Over a million ways to go bust

The beauty of sleep

2010-08-17T23:04:00.000+12:00

The No-Cry Sleep Solution: Gentle Ways to Help Your Baby Sleep Through the Night
Total debt $669,039.90

As I wrote in my last post, there have been a number of areas in my life that I need to work on to improve how I feel about life in general. I have been working on these daily and (since hubby has been constantly working away in the big smoke) slowly. Well we acheived a big one last night. For those who don't know I have two adorable little girls, who after a long time trying blessed us with their presence (L) 2 1/2 yrs ago and (A) 1 1/2 years ago (yes maths is right...born very close together). Well as I suffered from insomnia during pregnancy I have not had more than a couple of hours sleep in a row for 3 years....until this last week..and last night madam A slept from 6.30pm to 7.00am.....bliss.....

Other areas have been worked on too....hubby said tonight "wow thats the tidiest I've seen your office since we shifted in"...its true but I worked on that 2 weeks ago, and he has been home some days each week since then..very observant the male species. Health wise, I am cutting back the caffiene (back to decaf now I'm sleeping, or green tea when I'm really good), not eating as much chocolate (thats a hard one...there is choccie fish in the cupboard calling my name as we speak), and bulking out our already limited meat intake with more brown rice and veges. Booking dr's visit for DH and me tomorrow, and booked in to see A's specialist for follow up next month.

I'm finding that if I try to achieve one thing each day of my list (however small) then I actually acheive more. If I go all out and try and do everything then I get overwhelmed and give up. Think its a bit like finances, easier to concentrate on doing turning one small area around each time than tackle your whole mess all at once. Enough rambling...its after 11pm and I am wasting precious sleep time......sleep well everyone...I shall...

Longtime no speak

2010-08-08T21:23:00.000+12:00

Do One Green Thing: Saving the Earth Through Simple, Everyday ChoicesTotal debt $648,238.64

Its been a while since I have updated. I haven't been at my most organised lately, and seem to have half unfinished tasks everywhere. Ever had a time in your life where everythng seems so complicated, with simple tasks being made more difficult by other people...well that has been me.

BUT, as you can see we have halved our debt,and $100k of the remaining total is not a debt as such but money held in trust for a family member ( I have included it as if we went belly up we would need to return it).
And....the horror house is nearly complete internally, and just needs a few more weeks of decorating and landscaping.

Today is also the start of a new regime. My physical life has been chaos so my emotional one has been as well. I have a list of those areas that are affecting me the most and today I crossed off three (four now lol). They range from updating my blog to keep me on track, tidying areas of my house that are driving me nuts,booking a complete physical as there is a feeling something is amiss and general decluttering. Its a long list and a long term project but already I feel more in control.

I will vow to keep on here and update, and if I become remiss I am sure my lovely friends on Simple Savings will keep me on track (you know who you are ladies...I've said before...you rock!!)

Its signed

2010-07-02T07:47:00.001+12:00

Total debt $1,147,978.77

Its finally official we have a signed conditional agreement on the rental. Now just have to wait 10 working days for the conditions to be met and another few weeks for it to settle. What a great start for July.

On another note, Simple Savings have started another challenge (see link above for an awesome site). This one is to find an extra $50 per week, either through cost savings or extra income. Its time to put my thinking cap on to see whether I can meet this challenge. I have some thoughts including cutting back on two of my remaining vices (both unhealthy, so added health benefits). I will do some number crunching and see what else I will need to do to make up the magic number. You know me.....I LOVE a challenge.

I will be back later in the day to update June's goals and set my July ones...little munchkins calling my name. Can't believe another month has flown by.....

By the way I have been published as a guest blogger on Dollar Stretcher this month. Another great savings site, actually the one that set me on the frugal path. Check it out on http://community.stretcher.com/blogs/dollar_stretcher_guest_bloggers/archive/2010/07/01/who-is-more-frugal.aspx

We have an offer!

2010-06-25T19:39:00.000+12:00

Real Estate Investing For Dummies, 2nd EditionTotal debt $1,144,47.32

Its been a week of offers. After initially being told by real estate agents a highly inflated asking price was realistic (higher than our estimate and registered valuation - should have been a clue right?) we had 5 verbal/written offers of $100k less. We decided that thats what the market is prepared to pay and we don't have the luxury of waiting the slump out ...so bit the bullet and signed for slightly more today. It's not unconditional, but includes a clause which enables my mother in law to continue living in one unit (not rent free anymore obviously) which was a sweetner to the deal.

So hopefully by late July that pesky little number above will drop significantly and we will be able to breathe a little easier. I expected to be dancing around the room, but haven't quite worked up the motivation yet ..... but one leg is definately tapping.

On the other house front, the builder is well underway and it still feels unreal for something to actually be happening. Scary bills are starting to come through but they ae budgeted for and I will continue to happily pay them. Life seems to be on the up and up...........

Update from the trenches

2010-06-16T14:12:00.000+12:00

Total Debt $1,154,621.68

Its been a while since I updated. What with working on the horror house,sick kids, welcoming new family members (chickens/chicks that is) there hasn't been enough time in the day to do everything I need to do.

