money. how we have turned it around..

First of all I was in to minds wether to post this or not, but I've decided to because it has helped us greatly.

This time last year my family were broke. To the point of struggling to put fuel in the car to get to work.. Wife and I decided something had to change.
We were sick of wondering if we could afford the nappies for our kids.
And quite simply we were living above our means. But were very unaware of it.

And the solution that has helped us.
DIRECT DEBIT....
That's it. Now magic. No sales pitch.
By simply paying the bills a bit each week we are no longer broke. Still don't have truck loads of cash but we can see the light.
We started of by working out how much we would need to pay weekly (or fortnightly or whatever your pay roster is) so that each bill was covered.
To start with we paid a little extra into things like water and electricity and now 12 months on were pretty much a full bill ahead. What makes it easier is you get that pay on time discount straight away. So you save again.
We got to a point were our water was $150 infront of the buffer. A quick call to the happy rep and a cheque was in the mail. Wife bought some nice clothes. Made her day.

Now there is a catch and one you'll have to watch for.
Some companies charge you a fee to pay direct debit. So this one is still a bit iffy and you personally do what your feel is best.
I personally have a credit card. I have 2 bills which charge to personally direct debit.. But they'll happily charge your card for free. But. I pay more than what's needed so that is compiling I'm the black and will help with our Jan trip as a bit of a back up.

Now the big bonus.
Christmas. Silly season. Wallet hurt time.
And the main reason why I'm posting this now because by simply putting $15 away each week we now have roughly $700 for gifts.

So in short I know that money is a huge stress. Well it was for us. But now were much better off by simply being smart and chipping away instead of drowning.

Anyway if your still reading.
Cheers and have a happy holiday season

Well done Kallen. Great to see you happier and getting ontop of your money woes mate. Great work

Thanks for posting this. Everything that you say is true for every one of us I would think. There is a proven increase in cases of depression and even suicides at this so called happy time of every year, contributed to by peoply wondering how the hell they are going to get through the festive season. Weather or on you want to use the potential solution offered, the post is in itself a timly and very useful reminder. Thanks Kallen.

Well done Kallen. Got to be a great feeling to be back in control. Congrats mate. And have a merry Christmas.

Well done Kallen. It's seems your pretty chuffed with yourself here, and rightly, so...

Yep well done, putting money by for future bills is what we (well my wife really) have always done. Only way to go. That plus ‘living within our means’ & avoiding the use of credit (except for a mortgage). At our stage of life with retirement age not far off although not rich, we are now in a comfortable position because of this. I remember when we were both young & working full time as nurses, with a new baby, paying a mortgage & thinking we were lucky if we could afford the luxury of a take-away pizza once a month. Wasn’t unusual then. Things changed & todays young folk have grown up being fooled by big business into thinking they can have whatever they want....now.

Congrats on working it out before it was too late & you lost all that you valued.
Put half your $700 in your travel fund. ;)

mate i like your thinking, i did this for a few years after i got divorced as money was tighter than she was and i struggled for a while to make ends meet so i did exactly the same. glad to hear you are managing a little better mate, enjoy your rewards.

Really good stuff Kallen. I remember one or two posts a long while back when things were a struggle. Now to be in such a sensible place is so good to hear! Well done mate, both you and the Mrs should be proud of yourselves. Good for us all to have a think about savings.

Thanks guys. I didnt intent for this thread to glot, sorry if it has to anyone.
It's purely an option if someone is struggling. It makes things like Christmas a lot easier.

And cuppa. I'd love to. Lol. But it's just one thing that this sort planning can do.
$15 bucks ain't much these days. A few coffees a week you miss. Big whop.
But to have nearly a grand in a year stashed makes those big get aways possible.
If only we did this a few years again the meet in the middle probably would have happened for us.

One other thing I might add.
Weekly Shopping is something we of late have changed.
We now have the option of online shopping down here.
Again might not work in everyone's situation but our catalogues come Wednesday, the whole weeks meal plan is done up Wednesday night and based around the specials, and the ordered and collected the next day.
Prior to this our shopping averaged $250-300 a week. Now that we do online we manage to keep it below $250..
We don't starve. My wife is cooking some of the best meals yet.
Ain't doing much for my waist line that's for sure lol but it is remarkably easy.

