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do you discuss your finances with people??

August 4th, 2025 at 01:39 pm

Do you discuss your finances with anyone other than your partner? We do discuss with our girls a little, especially oldest since she lives with us and pays towards some of them....but we dont discuss with others in the family at all...I do pay my mothers bills for herbecause I do it all online and with her being 86 she just doesnt get how to do it...also family use to borrow money from her all the time where she would be left with very little...and she also had debts to pay, never had any savings etc. So about 5 plus years ago I told her I had had enough and I was sorting all her bills and debts for her and doing a budget...not one she would like but she would be debt free and have some money in the banks...and I did just that, she hasnt had any debts in about 4 years, when family use to ask her for money (which was all the time) which they never paid back ever...she would tell them that they had to ask me, because I was doing her finances, they didnt ask for money anymore they knew that I wouldnt give it to them so they stopped asking...she has some savings and can pretty much do what she wants....she is much happier as she doesnt deal with bills, and I have taught her to shop for bargains and now thats all she does and she doesnt pay full price anymore....dont get me wrong I dont tell her what she can/cant do with her money since she has been debt free thats up to her....but if I wasnt doing her money I wouldnt discuss it with her....I just feel that it is a personal thing....no-one but my hubby and kids even know that we got this money in...and they wont know...do others feel the same or is just me!!

not a great week

August 2nd, 2025 at 07:29 am

Well my daughter came over in a lot of pain last weekend (sunday) and she thought she had put her neck/shoulder out as she had a headache as well....she went home that night (they live an hr away) and she tells me that she wants to come back in the morning because she feels bad and doesnt want to be alone while her partner is at work..all good...she comes over sleeps a majority of the day and feels a little better after having some food and pain meds...she stays home the next day..then calls around 10am she is in so much pain and wants someone there...so our oldest drives up to her, I call her several times to check on her as it is an hr away..and she is doubled over in pain, vomiting and my oldest says get in the car I'm taking you to the ER....she can barely walk, they give her pain/nausea meds and give her a  chest ct...run a bunch of tests and find out she has influenza A...her partner picks her up from the hospital and takes her home and she rests and takes meds...starts feeling a bit better and she had a job interview on thursday as well (yes she works ft but doesnt hurt to look around)...she is finally starting to feel better this weekend...then on friday a family friend (more like family) passed awy from cancer it was so aggressive and rare that they were actually studying him to see what would work or not...he found a small spot in his chest on r side...end of may...3 weeks later it has travelled down his spine (he could no longer walk) and into his brain stem and by aug 1st he passed...it was aggressive...so that was sad but also we were relieved because he was no longer in pain and he got to die outside...which we loved...its what he wanted...he loved being outdoors...unfortunately my hubby and mom didnt make it in time to see him before he passed but they got to talk over the phone....he lives an hour away as well and had been going there every day or 2 to see him....it has been hard on my mom its the 3rd death for her this year for someone close to her....but next week is a new week and a new start and we are being positive because thats what he wanted!!

almost debt free!!

August 1st, 2025 at 07:57 am

So I got 1 of my payouts and I have paid all of our debt except my student loans....do I have the money for it...yes....why aren't I paying it now...well our govt is going to take 20% off of our student loans so I will save over 5k when they do.. so I am going to wait till they do that so I can save the extra money but other than that we are debt free and finally have some money in the bank, we are doing a couple of things bt most will be saved for a house deposit. so we are excited for this next chapter in our lives...I have put 5k in my ice acct and have put away a years worth of payments in our car (rego, service,tyres etc, we dont owe anything on the car we bought it for cash), insurances, the dog, paid off both CC (one we will close once payment is in)...so things are doing good right now...hope everyone has a great august.

moving again UUUGGGHHH!!!

July 18th, 2025 at 05:11 am

We were hoping not to move again until we could buy but the owner is putting the rent up and this house just isnt worth the extra money, our lease is up in 2 months and if we havent found anything we will do a month by month lease...in the mean time seeing what we can find out about buying a home this is what I was told by a company earlier this week

We can lend up to 759k (would not get a house around here that would fit us for that), you will need $85k deposit and 49k in upfront fees....anything over that amount of the house loan you would need to have in savings as well...so if we wanted a house for 800k we would need the extra 51k in savings as well....so just with their figure of 759k we would need a deposit of 134k...tell me how people are buying houses here?

