Mumof2's Personal Finance Blog

We had a utility trailer that we have had for years, with hubby no longer choosing to drive and my daughter not really wanting to tow a trailer we decided to sell it, I put it up for sale at 11pm, hubby wanted $350...I put up for $500 and it sold in 15 minutes with 7 people on the waiting list if they didnt pick it up today, they did pick it up so within 12 hrs we had it listed/sold and picked up....I posted it at 11pm thinking I would check it in the morning and offers just started coming in...it was ridiculous...but it is gone now and the car has sold as well so all that should be finalised by wednesday and hopefully we can order his scooter this week...has been a busy day and its only monday

Well the time has come..I cant drive due to dizziness (24/7) and find it hard to travel in a car for long (40 mins max) and hubby was diagnosed with macular degeneration about 18 months ago, he has been having shots in his eyes every 4-6 weeks but he doesnt like to drive at night or when it rains etc, he can still drive but he doesnt feel like he should all the time so HE has decided to sell the car and get a mobility scooter...thought it would be hard for him but he is taking it like a pro. That means my daughter will be the only driver in the house...will make it hard but we will make it work. I will split the money we use to use on the car between saving for a newer one in a couple years when she has her kids and we will pay half expenses for her car like gas/insurance/registration etc...Not a great time since we will be moving soon but life will work out...it always does.

Once we move I will be getting back to budgeting and saving for a home...can't wait!!

This is about my daughter not us but wanted to share because I think it is quite amazing for her. A little back story our oldest got epsstein barr virus when she was 14, she got real sick and ended up with chronic fatigue to the point where you could barely wake her up, that was 20 years ago and she has improved over that time dramatically but it took a long time which she contemplated suicide a couple times (no she didnt try) but she had no life and her friends disappeared and barely had the energy to eat, I had to bathe her...it was hard!! she also has bad flare ups when she does to much. She has always been great with money as I taught them when they were young so they didnt have to go through what we have. She has paid cash for her car, all her ivf treatments etc...she is a cash person. Anyways she wanted to buy a new phone and it was liek $1200 (she is low on cash due to paying $50k in ivf) so she joined airtasker around 9 months ago, just to earn extra cash to buy one. 

She got plenty of work because she is very hands on/perfectionist and a woman so many women would prefer she came to the house than a man they don't know....within 2 weeks she had the money for the phone. But so many of them contacted her for other jobs but didnt want to go through air tasker because of the fees so she started her own little business, she is kep busy and businesses are searching her out as well. Also there is a couple she did work for here that are going to fly her interstate at their expenses and pay her for her work, she will have her own bungalow to stay in for the week, and they will take her whereever she wants to go....because they love the work she did for them here...all this because she wanted a new phone and now she is making decent money, even a lot of guys have her out to do things because they dont know how to fix things....it just goes to show how fast and easily things can change....I am proud of her because she cant do 9-5 job and she can work around her illnesses (also has add adhd and bipolar)...so prud and it goes to show that even if you are disabled you can still make your life great even if it does take awhile to get there...and yes she is still paying cash for everything, and yes she does contribute to the household budget as well.

Is it me just thinking this or is it just our country or all over the world that it is happening. 

So all our bills have risen, our food prices have risen, rents...everything basically has risen in cost. I have has several elec bills that have been wrong and they have charged me on average $1200 more than what they should have, lucky I look at the bills and check them. But it seems like no matter what the businesses and banks are all in record profits for the last couple years...so why are they the only people making money while everyone else is struggling or paying higher prices? They were profitting before prices went up now they are just making more money while people struggle to eat or keep a roof over their head (we eat fine and can pay rent, I just mean in general). 

Then we see people stealing from stores all the time, its happening more and more over here...so what do others think??

So we still havent found a new house to move into, hoping it will be soon because summer is approaching and I dont handle the heat with my chronic illness and same with hubby...but it is also nice to not just have to take anything because we have a move out date....rental are still so over priced here it is ridiculous.

