Making 2014 a year I Kick Butt!!

The end of 2012 and much of 2013 has been a write off for me. Stuff that happened in my personal life wiped me out and while I did keep going it was extremely difficult. Finally, at the end of June this year I was able to move to Canberra and start over. Not everything from those difficult times is over, in fact I have a long road ahead of me for it, but I am in a better place physically and emotionally now to get stuck back into my life and achieving my goals.

I have shared various goals and challenges on here before. I have changed so much since starting this blog and especially in the last 12 months, I thought it was time for an update.
(Edited on 9th July 2014 to reflect completed goals and some changes)

Goals For 2014
1.) 104 public speaking gigs. This equates to 2 speaking events a week, which I think is very doable. I already have a few booked in for next year and am looking at all my options. This includes speaking for other companies, not just for myself. Cancelled due to personal life changes.
2.) Publish 2 more books. I finished the manuscript on the first and expect it to be out mid to late next year. The second I am starting next month and expect it to be out at the end of the year. One book was paused as some personal life issues were sorted. The other is being published later this year.
3.) Buy a house. This is a big one for me. I am a single mum and the idea of having a mortgage all to myself is daunting. My lease finishes in December 2014. I am undecided if the house I buy will be for my daughters and I or if it will be a rental property. I want stability for my daughters and I, I want a house for us, but I also want to develop my income streams more and the tax system in Australia is geared more towards investors than home owners. I don't plan on doing this until the second half of 2014. Undecided about this now.
4.) Double my share portfolio. I don't have a huge share portfolio but I like the ones I have and want to diversify more. I am reinvesting the dividends I earn and will be investing more. I have been getting a better return on my shares than on having cash sit in my high interest saving account.
5.) Financial Blogger Conference 2014. This is my favourite conference and I couldn't attend in 2013, but I have set it as a goal for 2014. Unless I end up speaking at other conferences, it is likely to be my only overseas trip in 2014. I am attending.
6.) The Colour Run is coming to Canberra in February. It is a 5km run that I have been keen to do for a long time. This will be my first ever 'real' run.
7.) Set up the Life Skills Centre at Ainslie Village. I have big ideas on how to do this, great people involved with it and it will happen. At the moment it is simply a matter of funding and getting the building up to code. I had to stop volunteering at the Village so unfortunately was unable to follow this through.
8.) Outsource. I do a lot of things myself and while I do outsource things here and there, I have some things in mind I plan on outsourcing on a regular basis. I want to streamline what I do so I can focus on the things I like doing and leave the rest to someone else. I now have a few staff writers and outsource a lot more.
9.) CEO Sleepout. My aim is to raise $2,000 for the CEO Sleepout on June 19, 2014. The middle of winter in Canberra will see me freezing my butt off, but for a good cause. I raised over $2,000.
10.) Organise my life. I have so many pins on how to get organised and different areas of my life I want to organise, I just don't do it properly. I have great intentions which all fall by the wayside. I have had the luxury of wasting a lot of time in my life because I never really needed to be completely organised. Yes, my life would have run better if I was, but it wasn't a necessity. In order to achieve my goals, be able to outsource more and live the life I want I need to get organised. Much more organised.