Anyway.
Cuppa I do plan on doing another fund once we roll a few loans together. It will be a trip fund. Unfortunately due to a few missed payments over 12 months ago the banks black marked us.
So fingers crossed 2015 will be better again, who knows. We might make the cape in 2016...

Good stuff Kallen.
About 14 years ago i changed from weekly pay to monthly pay and really struggled to budget properly.
Over time I changed all my bills to monthly direct debit and pay a little more than what I estimate they should be and now are ahead on all bills.
Definitely the best way to go.

well done mate worksfor us and where able to do as well as you
good advice mate never goes astray

This is the second time I have heard of doing that this week, never knew about it before! Certainly a good budgeting trick good on you mate for sharing.

Good on you Kallen, great turn around mate.

Naomi and I struggled for a long time, still do to be honest. About 10 years ago though we were back against the wall and going down fast without any kind of budget on a monthly salary and living month to month and failing.

We sat down one night and got all our bills out, everything that was predictable. Electricity, gas, water,phone, rates, insurance, rego, etc. We added each of these up for the 12 months prior and "Annualised" the expense. We then devided that number by 12 and every month on pay day that amount goes into another account via direct debit. That's our Bills Account and generally ensures no surprises. If I was paid fortnightly I would devide that annual number by 26 and do the same thing. Without this setup I'd have gone under years ago.

Keep up the great work mate.

I have a mate who called those Budget buster people and reckon it was the best thing they ever did.
His situation was pretty bad to the point where the bank was saying to sell the house, you can't afford it anymore.
Now 4 yrs later, is well in front on the mortgage and just bought a boat.
It was actually quite scary, when he told me he has to sell the house.

Even though they are quite financially secure now, they still live by the same budget plan they started 4 yrs ago.
Their biggest saving was refinancing the home loan to a much much more competitive rate.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by MEGOMONSTER

I have a mate who called those Budget buster people and reckon it was the best thing they ever did.
His situation was pretty bad to the point where the bank was saying to sell the house, you can't afford it anymore.
Now 4 yrs later, is well in front on the mortgage and just bought a boat.
It was actually quite scary, when he told me he has to sell the house.

Even though they are quite financially secure now, they still live by the same budget plan they started 4 yrs ago.
Their biggest saving was refinancing the home loan to a much much more competitive rate.

---

Yes I have a friend that went to "My Budget" about 3 years ago, desperate and broke. They were down at my place last weekend in their new car and planning a trip to Tassie over Christmas. We had a good chat about MyBudget and they showed me how it works online. They love it, they have no regrets and can't imagine not using them long term. It has changed their lives for the better. The cost is very small and they highly recommend it.

It's about organising your life. It works.

Bloody hell mate, 250-300 a week on food, I spit the dummy if we spend over 180 :) .......... yep, direct debit is definitely the way to go, been doing it for the last 20 years. Never liked paying bills in lump sums.

I've always lived by one moto. If I don't have the cash I don't buy it. Simple. (Home loans excluded obviously) Never owned a credit card and never will.

I find with direct debit you usually pay 10-15% more then if you pay annually so I use similar system to what Darren mentioned. Works for me but obviously not for everyone:)

...and yeah 250-300 for food a week is just crazy...shop smarter and enjoy the savings:)

In one of the few people I know who doesn't have a credit card, i don't believe in spending what you don't have.

I don't have a mortgage either, although that's due to losing almost everything in a nasty divorce over 10 years ago. Now property is simply to expensive.

J

I'm a fully qualified tradesman but on a real low income. All of my mates earn a lot more than me.
One mate in particular can earn my weekly salary in one night shift.
BUT... I have a house, a patrol, a commodore (yeah wow! Lol), and a motorbike. I eat at restaurants a lot and waste a lot of money on alcohol. I also buy really top quality expensive food and will always pay the extra for tassie grown or aussie made.
Obviously I don't own my house and there's always more things I want to buy for the trol. My mortgage takes more than a third of my weekly wage.
But I've done all this by myself with no budget, no plans, no third party help. Don't buy what ya can't afford but more importantly be happy and content with what you do have. If you're happy, well then you have a happy life.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by biggqwesty

First of all I was in to minds wether to post this or not, but I've decided to because it has helped us greatly.

