My Awareness Moment

At last the moment has arrived and I have become aware that this is going to be a long slow journey back to security, my Tax cheque is firmly in my bank account, my wages are due into the same account on Friday and I have put aside the money I promised my Daughter towards her Wedding. All my bills are paid up to date my car is registered and insured, and I,m in a really good place. I,ve stopped sweating the small stuff, so what if I,ve got nothing to very little in my jars, I enjoy buying for my Grandchildren, and so the occasional little treats are not going to stop so I have snowflakes to roll on at the end of the month. although I love to see how well my fellow bloggers are doing this is my journey and I wont be happy if Im not doing it my way.

On a more personel level I have just had my second hand operation done and at only 3 weeks after the first one, I now have two hands which are not in full working order, which is the reason so much time has lapsed since my last post. But this has not been a bad thing as it,s given me time to reavaluate my budget and slacken off a little.

I am going to do something this week which I have never ever done before and that is to formally complain to a Company about one of their employees. this young gentleman ?? ( I,m questioning his right to be called a gentleman ) Was rude and condescending to me while I was trying to speak to him about his Assistant who was having some trouble with her till and my order, she was a trifle slow and at that point I was respecting the Company for giving her a go. I was thinking that we really are a long way away from the times when young handicapped people were treated badly. And while I tried to make him understand the problem he kept cutting me off, and ended up saying I KNOW to me. Excuse me I said to him "how can you possibly know when you are not listening to me" I am trying to speak to my staff member he said not even lifting his eyes to look at me, clearing the till is my first priority, again not looking up. I beg your pardon I said but your customers are your first priority, by this time steam was coming out my ears, well after I gave him a real dressing down I took his name and told him I was going to report him, and this grumpy old Woman will. Obviously there were other things said but you get my gist, he even managed to get another customer on his side, a young teenage girl decided I was the cause of all the trouble and called me names. What do you have to do to stay on the right side of counter assistants, let them walk all over you. ?????

Payday, No. 3 for July

I wish I could call this a no spend day and save it all but as usual it,s bill, debt, grocery, jars and save day.

I am still on a reduced wage as I am being paid by Workcover Australia and they only cover 85% of your wages, but for some reason which I hav,nt been able to figure out yet I have ended up with more this week than last and definitely more than I expected, so I will put the difference away in another account just in case there has been a mistake and they ask for it back, or else they take it off next weeks wage.

Incomings $540.00

Outgoings $440.00

I hav,nt done a complete breakdown as yet but I,m way over budget as I bought some lanterns from Ebay which I,ll use to decorate the backyard for my Daughters Wedding and I also spent money on my Granddaughter,s 8th Birthday present, which I had not added into my budget. So all up another dismal failure at budgeting, plus my tax cheque has,nt arrived as yet HURRY UP CHEQUE as I had budgeted these things I am buying, into that money. I also invested $85.00 into starting up a sideline business for myself, not sure at this stage if it will come off, and I,m not sure if I want to share it at the moment. I,ll wait and see

Slow and Steady with long deep breaths

I think anyone reading this will get where I,m coming from!!

I,ve been going at this budgeting and debt reduction like the hare, and getting disappointed and annoyed when my bank balance does,nt look any healthier, I,ve been only allowing myself the very minimum amounts for my jars, and never making it through the week so consequently no snowball money and that,s been upsetting me, if every other blogger has a snowball then why can,t I ?? ( that is my competetive streak coming out )

So let me introduce you to the hare, this budgetting blogging hare is never going to be rich, will never own her own home again, and may never have a Snowball ( I seem to remember all that snow was one of the reasons I left Scotland ) but by getting myself out of debt slowly and organising my budget in such a way that I can have all that life chucks at me and still manage my money. I will be a happier more contented person.

I started to think seriously about the way I was looking at my budget this morning, when my hubby told me I had been talking in my sleep and all he could make out was the words "not enough money" Now this does,nt sound to me as if I was having a restfull nights sleep. So I,m pulling it back a bit. No I,m not going to stop blogging, budgetting, keeping my accounts and saving. But I am going to stop stressing, and already I,m feeling better.

A really really bad weekend

I,m not sure how it started but I used up all available cash on the weekend as well as using $150.00 of my savings, so my jars are empty my bank account is depleted, and my self worth has now sunk into a bit of a depression. I took my Hubby out last night for a posh meal and some cocktails, as he is not in the least bit interested in my budget or in budgeting himself he accepted my invitation to go out without a second thought.

