Tuesday, June 30, 2009

New Year's Eve! :)

Financial Year Eve that is.

Tomorrow is the 1st of July, start of the 09-10 financial year. Just writing that seems weird - 2010 always seemed like such a long way off (I know there are still six months to go).

I'm going back home in 2 and a half weeks and I'll have to make sure I get all the paperwork I need to do my tax.

I should be due a large refund this year - I co-own a rental property which means deductions (although when you take into account the rental income we get it's actually not much - it's in a popular area so we get good rental returns). However, I also have a lot of educational expenses. I was in a job for half the year where I was on a higher income and they were taking out tax on the basis that I would be on that income for the entire year, then switched to a lower-paying job; and had 6 weeks without work.

So overall I'm hoping to be able to pay a large chunck of debt off once I get a refund.

Doing more overtime this week, so will be looking forward to my next couple of pay cheques.

Saturday, June 27, 2009

Dinner last night

My friend paid for dinner last night which was nice of him. He insisted of getting a bottle of wine - (I'm not a big drinker and would have been happy with water). $60 - sorry, tasted no better than a $10/$20 bottle.

I did pay to get a taxi home when I could have gotten a train and a bus, but it was getting late and I was tired. There are times when I am willing to pay for convenience.

Friday, June 26, 2009

Weekend of work ahead

I've finished my exams for my Masters this semester, which means I don't have to study this weekend.

However, I think I will be pretty much working all weekend, marking exams for other courses. It's all extra income, which is great, but I'm looking forward to having a weekend off at some point!

I'm seeing a friend for dinner tonight - and it sounds like it is an expensive restaurant. However, he doesn't live in Sydney, he lives a couple of hours drive away, and is just here for the night before going overseas. I haven't seen him for over a year so it will be good to catch up.

Tuesday, June 23, 2009

Pay from extra jobs

I mentioned a week or so ago that I had lodged my timesheets for all the extra work I had done. (And this weekend I will be doing some more.)

They have been approved but at least in one case, I think the payment will come through after the end of financial year (Australia has a 1 July - 30 June financial year). Not so concerned about having to wait for the extra salary, but what is annoying is that I know a ton of tax will be taken out, which I will then have to wait another year to get back!

I'm popping back home mid-July - it's my Mum's birthday, my Autn's birthday (they are twins), and my best friend's birthday, all within a couple of days. It will be a quick trip, but I got cheap flights and apart from the various birthdays, I will be able to collect various bits and pieces I need to do my tax. (I still have a lot of stuff stored at my Mum's place).

Monday, June 22, 2009

Weekend spending

I had thought to myself Friday night that I wouldn't need to spend any money over the weekend.

What did I actually end up spending?
Saturday: $96.10 at the chemist.
$66.35 on prescriptions
$12.95 on a pair of gloves
$11.50 on over the counter medicine
$5.30 on a hot water bottle

Sunday: $12.50 at the gas station on groceries.
NEVER BUY GROCERIES AT THE GAS STATION!! My own stupid fault because I couldn't be bothered going to the grocery store.
$5.00 Loaf of bread
$5.00 1.25 Ltr Btle of Diet Coke
$2.50 Chocolate Bar.

If I had been to the grocery store, it probably would have been around $6.00.

On the one hand basically everything I bought I needed:
The prescriptions and chemist medicine - definitely
The gloves and hot water bottle - could have put off but had been thinking of buying for a while.
Groceries - well I should have gone to the grocery shop, but then with the cost of bus fares the savings wouldn't have amounted to much.

But on the other hand - spending close to $110 when I thought I wouldn't be spending anything isn't exactly great!

Saturday, June 20, 2009

Feeling sick

It's 5am and I'm awake with a sore throat.

I used to get up at 5am before moving and changing jobs, but not anymore! I love the fact I live so close to work. I actually got up at 8:40am yesterday and was in at work by 9:05 (5 minutes late but no one else was there anyway!)

Oh, and it's Saturday.

Think I'll be making a trip to the chemist later today. I have an exam next week (my last one for the semester), and the last thing I need is to be sick.

Friday, June 19, 2009

Food - best before dates

I've previously posted about wasting food.

One thing I tend to waste a lot of is Yoghurt and similar - buy it and then never eat it before the best before date. Anyway, yesterday I ate a Fruche which had a best before date of 2 weeks ago. It was fine - still tasted as good as ever. I've always been one of those people that as soon as something is at the best before date I throw it out - without even looking to see if it is still good.

