Becoming a "grown up"

“And the day came when the risk to remain tight in a bud was more painful than the risk it took to blossom.”~ Anais Nin

To blossom - each person's definition of blossoming would be slightly different but I suppose for most of us it'd be about becoming bright, unfurling to our full potential. Getting organised to finally get private health insurance might not exactly be what Anais Nin meant by blossoming, but for me, it's just another small step on my path to becoming a grown up.

For me, this past year has been all about these 'small' steps - which when you add them all up, become a wonderful strong journey. Small steps like getting health insurance, paying off a credit card, holding yoga workshops, furthering my study, getting a pay rise at work... which all add up to getting it together, aka Growing Up. For me, these things are all about me blossoming - opening up.

We often think that to be a success we need to achieve and get this and that and do amazing astounding things.. and in doing so we can forget about the day to day things that actually are pretty darn shiny.

Take a moment to think about your year so far and be excited peeps - be excited about the seemingly ordinary, the seemingly 'everyday' - which when you add them up, become the most important life of all: YOUR life : )

Enjoy x

All aboard the m$ney train

So there were a few breathless moments when I thought I'd be made redundant the other week. Thinking ahead of times of stress and having no cushioning under you is a horrible feeling.. anyone in debt knows that feeling of tightness in the chest! So it's with great happiness I found out that no, I wasn't getting made redundant - and in fact I had such a good performance review that I got a nice litle pay rise : )

First thing I did when some extra $$ landed in my bank account was to pay off the American Excess credit card. DONE! No more debt on that card!

Next thing I did was to build up my $1000 emergency fund. DONE! It's a good feeling to have some money in there for a rainy day. Cushioning, it's nice to know you.

Next thing I did was pay a weeks extra rent. And then I put some extra payments onto my loan - which is now under $10 000. DONE!

I thought about paying extra on my rent, to know that I have payments taken care of.. but then I realised it would be silly of me to pay money into my landlords bank account and let him earn interest on it, when I could keep it in my ING account, earn interest on it myself, and put that towards my 3-6 months living expenses.

The Dave Ramsey baby steps to getting out of debt that are relevant to me right now are:
1. Save an emergency fund of $1000
2. List your debts from smallest to largest and make the minimum payments on all but the smallest - throw everything you can at this smallest one, get rid of it, then move onto the next smallest one, putting all the payments from debt 1 that you have now paid off onto debt 2... thus creating a Snowball Effect, getting bigger and bigger with each payment.
3. Up the emergency fund to contain 3-6 months of living expenses.

(The remaining 4 of the steps talk about retirement, education, home, investing)

So right now I'm onto Step 2, and only have the one loan repayment now. Minimum loan repayment is $275 each month. What is my goal when I'm out of debt? HOME baby!! My own home. There is no inheritance coming my way, it's all going to be done on my own, so I'm looking at saving 6 months worth of living expenses and then looking at options. Interest rates at the moment are FAB so if a market looked like it does today, I'd go in 100% borrow rate. How the hell are you meant to get into the market otherwise? But seriously, that day is years away and in the meantime it's about getting things on track.

It's good to have paid off that pesky credit card tho and see the end in sight.. it might still be a while off but it's visible : )

"The art is not in making money, but in keeping it."

Isn't the above proverb great? But while I can enjoy it, I sitll feel a bit sick in the tummy to think that a redundancy could happen at any time. However, I have to keep reminding myself that life only throws at you what you can handle. Seriously.

And today, right now, I have a job. A job I love.

In preparation for 'rainy days' though, a question for you, dear frugal readers:
Currently my debt stands at 10 713 (personal loan) and 1300 (on a work credit card). In this undertain economic time, would you be inclined to continue paying off all you can on the work credit card, and paying minimum repayments on the personal loan?
OR
Would you start throwing all those extra payments onto advance rent payments, and paying just the minimum on both credit card and personal loan repayments?

