Low Income Lady

Christmas week

2009-12-25T21:22:00.003+11:00

Well, it's been a good Christmas Day, I gave my son the last of his presents yesterday, a Titanic plastic model and he has already built most of it. I might paint it for him as he doesn't like painting them. I gave him his presents a bit early as he is going to stay with his Dad in about a week's time for January.

My son went over a friend's house last Saturday and got very sunburnt. He didn't wear a top and was out in the hottest part of the day. We saw the doctor and she prescribed sigmacort cream and that helped a lot. I also bought a spray that helped as well...

My Dad and I went to the bank and put his accounts on my internet banking. It makes things a lot easier...

I sold a book for 9.95 through fishpond.com.au and posted it off yesterday. I sold it on behalf of the op shop so I will give the money to them when I get it in a couple of weeks time...

I made a cake today. We had our Christmas lunch a couple of days ago as my Dad gets sick every few days and we knew he would be sick today. The sickness is like dementia but then he comes completely normal again. This has been happening for 12 years now since 1997 and my Mum has been caring for him all that time...

The mortgage is down to 105 148...

Merry Christmas!

2009-12-25T09:02:00.000+11:00

Money Saving Expert

2009-12-16T22:20:00.002+11:00

I read a great UK forum called Money Saving Expert. Even though I am an Aussie, the basic principles hold true and there are some interesting diaries on there. I only read the mortgage-free wannabe section and you could spend hours!

Can you tell I'm obsessed with numbers?

2009-12-13T20:18:00.000+11:00

Here is my progress and projected progress for the month of December 2009

Mortgage payments
4th - 33.72
8th - 29.00
8th - 3.67
10th - 339.00
11th - 8.99
12th - 3.46
13th - 6.09

Projected Payments

15th - 66.66
23rd - 521.60
24th - 339

The interest cycle runs from the 25th to the 24th of the next month so that's what I have worked it out to.

According to my interest calculator software that will make the balance 104 675.77 and the interest will be 515.29 which will make the balance 105 191.06 for the New Year...

Bills

2009-12-04T18:33:00.000+11:00

I got paid by a survey company plus I added an extra few dollars so the balance is now 105995.

We got our quarterly electricity bill for $240.98. The winter bill was $345 so this one is a lot better! We put in a solar hot water system about a year ago so we are using half the electricity we were before. Bills keep going up though because the price of electricity went up 20% in July and will keep going up especially if Australia adopts an emissions trading scheme...

Also the phone bill came, we called more people last month so that is up a bit too. The bill is for $47.50 when it is usually about $33...

I installed VOIP last week as I will need cheap international calls soon but I am having technical issues, when the VOIP router is plugged in, the internet stops working. The technical support people are getting back to me soon, hopefully with a solution...

I had to buy a new letterbox as the old one was cheap and the post was flimsy and doesn't stand up to a kick that the kids gave it last week. So that was $100...

I worked out when we could pay off the mortgage and it's now November 2014 as I will lose some income soon as my son will live with his father, although without my son's expenses I will probably wind up ahead...

And that's it for now!

Letterbox vandalism

2009-11-30T15:08:00.002+11:00

Some idiot decided to kick our letterbox the other day, and now when the postman delivered the mail, the box broke off the stand...

Now we have to buy a new letterbox...

The mortgage is now 106 030.

And I am tired of having to deal with letterboxes, we should have kept the old one, even though it was rusting...

Bits and Bobs

2009-11-23T13:06:00.002+11:00

I had a bit of a scare on Saturday night. I found a lump on my breast. Scary...well I saw the doctor this morning and it's just a skin infection so I am on antibiotics...

I have made a couple of micro payments to the mortgage of $5.91 and $7.95 the last couple of days...

We get paid on Thursday and $740 should be going to the mortgage. Unfortunately the interest goes on in a couple of days which will be $510.12 according to my calculator...so the balance doesn't go down very much...

Can you believe it is almost Christmas? I have a couple of presents for my son to get and other than that, everything has been paid for...

My son is doing swimming lessons through his school at the moment...he is doing well as far as I can make out...

