One of the guys in the office just returned from a Macca’s run and so now I’m sitting at my desk enjoying a chocolate sundae, with my headphones on listening to Ministry of Sound Classics (Disc 3) and analysing broadband data usage patterns by rate plan.
Life is good.
Why on earth am I spending regular time at my local posh, ‘used for photo shoots by major publications’ garden centre, I'm supposed to be saving money right?
The main reason is I just love it there. Living in an apartment, I have limited outdoor space and this centre is huge. Half of the place is the nursery where you can buy all manner of plants and pots etc, but it’s also got a huge display garden with different styles of gardens to wander round and enjoy, everything from ultra modern rock gardens to an organic vegetable garden, complete with chooks! (Chooks = chickens for the non Aussies)
Second, they have an art gallery, and a cafe that does great coffee and food. Sitting out on the terrace with a latte and my buddy looking over the gardens is a very pleasant way to spend a Saturday morning. Often her almost two year old joins us to ‘play ladies’, and the sight of her hooking into her baby-cino with such gusto never ceases to make me laugh.
Third, that coffee we have? It’s FREE! The centre has a club you can join (also FREE) which entitles you to a complimentary coffee each month – nice huh? The art gallery is also free, as are the gardens to wander around in at your leisure.
Last but not least is the newest and now most powerful attraction I discovered on my last visit. They have an allotment garden for the local community! They have 6 spaces available to members to put their names down for and when it’s your turn you get 3 months to grow things in your plot. I have of course put my name on the list to get my own plot, it’s very exciting!
There was a lovely old man watering his plot last time we were there and he was telling us he and his wife had recently downsized to an apartment after always living in a house, so this was an ideal solution for him to continue to enjoy gardening without having too much to manage on his own.
Yes it’s only 3 months when I eventually get one (unless no one else has their name down for the next session), but I still think with the right research and careful plant selection I should be able to produce some great veg, and enjoy every minute of getting my hands dirty.
I seem to have fallen into a new routine. Once a fortnight, I head to my favourite library to return books I've borrowed. I then stock up on new books to read and take myself out to dinner.
I keep a running list of the books I come across in reviews, best seller lists, on Amazon, books of my interest of the moment (currently it’s the devaluing of luxury brands due to mass consumer access to them, or at least fakes of them), then print it out on library night.
In a previous life I would have bought a lot of these books, so it’s saving me a fortune!
My favourite library? I call it that as my closest one isn't that great. It’s an annex of the main library, which also isn't that great. My favourite one is much larger and always seems to have a much better book selection (their interlibrary group is much better than my local too if they don’t have something I’m after).
The food court upstairs from the library (it's in a shopping mall - classy!) is open until late as there’s a cinema complex on the level above that. It doesn't have chain fast food places in it, it’s full of excellent and cheap Chinese, Malaysian, Thai, Japanese, Korean, Lebanese and Indian options, plus one of the best yum cha places in Sydney. The local area has a huge Hong Kong Chinese expat community and the food court is always buzzing, so I see that as an indication of the quality of the food on offer.
My regular haunt seems to be the Malaysian. They make great Laksas for only $8, and the lady who works the counter greets me like an old friend. So I sit myself down, enjoy my Laksa, crack open one of my new books, and take in the ‘atmosphere’.
So you can have your fancy dining experiences (which of course have their place in the dining spectrum). I’m always amused but no longer surprised that I can get such good food in a place where the tables are bolted to the tiled floor.
Note: It occurred to me that not everyone would know what a Laksa is, so I've included some recipes!
I know this would normally be a trigger for family drama and concern, but for me it’s actually a very nice compliment.
My sister came up to Sydney last weekend for my birthday (eek, I’m 39 now) and told me she’s written me out of her will. In her words:
‘You’re doing such a good job of getting your financial life and future on track that I no longer worry about you or your future any more.’
Awwwww.
Considering she’s one of my greatest financial role models, this meant a great deal to me, but it has made me think about having a will of my own, as I never thought about it much.
Well apart from the time my mother gave me a ‘Will Kit For Singles’ one year for my birthday, which has been a running family joke ever since. I thought it meant she too thought I was destined to die alone. :-)
My car is all fixed! Car Guy came over the other night, took one look at it and said he would be able to fix it himself.
We were in need of a washer to bolt the bumper bar back onto the front of the car, and of course being a girl/renter I didn't have one in the garage. If only you could fix a car with cases of red wine, I'd be all set!
