Aussie Health Insurance

We have made a lot of changes to our spending habits in the last 2 months and stopped wasting money buying 'even more stuff.' As a result we have decided to start paying into health insurance. We have taken out a basic hospital cover with no extras for $105.35 a month. For a long time I said we couldn't afford health insurance, but I was wrong. We could afford it, we just needed to make it a priority.

I have seen the health system from the inside and the outside having worked in health for many years in various roles. We used to have insurance when we were younger but once we hit some financial problems years ago it went by the wayside. In deciding which policy to take out I did a lot of research. I have not gone for one with extras such as massage, gym memberships, etc. I did not get one with dental but that may change. Yesterday hubby broke a tooth and that cost $350! So I will look into the dental side of things later.

This government site is the best private health comparison site and it is free. It has all the information and links to the health funds, policy's, and hospitals.

iselect is a free online service to compare funds. I did my own research before trying the site and came up with one of the funds that iselect also recommended. The customer service staff were really helpful and pleasant when I rang them about a problem with submitting the form online. I would have no hesitation in ringing them if I had any problems and the guy who answered gave me his name and direct line to call him on in the future. Joining the plan via their site also entitled me to a discount card for shops and offers.

There is also the choice magazine site which I have not used myself as it had a fee but it looks good.

Monday, 30 July 2007

A few good links...

What does a frustrated pf blogger do while sitting for 2 days with her leg elevated? Well yesterday I created a personal health blog, Health Nut Wannabe, to keep me motivated to improve my health.

Some other blog posts I have enjoyed reading include:

Get Rich Slowly wrote a great post on Lifestyles of the Rich & Stupid

Cheap as Chips writes about a difficult topic, the lessons learned from his younger brothers death while on a holiday. He gives some excellent advice worth reading.

While looking into credit card transfers I came across this helpful post at The Mint.

If swearing offends you then skip the next few links.
For Budget Beater Food to Avoid see: Steve Don't Eat It! A very funny site.

Ever thought about all that money you spend on tolls? Well this describes a very funny experiment to see if you can save money on tolls. The Turnpike Prank.

It look like I'll be sitting here with my foot up for a bit longer. I suppose it is one way to save money! I can't drive so no petrol costs, I cancelled lunch with my friend so saved $12, I can't stand for more than about 2 minutes to have a shower, and I can't stand to shower Dad, so less hot water costs, I'm eating brown rice and pears so saving heaps on food, tea, coffee milk. I am a dreadful patient so I am trying my best not to drive my family crazy.

At least it is only 2 days to the end of the month and I can start calculating again.

Debt elimination & health side effects.

One of the positive side effects of our debt elimination efforts has been that we have taken out health insurance. Previously I have thought that we can't afford it, but it is very obvious that we could afford it, we just chose to spend our money on other things.

One of the negative health side effects of our debt elimination efforts has been that I stopped buying chicken breast fillets and started buying minced beef. It certainly has saved us money but I wish I had remembered why I stopped eating so much red meat!

Last night I went to bed fine and this morning I woke up with very, very painful gout in my ankle. It really hurts! I haven't had an episode for almost a year. Those of you that have had it know what I mean when I say painful. I am allergic to all the medications and pain relievers so diet is my main treatment.

Anyway, today was supposed to be my first day back at work so I had to cancel.... I can only hop on the other leg so I planned on a day of Internet surfing but my computer decided to die.. or else it is seriously injured! I finally have another to use now.

So I will be returning to eating chicken again, focusing on the weight loss, drinking lots of water, hopping to the loo and reading pf blogs! What a weekend!

The good news is that the numbers look good! Only a few more days and that red bar is going down!

Thursday, 26 July 2007

Saving money on groceries.

Well today was the day I take over the grocery shopping after nearly 4 years of this being my husbands job. I wrote a list and away I went with a budget of $200.

I have just got back from my first shopping expedition to Aldi. It was different. Fast... not friendly... clinical almost..... but a LOT cheaper! So I will be shopping at Aldi in the future and making big savings on groceries.

I filled the trolley to the brim and it cost me only $157. I estimate that the same groceries at Coles would have cost me about $210-$230. Here are a few comparison prices with the Aldi price in bold and the price I usually pay in italics.

Bread 650g loaf .99c 1.47
Powdered Milk: 4.69 8.27
Wheat Bix 1kg 2.49 3.99 6.15 @corner shop!
Cornflakes 5oog 1.99 3.74
Pasta spaghetti 500g .69 1.49
Pasta penne 500g .49 1.49
Chicken drumsticks 1 kg 2.99 3.99

That is just a few examples. The cat food costs have also been solved. I have bought tinned cat food at .69c for 400g. We used to use the pouches which are 100g each. 4 of these a day bought in the boxes of 12 from Coles for $6.85 (or the corner shop more frequently for $8.69!) worked out at .57c each (or .72c each!). So this cost us $15.96 each week in wet food.

Now I will open a tin, divide it into 4 little containers and it will cost us $4.84 a week! So just this small change will save $595.92 each year!!! I find that incredible! And it is just a simple change that anyone can make.

On the home front, hubby and son now have half the retaining wall built. Cost was almost $100 for concrete. Rocks, labour, blood sweat and tears, transport all for free.

I have saved the petrol discount vouchers that come on the shopping dockets and I will use them tomorrow. Again it is something I just have never got around to.

There are savings to be made everywhere if I just take the time and make a little effort to do it.

Surviving Boot Camp

This week I discovered my 'inner platoon leader'. It has been like boot camp at our house since I last posted. The last few days we have put in a mammoth effort and we are really pleased with our progress.

Exhausted yes.... but happy.

In keeping with the recent spirit of efficiency that has struck our family....and because I have made and crossed off so many To Do lists (I am having nightmares about them)...a lot of this post will be in point form.

We have:

• cleaned up my bedroom including all the wardrobes, drawers & hidey holes
• sorted all the clothing by putting it in sizes then sorted and packed them into 4 groups:
• 1. fit now and keep
• 2. don't fit but keep
• 3. for charity
• 4. sell on eBay or garage sale
• thrown out ( a few!) old shoes and kept 32 pairs. (That's just one pair for each day of the month with a spare for good measure! I swear I won't buy any for 12 months, I promise...)
• sorted out all the books into piles of keep or sell
• took photos of all the books for sale and started listing then on eBay & oztion
• realised that I have just been too busy to look after the important things in life. There is no avoiding the fact that I am a PFF, a Personal Finance Fattie! To the tune of 26kgs! If I lost 5 kg's I would have a whole new wardrobe to wear without spending a cent.

Now if I had lots of spare time I would consider starting a health & weight loss blog but just at the moment I don't. I have discovered that I am not alone in being a PFF but I won't point any fingers...

Taking responsibility for our financial situation and making changes to improve it does require a fair amount of effort and time. I am hoping that once we are back on track it will take less effort. I suspect it is like gardening, some regular maintenance and pruning would have made the whole job a lot simpler in the long run.

While attending boot camp we have:

• claimed more medical receipts and paid straight into mortgage
• applied for the interest free balance transfer credit card
• earned a few more dollars from eBay sales
• taken out health insurance with rebates directed into mortgage account
• eaten lots of leftovers, (tinned tomato's and garlic can make anything taste good)
• saved $120 we were going to spend on a skip bin by borrowing a friends ute
• joined simple savings club which is going to save me a fortune!( this is available for other countries as well as Australia, just click on the country link on the free newsletter sign up)
• posted all the outstanding business accounts, reports and made all phone calls
• made appointment to get tax done next week
• told colleagues that in a few months I will be looking for 2 days more employment
• treated ourselves to the Harry Potter movie
• took bottled water from the tap at home and junk food from local shop to movies saving $3.50 on water, and $2.00 on each treat for 3 people = $16.50 saving
• heard confession from son that he failed a unit at college (Arrgh!!)
• advised son if has extra time at end of degree to make up he will be funding himself
• once son recovered from shock put him to work in the front yard (= free labour!)
• collected rocks (free!) to build a retaining wall in front yard
• crunched the numbers again (I know.. I know..but it works for me..) and all got very determined to reach this months goals even if we do live on rice and tinned tomato's!
• all feel really bloody proud of ourselves and amazed that we ARE doing it!!