We have to do all these exercises to try and help the toe walking...his calf muscles are very tight so I have to massage them then about three different types of exercises all designed to stretch that muscle...if we don't do this he will have to have surgery when he is older...

Overseas Travel

2009-11-17T06:19:00.004+11:00

I looked up my credit card statement online this morning and a couple of transactions are not on there which totaled over $100 so I will pay them next month. I was pleased as it means I can pay more to the mortgage!

In March next year, my DS will be going overseas to visit his Dad's family. I will not be going and I am going to miss him a lot. My DS is a great person and it will feel like a big part of me will be ripped out... I had to let him go and visit his family and he will actually be living there for 10 months of each year for the next 2 or 3 years as far as I know. I am going to install VOIP so I can ring him for 10 cents untimed instead of paying huge amounts to Telstra...

For months now my ex and I have been organising for DS to be able to go overseas, we even had to go to court and we had to go before a judge to get the necessary paperwork that we needed...

I feel very conflicted and have been for a while now and its a bit hard to explain why. I am an only child and I was quite spoilt growing up...I am not really a nurturing, mothering type person and I tend to be on the selfish side although I am a lot better than I used to be...so for DS to go out of my care when he has been in my care for the past 10 years makes me feel guilty because in a way I am looking forward to him going but I am dreading it at the same time. I get upset looking at him and listening to him because I know really soon he won't be there. When he is away during the school holidays, the first time he went I was really lonely and found it very difficult but last school holidays, I enjoyed the time to myself and found it harder (when he came back) getting back into routine...

I think I will end here as I am getting emotional and the day is about to start and I need to have a good start to the day, I am taking DS to get an xray of his feet as he tends to toe walk and needs to have things checked out...

Life happens and it's expensive!

2009-11-10T16:35:00.003+11:00

We have had so many expenses lately! I had just finished paying for most of DS presents for Christmas, them all these expenses cropped up at once. Last week we had the mobile vet to the house for the dog's yearly vaccination - that was $80...

Now this Thursday we are having the house inspected for termites - that's $120 gone...

My floor lamp broke the other day, the one I use to do craft. It's an ordinary lamp with a daylight bulb in it and the stand won't screw into the base anymore...so today I ordered a proper craft lamp - that cost $220, I am paying it off over 5 months so that eases the pain somewhat...

I have eaten out a lot because I have been out a lot lately, I've spent at least $100 on that the last month...really unavoidable because of all these trips to Sydney I had to make to do important paperwork...

Oh and I have taken so many taxis lately it's not funny, that's at least another $100, again that was to do with the trips to Sydney and getting home late and the bus being unavailable...

I had to buy the Australia Post stamp collection for Dad as he gets that every year and has done so since 1990 - $99.95... stop releasing so many stamps Auspost!!

I also had to buy my son lace up shoes as he is a toe walker and the velcro ones aren't supportive enough for his feet...

And coming up later this month, I have to pay for the council rates - thats $234 and after that the electricity bill is due, that will be approximately $300...

This has meant I haven't been able to put extra to the mortgage last fortnight but I will be able to put $1100 this Thursday...and also I have put the mortgage payment to the minimum so we pay $339 a fortnight instead of $510...

The mortgage balance at the moment is 107 427.11, I estimate by the end of the year it should be under 105 000... I did have a goal of getting it below 100 000 by the end of the year but that hasn't happened because life happens and life is expensive at times...

Monty Python

2009-10-30T23:15:00.001+11:00

Excuse my Monty Python indulgence... I love this show!

3 and a half columns down

2009-10-23T09:10:00.001+11:00

Here is another picture of my mortgage in $100 rectangles. I am filling them in as my mortgage is paid off...

School starts again...

2009-10-19T09:08:00.001+11:00

Well, the school holidays are finished and DS is back at school. He now has the Bumblebee transformer and he has taken that with him to school...

I bought a few things a couple of days ago:

1) toner for my laser printer - apparently I only have 28 pages left of toner so I better get a new one...

2) preordered transformers 2 DVD - I promised my son I would buy this...

3) 40 DMC floss for my cross stitch. I worked out how many extra I would need for my cross stitch as I restarted it on different fabric. I need 18 black threads! That's 144 metres!