He then spied an ingenious and frugal solution. I had an old lamp with a broken shade stored in the back of the garage. Its shade was glass and had smashed during my move in January, and I wasn't able to get a replacement one. It happened to have a washer type bit on the bottom near the cord. To get to it we had to cut the power cord though so the lamp itself is toast.
I also thought the bulb had gone on the Speedometer, but he suspected I'd just turned the dimmer down accidentally (my car has a dimmer, who knew?) and sure enough that was the problem.
So rather than my expected smash repair expenses, I have a fully functional car again and it only cost me a tall cold glass of Coke Zero and a nice catch up chat with my personal MacGyver afterwards. Bargain!
I don't know what I'd do without my very own MacGyver, spend hundreds of dollars unnecessarily no doubt…
Note: wine was purchased before my debt diet commenced.
I took the plunge and increased my pre-tax superannuation (retirement for the non-Aussies) contributions to 3% today, checking off one of my 2008 financial goals.
This means I now have a total of 11% of my salary going into superannuation, once the governments 9% superannuation guarantee amount is factored in as well.
This may seem a controversial decision for some, as I’m still carrying such a high debt load, but I’m single, almost 39, and rent. I need to start looking out for my future today, to maximise any compound interest benefits I can while they can still make a difference. Even waiting 2-3 more years will make a big difference at this point in my life, so I’m going for it.
As the money is coming out pre-tax, it doesn't have a have a huge impact on my life today, however every bit will help at the retirement end of things. I wasn't aware we had a ceiling on the pre-tax contributions you can make to your super, but as of July 2008 it’s $50,000 (indexed) into your super account each year, to take advantage of the lower tax rate on retirement savings. Anything over that is taxed at 31%.
I guess that’s why I had no idea; I’m not even close to contributing that amount, even at the higher 3%!
In reading around the blogosphere about retirement options, plonkee's post on planning for retirement really struck a chord with me. It was short, sharp and to the point, and definitely worth a read. I’m glad to know I’m following those three steps myself.
It also seems louise at My Journey To Eliminate Debt is also looking to boost her retirement savings, and Matt at Frugalize just used his annual pay rise to boost his; a really smart idea if you’re living comfortably at your current income.
Do you actively contribute to your retirement funds pre or post tax? Or at all?
I was looking through my bank statement online today and noticed an unusual transaction for just under $25 from what seemed to be a taxi company.
Interesting as I haven’t caught a taxi in the last couple of months. So I looked a bit harder and found another transaction from the same company for exactly the same unusual amount two weeks earlier.
I of course called the bank and had them open an investigation on those transactions. They said it would take a few weeks to investigate, but that they would get back to me and ensure no further transactions from that company would be accepted on my account.
It was for just over $50 for the transactions and they said there had been a couple of further attempts that had been refused. I’d lost my wallet in a taxi some months ago, but had cancelled the card the next day; I don’t know how they have managed to put them through, maybe using the old-style paper forms rather than EFTPOS?
I certainly won’t be using a credit or debit card to pay for a taxi any time in the foreseeable future, I can’t believe they would try to rip me off like that! It’s the first time I've ever had something like this happen. Or maybe it’s just the first time I've noticed it?
As I was unpacking yet another box last night, I found a couple of old holding statements for shares in the company I work for. These were very old, 7 years in fact and to be honest I couldn't even remember if I’d sold the shares or not.
So I called Computershare this morning and found that I actually still have 1280 shares in my company and they've tripled in value since then – sweet! That’s not the only good bit, as I’ll hang on to them for now with the share market being as all over the place as it is.
The really good bit is I’d moved twice since these were issued and I hadn't received any dividend cheques during that time, so I’m having them reissued for the entire time I've held the shares, which translates to a cheque for $678.14! Which will of course go straight towards paying off debt.
It demonstrates yet again just how clueless I was about my money before I chose to become conscious of my financial position and do something about it. I've now updated my mailing address and should see future dividends come through (assuming the company does well), so I can also put them straight into debt reduction.
The move is unearthing all manner of goodies!
Have you been through your papers lately? Are you sitting on a potential windfall? It’s worth having a look just to be sure!
Tempt the fates with a bold statement for the New Year's financial plans and they mock you.
My car had started making a really loud and weird noise last week, so I took it in to the mechanic and they called to say they've found the problem. It’s the air compressor in the air conditioning unit. They can disable the air conditioning for me in the short term and use a new belt to work around it so the alternator will still charge the battery (I think I got that right?)