Family Goals
1.) Be a better mother. This sounds stupid, written like that. This year I have not been the best mother I could have. I didn't read all the school notes. I didn't always do the home reader. I was stressed and didn't spend as much quality time with my kids as I would have liked. 2014 I will be attending all the school assemblies I can. They happen once a fortnight and go for less than 1hr. I will be more involved in the fundraising activities the school does, help out in the classroom, things like that. WIth both my daughters at school it will be easier as I won't be trying to squeeze everything I need to do into 2 days like I have been this year. I will have 5 days with them both at school giving me 30hours a week.
Along with being more involved in school, I will be taking better care of myself, my health, sleeping better and being more organised. By being the best I can be and taking care of myself I become a better mother.
I spend a lot more quality time with the kids, we have explored Canberra a fair bit, gone on a weekend away and made some family traditions. 
2.) Annual family holiday. March 2013 we went to Tasmania and saw all my family. In 2014 my kids are going to Fiji with their dad. I have no intention of competing with an overseas holiday. I do intend to pick a fun holiday and go. We will have a family holiday in September, but their dad has no access so they are not going to Fiji anymore.
3.) Finish our furniture. I have the paint and was going to redo some of our furniture, particularly my kids book shelf. I wanted to paint it white, then we all splatter colours on it and put our hand prints on there. It hasn't happened yet, but will in 2014.
4.) Create stability and routine. My kids have had so much instability in their short lives. We moved around a lot, including 2 interstate moves for my now 6 year old. They have both been to 2 schools and now we have settled in Canberra we are establishing routines and I am trying to create a sense of stability. We are in this house for at least 12 more months. We have an after school sport, are working on our morning routine and we have a few other regular weekly things we do. I will be working on establishing our roots and lifestyle more.
This has gone well, still room for improvement, but getting there.
5.) Family pet. This will most likely be fish as I had them as a kid, both my kids like fish and they won't cause any damage to the property. If I am lucky we will get chickens too. We had fish, they died.

Health Goals
I got to the clothing size I wanted, in fact I got below it. I feel great in many ways, but still mentally struggle with my body. I am not as toned as I would like. I have no desire to look muscular, I still prefer a curvier, softer, feminine figure over the muscular athletic figure. I know my body is not as firm as I would like.
1.) Run 4 times a week. I have bought myself a treadmill for Christmas. It was on my list all year, yet I never did it. I tried to get outside to run, but time without my kids is used up so many other ways and while running is great for my health, the time without kids was spent working, volunteering and cleaning. Exercise came to the bottom of my list of priorities. A treadmill enables me to exercise run at any time. I used my cross trainer a lot until my kids killed it, so I know I will use the treadmill.
Got a treadmill but am not consistently running 4 times a week.
2.) Commit to training. I have changed my dining room into my gym. I have a smart TV with a fitness app, I have the treadmill, a fit ball and various things plus a friend who writes my program. I have no excuses! I will be paying myself to train. That is, for every FULL training session I complete, not the half ones, I pay myself $2. Since I plan on training daily, that is $730. I could get a Burberry trench, a pair of Christian Louboutins or another designer item I lust after. I could go to China or knock somewhere off my bucket list with that.
Not quite up there with this one, but am better than I used to be.
3.) Create and stick to a proper eating plan. I don't diet, it's unrealistic and impractical. I eat well a lot of the time but I do get lazy. I menu plan for my children, but not as rigidly for myself. This ties in with my getting organised goal as well.
I have to set reminders in my phone to eat lately, so an eating plan has not worked well. My mind has been elsewhere.
4.) Run a marathon. This is an eventual goal and not one I expect to achieve in 2014. Since it is a goal of mine I put it here as a lot of 2014 will be training for that.
I need to train better for this.

These are my main goals and the areas of my life I will be focusing on. With all of them I will be seeking balance and happiness in my life and the lives of my daughters. What are your goals?

What are essential life skills?

Every week I volunteer at a homeless drop in centre. The building is huge, but only 3 rooms are used by the drop in centre. A fellow volunteer and I are aiming to get the rest of the building up to proper health code standards again so it can be a life skills centre.

It will need tens of thousands of dollars. Right now I have been nominated for an award that would see $20,000 donated to the charity who run the housing village the drop in centre is located in. This $20,000 would be a huge help. You can help by voting here (Kylie Ofiu) and/or liking this photo on Facebook. Thank you!

Now, for life skills we were thinking:
Vocational skills in hospitality such as cooking, barista, dish washing, cleaning and waiting tables.
Budgeting skills
Sewing
Cooking at home
Car maintenance
Simple repairs
Hygiene
Computer skills

There will also be a safe room for women, counselling, anger management, internet and phone services to assist in job hunting, answering emails and staying in contact with family.

What do you think are some basic life skills?