Reader, I am a massive fan of Dave Ramsey. I love his idea of debt snowballing and the baby steps. With this in mind, hit me with your thoughts.

x

PS - and YES I know how awesome all of this will be when I don't have debt to pay off anymore, but can be ahead in rent with no worries ;)

Blogs I'm reading today: Budgets Are Sexy, How I Save Money, Wise Bread, Dave Ramsey

Money can be Seksi

Yes, money is HOT when you've got it, or when you have enough of it to go around. When you don't have enough of it, money is definitely, oh so most definitely NOT seksi.

Let me say that both times I've been made redundant from jobs in the past, things have turned out so much better than expected. The universe works in wonderful ways.

But still, it hits you hard when life throws you a curve ball.

Me, I have a job I really really enjoy, and a job that I am good at. Actually, a job I'm great at. I'm great at my job and I love my job. But it's a shaky economic time and who knows how long I'll have a job for. My friend at work got made redundant today and it's horrible. But what's more horrible is that I am not in a financially fit position so should something (like a redundancy) come up, the not so fab experience would be made even worse.

Life happens, and let's face it - crap happens, things fall apart. But imagine being in a position to bounce back with the least amount of drama and negativity possible.

I have received a bit of $$ lately (rental bond money, tax return, Rudd dollars) and it's been so damn hard and painful but I've put it directly onto my debts. Gosh - imagine not having debt!! So it's been a good wakeup call for me to start getting real with my money.

Because seriously, I've been banging on about how I'm in debt for a good few years now and I've not really committed to getting OUT of it. I've still eaten out A LOT. I've still bought new clothes. And while I have not bought any big ticket items, I've wasted the same amount of money by purchasing magazines, and books, and way too many little instant gratification items.

It's like an addiction! And I know all about that.. since stopping drinking I've just been eating up a storm like there's no tomorrow. Tired? No worries, I get takeaway. Can't decided what to have? No worries, I'll buy up a fridge full of food so I can change my mind.. and then let it all go off and get takeaway again. So there's alcohol, there's food, and there's money (or rather, buying).

So it's time to commit properly right now. Here we go.

Dave Ramsey, I heart you!

It's Raining, It's Pouring

Autumn has well and truly arrived here in Sydney! Not only has daylight savings ended, which means the dark nights are descending earlier, but the weather has that nice chill to it, and right now, it's pouring outside.

I've got to say, I don't mind this time of year - there's none of that exhausting heat, there's not too many bugs around (or hayfever) and there's generally not too much rain.

This time of year also sees me pull out my big lovely pots again and head to the kitchen to make yummy soups, pastas, bakes, risottos and such. Tonight's menu: pumpkin, mushroom & spinach risotto. And anyone that knows me will know that despite living on my own for a while over the past 10 years, and cooking for myself in share houses during that time as well, I struggle to cook for one. Absolutely.

How to cook for 1
Good news? Now that my friends are starting to have babies, I am dropping over ready made, home cooked meals for them : ) So not strictly cooking for 1, but definitely not allowing all that food to go to waste!

I've also tee'd up a deal with a girlfriend at work where one week I'll bring lunch in for both of us on the Monday, the next week it's her turn. That means at least one healthy, homemade meal for lunch each week (and for a take-out loving girl like myself, this is a good deal!). We've been going for a couple weeks and each week there has been at least 4 of us going in this so it's working out well.

Anyway, I'm off now to start the cooking, and look forward to having leftovers tomorrow : )
Happy Easter friends xx

PS - made it (FINALLY) to yoga today, a vinyasa class at Body Mind Life. LOVED IT!

Hoorah for mini breaks!

Well I must say I did get pretty excited to have a big fat yoga payment come through into my bank account, but how quickly reality sets in! Ok, so I did get the flyscreens from Hire-A-Hubby (boy, who would have thought those things are so expensive?!) and I'm really glad they're being installed on Wednesday because I'm sitting here itching and scratching from all the bug bits I've got!).

And I got a bunch of photo frames, which I spent a couple of hours last night block mounting and then hanging up on the wall. They're actually not that expensive at all (god bless Ikea) but what is expensive is my yoga teacher insurance. So there goes the rest of my $$$. Ahhh it was fun being rich for a day!