Thursday, June 18, 2009

Addicted to plastic

There is a show on Australian ABC tonight called "Addicted to Plastic" - I thought it would be a look at the extent of credit card usage, but upon reading the description .... no, it's actually about Plastic!"

This is the description:
"An eye-opening documentary that investigates what's really known about plastic - the material of a thousand uses - and why there's so much of it. This film tells of a worldwide waste and toxic legacy, and introduces the men and women dedicated to cleaning up the global mess caused by plastic. Filmed over three years in 12 countries on five continents, including two trips to the middle of the Pacific Ocean where plastic debris accumulates, this documentary looks at solutions to plastic pollution. Addicted To Plastic details plastic's path over the last 100 years and includes expert interviews on practical and cutting edge solutions to recycling, toxicity and biodegradability. These solutions provide a hopeful perspective about our future with plastic".

I think I'll watch Medium or Private Practice instead! (I have an exam today so giving myself a night off from study afterwards).

Tuesday, June 16, 2009

How Gen-Xers became has-beens

The title of my post is the title of an Article that appeared in The Daily Telegraph (a Sydney paper) today, and online.

The article starts with: "MEET a young Gen-Xer with three university degrees who represents the new unemployed - over-qualified professionals".

The rest of the article can be read here.

There have been a lot of comments on the article, some very supportive/some very critical, and I'm sure some of what I say below will have already been said in comments.

1. The article calls this the "new unemployed". What about in the lat 80s/early 90s recession? Surely the same situation happened then. Anytime there is a recession/economic crisis, unemployment will rise, and it will include people who are well-qualified and previously had no problems getting jobs. I really don't see how this is considered "new".

2. Considering my level of debt, I shouldn't be one to comment on the fact he says he only has $3 left to the end of the week, but I would hope by the time I'm his age all my debt is gone and I have an emergency fund which would last me a year. I think we have all (well, most of us - me included!) lived beyond our means for so long - as soon as something happens like job loss, we are, to put it bluntly, screwed.

3. He states: "Along with many of my friends, I never paid much mind to the idea that one day I might be unemployed. For my generation, who are used to a permanently strong economy, it was just never going to happen. " Although his age is not specified, he is Generation X, which means he is at least older than me (Generation Y). I was quite young during the late 80s/early 90s recession, but I remember it clearly (partly because my Dad was out of work and we nearly lost our house). But I would think this would have been the time the author of the article was in high school/at university - and would have been well aware of the poor job market.

4. He talks about having to fight to use a computer at Centrelink - surely he would have a computer at home? I can't imagine anyone these days (particularly as he has, until recently, been working), not having a computer.

5. As a number of comments pointed out, he was a marketing manager. Market yourself! If he is applying for a job where he thinks he will be overqualified, leave the MBA off.

6. He says: "Don't get me wrong. Australia has a fantastic system that provides benefits and assistance to those in need. It is not, however, designed to cope with highly qualified individuals who have found themselves out of work". He doesn't explain what he means by this. How does he want the system to be designed? Centrelink's website says: "Centrelink is an Australian Government Statutory Agency, assisting people to become self-sufficient and supporting those in need". Helping the unemployed is just one part of Centrelink, and honestly, what does he expect them to do? I have only had contact with Centrelink when I was a student, but I thought in terms of unemployed, the assistance Centrelink provided (apart from monetary) was providing access to computers to look for jobs, providing some courses in terms of resume writing etc. I don't see how he thinks the system is designed to cope with "un-qualified" individuals and not "highly qualified" individuals.

7. On that note, he also says that: "Regardless of our background, how much we studied, how privileged we may have been, we are all the same at the Centrelink". Well I'm sorry - but why should you be treated differently to any other job seeker? If anything, the argument can be made that you had years of work (on probably a very good salary), you should have been able to save (once again, I realise how hypocritical that is coming from a girl in enormous debt), and shouldn't need assistance from Centrelink in terms of resume writing etc.

8. Having raised my criticisms, one comment that really made me feel sorry for him was: "For myself and the rest of the Generation Xers who grew up in a time where work was plentiful, this experience is one that crushes one's sense of self-worth and leads to an every day battle to maintain hope and keep up the momentum of searching for work". (Although I don't think it applies to only Gen X's). I think the longer you are unemployed the more depressed you will get, which in turn probably makes it harder to find a job.

(And as a final point - a lot of comments on the article said he should lower his standards and get a job at Woolies - (which is an Australian supermarket chain). Someone I can't see them employing a 35 year old with no retail experience, when they can employ a 15 year old with no retail experience for a lot less money).