I haven't given up though we will figure something out...but it looks like instead of paying down debt we will be saving to move again 🤬

 

car serviced, lawyer paid

July 11th, 2025 at 10:34 am

So we got our car serviced today, they called and said that we needed 2 new tyres and we had a cracked coolant cap, but other than that just a general service so was a little more expensive than we expected but was able to pay for it no problem...its a 2009 car so glad that it is holding up as we dont want to upgrade at all...and it runs great.

Our youngest daughter paid for a family friends lawyer to get his will done as he isnt well off and has a very aggressive cancer, its rare enough that they are using him as a test case because they dont know much about it...and it travels fast within 2 weeks it went from his r shoulder/chest area, to his spine and brain stem..and now is starting to affect his face/arms etc...we are not sure how long he has but he is okay doing extra mri's and they want to try some radiation next week to see if it does anything...but he doesnt have money and has little time so my daughter told him that she had a friend who is a lawyer and she would do it as a favor to her to get his will done. Yes she lied to him as she planned on paying for it but he wouldnt have had it done if he knew so we didnt tell him or anyone...so I gave her some money for it to help her out....have to love generous kids who care for others. Its been a hard year for my mom, her SIL (sisters husband) died end december had funeral in jan, this year then a couple months ago her best friend of 70 years died and she was with her as she wanted her there, and now this family friend who is like a son to her is going to pass soon...I guess she is in that age group of that happening more but its still sad for her.

Anyways its payday next thursday Im hoping to put more on the CC and reduce the amount again. Have a great weekend 

electric bill update

July 9th, 2025 at 12:51 am

Well I have finally heard back from the electric company and what do you know my bill went from $2200 down to $959..although still a bit higher (and yes elec prices have gone up yet again) it is much better than it was. That is a whopping $1241 difference, I wonder how many people just get a bill in and pay it without looking at it...but I am glad I questioned it and now have the right amount to pay. 

Payment went through to my dreaded CC so it currently stands at $4000 that we owe it is coming down slowly and I am lowering the amount as it comes down as we will pay it off and close it, so hopefully in next couple months we will be able to do that. Then can work on the next one.

OMG biggest elec bill ever

July 7th, 2025 at 11:17 am

Well we got our new electric bill in the biggest we ever had and I am not happy, I know our state pay one of the higest rates in our country which sucks and we dont have solar either. Anyways our bill was $2200 😬 yes you read that right...however I almost had a heart attack when I opened up the email and read that...but I am not one to sit back, I mean it isn't even during summer or winter months but autumn months...so barely used it....so I went and took photos they read the meter on thurs we got the bill on sat and I went out and photos that day and they didnt match up...so I chatted to them online, sent the photos, they asked if they were from that day...so brought that up on my phone took screen shots and sent them in and told them to do better as it was an actual person who read it so teach them better. They are looking into it and we should hear back in about 4 days...and that bill had better be smaller than what it is now....I am also going to look around for a better deal and see if any of them have one...

I also made a payment to the CC but it has't gone through yet, so hopefully tomorrow, it is slowly coming down. We also have a car service as well so trying to keep extra money for that as well, once done depending on if they find anything we may have extra to put on the CC will see what happens...or car is a 2009 but it works well and is paid for so will use it until it doesnt. 

Hopefully by end of month our 20% of our student debts will be applied to our loans.

hows the big beautiful bill???

July 4th, 2025 at 06:26 am

Well I see the bif beautiful bill passed through, I am just wondering what it means for Americans? 

I have read what it means on the white house page but it seems like everything else and is a lie to what they actually say and what many more have actually said as well so I am confused, so financially speaking what does it mean? I know the rich will get richer and the poor will get little or be worse off but what about the rest of the people. What does this mean with taxes etc. 

 

half year almost gone!!