Save money on dental work

I have been getting a lot of dental work done lately. I left it too long, always thinking "I'll do it later", which resulted in more, expensive work needing to be done. On the upside I found an amazing dentist and have almost finished most of the work.

Dental work can get very expensive, but even more if left. It can be hard finding the money, but even harder when it is thousands instead of hundreds. So what can you do?

1.) Take care of your teeth. I know, it's basic, but are you taking proper care of your teeth? Brush twice a day, plus after any meals if you can. Brush thoroughly, floss and get regular dental check ups.
2.) Regular dental check ups so if you start to get a filling or have any issues, it is picked up quickly.
3.) Know what you need. For most people, you don't need to remove your wisdom teeth. So if they are not causing problems, leave them alone.
4.) Health insurance. I took out private health insurance last year for my daughters and I. It is brilliant, not only do I not have wait times for most things and I have peace of mind knowing if we needed treatment for anything, we'd be fine, but I have pretty much no gap on most things and the extensive work I have been getting done has pretty much been covered. The amount I pay a year I definitely utilise all the benefits and it is so worth it.
5.) Go sooner, rather than later. About 8 years ago I had issues with one of my teeth. I knew I needed a filling, but kept putting it off. Then it broke and I ended up with full root canal. After time, your tooth discolours and you need to get a crown or veneer. This happened to a front tooth. The root canal alone was over $800. Then recently it chipped, so I needed it cleaned out and refilled which was another $200 and I still need the crown which will be another $1786. (This is before my health insurance). had I gotten the tooth filled when I first noticed it would have been $150 for a filling. Instead it will cost me close to $3,000 in total.
6.) Shop around and find a good dentist. Prices vary, as does bedside manner, skills and patience. My dentist is great, has talked me out of full veneers, given cheaper options for things I want done, explained everything thoroughly and lets me know upfront what things will cost.

Do your kids a favour, get regular dental check ups for them. Teach them to take care of their teeth and if they have any dental issues, get it sorted while they are still on your policy if you have one.

How do you save on dental costs?

Keeping an Aspiration Journal

This year I started doing something a little differently to my usual vision boards and writing on my mirror. I started an aspiration journal. It was somewhere to keep my goals and dreams, write affirmations, my plan of action and record progress.

I put my personal mission statement at the front, followed by my personal values. I did this because I wanted everything in my aspiration journal to align with the life I was creating for myself that was true to me and my daughters.

I wrote my strengths on one page, areas to improve on another. I wrote what was on my vision board on another page.

I then wrote out my goals, starting them with affirmations I could read regularly. It worked well and I took it with me everywhere. When I was waiting in dr’s offices, in line or at school pick up, I would pull it out, read my goals and affirmations, write in there and focus on where my life was heading, how I was going and appreciate the changes I was making in my life to improve our future.

After I moved to Canberra I got lazy with it. I was now living where I wanted, work was going well and I felt pretty happy and content. I still feel happy and content, but I know my life journey is continuing and I won’t be content to just stay how I am.

On my recent trip to the USA I came across this notebook and fell in love with it immediately. It is my new aspirations journal. Because, I am Wonder Woman.

I know my goals and aspirations. I know where I want my life to be. I know I am happy with my life. I know the sort of person I am working on becoming and the life I want to have. I am blessed to have the choice and be in a position to work towards it all.

Since this is a new journal, I have decided to revisit my mission statement, my values and my vision board. I am starting over, with everything. Aligning all my desires, goals and dreams with my core values. During this process, it has been easier to decide which course of action I want to take in various areas of my life, which things I will eliminate from my life and how to build my dream life.

Do you know your values? Do you have a personal mission statement? Do you use vision boards, aspiration journals and things like that?

On a separate note, I've been featured in the following personal finance carnivals this week:

Fitnancials Lifestyle Carnival

Budget For Health Post Halloween Yakezie Blog Carnival 

Move for cheaper rent or stay where you are?

Today my real estate emailed asking if I intend to stay at the end of my lease and if so for how long. This prompted me to have a look at current rentals. When I moved in June there was a shortage, now there is an oversupply and rent prices are reflecting this.