We spent the long weekend doing demolition at HH. The builder came in with a quote of $26k + GST to finish the works and we went back and told him we have $20k inc only. So we are tackling what work we can do on weekends. The long weekend itself we estimate took $3k off his bill so it is worthwhile as well as necessary. The added bonus was imagining a certain council workers face on every tile I smashed, or gibboard I crushed.

Luckily we received some extra funds in the form of a tax refund cheque for hubby for nearly $9k. This combined with utilising some credit cards with very high limits will hopefully see us through. Obviously I don't endorse using credit cards, but as a short term way to tide us over until something sells they have to be seen as a lifeline for us at the moment.

The main thing is we are making progress and that in itself is a welcome change from not being able to do anything which would stop us drowning in debt. I may not post as often over the next 6 weeks or so, but I am still working, harder than ever to get us back into a life of simplicity and serene living.

May wrapup and onto June

2010-06-03T20:18:00.001+12:00

Total debt $1,148,749.33

Its that time to reflect on my goals for May and set new ones for June so here is my acheivements:

May Goals:

1) Keep total debt under $1,147,076.67 (harder this month as no expenses reimbursed until June).Actual $1,148,749.33 but had $1500 worth of additional expenses not budgeted for the rental so would have been close.

2) My income to increase to $400 this month (my income includes my casual employment, any windfalls, income from this blog and other sources I earn).
Achieved, income $560.54

3) Work on rental property so that it is more buyer enticing (that's what we are doing this weekend since the tenants will have vacated).Get an offer, any offer. Worked on it – that’s where the extra $1500 expenses came from. No offer as yet, moved goal into June

4) Get building work restarted on horror house (must stop calling it horror house, positive visualisation people). Just about made it, working on it this weekend and builder starting mid June…yay

So pretty happy with the way things have gone, but still wondering why the rental just will not sell. Positive thinking this month....someone will love it and offer megabucks (or any bucks!!).

June goals:

1) Keep total debt under $1,160,000 (this is a much larger spend this month as we will be pulling money down to get horror house finished)

2) My income to increase to $600 this month (my income includes my casual employment, any windfalls, income from this blog and other sources I earn).

3) Work on horror house ourselves to save on building costs each and every weekend. Will explain why in next post.

4) Sell rental (short and sweet and necessary)

Forward momentum

2010-05-31T21:51:00.000+12:00

Total debt $1,150,211.43

We have a verbal building consent....does happy dance around room. Now just waiting for the paperwork to wend its way through collecting stamps (read $$'s here) and we can finally restart work on the 'not known as horror house' house. Builder is guesstimating (no written quote yet) around $25k for him and $5k for plumber. Hmmm....only have $20k left in revolving credit, but do have secret squirrel account with around $12k so thats should be okay. Nothing left to live on/pay mortgage/bills so holding out for tax refund cheque.

But movement forward..still dancing...still dancing.....

yay for us.........

Dreams and a new beginning

2010-05-27T21:06:00.003+12:00

Total debt $1,149,697.44

Haven't posted for a few days, been a bit down and this blog is about me staying positive about our journey and the light that WILL be at the end of the tunnel. We have actually had some positives this week, but with my prior outlook these have been pushed aside in my mind so that I could focus on my little pity party.

BUT I am back, and deciding to go bigger than ever. There are three dreams that I have had for a while now, Having a third child, building or remodelling a truly self sufficient house and going back into a family business with Hubby. I had put these on the back burner due to focusing too much on our 'issues' and today I claim them back.

I know that there are plenty of reasons to continue to put these off...but I am going instead to embrace them and use this 'limbo' time where nothing much can be done to prepare myself in order to embrace them when circumstances change. I am going to get my body into peak baby making condition. I am going to research what is required for ecobuild, and I am going to educate myself to opportunities for business. Reading is going to be huge, and free (Internet and library), mentoring from my friends and family is also free.

Following these dreams will make me a happier more fulfilled person, which will also make my family life happier and more fulfilled. Times are a changing and its going to be a great ride.

Clean freaks beware.

2010-05-23T15:04:00.004+12:00

Total debt $1,148,661.09

Over on Katiegirls blog The Life and Times of an Ordinary Girl (http://thelifeandtimesofanordinarygirl.blogspot.com) she is having her first Blog This challenge and I thought I would join her. She inspired me with her passioned views (which happen to be in agreement with mine) on the rise of allergies. The challenge is (Katiegirl- copied this direct from your post, hope that is okay)

This weeks challenge: It's time to shout out your cause, your gripe, your mission. Get on your soapbox and talk about something that really matters to you. Something you think about but perhaps don't talk about. Start a conversation, be heard!.

So my Soapbox is in a related field - sterilising our homes and kids.

I read with fascination a letter to the editor in a popular parenting magazine in which the writer pointed out her disgust with childcare centres providing shared snacks. She went on to point out that the centre in which her child was enrolled had a dedicated snacks person whom wearing gloves, served snacks into designated single serves with tongs AND that person was not allowed to have any other contact with the children in case of contamination. What the.....my first thought was that the children would eat their sterilised 'healthy' 'not to be played with' 'boring' snack and then go round the corner out of sight and stick their fingers up each others noses. These are toddlers for goodness sake.

