead of to Pump, had lunch out and didn't read book. I suck at this!!!

Sunday: De-clutter study, walk dogs, breakfast lunch and dinner all at home, read book. My goal is to finish book by end of weekend! FAIL AGAIN! Didn't declutter, didn't walk the dogs and ate lunch out (altho i didn't pay for it, it was at church) and didn't come close to finishing my book because I didn't read it!!!

So to review my last week - I failed on pretty much every single goal! Shocker! The dogs, to this day, remain unwalked in the month of March. My goal for march was to walk them 10 times, so I'm going to have to start walking them every day to make up for it!! I'm also going to have to power read through April Fool's Day and Eclipse (once I return it and rebuy it) to finish both by the end of the moment.

Better get crackin'!

The weekends damage

We've been really good lately and decided to try the new Asian restaurant near our house for dinner last night (Friday) as we haven't gone out, just the two of us, for a while. So it was a bit of a treat... Unfortunately it was a bit more expensive than I was expecting, $20+ for mains, so with a couple of glasses of wine the bill was $65, plus we left a $5 tip... (Even tho we don't have to tip in Australia, I still like to leave something!)

But the part I was very proud of was neither of us has spent much of our allowance this week so we had plenty to cover dinner and then some. We didn't have plans to go out at any other point in the weekend either so we shouldn't fall behind. Normally I would've put that kind of dinner on a CC in order to "free up" money for the weekend, with the best intention of paying it back, but really, just end up leaving it and then paying interest on it - or as I said in my last post, I'd end up paying for it twice.

Today I've sort of fallen off the bandwagon in terms of spending. I accompanied my sister on a shopping trip and ended up buying a few things for myself that I've been thinking about for a while. I knew this would be potentially dangerous, as I LOVE strolling around the shops which is why I've avoided them for months now!

I ended up buying the new shoes I wanted (on special, only $23.99) and the third book in the Twilight series, Eclipse (also $23.99) and a DVD (Underworld 1&2, $12.99). The shoes were planned, but I really should have waited til Eclipse was on special... as for Underworld, that was pretty much an impulse buy. I've seen it in the shops for a while, and it had always been about $30 so when I saw it for $12.99 I snapped it up. Also went to the supermarket for groceries and I'm starting to realise that $150 shop at the market we did at the market a couple of weeks ago may have meant we won't be buying red meat for a few weeks, but there are still so many other things we need! Today I managed to spend $88.69 at Coles on pretty much nothing fresh! The list is:

• 4L of extra virgin olive oil - $24.00 (about half price!)
• Kit kat family block $2.00 (on special)
• Paper towels (3 rolls) - $4.00 (on special)
• 2 x gluten free spaghetti - 2 for $6.00 (on special)
• 5 x tuna cans - $6.00 (on special)
• Fresh milk 1L - $2.36
• 2 x UHT milk - $1.88 each
• Moccona coffee - $11.50 (on special)
• 4 x Skinless chicken breasts - $10.58 (on special $10/kg
• 2 x Carmen's muesli bars - $4.00 each
• Omo washing powder concentrate 1kg - $6.50 (on special)
• Ground coffee - $3.99 (on special)

Pretty much everything was on special, and on the list I wrote, except the kit kat (obviously lol) and the ground coffee which was such a good price i knew I should grab it. I shouldn't have bought the chocolate because I ate most of it tonight while watching a movie!

I also stopped in at the Warehouse and bought 3 x 500g packs of Optimum weight management cat food for $1.97 each (very cheap!) plus an oil/diffuser for our bathroom ($7.99) and another tub to collect shower water in ($2.99) so the total was $16.90, but I paid for it out of my allowance this week. I've got about $20 to last til Monday but I know I've totally cheated as the DVD and book really should have come out of my allowance! But I mentioned a couple of posts ago I had given myself a $100 budget for new shows, a cardigan and a lint remover - at least I got the shoes! I might see if I can pick up a good lint roller/remover online!

Good news is I won't need to buy anything until Tuesday when we'll probably need some bread and fruit which I could probably grab for less that $15.

What makes me happy is that even though I made unplanned purchases this week, I didn't put anything on a credit card, and my budget for the next few weeks is still looking good, with nothing going into the red!

P.S In an added bonus, Mr Melbourne's brother paid us back the $200 odd dollars that he owes us! Yes! Straight on the credit card!