So taking a week off work and getting stuck into things was a good idea... and there are still 3 more days to go!

...can we keep up the pace?

Time to stand down.... at ease family while I get to work on the next To Do list.

Transfering credit card balance

I had yesterday off reading Harry Potter. It was great! I love the series and it was really nice to forget about the world for a day and just escape into a book.

I have been looking into transferring our credit card balance onto a new 6 months interest free account. So far applying online i have had a few problems so I will send off a paper application tomorrow. That will save us 6 months interest at 9.99% on almost $13,000 so it will be worth it.

I have listed a few more of the old coins. I don't expect as high a price for these ones but every little bit helps!

I decided to take the week ahead off work to finalise all the business paperwork and tie up loose ends. Then I can really concentrate on reaching my financial goals ASAP! I will be taking over the grocery shopping from next week as now I will have time to shop and track down the bargains. Hubby does a great job but is more of a convenience shopper than a bargain hunter. I am quite looking forward to the challenge of seeing how little I can spend!

The sorting and decluttering continues today. I am really looking forward to the end of the month when I do the finance totals. Onward and upward!

Saving money on energy bills.

I received our gas bill yesterday: $$396.41 for 3 months. We have reduced our consumption compared to the same period last year:

This account: 252 mjoules a day
Last year: 345 mjoules a day

So almost 100 mjoules a day reduction!
Pretty good considering it has been much colder this winter and we have had snow on and off for the last 4 weeks!

Our hot water, heating and cooking are all gas. These are the changes we made to reduce our gas bill:

• lowered the heater to 4-5 instead of 5-6 setting
• wear more clothes inside, and use a knee rug
• turn heater off in the middle of the day unless really cold/snowing
• take shorter showers (we tried a water saver and HATED it so all agreed to less time in the shower instead)
• more efficient use of the oven, do all baking at the same time, once a week
• more stovetop, crockpot/frypan cooking instead of oven cooking of meats
• closing doors & heavy curtains and draught stoppers under doors

Prior to 2002 we could not choose our energy supplier in Australia. Now the industry has been deregulated and in NSW and some other states households can choose who provides their gas and electricity. I have never looked into changing or comparing deals. So I have decided to get quotes and work out if more savings are possible with a different supplier.
I have spent the last hour filling in quote forms and comparing tariff rates and my head is aching with numbers & joules!

It will be interesting to see what the quotes come back with.

This site is excellent and has all the links you need for anything to do with energy supply in Australia.

Choosing Energy Supplier

Later I know I have to tackle the phones.....

Pass the panadol....

Plodding along...

I have put in a good effort today on my business with finalising client files, arranging handovers and accounts. I have only 2 more files to finalise and I am done, and yes I have left the hardest till last.

Soon I will have an extra 2-3 days a week to myself to put into practice my more frugal lifestyle. I am actually looking forward to having some time to myself.

I am feeling relieved, tired and excited as I think about the next few months.

Today I phoned the pre-loved clothing store to find out their terms. They take clothes on consignment. After one month they are paid 50% of the price of the item whether it is sold or not. The item has to be removed after 2 months if it doesn't sell. Hmmm.....

I think I can do better than that....

I have come across an Aussie auction sites called Oztion. The fees are very reasonable:

$0.05 - $3.30 = $0.10 flat
$3.31 - $100.00 = 3% of sale price
$100.01 - $500.00 = $3.00 + 2.5% of sale price over $100.00
$500.01 - $1000.00 = $13.00 + 2% of sale price over $500.00
Over $1000.00 = $23.00 + 1.5% of sale price over $1000.00
Maximum sale fee $30.00

If and item does not sell there is no fee and you can relist it again for up to 60 days automatically.The other thing I like about Oztion that it has a community where people list things they are looking for. I have already sold one item after seeing it requested.

I have also been very tempted with some fantastic bargains at this site! But I have resisted so far.... My daughter was really shocked when I told her of my committment not to buy any clothes or shoes for 12 months. She loves finding shoe bargains on ebay for me...or aleast she used to! (that Imelda post is coming soon!)

Rockin' Girl Blogger!

I've been tagged by nomorespending of Diary of a Reformed Spendaholic.
This time for a Rockin' Girl Blogger award. Thanks!

The Rockin' Girl Blogger award was started by Roberta Ferguson at Blogging Made Devilishly Simple. If you want to learn about the award please visit her website.

If you want to participate you have to:
Put the badge on your blog
Give credit to Roberta
Nominate 5 other bloggers

Here's my 5 Rockin' Girl Bloggers!

1. Ladies in the Red. I love this blog! Here is a teaser from the site:

"Just over a year ago I was co-director of a Company, had a city centre apartment, a house that was rented out, a BMW, went for weekly clothes shopping trips and had not a care in the world (although I always found split-ends a worry). A year on and I've lost my Company, apartment, car, house, and you'll find me selling most of my designer stuff on Ebay" Truly a Rockin' Girl Blogger!

2. Single Broke Female. "The incessant ramblings of a single 20 something trying to get her life and her debts in some sort of order..." single broke female is considering adding a 'hottie of the week' to spice up her site...

3. Debt Free & Financially fit. Renee is facing a lot of challenges at the moment as she digs herself 'out of this hell hole $1 at a time. Definitely a Rockin' Girl Blogger!

4. Savvy Budget. "Watch as a 30 something woman dust herself off and starts all over again."

5.Low Income Lady is an Aussie blogger who is also trying to pay off her mortgage.

Mortgage v's credit card debt.

Well we are back and Dads surgery went well. He has to go back again in the next few months but so far so good and we will take it as it comes. Thanks for the good thoughts that were sent our way.

I seem to be having a lucky streak at the moment with 'money finds'. I had a letter waiting for me telling me that my 2005/-6 tax has been reviewed and I am entitled to an extra $2447 in super co-contributions!

Yay!! I love an election year when pollies are trying to win votes like this! It's been good for my bank balance. So that will add a bit more to my retirement funds. I will post those totals here once I get my tax done and I have all the information available.

We went reasonably well with money while we were away. We were able to get accommodation at the hospital for $40 a night including breakfast and the only other cost was takeaway food and petrol. I refrained from eating junk snack food for comfort which is what I used to do so that saved money as well.

With the sale of the coins I had enough to transfer money out of pay pal so another $217 into the mortgage account!

Here are the numbers for reaching our target of paying off the mortgage in 5 years:

Monthly payment: $3,067
Total interest paid over life of loan: $31,692

With the savings and changes we have made we are now paying $500 each week into the mortgage account instead of $250-300.

Then I have to work my butt off and my grey matter to come up with the rest each month. I am only thinking one month ahead otherwise I get discouraged. I am enjoying the challenge!

So far we are on target to hit our goals this month and maybe exceed them!

A reader asked me why I was paying the mortgage off before the credit card. The savings at this point in the loan for the house are huge. If we waited another year or two to make the extra payments it would not have as much impact as it is having now.

With the credit card I am trying to pay the minimum plus an extra $50 a week. I will record the progress to paying it off in the monthly progress report. I am quite confident that we can get it paid off in a reasonable time frame, but it isn't my priority at the moment. I know I can do that.

The mortgage goal is exciting and motivating because it is really hard and difficult and sometimes seems unachievable! Since starting this blog and writing down my goal I have become so determined to do it!

I get up every day and my mind is thinking about how I can either save money or make money without spending money. It has forced me to think about how I want my life to be in the future, and what price I am paying for debt in terms of health, happiness, freedom as well as dollars and cents.

This goal has motivated me in a way that paying off a credit card never could!

I have a clearer vision of the future I want for myself and my husband in retirement now. I think about what I will do when I no longer have to pay a mortgage any more. I will have more choices, I will have money to travel, to spend as I please. My mortgage feels like a weight around my neck and it will be gone. Gone for good.

I am not in a position to rely on any family inheritance coming my way to make my life easier as I age. It is up to me and my husband to provide for ourselves in retirement. The decision to pay off the mortgage has focused our efforts. I suppose we stopped pretending that old age, health problems and financial security as we aged would somehow sort itself out.

