Paying Stupid Tax

Here’s a quick guide on how to spend heaps of money unnecessarily, it’s easy if you try.

1. Don’t keep your passport and birth certificate in a secure, easy to remember location.
2. Move house over a year ago & don’t unpack all your clutter from the boxes in the spare room
3. Realise you’re going overseas in under 4 weeks and try to locate your passport.
4. Turn your entire apartment upside down with no luck.
5. Realise you can’t find your birth certificate to apply for a new passport.
6. Apply for a new copy of your birth certificate, which requires working from home so you can go into the NSW Registry of Births Deaths & Marriages in person, and get a same day certificate processed. Stupid tax of $63, the cost of an urgent issue of certificate as I needn't have paid this at all if I had put it somewhere safe. Oh and don’t forget the Stupid tax of $13 for parking in the city.
7. Book in appointment at Post Office for passport interview.
8. Complete passport application, including getting new passport photos Stupid tax of $9 as my existing passport still has two and half years on it.
9. Submit passport application. Stupid tax of $208 for the passport itself, and Stupid tax of $78 for priority processing (sent out within two business days + mailing time).
10. Berate yourself for days on end for being so careless = priceless.

Total Stupid Tax: A$371, or approx 178 GBP.

I've taken the money out of my Trip fund. It’s not an emergency; it’s my own stuff up. Grrrr.

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So Very Very Tired

Things have been completely manic at work for the last few months. I did however just launch my first product! With that come all the pressures of ensuring the back end systems and processes are supporting the sales of the product, plus working with the communications teams to get the message out to the world.

Very exciting, but completely exhausting.

I guess the ‘good’ news is we’re so busy at work and will continue to be (I'm now preparing my next product) that there’s not much chance of being made redundant any time soon, job security worry would tip me over the edge at the moment.

With all this going on my debt reduction focus has been drastically compromised (as demonstrated by the tumbleweeds rolling around my blog), one person can only do so much at one time well and stay sane.

That said I’m still chipping away at it, thank goodness for automatic payments!

I have my UK ticket all booked and paid for, and my funds are shaping up nicely, I’m quietly confident I won’t have any credit card debt relating to the trip by the time I get back, which is fantastic. I can't promise I won't have a new handbag though...

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Bushfire Appeal

I have to say that after an incredibly sad weekend watching the devastation unfold in Victoria, I’m really impressed with how my company has responded to assist those impacted by the fire and to assist them in their efforts to try and rebuild their lives.

As of this morning:

• Portable mobile base stations are being prepared for deployment and field staff from NSW and South Australia are on standby to assist with the efforts. Dozens of mobile base stations in Victoria were damaged leading to pockets of the mobile network being off the air, when communications are a vital part of the fire fighting and recovery process.
  
  
• To assist customers who have lost property as a result of the bushfires, the company will be wiping all charges on all their services for up to 3 months effective immediately.
  
  
• In addition, the company will be offering free Prepaid mobile handsets with recharge credits to the value of $1000, to customers who have had either their home phone or mobile services disrupted.
  
  
• A Bushfire appeal is being set up specifically for staff to make a pre-tax donation through salary sacrifice. The company will match funds donated by staff.

If you would like to make a donation you can do so online through the Australian Red Cross.

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The Ugly Truth – Day 523

Debts

• Personal Loan: -$15,000
• Credit Card 1: -$6000
• Credit Card 2: -$7100
• Credit Card 3: (transferred to Card 4)
• Credit Card 4: -$15,888
• Credit Card 5: (paid in full)
• Credit Card 6: (paid in full)
• Credit Card 7: (paid in full)
• Credit Card 8: -$4,435

Savings

• Emergency Fund: +$2,000
• Car Fund (Maintenance & Registration): +$0
• Short Term Goal Fund: +$0
• Home Deposit Fund ($60,000 Goal): +$0
• UK Tour Fund ($5,000 Goal): +$0
  

Total: -$48,423
Debt reduced from last Dec 2008: +$3010
Debt reduced from Sep 2007: +$8,349

I've cracked the $50,000 barrier at last - hurrah! I’m also on track for reducing my debt by at least $12,000 in 2009.

I've sacrificed my short term goal fund as part of this result though, the bed can wait a couple of months, but I really want to make a dent on that personal loan this year. Same for the home deposit fund, I do want to start building that from this month month though as the interest rates are just so low now.

I’m also going to roll Card 2 onto Card 3 this month, the interest rates are pretty much the same, so for simplicity and one less payment each month (even though it will be larger of course) it’s worth it.

I've been throwing everything I have at my personal loan at the moment as it’s got the highest interest rate, but I’m also considering a switch to paying a percentage of each debt each month, I can currently afford 4% of the current balances, and still save money for my other goals.

Decisions decisions…

Roll on payday.

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Laptop Thieves

To the bastards who stole my work laptop that was in its laptop bag with all my Uni application stuff including all the originals of my certificates, I hope you get ebola.

I popped into Coles (supermarket chain here) at Lindfield (posh suburb) tonight at 7.30pm on my way home from work, was in there for 10 mins tops, came out and you'd smashed the window, got into the boot and nicked my laptop, which has all my work for two major projects I'm working on at the moment, plus my Uni stuff.

I can't begin to tell you how stuffed I am at work tomorrow, not to mention trying to get the window fixed before the long weekend, so I'm not trapped at home the whole time.

Grrrrrrrr! I knew I should have got drive through instead of something healthy and cheaper.

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