Ok, I should tell you as well that today I'm getting a massage, hoorah! I love to get massages - and they're not always a luxury. Take today for example - well rather, last night. I didn't sleep well at all as everytime I turned I woke up with a sore neck & shoulder. Perhaps it's sitting at a desk all day looooong hunched over a computer in a stressful job. Perhaps it's then going to twist and bend for many hours each week in yoga. Me, I think the yoga cancels out the tight hunching... but regardless, I often get a horrible tight neck and shoulders.

I have actually twice been in the situation where I physically could not turn my neck at all it was just locked so tight! Ouch!

Maybe it's just my 'thing' - but so be it. And off to the masseur I go. Not a bad deal... although i have been known to cry on the massage table because I have such big knots it HURTS when she gets them out. ;( Anyway, so today it's off to get a massage and if you're in Sydney and need a good one - head to the Buddah Bar in Newtown (Amal and Elaine are the best).

I've spent the last couple of days resting and being 'housey' - dropping off a meal (complete with dessert) for my gorgeous friend who has a new baby, cooking myself some meals, unpacking those final few boxes from the move... and tomorrow mum + sis + niece are coming up to see my new home. I've watched the "Twilight" movie 3 times (I definitely need to go to the dvd store, but hey, R Patz is YUM so it's not all bad), and I've got a day ahead of not much - it sounds perfect.

Oh, and I've also caught up with some different friends for coffee and breakky. It's been a wonderful mini-break and I can't wait to enjoy the final 2 days.

Much love,
me x

ps - why is it I struggle getting up during the work week but come holidays, I'm up bright & cheery before 8 every day?!

Mmmm Hot Cross Buns

I love Easter time, for lots of reasons. A predominant one is because it's the season for hot cross buns, yum!! And another, because it means holidays! Here I am, day 1 of a 5 day break, and I set my alarm for 9am - instead, I'm up bright and early and WIDE AWAKE at 8am.

I have trouble getting out of bed at 8:30 on a normal 'school day' - so why is it that I'm up so early today? Go figure, I must be excited or something haha! Or maybe it's the fact I know I'll be having afternoon naps every day till next tuesday, woohoo! Whatever the reason, I'm running with it : )

I'm glad I did get up though, because I checked my bank balance and my yoga pay has come through - and hoorah, I have a little more cash than I thought I would be getting, which means a couple of things:
a) I can get a massage and get out the soreness in my neck at long last!
b) I can afford to fully purchase the new jeans (see earlier post) that I need to get for winter
c) I can get the handyman in no problemo!
d) I can get the photo frames happening and sorted this very weekend
e) and I can enjoy the long weekend with a few coffees out, hoorah!

Great start to the day : )

So now I'm off to enjoy it all - and get started on the BB Awakening too. Big weekend!
Oh, and btw - have you seen this FABULOUS site? I Found Yr Camera. I love it!

Happy Easter dear friends xx

Me Want! Me Want! Me Want!

Yes, this is all about wants! There's a lot floating around inside my head so I'm putting it down here to create some more space 'up there'. hehee!

A Hubby - well, a hire-a-hubby to be exact. None of this permanent biz, just someone to come by, fix things and leave. Ha!
Fly screens for my new home! (seriously, why aren't there any?!)
Washing Machine - that fits into my little washing machine spot. And that doesn't leak.
New showerhead! That has really strong pressure. Is that a showerhead thing? Or water pressue? Hmm...
Photo frames - ikea, here I come.
Hair Straightner - Hair cut & Colour
Massage
Physio
PT sessions
New jeans
New winter clothes & a pair of shoes

But mostly, I want to be debt free.
Let me tell you, a lot of this stuff is actually pretty necessary - well, stuff that I deem necessary. It's interesting putting it down in writing though because you see just what you don't really need. The bolded items are the ones I'm getting first up, the rest will have to wait a little.

Here we go! x

New Home, New Season

I love that just as Autumn has settled firmly into the atmosphere, so it is that I have settled firmly into my lovely new home.