June 26th, 2025 at 02:21 am

Well June is almost over which means tax season for aussies...yes we do in middle of the year..lucky for us we dont need to do taxes each year, which is nice but seriously considering not doing US taxes for a couple years just because they are so difficult and they have made it so hard for us to be able to contact people there now...I'm not sure it is worth the headache...we will see.

Our debt actually went up a little even though we are paying it down and that is because my student loan is indexed once a year on 1st june and it added over $800 to the balance, however come 22 july when our politician are back they will be taking 20% off of our student loans so that will drop it down by around $5000...so that will be nice and will update when it happens. So financially didnt do great but all our bills are paid and I have dropped my CC limit down by $1000 and wil continue to do so will pay off card and get rid of it...we dont need it. We are hoping to be debt free by end of year.

My doctor has sent me to a specialist to get extra testing done because they just can't figure me out, so I have had a bunch of bloods done, get a chest ct done tommorow and next week get a stress test and lung function test done...what I love about our country is that it won't cost me anything to get them done..thankfully.

On a sad note a dear family friend got told a couple weeks ago that we was terminal as he has an aggressive cancer, he said he could feel something moving in his chest that when they found it. They did some radiation and sent him home. he fell at home that day as he said his legs felt week...hubby went out and helped him out as his son who lives with him broke his back and cant lift him (he is 6'7)....the next day when the nurse was over he fell again and she called an ambulance as she couldnt lift him...so they took him to hopsital because of the pain...they did CT scan and yesterday it has already gone down his spine and into his brain stem...they originally gave him to sept but I think he will be lucky to be here monday...our youngest daughter is paying for a lawyer to do his will has he has no contact with his daughter and she will cause trouble, he had planned on doing all this but everything is just moving so fast...and she had a friend who said she would get it done. 

So lots of stress, no real movement on the debt front...but July is another month right??

june already, financial updates

June 5th, 2025 at 01:30 am

Wow June already this year has just flown by...a couple of small updates it's payday today so was able to pay another $404 of the CC (we have to pay a fee to put money on the card, one reason we are leaving them), if you allow them to take directly from you account then you don't but I don't give anyone access to our cards so I will pay it until the card is paid off and closed, they started charging $8 month just to have a card...plus we also have to pay the interest on it, which isn't cheap but we will be getting rid of it ASAP. Once this payment has gone through we would have paid $1000 off the card so that is nice to see it coming down.

Not sure if anyone remembers but when my DIL (yes they married last week) flew over with her son they would only sell her business class not regular seats, she is in a foreign country at 5.30am with no phone access as they were going to fix that when they got here, so she had to pay it, she was really upset because it was for their visas and almost $2000 (aud) was what she had to pay. So I copied all her tickets, I had looked online when she had finally managed to call my stepson  with a strangers fone and looked online and it showed they still hours later had $149 seats available which I took a photo of and I put in a complaint, how disgusted I was that they would treat a visitor to our country like that and they needed to be compensated...well they listened and she got all the money back for the tickets $1980, had them send it to me and I forwarded on to them, so she has her visa money back...didn't think she would get it all back but was hoping for some back, I then wrote them an awesome email thanking them for taking the time to look through it and refunding the money and doing the right thing...so although not my "money" I still take it as a win.

We don't get paid for another 2 weeks so when that happens will put some more on our CC and some in my investment account that I am building up slowly.

another debt gone

May 31st, 2025 at 06:28 am

Well we got paid early thought it would be next week but it came early so was able to pay another debt off, even though it was smaller, it is still gone...next one it the CC which we will be closing the fees and card charges as well as charging you to pay your bill is just not on so we will be getting rid of that asap, we have already paid $750 off of it and lowered the amount so we cant use it and get charges less....we do have a couple of yearly bills that are due in june so may not get as much paid off as we want but each payment helps...so far in 2 months we have managed to pay of over $2500...heres to being debt free this year!

Also our govt said they would give us 20% of our student loans, that hasn't hit yet but hopefully in june, the indexation rate for 2024/25 (its done in june) is currently 4% will go down to 3.2% after that....unlike the US we are charged once a year based on what you have owing, not a daily or monthly amount. And you need to be earning over $54,000 before you have to start paying it...so much easier to deal with than your student loans (I think). Will update that when it hits my account. 

