Robbing Peter to save Paul . . .

Sometimes the month just gets away from me.

Other times so much happens, it is impossible to believe another month is over.

That was July ~ it was immensely productive, mundane to a degree, but a heap of things happened, were planned and discussed and implemented ~ and I am accepting all the help offered and available to utilise.

Oh why did I not get home help earlier in the piece!?! While not a lot of an entitlement - only 1.5hrs a fortnight ~ it is just so terribly wonderful having the floors mopped, vacc'd, swept, the bathroom done and the kitchen given the once over properly. To walk on floors mopped by 'Vicki', compared to those done by MudGuts, is an absolute dream.

Started doing hydro - therapy that is! Been having fun with that one. When I worked at emergency services and the wear on my back started becoming evident, a few of the medics would recommend hydro - not of the water therapy variety. Well, not sure if that is where I want to play again - knowing that the pain relief would be significant, temporarily! Any how - the water therapy is great, challenging and at times leaving me a little sore. Note to self - when the pool is extra warm - remember it will effect the 'patch' 8o) Bit trippy one time! Funny a little, lucky no driving required most of the day.

Did the budget - again. Tax refunds have been a godsend. Only in as much that this has enabled us to be on target rather than behind which we seem to be at the start of the month when all the mortgage, credit sweeps go through . . . and payday is still 15 days away. Every month we had the funds for all the mortgage transfers - just not always at the time they were need or due.

Must say thanks to Simple Savings (again) for providing the insight to negotiating with utilities and debtors. With the knowledge gained, we are now almost up to date with every single bill - and those with a debt have had a budget payment plan negotiated and in place. Heating is going to be HUGE this winter as with fractures in the spine the cold is really quite intolerable and we have found keeping the temperature at 'normal QLD' has been working well. :o)
Funny that, eh?!

But also a big thank you to all the utilities that did help out ease the stress and burden. Every month now, regardless of the amount used, gas is $60, electricity is $120, and it will be looked at in 12 months to see how it is going. Funnily enough, the only company who wont come to the party is good old Telstra. How odd (not!) Never mind - I have got the tax refund through, it will be paid in full today! Wonderful.

Over the weekend we covered the budget, how the refunds are being used (oh, we have grown up when a whizz bang fandangled 'toy' did not factor once), declutter, things to do in the veggie garden and more. But it was fun, not a chore. I am sure I have said that before. I recently started with the closets and have been handing on clothes to people I know. Few dollars here and there, especially when posting 3kgs of clothes!! Might even use a courier to QLD as it is cheaper!

Financially speaking

Interesting month really ~ we have been following interest, listening to the doom and gloom and taking things on board. Anyway - July ended, August commenced = here is how we look:

July 30
Morty (our mortgage : 2005-$190k) : $169,212.63
LOC (our life : max $21k) : $16,926.76
CeeCee (our credit card : current max: $7k : 2004-$21k) : $5,722.82
All bills paid and up to date.

And Friday, interest was applied . . . so now we look like this for the start of August :

Morty (our mortgage : 2005-$190k) : $170,542.01 (interest $1329.38) : $70 in redraw
LOC (our life : max $21k) : $16,741.53
CeeCee (our credit card : current max: $7k : 2004-$21k) : $5,241.80


Mortgage Extra Payments
July: $90 ~ interest saved: $1,306 *~* Time reduced: 1 month
August: extra paid: $20 ~ interest saved: $287 *~* Time reduced:
Interest saved to date: $1592

$10 each Monday and Friday to Morty
$10 each Wednesday to ING Savings Maximiser (shall we call that Max!?) Current Balance : $59.15

Yes, the tax cheques do make it look a little healthier ~ hubby's is in, mine is clearing. I was a little disappointed in DH's return - but doing regular office role as opposed to his prior ad hoc, all hours / no hours, overtime I guess the claimables do change in PPE especially.
MyMan is into the whole 'add in what we didnt spend that we usually would' approach to the credit card and he has backed of CeeCee since the purchasing of monthly travel - that alone give CeeCee an extra $400 a month. *CeeCee leans back and sees the slimming effects*

Getting better at staying under budget, just the timing has been stressful - robbing peter to pay paul before payday. We both agree with the tax refund in the LOC the stress will be gone. It is up to us to maintain that surplus and keep increasing it now. We've looked for other 'slimming' methods and buying bulk, online are part of that.

Might take a break - back is aching and I am sitting not laying at the moment (naughty me, I know ~ so smack me! Please?) Time for cereal, a few juicy prunes (yeah for codiene, not), check for eggs and do my Harper Collins book review ~ really enjoyed the book! Will pop a link in if the review is published!

To quote a 12 year old girl . . .

This was posted on Simple Savings today.

Please take just 5 minutes of your time to watch what she says at the ONU. She speaks for me and my children so very well ~ do remember what you were thinking about when you were 12. Here is a very brutal reality check.

Thank you.