So my decision is a financial one and a pyschological one. It works for us at this point in our lives. It may not be the right decision for others.

Ebay profits!

A fast update. My old coins that I listed on eBay have sold for $215!! That money will go straight into the mortgage account. Altogether my ebay sales so far have totalled $590.50!!

All that extra money that was lying around the house and I didn't even realise it. As soon as I get back from Dad being in hospital I am going to list the remaining old coins, take the clothes to the pre-loved shop and take some furniture to an auction house.

I am really determined now to keep focused on decluttering and selling off 'stuff'. I look around me and there is so much to do.

My grocery budget has been a bit more than planned. We had takeaway last night. I was just too tired to care after spending the day arranging client handovers. Once we get home from Dads surgery and he improves then I can get started on preparing a vegetable garden for spring. Hopefully I will only be away for 1-2 nights.

I am relieved to be planning and working towards a simple and more frugal lifestyle. More peace, more time and less stress.

Using Mortgage Calculators to Eliminate Debt

I have found using mortgage calculators essential to understanding and eliminating my mortgage. Calculators can help when making decisions about the repayments. Understanding how extra repayments will affect the debt keeps me motivated when it begins to seem to difficult. Wooley Woman has asked me to share the calculators I use. There are four.

Loan Repayment Calculator

Extra Repayments Calculator

Lump Sum Repayment Calculator

You need to know the amount, the term and the interest rate. I like these calculators because they have a interactive graphics as well as text.
Enter you information, move the mouse over the graphed area, you can make the graph shaded by ticking the box. I have the graph for repaying the mortgage in 5 years stuck in the front of my new Bills folder so I see it every day.

Play around with the numbers and the savings you can make will astonish you.

Try the extra repayments calculator to see how much you save just by paying an extra $20-30 a week. We have always paid extra. When we first moved into our home interest rates in Australia were 18% !! Even then we paid weekly and rounded up the amount with an extra $10 or so. Money was tight then as our children were young and we earned less. It was tight at times.

Five Years later when we suddenly found ourselves both out of work for 6 months (through a layoff & illness) we were 9 months ahead in our mortgage. If we had not been ahead we would have lost our home for sure. Instead we had 9 months mortgage free to find work, luckily it only took six!

In Australia the option to pay mortgages weekly has always been available and well used. I have been told that this is relatively new to other countries.

The other calculator that I use is:

Amortization Calculator

**It really is worth the time to use it and understand what it means if you are serious about eliminating mortgage debt.**

Enter you loan amount, the interest and the term only. In view results put yearly then submit. Now scroll down to the yearly payment schedule. Notice how much interest is paid each year and how much principal. It can be a shock to realise that at the end of the first year or two you may have only paid a few hundred dollars off your actual mortgage.

OK now you are over the shock you can use this information to your advantage. If you can pay the amount in the left column, principal paid, ahead of time, then you effectively save yourself a years worth of payments. You jump down to the next line.

So simple it kind of stuns you doesn't it.

Try it for yourself. The more you can pay in the early years the more you save. The calculators can help you see for yourself that small amounts can make a huge difference.

So why not crunch some numbers for yourself and come back and share what you found.

Eliminating Mortgage Debt

Tagged again but with an interesting twist!

I have been tagged by Stubsy of Financial Independence to give you 8 Random facts about the subject of my website:
Eliminating Mortgage Debt.

Rules
1. Each player must post these rules first.
2. Each player starts with eight random facts about the subject of their website.
3. People who are tagged write their own blog about their eight things and post these rules.
4. At the end of your blog choose eight people to get tagged and list their names.
5. Don’t forget to leave them a comment telling them they’re tagged, and to read your blog.

Eight Random Facts About Eliminating Mortgage Debt

1.Start making payments as soon as the loan is approved, before the settlement date. If you can make a full payment on or before settlement date this can save thousands of dollars. It reduces the principal amount from the start.

2. Make sure you will not be penalised for paying out the mortgage early. Check the fine print to avoid fines and hidden fees for extra payments.

3. Negotiate the lowest possible interest rate on your mortgage with interest rate calculated daily. Ask lenders if you are eligible for a professional package. The reduced interest rate in these packages can save you thousands of dollars over the life of a loan. Shop around and see where you can get the best deal.

4. Make weekly - fortnightly payments off your mortgage.

5. Do you really need the bells and whistles type mortgage? All those extras cost money and often have extra fees attached. Get a simple mortgage that you can understand. Know EXACTLY how much you are paying in hidden costs.

6.Pay bonus payments, unexpected income, eBay money, winnings and any other irregular income straight off your mortgage. Set up automatic payments into your account.

7. Pay extra off you loan in the first few years. This is when most of the payment is directed to paying interest. Any extra you pay will reduce the principal immediately.

8. Use online calculators to see the impact of making extra payments, increasing payments. Calculate how much your mortgage is REALLY going to cost you in time and money if you only make the minimum payments. Take the time to crunch the numbers each month and hopefully it will shock you into action!

I will have to tag later as I am running out of time. Leave a comment if you would like to claim a tag.

The only other thing I would add to this list is to make a decision to Just Do It! Do whatever you have to do to keep focused and stay on track. For me that is blogging.

Focus! Focus! Focus!

* A quick update on the eBay coin auction : now over $205 and still 24 hours to go!!!

Decision Time.

After a long and thoughtful night I have made my decision. I am going to finish up my business and just work at my part-time job. I feel relieved to have finally decided. It is the best option for the time being when I never know how Dads health will be. The extra days at home will give me time to sell everything on eBay, shop for bargains and plant a vegetable garden. To live a simpler life instead of trying to juggle 10 plates in the air at once!

It will take me 8-10 weeks to handover my clients, and I will keep seeing 3 clients who have been with me since the beginning. Then I can concentrate on my job, my debt reduction plan and finding ways to make money working from home while caring for Dad. (Please don't send me mlm & other ops I will just delete them).

I feel better for just making the final decision. It is not a financial one as it was potential income not actual.

After setting aside money to pay for 2 nights accommodation and petrol I was able to still pay extra off the mortgage this week! Mainly because all the bills are up to date.

Here is a mini progress report to keep my spirits up!

Paid off mortgage in July: Total $1442.50 today's balance $149,726.00.

I have yet to bank the loose change and the unclaimed money from the medical bills.
We are on target for our financial goals this month. The only difficulty will be if the hospital stay gets extended for longer than 2 days.

A Mixed Bag and a Rant to boot!

A lot has happened today. My dad has been unwell for a few days and will be admitted to hospital for a day or two next week. This means a 4 hour trip, accomadation costs and time off work and business. If all goes well I will be off work about three- four weeks to look after him. I have leave available so I will get paid. If it doesn't go well.... who knows.

I have spent today contacting clients and cancelling appointments for the next few weeks. After I had just phoned colleagues last week requesting referrals and I had begun to fill my diary. Tommorrow I have to ask them to take over the new work that came my way. My colleagues are understanding and will help me out. However to the companies I contacted last week requesting work, it appears very unprofessional for me to be phoning them again a few days later saying I am again unavailable for at least the next month and possibly longer.

I have considered just shutting shop for the time being to take care of Dad. As a carer I never know what will happen from day to day. I thought the worst was over and last week decided to get stuck into my business again and build it up. My concern is that I am begining to look unreliable to companies that would send me work. I wouldn't want to send work to someone who appears to be frequently unavailable, however valid the reasons. I have a good profesional reputation and I don't want to spoil it.

Now I have to hand over all the new clients that I received last week to others as I can't do the work. I will definitely be thinking long and hard about what to do over the next few weeks. It may be in my best interests to stop the business, and just stay working part-time. My business did make some money but I don't take any as income. It all got put back into the business. So our family does not draw money from it and it would not decrease our income if I stopped.

My dad is not going to be around forever. I can start a business anytime, in my line of work it is not an expensive start up.

Don't mind me I am just having a rant, writing helps me think. Now I have a lot to think about.