I love autumn - it's a close 2nd to Spring. The temperature is dropping, there aren't so many bugs around, hayfever is non-existant... it's a wonderful transition time - and change is my middle name right now.

I spend the whole of Saturday moving - I got the keys to my new house that morning, and moved in immediately. It was a good move - all things considered - I was really organised, everything was in boxes, the removalists were fabulous. Then they left and I was surrounded by a mountain of boxes, so what did I do? I did what any new home-occupier in their right mind should do... I went shopping. ha!

I had a ball, I purchased some practical goodies - food and flowers : ) Then it was time for the real work to kick in, and I must say I was surprised at how far I've come in just a couple of days. I have worked my butt off and I'm very smiley at how things are coming along. I even made it to a yoga class yesterday afternoon (after much debating) to stretch out this sore and tired body of mine - and how grateful that I didn't listen to my head and stay home. Sometimes I really just need to get out of my own way! I also have today off work (phew) to settle some more.

The only thing not so fabulous in this whole move is the $$$ going out. Double rent, connection fees, removalists, ugh! But it's probably a good thing in that it will make me tighten my belts - let's see how little it is possible to live on this month!

Till next time with photos,
shiny xx

Change of Scenery

I'm moving to a new home! I'm really really excited - within 24 hours the decision was made AND a new home was found. I'm moving back out on my own (share housing, pah!) and it's a beautiful one bedroom studio in a gorgeous old federation house. Big windows, wooden floorboards, and checkboard tiles in the kitchen and bathroom - bliss : )

Living alone in Sydney obviously means there's lots of $$$ going out in rent, but it's worth it. I am so in love with my new home and sign the lease today. Hoorah!

It's amazing to realise that while I've been working on paying off my debt and doing quite well at it lately, there is much more I can be doing. I will be tightening the reigns on the budget and am actually looking forward to it. And with no flatmates to eat your food and never replace the toilet paper, I am sure there will be some expenses that actually come down ;)

Hope yr smiling x

Smoking Chair

I'm at home sick again today. Still got the fever thing, the belly thing, the dizzy thing. Dr said it's a bacterial thing. All these things... but I'm getting lots of sleep, which is good. I really can't even bring myself to watch tv - despite getting out the entire season 2 of Six Feet Under.

I've not really eaten much today either, just some toast for breakky. So I'm a bit peckish - but the thought of cooking, and actually - the thought of eating, doesn't really sit too well with me. I was in shock when I dropped by my bday gathering last night (delivered my cupcakes!) and couldn't even be tempted to nibble on all the party food. That is how I know I'm really sick - me, knocking back sugar?? LOL.

Spending some time now reading some personal finance blogs to help me stay on the track to get out of debt. Feeling good that I've consolidated the debt and now it's just the one easy payment to knock off each month. That feels SO GOOD - seriously, I started getting anxiety attacks thinking of all the debt I was in. So future - here I come! I actually am excited about pay day now, seeing those debt figures come down (see the funky debt counters I've added to the blog too?).

One way I could surely save some dosh is to stop eating out, but I guess it's one battle at a time. At least I'm eating dinner most nights now - which was a very different story 6 months ago. So baby steps. And speaking of 6 months, come this Friday it'll be 6 months I've not drunk, god willing. I'm so happy and more than that, I'm nowhere near as depressed as I've been prior to now. So no drinking, I'll stay with it.

I was feeling a bit of a pity party attack this afternoon, I mean seriously - it's day 4 today that I'm home sick and I just want someone to come and take care of me ; ) But I'm now sitting by the back door in our elegantly titled 'smoking chair', and feeling that breeze come through and watching the sun over the back yard, well, the pity party is moving on. If I have to be sick, I suppose it couldn't be in nicer surroundings : )

Today I'm grateful for:
* I have a job
* I have a beautiful home
* my family
* books books books
* study retreats coming up
* the net!