End of may

May 29th, 2025 at 10:39 am

A little early but we dont have another payday till june, we had a couple unexpected financial things come up so wasn't able to pay as much off debt this month next month we have a few big bill we need to cover so not sure what  we will have to pay..but in may our debt went down by $1,616.43

not a lot but it came down and I'm happy with that...every bit helps.

money..money...money..well sort of!!

May 23rd, 2025 at 05:29 am

Wrote a whole post yeaterday and posted it but it never showed up and couldn't be bothered so will try again today.

So my lawyers have put my paperwork forward to be assessed so another step forward, I did have to pay my doc out of pocket $770 to cover report I could have claimed it from my settlement but it would have taken more time and charged me more to do it so I didn't, but we can recoup it. So fingers crossed that we will have it settled in the next month or so. The first thing we will be doing is paying off all our debt, we have 4 left, was suppose to be 3 but with the added cost of the report and our car battery died so had to get another one which was $150, we just were not able to pay the other one off but its always something. As I am paying down my CC (the one I plan on closing) I am lowering the amount every couple months till it is paid off and we can close it completely.

We also took our cans in today and made $52.30 and our car battery they gae us $3.20 for it so made some extra.

On other financial news (but not ours) my step son has been dating someone in the phillipines for the last 3 years, he has travelled there several times and now she has moved here and they get married monday. She has a son aged 9 and they are both lovely people...however her trip over here was not great, whe they arrived over here she had to grab her suitcases and go through customs but because her suitcase was damaged she had to fill out paperwork, she then had to go from international to domestic, it was 5.30am an hardly anyone there to help her, she ended up missing their connecting flight by 10 minutes. She had to beg people to let her borrow their phone so she could our son to let him know because she didnt have her phone set up for over here...she found someone who would let her...so nice of him....her son was having trouble with his asthma and was vomiting because of it and them running to catch the flight they missed..then trying to rebook tickets they had tickets for $149 each but they told her she HAD to buy business class or coulldnt catch her next flight..it was $1980 for the 2 tickets she was beside herself because that was a majority of her money..but she did it....when they got here it was almost lunch, they were exhausted, upset and I was not happy so I put a complaint in and said it wasn't good enough and I know they had cheaper seats on the plane (its an hour flight) and they I wanted compensation for them for them lying to her about having to buy those seats.....I received an email yesterday and they are going to refund the whole amount she paid for those tickets...they will send to my account and I will send it on to them as they have a lot to dela with right now...so once the money hits my account I will write a thankyou very much email to them...didn't expect to get it all back...but it was nice of them.....so although a financial win not really ours. 

 

more good news from our govt

May 8th, 2025 at 05:39 am

So one of election promises is to help people that have hecs/help loans. These are student loans and done a little different from yours in the US we are indexed once a year (end of june) which on a $25000 loan is about $1000pa, it at 4% right now, also you have to make a $67,000 to start paying the loan off, well our newly elected govt has promised to cut 20% off the loans  to help people out so that would be around $5000 that would disappear fro a loan that size...so glad this govt is about helping people...there is so much they are doing will try to add a list and it is going to benefit so many people

https://www.news.com.au/national/federal-election/what-changes-in-australia-under-an-albanese-labor-government-after-election-wipeout/news-story/bcdc7d6da65b1f1a76ee69ac7bd53c17

we won!!

May 3rd, 2025 at 12:44 pm

Well our voting went the way I wanted but honestly it was a landslide that no-one expected...and the liberal is no longer in politics, he lost his seat which means he no longer has a job...he will get one easily I am sure since he has a lot of rich mates...but we are safe for another 3 years...so I am glad that we have the leadership we have...and I love that when Dutton (liberals) conceded nad called to congratulate him...it was great...but when albo said that he had called to concede a couple people yelled out happy and he shut them down and said no you will not disrespect them ...I love that..he stand up for people, we had free trade with the US but now they have put tarrifs on us but he wont tarrif them because he knows it will hurt the smaller businesses so he just wont do it...he is building community housing, he working on the health system...I see a positive 3 years ahead of us!!we will have paid off 

