mz_grims' debt free (and savings) diary

mz_grim

Well G'day there everyone cant belive that im actually starting a diary, I have been lurking here for about a month now and have really enjoyed reading everyones wonderful advice.

Ok a little about me, as you might have guessed from my opening line i am an aussie (although both my parents are from the UK) so this may get a little confusing for both me and u guys lol. (I will attempt to not use too many aussie terms and if you dont understand something i say please ask)

I am 27 and 3 years ago moved out of my parents place and moved in with my OH, hmm what an eye opener that was so much extra responsibility but am so glad that i did it. There is a considerable age gap between me and my OH (15years to be exact) but its worked out so well, as before i was stuck in a dead end relationship that was going nowhere.

We are trying to save to buy a house as well as repay debts, cant really do an SOA on here as it would take me ages to convert the currencies and there is nothing on the web to do this is AUD, and trust me ive looked everywhere.

We are looking at purchesing a house (on a reasonably large country block as we are sick of the suburbs) with a price range of about $300 - $350k. At the moment have about $11k in savings for a deposit would like to increase this to at least $25-$30k the banks here will lend us the money with what we have saved now but I personally dont think it will be enough and am worried about cost of repayments (about $1200 a fortnight, yeah things work fortnightly here rather than monthly). We are currently paying $1018 rent a month so this would more than double the costs plus the added payments such as house/contents insurance, land rates, water rates (none of this is paid when renting).

Anyway as for the debt
OH CC - $5,500 limit with about $4,000 owing
OH Car Loan - $16500 monthly repayments about $450 till 12/2012 (and no way of paying it off sooner as it is with GE Finance and they have excessive fees if you pay it off early grrr)
FLEXIRENT - $3500 approx fortnightly payments of about $108 (and once again fixed term contract till the end of this year) note to self no more hire purchase agreements
MY CC - $1000 limit about $50 owing Mine gets paid off at the end of each month and is only used for fuel, emergancies and the ocasional online purchase.

Need to get OH to go into GE to find out how much is actually still owed on the car loan as they dont send statments or have online access grrr.

Have already started on the the mse ways, attempting for about the 10th time to give up the smokes as prices just went through the roof here with the government adding a 25% tax meaning a pack now cost about $20 and with a pack a day habbit costing $140 a week they have to go. Now just to get the OH to follow my lead would be wonderful lol. Set up a seperate savings account online ($11k is in this one) and making fortnightly direct debits into it of $100. I have set up a budget and I am now recording everything I spend on an excel spreadsheet. Today would have been a NSD but had to duck down to the chemist as i was out of niccotine patches so $34.99 spent (but worth it if i can give up these darn smokes)

Well i guess that is my first post, hope i didnt confuse to many people with the different currency.

mz_grim

mz_grim

Well as it is 630pm here thought I might put up a list of things that I to do for tommorow

• Dishes, been neglected over the last few days (thank you night shift)
• Check POBOX
• Online bank check
• Wash bed linnen - now that me and the OH have a day off together and one of us isnt in bed (both work nights and rosters do not work together lol)

Think thats about it not too bad I suppose.

mz_grim

Well it was a NSD for me today YAY... Hmm on the list front got the dishes done and the online banking done the other two are still on the to do list. Back at work tommorow night oh the joys but that means its only 9 days till pay day. Remember to get time sheet in next sunday night so im not rushing about doing it on monday morning lol. Hope everyone is having a good day/night still cant get the time difference lol its 7:21pm on sat night here.

mz_grim

Well i listed my first ever item for sale on ebay (have brought things off there before but never sold lol). Its only a cutlery set and its only listed for $1.00 lol but i already have 2 watchers. Will be interesting to see what happens (All you wonderful people on here have inspired me !!)