Wednesday, June 10, 2009

Extra income

I've just lodged my timesheets for some extra work I've been doing (marking). I do some through the university I work at full-time and some for another university. Before tax, it should work out to be almost $1,500.

I should get some more work in a couple of weeks (marking exams). First I have to get my own exams out the way though!

The extra income is a definite help this month - I'm going on a weekend trip in August which is $440. Not budgeted for, but I will be going to the snow - which... I have never seen! Having said that however, it's meant to be between 7-14 degrees Celsius in Sydney today, I'm in my office and freezing! So I don't know how well I will handle the cold!

Monday, June 8, 2009

May Expense Update

An approximation of my May expenses are below. So much for saving money this month. May was very expensive! Although just over 33% of that was to purchase my laptop.

I was also terrible at keeping track at my expenses this month. So I don't know how close the below is. Some things are certain (e.g. rent), and I went through all my bank statements/credits cards to catch anything I paid via debit/credit. Cash I basically looked at what I had at the start of the month, what I withdrew from my bank account, and what I had at the end of the month - and figured it was all spent on food and/or entertainment (as basically everything else is paid for via debit or credit).

The important thing though is that I am back on track for June. In the past if I had stopped keeping track during a month I would have just given up all together.

Income for May was $3,465.86
Expenses were: $3,818.71

So I spent more than I earned, but as I mentioned the laptop was a huge expense, and I had saved up money for that.

Friday, June 5, 2009

Queen's Birthday Weekend

It is a public holiday here on Monday. It is now Friday 5:34pm so officially the long weekend :)

This week just gone has also been a four day week for me, I took Monday as annual leave and went back home.

Not much planned for this weekend. Tonight I have to iron as I have no clothes in my wardrobe (slight exaggeration, but really all the clothes left in my wardrobe are shorts/t-shirts - it is now officially winter here).

I'm going to see Angels and Demons tomorrow night with my brother and Dad. Last time we went to the movies I used movie money and also bought the popcorn/drinks - so I'm hoping this time my Dad will offer to pay. But it's always weird with him and money, if he does pay (in the sense that he pulls out his wallet first etc), you never know whether to offer to chip in or not. It seems if you do he refuses to take the money, but if you don't he thinks you should have.

Rest of the weekend will be work and study. I'm doing some extra work (marking) (which I have been doing for the past few weeks - it should add up to a nice little extra sum in my pay). And on a positive note - it looks like my comments "Do not use Wikipedia - it is not a scholarly source) has been heard by the students. I'm the first to admit I use Wikipedia sometimes for general knowledge - but not for postgraduate tax assignments!

Final exams are coming up (at least all my assignments are finished), and I have a conference paper to write which I'm starting to slightly panic about. I'm second author, but I'm basically taking the reins.

Credit card update May/June

It's going down!!!

On 1 May, I owed $22,016.77

On 1 June, I owed $20,690.52

I have completely paid off Card 1, which is the first card I've gotten rid of without any balance transfers. It was my smallest card, but it also had the highest interest rate.

Next challenge is to Tackle Card 2, it actually has the lowest rate but only until about September (it was a six-month balance transfer off), I need to check the exact date it will expire. I would love to be able to pay it off just through my salary, but if worst comes to worst I should hae a tax refund by then (in Australia our financial year runs from July-June each year).

Tuesday, June 2, 2009

Quick May round-up

How can it already be June??? The year has flown by.

My goals/plans for May were to study, lose weight, and save money.

STUDY
I completed my 7 assignments and 2 exams. Haven't gotten the marks back for a lot of them yet but I think most of them went well.

LOSE WEIGHT
That didn't really happen. As the weather has gotten colder I've been eating badly, and with the amount of study I had I didn't get to the gym much. Surprisingly though, I went back to Queensland for the weekend and everyone said I looked like I had lost a ton of weight. I know I had lost quite a bit since moving down in January, but everyone saw me just before Easter, and I really didn't think I had lost much (if any) between then and now.

SAVE MONEY
Update to follow. I can say that one more credit card is paid off in full. But I was absolutely terrible at keeping track of my money for May. During this week I'm going to try to reconcile it. I know how much money I had on 1st May, and how much I have now, so it shouldn't be too difficult. Pretty much anything I spend cash on is junk food or entertainment. But my expenses are going to be pretty high for the month - after all, I bought a laptop, but that came from savings so not too concerned.