On a postive note I checked my ebay auction this morning and the bids on the coins have gone even higher! Are people mad? I actually started worrying that maybe I got the coin details wrong so I got them out and checked that the details I listed are all accurate. Yep. They are. And still 4 days to go!

I found this interesting article about a man browsing through Ebay and finding his own baby book for sale. His name is Bill Mack. The whole Ebay experience is an interesting one. I don't think I will ever pay full price for things again.

Preventing Identity Theft. A Cautionary Tale.

Would you know what steps to take if you discovered your identity had been stolen? Last night I spoke with and old friend who's elderly mother was the victim of identity theft a couple of years ago. It was very sad as this dear old lady lost the lot and had to declare bankruptcy. Even though this has nothing to do with my debt elimination I decided to post about it today. Why? Because I can't stand these scumbags!

Here is what has been pieced together with the wisdom of hindsight.

My friends mother is a sweet lady who had always been active in the church and believed in helping others. Lets call her Pearl. Pearl lived alone and was becoming more forgetful. Her family lived away and even though they kept in phone contact they only visited every few months.

Pearl met a woman at church who told her she had escaped from a violent marriage. She said she was in hiding from her husband. Pearl offered her a safe bed in her home until she could get on her feet. The family now know that she was a professional con woman with a criminal background. Her story gave her a cover for convincing the old lady to keep her movements and activities all a secret. So the family did not find out she had moved in for some months. The con woman also used this story to convince others to keep secrets and avoid attention.

Once inside Pearls home she had access to all the financial records. Pearl had a book with all her accounts details, insurance policies, identification and financial records listed. She had put everything in a folder so that if ever something happened to her the family could easily find and access the information. Unfortunately so can a criminal. The con woman now had all the personal information required to open accounts online, conduct transactions and steal an identity. Simple!

Pearl lost all her life savings in about 12 months, approximately $42,000. She had debts of almost 20,000 run up in her name. Pearls signature was on all the documents with the credit companies. It appears this woman initially convinced Pearl to loan her money by telling her she needed to take legal action against her husband. Later she became more aggressive and intimidated her. Everyone hopes there was no violence, we will never know. Friends and family began to notice changes in Pearl who resisted all efforts from her family to find out more.

When Pearls family started to get suspicious they tried to get rid of the woman. But it was too late. As they were in the process of trying to decide what to do next the Police raided Pearls house one night and the con woman was arrested. She is now in jail for other offences. It turns out she was in hiding from the police, not an abusive ex-husband.

No money is able to be reclaimed, the woman can't be prosecuted for what she did to Pearl because Pearls memory and health is worse and she is in a care facility. She could never testify to what happened due to her health. Her family decided the stress and expense of trying to prosecute this woman was not worth it.

The family were left to sort out the mess. Creditors don't care about the circumstances. They just want money! The family had to declare bankruptcy on Pearls behalf. Pearl has no money left except her weekly pension.

Now it might be easy to think this only happens to other people but that is the point of my post. Pearl and her family are just average, hardworking honest people. Pearl had helped out people before, she was raised to to offer a helping hand when you can. Initially the family was not suspicious. Pearl had shared her home with students and others at different times over the years. After all, Pearl met her at church. She seemed so genuine!

Con artists are professionals at their jobs! They make a living our of fooling people. So don't think it can't happen to you or someone you know. It does happen and the emotional and financial consequences are devastating.

To find out more about identity theft check out these sites. (they are not affiliate links)

Identity Theft Stories

Identify Theft Resources

Identity Theft Kit

Identity Theft: Don't Become a Victim

Identity Theft Resource Centre

Patrick has a great blog entry on Identity Theft: Jury Duty Scam

Another blog post: My Mum Stole My Identity

Clothing Clutter

While sorting through old things I am really begining to make the connection between clutter and disorganisation in more areas than my finances. Yesterday I attacked the main bedroom. I found two very large bags of clothing that I had stored in the top of the cupboard years ago. Most are in very good condition, too small to fit me now. I had forgotton about them.

They are gettting sold, either on ebay or through the pre-loved clothing shop.

My wardrobe has clothes ranging from size 10 - 18. There are more clothes in there than I can possibly wear. The truth is I tend to live in my jeans. I am a twinset and pearls girl with at work and then jeans and t-shirts at home. I don't need After 5 wear as I don't go out much at night.

It's just accumalated over the years. So in order to get the point across to myself I have decided I am not going to buy any clothes or shoes for the next 12 months.

Usually I don't budget for these things. I may buy nothing for ages and then spend a couple of hundred dollars on clothes when I see something I like. So 12 months with no purchases will do me good and it will free up several thousand dollars for the mortgage.

I won't get into the shoes today (my middle name is Imelda!) that needs a whole post of it's own ,with pictures!

To pay off this debt I have bring in more money. I cannot do it on our wages alone. So selling off clothes and whatever else I can find is one way to do that. It is hard work to get up every day and keep asking myself 'what am I going to do today to pay off the mortgage?" Some days it would be easy to just not worry about it and do nothing. But I want to get as much off the morgage as I can ASAP as the mortgage is still young, 2 years, so any extra now makes a much bigger dent in the principal.

The clutter has made it difficult to keep track of things. It costs me money as I am unaware of the 'real state of affairs' when living in clutter. I sometimes wonder how I came to be so cluttered as at work I am a fastidious and very tidy person....

I can't wait until I have simplified my life. That red bar is going down at the end of this month so help me...!

Super saver from My Wealth Builder

Super saver from My Wealth Builder has tagged me in a new blog project. This project calls for sharing 8 personal facts about myself, then tagging 8 other bloggers to do the same. Here are the rules , which were passed to me:

• Each player must post these rules first.
• Each player starts with eight random facts/habits about themselves.
• People who are tagged need to write on their own blog about their eight things and post these rules.
• At the end of your blog, you need to choose eight people to get tagged and list their names.
• Don’t forget to leave them a comment telling them they’re tagged, and to read your blog.

Eight Random Facts About Louise!

1. I like to draw and paint for relaxation. Most people who know me would have no idea. About 2 months ago an author phoned me and asked if they could include one of my drawings in thier new book. I said yes so long as it is anonymous. I had met them years ago and showed them a few drawings. I am thrilled about it!
2. I get obsessed and lose track of time with things like sudoko, tetris, and my sons video games. Thats why I stopped playing them.
3. Last year when I went away for a weekend with the 'girls' we had way too much to drink... there is a video somewhere I think...? We did not recover as well as we used to 25 years ago!....
4. On the top of my list of things to do before I die is to climb to the Base Camp of Mt. Everest. I have all the brochures and I am going to do it when I have paid off this mortgage as my reward.
5. I used to go skinny dipping when I was younger and my birthday suit fitted nicely.
6. My favourite junk food is potato chips and chocolate eaten together.
7. I would give up posessions for experiences any day.
8. If I could come back as anything I would be a spy. I love spy novels and movies.

Now I have given some thought about who I would like find out more about and here is my list of those I have tagged:

Ian Denny of Phoenix from the Ashes

Ladies in the Red

A great Aussie blog The Birds and the Beads

Has the World Gone Mad

Blogging my way out of Debt

Surburban Mum who's Open Letter to The Dragon may well become a classic!

Heavenabove at Wildlife Alive

and No More Spending

Make Money While You Sleep!

Late last night I finally got around to listing the old coins I found in my old piggy bank on ebay. I took a gamble and listed a couple of different sized lots at .99 NR. This morning I woke up to find myself almost $160 richer! Wow! What a great start to the day. Taking the risk and listing them low seems to really get people bidding.

I think of all those internet marketing ads that screamed "Make Money While You Sleep!" . Hey I finally did!

Yesterday I spent time cleaning out old boxes of 'stuff'. Most of it junk, most of it untouched for years. Boxes from my childhood, full of memories. I found some more old coins! Some were in an old jar and a few more in a plastic bag with other things. It's funny because, all this stuff has always been there. It kind of reminds me of the old Acres of Diamonds story. I am wonder now what other 'finds' may come.

I feel good about my decision to sell off these old things and free up my life of both clutter and debt. My plan is to try and sell all the old coins this month so I get the mortgage down under $150,000.

