Worth It but Just This Once

Yesterday, I took my sister to a day spa for her 21st birthday. Total cost, $456. This was for both of us, as it's not something she would have wanted to do by herself. A 21st here in Australia is a big deal, so it was a big birthday. However, it was still very expensive.

I did budget for it, but it still hurt handing over the money. We both really enjoyed it, but it's certainly not going to be a very common occurrence. Every so often we need to treat ourselves and our loved ones, we just have to make sure we don't go overboard.

I'm now trawling the Internet for new blogs to read. Any suggestions?

It Was a Hit!

Tonight I had my Christmas dinner and it was a hit. Everything ran smoothly. Everyone loved the table decorations, they all said the food was great (and plenty of it) and everyone got along well and had a good time.

Entertaining is fun!

Bring on Summer!

It is summer over here in the Southern Hemisphere. Today in my city, it was 32 degrees (that's Celsius folks). So, so warm. I am going home to my parents house for Christmas but will be back at work on the 4th of January. This means I will be spending a large chunk of the summer at my own house.

I have a small yard. I suppose you would call it a courtyard because apart from a garden all the way along the back fence, it is all concrete. One half is covered in by a patio. Now that it is warming up, I would like to be able to sit out there enjoying a cold beverage and possibly do some entertaining out there as well.

So I have been on the lookout for an outdoor setting that is reasonably priced. This is a little harder than it sounds, most are ridiculously expensive. Now that I am holding a Christmas dinner next weekend, I was looking for one even more earnestly so that I can utilise the outdoor table to make my indoor table a bit longer for the dinner.

Today I found on. It is a lovely slatted wood and cost $160. The chairs are each $49, however I didn't buy them today. I have enough chairs for my dinner so will purchase one outdoor chair at a time after Christmas. There is no rush on this as I live alone and if I do want to entertain out there, I can move my inside chairs out for the day.

I am very happy with my purchase. It was hard to get it from my car into my house (my brother helped me get it into the car but then we went out separate ways). It only took me about five minutes to build and it's now sitting at the end of my dining table ready for my dinner this weekend!

Truly Important

My younger brother was in a car accident this morning. He is fine but the car is written off.

It has really made me think, some things definitely are more important than money.

The Ball Drops

As previously mentioned, I read a lot of personal finance blogs. I am an addict. However, one thing that always stumped is how and why people would spend so much money on Christmas! I just couldn't figure it out. Admittedly I do not have children, but even for the single people out there, it just seemed like they spent a lot.

That was until today.

Next Saturday I am holding a Christmas dinner at my house. So today I started planning for it and had to do some non-food shopping for it. Wow, it's quite pricey. And I haven't even bought the food yet!

Any suggestions on how to keep the costs down?

Great News

The townhouse next door to mine (so we share a wall) has just been put on the market. It is exactly the same size as mine except its ensuite is a little bigger than mine and my kitchen is a little bigger than its. It is on the market for $395 000.

Now five months ago, I paid $380 000 for my place. So given that our homes are almost identical, this leads me to believe that my house has increased in value by $15 000 in five months.

Awesome!

I love it!

I am not usually one to place a great deal of value on material things, unless they are sentimental. I think that is why I am doing so well financially, because I don't really care. Yes, of course I like to have nice clothes, but I don't place a great deal of importance on them so I really only shop a few times a year.

This has just changed.

I picked up my new car yesterday and I LOVE it! It is fabulous!

Best $1200 I ever spent!

I just dished out $1200. And it was so worth it!

The area in which I live is quite extreme. In winter, it is ridiculously cold and in summer, it is absolutely boiling! My house is not insulated. It is only the very beginning of summer and it was already becoming unbearable for me to be upstairs in my house, even with the windows open and the fans going! The height of the Australian summer is still a month away, so I could not even imagine what it would have been like then.

I spoke the the man who used to live here before me and he told me that during the summer, he and his wife would sleep downstairs in the living room, it was that hot upstairs.

So I decided to get insulation. I went with the top of the line, because I wanted it to make a big difference.

The men left around fifteen minutes ago and already, there is a HUGE difference! It is so much nicer upstairs, I can actually be up there and be comfortable.

So yes, best $1200 I ever spent!

New Credit Card

I have been reading personal finance blogs for the last few years and one thing that is common throughout is people who have debt under control using their credit cards to get points, in order to redeem them for some sort of reward. I have been very frustrated that Australia didn't seem to have any good reward credit cards that did not have a roughly $200 annual fee.

However, Woolworths (big supermarket chain and where I do all of my grocery shopping) have just released a Qantas Frequent Flyer credit card. The fee is only $89, around $20 more than my current credit card. However, for that extra $20, I will earn points for everything I buy.

I never carry any credit card debt, however they are a very convenient way of spending money, as long as you make sure you pay it off in full each month. I would, however, like to get something for my money, and frequent flyer points would be great! My parents live in another state, so I have to cough out money to go and visit them. By earning points on money I was going to spend anyway, this could cut those costs down, sometimes maybe even eliminating them all together!

I will happily pay the extra $20 to get me some extra points for my everyday shopping!

Back to Normal

For the last three weeks, I have been attending a work course in two different cities. The cities are a reasonable distance from home so I came home both weekends (one of which I bought my car on). But the petrol money does add up!