4) Renew money magazine...I did this and got 13 magazines for the price of 11...I really enjoy this magazine...

5) Edward VII biography - I really enjoy reading about royalty and I found this book for $13 instead of $22 so I grabbed it...

6) I have also bought DS's Christmas presents, about 7 PS2 games plus I still have to buy a plastic ship model that he can build... Hopefully that's it for now!

On the 2nd November I will buy the 2009 stamp collection for Dad from the Post Office - that's about 80-90 dollars...plus I will buy him a couple of books...and I'm not sure what Mum wants...we will see...

Couple of weeks to myself

2009-10-07T22:21:00.002+11:00

I have a couple of weeks to myself these school holidays as my DS is going to vacation care and being looked after by a relative. It's a nice break and a chance to get used to being by myself. There is a chance that my DS will be going overseas to visit family for a few months and I won't be able to go due to my disability, so I am trying to get used to being by myself. Last school holidays the same thing happened and I found it very difficult and I was very lonely...but this time is much easier...

The mortgage is down to 108 697.64, I might be able to put $10 or so on it tomorrow. Next week I will be able to put about $650 extra to the mortgage as well as our regular payment of $510. Oh and interest rates went up yesterday unexpectedly by 0.25%. This will bring our interest rate up from 5.23% to 5.48%. It will be the first of many interest rate increases. It is good we have paid so much extra to the mortgage!

I did some figuring and we should be under 100 000 by February 2010 and we will be between 75 000 and 80 000 by the end of 2010. We should have this thing paid off by the end of 2013, hopefully by July. There are always unexpected expenses though...we have been having a little too much takeaway lately so we will cut back on that for a while...

My Dad came home yesterday

2009-09-26T10:24:00.001+10:00

My Dad came home last night from hospital. He is much better, a little sore but otherwise ok...

Update on Dad

2009-09-21T15:19:00.000+10:00

I visited Dad today, he is much better and he is no longer having oxygen but still gets puffed easily. More fluid is on his lungs and he is not sure if they will drain it again...he had a catscan today so we will find out the results of that. I asked a nurse today about him, she knew what was going on so I didn't need to speak to a doctor. He did have a slight heart attack but they are not worried about that as tests on his heart have been fine. They are just treating the pneumonia. They gave him antibiotics while I was there. He is in the cardiac ward because there are no beds available in the general ward, apparently 30% of patients in the cardiac ward are just general patients because of the bed shortages so Dad might be moved if a bed becomes available... I had a good visit with Dad today, he has put on a bit of weight because they are feeding him too much. Plus he can have coffee and chocolate now, so he has chocolate in the drawer and had a cup of coffee this morning. I am recharging some batteries for a portable radio at the moment which we will take in tomorrow. We paid for the TV for a week which ends on Thursday but he said he will just have the radio instead which will save a bit of money! Well a lot actually as the TV is $40.90 a week which is a bit of a rip off as there aren't many channels and we have at home 50+ channels in 2 rooms for $80 a month! So he is doing much better and maybe he will be home soon! I hope so as I miss him. It's amazing how much you find you love someone when something like this happens!

Hospital

2009-09-20T19:52:00.002+10:00

My Dad was admitted to hospital with pneumonia last Wednesday so we have been visiting him every day. He had a litre of fluid taken from his lungs 3 nights ago and he is on oxygen...

We are saving up a bigger emergency fund. We will save $2500 instead of $1000... we were really spooked by this. We only put $510 to the mortgage as a result...

I've got to go, my son wants to use the computer...

Weight Loss

2009-09-09T14:30:00.002+10:00

I've lost 3 and a half kilos in the last week and a half. I started with the Lite n Easy full week program and now I am just having the dinner's and doing my breakfast and lunches and snacks myself. I am so pleased. It is so fun getting on the scales and seeing more progress instead of it staying the same all the time. I weigh in pounds because I was sick of seeing kilos and the numbers go down quicker with pounds so it feels like I am making more progress...

