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?