Now that I'm back, I'm looking forward to getting back into the swing of things. Since I bought a car for almost $20 000 less than I was originally planning, my payment plan will have it paid off even quicker, which I'm very excited about. I'm determined to get rid of the car debt ASAP, so am keen to come up with some small creative ways to pay it off.

Upstairs, I have a whole heap of stuff that I need to put on Ebay not only to make a little extra money but also to just plain get rid of it. So that will net a little bit of money, but hey, every dollar counts!

For the next month I should be getting a little extra money at work as my boss will be away so I will be doing his job and getting paid for it, which will also help. I'm not planning to have a wild and crazy Christmas. I convinced my family to do Secret Santa this year so I only have one $200 gift to buy, which will save a fair bit of money (I come from a family of six, plus my sister's partner).

Does anyone else have any little suggestions?

Excitement

Yesterday I bought a car.

A Toyota Rav 4.

I pick it up next week.

I am beyond excited.

Planning is Key

Last night, I cancelled my flights to America that I had booked for May. I did have to pay a cancellation fee but still get back most of my $3500. I did some number crunching and it looked as if I was going to have to pay a lot of my trip on credit, which I did not want to do. I was also a little nervous about going over there by myself. Thus, I cancelled and will continue saving to hopefully go over in 2012 or 2013.

In other news, I took the Volkswagen Tiguan for a test drive yesterday. Not only did I not really like it but I decided that it was a lot more than I wanted to pay for a car. I am still going to get a new car because I know my car is not going to last me very long. I was 19 when I bought it and I didn't have a lot of money, so it is a cheap car. It already sounds very tinny so I think I will start to have problems with it and I don't want that. I would much rather buy a reliable brand (like Toyota) that, though they of course have problems, is more likely to last for the 10-15 years I want to keep it. There is no way my car will last that long. And I do not want to wait until it starts to have issues because I want to take advantage of a decent trade in.

I have started researching property, with the hopes of buying an investment property at the end of 2011 or in 2012. I think I'll buy in Canberra as that is where I eventually want to end up in around ten years. Buying now will allow me to utilise renters for the next tens years, helping to pay down that mortgage.

So that's what is happening in my financial world! What's happening in yours?

And how are you planning to pay for this new car?

I am about to refinance my house.

Now before everyone freaks out, this is definitely something I have thought about and to me, this is a no brainer.

When I first bought my house, I was a few months shy of qualifying for a company home loan. Unfortunately, because I had found the house I wanted at the price I wanted, I couldn't afford to wait. However, I now qualify for this company home loan which is with one of the big four banks of Australia. Not only do I get this loan at a significantly lower interest rate, but my company will also pay approximately $220 a month onto my mortgage. There is no catch. It is purely and simply free money. What is even better is that the longer I work at my company, the more that increases. And I get it for the life of the loan.

Told you it was a no brainer.

I have been having some issues with my car lately. Now there is nothing wrong with the car per se (it's still under warranty after all), they are more issues I am having personally. I don't feel particularly safe in it and I know in a couple years (probably when the warranty runs out), I will start to have problems with it.

Thus, I have decided that when I refinance, I will borrow some extra money and purchase a new car.

Again, don't freak out!

I am currently earning roughly $600 extra a month and this will continue for the next few years. By placing this extra money directly onto my loan, I will essentially have the car paid off in 4.5 years. Thus I will not be accruing an exorbitant amount of interest on it. Not to mention that extra $220 paid straight onto my loan.

I have thought long and hard about this and believe it is the right decision for me. I am buying a 4WD (I believe Americans call them SUVs), albeit a small one. This will allow me to have the car for 10-15 years as it is of a size that will not require me to upgrade if I have children. I am buying from reliable brands which I know will last me a long time.

So, overall, I am happy with my decision to do this and so, so excited! I appreciate your feedback, even if you do not agree with what I am doing.

New Cars

So I am tossing up between buying a Subaru Forrester and a Volkswagen Tiguan. Cannot decide which. Although, I did discover that due to my employer, I can get a $3000 discount on Volkswagen. Hard to say no to that!

New Car

I am seriously toying with buying a new car. I have almost completely decided to in fact buy one. The reason I haven't posted for so long is because I thought everyone on here (you are out there right?) would disapprove of my decision, so I avoided it.

But yes, it's out there now. Thoughts?

Such Mess!

So one of the downfalls of living in a house is there is more room for things to get messy! Any tips on keeping things neat and tidy?

Peace

I have had family staying for the last week. On the one hand, it was beneficial. My dad didn't like the griller thing that I had so went out and bought me a new George Foreman. Thanks dad! But on the other hand, it's nice to get back to own routines and an nice neat place!

In other news, I got my first two bills. The water bill was less than $20, yay! However, the electricity bill was $175 for two months. WHAT?!?! Is this excessive? I think it is. I am very careful with my electricity! So I don't understand how I could possibly use so much. Any advice?

Living Simply

I have found a new blog to read. Notes from the Frugal Trenches- A Downshifting Journey is written by an English woman. My country was of course colonised by the English, so I feel a little closer to those in the UK than I do to Americans. Australia and England have a lot more in common.

Her blog is about down sizing and living simply and so far (still trawling through the archives), I am inspired! It is giving me a lot to think about and some great ideas. So if you're so inclined, go across and have a read and live more simply!

I'm off to read some more while I watch Australia defeat New Zealand in tonight's Bledisloe Cup match!

Aussie Aussie Aussie!