In financial news we will pay off 2 of our 5 debts as soon as we get the bill in the mail should be in the next week, we also pay $100pm for our cell phones plans which is $1200 pa  (for both) but we decided to go prepaid which will cost us for the next year $358 instead and ten when we recharge it will be $500pa, so we will save over $800 this year and the $700 next year...so that a great savings for us...will be working on better deals as they come due over the year...but this is one of the best savings we have yet.

happy may...can't believe how fast this year is going

bought a dryer

April 30th, 2025 at 04:15 am

Well had to buy a new dryer, it is coming in colder here (almost winter) and our fell off the wall and onto the washing machine and broke...it had a real bad burning smell so I dont trust it...and it is like 8 years old so I am just thankful the washing machine wasn't broken...ins wouldn't cover it because apparently we don't have accidental insurance...but it cost us over $1000...was steep but I do like that we just have to empty the water from it rather than vent it or have a wet room...so we can pick up tomorrow. It is also pay week so we should be able to pay off a couple of smaller bills and some on the CC...will update when we do...have been helping my mom out with changing phone carriers, daughter is doing all her medical things for her ivf (to see why has been unsuccessful) and her annual breast MRI as their is cancer on my hubbys side of the family so they follow it closely...othen than not much else happening...hope everyone is doing okay with what is going on over there.

going back to basics

April 13th, 2025 at 05:23 am

I have wanted to go back to what the "old timers" use to do like grow my own vegies, I can't sew but my hubby and daughter do that, but I always had an excuse, we are renting so we are limited to what we can do etc....and yes housing is so damn expensive here and with the upfront fees it is just hard....so I have done a few things...I said "screw it" it "now or never", so I have been growing things from the seeds we have left over rom our vegies that we have bought so we have bell peppers (capsicums), spring onions, rockmelon (canteloupe), we also have herbs, edible flowers, tomoatoes, blueberries, bay leaf tree (had for years) and cucumelons...will plant more but we are going into autumn and just haven't done that year. I have made my first batch of tallow and I am going to learn how to canning (or jarring as I call it)...just need a couple more things for that....it really isn't a thing over here. 

O the housing front, I was looking at what we could get with what the bank calculators are saying and there is nothing there that we would fit into, it will be a multigenerational house and the last one that we will buy but want the space for the kids to grow as well. So have decided that we will find the house that we want and figure out how to buy and pay for it, see if that works for us.

Also trying to declutter as hubby and daughter have so much stuff as they have lots of hobbies, but when they are no longer interested or can no longer do anything they don't get rid of it...so I am, have finished a shed now just have a big back room (sewing room) to finish and  then it will be stored, donated, sold or put in the rubbish...so thats what I am working on right now

Financially our bills are paid and we are chipping away at the CC's slowly...to slowly for my liking but a little is better than none....but not really worth updating the sides yet

 

elections are close

April 9th, 2025 at 11:58 pm

23 days and we will see what party will be running our country....hopefully not Dutton because he likes Trump and wants to do some stuff like him...we dont need that here...it is a little weird though because last election there were posters left on poles etc so they were banned from putting them up this time so we hardly see them unless in a private yard..so they really have to rely on themselves and going out to see people...the good thing is many do it only when elections are coming up, but the 2 in our area (state & federal) do it ALL the time, they are out every week or so the entire time out talking to people staying in touch etc...probably they keep getting re-elected...they really fight for their communities. But guess in a couple weeks we will see...like many countries we are fighting COL...so we will see what happens.