I currently rent a 4 bedroom ensuite home. This is surplus to my needs but is all that was available to rent in the suburb I wanted. I'll be honest, each room gets used. There is my room, my daughters have a room each and have most of their lives then the fourth room is my office. I don't use it all the time, but it is set up as my office.

My lounge, I have a view of the mountains and love being able to work on the deck if I want too.

I could save at least $40 a week in rent if I chose to move to a similar size property or if I downsized to a 3 bedroom I could easily save $100 a week.

My plan is to buy in 12 months, so either way I will be renting, it's simply a matter of do I stay here or do I move.

Scenario 1 - Stay in current house
It won't cost me any extra because I am already living here, set up and paying rent. Nothing changes. However, I can ask for a reduction in rent and I can clear out my office to take in a boarder/uni student.

Scenario 2 - Move to similar size home
Costs of moving to similar size home add up quickly.
Often there is an overlap of rent, say 2 weeks. I need to supply bond for the new place which is not a cost really because I would be getting bond back on this but it is something I have to outlay. $2,670
Connection and reconnection of gas, electricity, internet: I usually get this waived but in case I didn't it would be a few hundred. Say $300.
Petrol to move everything, possible truck hire: Truck and petrol would be about $500, petrol and trailers $100 - $200?
Not to mention the stress, the extra take away food, cleaning products etc. Which can easily add another couple of hundred. Say $200
Total cost: $1,590 (using cars instead of a truck) but total outlay with bond is $3,370

Putting bond aside that is only $10 a week I would end up saving. Not worth it for the stress.

Scenario 3 - Downsize
I would have moving costs as in scenario 3 but rent overlap and bond would be $2,310, or less. Total cost of downsizing is $1,470 with a total outlay of $3,010.

I could potentially still save $72 a week by downsizing.

Other factors to consider
- Depending on where I move, I may need to drive to and from school. Currently we walk on days I am not volunteering at The Blue Door or don't have to be somewhere.
- My kids have moved 3 times in the past year, once interstate. It is really not fair to move them again.
- We have moved so often it almost averages out to be moving every 6 months in the lifespan of my children. They have not known stability. My 6 year old regularly talks about when we move again. Because we will, she knows we will. My aim when we moved here was to stay until I buy and when we buy I am not moving again.
- Postage. I have my Po Box set up but still get some mail delivered to the house. I have already changed my address 3 times in 12 months. I don't really want to go through that again.
- Time. It takes a lot of time to pack everything, clean everything, move it all, unpack and settle in somewhere else.
- Pushing the friendship. Seriously, I have moved the most out of the whole family. I am always helped by family members but I don't want to ask them to move me again knowing I will be moving AGAIN in 12 months.
- 12 months is not that long. It will go by fast and I feel I need to focus my time and energy more on other projects instead of moving again.

Can you tell I have made up my mind? The financial aspect still gets at me, knowing I would save significant money on scenario 3 but the other factors to consider, especially for my daughters outweigh the money.

Scenario 4
This option kind of ties in with scenario 1, since it is about me staying. I could clear out my office and rent it out for $150+. I checked my area and the going rate for some time has been $150 - $220. I have been offered this before but didn't end up following through. I don't really like someone else in my space much. I view it as short term pain for long term gain and if I get someone who works during the day and likes to go out, then I'll be fine.

If I wanted to get technical, my kids have been sleeping in the same room a fair bit the past few weeks. They did when we first moved. I could rent another room if they kept that up.

IF I did get boarder(s) I would not only need a police check but I would like them to have a working with vulnerable people check or be someone I already know. I have 2 kids and don't want random people here, so would be very selective about it.

With scenario 4 not only do I not have the hassle of moving, but I have the biggest potential for savings. Between $150 - $440 a week depending on if I included all bills (which would mean the savings would be less in reality as my bills will increase.)

In all honesty, I like my house. It has a good amount of space, I have a nice view and I am set up here. We have routines, we have our own space and my kids love it too. I'm staying, but will ask for a rent reduction and look into renting at least one room.

What would you do in this situation?