Budget beater meals.

I'm not one to spend a lot of time in the kitchen. I really admire those people who are creative cooks, passionate about the whole process of cooking. For them cooking seems to be an art. Unfortunately I am not one of them.

I do however love to eat! Perhaps just a little too much. I also like to coook soup. The one thing that has stood out more than anything since I started this journey has been the amount of money we spent and wasted on food. On average we were spending $200 a week for groceries and take away and about $45+ a week on junk food. We have made our biggest savings with food. There are 4 adult mouths to feed and 5 when my son is home from college.

I really want to learn to be thrifty in the kitchen and still make nutritious and yummy meals. So here is what I made today for lunch with a complete cost breakdown. I even took a photo so you can see how good it looks.

Lamb & Vegetable Soup.

• 1/2 bunch celery $1.29
• 1 onion .30
• 2 carrots .70
• mashed pumpkin leftovers .60
• olive oil 2 tbspns .30
• 500 kg lamb forequarter bones $3.69
• vegetable stock powder .20

Heat the oil in the bottom of a large soup pot. Add vegetable stock powder to the oil, then add chopped onion and celery and stir until onion is translucent. Add the lamb bones and brown well. Add 2-3 litres of water, grated carrot, leftover pumpkin (and any other leftover vegies) and simmer for 3-4 hours. Put in fridge overnight, scoop of the fat, remove the bones, heat and enjoy!

My family, who don't actually like my cooking (or burnt offerings as they call them) agreed to try it because it smelt so good on such a cold day! They all agreed it tasted OK. So that is saying something coming from them. It was nice and thick with tender meat pieces from the bones

So the total cost was $7.08 for soup for 5. Even with bread this would be a meal for 5 for under $10. Or make it up and freeze if for low cost lunches at work.

Making money from blog?

For me making money is not the primary purpose of my blog. If it was I would be doing things very differently I'm sure! I'm the person who lost a couple of grand trying to make it as an Internet Marketer remember!

It has been interesting to see the different types of blogs that catergorise themselves as 'personal finance'. Some of them are just sites filled with articles. Boring! I like the 'personal' in finance blogs. It helps me stay the course I have set.

I also notice some blogs have donation links so that people can help them pay off the debt they are blogging about. Thats just not me. If anyone feels an overwhelming urge to make a donation while at my blog visit Kiva where $25 can change a life, and you get it back! I would never ask for money in the offline world so I am not about to online.

Instead I have added some afiliate links and some ads to the site. If they make some money, great! it will go straight off my mortgage. If not, it's no big deal. My goal is to pay off my mortgage through my own efforts. My blog is kind of an online diary that lets me make contact with others. I find writing each day helps my stay focused on my goal.

Recently I started looking at some of the pay to post sites that have popped up on some other blogs I read. I have been to a few sites and one thing I didn't like is that most of them say you can't write anything negative about the site/ product. Not my style. If I am going to review or talk about something I have to be able to be honest about it.

I came across Blogvertise a few days ago and have been thinking of applying, mainly because I can say whatever I like and possibly add a few dollars to my mortgage reduction plan. I have been through the site and I like what I see. Here is Blogvertise in a nutshell;

• free to join
• initial rates are $4 - $25 per post
• after 10 approved posts payment rates may increase
• paid through paypal 30days after completed
• you do not have to endorse the product / site *

At one stage I did add text ads to the blog but I soon took them off. They annoyed me no end when I was trying to read entries! I have decided to try Blogvertise and see how it goes. If I am approved the extra dollars will go straight off that mortgage. I will post any updates on my application and earnings here.

I would be interested to hear others views on paid posts and donations for debt reduction.

How to save money on Hair Care.

This morning I saved myself $30. How did I do it? Well I cut my own hair.

I used to cut my hair when I was at uni to save money. When I started earning an income again I treated myself to getting my hair cut ($30), coloured ($80) and buying myself luxurious hair care products (shampoo $17, conditioner $20, colour definition brilliance fluid $12.95, smooth & shine serum $8.95) This would last 10-12-weeks.

Last night while I was cursing the fact I need a cut and colour I started adding it all up. I pulled apart the bathroom and looked all the 'products' that we buy as a family for hair care! There were lots of them, many half used.

So this morning I made another family announcement! (they are getting used to it now!). No more fancy hair care products. I will find an inexpensive shampoo & conditioner and beyond that they pay for thier own.

Now my hubby, dad and son were not at all perterbed or even remotely interested "whatever" was the response. They cut thier hair using a razor at home so there are no hair cut costs. Teenage daughter is happy to pay for her own products to maintain her lovely hair 'do'. She already pays for her haircuts.

I have put out all the bottles of half used shampoo etc to be used up. I will go back to home colouring and cutting it myself. I just think about that mortgage being paid off and it is enought to motivate me.

I have found a couple of other blogs mentioning savings on hair care and products. The Frugal Law Student still gets mum to cut his hair even though he's 26. Over at Wallowing in Debt there is good article and review of using henna. Blogging Away Debt also saves money on haircuts.

Well that's another step closer to reducing my living expenses!

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More Money Finds !

I was sorting out some more files yesterday and I found some medical bills that I had not claimed. Over the past 6 months we have had a lot of medical expenses. I usually pay up front and then claim it back from medicare in cash later.

I found the first unclaimed account and that made me think there could be more. So I did a big search of the files, my handbag, my diary, the kitchen drawers and I found $235 worth of unclaimed bills! My daughter collected the money and now I will put that cash off the mortgage as well. Once again by being disorganised I lost track of what was owing to me.

With this extra cash and our other savings I feel confident we can reach our goal of owing less than $150,000 at the end of the month.

Earlier this week I phoned some contacts and let them know I was officially back on deck and ready to take on more work. It paid off! I have been referred some work at top dollar rate. It should bring in almost $1000 extra over this month which will build up my business account. So it pays to keep in touch with other professonals and let them know you are available and willing to take on work. I have found there is no advertsing that can beat word of mouth! Particularly in a small community where people know who you are. It can make or break!

I keep my business and home accounts completely seperate. If I can build my business up to provide a steady second income I will be thrilled! After I have seen the accountant and had my tax done I will have a clearer picture of my exact income. My guess is that last year it was around $40,000.

So the extra cash and the extra work gave me another boost to stick at it. I am finding the reduced grocery budget difficult but we are perservering with it!

E-bay profits & business basics.

Some more E-bay payments went straight into the mortgage this morning! So a total of $355 paid straight off the mortgage from e-bay sales. There is another $35 in Paypal but I need to wait until it reaches $150 to take it out to avoid fees. I have more stuff to list but I just haven't had time to do it.

It was just the boost I needed today. Sometimes I look at my goal and it seems so large an amount. Then I remind myself I just need to be creative and come up with more ways to bring in additional money. It will be the only way we can do it. I really want to put as much as I can off in the next 6 months so we make big savings on the interest.

I have now got the details of sharing my business office space sorted out. It will halves my rent expenses! The new lease will start in 2 weeks. It just means that now I don't have the luxury of working in the office whenever I choose. I have now set days and specific appointment times.

It has actually been a good thing as I just have to be more organised and it will make me more efficient. It was the fastet way to cut business costs I could think of. So my rent decreases by 50%, my income will increase by 10% with the raised fees.

I have got a lovely green shoebox that we are keeping all the receipts in for everything we spend. We have forgotton to save a few because it is a new habit but I think we will get used to it.

A Tail of Three Kitties!

We share our home with three wonderful kitties. They have very different personalities and they often don't get along. But we love them anyway. And so because we love them we feed them well and spoil them rotten!

Ginger is 15 years old.She is a quiet placid gentle cat who just needs a meal, a place to sleep in the sun and a house to hide in during a storm.
Rose is 5. She is an intellegent, naughty, haughty spoilt 'teen' of a cat that keeps us all thoroughly entertained with her antics. She dances for food, eats vegetables, makes bird calls and can open windows and screen doors.
Puss is 18 years old, very fat, spoiled and grumpy and came along with my father and his belongings when he moved in with us.