I have 2 rules for how my children eat, 1) it can't come into contact with anything that has already been through the digestive system of another human/animal, and 2) they sit to eat...that's it. (being relatively healthy and sharing politely being self evident). Kids put things in their mouths that adults don't...that's a fact, and I am sure it has evolved that way to ensure that we build up our immune systems from an early age. I'm not a fan of my daughters eating sand/dirt etc, but I don't freak out if some gets in, or ban them from the garden/sandpit. It just happens to be the way that dirt/sand tastes better to them than the yummy veges we serve up for dinner.

I am also concerned about the level of pressure from society to wage germ warfare on a huge scale inside our homes. Advertising of antibacterial soap / cleaners / aerosols seem to hit us from all sides. What is so wrong with soap and water?. Do we need to pollute the area that our kids live in with chemicals?.... Is it really beneficial to kill any bacteria in our homes and that said is it even possible?. Haven't people heard about super bugs?. According to http://www.environmentalhealth.ca/antibacterial.htm

"The growing use of antibacterial soaps and cleaners are a sign of good advertising gimmicks, not good health. There’s no evidence that antibacterial soaps and other products prevent disease in the home. Who says so? The Canadian Pediatric Society, the American Medical Association, the Association for Professionals in Infection Control and a US Federal Advisory Committee on Nonprescription Drugs all say that antibacterial soaps and washes are no more effective than regular soap and water in fighting infection in everyday use.
Not only is there no benefit to antibacterial soaps for home use, there’s a definite down side. Triclosan and triclocarbon are the two most commonly used antibacterial agents. Numerous studies have found that triclosan promotes the emergence of bacteria that are resistant to antibiotics - known as super bugs.

Resistant bacteria are a serious matter. “Over the last decade, almost every type of bacteria has become stronger and less responsive to antibiotic treatment when it is really needed. Antibiotic resistance can cause significant danger and suffering for children and adults who have common infections, once easily treatable with antibiotics,” writes the US Center for Disease Control.

Triclosan also has environmental effects. It has been found to create dioxin (when exposed to sunlight) and chloroform (when combined with free chlorine in water). Triclosan is building up in the environment, and has been found in the umbilical cord blood of infants and in the breast milk of mothers. In Illinois, the Clean Water Agency has asked the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to cut out the widespread use of antibacterial agents.

Researchers at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health found that after people flush antibacterial products down the drain, about 75 percent of triclosan and triclocarbon compounds survive treatment at sewage plants. The compounds end up in waterways and in sludge spread on agricultural fields, and may end up on produce.

"... we mass-produce and use a toxic chemical which the Food and Drug Administration has determined has no scientifically proven benefit, ” says Dr. Rolf Halden, Ph.D., lead author of the Johns Hopkins study. Halden notes “... when we try to do the right thing by recycling nutrients contained in biosolids, we end up spreading a known reproductive toxicant on the soil where we grow our food. The study shows just how important it is to consider the full life cycle of the chemicals we manufacture for use in our daily life.""

I definitely don't have the worlds cleanest home, its not a hovel, but there is very little chemical use going on here, and super bugs are not being grown in my bathroom. I think all we need to remember is to use common sense...is this clean? if not where is the non-antibacterial soap?.....

Ups and downs

2010-05-21T13:53:00.002+12:00

Total debt $1,148,661.09

This week has seemed to be all about highs and lows. The budget yesterday, a big low and just about made me sob into my coffee. GST and tax cuts were good, we don't spend very much on anything but mortgage/property related expenses so we will be slightly ahead over all. The real down point was the scrapping of depreciation. This is a big blow to the property investment sector, and will most probably have the effect of rental property being put up for sale and decreasing property prices (not sure how that will help us out of the recession big brother!). We know we have lost the buyer sniffing around as he was upfront in his decision not to buy if depreciation was scrapped.

And then today when it possibly couldn't get any worse...we have had verbal approval from the council...finally...dare we celebrate or will they pull the rug out from us again. I choose to celebrate (hubby is more cautious) and dance around the room. Finally, we will be able to get the builders back and finish the work started, and then tackle all the work that they are now making us do. That is if we have enough funds.....down to $30k left, which has to support us and do building work...awaiting cost from builder. This will be our next high or low....will keep you posted.

A nightmare of our own making

2010-05-17T06:35:00.002+12:00

Total debt $1,146,387.01

This week has been horrible and it is my own fault. As my girls are over 1 yr old, we have been making the move to switching them from formula to watered down cows milk. A is happy at the change...O...well.

O had it rough from the start, determined to breastfeed I stuck with it even though she came out screaming and didn't stop for 7 weeks. Firstly I was told she wasn't latching properly but after countless plunket/doctors/lactation consultants it was discovered I just wasn't making enough milk...so I was put on drugs. After the 7th week I was told I had to put her on formula as I was literally starving her. Easy I thought....no...major pain for her so was intolerant to milk products and soy. Off to specialist who advised she had reflux as well (18mths of medication) and put her on a prescription formula (Neocate) and we had a changed baby...bliss.