mz_grim

Well its 3:49am here and im trying to stay awake as I have to sleep tommorow for work tommorow night. So I thought I would continue my ramblings, well I have now been offically without a smoke for over 24hrs now hmm maybe I shouldnt be counting the hours (but hey thats $10 I havent spent as I was a pack a day smoker). At least this time trying to quit has a purpose I want rid of the debt and I want to buy a house (oh and its better for my health). Tommorow should be another NSD (as long as the chocolate cravings dont hit at 3am while at work (cant afford the chocolate), I have meal planned for my next 4 nights at work and have meals in the frezzer to take with me (NOOO!! more takeaway), might actually do something for the waist line as well (one can only hope). I cancelled my gym membership a few weeks ago as can no longer afford it (shouldnt have got it in the first place) and the last direct debit comes out on the 3rd June Woohoo another $98 a fortnight that can go into debt busting. Shouldnt have to shop for anything for at least a week as have loads of stuff from the shop I did the other day which I might add came well in under budget at $80.56 hmm what a difference it makes buying lots of veggies and meat rather than stuff from jars and ready meals, and I am actually enjoying the cooking, as I batch cook on my days off due to a four on four off roatating roster.

Also signed up for some of our local survey web sites and already made over $10 on one and got a couple of hundred reward points between the other 2. (Once again I must thank you all for your insperation as I would have never known these sites existed if I hadnt found this site). Interesting what people on the other side of the world can teach others isnt it. Thought about doing some mystery shopping as I do get 4 days off a week but need to do some more research into this to find a reputable company over here dont want to end up being scammed (also need to look into the tax laws here to find out how it all works as if you have a 2nd job you pay $0.50 in every $1 to the tax man).

Well I suppose I have rambled on enough this post seems to be getting rather long lol.

mz_grim

mz_grim

Hi everyone (thought i better stop starting my posts with Well lol its boring me let alone you poor guys), how has everyone been today/tonight (ahhh I think I needs to get me a world clock lol). Well Ive had a good day suppose thats all you can have when you sleep for all of it (back at work tonight), got my dinner ready to take ready (also need to buy myself a cheap water bottle to take to work must go and look in the $2 shop on my next days off (like the pound shop that you guys have over there) should be able to find something in there and stop me buying soft drinks and bottled water while at work. Well thats about it for me today we will see at midnight wether its gonna be a NSD (but is so far YAY). Hmm will also be my first night at work minus the smokes that will be interesting as work can get rather boring so smokos where a must lol, that and most of the people I work with smoke goes with the industry I guess.

See you soon

Mz_grim

mz_grim

Yay home from work was actually a nice quiet night (usually is on a sunday), Well Midnight saw the end to NSD number 2 (wow 2 in a row thats not to bad im thinking). Also hoping to make today a NSD as well, see how that goes, now offically 48 hours (and a few extra) without a smoke and havent had any real cravings yet and havent been reaching for the munchies either so im liking that (using NRT to quite tried chapix last year worked great while I was on it and then cravings came straight back after I stopped). Im sure its gonna get harder though especally since OH also smokes and is not yet ready or willing to quit. Although he has been smoking a lot longer than I have so I can kind of understand that. Not much happening today mostly sleep, have checked surveys (none there), still net to check online banking but their system is down till 7am so have to wait for that (need to transfer the $10 I would have normally spent on smokes over to the cc). It really is amazing how it can all add up

Hope everyone is well

mz_grim

mz_grim

WooHoo only 8 days till payday now. Well once again slept most of the day for work tonight hopefully its as quiet as last night one can only hope. Done the net banking still wasnt online at 8am this morning grrr so did it just now when I woke up, $10 onto the cc (from the money that I have budgeted for smokes lets hope I can keep this up). Not much else to report (oh reminder to myself need to to washing tommorow morning need clean socks for work lol).

mz_grim

Home from work again, was another quiet night lets hope that can continue for the next 2 as well must not say that too loud though lol. Was another NSD for me (yay 3 in a row) and another $10 to add to the credit card for not buying smokes. All in all everything seems to be going good.

Mz_grim

mz_grim

Here I am again, almost time for work again ahh it never ends does it. At least today should be yet another NSD im really getting in the swing of this its actually rather addictive. Maybe I should sign up for a couple of challenges, I dont know though as it might get confusing (spose i can convert $AUD into pounds shouldnt be to hard). Hope everyone is doing well feels kind of strange like im talking to myself but who cares at least im doing something I suppose (either that or feel free to tell me im just waffling (i tend to do that))

mz_grim

elfen

You could do your SOA in AUD, surely it wouldn't be that different?