I have decided to resurrect my old blog at My Journey to Eliminate Debt. I am feeling much, much better than I have been for a long time. I am about to start work again, finally landing a high paying job that will help us get this increased debt under control asap!
still plodding along…
I’ve spent the morning on the phone to the tax office, a credit card company and a few utility companies about late payments. I have to say that everyone I have spoken to over the last few months has been very, very helpful and nice to deal with. So far I have not experienced any of the intimidation tactics that I’ve read about on US blogs. Each has offered me hardship arrangements if I need them and all have been OK with me having to pay late. So while it’s still very stressful, their attitude does help a lot.
Overall not much has changed. I am waiting to hear if I get the job and spending my days decluttering and enjoying have the time to plan & shop for frugal meals. I have got rid of so much stuff and I love it! I will write more on that later. I have my weekly shopping down to $100 now for 4 adults. It certainly is easier to eat frugally when you are not working all day. There is time to shop and time to cook from scratch. I buy whatever vegetables and meat are on special and then make up the menu from what I have. I actually have come to really enjoy getting the bargains with the groceries! I have a price book app for the iphone which is really good for keeping track of prices and bargains.
So overall, I am still broke, still keeping my head above water… just, and I am reasonably confident things will change soon and I can start digging my way up and out of this.
Treading water
Not much to report here, still keeping head above water… just. I can’t remember if I posted that our wonderful old beater of a car was written off in an accident recently. That just added to the financial pressure. It was a great old car that would have gone on for years but we only got $1800 back from the insurer, which will not replace the car. At the moment we are using DD’s car and giving each other lifts, when the weather is OK DD rides his bike to work.
We are eating very frugally at the moment. Making soups, potato and rice based dishes. Eating much less meat and usually I just buy whatever fruits and vegetables are on special. Most weeks we are spending $70 – $80 on groceries for 3 adults.
I have decided I’m going to follow Dave Ramseys plan for getting out of this mess. Read his book ages ago and sometimes listen to his podcasts. We were right up to date and had $1000 in our emergency fund up until I got hit with the tax bill. That really set us back, but never mind I need to get on with things.
We now have over $50,000 in debt. Before I got sick we had approximately $16000. Yep we should not have lived off our credit cards but we did. We did cut back expenses, but we decided we wanted to keep DS at university and there have been extra expenses for Dad. Kept believing I would be back to work in a few weeks. Well that didn’t happen and here we are.
Once again I have applied for another job. It is very well paid and would give me long term job security which is what I need now. If I get it then we could really get stuck in and pay it off. It will be a month or more till I find out. In the meantime we will keep treading water!
* picture above is from my garden, I have a lot of trees to attract birds and it’s lovely to see them all there each morning
Financial stress.
I’ve had a difficult few weeks since I posted last. Not getting that job really knocked me harder than I expected and I’m pretty stressed out about our finances. I have taxes that are due which I simply can’t pay at the moment and they were sent to collections without any notice. I received a nasty letter from the debt collectors and it just felt like the last straw! When I tried to phone them I could not get through so after the second nasty letter I took my $1000 emergency fund and used that to make a payment.
It really has stuffed us up! I had all my bills current and was paying the minimums on the credit cards until this happened. When I eventually got to talk to the debt collectors they were actually very nice! I told them the tax office knew of my situation and I’d been told I could take time to pay my taxes. Apparently the tax office had a huge number of businesses unable to pay so they sent them elsewhere to be followed up. I guess the economic crisis is taking it’s toll on small business.But I have worked out a payment arrangement and when I couldn’t meet it this month they were fine.
But the problem is I am behind on a couple of bills and about to fall behind on credit card payments. I phoned the credit card companies to explain I would be late paying and see if I could make some arrangement and they can’t help me as my accounts are up to date so far. I was told I have to be in arrears to make an arrangement. Sigh….. so much for trying to prevent problems, they all said my record was fine…. wish I could stop losing sleep over this!
I have had barely any work, about 2 hours a week. I think that because I had so many false starts over the last year and then would need to stop because I kept getting sick, that I have damaged my reputation for reliability. I expected to be working about 20 hours a week by now. So I have no income coming in and we can’t continue like this for too much longer. I am not making enough to cover my business expenses, let alone any to live on.