Paying for it twice

I love the name of the blog I've Paid For This Twice Already because it reminds me of my weight watchers days where they always said "don't lose the same kilo twice". God, I hate paying interest! I hate that I pay over $3000 a month onto debt and only half goes to paying principal amounts... grrr! The strange part is, I've had this debt for a long time and whilst I've never enjoyed paying interest it's never bothered me as much as it does now. Maybe because I want a different quality of life? Maybe it's because I know for every year I hold onto this debt, it's another year before I can stop working and raise a family?

When I think about all the smallish purchases I've put on credit cards, like petrol, restaurants, cheap flights I feel sick to my stomach... those things have cost me a fortune in the long run, as I've paid for them over and over. Not just twice, but quite possible 5 or 6 times over. The last time we got cheapish flights they were about $80 each, each way, so we spent $320 on airfare plus a few hundy on hotels and another few hundy of spending money... I wonder how much that holiday to QLD really cost us! Really, I don't want to think about it. I'm just going to move on, and focus of paying it back.

I stopped carrying any form of credit card a few weeks ago, and had my everyday ATM card changed to a Mastercard Debit card, so I can use my own money but have the convenience of a credit card. I'm really really set in the fact that we will not accrue any more debt this year, and I\we will achieve my\our goal of reducing our debt by over $10k this year PLUS pay for a $25k+ wedding. I know it's a lot of money but there's no reason why we can't.

We were discussing redundancies the other day, as most people are discussing lately. The company that I used to work for, in the automotive industry has just let go almost 200 staff, and some of my old pals in my old department were in that group - I'm glad I wasn't still working there. But there's no more job security in my current industry (construction) than in automotive and I suspect my current department could very easily be disolved as we fall into a project management sector of the company, and what we do could be easily outsourced/contracted out.

But, to tell you the truth, I'm not worried about losing my job. Not because I think it's secure, but because I know my work ethic, and I'm not afraid of hard work. I'm not saying I'd WANT to look for another job, but I'm just saying I know I can find more work. I don't care if I have to wait tables or pull beers for a living, I'll always do what's in my power to earn a wage. There are still jobs in my field being advertised despite redundancies country wide, so it's not an entirely dry river of opportunity.

I often wonder about what the unemployment figures in Australia are in comparison to the number of jobs are being advertised on seek.com.au or mycareer.com.au - there are always stories on television about how Australians are slackers and would rather get the dole than work for money, soour unemployment rates are innaccurate. It should be a job-seekers rate, so instead it would say i.e. 4% of Australians are looking for work, as opposed to 6.5% of Australians are unemployed. Just something I often wonder about!

Don't earn to spend, and don't forget about generosity!

I was reading this article about the "Five Habits of Millionaires" and points 1 and 5 really stood out to me. Point 1 because it's something I need to do, and Point 5 because it's something I already do and will always do.

1. Avoid the Earn-to-Spend Mentality

I don't think it's ever occurred to me NOT to earn to spend. When you're a teenager you get your first job because you want extra money. I can't speak for all 17 year old but when I started working in the fast food industry I wasn't saving that money. I already had a car, and paying for my uni degrees upfront didn't even occur to me. I earned that money to spend it. And not wisely!

I look back now, and really regret not listening to my mother's wise words: "Save SOME money". She didn't mean all of it. She always said to me "even if you only put away $10 a week you'll end up ahead" but I foolishly thought $10 a week was lame. If I had saved $10 a week every week since I started working in October 1997 I would have very close to $6000 today. Not a HUGE amount of money but when you consider we owe $25,000 in credit cards, that $6000 would be nice!


And if I had started saving then, maybe I would've developed healthier money attitudes and I would have learnt to appreciate the value of money sooner and not have "wasted" it or accrued credit card debt! I need to learn that I earn money to provide necessities for our lives, not to "spend". It's the same as attitudes towards food. If you can learn the difference between "every day" food and "sometimes" food, then you can have a healthy attitude towards food.
If i can learn the difference between necessary spending (i.e for food, shelter etc) and luxury spending (new handbags, shoes etc) then I will have a healthy attitude towards money. Just cos I earn that money doesn't mean i get to "spend it".

Once I've mastered this, then one day, yes, I will be able to have those luxuries more often. And achieve life long dreams like travelling through South America. Right now I would HAPPILY swap all those dinners I put on my credit card for 2 months of back packing through Europe.