I have just come to realise the price of these three kitties. As well as food, Rose and Puss live inside only so they need kitty litter too. For years we used to get our cat food at a discount or for free because we had a friend who worked at a pet food factory. A few years ago that stopped and they don't sell to the public.

So our cats got used to the good quality food and I just kept buying it. The kitty litter, well Rose doesn't use too much, but Puss is getting old and having a few problems in that department. So she goes through a lot of kitty litter!

So I have been working out the costs and how I can reduce them. I went to the online supermarket site to check prices as it does a comparison of prices per 100g which was really helpful.

Our three kitties cost $45.27 a week for food and litter.

Just out of interest when I compared the brand prices at the supermarket the differences were huge.

Dry food per 100g: cheapest = $2.87 dearest = $8.25
*Wet food per 100g: cheapest = 19 cents dearest = $13.59 (!!!!)
Kitty Litter per 100g: cheapest = 33 cents dearest = $1.48

There are some agricultural supply barns and pet shops in town that stock animal supplies in bulk. I am going to go and do a comparison of prices this weekend and see if I can reduce the costs. I never thought about how much they cost before and I would not have thought it was that much.

I will leave adding up the vet bills for another day! and then there is the dog....

Goals for July.

I have decided to set a specific $ amount goal each month so that I don't get complacent about paying off this debt. I know I have to keep focused! So here are my goals for the next 30 days.

• reduce mortgage to < $150,000
• pay all other bills on time
• see accountant and submit tax
• record our spending
• sell old stuff we don't need anymore

To reach this months goal I need to pay approximately $2,177. The usual payment is $1,114 a month. We have always paid $300 a week. With the savings on food now diverted to the mortgage we are going to pay $500 a week. Then I also need to see how I can earn money elsewhere.

My big E-bay sale has now gone into my mortgage account so that is just over $300! I have requested buyers pay straight into my mortgage account rather than paypal. That way I save a few dollars in fees and I don't have to wait until the balance is $150 to transfer it over. Also I never even see it so there is no temptation to spend it on something else.

There is a lovely upmarket 'pre-loved' clothing store about 1.5 hours from here. They only take good quality clothes and shoes and they have beautiful stuff. I am going to see if they will take some of my clothes. I think they will get a better price there than E-bay. I have some really lovely clothes and shoes, evening wear and coats that I won't be wearing again.

It feels strange to think about selling them. It is like acknowledging a part of your life that is now over. I look at each outfit and I remember the occasion it was for, a wedding, a reunion, a school graduation...

But I need to be realistic. I still have the memories and somewhere there are photos. It's like a realisation of getting older. And I want my life to be simplified, not cluttered as I age.

I wonder if that's why we keep so much, a way to hold on to the happy memories perhaps?

We are also looking at selling off a lot of old furniture and cleaning out the garage of 'stuff'. There are wardrobes, fridges, a piano, kids bikes, swings. It is incredible how much we accumulated over the years of raising children! So a busy month ahead for us!

I need constant inspiration to stay on track. For me that comes from about one hour a day, every day, of reading personal finance blogs. It's the first thing I do when I wake up. It keeps me focused on suceeding.

I have recently discovered 'carnivals' where bloggers all submit posts. There is plenty of inspiration at this personal finance carnival. I love the very first story, (The Wastrel Show) of a couple who paid off their mortgage, moved out of the city and live debt free.

Light at the end of the tunnel.

Well after a marathon effort over the weekend I have all my business tax paperwork ready to submit. The results were a pleasant and unexpected surprise!

Before crunching the numbers I had seriously given a lot of thought to dropping the business and getting a second part time job. I did not think I made any real profit. The last seven months I have only worked enough hours to pay the bills due to the responsibilities of caring.

Well I did make some money! The potential is there for income.

I can now see where I can make savings. Many expenses were reasonable for a newly set up business such as office furniture, training, mentoring, equipment. This year I will not have those expenses.

When I orginally set up I did a business plan. I also spent just less than $5,000 on business mentoring. While it sounds a lot it was an excellent investment in my future that I believe will save me much time and money over my career.

I had lost track of all the business excitment over the last few months. Now I see that I can still build my business, I will just keep it part time for a lot longer than I originally planned. There is a second full-time income there if I work smart. All of it can go to the mortgage.

I need to also look into how I manage the caring and how I can streamline that also. I do not want to get burnt out. Caring for my dad will only get more demanding as the years go on. That is another reason for me to pay off the mortgage as fast as I can. Then I can work less.

Yesterday I found this inspiring story about a couple who paid off their house in 3 years. Paying off the mortgage has become the number 1 priority now for us. If we can reduce our living expenses to what we had when I went to uni then we could pay one wage straight off the loan.

Now if I also increase what I earn by working smart in my business, then that is like adding another wage that could go straight off the loan. The easiest way to do that is to raise my fee. I have just done this with no complaints or loss of business so far. This has given me an instant 10% payrise.

The next thing that I am working on this week is to streamline my billing, reporting and paperwork systems so that I am more efficient and less stressed about it. Once that is completed then I think I will put out the message I am back on deck!
.

It's good to see a crack of light at the end of what felt like a very long tunnel!

Progress Report #1

Well here is the first months progress report!

Mortgage Amount Now Owing: $151,178

Extra amount paid last month was: $1046

This saved $7,384 in interest and 7 months off the loan term!

We paid .8% of the original mortgage total ($152,377)

Because the mortgage is only 2.5 years old (due to a consolidation) extra amounts paid off have a bigger impact on the principal amount. So now is the time for us to make the big savings in interest.

I am really happy with that! Without my decision to 'Just Do It' and my blog, no extra money would have been paid and I would have wasted another couple of hundred dollars on internet marketing junk. I would have just spent the $600 bonus on... ???? who knows what?

These are the changes we made in the last 3 weeks:

• No take away
• No munchies junk food from the corner shop
• I stopped eating junk food in the car on the way to & from work
• Taking a packed lunch to work instead of buying it
• No hiring videos
• Halved the food budget from $250 a week to $125
• No impluse purchases of (even more) clothes, shoes or 'stuff'
• On the last day of the month I left $50 in the account and paid everything else off the mortage ($110)

In all honesty we just stopped being so wasteful. Food was our biggest area of saving.

Other amount owing: Credit card $12,794, Interest Free Card: $1,389

After a big day on the budget yesterday it is all drawn up and ready to go! I know exactly what I pay for everything, when it is due and how much I need to set aside every week to pay all our bills. I used the Simple Savings Bill Payment System which is free (see the left sidebar). I like having it all in a folder where I can find it. It's easy to follow, logical.

Calculating how much interest I am saving and the time off the loan helps me see that this is worthwhile. Sometimes if I get a bit down I jump online, crunch some numbers and remind myself that in 5 years time I will have no mortgage. I have added the calulators that I use to the links on the right side.

Well I'm off to move that little red bar on the right .8% !!!!

All in the family!

Yesterday we collected our son from college for the mid year break. The trip is about 4.5 hours each way so we had a long time to catch up on all his news. I was amused to hear my hubby filling him in what's been happening while he has been away.

"Well mate, you're going to get a shock when you get home!"

I wondered to myself what was coming... never would have guessed it!

"There's no takeaway, no videos, no trips to the shop for junk food, no money for a night a the pub with your mates and no eating chicken breast fillets and steak anymore. It's mince and sausages or starve!. You're mothers decided we're going to pay off the mortgage in 5 years so we just all have to go without and do it."

I love the way men explain things. Straight to the point. No nonsense.

Well my gorgeous son took it all on board quiet well. He confesed he had $33 dollars left from his spending and handed it over for 'the cause'.

I have been pleasantly suprised by my kids attitudes. My daughter is now working part time. As of last week we are no longer paying for her medications, her textbooks, or her junk food habits. While they are at college we don't charge them board so long as they contribute in kind. She is great help to me at home with managing the cooking, shopping, washing. If they were not studying they would be paying board.

It's an interesting question of how you manage money when kids are in the young adult phase. Neither were allowed to have mobile phones until they were 16. Then they got $10 a month credit, they knew if it was over that they would have to pay it. They never went over it. They have no debt other than their HECs debt for thier study (a goverment funded student loan). My daughter already has over $3000 saved.