Baking.. Throwing.. Baking

So tonight I'm off to a first birthday celebration and I'm on babycakes cupcake duty. I bought 3 packets (not quite up to the making from scratch stage yet) and got up bright and early to start baking. So homely! But alas, one batch done and only when I got to baking the 2nd batch did I realise I forgot to add the oil - hence my babycakes were more like baby ROCKS.
Throw!

Batch 2 is in the oven now, let's see how they go (fingers crossed!)

I've been a bit sick lately with a funky virus going round - it comes in waves, I feel good and then like death warmed up. Part of the reason I was also up so early this morning was because I wanted to go to Body Mind Life for a Power Yoga class - but it's just not going to happen, I feel my belly is going to explode. Blah. Not pretty, this funky sickness.

Felt pretty average yesterday too (came home sick from work on friday, when it all started) but did manage to pick up my special order from Phoenix Rising Books - my Voice of Knowledge audio cd's. Don Miguel Ruiz is someone you have to check out if you're not across him. We heard some of this CD in my recent yoga training and it was phenomenal - I just had to track it down! Whilst in the store, I also came across a fab collection of Pema Chodron cd's (a 3 set!) for meditation. Lucky I hadn't transferred $$ into my debit card account or I would have also purchased What About Me, the dvd. All good purchases - not so good for the debt payoff plan though.

However, I've commenced my mentoring course in yoga and need to up my personal practice, and timewise, meditation looks like the only practice I can fully commit to daily. So the cd's are great : )

Now.. off to ice some cupcakes. Much love x

I'm a DOER! Not a GUNNA!

haha I just had to laugh out loud as I've just seen a hilarious Burgen bread ad on tv.. all about DOING and not "I'm gunna do this when.." or "I'm gunna do that when...". And looking at my finances, I've got to say I'm pleased that I'm starting to DO!

I've consolidated my debts, including my recent yoga teacher training costs, and I'm feeling good and positive about paying them off. My emergency fund (of $1000 in savings) is now in place. This pay (mid-month) will see me pay off my amex bill completely. So then it's the full on ONE loan repayment, woohoo! I am already a couple of months ahead in my loan repayment (I set it low so I could always pay it, with the intention of paying it off much quicker than I need to) and it's such a good feeling to see movement happening.

You'd have to be living under the rock under the rock under a rock if you haven't gotten stressed out or caught up in the 'global economic crisis' going on right now - but to be honest, I don't have savings, I don't have a huge retirement fund, I don't have stocks or what nots.. so for me, it's not affecting me right now. I am steadily focussing on getting rid of my debt and saving a good emergency fund, and then eventually looking at purchasing my own home.

People (yes, me included) live in such debt in and in our consumer society it's not a bad thing - if anything, it's encouraged. So I want to start living a little differently and feel that immense pressure in my chest that happens when I think about my debt LIFT!

So here's to being a do-er, not a gunna. Wohooo!

Growling Belly

I am so hungry tonight that my belly is growling and I feel sick. Sweet flatmate is cooking up a yummy dinner so I can smell it wafting through the house and I'm crying for it!

Last night I asked sweet flatmate if she could cook for me all the time. She said yes. Haha how I wish that were true! I need to get out of my cooking funk and start trying to be healthy again. At least this week at work I've made my lunch each day (salads mostly, a plain old tuna sandwich today!) - that's a start.

Oh - and it really helps with the budget! My oh my, does it ever! It's good to have something to save for or something to pay off to inspire you to get the budget under control!

My loan (to consolidate debt) got approved this morning - but then she called back and said they'll have to put it through the process again as they didn't take into consideration that I still have a HECS debt (less than a couple grand.. but still need to note). Ugh. So I'll find out tomorrow morning if it's still all good to go - fingers crossed. It would make life so much easier having just one payment instead of all these ones here and there each pay.

Good news though - savings have increased again this pay day. Hoorah!

Off to dinner now, hugs x

Well, fancy that!

So here I am talking about debt, and then today I get my payslip and there is a nice bonus there! We get bonuses when we have chart success (in my job) so hooray for timing!