Prenez 5 minutes de votre temps pour visionner l'intervention d'une enfant de 12 ans à la tribune de l'ONU. Merci.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5JvVf1piHXg

Happy new financial year . . .

. . . and may it be a good one for you. We’ve reassessed (again!) and hope that the first pay of this new tax system means more in the bank. Regardless, I am only going to count on what I know we have ~ anything else can be counted as a bonus (and swiftly be placed on the credit card). Tipping MyMan would like to salary sacrifice any extra on a new mobile phone ~ because I know he does *winks*

I don’t really know how this post came to be. I don’t like talking dollars and cents to the specific ~ but many people I know just do not seem to believe that
a) our shopping bill is less than $100 per week
b) our energy bills are down low (and in credit with water)
c) we have been shopping at $10 per head per week for the last 6-8 weeks.

I certainly am an expensive little creature. *preens* What’s more ~ that which we do spend on me is not all it should be. I should be seeing the osteopath every week – that is financially infeasible. I should be seeing the acupuncturist every week – again – infeasible. But it works out fine if I alternate which one I see which week and get by. This from someone about to get their pain meds up’d and hopefully on oxycodone in higher mgs. HA!!


I have also let the counselling slide a little *gulp* – my proffered excuse is the outlay has been a bit difficult to manage with the playing catch up with bills (although most utilities have had provisions to enable delay payment without disconnection). Yes, you can get the ‘free’ sessions through Medicare ~ you need to pay the bill first THEN get a rebate. We were still always $40 out of pocket. I know, I know – it is important and I think I would like to re-address that. Next week . . .

At least we were ‘intelligent’ enough to have only taken out a mortgage we could sustain. Sitting currently around 1/3 of take home pay. We took a mortgage out on two incomes, factoring we could manage it to the level of 50% of one income. Mind you - definitely no massive mortgage on a Mansion!!

So far this has turned out to be a good strategy seeing as two years in to our first mortgage I had to stop work (one full year without pay for me so far, hopefully only another 2 before I can be working again!!).

So there is me. While I might be a costly wench, I am a heck of a lot cheaper now I have the pension card granted – and that is $86pf that gets put away for rates, rego and ‘savings’ ~ I used to need over $500 a month JUST for medications. Three meds were $70-$90 ea and two were needed twice a month. Adds up. Now my meds are $45 a month, and as I am about at the threshold, they will be free!! THAT will be a break and $45 a month up the sleeve. 2hrs work ‘earned’ – or 3 hours if I take a pay cut!

OK ~ time for the breaking down of the budget . . .

It goes without saying ~ we are on an OK income, but not a big one. *grins* It was a heck of a lot better before I had to stop working. Let’s just say, from the $100-$120k bracket, we are now half that. And we’d only had that for a few years, squirreled for the mortgage, zero’d and rid ourselves of one CC and reduced the other by 2/3 – so there was no frivolous spending.
It’s a huge drop ~ but here is the management!

• Monthly in : $ 4294 (this includes my $412pm in disability pension and family allowance)
• Monthly Meds : Osteo - $110; Acupuncture - $140; Hydro - $45; Meds - $30 (mind you – pre PCCard this was $544pm!!); counselling - $80 (after rebates - $220 up front). So that’s : $405pm
• Monthly Majors : Morty - $1380; Fare - $490 ($600 if hubby travelled daily – so he stays in Melbourne if he cant be in on the train by 7pm – no buses after then); Fuel - $250; Fred’s counselling - $45 (after rebate); Credit Card - $300 : That’s $2465pm
• Monthly Musts : Home phone - $60; My Mobile - $49; MyMan’s mobile - $89; Electricity - $120; Gas - $80; Firewood - $95; Internet - $69; Insurances - $161; Fred’s Guitar lessons - $132, Overdue bill payment - $40. That’s $935pm

Food is around $300 per month. Adding that to the rest – we have $4105 going out and $4294 coming in. The 'surplus' is used for those accounts we need to pay in full and claim rebates ~ we collect the account for rebates and cash in for Christmas, birthdays, rates and rego! It works as the money is not spent – and this way we’ve kept track of the paperwork for the last few years ~ never been so good at doing that for ourselves!!

SO ~ ~ the head stays up – how?

Oh – how often do I ask myself that question! By my understanding, now that our taxes are up to date, our Centrelink debt will cease to exist and there may be a little windfall in a higher rate of payment. Using the centrelink rate calculator and over estimating MyMan’s income by $10k – as you do – that should be an extra $100 or so a fortnight. And the debt we have with the overdue account payment plan should be almost finished – October I believe.

Of course, optimistic rose-tinted me has faith in the Victorian Public Health system and anticipates that surgery will hopefully occur within the next 3 months = as per a category 2 patient would anticipate (and it has already been close to 4 months waiting…). This way rehabilitation and recuperation can be underway before the year’s end – hopefully resulting in some income earning capacity by the start of the next financial year?!

Always planning . . .
Always positive . . .

I prefer my glass half full