My Garden - Reducing Expenses

I am renting at the moment and will be moving within 2 months so I have no real garden. Instead I have a few things in pots on my front porch. I decided on a chilli plant because I love chilli's but don't buy them a lot since I am the only one who eats them.

I have 3 strawberry plants, 5 lettuce plants, aloe vera and some garlic. I plan on growing a few more things that I use regularly. Obviously 3 strawberry plants doesn't get me far, but it has ben exciting for my children to water them, watch them grow then eat their own fresh strawberries.

With this tiny pot plant garden I am not exactly reducing expense but I am learning a little so when I do have the space to grow plants again, I will know more and hopefully be able to keep them alive.

I have a bunch of heirloom seeds to plant when I have my own place again, even though that probably won't be for a year or 2.

Overall, my pot plant garden has cost me more than it has saved me right now, it is a long term project and provided I can keep these plants alive, they will eventually pay for themselves.

Do you have a garden?

The time I almost took out a payday loan...

Recently I found myself in a situation where I was seriously considering a pay day loan. I am so anti debt, but I just had no idea how I was going to make ends meet.

I had been robbed, so all my clothes, shoes, jewellery, skincare, make-up, even my underwear was gone.

I had been paying for all my daughters speech therapy despite my ex promising to pay, so was heavily out of pocket there because I continued the appointments expecting payment from him. (He has since back paid me.)

I had no fridge so was spending more on food as I had to drive to the shops and there was limited options for what we could eat and store. It is summer here, so nothing lasts long if not in the fridge.

I had moved suddenly and most of my savings went on the move for the bond, advanced rent, cleaning products, moving my stuff etc.

So I was in a situation where I had no cashand no idea how I was going to pay for things my daughters and I needed. I knew my insurance would come through soon to cover the robbery and as I was contemplating what to do I walked past one of the many pay day loan places in my area. There seems to be one of these places on every corner. Knowing my insurance money was coming, I was tempted to go in.

It was the first time I saw it could really be useful. I have had relatives use pay day loans, some good, some bad. If you know you can pay it asap I don’t think it is too bad, but if you use it as a financial crutch or get stuck and can’t pay it instantly, it will cripple you.

I stood there in the street, thinking about it. What were my options really? Not pay rent and be unable to rent elsewhere later? Not buy food and try to stretch the rice I had in the cupboard for the next week? I could get a pay day loan just until my insurance pays then I would be fine.

I decided against it and instead swallowed my pride and called my parents for help. I am fortunate they are in a position to help me, so I didn’t need the loan, but when I discussed this with a friend of mine, she said she had been in a similar situation (right down to the robbery) and she had to use the loan. Thankfully she was able to pay it quickly, but it did get her through as she had no one she could get help from.

This is the first time I have truly seen how a pay day loan could be beneficial. I never expected to be in a situation where I would truly consider using one, but there I was. I can tell you now, from my recent experiences I am a whole lot less judgemental on the whole pay day loan thing. I still don’t think people should depend on them, but I know I could have gotten cash right then when I needed it and it was a need.

Have you ever been in a situation where you just do not know where you will get money from that you need to buy food/pay rent/petrol etc.?

Life coaching - I tried it

Recently I had a session with a life coach. I had to fill out a survey, then they compiled the results and sent me a 23 page document on them and some generalisations then I had a 1 hour skype chat with them. It was interesting, but I am not sure I would use the services of a life coach again.

We went over everything happening n my life changes I want to make etc but since I was already on a path of change, it felt like I was just getting reassured.

Interestingly enough I have been pondering the changes I want to make quite a bit lately and I am finally getting a proper picture of where I want my life to head. There are a few main area I want to address:

Family: I feel I don't spend enough quality time with my daughters. I have been fairly stressed out lately and next year I will hardly see them as they will both be at school and on weekends they will be with their dad.

Love: I am going through a messy divorce at the moment. The divorce was definitely the right decision and I do not regret it at all. I would like to remarry eventually so the life coach suggested writing a soul mate list. I have had friends do this before and many of them have found exactly what they were looking for. I have started dating a little and I know what I want, but what I want is very different to what most men expect.