It's so hard to put every penny of the bonus onto debt, but can you just imagine how good it will feel when there is no more debt and all those bonuses are mine? Soon! SOON!!! : )

Study and such

At Lululemon last year we all wrote our upcoming resolutions/goals for 2009 on Christmas balls, and hung them from the beautiful tree in the store. I had a couple of fun things spring to mind that touched all areas of my life. Obviously I want to be debt free, I want yoga to play more of a part in my life this year, I want to have lots of savings, I want to have LOVE in my life, I want PEACE in my life, I want to run a 5k.. amongst others secret goals ;)

And then BAM, just this week, it happened.

I got accepted into Baron Baptiste's Teacher Training this February! It's a week long intense intensive - yes, intense intensive! 7 days of early morning starts, study, meditation, asana practice, group discussions, adjustment workshops, more asana and a late night finish - and I tell you what, I can't wait!

So while I was absolutely over the moon that one of my resolutions/goals was coming to fruition, it kind of threw me in a spin. I was planning on travelling overseas this year but now that money will be going to this training instead. And while I'm more than happy for that to happen (as this training has international qualifications), it's completely shaken up my debt payoff plan. As in, completely.

So I just made a phone call to my bank to see if I can re-finance my loan and consolidate all my debt into the one payment. For the last 9 months I've paid all my repayments with them on time and I'm actually quite a few payments ahead of where I need to be right now, so fingers crossed! They said I should hear back this afternoon or possibly tomorrow morning. Pls keep your fingers crossed for me.

Sometimes I feel like a juggler with all these payments coming out left, right and centre - and while I've gotten a good handle on my repayments, adding the yoga study tuition to it has taken my breath away ever so slightly. While it is something I can definitely do and succeed at and pay off within a good time frame, it would be A LOT easier to have all my debt in the one spot.

Fingers crossed : )

Gratitude

[I bought myself a little chrissy present this year - the gorgeous pendant above]

+ I have a wonderful home with a great backyard
+ Early morning watering of the garden in the sunshine
+ Wonderful new friends who are just a phone call away
+ Making headway on my $$ in 2008 so christmas wasn't too much of a stress this year!
+ Quiet days in the office (which make cleaning easy!)
+ Sunshine
+ Abby
+ Books, books, books and more books!
+ Baking pink cupcakes

One week - 14 meals - just $50 = POSSIBLE!

Yep - it is! There was a great feature in the Good Living liftout of the Sydney Morning Herald a few weeks ago and I just came across it again, and thought it worth a posting.

A new year means new budgets and new inspiration so here's to home cooked meals and getting frugal! Being frugal is the new black, didn't you know? ;)

(* Click on the images to make them bigger)

2009 Debt Diet

My financial goals for 2008 were to pay off my Mastercard Credit Card, and have $1000 in savings in the bank. Points – 0.

Hmmm didn’t exactly achieve those goals but in an odd twist of events I’ve actually paid heaps off my personal loan – probably the same amount that I would have paid on the credit card, so I’m still very happy.

2008 Update:

Personal Loan: 4949 (now 999.87)

Credit Card: 3250 (now 2900)

Mum: 4000 (as is)

Car Share: 1000 (paid off!!)

Amex CC: 1000

Savings: 100

Actually, it all looks pretty sad when you look at it like that.. I've only managed to pay off $5000 or so. But hey, it's better than creating more debt so I'll take it! The year also involved moving house (always an expensive task) and the usual mayhem of trying to create a budget, but I suppose this is the first time I've really laid it out for all to see (including myself, in black and white) so it's a starting point!

Here are my Financial Goals for 2009:
Personal Loan: to be paid off (starting at 999.87)
Credit Card: to be paid off (starting at 2900)
Mum: to be down to 2000 (starting at 4000)
Amex CC: to be paid off (starting at 1000)
Savings: to have 2000 in my account (starting at 100)

That means putting $1000 a month towards debt/savings - which is definitely do-able. Here we go!

You don't need $$$ to have FUN

Ohhh look at this magical site I came across! And just in time for the holidays around this expensive, present buying time of the year : )

Go on, check it out : )