I find it interesting how other parents work out these things with their adult children. There is no 'perfect' solution. Just the solution thats right at the moment, and it's probably quite different for each family.

Meanwhile back to the budgeting!

Ebay Success!

Short & Sweet today.

It's a good thing I made it through the snow yesterday and made it to work. I got asked to oversee a new project which I am very excited about.

Ebay auction update: One item caused a bidding war at the last moment which was great for me! They bid just a couple of dollars short of the new price. Almost $300!!!! Yeee Haaaa!!!!

So if the bidders pay me before 30th June I can reach my goal of paying off 1% of the mortgage this month!! If they are a slack payer I will go very close to meeting it, I may scrape over the line but I'm not sure. Either way I feel good about this last months effort.

I have still got to bank all the loose change I collected. I also cleaned out both my offices for change which has boosted the amount.

I also have not sold the old coins I found yet. I just have not had the time to list them.

Tommorrow I have planned to finalise all the outstanding paperwork and by June 1st I will have the new personal and business budget all written out and set up.

All the regular bills and payments are up to date.

This blogging experience has been a wonderful way of staying focused on my goal. I am committed to blogging every day of this journey.

Each day my mind is now thinking about HOW can I reach this goal. Instead of just hoping and wishing and feeling crappy, my mind is working for me. Linking up with others trying to do the same thing has been so helpful to me.

Feeling good today!

Have a great day everyone and thanks for stopping by.

How to Save Money on Electricity Bill

I had to leave work early yesterday so I didn't get snowed in at work. When I came home I did some research on saving money on the electricity bill. Here's what I found out:

Reducing fridge costs.

• Turn off the second fridge when not being used. (eg a beer fridge in winter)


• increase the fridge & freezer temperature a degree or two


• don't put hot food in the fridge, let it cool first


• keep the fridge coils clean and allow the air flow around them


• keep fridge in a cool airy spot


• fix broken seals

Heating costs.

• *for each degree of difference between the outside temperature and the inside temperature there is a 10% increase in the cost of heating or cooling


• so adjust the thermostat by a couple of degrees


• use insulation in wall & ceilings


• seal up draughts under doors and windows


• use draught stoppers, heavy curtains


• only heat or cool the room you are using


• switch off appliances at the wall to save standby power costs


• insulate the hot water pipes


• lower the hot water service temperature

You can calculate the stand by power used by appliances by turning everthing off as you normally do and then go out and check the meter. I would do this except for the fact is has been snowing and it bloody cold outside! But I will do it one warmer day to check it out. We have so many electrical things that we just leave on standby, computers, TV's etc.

So I turned the fridge up, I am nagging the family about the temperature and to not overheat the place. I have banned the electric dryer and our lounge room now resembles a laundromat, but thats OK. I did find an old clotheshorse that has been resurected. I've pretty much done everything on the list.I will find some draught stoppers and put them on the doors on the weekend.

I just found this great post about a power cost monitor, available in the US, I don't know if it's available elsewhere. It looks like a good way to monitor the power useage in the home.

Well when I got up this morning the roads were closed and I was relishing the idea of a paid day at home. No such luck! They have opened the roads again so I have to go to work.

My ebay auctions have done well they all finish later today, so far I have made $243, but none of the clothes sold. So that will all go off the house this month. I can't wait till Monday to post my tallys for the month!

The clothes dryer is the biggest problem I think

I got the last credit card bill yesterday and it had anther late payment fee: $35! Well at least I know that will be the last one ever. No more missed and late payments.

The car decided to have a bad day yesterday and ended up at the garage. I will get the bill today. I need to start that emergency fund account ASAP for these kind of unexpected expenses.

I have to look at cutting down our electricity bill somehow. It came yesterday and it is just too much! Our consumption is up slightly but it has been very cold with snow around some days.We have changed over the light bulbs to the more economical environmentally friendly ones. I have also been walking around turing off lights that get left on. Another bad habit that costs money.

The clothes dryer is the biggest problem I think. I don't use it, I hang washing in front of the heater to dry in winter. I suspect that my family are not so thrifty when I am not around to 'supervise'!

I was reading somewhere that there are communities that actually ban the use of the clothesline! At first I thought it was a joke or a hoax. It's just ridiculous! I don't understand it all. certainly an Aussie backyard wouldn't be complete without the old green hills hoist. With all the problems in the world to solve why clotheslines get banned is beyond me!

Not the kind of community I would want to live in for sure. Sunshine and fresh air is the best thing for clean clothes, the environment and healthy happy kids. Clothes flapping in the wind and kids running around the yard playing. That's my kind of community.

Down to Business...

Ok I've alluded to my fledgling business and in the coming week I will be sorting out the mess there.

Some background info. About 12 years ago I was ill and unable to work for a couple of years. That put a big dent in the finances but we managed. I decided to go to University and study. University had always been a dream of mine. But when I grew up I thought it was for other people. No one in my family had ever been and I didn't do anything exceptional academically at school. But I had nothing to lose by applying so I did.

I got accepted and went to uni against my doctors advice. The wonderful thing was I found out I'm no slouch academically. I won some awards and scholarships and regained my health. It's amazing what happiness does for your health. I was like a pig in mud at uni! I even cried on my first day I was so happy to be there.

I worked for a couple of years, completed my qualifications and some more study and early mid 2006 started my own business part time. I had a business plan, got mentoring crunched the numbers and set my goals. I even got an accountant! Everything was on track to increase over 2007 and go full time in 2008. I got another part time job for security.

I love my work and it was all going to plan. Then 'Life' got in the way when a family member became critically ill suddenly. I was unable to work for about six weeks so I received no income. I had to live away from home for most of that time so that cost money also. I wouldn't wish the experience of having a family member ill hours away from your home and family on anyone. It was hell.

In order to pay our ongoing bills we had to use the money that we were ahead in our home loan and increase our credit card limit. But you have to do what's best for family and I don't regret our choices.

I had just signed a lease for my business and my kind landlord only charged me my previous lower part time rent rate instead of the new one ( 1/4 of the cost) for the time I was away. So there are good people in the world and you find out who they are when trouble strikes.

Since returning I have only worked enough to pay the business bills only as I still need to provide care. I had hoped that I would be able to go back to my plan of working it full time but realistically I can see that this is not an option. I am already tired and had a health scare of my own only a few months ago.

So the paperwork is in a mess. Tax time is fast approaching and I need to make decisions and take control of the business money leak.

The positives are:

• a great landlord who will let me out of my lease
• it is the type of business I can pick up again very easily in the future
• no business debt, I refused to go into debt to start it and I paid for everything as I went
• one colleague has already agreed to share the rent with me if I want to do that to cut costs

the negatives:

• sloppy paperwork and record keeping (hmm.... starting to see a pattern here)
• I have absolutely no idea of my financial position for the year (see above)
• I love it and I feel dissapointed that my plans have been sidetracked

Yesterday I got started on sorting out the business mess. Here is what I have done:

• wrote out a new billing policy
• increased my fees by 10% in line with other similarly qualified providers
• started checking my records and so far found $900 owing to me in unpaid fees
• found an unpaid professional registration (!!)
• Swore that So Help Me God I will get my paperwork in order !! (I had a Scarlett moment)

Today I will be working on more of the same. I know that a lot of my disorganisation has been a result of the upheaval last year and ongoing demands on me. But I have to be truthful and say that my record keeping and filing was just a mess beforehand. I can only blame myself.

Again it feels good to 'face the music' and sort it out. I really can't wait till the end of June for fresh start in the new financial year.

Thinking Blogger Award!

Well I'm really chuffed! Heavenabove from Wildlife Alive has tagged me for the Thinking Bloggers Award!

Here are my choices for the Award:
1 Rossetta Rants. This is a daily must read for thinking bloggers.
In the words of The Translator "There are a lot of things in this world that I just don't get. And just as the 2,200-year-old Rosetta Stone helped us to translate the unknown into the familiar - I want to travel the world to bring the foreign, the crazy, and the just plain stupid right to your doorstep. Because for most things, I just don't get it. Can you help me translate?"
Where else would I learn how many newborn babies it would take to weigh as much as an African elephant?