I Love the Library

When I was a kid, we did not have a lot of money. One thing that we did all the time that was free was go to the library. My sister and I would bring a book to read in the car on the way to the library (my brother's were not as keen). I have always thought libraries are great and now, as a fee paying adult, I like them even more.

I joined the local library when I moved into my house but I hadn't actually visited it yet. So today I did. I am currently planning my trip to America and wanted to get a Lonely Planet guide. I came home from the library with three books, so that's quite a bit of money saved if I had gone to the store to buy said books.

I own a lot of books, most of which I read over and over again anyway. However, the library is always good to find some gems! And some travel books.

America, here I come!

Over Budget

I went over my groceries budget. How is that even possible, considering I'm one person and I really don't eat that much.

Does anyone have any tips for controlling it?

It's About Time!

Today, I finally finished unpacking! I have been in my house for five weeks but had not yet unpacked everything. The third bedroom had sort of become a junk room, I had just dumped a bunch of stuff in there and forgotten about it.

But today, I went through it all. I am starting a nice little box of stuff to put on Ebay. I don't imagine I'll make too much from it but it will at least get me a little, plus it will get rid of the stuff I don't want!

So my house is definitely a home now :)

Oh, and it doesn't cost any money to spend your day at home cleaning!

Parking Rip Off

Today I had to pay $25 for parking! Such a rip off.

On the up side, I saw Inception and absolutely loved it!

Tim's Questions

Tim, a Canadian commenter, has asked some questions about the different facets of my mortgage. I thought I'd answer them in a post, in case anyone else out there is wondering.

I mentioned that I was using my offset account as my emergency fund. I'm not sure what other countries call this but basically, the offset account interest is applied straight to your loan. So let's say I earn $10 a month interest from a regular savings account. Come tax time, I would have to declare all of that interest and pay tax on it (no idea if this is the case in other countries). However, if I earn $10 a month interest from my offset account, that $10 is immediately applied to my mortgage and I do not have to pay tax on it at the end of the year. Another benefit is that I can take money from my offset account whenever I want. A lot of banks charge you to redraw on your mortgage, but you are not charged for taking money out of your offset account. I don't imagine it will make a huge difference to my mortgage, but it will make a slight difference and it will also reduce the tax I pay.

My mortgage is a variable loan. Tim asked if I could fix it for the life of the loan. I have read on a lot of blogs people who have fixed their loans for the entire duration. During my research before borrowing, I did not come across any loans that you could fix for the whole time. Most only allowed you to fix for three years and then reassess. Now I may have missed the ones that did allow you to fix for the whole time but as far as I know, this is not done in Australia. Unfortunate.

Tim also asked if I planned to rent part of my house, mentioning the basement. Tim, basements are definitely a North American type thing. I have never seen a house in Australia with a basement (though I'm sure some do have them). Attics are also not that popular here. I do have two spare bedrooms though and I have toyed with the idea of renting one of them out. I am not comfortable renting to a stranger and I don't know too many people in the area yet, so I will have to wait and see. It would make things a little easier each month though as I live in a fairly high-rent area.

Thanks for the questions Tim. Keep them coming!

I Still Have a Life

Angela left a comment on my last post, asking if I am still able to have a life on my budget. To put it simply, yes.

I will however concede that my life doesn't seem to cost as much as other people my age. I have only recently moved to this city so I don't have a lot of friends in the area. Once I graduated from uni, my friends and I all went off in different directions. I have made a few new friends here but for the most part, we're the stay in types. We have dinner at each others house (I can finally invite them to mine!) and do small things like go to the movies. I'm not much of a party person and am content just sitting around at someone's house, having a cup of tea and a good chat.

However, I am a girl in her early twenties. Of course I like to shop for clothes and like to splurge on certain things. It is important to me to be able to do that. I can definitely still do that, but don't seem to want to as much. Now, given the choice between buying a new pair of jeans and putting an extra $100 on my mortgage, I'd probably choose the mortgage, just to see it go down. It's such a good feeling.

I will make sure I still treat myself and still have fun, but I'll always have the mortgage on my mind and be working hard to get it down.

I hope that answers your question Angela!

Financial Stuff

An anonymous reader requested I talk more about the financial stuff of my house purchase.

Just to recap, I bought my house with my parents. They have a one third share and I have a two third share. We have separate mortgages so that we can manage it as we see fit, making extra repayments and whatnot. My mortgage is for $262 000 (it's already down to $259 000, yay!).

I got extra on my loan so that I could pay my car off, so I now own that outright which has significantly lessened my monthly burden.

I have an offset account with $10 500 in it. This is not only my emergency fund but also my savings account. I like to save up for large purchases like insurance, registration and the like. I prefer to put a little away each pay to ensure that when those bills do roll around, I'm not trying to find the cash for it. I will be saving up for these into my offset account, that way I am helping to reduce the interest I pay.

I have chosen to pay my mortgage fortnightly so I can pay an extra month per year. My minimum fortnightly contribution is $835. I have decided to pay $900 a fortnight, at least for now. Once I am more comfortable with this new idea of living in a house, I hope to increase that. I am also getting a pay rise in October, all of which I plan to put on the mortgage.

I don't plan to go crazy, still planning to save up for things like travel. However, if say I don't spend my entire grocery budget for the week, I will put whatever is left over straight onto the mortgage because I wholeheartedly believe that every little bit counts!

Any questions? Any advice?

I Love Being a Homeowner

It has been just under a month since I moved into my new house. I can't believe it! So far, so good!