Fast forward to now (shes 26 mths) and my intolerant baby loves cheese, yogurt and has been happy with milk on her Weetbix. Fine to introduce slowly cows milk right....no....poor child is in agony...hours spent trying to pass golf ball sized poop, behavioural problems, night terrors...arrgghh. Back to prescription formula. Lesson learnt...the poor child can make her own decision about drinking milk...when she is say 21....

How the other half live

2010-05-15T20:48:00.002+12:00

Total debt $1,142,076.00

Today hubby went to the big smoke to help someone and their ex shift into separate houses. In their late 40's and late 50's they came to New Zealand 5 years ago with nothing. Having both worked very hard, 5 years later they ended up still sharing a one bedroom flat as they didn't have enough funds to pay off their combined debt and pay rent on two separate houses.

This is not an uncommon story but what was interesting was that they didn't automatically pack up everything they owned to take into their new lives. Instead hubbies queries on what should be done with this and that was met with 'oh we are just leaving it behind', or 'I've bought a new one', or 'you can take it if you want'. He was amazed, and quick to pack up some of the unwanted stuff, as if its being binned and is perfectly good, it saves us money to keep it. This included stuff like new cleaning products, a TV and DVD player (buying a new combined one!!!), a big chilly bag/picnic bag etc.

It shows that people live such differing lives, with different priorities. Even when hubby and I were financially well off (boy does that feel a lifetime ago), our priorities revolved around simple living and non-materialism/environmentalism. Certainly this has had a benefit to our current situation, as doing without, reusing things etc were already something we were comfortable with. And if (scratch that - when!) our situation improves, we will still be using those off casts from someone else, as why buy new when something you already have works just as well....

Beautiful girls

2010-05-12T13:53:00.004+12:00

Total debt $unknown, internet banking down.

We have model in our midst...well will have in May. My girls are so beautiful to me, and when I saw Mum2Mum wanted models 0-2yrs I couldn't help but to send in a piccie of A(14mths). They rang today and said she was gorgeous and they definitely wanted her. So on the 25th of May we will head to the big smoke and have a fun mummy/daughter day. Not anything towards the total as a) its unpaid, we get professional photos and a fun time only and b)even if it was paid it would go to her bank account. But worthwhile reporting anyway.

My girls are very special, we had endured 15 years of infertility, 3 failed IVF's and major heartbreak before we decided that I couldn't endure anymore pain. A couple of days before we attended our first adoption seminar I found out that we were pregnant!. After she was born, we laughed at the midwife when she started talking about taking 'precautions', and then stopped laughing a week or so later when I found out I was pregnant again.

Having two treasures 11 1/2 months apart is an experience. They are hard work both being babies/toddlers at the same time,but I love it. Its very funny when we go out and partly due to the fact that O (26 mths) is a little dot, you hear people talking about the twins!, A can't walk yet and O runs everywhere so you would think it would be hard to confuse them as twins, but it does make me giggle. They can't say each others names yet (well O has just started it) so they call each other bubba, which is the same nickname hubby and I have for each other, so it gets a little confusing in our house.

I have had a couple if down moments lately with all that is going on, but you can bet that just as I start feeling sorry for myself, one of my little imps will do something that makes me giggle. I thoroughly recommended children for beating the blues.

Free food and travel - if you're a mouse

2010-05-09T14:25:00.002+12:00

Total debt $1,141,916.62

Today I took my 7th mouse in a couple of months for a drive further into the country. I am a bit of a softie, can't stand killing anything (except rats, all of whom should die!) and since we get mice they get humanely trapped and released. The thing is I can't work out whether they have turned into homing pigeons and returned, or if we live on a mouse cloning block of land. They just keep arriving, I'm watching one now scuttle through my kitchen. They are very cute, tiny and fluffy but they need to go.

Everything in my house has been packed into tins, as I discover that yes mice like to eat it. Who knew they liked salt? One lives in my baking ingredients drawer, though he must come out to eat as everything now has like triple layered protection. They keep me amused though, I watched one the other day scuttle along the floor, straight into an unplugged appliance, get such a fright he did a complete somersault in the air and dart back where he came from. I laughed out loud and then even harder when he did the exact same thing 30 seconds later...blind mice maybe?

Maybe I should get tougher, there is probably word out in the mouse community that there is this lady who has food and takes you on a lovely drive every so often...I swear I can hear tiny tiny laughter......

Time Space continium

2010-05-07T07:27:00.002+12:00

Total debt $1,141,898.66

Well I put off writing anything yesterday as we had an excited phone call from our real estate agent saying they were sure they would sell the rental this week as they had three interested buyers. Thursday was going to be the day.

Well now its Friday an all day yesterday I carried around my mobile phone, checking it frequently to make sure I hadn't missed any calls and nothing.....

This got me thinking last night about time, and its weird ability to go faster or slower than we would like while in its definition being stable.Some examples, the weekdays seem to be so much longer each day than those on the weekend. The last two and a half years battle with the council has seemed a lifetime, yet it seems like yesterday I was pregnant with our first child who is currently just over two.

So what has this got to do with finances?...I think the major thought I had about it is that no matter how bad your money issues are, if you can work them out, the bad times are only a short part of your overall life. You can make them go slow, or you can put them behind you and move forward, being amazed at how quickly that time had gone.

