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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Show Me The Money!

I received my pay rise letter late last week, and I'll be getting a 6.5% raise starting the 15th July, which is a healthy increase considering the current economic environment.

Since July 2007, my salary has increased by 21%, not too shabby! I went after and got a promotion last October which really helped that number along, but I've done well in that new role and have been rewarded accordingly, if I do say so myself.

I spent the weekend (no, not the whole weekend – what do you think I'm like?) tossing around what I should do with it against what I really want to do with it. I’m happy with the compromise I've decided.

One of the easiest ways to pay down your debts or save for your goals effectively is to not increase your lifestyle along with any salary increases you receive.

This makes for a substantial snowflake to add to your goals each month.

I did this when I started in my new role back in November last year (having already started paying down debts by then thank goodness), and will do this again in a modified way with this new increase.

I'm really looking forward to using 50% of the extra income to increase my debt repayment efforts, and will allocate the other 50% to the 40th Birthday UK Tour Fund.

I'm comfortable with how my lifestyle is these days, with a healthy focus on debt elimination, while planning for upcoming expenses, and still having something left over to enjoy my life along the way.

I have nothing but admiration for those who have a single minded, do without all 'wants', nothing until the debts are gone, 'gazelle like' intensity to eliminate their debts, but I know myself well enough to understand I need to find a level that would address everything I want, including paying off all my debts.

Just like the name of this blog, paying down debt is like a diet. If you go too extreme for you (what extreme constitutes is entirely subjective of course), you’ll end up 'bingeing'. In my case on unnecessary items, like trashy novels, unplanned trips to Ikea and takeaways every night.

Or maybe that’s just me.

Are there things you've kept in your budget that others might not consider necessary?

I'd love to know what you budget for that's may seem frivolous to another, or are you extremely focussed and have cut out all 'wants' until you’re debt free, I'd love to hear about that too.

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Work Perks – Volunteer Leave

I'm really excited about this one. My company has recently implemented a policy that allows all permanent full time and part time employees a day of paid volunteer leave in each calendar year.

The purpose of the volunteer leave is to encourage us to provide assistance and support to a charity or not-for-profit organisation with their charitable and/or community activities.

I'm particularly excited as this will allow me to get involved in something I'm really passionate about, children's literacy. I really believe that helping a child to not only learn to but enjoy reading, opens up a wealth of opportunities and possibilities for them.

I get paired up (with another volunteer) and matched with a year five or six student to provide one-on-one reading mentoring and support. Every week, we will alternate visiting the school and reading with the student for an hour. So I’ll visit the school once a fortnight for the whole school term.

My police check (required when working with children of course) is all through, so I'm now just waiting for the training to kick off and we start in May with the kids.

I'm so excited! This something I've wanted to get involved with for years, but due to school hours being shorter than my working hours I've never been able to find a way to do it, and now I can with my companies endorsement! Even better is that due to my living so close to work, it's one of my local schools so I'm really helping my local community.

Does your company offer or get involved in anything similar as part of their corporate responsibility programs?

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Should I Try And Move My Personal Loan?

I was looking at my HR site for more work benefits to take advantage of, and I've found one that I really think I should investigate further.

We have offers from Citibank called 'Citibank At Work' where we get discounted rates over and above those available to the general public. This one caught my attention:

Citibank Personal Credit

Consolidate your debts with a low 5.9% for life on balances you transfer and a great 12.99% p.a. ongoing interest on purchases and cash advances.

• $0 Transaction fees and ongoing fees
• 5.9% for life on balance transfers
• Low 12.99% p.a. ongoing
• Annual fee of $69

If I compare this to my current personal loan it seems like a really good deal, one that could save me over $3000 interest over the course of paying it off.

Current Loan

• $9 monthly ongoing fee = $108 per year
• 13.45% p.a. (variable)

I would of course actually have to get approved for the full remaining amount of my personal loan, and I have no idea how tough Citibank are, but I think it’s definitely something to look at.

It’s my largest single balance and will be the last debt I pay off, so if I can save interest accumulating along the way then that’s a good thing right?

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New Job New Opportunities

I started my new job yesterday!