I have given my daughter money for her surgery which is a week before christmas, we just have to pay the ansetheologist a week beforehand, so that is done. hubby is researching scooters (just in case), but if he needs one we will sell our car and buy one, the rest of the money will go into a car account and we will start making car payments as my daughter will need a bigger car for all of us and all monies that we paid towards our car will go into that account as well (yes she will help pay for it)

Other than that things are going along pretty smoothly, have halted the packing and sorting right now as have been having  crazy weather with storms, but will get back to it soon.

So we are moving...eventually...we dont have a date that we have to move out by so we are taking the time to find a rental that will suit us better and have the room we want...although it will cost more because rents are ridiculous right now. But it also given me time to go through each room (which I am still doing) and get rid of what we dont want/use/need anymore. We have a storage unit which is pretty full that we have put stuff in that we need but dont use all the time  and we will move it into the home once we are moved and settled and then can bring over boxes and just put away instead of having so much to do at once. It is working well and we have made over $1000 so far selling stuff and we have a whole shed of things to get rid of as well...I reckon we will get rid of about 1/3 of what we have now. People always ask why we have so much stuff and it is my hubby and daughter they both have adhd and anyone that knows what they are like they start something go all in for a year or so then get a new interest but dont get rid of all their things...so I have told them they need pick 2 things each and the rest have to go...somethings for my hubby he can no longer do because of his health...so he loved camping and metal detecting..loved the outdoors but he no longer do those things since his cancer treatment, he can longer walk more than 50 metres etc so we dont need those things anymore but his leather work he does. He also has macular degeneration and although he has monthly injections in his eye, he doesnt like to drive anywhere that isnt local so he may also lose his license by end of year or have restrictions, so we will sell the car and buy a mobility scooter and what is left we will put into a car fund so my daughter can buy a 7 seater car as she will be the only driver. My daughter had a jewellry business and has so much stuff from it and I told her before we moved to sell it off and she didnt so it came with us and now I am getting it all ready to sell because we arent taking it with us.

We have smart kids they did everything early, I mean walking walking before 9 months, talking sentences by aged 1, reading by 2.5 yrs old...they are not genius level but smart...my oldest has a chonic illness that she got when she was 14...slowly over the years she has gotten better but only about 80% at most. she gets disability but it isnt a lot and she pays 1/3 of our bills (she is 34) and is amazing with money and saves for what she wants/needs without asking for things. she paid cash for her car, she has paid around $50k for ivf (still needs surgery and will try ivf again so add another $15k plus) and her phone was old about 7 months ago so she thought she would try air tasker doing odd jobs to make te extra money quicker to buy a new phone, not the latest one because she doesnt care about that.  So she started getting lots of jobs a lot by women because they  felt better having a women in the house than a man they didnt know, she does a lot of different things, painting, fixing holes in the wall, flat pack furniture, new build cleans, general house cleaning...a long list. She is very meticulous with what she does and people ended up asking her for her number so they could use her instead of going through apps for her services so she did that and she has been kept busy, started off just to buy a new phone in that amount of time she has now got insurance and an abn and in the last week she has had a couple that she has done work for to fix up a home that they are renting out as they are moving interstate for work if she would come to work for them for a week to help her hubby do up the house (replace flooring, put up fence, painting etc) because they love her work, they will pay for her flights, ick her up and drop her off at airports, take her shopping and anywhere she wants to go when not working, she will have a really nice "granny flat" to stay in that is away from the house and she can use the pool whenever she wants and they will pay her what she wants for the week. Today a company called her to see if she would like to be their handy person on their property, she is meeting with them tomorrow and she wants to do a trial run to see if she likes it and thinks it is something she can do. She uses tools all the time and has since she was a kid, she built all her own furniture as a teen/adult and loves working with her hands...her and hubby have worked doing this for years.  So I am super proud of her, what started out as a way to buy a new phone has become an almost fulltime job for her.