This works too with savings obviously. I know I have always been put off saving little bits here and there by the length of time it would take to accrue a decent amount. But its been 12 years since I stopped putting money aside into a separate account (co-incided with cashing in our savings account for the deposit on our first home). Okay so we put everything into the mortgage, but if I had saved even a dollar a day (which is more than possible) I would be sitting with a decent amount already. That time has flown by and I can't get it back.

I have therefore started over the last few months a secret squirrel account (okay not so secret now) which I put in small amounts each week. Its building up nicely, and yes we will probably have to raid it soon but I refuse to look back in another 12 years and regret not at least trying to use the principle of time.

No spend days

2010-05-04T14:18:00.003+12:00

Total debt $1,141,781.93

Lets face it, spending at the moment is not good, so to keep on track I attempt as many as I can no spend days each week. To keep myself honest I have two forums which I report into, one at 'The Dollar Stretcher' and one at Simple Savings. This is a great motivator, makes it harder to spend a buck here and a buck there if it is going to ruin your whole no spend day.

The idea behind these, is obviously not to not spend anything, after all your mortgage has to be paid, your children have to eat etc, but not to spend on non essential items we buy without thinking everyday. How often for example do you run out of milk and have to rush to the store, and while your there.......If your serious about no spend days you will substitute, already have in freezer or plain do without until your next planned shop. Pretty simple really (that said I am about to run out of milk lol, milk powder it is....)

We need these more than most, I am sure that some readers may look at the debt creeping up everyday and think 'wow, these people just keep spending on rubbish'. Well the truth is that at the moment our mortgage payments alone are 1.5x my hubbies salary. That means anything we spend (bills, food, insurance etc) goes onto our debt. Scary huh!, so yes we have many no spend days and I think long and hard before going into anymore debt to buy milk!.

On a side note: I have mentioned on here a few times about Simple Savings, the forum on there is my sanity saver, and has taught me more than I thought possible about saving and earning money. If you want to check it out and join like minded people there is a banner at the top of this site that you can use for more information.

Tenants...arrggh

2010-05-03T21:06:00.002+12:00

Total debt $1,141,819.00

Well we are back, and we never got to lift a rag/mop/paintbrush....why, well in a word....tenants...

Sunday:
Work clothes on...check
Babysitters organised....check
Workgang on way.......check
Supplies in ute...check
Tenants shifted out....ummmm

Yep, they were still shifting, despite the fact that their tenancy ended at midday the day before. So, babysitters cancelled, workgang sent home.

Furious phonecall to rental agency...check

Monday:
All the above...check
...except...oh dear their carpet cleaner was there...wet carpets...garage still full of their stuff..

Furious phonecall to rental agency...check
Given up and driven home....check

Only upside is that they are now paying rent up til tommorrow...next weekend the place will sparkle (I hope..)

Working bee

2010-04-30T15:36:00.003+12:00

Total debt $1,140,668.91

Today we are heading off to the big city with plans to use our sweat equity (no or little $$) to help sell the rental. We have to be down there anyway for a 4th birthday party and a house warming so are tacking on a couple of days on for a working bee. My mum and her partner (dad #2), are also down for the parties and will give us a hand. Just need to find babysitters for my 2 munchkins or not much will actually get achieved. We hope to make everything sparkly and pretty, and probably tidy up from our not so clean tenants. Hubby and dad2 will be working on outside, some painting and garden maintenance.

We did have word from our real estate agent today that a buyer has expressed interest and will be meeting with them on Monday. That little bit of news cheered me up big time. We will see what happens from here, please keep your fingers, toes and anything else you can think of crossed for us.

Bad news this week was my little car (not the ute, my runaround who is haunted - tell you more about that some other time). For the last week I have had to get hubby to jump start it. Thought about just letting that continue but he did have a good point about me being stranded with both girls somewhere when he goes away, so off to find a battery we went. $246 later....blimmin European cars....that car is being sold I tell you (once I fix the window which is currently being held up with a block of wood - don't need a working window, have 3 others and its nearly winter.....).

April and ahead to May

2010-04-29T14:50:00.002+12:00

Total debt $1,140,539.67

Seeing as I will be offline from tomorrow to Tuesday next week I thought I would take the chance to update Aprils progress and put down my goals for May. As you may remember (you do read all my posts don't you!) I had a goal to keep the total debt balance to under $1,142,706 for the end of April. As you can see above we have managed this, and even with interest being added to this we should achieve it.

We had a major fright this week with the big possibility that hubby wouldn't get paid this month. As you can imagine that would do us in. Although his income is now looking a little shaky we can but attempt to find more ways to cut expenses and earn more income to cope better if he does end up out of work. Obviously selling the houses would be the best cure. His wages hit our bank account at the end of the month so you will see out debt constantly rising until that time where it takes a good leap downwards before it rises again.

So for May goals:

1) Keep total debt under $1,147,076.67 (harder this month as no expenses reimbursed until June).

2) My income to increase to $400 this month (my income includes my casual employment, any windfalls, income from this blog and other sources I earn).

3) Work on rental property so that it is more buyer enticing (that's what we are doing this weekend since the tenants will have vacated).Get an offer, any offer

4) Get building work restarted on horror house (must stop calling it horror house, positive visualisation people).