5. Be Generous

Looking after others is something I can never stop doing. Just yesterday Mum called and said she was having some money troubles and I offered her some money to pay a couple of bills and to send to her mother overseas. Of course, she proudly declined the money for her own bills but was thrilled that I would send some money to my grandmother.

It's for this same reason I sponsored two of my friends this week, one is doing a 100km walk to raise money for Oxfam, and the other, a lovely girl I know is shaving her head for Save For A Cure (Leukemia Foundation) and I sponsored each of them $25.

We also give to charity every month, even though cancelling it and saving that $24 a month seemed appealing when we realised how much debt we were in - but I just can't justify it. We still have a lot of luxuries that I could cut back -- until there is no more blood to squeeze from the stone, there is always some to give, right?

So... where does that leave me now? I've just got to learn to think that the money I earn isn't just to spend... I need to make it a priority to repay debt (blah dead money) and start saving!! And always, ALWAYS, have room in my budget for giving. Either way i just need to stop spending!!!

Although... today I am breaking my No Spend Day to buy myself some new shoes for work! The ones I've been wearing have stretched so much it's dangerous to walk in them - that'll teach me not to buy cheap shoes! These $20 ones from K-mart have only lasted me about 6 months. Oh and I HATE to say it but I really need some new work clothes. A colleague actually mentioned to me how faded my black cardigan is. With the cold weather approaching I could really use a nice new thick one. And I noticed today that all my pants are getting lint balls on them, so I also want to buy a good quality lint remover! If I can revamp my existing clothes I won't have to buy so many new items. I'm giving myself $100 limit, as I've assessed our budget for the coming month and we can afford that, especially with all the overtime Mr Melbourne (i.e BF) has been doing lately.

I feel guilty shopping! The bright side is it's my sister-in-law-to-be's birthday so I get to buy her a nice present as well - don't worry, it's been in my budget since January!

Damage control update

Well, I didn't walk the dogs like I had planned but I did get some grocery shopping done! Didn't make the wisest choices tho, as I forgot we still had some stuff in the fridge and re-bought them! Also bought my petrol and paid some bills.

Today's spending:

Lunch: Subway $6.85
Petrol: $47.14 (including some chewing gum for the car)
Electricity Bill: $219.11
Transferred $220 to credit card to make up for weekend purchases, including $74 for this months minimum repayment
Internet/phone bill: $62.43
Groceries:

• 4 x cans tuna $5.00
• Corn thins $1.96
• Bread Rolls $2.25
• Loaf of Bread $4.99
• 1L Rev milk $2.39
• 1kg bag of carrots $2.29
• Cherry tomatoes $1.99 (Still had TWO punnets at home!)
• Broccolini $3.99
• Chinese Broccoli $1.99
• 2 x peaches $2.35
• 4 x plums $1.97
• 2 x nectarines $1.90
• 2 x sweet corn $1.00
• 2 x Lebanese cucumbers (Had 1 at home)
• 1.2kg White seedless grapes $3.49
• 1 x lettuce (the worst part was there was 2.5 at home!!!)
  

Total: $40.79 - if you recall, i had budgeted $30 but I failed to include fruit, milk and bread in that estimation so overall not a bad shop. BF likes the expensive bread and I "wasted" some money by purchasing things already at home.

Ate dinner at home (check for home cooked meal!) and have plans to read my book as soon as I press "Publish Post".... ciao!

P.S Got a letter from private health fund informing me it was going up to $128.51 a month - up about $5 a month! Not good!

Late start damage control

You’d think after the weekends horrible attempt at keeping to a budget I would have gone grocery shopping as planned last night and have made plans to be on my best behaviour this week but no… It’s like I’ve morphed into a much uglier version of myself!

This morning I jumped on the scales to see the damage that I had done over the weekend. It was bad. 72.8kgs. Ouch.

Armed with that knowledge you’d think I’d organise to have a healthy day. Two weetbix? Good start. Topped with full cream milk? Not good. Downing three (full fat) coffees before noon? Double not good. (We ran out of light milk at work.) And then, the bitter cherry on the top was I had Subway for lunch. It was a 6’ ham sub (good) but I couldn’t resist the cheese (bad). Plus the sub and a sprite zero left a tidy $6.85 dent in my wallet (ugly).

So. It’s time to do some damage control – I need to plan the rest of my week.

Rest of today: pay week’s bills, buy petrol (budget $50) and groceries (fresh veggies and stuff for lunches only – Budget $30). Walk dogs, have home cooked meal and read book.