This will only cost around $35 including labour; however when they were testing it to locate the noise, they found the rear brakes were locking up. Further investigation found that one of the rear brake pads was installed backwards, which caused a high spot on the drum, so they need to machine the drum to correct it. So that’s an extra $70. Still OK so far.
Unfortunately the front shocks are very spongy (I had noticed this myself I confess), so they will need to be replaced which is $550.
So all up I’m looking at $655 to get it all fixed. I’m not prepared to mess about with this sort of repair and put my safety (and potentially others) at risk, so the snowball for January will be going on that, plus the $45 a month I’ve budgeted for car repairs and servicing which should just about cover it.
I’m so pleased I am able to pay in cash, it’s only a tiny thing in the scheme of things, but every time I don’t have to use a card is a step toward being free of them forever. Even if it means they only get minimum payments this month.
I've rebooked the car in for the service I'd actually taken it in for in the first place for next month, as that’s $220 and I don’t have it without relying on credit.
I decided to consolidate two of my credit cards (1 and 7 on my ugly truth list) into one today to take advantage of a reduced ongoing interest rate on card 1 (down 2% to 9.95%) and 0% for 6 months (then 9.95% ongoing) for card 7 (currently 18.75%) once they’re both together.
The new balance will be just under $7500 combined and will mean I only have 5 open credit cards instead of the original 7 I started with in September.
Card 7 is currently my focus card that also receives any snowball payments, which I’ll now combine with the fixed minimum payment I've been paying on card 1 ongoing. This should help speed the repayments along when combined with the lower ongoing interest rate and the interest free period on the balance transfer, which will get paid off first.
Card 1 would have been the next card on my snowball plan anyway, so it makes sense to me to take advantage of this offer.
The other interesting thing I found out was that as long as there’s a 0% offer running on the new card and I have enough available credit on it, I can transfer future balances onto it without having to set up a new account, and start another 6 months at 0% on that new balance. Something to ponder once I've got this first lot paid off!
My stretch goal is to have the entire $7500 paid off by the end of May 2008.
I received an email from my Sister last night.
"It's not like you weren't already the favourite. We went to the city yesterday to do a couple of things and your nephew said "we can't go home yet, we haven't bought anything for Aunty DebtDieter!".
I asked what he thought you might like; "hmmmm jewellery". So I took him to Diva (lots of fun plastic & costume stuff)... "not this jewellery. I think she would like diamonds".
We went home...without buying you a present!
I've got him well trained don't I? *lol*
He's such a cool little guy, I've got him a new CD player and a the Spice Girls Greatest Hits CD to go with it for Christmas. He calls them the 'Spicy Girls'.
I've done most of my Christmas shopping now, which is a relief. The best part is I've been able to use my Coles Myer vouchers for almost all of it, so I’m not out of pocket at all so far. Yay!
I was in Target last night and felt the familiar pang of wanting to buy a new book. I managed to resist, after spending a good half an hour in the book section reading that backs of many options.
I was getting my shopping out of the car when I got home and noticed a bag under my passenger side seat which wasn't part of my shopping, and when I pulled it out, lo and behold it was a book I’d bought months ago & had forgotten to take out of the car (pre debt diet naturally).
I was quite spun out actually. In case you’re wondering, it was Chart Throb by Ben Elton.
1: I was talking to my sister on the weekend and we got talking about money stuff again, my moving costs, her recent major purchase (in cash) and how I’d tracked down some of my rogue retirement funds.
She said she was so happy to hear the self esteem and confidence in my voice these days, particularly when I talk about my finances, and that she was proud of me for getting stuck into sorting it out for myself, by myself.
(This is the same sister who questioned my need for such a large 'dream' emergency fund)
2: Rang Mum and Dad to let them know I’d be moving soon (hopefully). Without hesitation Dad offered money to help with the various moving expenses, bless him. I was so chuffed to be able to say ‘No thanks, I'll be OK”.
Sure, I may need to use a credit card again for a short time (until I get my bond back etc), but I’m not even entertaining borrowing money from my retired parents, nor do I need to! I could hear he was pleased, not that he wouldn't have been happy or able to lend me money, but that I was able to manage for myself.
Mum was all 'oh, so are you going to sell your stuff on eBay?'
We should never have bought her that computer for her 60th...eBay indeed! *lol*