3)and 4) can't really be categorised as smart goals, but I need them there is front of me so they are worked on as hard as possible).

So that's the plan......will keep updating as things happen...we will sell a house...we will sell a house..we will sell a house......

House of horrors

2010-04-27T14:01:00.004+12:00

Total debt $1,144,917.10

A comment on the last post made me realise that I haven't written about what got us into this mess aka. the Horror House. It didn't start out as that, in fact this house was the first we ever bought. We shifted in when we returned from our honeymoon and loved living there. We started by doing the interior (think 1970's, including cork tiles on the dining room wall, and swirly patterned ceilings etc), we spent hours sanding back architraves and windows/doors to their beautiful, original rimu. Painted, pulled up carpets and brought it into the 20th century. When we had enough money we then started work opening up an area downstairs that the person 2 owners before us had started. We got the consents, a brilliant builder and ended up with another bedroom, bathroom and toilet Just before we got final consent we bought a business at which we needed to 'live in' so rented this house out (wrong decision).

Scroll forward four years....sold the business and brought a house up north that we adored. Thought we would shift in and tidy up this house, get the final consent, and sell (I was about 6 months pregnant with our first child). Tidied up (took three months) and had our first visit by doofhead from the council for comments on what we needed for final signoff on the day I was due to give birth. And then the saga began.....

Instead of comments, he produced a 'notice to fix' and placed the house on a stop work. The person who originally started the downstairs work never got signoff and it was all dodgy. The lawyers on 2 sales, and our architect did not pick this up. Since then we have been back and forth with the council for over 2 years, the house has been untenanted as it is illegal for anyone to live there with a stopwork, and each time we furnish what they require we get another (new) list of work to be done. If you ever hear about a council worker being found buried in concrete at a house in Auckland well you know who did it!

Thanks Auckland City Council - not

2010-04-26T20:54:00.004+12:00

Total debt $1,144,917.10

Just a quick shout out to the Auckland City Council today. 3 weeks after we submit the ammendment to the ammendment we filed in relation to the ammendment on the original ammendment we find out nothing has been done as someone is on holiday. Thats $2000 worth of interest we have paid...hope he had a great trip......

Sorry, will return to being a more positive person in a mo.........

Why rural living is good for the soul

2010-04-25T06:15:00.003+12:00

Total debt $1,144,742.53

It's early here, A is teething and was up before the dawn and I am in a reflective (read sleep deprived) mood. A year ago we shifted from the big smoke into an old quirky rattly cottage on a hectare in the countryside. I adore this place, its my spiritual home and with recent conversations of how we may need to shift back if things don't work out, here is my shout out to the universe of why we NEED to stay.

1) Its so quiet. In a prior life we owned a motel..in a area close to the city. Do you know you can develop a allergy to noise. What with us available to the public 24/7, guests noise, road noise, city noise (here insert copious parties from the units surrounding us).....I crave silence.

2) Its safe. My husband is frequently away with work. In the city I was petrified, even though our neighbours were so close that if I started to scream they would be on the phone in a flash. Here, houses are miles away....and yet it just feels like nothing bad should happen out here so why worry.

3) People are friendly. When we first shifted here we did the old city "how are you going?" line as a greeting. You know where you expect only a "good thanks" in reply. Well half an hour later we were still talking ....that's the rural way, people are actually interested in how you are.

4) It's not about keeping up with the Joneses. In fact they shifted away ages ago as people weren't paying them enough attention.

5) Space. Here the girls have plenty of outside fun. We have space for swings and slides, animals for them to feed/look at, a stream that O loves to throw stones into, gardens for them to help look after...etc etc. In the city we would have to get in the car to find that space.

6) Lack of convenience. For some this might be a disadvantage but it works for us. It's not as easy to pop to the shops, you plan those sort of things. So you end up eating healthier (not a lot of take-aways, cook more from scratch etc), wasting less, making do with things you already have, not shopping for recreation etc.

7) People come to visit, they come for the day rather than for an hour or two as it is a destination rather than part of the journey.

8) Sense of community. Everyone knows everyone here. A pain if you want to get up to mischief, but otherwise its kinda nice that your bank manager is your next door neighbours son....

9) Fresh air. Enough said!

10) Treading lightly on the earth. Here its normal to have water tanks, treat your own sewerage systems, grow your own food, shop at local growers, recycle everything, combine errands to conserve gas (if you pay for it that is! - see earlier post).

11 Quiet - oh did I already mention that......

As you can see, there are many reasons why I will not be shifting anywhere (hear that universe!!!)

Clever Girl

2010-04-23T13:35:00.003+12:00

Total debt $1,144,742.53

My one year old walked today for the first time. I was at my mums and she had a great time walking between Nana and Grandad, getting more and more confident with each turn. I had my two year old on my knee, and each time she took steps there would be much clapping and wahooing with O (my two year old) helping to cheer her sister A on. It was magical when O then joined in, miming exactly (with additional giggles) her sisters wobbling steps and frequent "fall down". It made me think that this is what it is all about, giggles and milestones, celebrated with family and remembered forever. When I look back at their early years this is what I want to remember, not our financial woes or our frustrations at the outside world...no giggles and milestones are a much better memory.