I won't share exactly what I want, but even discussions with women make it clear my ideals are very different to most women's ideals and what is expected today. I've only really shared tidbits with some close friends and most thought I was crazy. I felt comfortable enough to share my full set of ideals with one guy and he thought it sounded "awesome" but he and I think very similarly so I was not surprised by that. Most men I met I do not think I could have what I want with. Cryptic, I know. I may share more in another post.

Career: I love what I do - blogging, writing, speaking etc. But have felt for a while the direction I am heading is not necessarily the right one for me. I have longed to do psychology since I was a teen (I was going to do psychology and law). With my kids in school next year, if I get a routine down pat I might enrol for 2nd semester. I have also applied for a job which came up and have been working out the redesign of my websites and my business plan.

Health/looks: I am healthier than I have been in a long time. I've dropped to a size 10 and now I want to tone up more. I am doing pole dancing and it is amazing for my strength and fitness. As well as health, I want to change some of my looks a little. I want to remove my wisdom teeth and possibly get veneers fitted, although my research on it has me a little wary of them. I have been working on my ideal wardrobe and looking into laser hair removal (although I am blonde, so it is not really worth it yet.)

Since I got robbed last month, I am looking at using some of the money from that to cover what I would like in terms of looks and health.

Housing: I hate where I live and am looking at moving in a month or so. Where to I am not sure right now, but I do know I will eventually leave Sydney. I will own a house again (my ex is going to pay me out for our house) and I know what sort of house I want. This year I will be plugging away at saving so I can buy what I want. In the mean time I am going to use Feng Shui to improve my home with the first step being clear all clutter. I am giving away a heap of stuff, selling others and only keeping my bare necessities.

Friends: This is a tough one for me. I am a very social person and love to talk. I have noticed though that my choice in friends is not so good. The friends I have where I live tend to tear me down and make fun of me for trying to improve my life. I dress better now, am slimmer and take pride in my appearance everywhere I go. I don't mean to be up myself, but I want to educate myself more, I read non fiction and expand my mind with intelligent conversations. They are more interested in gossip and discussing people. I have great friends online who are on par or above me, it just seems in my real life this is lacking and is something I need to address.

So in a nutshell, that is what was discussed and those are the changes I need to make. I will post my resolutions/goals for 2013 based on this soon.

Single parenting and moving house

My life has taken a dramatic turn recently. I separated from my husband back in March and we will be getting divorced next year. You have to be separated for 12 months in Australia before you can apply for a divorce, then you have to wait for a court day and you are officially divorce 30 days after that date when the judge approves the divorce. Up until last week we were still living together for financial reasons. Things were relatively amicable, but one of us needed to move.

I found a house the day I decided that I had to move NOW! So I was extremely grateful for that. It has been an interesting experience, the move. My old house will eventually be sold and I will get my portion of the equity, but for now my child support pays my part of the mortgage and I am now renting as well.

It has been interesting reviewing my finances. I rang my internet provider to move to my new address and not only did I get $10 a month off, but they also a mobile number/plan thrown in with $450 worth of calls/text and 1.5g of data. I was planning on checking out my options this week and changing my number anyway, so this was perfect. It will actually save me $50 a month! (My current mobile expense + the $10 saving of internet.) This particular bundle was not on the website when I was looking, but as we were going over everything they put it together for me. Also they waived the connection fees etc. I was not on a plan, but have been with them for 2 years and they have been fantastic.

Many of the expenses I had with owning a home will be gone soon such as land rates, house insurance (I still have contents) and since my new home does not have gas, I no longer have a separate bill for that. While gas hot water and cooking is cheaper, I do not plan on cooking much at the moment and I may end up moving at the end of summer.

My electricity provider offered me a discount because I am staying with them as well and the connection fee was halved.

All up, it is looking like I will save a fair amount of money now I have moved out. I still have other expenses such as speech therapy, rent, petrol, car expenses etc that will use up most of my budget. I used to think I could not afford to live elsewhere while still owning the home, but it looks like I will manage.