Wednesday: No Spend Day – Remember to take light milk and weeks worth of healthy snacks to work from home, tuna salad for lunch, go to gym for double class, home cooked dinner.

Thursday: No Spend Day – Brown bag lunch, take the dogs for their walk after work, followed by home cooked dinner and read my book.

Friday: My pay day – Personal training in the morning, breakfast at work, pay bills, no Friday lunch out, brown bag it instead (to make up for today), meet friend for cuppa at her place after work, walk dogs, home cooked dinner and quiet night in with some wine, read more of book.

Saturday: De-clutter wardrobe, Pump class, breakfast lunch and dinner all at home, try and read more book.

Sunday: De-clutter study, walk dogs, breakfast lunch and dinner all at home, read book. My goal is to finish book by end of weekend!

So that’s my plan. Let’s see if I stick to it!

We’ve got a few big bills to pay this week; annual car insurance ($906) and BF’s overdue speeding ticket ($226.50 – terrible!) but I’m still planning on putting $2500 onto wedding fund. BF got a bigger than usual pay check this week as he’s taking some leave and gets leave loading – an extra $500, which makes this weekend just gone less painful.

In other exciting news, I had been thinking of upgrading our laptop with the stimulus package us Aussies get in April ($900 for those who earn under $80k!) but BF’s boss has decided to buy it for us instead as a bit of a bonus for BF… NICE. I might just slide that $900 straight onto a credit card instead!

Expensive Weekend

We had an expensive weekend. A VERY expensive weekend.

We had planned the long weekend away water skiing and I really should have anticipated an expensive weekend. Petrol for the 3.5 hours drive each way, take away food, dinner out one night, other food, booze for the three nights, plus the accommodation, fishing stuff etc. We were going with BF's best mate and his wife and another friend, and it's always a big boozy weekend with that crew.

I had pretty much cleared out our bank account paying every bill due for the next week and we were left with about $250 -- so we withdrew that, and it covered food ($60), accommodation ($70), dinner out ($70), food on the go ($30 on crap), and I've got $20 left in my wallet... Notice that didn't include everything I mentioned earlier... we put $120 on BF's credit card for a slab of beer and a slab of bourbon cans, and another $50 on his credit card for fishing tackle and bait. OUCH OUCH OUCH.

I'm going to pay back that extra credit card cost this week so our debt won't go up, but all up we spent $420 on a weekend that I didn't really plan for, which puts us $420 behind on potential debt repayment, and that actually hurts me more.

In other news, I think we've decided to down grade and sell my car! We bought my car last year for about $17,000 and we've started to realise that we're not using the mid-size 4WD for what it's designed for regularly enough to justify having it. It drinks about 13L/100km and I drive about 250km a week, so I'm filling up the tank with about $70 of petrol every 10 days or so.

Now that BF's boat is out-of-order, we never use my car to tow it, or anything along those lines. A quick look on the internet has shown the economic downturn has hurt my car's value quite a bit, as no one wants a thirsty car! But I should be able to sell it for $15k if i move quickly. I'm looking at buying a 2.0L 4 cylinder 4 door mid-size sedan so even I can keep it for a few years until we have a family. (One child will be okay in a mid-size car but two would be a stretch!)

I'm hoping to spend less than $12,500 and I'll put the extra straight onto the car loan which will take it down to under $12,000 so I won't have put us into negative equity in terms of cars - but I'll save in petrol and most likely insurance straight away! So over a few years, it'll make a big difference. Later on, when we have more play money, we'll consider buying an old 4WD to tow the boat... assuming we ever decide to put the money into it that's required to get it running! (I'm really grateful that BF isn't pushing the idea of getting it fixed - it'll cost about $5000 and since the wedding is as important to him as it is to me and we both need to make some sacrifices this year - I'd be happy to elope but he wants a big family event!)

Anyway, today is a public holiday (Monday) and we've spent money today, and tomorrow I need to go grocery shopping and buy petrol so it'll also be a spend day. I'm aiming to have a no spend day on both Wednesday and Thursday so I shouldn't fall too far behind my goals for March!

My other goals are not moving along very well - still haven't finished my 1st book (April Fools Day by Bryce Courtney) and I still haven't taken the dogs for a long walk. This week I'll do a double class on Wednesday and walk the dogs tomorrow and Thursday. I promise!!