I am an idiot I know it and after reading through all of my favourite blogs this morning I am hoping that all you truly inspirational Women will put me back on track.

So thankyou for the last hours Educational reading, I have laughed cried and hopefully learned something to lead me to the next stage.

Monopoly Money

Most of you won,t recognise this coin, it means absolutely nothing to you in terms of it,s value, and that,s been pretty much my undoing. I am not Australian by birth I emigrated to this beautiful country in 1986 along with Hubby and my 2 children. Scotland is the land of my birth, but nowadays I call Australia home. When we first arrived the British Pound was a very strong currency and we got $1.00 for every 40 pence we exchanged, I can remember thinking at the time that we had lots of money, and we spent it accordingly. I still laugh when I think of window shopping at a Butchers and being amazed at the low prices and the fact that it was,nt a pound of meat it was a kilo. So not only were we getting a great rate of exchange but everything from housing to sausages were cheaper. And somewhere amongst all that euphoria I lost the true value of a weekly wage. Things are a lot different now as prices rise and we have faced recession, but it,s taken me till now to wake up to myself and realise that this is not Monopoly Money it,s the Aussie dollar, and like it or not I don,t have enough of them in my bank.

Spends for today

$20.05 ( lunch out )

Old Habits Die Hard

What the hell am I thinking about, over the last couple of days I have been spending like a mad Woman, coffees out, lunches out, a new book, extra groceries and then this morning I found myself standing in front of a $300.00 saucepan trying to justify buying it for myslf. Do I need it? NO, do I want it? not now that I am home and typing out this tale but for the 10 minutes that I stood in that store, YES YES YES I wanted it.

What was that all about ? Am I feeling deprived because I,m budgeting, if the answer is yes, then so far I,ve learned nothing. If it is because I now have the money in the bank to buy it without going into debt for it, then why am I getting my finances in order, is it simply so I can buy expensive things for myself as and when I see them ? This is not the reason for trying to get my self organised it was supposed to be getting secure as I head towards my retirement. Which is getting nearer and nearer. So obviously I,m not in the mindset yet and I,m not sure of how to get there.

July,s Budget and Tax Stuff

I have found a way to hold my hand which allows me to type very slowly and as I have been mad keen to get my budget into my blog, I don,t mind how long it takes me.

July has 5 pay days in it for me and so a lot of my outgoings for the Month have been broken down into 5 payments, this should help me get through the month on a reduced wage ( 85% as mentioned in an earlier post ) but I salary sacrifice a small amount and also make a small contribution into my Super annuation every week, which will not be made by Australian Workcover and so 85% of that amount will come directly to me as well as which, and here comes the big drumroll, I have just had a payrise of around 50c an hour, so after all that I,m hoping that I don,t see too big a difference in my weekly wage.

Tax year here in Australia starts on the 1st of July and from that date on we can put in our tax returns, mine is really straight forward as their is nothing I can claim for except some Laundry and Work clothes, and so I have already done mine online of course and I am due back $1,682.90.
I really did,nt expect as much as this but we have had a number of Tax cuts in the last few years add to that the fact that I,m classed as "a low paid worker" and also I automatically qualify for $500.00 as I,m over 55. So thanks to the ATO.


Outgoings for July

Bills
Telephone $220.00 (1 payment money already saved )
Telephone $200.00 (5 payments of $ 40.00 )
Electricity $140.00 (5 payments of $28.00 )
Mobile $ 30.00 (1 payment 10th July standing order )
Car Registration $100.00 (5 payments of $20.00 )
Debt $50.00 (2 payments of $25.00 )


Expenses
Food $500.00 (5 payments of $100.00 )
Petrol $50.00 (2 payments of $25.00 )
Me Money $100.00 ( $20.00 a week )
Layby $30.00 ( 1 payment made today )

Again I have given myself a very tight budget as this is the month that I am hoping to be able to give my Daughter the $2,000,00 I promised her towards her Wedding, this should be possible now that I am getting my tax rebate this month. I am not going to be in a position to go out much this Month as I am not allowed to drive, however a good friend and I are going to go to the Movies every week as a bit of a treat for me while I am stuck at home, and possibly my petrol allowance for the month may go towards taxi,s to keep Hospital appointments. Luckily the Hospital is not to far away.