On another note: There is a friendly competition erupting between myself and 'Million Dollar Challenge' http://1milliondollarchallenge.blogspot.com/. She wrote a post about finding loose change and I have challenged her to a competition. I am going to make it more interesting. I challenge that we each keep a moneybox/list of loose change found until the end of June. Whoever on the 1st of July has the most $$ wins both of our findings....will let you know if the challenge has been taken up.

The chippie van

2010-04-22T13:31:00.004+12:00

Total debt $1,144,657.58

I'm a greenie but we own a 4x4 Toyota Hilux which as you can imagine is a little bit of a gas guzzler. We need a 4 wheel drive though, we live rurally in an area that floods (quite often), we are DIY enthusiasts and my hubby works in a field where he needs to carry heavy equipment/materials onto sites. Bit of a quandary really.

Then I remembered reading about the possibility of running vehicles on waste cooking oil. When I mentioned this to hubby he was off, researching, comparing, emailing around the world and then in the blink of an eye ordering a complete system off the Internet. It arrived promptly, I might add (see link attached for company we chose), and we quickly befuddled our diesel mechanic with a request to install it. Big wave out to our mechanics though as they not only worked it out, they only charged us a small percentage of the actual cost to install as they were happy to have a chance to learn how to put them in.

So then we started our journey of picking up waste cooking oil from restaurants and cafes (you should see the looks you get, pumping oil out of the waste oil bin, watched by people who are trying to eat a nice breakfast), taking it home and filtering it and then putting the pure gold into the fuel tank. This is not bio-diesel, there is no chemical process it needs to go through, we have a secondary fuel tank, start and warm up on diesel and then flick to the pure unadulterated chippie oil once the engine warms up.

Frugal = free, and environmentally friendly = waste product, not fossil fuel, no shipping costs, clean burning etc etc. So the next time you see a 4 wheel drive going past and scream for the environmental police..take a sniff...if you smell hot chips its probably us and we are no oil company slave.........

http://www.goldenfuelsystems.com/

Budgets, Love them or hate them

2010-04-21T19:06:00.003+12:00

Total Debt $1,144,494.41

I love money. No I am not a materialistic type of gal (just as well really), but my buttons really get pushed by adding up money, putting it into spreadsheets, making cool graphs, analysing it etc. Yes I used to work in banking!!. So when it comes to budgets I adore them even my scary one. It is a lot of pretty colours - I quite like the colour red...

I'm thinking of them today (well actually I think of mine everyday) as I have been chatting to a group of lovely ladies on Simple Savings about whether they love them or not. And the funny thing is they all do. I suppose that is to be expected as the type of person who joins a budgeting site is either in trouble or a frugal type of person...but still.

None of my family do them, and look at me like a freak when I talk about entering my daily spending, and not buying something cause the budget is gone. That's why the net is such a boon for us strange number crunchers. There are places abound where you can chat to like minded people, you can ask their advice, get their support and generally have a laugh. The ladies I chat with rock!.

Last few days I have still been concentrating on one thing at a time to work us out of this. I have finalised our tax return which hopefully will return a large refund (only benefit of failing financially!). I have done extra work on my quality manual for my employers, listed more on fishpond, and re tweaked the budget again. Its been an okay week so far.....hoping for even better moving forward (and for that total to go down once rather than up!)

hoarding, to do or not to do

2010-04-19T14:06:00.002+12:00

Total debt $1,144,188.63

I like things to have a place they live around the house. Hate having to move things out of the way, struggle to locate where things have been put, or have boxes/stuff lying around everywhere. Quite normal right. Well my husband is a hoarder, comes from a family of hoarders, and will be a hoarder til the day he dies. We have a system to get around this, I declutter stuff in the house (to his annoyance) and he clutters in his storeroom/garage (to my annoyance). Usually works well.

Well this week I have to bless his great heart for his pack rat mentality. See we live on a gravel road, that needs grading, and we hit a pothole and a gravel chip the size of Lake Taupo got embedded in our Utes front tire....a very very large unfixable hole. Now these tires cost hundreds, and as you well know we don't have hundreds....but wait.......hubby kept the old tires we replaced, and one of them wasn't particularly worn, matched the existing tires and will last for months....saved....by...a..packrat....grrrr

So this begs the question, who is more frugal. The person who doesn't have to buy things twice as they know where they have put it, who doesn't waste time searching for things, who doesn't need more room to store more stuff. Or the person who can nip into the garage and find a whatsit that will perfectly fix the whatchamacallit instead of the proper part which costs megabucks.....

Okay, he might win this time......but will he be able to find it?

Daily steps

2010-04-17T14:29:00.004+12:00

Total debt $1,143,977

Today I decided that every day I must do something geared towards getting out from under this mountain of debt. Yesterday I finally finished getting this blog out there and hoping someone will find it interesting. Yes I monetized it, hello people look at the figure at the top!, but I hope thats not too offputting. After all if it brings in a few cent/dollars here and there, those are valuable to me right now.