I have applied for a job with an organisation I worked for years ago. If I get that then we could start digging ourselves out of this mess.
In the meantime DH has been in his full time job for three months now and is permanent thank goodness. I am not ready to post the amount of debt I have yet. I feel like a bit of a failed financial blogger. But on the other hand I think that blogging really helped me a lot, and at the end of the day it’s just one more persons story of how they manage ‘real life’. So I will post my debt at some point.
On a good note I have a lot of time to de-clutter and it feels so good! I am selling a lot of stuff, averaging about $100 a week in book sales as I am selling my professional library. It feels good to be getting rid of the excess ‘stuff’ and I have several rooms that are very minimalist now. All I can do is hope this work situation turns around soon.
The best laid plans….
I can’t believe it’s so long since I posted! In a nutshell I’ve had a bit of a health setback. The fatigue, which was improving, returned pretty quickly once I started doing more. I will not be doing full time work any time soon, nor will I be able to continue with my studies. I actually am OK with all of this, I’m too tired to be stressed anymore 
This picture is of the labrynth at the retreat I went to a year ago. I got up early in the morning and walked it just after the sun came up. Walking the labrynth is an old tradition, common to many different cultures and religions.
It seems like so long ago and I remember very clearly what I was thinking about that morning. I was letting go of an old hurt, a deep wound, and looking forward to getting my life back on track after the stress and disruption of caring for Dad for the last few years. Well a year later life looks very different from what I was planning! Life, it seems, has it’s own plans…
I’m learning to let go of expectations and just get on with whatever the day brings me. More of ‘being’ and less ‘doing’.
So I’ve been decluttering, organising my new sewing / ironing/craft room, reading minimilst books and enjoying having time to do a lot of things I’ve wanted to do for years. Like cooking from scratch, crotcheting a rug, sleeping in the sun with the cat and planting a herb garden. It’s much easier to be frugal and live simply when you’re not working all the time!
I’m also making plans to re-start my vegetable garden and I am going to a permaculture weekend workshop in May.
Our finances are very tight at the minute but we will get some relief at the end of the year when DS is eligible for Austudy. So that will put a few hundred dollars a week back in our pockets. At this stage we are just paying the minimum on the house and extra off our credit card debt, we hope to have it gone by the end of the year and be ready to make some investments in 2011.
I guess I am seeing this as an early semi-retirement.
I’m just enjoying the slower pace of life at the moment and feeling grateful for what good health I do have. I’m ‘planning’ to get back to regular blogging…
The joy of work!
I got the all clear from my dr to return to work full time last week!! I do have some physical limitations. I still need an afternoon nap a couple of times a week but hopefully that will stop soon. It’s exciting and a bit scary to be thinking of working full time again after so long.
I’ve decided to apply for a consulting/ managment position in a small government department and I have an interview later this week. I was approached about this job once before and it was nice to be asked to apply for it again. The conditions are great, the pay is fantastic and the job really interests me. I would be overseeing a small department related to adolescent education and health. My role would be mainly adminstration, training and consulting.
My Dr. has read my the riot act about overdoing it, but honestly I just am not cut out to sit around at home and watch the world go by! I like working! I like being able to contribute, create change and take on a challenging project.
I had many days where I wondered if I’d ever get to this point over the last year. I’m not one of those people who wants to pay off debt, or win the lottery so I can quit my job. I intend to go out with my boots on!
So I’ve been doing lots of interview preparation and I’ll be glad when the interviews out of the way and I know exactly what I’m going to be doing in 2010.
~No man needs sympathy because he has to work. Far and away the best prize that life offers is the chance to work hard at work worth doing.~ Theodore Roosvelte
Watching TV or living vicariously?
~ “TV is chewing gum for the eyes.” ~ Frank Lloyd Wright
Watching TV is a double edged sword for me. I love that I can learn so many interesting things and I enjoy unwinding with a good movie. But a few months ago I realised that I had developed the habit of just having the TV on in the background all day long. A constant stream of noise and distraction. The day would go by in a bit of a blur.