Unplanned spending and budget decisions

Today was supposed to be a NSD but I forgot that it's my bosses birthday and we'd agreed to put in some money and get him a cake - Of course, the guys were all too lazy to get it, so I went and picked it up. It was $25 for the mudcake, and they pitched in $5 each... shame there's only 3 of them, meaning I got $15 from them, leaving me to cover the remaining $10... I'm not bothered by this, but I'm trying really hard to keep to my allowance budget of $75/week and it just means I've got less to play with!

This is the first $$$ I've spent this week and I was planning on not spending anymore till the weekend but my sister called me a couple of hours ago wanting to get take away food tonight together - she's home alone and my BF is also at night school so I agreed to hang out with her - we've barely seen each other lately! I'm predicting I'll spend $15 on dinner and probably $6 on a DVD to watch. Altho... BF didn't return the last DVD on time (I didn't even realise he'd rented it until they called to remind us it was late) so there's an outstanding fine on the card - probably another $6! Meaning tonight will probably cost me $27 and I'll have $38 left for the weekend... hmmm... not liking those odds.

Might recommend watching a DVD we already have and letting BF pay that fine since it is his fine! And I'll choose carefully and give myself a $10 budget for dinner. So I'll have $55 left for the weekend. Not GREAT... but more liveable.

I'm glad that I'm thinking about these things though... 2 months ago I would've spent that money without a second thought. I feel like I'm genuinely forming a healthier relationship with money (or debt in my case!)

The only person happy about house prices

The guy across the road has a very similar house to ours - in fact, almost all the houses on this street are almost the same, because we all bought House & Land packages built by one particular builder.

Anyway, the guy across the road put his house up for sale about 2 weeks ago, and I was pretty excited to see a big "SOLD" sticker across the board when I got home from work this afternoon. Why? It's because I had a nosey on realestate.com.au the other day and saw it was up for $320,00 - $340,000 and I'm hoping the fact it sold after two weeks means he got atleast $320k for it. This is good news. Great news in fact!

I know for a fact that his house is the 3 bedroom version of our 4 bedroom + study home. Sure, this means there's less block available for gardens, decking, pergolas etc... but we still have all three of those, whereas he has a pergola and dead grass with a couple of trees.

So... I'm hoping this means our place is worth $320k... at least. We paid $280,000 for the house in 2007, so the prospect of our home value going up $40k is very exciting to me! Granted, we still owe $260k on the house, but that means we potentially have $60k of equity in the home. Very. Very. Cool.

P.S Tuesday was a designated spend day, but the only thing I spent money on was paying bills that were due - Feels so good that it's almost Thursday and I haven't spent a cent of my allowance. I don't plan on spending any tomorrow either. I didn't buy petrol because I have enough to last me till next Monday (which is not a NSD as it's a public holiday and I will be away) and I didn't buy groceries because we bought so many at the market on Sunday. Feels good to have spent nothing all week.

End of Feb Debt Update

Another thing I should do is update at the end of the month how much has been paid off the debts! The numbers for the end of February are:

Credit Card 1: $ 73.29 (Bought food for work function and still waiting for reimbursement)
Credit Card 2: -$ 83.34(I also put $1500 on this card as wedding savings!
Credit Card 3: -$ 312.50
Credit Card 4: -$ 63.11
Credit Card 5: -$ 193.28
Credit Card 6: $ 127.86 (This is BF's card -I'm going to have to ask him about this one!!)
Store Card: -$ 75.92
Home Loan 1: -$ 154.62
Home Loan 2: -$ 746.50
Car Loan 1: -$ 261.95
Total February debt reduction: -$1,690.07
New Debt Total: $298,341.14

Some of these numbers won't make sense because the starting values aren't from a month ago, most are from mid Feb, so some of them hadn't accrued interest for the month, where as others had etc etc. But from now on, if I report the debt status on the last day of the month then it'll be more consistent.

The most depressing part about that is whilst our debt went down by $1,692.07, we paid $3,240.41 towards debt... that means, essentially, that $1550.34 was spend on INTEREST. Bloody interest!!! I suppose I should be happy our debt is going down and not up....

As I mentioned earlier, during Febraury I added $1500 to wedding savings (it's sitting on a credit card to help reduce interest) but also spent $500 on personal training and $255 on an ebay dress so:

Total saved: $5940
Total spent: $3595
Balance of savings: $2345
Expected remaining costs: $25,715
Total amount required to save: $23,370
That number, $23,370, is pretty scary, but I also know there are a few things I have overestimated the costs on so it will definitely be less - I just don't know by how much!