Everything went well on my first day, the usual getting my desk set up and spending time with the new team I'll be working with. I'm really looking forward to getting stuck into the new work and learning new skills. Aussie readers may even see the results of my work in new offers from a certain company over the coming months!

I also received an email from the payroll department. I'm not switching to monthly pay until December, so that means 3 fortnightly pay periods in November - hurrah! This should help the debt payments along quite well.

As I'd thought I was going to switch to monthly pay in November, I'd pre-paid an extra two weeks rent and stashed $400 for expenses in that transition period. I can now use all of that extra money, plus the two weeks worth of rent money to throw at my debt next pay, which will be very nice after all the outgoings due to the inspection in October.

Shame it's not until the 2nd of November as October's numbers are going to be very ordinary...

The increased salary means I can also make a real start on my starter emergency fund. My goal is to have that $1000 stashed away by the end of February 2008.

I've also started contributing 1% of my pre-tax salary to my superannuation, bringing it to a total of 10% of my pretax salary when combined with the government 9%. I'm not going to feel that 1% as it's starting with the first of my increased salary payments, so looking forward to playing an active part (if only in a tiny way)in my retirement funding for the first time.

Work Perks - Wishlist Points

At work we have an internal rewards and recognition programme. You can nominate people for displaying one of the company values within your division, and if approved by their manager they receive Wishlist points to redeem for anything from BBQ’s and trips to the Great Barrier Reef, through to books or a silicon case for your iPod.

I seem to do quite well out of this scheme, as I work on multiple projects at any one time, so have many interactions with people all over the business. I guess I’m also do something right too!

I want to make the best use of my points to help me meet my debt reduction goals, but still have some fun with them too. So if I use them to buy ‘luxuries’ such as magazine subscriptions and things like that, so I can enjoy them and not spend a cent! I’m lucky that the two magazines I actually buy (Real Living and Delicious) are both available on the scheme.

This will save me (or at least avoid me spending) $71.50 for the Real Living & $76.45 a year for the Delicious off their cover prices.

The other bonus is I can use these points to start my Christmas shopping, plus my sister’s birthday which is coming up soon too.

Bargain!

Taking Advantage Of Work Benefits - Mobile Phone

I'm really lucky that as part of my job I get my mobile phone charges paid for. This saves me a fortune as you would expect. I haven't even seen a bill in years.

I work for a telecommunications company so have a good understanding of how people in Australia use their phones and the benefits available if you know what to look for.

When you sign up to a mobile phone provider (or signing up to a new one if you’re changing companies), it's really important that you read and understand what you're signing up for, before signing anything! It's a contract the same as any other contract, so please read the details.

Make sure you understand what you get for your commitment, flag falls, rates, cancellation fees, the total cost of the contact etc. If you don't understand or are unsure about something, don't sign anything until you've had your question answered to your satisfaction.

Before you use your phone to enter competitions, download ring tones, send photos or SMS people, make sure you understand what you'll be paying. Premium services attract premium charges. This particularly applies to using your mobile to access data service or send emails (if you have a newer handset with these capabilities).

There are also a number of ways you can save money on your mobile bills. Find out who you call that are with the same phone company. Most companies offer same network discount rates or even free calls on the same network at certain times of the day. An important thing to note is some of the smaller providers actually lease their network from the big companies (Telstra and Optus) so the benefits may even extend past your specific company.

If your bills are still too high, it might be that you're on the wrong plan. Call the customer service department and get them to check if you might be better off on another plan. Plans change all the time and if your current plan no longer suits, see what’s available to meet your new needs. A word of warning on this one though, make you’re your usage patterns has changed for a good 3 months, if it's just a one month blip, you may want to stay where you are as often if you switch to a new plan you may not be able to go back to the old plan if your usage pattern changes back.

Remember, if you do happen to receive an unexpectedly high mobile bill, you should always contact your service provider in the first instance. They really want to keep your business if at all possible, so why not take advantage of it!

To recap:

• Read everything and understand it before signing anything
• Ensure you know what you paying before you use your phone
• Take full advantage of same network call rates and free call times
• Make sure your phone plan still meets your ongoing usage patterns by reviewing every 3 months
• Always call your current providers customer service call centre before cancelling
• If you have a very high bill you can't pay, call them straight away to make payment arrangements