My youngest is like me and uses her brain more than her hands...she works in an office (does insurance), I think she has finally found a profession she enjoys..she has tried many things, hairdressing, nursing, aged care etc...but never finished studying or doing anything (yes she has adhd as well) but for the last 4 or so years she has been working in insurance and loves it...she is starting a new job in a couple weeks as the place she works at now she had a disagreement and left...they arent happy but I have always taught my girls do what is right for you not a company. Basically her and a frind of hers that work together spend their lunch together, but they also socialise, they are also married and engaged, dont party or anything and both 30plus. A 20 year old girl started  worked there and said they were bullying her, so they were called in, my daughter was sick that week so didnt go, she ended up at the ER with influenza A and was real sick, she told them this, had a note from the hospital but they siad she didnt want to deal with the issue, she said yes she did but they cant make her eat lunch with people and socialise with people who she has no interest in, its not high school its a workplace. So she applied for other jobs and got one that pays arounf $20k more a year, her work tried to counteroffer when she resigned and she said no, I dont work for people like you and I hope the 20 year old is as good a worker as me because you have lost a great worker (the girl isnt she would rather talk than work), they werent happy as I think they thought she would just take it...but not my kid, she will put herself first before a company...so super proud of her as well....always am so proud of our girls.

So we got another very high electric bill in (we get them every 3 month) again it was over $2100...yep thats right, so I go out take photos and call them with the meter numbers and they redo the bill...came back to just over $900 just like the last one, both times it has been $1200 plus over what it should have been, yes our state pays high electricity rates not in the world but we are up there. but I always wonder how many blindly just pays a bill when it comes in rather than checking it and how much they actually scam from people..either way I check it always. 

Sorry for the long rant, know its not all financial, but to sum it up, we are all doing good financially, decluttering and getting rid of stuff and hopefully moving soon before it gets to hot.

So life likes to throw people a few obstacles at times to see how we go in dealing with them. So a few life updates...not really financial but updates anyways.

Oldest was told that her surgery would be delayed for a year because she needed private health insurance (have a 12 month wait on surgery for it) even though we just wanted to pay for it ($7-10k) so we looked around but needed the surgery numbers to make sure it was covered, so we did that...while we were doing that her fertility clinic said a new doctor started there and she migth not have to wait he would do it and we could just pay for it...so she has an appointment tomorrow to find out if he can do it...so that is great.

We are moving just not sure when..we dont have a time that we have to move so it is nice to find a house that will fit what we want and not just take anything we can get because we have to move by a certain date...also nice that we have time to go through everything and we have already donated and sold a a few things so that is nice not to have to take all the extra they no longer use and find a place to store it. We did get a storage unit to store things we are not using right now so it give us a little more room. When we move it will be a lot more organised and once we get everything in and put away then we can start with the stuff in the storage unit and it will just be easier...I am hoping to be moved by mid nov because it will start getting hot here by then. We will have to pay for movers for at least the heavy stuff, we should be able to do boxes ourselves, the storage unit is half price for 2 months so that is awesome but we will also be paying more in rent because we need more room and rentals are not going down in price, but we have factored that in

We wont be buying a home anytime soon because what money we do have will be going to the move and surgery but I am okay with that...

we are still debt free and that was one of our biggest things. Once we move I will be working on my health more and maybe an online business...

