So we’ve had lots of discussions and I feel more focused about where we are headed and how to get there. It will take a few weeks for my tax money to arrive and when it does we have decided to put it in savings while we make up our mind exactly how to spend it. Rhitter posted a really helpful link? about Suze’s advice when you recieve a windfall, and several people suggested splitting the money. between the emergency fund and the debt and even the van.
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I think that debt fatigue is a real problem when people have large amounts to pay off. For quite a while it felt good to log into my account each payday and just transfer money towards debt payments. It would be in the account for a matter of minutes. Now the novelty of that has well and truly worn off. I wish I was transferring that money to savings! I guess I’m a bit tired of not doing anything or going anywhere. My only excitement is decluttering!

The only spending area left to cut back on is food, and I’m not going to eat poor quality food to save money. So we need to just keep poking along, keep ourselves motivated ( I’ve been reading all those debt free stories again)and get this done!

I’ve updated the debt totals. I’ve been making extra payments to GoMastercard for a while now and it’s down to $3810. It will definetely be paid off before the end of November.

Anyone else feeling a bit ‘debt fatigued’ at the moment?

We had a lovely two days away in the snowy moutains area,? even though it rained most of the time. Because of the rain we weren’t able to get outside and do as much walking as we would have liked to. But we did visit some lovely coffee shops, eat some great meals and went to the SnowyHydro which I really enjoyed. We would really like to go back and spend more time in the area.

It made me realise how long it is since we’ve had a real holiday, or just done things for the enjoyment of it. Frugality and debt reduction have changed my mindset, and it’s not always for the best. I have reached a point where I almost feel guilty spending money on anything. I think we need to start budgeting for some time away now and again.

?I did treat myself to a beautiful new woolen knitted coat. It was half price at $60. It’s a beautiful cable knit, fully lined and has a fur lined hood. I honestly can’t remember when I last bought any clothes, and this was just too good to pass up.

Then I found scarves on sale for only $5, marked down from $25! Now I love scarves and I wear them all the time so I bought two, a grey striped one and a dark brown tartan one.

It was lovely just to get away for a while, even though it was short. The TV in our room was broken and it was nice to be without it, conversation is easier when there is no TV to compete with. I have the rest of the week off work and hope to get back into some more work around the house and yard…. and eventually I’ll add up the numbers again.

?Back from a few long days on the road. I spent $24 on coffee & snacks while I was away. Exactly what I’m trying not to do! But my weak moments are when I’m tired and on the road, I grab a coffee and a chocolate. I’ll do better next time. Then we had takeout last night, I was just buggered when I got home… Chinese Food $42.40.? Of course there’s leftovers from it, but still…. I’ve spent money on food I didn’t plan for.

I have two full days of meeting again today and tomorrow. Sigh….? Well I guess at least I get free food for two days!

Last night I paid all the regular monthly payments, all the bills due for August and some extra off debt. A total of $1364 went towards debt reduction. The good thing is that I have three paydays in August, so my next two pay packets will be a HUGE snowflake payment on the GoMastercard.

The house next door sold this week. In the last 12 months both our neighbours have sold for a very similar price $360 – $364,000. The house across the road is still on the market after 12 months. They have $380,00 on it which is overpriced as it’s the smallest one of the four, and it has no views like the rest of us do.? Five years ago our house was valued at $383,000. But it needs a lot of work to get it ready to sell. We had been aiming at this time next year. I’d love to do it sooner but we still need to get this debt down a bit more before spending on the house.

We budgeted $50 a week to go to our emergency fund. As anon said in the comments, we do need to keep some in cash reserve with this job situation. $50 a week is not a huge amount but it will add up and we’ll still be able to throw a lot at the debt.

I started using YNAB (you need a budget) and I have to say I really like it so far.? I need to keep remembering to look at my YNAB budget not my bank balance, but after using it for 3 days I’m very happy with it. I’ll write a more detailed review later.

I had a moment of feeling really overwhelmed with it all yesterday. I just can’t believe that a few months before I started this blog we had over $10,000 in savings and a cc debt of about $1800. I had recently started my first new job in my new profession… life looked very rosy. Then DH got laid off and soon after I got a phone call that Dad was sick and our nightmare began. It’s just something I have to stop myself thinking about or it’ll undo me completely.

We all feel like our life is divided into before Dad got sick and after Dad got sick. One day when all this financial nightmare is over I might be ready to deal with it. But just at the minute I really can’t allow myself to feel those emotions…. I need to work, pay off debt and keep well.

Onwards and upwards!

I had the best sleep last night! ….. and why is that news, well I’m a terrible sleeper since all this began and generally wake up worrying in the wee hours of the morning, often only sleeping4 -5 hours most nights.

Last night was the best sleep I’ve had in a long time. I’m sure it’s because of doing this budget and getting motivated to have another burst of debt reduction. I woke up feeling full of energy instead of feeling tired and drained. We CAN do this!

Yesterday we checked out the pantry and the fridge and then wrote a shopping list. We went in bought ONLY what was on it:

• tomato sauce
• soap
• bread
• milk
• cornflakes
• potatos

Total: $17.13?

We’ve eaten simple, cheap meals for dinner the last few nights, mainly toast and tomatos, baked beans, eggs, soup and tonight we’re having a baked chicken dinner. I’m going to try and eat out the pantry this week and use up whats in the freezer.

I got paid for some books I sold so I sent $52 to the GoMastercard payment. It is going down by August 30th!!?

So it’s a beautiful crispy cold Saturday morning here. It was -6 (C) yesterday and there is a huge frost outside. The sun is shining already and it will turn into a lovely sunny winters day. My plans for today are to get my papers ready for my tax, sort through my superannuation papers and do some more de-cluttering. I’m going to try and sell some more stuff so I’d better get looking! We also will go and buy the LED light bulbs and get them in.

have a great weekend!

We have used a bit more electricity because it’s the middle of winter ( we had snow last week) but everyone has been good at turning lights off, shutting down computers and generally being much more careful. But we do have a big house, 4 adults and the house does have to be warmed for the 3 of us that get asthma.

I nearly passed out when I opened the bill to see $724.85!!!?

for US readers thats for 3 months or electricity.? I also need to add that this amount includes a discount of $106.30.

.. and as everyone in NSW knows, as from today our electricity prices will rise by another 18%

yep, thats 18% more on the next bill… unbelievable….

So obviously something has to be done. We are already using solar lamps at night and solar bedside lamps. I would love to put solar in but that will be $4-$5000+ that we will have to take from our debt payoff. Right now with everything so uncertain at work I just feel that I want to pour everything into the debt snowball and kill the debt ASAP. Buying solar power when we have this much debt just doesn’t sit right with me. What do you think?

We are going to buy LED lightbulbs, I have to admit I thought we were using? the most effective light bulbs, but DH informed me we need LED’s. So I’ve started pricing them on ebay and we’ll check out Bunnings on the weekend as well. I will also get some more solar lamps.

The people I really feel for with this electricity increase are those on pensions and lower incomes. There are people who just won’t be able to heat or light their homes. Some will end up sick and others will use candles for light, increasing the risk of housefires.

The good news is that after a very long 2 weeks of travel and bloody horrendous meetings where I’ve been grilled by dissatisfied workers and had completely unrealistic, unreasonable and un-do-able job expectations put to me… I have only today to work and then I’m on holidays!?

how much is your electricity bill, for how long & where do you live?
would you stop debt reduction to pay for solar power installation?
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