This weekend just gone, I bought a dryer and a chest of drawers for my bedroom. I'm now done. There is nothing else I need. There isn't even that much that I want, apart from a couple of decorative type things. I don't have any outdoor furniture, but have two chairs I've put out there. So while I can't have guests sit outside with me, that's not a necessity.

Downstairs is all set up and nice and lovely. Upstairs however is still a little bit messy. My parents bought the last of my stuff down over the weekend so it's still quite messy upstairs.

I am slowly getting into a routine. I took my first turn at cooking on a weekend and freezing stuff and it has worked out well. It makes evenings so much simpler as when I get home from work, I am definitely not in the mood for much cooking. So now all I need to prepare is my veggies and the main meal part is all ready.

This weekend I am going to a nearby town (four hours away) to visit my sister's boyfriend. He has just joined the Army and is doing his training. This is his first weekend off and my sister cannot come down so I'm going on her behalf. Hopefully it will cheer him up a bit.

I have started trawling through old blogs looking for tips to save money. Any advice would be appreciated :)

I'm Back

I haven't had internet for the past three weeks, hence my lack of posts. I finally got it again yesterday so am back online. Is anyone still reading??

Expensive!

Moving into your first house is expensive!

Yesterday we went to Bunnings which is a gigantic hardware store here in Australia that sells everything under the sun. $240 later, we walked out. I got a stepladder, washing baskets, light globes, cleaning supplies (indoor and outdoor), roach bombs, and about a gazillion other things! All needed to make the home liveable.

Then last night we went to Kmart, a big department store sort of like Walmart I think. $180 later we walked out. Here I bought pillows, cutlery, washing stuff, blankets and many more things.

More shopping is on the agenda for today. It's expensive!

Home Owner

I am writing this post from the kitchen bench of my new house :) Settlement was yesterday and I began moving all my stuff in last night.

Currently I am cleaning (has been sitting vacant for a few months). I'm so excited to be here :)

Also awaiting deliveries. They told me they'd be here between nine o'clock and two o'clock. Thanks for narrowing it down guys!

Finally

The contracts were FINALLY exchanged today.

This is getting exciting sports fans!

A Huge Spend Day

Today (Saturday) was a massive spend day for me, but it was all planned.

Scanpan starter Saucepan Pack - $349.50 (reduced from $699)

3 shirts for my cousin's 6th birthday - $32.98

Card and Gift-wrap - $2.50

Running pants - $13.99

Bed Ensemble - $1130

The track-pants were a necessity so that I continue my exercise routine (6am starts) during these chilly winter months!

The bed ensemble, I am very excited about. I bought a queen bed, queen mattress and two matching bedside tables. I really like it and it was heavily discounted, the mattress alone was reduced by $400! So I think I did very well.

But boy, did the accounts take a hit!

Update

Today (Friday), I spent a total of $1.00 for a can of soft drink at work. I added a bit too much sweet-chilli sauce to my lunch and my mouth was on fire so I splurged. Usually I bring soft drink from home a couple of days a week to negate the cost, so this really was a one off.

We are hopefully exchanging contracts on Monday. I am excited and nervous, hoping everything will pan out. So far, so good. Fingers crossed!

I am starting to have a lot of second thoughts, but I think it's just nerves. I had a good talk to my mum today who told me that people raise families on what I earn (whilst paying a mortgage), so I as a single woman should definitely be able to manage. I have no doubt I'll be able to manage, I just won't have as much as a cushion as I would like. But by doing the hard yards now, I think it will be worth it in the long run.

This weekend I am going to check out a couple of second hand furniture stores as I am looking for a bed. I am also going to buy my saucepans. My grandma gave me an early house warming gift of $200 and said I have to spend it on saucepans! So that's what I'm going to do!

I'm Back!

My meeting with the solicitors went well, as did the building and pest inspection. There is nothing that came up in the report, but as an aside, he suggested I re-grout the main shower. Sounds like a job for my handy grandfather! So that was all very good news.

After coming home and doing some last minute chores, I headed to the airport and flew to Melbourne. I spent the weekend with my friend J, who I went to uni with. She is one of my best friends but, since we graduated, I hadn't seen her. So it was fantastic to catch up! I also caught up with my friend M, my closest friend from high school. I hadn't seen her in almost three years so thoroughly enjoyed that!

I did probably over-do it with the spending, but not by too much. I had budgeted for the hotel and eating out, but I also did a little bit of shopping. No big deal, but it will be the last shopping I do for a while. Definitely need to tighten the belt!

I know I said I'd do a daily spending report on here but didn't really keep track over the weekend so I'll start that again tomorrow.

Does anyone have any advice for tightening the belt? Would love to hear your suggestions!

I'm Sick

I was sent home at nine o'clock this morning because I'm sick with a very bad cold. I came home and went to bed. Four hours later I woke up and felt a lot better. I went to the doctor yesterday so I have a lot of drugs that I've been taking. I'm hoping to beat it by the weekend!

I am going to Melbourne for the weekend. It's a long weekend, so will be there Friday, Saturday, Sunday and Monday. This was all booked and paid for months ago, before the house was on the cards. If I'd already been buying the house, I probably wouldn't have done it but I'm super excited! I am going with one of my best friends from university who I haven't seen for six months as we both work in separate places now. So I can't wait!

Yesterday, Tuesday, was another no spend day! Today though, I spent $5 on pizza. I just did not have the energy to cook, so I ordered a pizza. And it was totally worth it!