cheap clothes

April 3rd, 2025 at 06:23 am

So I don't normally go shopping it is to much noise, to many lights etc...way to much stimulation...but the last couple day we have gone over there to buy a few things and one of our store has these racks and they are selling clothes for $1 and $2, we have bought a bunch of things for her future kids as a pack of 3 jumpsuits for $1 (so 33c each), you couldnt do any better we have also been buying extra for the foster kids charity that we support as $1 each you can't go wrong when it comes to clothes and 100% of what they get goes to the kids, they don't take a dime for themselves. With the price of everything rising it was nice to see that you could still get something cheap, and gas near us has been pretty consistently cheap for the last month as well....the only thing that I have noticed that has really risen lately is eggs...I had to pay $26 for 2 dozen eggs

aussie elections

March 28th, 2025 at 02:28 am

On ething I like about our elections is they don't drag out like the US ones. Our PM has decided that our elections will be held on may 3rd...so not a lot of campaigning they don't really travel around to each state...I'm hoping our liberals don't get in they have more of a mindset like Trump and take care of their rich friends and forget everyone else, they will throw the rest of us scraps...so here's hoping Labor stays in and continues to do some good.

CC to be paid off by june

February 24th, 2025 at 12:29 am

So have been working on my budget and my dreaded CCs should be paid off first in may and 2nd in june...I have decided to tackle them both together not just 1 and then the other but if all goes well having both paid off in 4 months would be a great achievement and thats what we are working on....I do have a student loan but I don't need to pay on that...so I don't include it....I think this year is going to be great financially

IT HAPPENED!!!

February 23rd, 2025 at 04:40 am

I know sounds dramatic but for anyone that knows since covid we have had so many issues with taxes and it has been horrendous so last year we still had issues but we make sure when we send they have tracking and signature so we know they get them. We did that again this year and they received them, processed them and put our refund in the bank already and its only february...this is amazing...we finally have a refund since I had more tax taken out this last year....but it is nice to know that we don't need to do anything again till next year...we are so happy 🥳

Credit card question

February 17th, 2025 at 03:47 am

So I am unhappy to say that we have 2 credit cards that we will be paying off this year, one we have had for years and the newest one since sept 2024....I want to know in which order you would pay them off once I give you the information as I am going to go hard at them starting march, also not saying what we owe right now as I have to do some numbers but they are roughly the same, these are the terms not that we take cash out (or rarely) just so you have the info...and no we won't apply for cars with 0% transfer fee as it is so hard and annoying over here and our fees and %'s are high (aussie)

CC1 $58 annual fee

13.74 % on purchases

21.99 on cash withdrawals

 

CC2 $8 card fee monthly (new)

$1.95 each time you make a payment they charge you (new)

27.99% interest

I was going to pay off CC 2 then CC1...but then I was thinking maybe I pay them off at the same time eg: if I had $1000 pay $500 on each....I'm just not sure, I know people say to stick with one and pay it off first then work on next one. Also thinking that we pay off CC1 as we will be keeping that card and then paying off CC2 and closing it...we don't need 2....we will eventually get rid of CC1 but want a lot more money in the bank before we do that

So any thoughts or advice on what you have done or are thinking would be great...Thanks

always have insurance

February 9th, 2025 at 08:11 am

Well I am one that has insurance for most things...well 5 years ago my sisters house burnt down it was because of faulty  wiring, it was in govt housing...she didn't have insurance but she is one of those people who wastes her money and doesn't think or do much of the right thing...she had to start over as did the kids....well she didn't learn her lesson, last night her house burnt down again, she is interstate but the 2 kids got out as well as their snake and dogs...a bird and frogs didn't make it...and guess what no insurance again so again they have nothing...I can't believe it...Not sure what she is going to do or where she is going to stay when she gets back...but just can't believe she didn't have ins after the 1st fire 🤬

love our health system

February 6th, 2025 at 11:31 pm

So 2 days ago hubby ended up going by ambulance (we have cover) to the hospital, he had stroke like systems again, they keep telling us it is hemaphlygic migraines...he said this one was different...so he went they did all his vitals, blood work (several times, a scan, an mri scan and they think it might be arteries in his neck, they were going to keep him but said he could go home if her wanted to so he did at 11.30 pm...he was much better...and the cost to us...ZERO

we are so lucky here to have the system that we do...doesn't mean we don't have our issues but people aren't put under so much financial pressure when they are ill or have a chronic illness.

He does have appointments with a neuro person on tuesday so we will see how it goes.

food in the US??