2. Views From My Tent Louise has a couple of blogs aimed at teaching sustainable living and bushcraft skills. She is trying to be self sufficient, fit and debt free. Her blog makes me think about the simple life I always aspired to and somehow got sidetracked from. Plus I have learned how to navigate using the sun, how to make money from poo and health tips based on her working as an apprentice of Tibetan Medicine at the Eden Medical Centre in London.

3. Give me back my Five Bucks! Krystals blog is one of the ones that made me think really hard about taking responsibility for my finances. A recent college graduate, she eliminated $17,223.10 worth of debt in 10 months! As of May 11th, 2007 she is debt-free.

4. Clawing our way to financial health Meet the Woolys: two Canadian university graduates who have accumulated too much debt, $91,873 to be precise and they are working hard at paying it off. Wooly womans' posts always makes me think.

5. Wallowing in Debt I like this blog about a young couple trying to pay back $63,000 debt. It's an honest look at the ups and downs of it all.

THE RULES ARE: Congratulations, you won a Thinking Blogger Award!
Should you choose to participate, please make sure you pass this list of rules to the blogs you are tagging. The participation rules are simple:
1. If, and only if, you get tagged, write a post with links to 5 blogs that make you think.
2. Link to this post so that people can easily find the exact origin of the memo
3. Optional: Proudly display the 'Thinking Blogger Award' with a link to the post that you wrote (there is an alternative silver version if gold doesn't fit your blog).

Simple steps to sanity.

Yesterday I wrote a shopping list for the first time in over a year. Just wrote a list and went shopping. Sounds simple, and I suppose it was, but it does help to curb the impulse buys.

These are the habits I need to get back to. Having a list, having a regular shopping day and developing thrify habits. Years ago we had a small shopping centre built only 2 blocks from our house. It's a friendly welcoming place where everyone knows each other and you stop for a chat. Unfortunately we have got in the habit of shopping there everday.

With no shopping or menu plans we just call in at the shop on the way home and buy whatever looks good at the time. If we don't feel like cooking, (and I never do!) then just stop there and get takeaway. They know our names, our regular order and it's a 5 minute walk. It has to stop.

Last week I came across a great site, Simple Savings. They have some great freebies which I downloaded to keep track of my bills and budgeting. If you have a look down the left side you will see Bill Payment System. This has free simple to use worksheets for keeping track of payments. You will also see a link for Free Stuff. Click on that and it takes you to planners, vouchers for giving family and calendars.

My next job is to tackle my business finances.

How much does a lazy Saturday afternoon cost?

Yesterday was a lovely rainy cold winters day here. Usually this would have meant curling up watching videos and eating lots of junk food ie. chips, chocolate and diet coke (it equals out the calories!).

Cost: $14.95 for videos + late fees. We forget to take them back about 50% of the time.

Junk Food for 2: Chocolate: $4.80, Chips $4.95, Diet Coke: $2.25

Rainy Saturday Afternoon Total = $26.95 + an awful lot of calories (despite the Diet Coke!).

So what we did instead was go through our monster TV cabinet bottom drawer and found old videos amongst the dust. We ate the wonderful hearty pot of chicken and vegie soup that I made from all the vegies that were in the fridge and the leftover stir fried chicken. Cost was less than $5 for the soup.

We ended up watching Gone in 60 Seconds, which makes you feel like heading straight out and stealing a car and The Blues Brothers. It is just a fantastic movie. I love it!

I am pleasantly surprised by the way the family has got on board with this project. I have never felt excited about the end of the month before but I can't wait to move that red ticker down!

My ebay auctions are doing well. I have a couple of higher priced items that will sell and so far I will make at least $120 this week. All to go on the mortgage.

My daughter was right about listing the items for low starting prices. The ones I listed at low prices are going up and up. The ones I listed for a reasonable price that I would be happy with have no bids.

Smart kid I will take her advice more often.

Creating a Budget to eliminate debt.

Being disorganised with my financial paperwork has created more stress in trying to manage my finances. I am starting to feel that I am gaining control now. This is what I did to get organised and create a budget.

I gathered all the bills and records I had for the last 12 months. From this I worked out and wrote down the:

• fees & charges including late penalties, direct debit fees
• interest rate
• repayment due dates
• amounts paid over last year

for:

• credit cards, no-interest & store cards
• loans
• electricity, gas, rates, water
• insurance: car, house, life, accident, illness
• college fees

I have also worked out an estimate of what I spent on:

• food
• car: registration, petrol, maintenance, repair
• clothes, hair, pharmacy
• entertainment
• textbooks, education expenses
• medical expenses
• holidays
• internet & phone
• house & garden
• internet marketing schemes!

This has taken me the last 3 weeks to sort through the mess and find out all this information. I found out that we waste a lot of money just through being busy and disorganised. Our grocery bill is now half what it was and we seem to be surviving. We have cut out take away, munchies at the corner shop and videos to start with and gone back to cooking simple meals. It feels good to be taking action rather than hoping.

Now I know what the real costs are, when everything is due to be paid and what amounts are due. So everything above that is being directed into the mortgage. I am looking at a few different ways to record and monitor my expenses to see what works the best for us.

Piggy banks pay off in the longrun!

Remember I mentioned my old blue elephant piggy bank? I haven't seen it in years. So guess what turned up in a box of kitchen junk just a couple of hours ago....

...and even better than that is had 39 pre-decimal coins from the same year that are currently selling on ebay for about $6.00 each!

Thats $234 if I got top price for them!

There are also several other old coins as well from other years. The coins are from my first years at school judging by the dates. About 40+ years ago. Well those piggy banks really DO come in handy!

I have spent the last hour checking and rechecking the dates and the values online. I cleaned them up in some Coke and I am going to list them individually over the next month or so. I think I will get a better price than listing them all together.

I am so excited! Another completely unexpected 'bonus' that will help me pay off this mortgage. I wonder what else is laying around here that I don't know about...

We LOVE Leftovers!

I just realised I hadn't blogged today as I have been busy listing items on ebay all day. It is much more time consuming than I thought it would be. Anyway I thought out loud " what am I going to blog about?"

The answer came back fast from the family room: " Tell them how you're making us eat leftovers!"

OK , sounds like a good topic to me.

A couple of days ago I gave the family a lecture (yes another one!) on the value of leftovers and the wastefullness of throwing out food each week just because we've been too lazy to eat it and it's gone bad in the fridge. I skipped the bit about the starving children in Africa as I sensed that would be going just a bit too far and told them I had cut the food budget in half and we just have to eat what we have.

Well it's amazing how much leftover food can be made into something else. And it tastes good. We are all getting in the habit of looking in the fridge and cupboards first to see what is already there and then deciding what to cook. Who cares if we all eat different things sometimes so long as we're fed.

I really wonder how we got so out of touch with these simple measures over the years. But somhow we did.... I suppose we got too busy raising children, making money, working... just busy living really. And somehow we lost touch with a lot of the simple ways we used to save money when we were younger and had to.

Well we are determined that our first monthly total on the 1st July will see that red bar on the top right come down! To move it 1% we need to pay $1523.77 off the principle of the loan plus the months interest.

We are going to really try and do 1% in our first month. So we have agreed to eat out the stored food in the pantry and the freezer and put every extra cent that is in bank at the end of the month into the home loan. I think finding out about the $600 bonus yesterday made me think that we really can do it! It would be a great start and give us a real boost to keep at it.

We bought 2 cake mixes for <$5 and made chocolate cake so that we can eat a peice of cake instead of going to the corner shop and buying choccies and chips at $15 - $20 a trip. It is working well. No trips to the shops now for junk food since I made that post about adding up the cost.

So let me see what is on the menu for tonight... as you can see the fridge is full of vegetables. That's because hubby and I didn't communicate and we both shopped for vegies on the same day.

Anyway the leftovers in the containers reveal that tonight we will be dining on: stir fried chicken, rice, bolgnaise and pasta.

Bon appetit!