Tomorrow I have my first meeting with the solicitors to go over the contract. Then on Friday, is the building and pest inspection, which I'll be present for. Then I'll go straight to the airport and head to Melbourne!

No Spend Day!

Today, Monday, was a no spend day :) And I wasn't even trying!

And some more...

I realised I didn't have anything to make for lunch tomorrow so ducked down to the supermarket. I ended up spending $16.10 which brings my total to $65.30 for the day!

Daily Spending

I have noticed a lot of bloggers provide a daily account of what they've spent. I always enjoy reading them but never really thought to do it myself. However, not that I am going to be tightly controlling my money in the wake of my recent house purchase, I want to get onto that.

I will list the day that I'm reporting on as, due to time differences, I am always writing a day ahead of what the date on my blog says. So here goes:

Sunday 6 June

Petrol - $40.75

Breakfast - $8.45

Total - $49.20

Not bad, considering the petrol will last me at least the week. Any thoughts?

My Shopping Thus Far

As I haven't lived in a house/apartment/unit before, I don't own any furniture. Now that I am about to move into a house, I need to start buying things so that I can actually... live.

Last year, my parent's next door neighbours bought a new dining room suite. They offered me their old one for $50 which I snapped up. It's nothing special but is in good condition and will definitely do the required job. Around the same time, my parents asked me if I wanted the two big bookcases that I'd been using since I was a child for my huge collection of books. I of course said yes.

At the beginning of the year, my mum was on a second-hand shopping spree and bought me two bedside tables and a small coffee table. I also have two bar fridges and a microwave. But that is pretty much it.

Last weekend, I went shopping to get some prices. I walked into Harvey Norman which is a big furniture and electrical store here in Australia. They were having a big sale, so I bought a fridge and a washing machine, costing me around $1500. These are two things I think are important to buy new, as I will be using them so often and obviously want them to last. Though I know most people think they're a waste, I also got the extended warranty on both, just to be on the safe side. It just gives me peace of mind.

My parents are giving me one of their leather couches as they were planning to get rid of it anyway. It's a good quality couch and is beige, so will work with whatever colour scheme I decide on.

I have been buying and putting on lay-by towels, sheets and doonas as well. All on sale, so I'm getting a good deal.

Yesterday, I went to visit a friend and she gave me a big TV (mine is quite small), a DVD player, a set top box, a small heater and a TV cabinet. All for free because she was just going to throw them out anyway.

So as you can see, I am getting a lot of help but at the same time having to spend a fair bit of money! I need a bed next. This is another thing I don't want to scrimp on, as I obviously will spend a great deal of time in it. People keep telling me to buy cheap crap now and replace it later, but I don't see the point, why not buy the good quality now? That will save me money in the long run.

So there we have it. Can anyone offer any suggestions on what else I will need to buy? I don't feel like I have thought of everything!

What A Week!

This has been a very, very busy week at work, so I have been unable to blog. Trying to work full time and buy a house doesn't always work smoothly!

So, things are still going ahead with the house. We have renegotiated (my parents and I) and they will have a 1/3 stake in the house and I will have a 2/3 stake. So that slightly increases my repayments but it also increases what I will make when we decided to sell it.

I have also negotiated with the bank to have my car included into the cost of the mortgage. That way my car is paid off and as the bank won't take it as security, it will be mine clear and free. In the grand scheme of things, adding the remainder of my car loan onto my mortgage does not increase my repayments very much, as it's over thirty years.

So it's all happening. I have also been doing some shopping, which I will post about lately.

Excitement!

100th Post

This is my 100th post on here and I have some news....

I JUST BOUGHT A HOUSE :) :)

I am very excited, in case you couldn't tell!!!!!!!!!!!!

Apparently I Have No Virtue

They say patience is a virtue. I must be completely without virtue.

I know buying a house is supposed to be a bit of a drawn out process, but I just want it to be DONE! I want to move in and live in my pretty new home :)

Good News

Well, some good news.

My mum spoke to the bank today and they are happy to lend! What the bank manager's suggestion was though, was that we each take out a separate mortgage, say of $200 000 each.

That way, if I want to make extra payments, I'm free to do so and vice versa. We would still own the property 50/50 and when it came time to sell, we would simply split it down the middle.

I could then use my half to pay off the rest of my mortgage or to do whatever. So in a way, it does give me the independence I was after, as I can pay more and try to get rid of the debt as fast as possible.

We are planning to make an offer tomorrow morning. I'm very excited!

Great Weekend!

I had a fantastic weekend.

As I said earlier, my mum was down for the weekend. On Friday night, I drove into the city to meet up with her. We went to a pub across the street from the theatre for a drink and then grabbed some dinner. We then saw Wicked and it was absolutely fabulous, I enjoyed it so much! I would highly recommend it to everyone! Tickets were $135 but it was sooooooooooooooooo worth it, I would actually have been happier to pay more, it was that good.

On Saturday, we went house hunting, visiting some open homes and some private inspections I'd organised. The first one we visited actually ended up being the favourite. I absolutely loved it, as did my mum. We're both quite set on it and will be talking to the bank tomorrow and then hopefully making an offer. I will keep you posted.

Today we slept in (glorious), went out for lunch and did some shopping. All in all, a great weekend!