January 30th, 2025 at 05:10 am

Like most I have seen on tv how all the "illegal" immigrants are being rounded up and now there are no "white" people going to pick all the fruits/vegetables....so just wondering what is going to happen to all the prices of your food it will either cost more for white people to pick or it wont get picked and drop to the ground and rot...so it looks like it is going to go up in price...I have also seen online a lot of building sites (mostly houses) that no longer have workers as theyare to afraid to come out and work, as well as native americans....now I know we don't see as much from over there as you guys do when it comes to news coverage so I am curious as to what others think or know about food prices there or do you think a lot more people will be stealing from stores like what has been happening because they can't afford food?? I am just curious...although I have seen people posting since last year about some of your "bendy" food that stuff is weird

getting rid of itin number??

January 24th, 2025 at 03:25 am

Hi

I have mentioned this before but I don't want my itin number anymore it's just for tax purposes and honestly it would cost us more in taxes but I just don't want to deal with them anymore...so can I just get fill out a form or write them a letter and he can just do it by himself even though we are married?? I just can't find any info and trying to get a hold of them is so hard...I usually get passed around then the phone call hangs up and I'm on a cell phone so gets expensive..if you have any ideas or know where I can get this information it would be greatly appreciated. And no we can't so things online as we dont have a home address or US cell fone

Better food = more money?

January 21st, 2025 at 04:33 am

Everyone always tells me we spend a lot of money on food...and we do around $1200pm for the 3 of us, this also is the stock we replenish on shelves with sales etc, we are trying to reduce that.

I recently had a sensitivity test done and it covers food/metals/animals etc....and pretty much had to take out 2/3 of my diet which restricted me a lot and it covered dyes in foods etc as well...which was a real eye opener for me...such as dairy, some vegetables etc...it mentioned jams and gravy mixes etc that are filled with things so I started to read my labels more of what is actually put in our foods....so all our meat is bought from a butcher so it is much better quality than the supermarkets and we buy fruit/veg locally so that is fresh as well. this is where the expense comes in so meat is more expensive at a butcher than a grocery store, fruit and vege is cheaper at a green grocer than a supermarket but things like our milk (I dont drink milk but hubby and daughter do) cost $6.90 per 2 litres it is expensive but it settles in their stomoachs better...but its only ingredient is milk, our peanut butter $9 a jar (we buy when on sale) only has peanuts and salt, our butter has little salt and comes from cream, a majority of our food doesn't have extra in it...so I think I would rather spend the money on the good food we have been buying rather than the cheap stuff that is full of additives...we will eventually grow more and more food but only have pots we use till we move...I also dry our eggs shells and crush them up to use in the garden. We are pretty frugal and cook most meals at home etc....so deo other think that it is a lot of money this also includes all our personal care/home cleaning products/dog food as well as we don't have seperate money for each of these

Just wondering what others thoughts are on this....we don't really do takeaway (takeout) much at all, no bought coffees/snacks etc......occassionally when we got out and if it is hot or something but that is it....our daughter buys her own snacks and if she is out and we need stuff she will pay for it...yes she also pays rent and 1/3 of household bills as she is an adult but will always live with us...

tax online help??

January 20th, 2025 at 08:10 am

Hi

Well someone put on here about a website where you could punch in your numbers and see if you owe or get a refund...does anyone know what website that was..I can't for the life of me find it on here...Thankyou in advance

fun ways to save money??

January 14th, 2025 at 12:54 am

So I am looking at fun ways to save money each year this year I am doing the 365 day challenge...it is a fun cheap way to save over $600 this year basically it is a penny doubled each day so the highest amount is $3.65...I know for many of you that is nothing since you have amaased a million or so but for those starting over again then it is a fun easy way to do this...so does anyone else have any ideas to save extra money?? 

My DD and I go walking several times a week and have started to take a bag with us and collect cans as we get 10c each when we cash them in (this goes in my jar and I bank it later in the year) so not a lot extra but on 2 walks we have made $1.20....so who knows over the year..every bit helps right.

Also working on $1,000 in my ice account, paying of 2 CC, then building my ice account to 3-6 months of expenses as well as saving for a home..and bringing down our food budget..thats what I am working on this year...I feel this is going to be a good year


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