So for today; I read with interest the above blog with a posting on having the right attitude. This made me realise that all my thinking has been consumed with our current drama and I am not making room for positive happenings to occur in my life. So a new me - I am going to view this as a challange that will change our life for the better. After all I will be learning new things, finding my strengths, spending more quality time with my family doing free activities. There is many positives to this journey and I am to embrace them as my own.

Thanks ordinary girl.....

Fishpond site

2010-04-16T22:52:00.005+12:00

Current debt $1,143,977
Found this site today where you can sell used books. Now I have made money last month selling books to a secondhand bookshop in town but for around 30 books I got $70 and these were good quality popular titles. Why did I not know about Fishpond?. Won't give it high praise yet, will be listing books over the next few days and I will let you know how we get on.

Cloth nappies and other ummm cloth products

2010-04-15T23:14:00.000+12:00

Current debt: $1,143,961

I have always used cloth nappies on my girls during the day and with two in nappies at the same time they have been a major money saver - man disposables are expensive. Most people in our rural town I know use them, either for financial reasons, environmental reasons or due to keeping their babies beautiful bums as far away from nasty chemicals as possible. I am slightly more unusual that I make my own wipes with cut up chux cloths and a water/organic baby moisturiser mix.

Where I may be now heading is very unusual/strange in that I today made my first trial reusable cloth sanitary pads. Only made two as I want to check they will work before I cut more material. They were made from an old towel as an inner, and then a ripped cotton t-shirt of one of my daughters for the outer. Very R/R/R.

Next project wee wipes.....did you really want to ask.

The rental

2010-04-10T22:34:00.002+12:00

Current debt: 1,142,222
Yep its on the market, has been for about a month now. Was going to go to auction but that was cancelled due to lack of interested buyers. We are in a quandry, we need to sell it as wiping its mortgage payments would make for more breathing room in the budget and whack a substantial amount off our debt. The problem is that it needs work, the outside needs painting, landscaping needs to be done, the roof needs to be rechipped and it has very old and tired bathrooms/kitchens (double income property, 3 1/2 bedrooms upstairs and 2 bedroom flat downstairs). We don't have the money to do this.
We are being realistic on price,but as the feedback says...shes got good bones, but definately not a looker (bit like me really). Working bee in May if not sold...until then we are looking a our barter network to see what we can use. Hopefully before the tenants shift out someone will recognise the beauty underneath

yay more hours

2010-04-08T22:26:00.001+12:00

Current debt $1,142,209
Yay, am going to be able to charge more hours this month, my casual employers are going for a quality rating which I earnt in my own business so are happy to pay me to consult and help them achieve it. Won't be huge as is a very low hourly rate but its extra to budget and thats all good.

Simple Savings

2010-04-05T22:10:00.001+12:00

Current debt $1,138,151
Well I bit the bullet and signed up for a Australasian based budgeting website. I have looked at this site for ages but had a built in mindblock about budgeting sites that require a yearly subscription in order to access the bulk of the site. Then I was given money by my wonderful stepmum to resubscribe to a favourite magazine and she gifted me enough to cover a years subscription to this as well.
What do I think - love it, am addicted already. The hints are good but am really enjoying the forums. There is a wealth of knowledge on this and I have already started earning back the cost of the subscription from utilising some of the tips featured. Well worth checking out.
A little taste of what you can learn: Make your own easiyo yoghurt, $21 weekly shopping challanges, slow cooking with a hay box, making compost bins from old tyres...etc..etc..etc

April begins with higher debt

2010-04-02T21:46:00.002+13:00

Current debt $1,138,076. Looking at trying to keep under $1,142,076 at months end, which is around $1,500 less than usual deficit.

So hows that going to work?

I am working casually on the weekends, being a SAHM in a rural area means less options but am looking for other homebased options so thinking cap on

Hubby incurs expenses as he works from home and these are included in the budget but he is compensated for these and mileage so need him to travel more and put in his claim!!

Finding new ways to stretch that dollar further.....

Oh yeah....our tenants have given notice, they are shifting out 1st of May, since house is on market not very hopeful of getting new ones....$1,500 less in each month, oh joy.

Welcome to our journey

2010-04-01T22:11:00.000+13:00

OMG we are $1,040,000 in debt and we are scared, how did two professional, self employed nearly middle aged kiwis get into such a hole? Well.......the last two and a bit years have been interesting to say the least...after fifteen years of trying/hoping for a baby we gave up and found ourselves with 2 surprise babies in 11 and 1/2 months. Our business wasn't compatible with motherhood so we sold (at a loss), decided to finish renovations on one of our rentals and hit the council man from h_ll, after 2 years of protracted battle with a half finished untenanted house, we are still fighting. Sooo...we have 3 mortgages (1 house of horror, 1 rental - on the market, and our own modest home) which my husbands income/rent don't cover. We are living on our revolving credit which is running out and we have in my estimation around 3 months before we start losing homes.

BUT - this is a journey out from under, I will be using this blog to chronicle how we will be increasing our income, decreasing our expenses, and getting ourselves out from being in the red each month. I will endeavour to educate myself and any readers on here on any new ways I find to reuse/reduce/recycle (did I say I am also a bit of a greenie), and will update that scary figure at the top every month (it will be getting worse before hopefully it gets better).

Wish me and mykids luck.................