March Goals

Following on from my post about having goals, I’ve decided to set myself some goals for March. These are not all PF related, but to me, being organised and achieving these goals are all aligned with taking control of my life, and my finances.
No Spend Days – I’m going to aim high, and aim to have 10 NSDs in March
Exercise – 5 pump classes and 5 non-pump classes in March
Reading – Read 2 books in March
Lunch/Dinners – Enjoy 20 home cooked meals, and 15 brought from home lunches.
Kids – Spent more time with the dogs – 10 long walks in March
Breakfast - Eat breakfast 15 times in March (15 times is a big deal for me!)

I’m going to count back to Sunday as that was the 1st of March, so, so far I have achieved

NSDs – 1/10
Exercise – 0/5 Pump, 1/5 Non-pump
Reading – 0/2
Lunches – 2/15, Dinners 2/20
Kids – 0/10
Breakfast – 1/15

I’m looking forward to those numbers going up and up and up!

Loving the No Spend Day

I've made a really good attempt at NSDs and am actually pretty proud of myself!
I turned Thursday into a spending day, making the NSD on Friday. The only thing I bought on Friday was a slab of beer with BFs money! It really helped me keep focused when I really really wanted a diet coke at lunch time but just ended up having another glass of water... and when I went to the video shop with my sister and BIL and resisted getting the Janeane Garafalo DVD I have been wanted to watch for a while, so I was pretty happy with my efforts.

On Saturday BF wanted fish and chips for lunch, and even tho I suggested making something he wouldn't budge... so I spent $17 on food for lunch. I really should have let him have F&C and just made myself some beans on toast. But then later that arvo my sister called us to go out for Indian for dinner but because we'd had take away for lunch BF and I decided to stay home and cook - I don't know how long it's been since we've eaten IN on a Saturday night! I also kept my mind off spending money on Saturday ( I was dying to browse the local shops) by cleaning my entire house!

Sunday we went to the market, and spent $150 on fresh veggies and LOTS of meat. We came home and figured out we have enough meat for 14 dinners for two! Our grocery budget is normally $100 a week, but now I'm so excited that we won't have to buy meat for probably 3 weeks! The veggies won't last more than a week, but I know last week I shopped at Aldi and bought a few packets of frozen veggies so that should tide us over for a while! Total spend at market: $150 meat and veg, $11.50 on lunch, $8 on coffee and $3.60 on donuts

The only negative part was there were still a few items we needed from the supermarket: milk, mustard, new sponges (the old ones were about to walk out of the kitchen!), Easy Off Bam (ran out on my cleaning spree on Saturday), olive oil spread, gherkins and some bread. Oh and BF wanted a pair of sports socks and I couldn't say no! Total spend at supermarket: $31.40. So total spend on groceries for this coming week is $181.40, but I'm confident we will greatly underspend on groceries for the next two weeks. I'll keep you up to date!

Today, Monday, I had allocated as a NSD. And it was fairly easy! I brought lunch from home (morning tea: grapes, lunch: tuna salad and some corn thins, afternoon tea: banana plus two coffees during the day) and went to the gym after work and then straight home! Again, I really wanted a diet coke, but resisted and distracted myself with a coffee! (Note: I don't pay for coffee at work - we have a pretty cool coffee machine and the boss pays for all the consumables)

Tomorrow is Tuesday, and is a spend day - I will buy petrol and pay our bills for the next week. I'll also buy milk and bread again, which we won't need for a couple more days but as Wed and Thurs are NSDs I have to buy them tomorrow! BF’s boat registration is due ($68 for boat and trialer) and we have phone/internet and BF's mobile phone bills due. I'll also pay that speeding ticket I racked up a month ago... THAT was really frustrating, as it's $142 that I could be spending on our wedding.

Our electricity bill arrived for the last three months and I was very excited to see that in the Nov/Dec/Jan quarter our Electricity bill was only $19 more expensive than the quarter before - the reason this is so exciting is we had an air conditioner/inverter installed and it's been a very warm Melbourne summer, a few days over 45 degrees! I can't believe I'm getting excited about an electricity bill...

Speaking of bills, I called my mobile phone provider and added a $4.95 internet package to my $49+insurance package, which gives me 25MB of browsing where as before I was spending $20 a month of non-subscription browsing PLUS i get that $4.95 in extra call credit! This means my next bill should be about $62 assuming that I don't crack my cap... not too bad!