Too much TV is like living vicariously: Watching other people living life, instead of living your own.
I’d love to give up the TV completely, at least for a month or so. But I have a family and my desire for simple living has to fit in with their desire for entertainment. Over the years DH and I have learned the power of compromise. He’s an extrovert sporty type, I’m more the introvert, hippy chick. He has no desire to give up TV! So we’ve reached a compromise. The TV is turned now only turned on for about 1/2 an hour in the mornings for the news while DH has breakfast. On my days off I sometimes watch a movie in the afternoon but most days now we just watch a bit of TV in the evenings. I used to watch TV in my bedroom to try and help me sleep, now I read a book. If I woke up at night and couldn’t sleep I’d watch TV, now I read. I’m trying to keep my TV watching to just 2 hours a day maximum. I plan to cut down further.
My mind is not overloaded with information and the daily diet of misery ! I feel calmer and less stressed. I have so much more time to myself and am getting more things done. I have time to enjoy the silence. I can hear the sounds of the birds in my garden during the day. Ocasionally I listen to music or audiobooks. TV is a time waster when it’s just turned on out of habit.
Here’s a few more posts on giving up TV:
Living without television. A great story about living without TV for the last 10 years.
Living without TV. Another great blog post about a year without television
this entire site is dedicated to giving up TV: Kill Your Television! it’s filled with interesting information
101 things to do instead of watching TV
Wondering what to do instead? Here’s some ideas:
1. go for a walk
2. knit, sew, crotchet, cross stitch, embroider
3. read a book
4. work in the garden
5. phone a friend for a chat
6. have a cup of tea outside in the garden and plan the next planting
7. do some decluttering
8. take a long soak in the bath
9. listen to blogtalk radio, audiobooks, good music
10. meditate
11. draw, paint, sketch,
12. do yoga, tai chi,
13. dance, sing!
14. lie in the grass and look at the clouds
15. visit a neighbour
16. go outside and stargaze
17. just sit quietly and listen to the sounds of the world going by
18. paint a room
19. spend time with your partner
20. play board games
21. cook a lovely meal, bake a batch of fresh biscuits
22. pray
23. sort photos and scan them
24. play with a child, whatever they want you to play
25. write that novel!
How much TV do you watch?
Depression
A few months ago I deleted this blog. After a long period of illness I felt myself struggling with depression and despair. I felt overwhelmed with the world and all its demands. The daily news of senseless violence and human suffering at the hands of others threatened to bring me undone emotionally. I began to see myself as a failure, in everything. I was sinking into depression, weary with trying to keep positive after so long being sick. Angry with my body for being damaged. Tired from the grief over my Dad who continues to deteriorate and no longer knows me. I felt physically, emotionally and spiritually exhausted.
I have suffered serious depression in the past. Many years ago in my late 20′s I spent several years unable to work with debilitating depression and post traumatic stress disorder. I was unable to take medications for it. I reached the depths of despair at that time and I vowed I would never go back there. The experience was horrible but it was that time in my life that changed everything. It set my off in search of a better life, one I didn’t think I deserved growing up. I am grateful for that period in my life as awful as it was. I would not be who I am without it, or on the path I’m on today. I changed careers, went to uni and started living my dreams.
So when the despair began I recognised that it was coming back and knew I needed to deal with it, not lay down and give up in my misery. I needed some time out from the world, to stop the sensory overwhelm, to rest my mind and to nourish my soul.
I’ve taken that time out and I’m feeling stronger, calmer more at peace with all thats happened. I didn’t go anywhere, just stayed at home, working 5-10 hours a week. But I gave myself permission to retreat from the world. To turn off the television, to stop reading the papers. To sit in the sun with sleepy cat curled up on my lap. To sip chamomile tea in bed reading a book.
To retreat from the world and still be in it.
I’m ready to start blogging again now…
~ That’s the thing about depression: A human being can survive almost anything, as long as she sees the end in sight. But depression is so insidious, and it compounds daily, that it’s impossible to ever see the end. The fog is like a cage without a key. ~Elizabeth Wurtzel