I am feeling a lot better today... I have slept this morning. I should be able to do the weekly shopping tomorrow...I'll have a friend help me if I can convince him I am not sick anymore as he doesn't want to catch whatever I've got...:)

Sick

2009-09-08T11:03:00.000+10:00

I've been sick with a virus and I have virtually slept for the last 3 days and I am still not feeling the best... Anyway, on a financial note, I have a few bits and pieces coming to me. I have a $20 supermarket gift voucher, a $30 cheque came yesterday from rewardscentral.com.au, $25 is being deposited in my account from pureprofile and $22.45 is being deposited in my account from a book I sold on fishpond. So in total, that's $97.45 which isn't bad...

So many expenses - just enough money...and barriers broken!

2009-09-02T10:40:00.002+10:00

We have so many expenses to pay tomorrow - the phone bill, the electricity bill, Credit card, build our savings account back up because we have had to use a bit of it and after all is said and done, we will only be able to put $169 extra to the mortgage. When I am used to putting 500-600 dollars extra every fortnight, its a bit of a blow. Although the balance will be about 109 967 so we will have broken the 110 000 barrier which is quite an achievement.

Breaking that barrier makes me feel a bit better... the next barrier will be the 100 000, it's going to be great going to 5 figures!

Pictures from the past

2009-08-12T13:21:00.002+10:00

Here is a picture of me and my son a day or so after he was born. I look very tired, I remember it took me a couple of weeks to recover.

And here is a close up of my son. He is 9 years old now and getting more independent. A part of me yearns for those baby days back... I don't think I appreciated them at the time...

Mortgage Update

2009-08-06T12:19:00.002+10:00

It was payday today and I put an extra $595.90 to the mortgage. Plus the $510 minimum payment, which makes the new balance: $112 852.10

This means we have paid off 16.03%.

Spending, extra payments and podcasts...

2009-08-05T15:45:00.003+10:00

I got paid for a book I sold on Fishpond a couple of weeks ago so I transferred $12.14 to the mortgage. I will have to pay $6.50 to the op shop as it was one of their books I was selling (the rest was postage).

Tomorrow is payday and we will be making an extra payment of about $600. Also we are selling some stuff we don't want anymore next week and will be making an extra payment then as well.

I bought a skirt and a black top from Big W yesterday. Also a pair of headphones which were quite expensive but I am sick of buying cheap ones that keep breaking. I listen to the radio and podcasts a lot especially at night when my son watches kids channel on Austar...

The podcasts I listen to are Hamish and Andy which is an edited version of their radio show. They have edited out the songs and the ads and just left the good bits and they are very funny! I also listen to the Nightlife with Tony Delroy and Conversations with Richard Fidler from ABC local radio. The Nightlife starts at 10pm and is just too late for me and I really enjoy it. I must be getting older, I used to be able to stay up and listen to Tony's Challenge Quiz at midnight but I rarely do that now...

Not much to report

2009-08-01T12:47:00.002+10:00

Everything is going well. No extra payments lately. I paid the phone bill today which was $31.90. My son has bought a new transformers toy 'The Fallen' with his pocket money. He has already got Optimus Prime, Megatron, Starscream, Brawl, Frenzy and quite a few others...when you are a parent you learn things about stuff you would rather not know...DS can go on about these things for hours at a time...

I worked out this morning that so far this year we have paid 62% of our income to the mortgage...we are in voluntary mortgage stress... LOL... that's what happens when you don't drink, smoke or gamble or otherwise fritter your money away...

I also worked out that the mortgage balance should be about 104 500 by the end of the year...

I also worked out that I'm a figures nut ... hey I knew that already LOL

Massive payment

2009-07-25T11:39:00.002+10:00

I got the extra family supplement on Thursday so I paid an extra $1613.05 on the mortgage plus the $510 minimum payment (Total $2123.05) which makes the balance $113463.26. Interest goes on today which makes the final balance $113 970.14.

It feels good to get the mortgage so low. We now have $16554 in redraw which means that's how much extra we have paid to the mortgage since November last year...

Lukie - after a bath...

2009-07-20T12:30:00.003+10:00

Lukie has just had a shower. I got him to come to me and stay still by saying the word 'Sherryn'. He is looking expectantly in excitement because Sherryn used to look after him when he was really young and he loves her most of all... yes my dog is a traitor...