An Exciting Weekend Planned

Tomorrow, my mum has a business meeting in the city that I happen to live in. She made the appropriate arrangements to have her flight changed to Sunday night so that we could spend the weekend together. I'm very excited!

Tomorrow night, we are seeing Wicked. I have wanted to see this for a long time but didn't have anyone to go with. You can always count on your mum to go to things with you! I can't wait.

We are spending most of Saturday looking at houses. I'm glad about this as my mum (who owns a few properties) will be able to show me what to look for when buying. So I'll learn a lot I think.

I don't know what we're doing Sunday. We will probably just relax, enjoying each others company. I can't wait!

A Twist!

My dad emailed me this morning. Though he said my parents are still happy to help me out if they can, he had a new proposal for me.

He and my mum are wanting to acquire another investment property. They're not quite ready to go it alone (don't want to over leverage themselves) but he wanted to know if I would consider going halves.

Now I have a third share in a house already, with my parents and my older brother. My older brother and I are not listed as owners, in order to allow us to claim benefits later on when we did buy our own place.

However, my dad said that this time, we would both be listed as owners on the mortgage. I would live in the house rent free until such time when I was sent elsewhere for my job (about two and a half years). We would then rent it out.

My parents would supply the deposit and then everything else would be split fifty-fifty. When I was ready to buy my own house, I would also be able to utilise the equity in this place.

So what does everyone think of that? I don't think there is anything wrong with it, I would just really like to buy a place on my own, I don't feel as independent if I don't. Is that silly? Please give me your thoughts!

Help! I Need Some Advice

Some circumstances have changed, and I am in the position to purchase a property, quite quickly. I would be getting a 95% mortgage that is done through my work credit union and gets me approximately $250 a month back. Basically, by going with this loan, my company rewards me by giving me $250 a month to either go on my mortgage or assist me in my living expenses.

My parents have offered to loan me $10 000 for the down payment. It's interest free of course and I can pay it back in my own time. Obviously, I will be trying to pay it back as soon as possible.

What I need advice on is whether I am overdoing it. After I take out my other mortgage, my car loan, my car insurance and registration and my living expenses, I will have $1120 left each fortnight. My new mortgage repayment will be approximately $850. This leaves me a little over $300 to put into savings, to pay for bigger, unexpected purchases, to pay toward home insurance and rates and also to slowly pay my parents back.

Does anyone think I am overdoing it? Advice would really be appreciated!

First and Last Time

For the first time ever, I acquired some debt on my credit card that I was unable to pay off immediately. I was shocked. I had never done this before but somehow, in my carelessness, I did.

My sister owes me some money which she transferred this morning. As soon as that has cleared, I will be able to pay the last of the debt off. Admittedly, I was not charged any interest, however, this was a completely new and out of character thing for me to do.

It will be the last. I am putting a ban on my credit card. There is no need to use it unless there is some sort of emergency. My emergency fund is with ING so it takes a couple of days to transfer money. Therefore, my credit card offers a good option if there is an emergency and then I can transfer the money afterward.

I just can't believe it and I'm so disappointed in myself. I know better!

On Business

I am currently on business in Darwin for the week. For those American readers, Darwin is at the very top of Australia and is a very hot, tropical city. I lived here for six years as a child and it's great to be back! It has changed a lot but at the same time, it's fun to see many places I used to go to as a child that really haven't changed at all.

I get allowances for all my meals etc. whilst here. I don't need $20 for breakfast each day (bought milk and cereal from the supermarket) so I will actually probably make a profit out of this trip. Yay! Not to mention that I won't be spending my usual amount of money anyway.

No one commented on my previous post about my budget. I would absolutely love some feedback, if anyone is out there!

New Budget

I just re-did my budget. This year, I haven't really been living by a budget. I had just decided to put all of my extra money into my car loan. This has dropped to under $9000 now and I'm very happy. However, recent events have caused me to re-evaluate and realise the importance of saving whilst I pay down debt. So here it is!

My take home pay is $1600 a fortnight. This is after tax, super and rent has been taken out. So I have $1600 to do with whatever I want. This is what I plan to do:

Mortgage Repayment - $180

Mandatory Car Repayment - $170

Spending - $300

Treats - $75

Internet and Phone - $60 (considerably over-budgeting here, just to be safe)

Home Deposit Fund - $100

Gift Fund - $15

Travel Fund - $75

Furniture Fund - $50

Car Fund - $60 (for insurance, rego and any repairs)

Emergency Fund - $50

Vacuum Cleaner Fund - $15

Extra Car Loan Repayments - $450

So there it is! Not only am I managing to pay a significant amount off my car loan, I am also able to save toward the things that I want for the future and for emergencies.

What does everyone think? Advice would definitely be appreciated!

Lest We Forget

Yesterday was ANZAC Day here in Australia. It is, without a doubt, the most important day on the Australian calendar. It commemorates the landing of Australian and New Zealand troops at Gallipoli during WWI. It is a day of remembrance as well as celebration.

Myself and two girlfriends got a hotel in the city and spent the weekend there. I had a great time, but spent a lot of money. I didn't necessarily budget for this weekend but I didn't use any savings or my credit cards, so I don't feel guilty about it. I had a good time and I will have those memories for a long time to come.

Lest We Forget.

Relearning what I already knew...

Meg gave me some tough love the other day! And I am thankful for it!

She was basically telling me what I already knew, but sometimes you just need to be told for the one thousandth time!

So instead of putting all of my money into my car loan and thus leaving myself vulnerable, without an emergency fund, I will be doing half and half.

