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.