This time last year my family were broke. To the point of struggling to put fuel in the car to get to work.. Wife and I decided something had to change.
We were sick of wondering if we could afford the nappies for our kids.
And quite simply we were living above our means. But were very unaware of it.

And the solution that has helped us.
DIRECT DEBIT....
That's it. Now magic. No sales pitch.
By simply paying the bills a bit each week we are no longer broke. Still don't have truck loads of cash but we can see the light.
We started of by working out how much we would need to pay weekly (or fortnightly or whatever your pay roster is) so that each bill was covered.
To start with we paid a little extra into things like water and electricity and now 12 months on were pretty much a full bill ahead. What makes it easier is you get that pay on time discount straight away. So you save again.
We got to a point were our water was $150 infront of the buffer. A quick call to the happy rep and a cheque was in the mail. Wife bought some nice clothes. Made her day.

Now there is a catch and one you'll have to watch for.
Some companies charge you a fee to pay direct debit. So this one is still a bit iffy and you personally do what your feel is best.
I personally have a credit card. I have 2 bills which charge to personally direct debit.. But they'll happily charge your card for free. But. I pay more than what's needed so that is compiling I'm the black and will help with our Jan trip as a bit of a back up.

Now the big bonus.
Christmas. Silly season. Wallet hurt time.
And the main reason why I'm posting this now because by simply putting $15 away each week we now have roughly $700 for gifts.

So in short I know that money is a huge stress. Well it was for us. But now were much better off by simply being smart and chipping away instead of drowning.

Anyway if your still reading.
Cheers and have a happy holiday season

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Is the missus working or at home?

Who knows down the track you may even get a GU lol
Well done Kallen so happy for you buddy,
Less fights too Id imagine

Quote:

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Originally Posted by megatexture

Is the missus working or at home?

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Full time stay at home mum mate. So were on a average $70 thou a year.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by threedogs

Who knows down the track you may even get a GU lol
Well done Kallen so happy for you buddy,
Less fights too Id imagine

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Bahahahahahahahaha. Yea right.
Might end up with 2 patrols though. That's on the cards for sure.

good on you mate..always better when it is a team thing..no doubt everything around you seems better also...good to see you experiencing this time of year in a much better state of mind...cheers

Not sure if you have access to an Aldi food store but if you do buying the same range of food should be a lot cheaper there. Probably save at least $50 on a $250 buy. Different brands but its all pretty good stuff.

What Kallen has hit on is a basic life skill to be able to manage a household budget. Well done mate for getting there.
What is frustrating is that this essential life skill is not taught in schools. I was fortunate to have a dad who was a senior business leader and taught me the skill of running a budget early in life but not everyone has access to that other than through their schools. In this day and age personal financial confidence should be a mandatory skill taught at schools to prepare young adults for what the traps, pitfalls and sharks that lurk in the world today, just waiting to drain their finances.
Rant over! LOL

Sent from my iPhone using Forum Runner

Whereas on the other hand I use trigonometry daily lol

Good post Drew, unfortunately my parents were terrible with money and destined to be broke forever. I learned nothing about financial management at home and ended up blowing most of my money most weeks. Had a great time though!!!

I 100% agree with you that school should teach basic household budgeting. TeChng me how to annualized my expenses early in life would have help immensely.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by MudRunnerTD

Good post Drew, unfortunately my parents were terrible with money and destined to be broke forever. I learned nothing about financial management at home and ended up blowing most of my money most weeks. Had a great time though!!!

I 100% agree with you that school should teach basic household budgeting. TeChng me how to annualized my expenses early in life would have help immensely.

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X2. And that's part why were tight atm.
We blow $150 a week just on a loan.
Soon to have that rolled into house loan and seeing as we pay extra into the house well get an extra $150 a week.
Watch out Australian. You'll see a lot more of us then.