So not only will I be paying off my car a lot quicker, but I will be able to save up a good cushion as well!

Yay!

Where's the Love?

With no advice forthcoming from my post yesterday, I must continue on!

I have started tracking my finances again, well, as of three days ago. I am interested to find out how much I spend of each pay packet. I think it'll help me with my saving allocation.

So yesterday when I went shopping, I was extremely mindful of how I spent. Now I don't spend in a frivolous manner, but I haven't been overly careful about it lately. So yesterday, I was. And I didn't spend too much. So good for me.

This post just took a very boring turn. Please someone comment!

Update

It has been a while since I have updated.

Unfortunately, at the end of March, my grandfather passed away. It was a devastating time for my entire family and I not yet over it, as can be expected. I miss him a lot.

From a financial perspective (the whole point of this blog), it was quite pricey. I had to fly home and then drove back and forth between my parents house and my grandparents house (about a five hour round trip) a number of times. So flights, petrol and all the other little things really added up.

As I have been putting all of my extra money onto my car loan, I didn't have any money sitting in the bank in the form of an EF. So I had to use my credit card. I paid it off a week and a half later when I got paid next without accruing any interest but still, I'm not sure if it's a particularly good way to live. In fact, I know it's not.

But I am just so desperate to pay my car off that I have forgone all other saving. Can anyone offer some sage advice? I really need it right now!

Great Weekend!

I was all set to blog about my great weekend that had very little spending. My older brother is going away for work for six months so my entire family was down to farewell him. I was going to blog that I hadn't spent a lot of money because my parents paid for most things.

But I forgot one fairly large expenditure.

I bought the entire family dinner on Friday night. I was glad to do it and it made me feel quite grown up. However, we are a family of six, so it was a bit pricey. But it was a one off and there is not point in having any money if you can't enjoy it and treat the people you love.

I also put another $300 onto my car loan. I am almost under $10 000! Can't wait!

Extreme Measures

What a busy week!

On Tuesday, I called up to get a pay out figure for my car, which is my only source of debt (I have an investment property, but don't count that as it's jointly held, so if I made extra payments, I'd be disadvantaging myself). I was expecting it to be around the $10 000 mark.

$13 482.

I was devastated. I honestly did not think it would be that much money.

So I have decided to take some extreme measures. I emptied out all of my bank accounts ($2500) and paid that onto the car, which should bring my balance to $10 982.

I am now determined to get rid of that debt by September! And I think it is definitely doable. I already had some commitments this weekend that will be a little pricey, but after those, I am really going to watch my spending. I need food and fuel, that is it. There are plenty of free or very cheap things I can do for entertainment, so I must get on it! Sometimes it will be hard and I'm sure I'll stumble and spend/waste my money, but I am really determined to get rid of this debt!

So begins this journey!

My Tastes are Changing

I am a huge fan of Meg's blog The World of Wealth. Every so often, when I am feeling unmotivated about finances, I will trawl through her archives, reading old posts that both teach and inspire me. This week was one of those unmotivated weeks. I just read her post 'Clothes: Loads of Cheap Stuff vs Few Quality Pieces.'

It got me thinking about my own tastes. I graduated from university in December, something that finally made me feel like an adult. I think when you're at uni, even if you are 21 or 22, you're still a bit of a teenager at heart. Often you're living away from home, you're living amongst your peers and friends and a lot of the time, you're not studying, you're just having fun. As a result, you tend to dress like a regular young person does. Jeans and a t-shirt is often the 'uniform'. You were short, revealing clothing when you head for a night out, partly because that's what everyone else is doing.

However, I recently started my first full time job. I wear a uniform to work, so I didn't have to worry about dressing appropriately for an office environment. However, I am now beginning to feel like a fully-fledged adult and I find my taste is developing along with that. I am no longer satisfied with having a lot of cheap clothes. Instead, I now have an eye for high quality, conservative yet attractive clothing. And this tends to cost a bit more.

I have worked into my budget a clothing allowance of sorts. I need to start to build my wardrobe so that I no longer dress like a teenager. I also am required to socialise with colleagues on a regular basis, so I need to ensure I have smart casual attire that is appropriate to wear around my boss. So by allocating this money into a clothes account each time I get paid, I can save up for good quality clothing. I may not be able to buy as much or as often, but I think after some smart shopping, I will develop a good, solid wardrobe that will only need slight updating every so often.

Thanks again for the inspiration Meg!

I finally have an EF!

Though I understand how important an Emergency Fund (EF) is, I have never actually had one. So yesterday, I transferred $1500 into a separate ING account and named it "Emergency Fund".

Though this has basically depleted my savings, at least I now have a back up if something happens. I will contribute a small amount (between $20-$50) each fortnight and let it slowly build up. All the while, I will continue saving to pay off my car. Eventually, I would like my EF to at or around $10 000, but for now, I will build it up slowly while I pay off my car.

The plan was to pay off my car and then save up for a home deposit. I am wondering now, however, should I wait until my EF is fully funded at the desired $10 000 before buying? This seems like a good idea, as it will give me a back up if something were to go wrong. Gosh, I am never going to be able to afford a house!

Any thoughts?

I'm Back

I am back from my business trip and I am absolutely exhausted! The good news is, I made money off of this trip! Who would have thought.

I am off to bed but will update tomorrow! Is anyone even out there??

Off on Business!