Youngest daughter had a great job but they hired a young girl who caused a lot of issues and my daughter being like me spoke up when she said they were bullying her (they didnt invite her to eat lunch with them) HR said they should..daughter is like its not high school we dont have to eat with her we have nothing in common and we dont need to include her, she is 20 and we are 30 we dont care to listen to her go on about partying all weekend..we arent interested in her or her life. They just wanted the girl to stop complaining so my daughter applied for new jobs and got one friday, more money than this job she has and when she put in her resignation they tried to talk her out of it and she said NO....my daughter is very good at her job and people love her...but once she is done she is done...so she ahd to give 1 month notice and she will leave. She is much happier but no-one else is there because they lose a good worker and stuck with a young girl who complains all the time if the attention is on her...a lot of gen Z are like this...but my daughter is like me...I wont argue with you I will do what is required of me and no more and I wont stay where I am unhappy...and bonus she is making more money now

I'm not really budgeting right now because I have money in the bank to cover all our monthly bills for months but when we move I will get serious about it again as I want to save as much as we can for a home deposit...so going to make some fun things to do to make it interesting to save money

Still feels weird saying we are debt free...but so happy about it

So our lease is up in a couple of days we have been looking for houses but prices are outrageous here to rent and buy! So we applied for a home...it was unsuccessful so I emailed and asked why, he said we didnt send all documents through, I said yes we did and extra notes because some of it is in US $, he also said that our real estate agent said that they wouldnt rent to us again and that I hate gardening so yard looks a mess. When she did our inspection about a month ago I told her that we had not mowed or edged the yard because it was to wet, we had 2 solid weeks of rain and it was raining when she came out, but when the weather was nicer we would. She even wrote that on the inspection sheet. Then she tells this guy this and I sent her a not so nice email. We always pay rent on time, they put the rent up and when I asked her why because they dont fix things and interest rates have gone down...her response was "because we can" and I said "just because you can doesnt mean you should" our deal was we would fix things around here and they wouldnt up the rent....that didnt happen so I am requesting that things get fixed and if not done then reporting them again to get them fixed. She it in for us and making it hard for us to get a new rental...but I am not one to just sit back and take it...so looks like more arguing and fighting with this witch (nicest thing I can say) and we are going to take her off our rental...I have also messaged the owner and told him how unprofessional and annoyed we are.

One day we will buy a home and not have to worry about things like this...

Okay so everything thinks social health is great in australia and in some aspects it is. Especially when private health is so expensive, so if you go into the ER it wont cost you a penny you walk in, you walk out and you are done nothing to pay. However if you need non emergent surgery it can take forever. So my daughter needs reproductive surgery (a few things need to be done), she is on the waiting list since july...I had a gut feeling and got her to call and ask how much it would be if we just paid it, she called. Your a category 3 so you will be waiting about 3 years just for an appt, then go on a list for surgery, she cant wait that long and they wont let her pay for it because they have to do public patients only (which means no paying). So we call her fertility clinic and let them know and see if they can suggest someone else they give us a name. We call them, does she have private health..no...(here we have a 12 months waiting period for hospital) but depending on what it will cost we can just pay it (she said around $7-10k), she said no they only take private patients (those with insurance)...so we know have to look around for someone who can do the surgery and get a referral for them and hopefully get it done soon. What country stops you from getting surgery if you are willig to pay. We really dont want to wait for a year...but I find this so bizarre.. 

We our postal service is stopping all packages to the US and peurto rico until further notice.

It is because of the tarrifs that come into affect friday so it is starting today. It is sad because we have always a great free trade agreement with the US until Trump came in and decided to put tariffs on everyone. I think we are also being punished  because we support Ukraine and Palestine....I am hoping they can come to some agreement before to many businesses in both countries are affected although we are doing trades with other countries.

Sad it has come to this....don't know how the world is going to recover from Trump and all that he has done because it does affect all countries...just hope we stay strong because they are one of our biggest allies...or at least use to be

Finally we are debt free like many of you on here. I can't believe we are finally here and with money in the bank as well.

I have a years worth of

car expenses

dog expenses

insurances

Also have $4k in ice acct

will continue to add to these each month as well as our other accounts

Now to continue to add to our home deposit each month so we can buy a home!!

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!!

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!!

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.

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 🤬

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 

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.

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.

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. 

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??

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.

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. 

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.

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. 

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

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

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.

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

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.

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