I'm off on business tomorrow. Just a short, three hour drive from where I live to the city that I lived in last year. I will drive down with my boss and check into the hotel where I believe a very nice room will be waiting for me. Then a friend of mine is going to come and pick me up and then he is cooking me dinner. Very nice.

Friday I have an all day meeting and then I drive home.

Technically, this trip isn't costing me anything as it is all paid for by my work. However, this is my first big meeting since starting my new job so I went out and bought a new handbag. It doubles as a laptop bag/briefcase as well, so it looks very professional and is very handy. It cost me eighty dollars but worth every penny. Not only can I used it for work, but now, when I fly somewhere, I can just take this one bag, rather than take a handbag and my laptop bag.

I'll post once I return! Hoping someone out there is reading this...

Housing Dilemma

As I mentioned in my last post, I have recently started my first full-time job. This means my income has gone up around $20 000 per year. So I now have a lot more money.

I went to a mortgage advisor in the middle of January, to establish what I could and could not afford in regards to buying a house. They basically told me that if I saved the 5% deposit (which would take me approximately another six months), I would be able to purchase a place worth around $285 000. This would involve saving $850 a fortnight and then, once I'd purchased the house, paying $850 on my mortgage per fortnight.

This was doable. Just.

Basically, if I budgeted right down to the last dollar (whilst living very, very frugally), I would have been able to afford this. However, it would have meant that if anything happened, any type of emergency, even just an increase in interest rates, I would be stuck. I did not want to put myself in such a situation.

I decided that I would instead focus on paying off my car, as once that was done, I would have an extra $170 a fortnight, and this could be my wriggle room. So that is the focus at the moment. I am putting around $500 away into a high interest account and when that reaches the set amount, I will pay my car off.

Am I doing the right thing? I know that it is good to get into the property market and it is good to get in early, but I just don't think it's a good idea to be that tightly constrained, especially at my age. I obviously want to live my life a little as well.

What frustrates me, however, is that I earn a pretty good salary. It is in fact, better than almost anyone else my age that I know, significantly better. And yet I still can't afford a house? Has anyone else experienced this? Or am I missing something? Is it more affordable than I think it is?

I'm Finally Back!

After spending a month at my new job, I think I'm finally settled in and am ready to get back into blogging!

I haven't had a good month with money, but I have been adjusting to my new life and have had to purchase a fair few things to set myself up properly. I also had to pay $1200 to get my car fixed. Glad I did though, it looks great!

So I'm back! More to follow in the next couple of days!

Good News

I went to the bank on Friday and got some good news. After another six months of me saving, they will lend me a little under $300 000. I was only looking to spend around $275 000 so this is great news to me!

I think it'll be good for me to spend the next six months scrimping and saving, exploring the area and doing my research. I can't wait to have a home to live in!

Please Sir, Can I Have a Loan?

Tomorrow morning I am going to the bank to see how much they would be willing to lend me to buy a house. I don't have high hopes. All of the online calculators I have done have come up lacking. Oh well, until I hear it from them, I will try to stay positive. Fingers crossed!

New Job

Tomorrow I start my first full time job! I'm a mixture of excitement and nervousness. Here's hoping I'm not completely useless!

What To Do?

Completely out of the blue, I have been approached by my sister's boyfriend (who I trust and like a lot) about investing in property with him. At this stage, he cannot afford to buy a property on his own, probably not even halves. But he knows I am thinking of buying again and wanted to get in on the action.

I don't know if this is a wise move and I certainly don't want to take advantage of him. Would it be fair to go in with him and then for me to live in the property? How does that all work?

I'm not too sure what to do, but I'm excited about his interest in it all. I love converting people!

Back to the Drawing Board

I was all set to find an apartment to rent with my brother. Unfortunately, yesterday he changed his mind. He is being deployed with the Navy in March so doesn't think there is enough time to get it all done, as he will be at sea training a lot over the next two months. I'm pretty disappointed as I wanted to get out of communal living.

So, it's back to the drawing board. The amount of rent I would need to pay to live alone in a decent place is a bit too high for my liking. However, if I were paying that or even more than that off a mortgage, I would be happy to do it. So, I'm thinking of buying. But I need to figure out if I can afford it, so it's back to the drawing board!

Wish me luck!

All Grown Up

Tomorrow is my last day at home. On Tuesday, I will drive down to my new city and begin apartment hunting. I have a place to stay for as long as I need (company accommodation), but it is communal, dorm style so I don't want to stay there. Yes, it's a great way to save money, but I have been doing it for four years and need a break!

I will then start work on January, 11. I am a little nervous, this is my first, full-time job after spending my time at uni. I'm sure I'll be fine, but there are definitely nerves there.

I am hoping my pay rise will come in this week and I can begin to pay off my car in earnest!

Happy New Year!

Happy New Year everyone!

I ended 2009 on a bit of a sour note, one that will effect my financial standing a little bit. Yesterday I was reversing my car, looking over my right shoulder at a power pole, making sure I didn't hit it. As I was looking over my right shoulder, I didn't see the tree behind me and alas, hit it. The damage is pretty bad and it looks like I will have to get my entire boot replaced. An unpainted boot costs $759 and then I have to get it painted and installed. Needless to say, my emergency fund will soon be depleted.

I am not particularly happy about it. I had big plans and they'll now have to be put on hold in order for me to scrimp and save for the money to get it fixed. But from now on, I won't reverse my car without taking extra special care.