I mentioned a while ago that I had spent most of a weekend doing some extra work - marking assignments (such a joyful job!) I got paid for it last week - came in with my normal salary.
Basically, I did an extra 13 or so hours extra work, for $488.74, which is great. However, 45.9% was taken out for tax, so the extra cash I received in my pay was $264.74. Obviously I'm still happy for the extra pay, but I will be looking forward to doing my tax this year because I think I will be due a large refund.
I looked up the salary sacrifice policy for laptops, filled out the form and sent off my receipt, so hopefully that will be processed and I will get the money refunded in my next pay or so. I have enough in my short-term savings to pay for the laptop I bought (well, all bar $50), but it would be nice to be able to pay for my laptop, keep some in short-term savings and be able to put the rest to a credit card.
I think the next couple of months will be better financially - I'm continuing to do extra marking, and it looks like my work will pay for part of my Masters, so should get $2,000 mid year. (But until it is actually in my bank account I'm not counting on it!) Then hopefully I'll get my tax refund around August.
Monday, May 18, 2009
House valuation
As I've mentioned previously, I own an investment property with my brother, which we purchased in March 2007. We had a valuer come today to re-value it. Even those recently house prices seem to have dropped, they still look like they have increased a lot since we we bought the property.
We aren't planning on selling/refinancing anytime soon, but it would be nice knowing we had more equity in the house.
When we bought it, it had been originally listed for $449K, dropped to $429K and we ended up paying $420K. I'm hoping that at a minimum, the valuation comes back above $450K.
We aren't planning on selling/refinancing anytime soon, but it would be nice knowing we had more equity in the house.
When we bought it, it had been originally listed for $449K, dropped to $429K and we ended up paying $420K. I'm hoping that at a minimum, the valuation comes back above $450K.
Thursday, May 14, 2009
Completely random post
1. I'm using my new laptop! :) Loving the laptop, hating Microsoft Vista. As much as I hate 2007 Office. What was wrong with XP and Office 2003?
2. I'm very short - usually don't mind too much, but my light bulb blew in my room on the weekend. Even standing on a chair, neither my flatmate (who is only slightly taller than me) or I can reach to change the stupid thing! My brother was meant to come over last night to fix it but was busy, and now he is sick (called me today and he sounded terrible, and obviously his health is more important than a light globe, but it's still annoying!) Maybe I should start making friends with some tall neighbours? (I live in an apartment building).
3. I'm hungry, and the orange poppyseed cake I have in the oven isn't exactly a suitable dinner! (Taking it in to work tomorrow). In one of those, "I just won't eat because I don't know what I want and can't be bothered cooking anything" moods.
2. I'm very short - usually don't mind too much, but my light bulb blew in my room on the weekend. Even standing on a chair, neither my flatmate (who is only slightly taller than me) or I can reach to change the stupid thing! My brother was meant to come over last night to fix it but was busy, and now he is sick (called me today and he sounded terrible, and obviously his health is more important than a light globe, but it's still annoying!) Maybe I should start making friends with some tall neighbours? (I live in an apartment building).
3. I'm hungry, and the orange poppyseed cake I have in the oven isn't exactly a suitable dinner! (Taking it in to work tomorrow). In one of those, "I just won't eat because I don't know what I want and can't be bothered cooking anything" moods.
Keeping track of things
When I posted my April summary, a reader asked how I kept such good track of my expenses etc.
Well to be honest, this month I've been incredibly slack with keeping track of what I'm been spending.
But in terms of what I try to do:
I keep a separate diary for keeping track of money - instead of writing appointments etc each day I write expenses/income. I keep all my receipts - I just put them in a plastic container until the end of the month.
At the end of the month I go through my receipts and check off all of them to make sure I put them in my money diary. I then go online and look at my bank statements etc to keep track of interest, bank fees, any direct debits, and will ocassionally pick something up I used EFTPOS for but didn't have a receipt.
Then I put it all into Excel and voila!
The problem is when I spend cash (usually on junk food!) that I don't keep track of. So I'm the first to admit that my monthly summaries will not always been to the cent accurate. I sometimes will put in a round figure if I remember buying something but can't remember exactly what.
I generally try to pay for things with EFTPOS, and even if I pay with cash try to get a receipt.
I have an accounting degree, in theory I should be able to reconcile everything each month so I know what is missing (or at least the amount), but I'd probably end up tearing my hair out! This way, it may not always be 100% accurate, but it's pretty close, and I'm more likely to keep doing it.
Well to be honest, this month I've been incredibly slack with keeping track of what I'm been spending.
But in terms of what I try to do:
I keep a separate diary for keeping track of money - instead of writing appointments etc each day I write expenses/income. I keep all my receipts - I just put them in a plastic container until the end of the month.
At the end of the month I go through my receipts and check off all of them to make sure I put them in my money diary. I then go online and look at my bank statements etc to keep track of interest, bank fees, any direct debits, and will ocassionally pick something up I used EFTPOS for but didn't have a receipt.
Then I put it all into Excel and voila!
The problem is when I spend cash (usually on junk food!) that I don't keep track of. So I'm the first to admit that my monthly summaries will not always been to the cent accurate. I sometimes will put in a round figure if I remember buying something but can't remember exactly what.
I generally try to pay for things with EFTPOS, and even if I pay with cash try to get a receipt.
I have an accounting degree, in theory I should be able to reconcile everything each month so I know what is missing (or at least the amount), but I'd probably end up tearing my hair out! This way, it may not always be 100% accurate, but it's pretty close, and I'm more likely to keep doing it.
Monday, May 11, 2009
A very big spending day
Surprisingly, weekends for me are often my "better" spending days (ie. I spend less). A lot of the time during the week I waste a lot of money on buying lunches, snacks, etc. Obviously there are times when I have plans for the weekend, but often I am at home studying. (Dreaming of what my life will be like when I have finished my post-grad courses and have weekends to myself!)
This weekend wasn't one of them. Saturday was fine, I bought a loaf of bread but that was it, but yesterday.....
I BOUGHT A NEW LAPTOP!
I've mentioned quite a few times on my blog that I needed a new computer. As much as I loved my old one, he turns seven next month - which is above and beyond the life expectancy of a laptop!
With the $900 bonus from the government, I had $1,200 in a "short-term" savings account which I had allocated in my head to a new laptop.
I saw what I thought was a decent one, my brother (who is much more computer savvy than me) agreed, so I bit the bullet and bought it.
It was $1,297 - aToshiba Satellite L300/0WC Notebook, and came with bonus Microsoft Home and Student 2007.
I'm still using my old computer to write this, I had so many assignments to do over the weekend, and spent a couple of hours going to buy the computer, so didn't have time to start playing with it.
I'm personally not a fan of Vista or Office 2007 - I prefer XP and Office 2003 - but I guess I need to keep up with the times.
So it was about what I was looking at spending, and when I get into work today (which I should be leaving for in about 7 minutes), I'm going to look at the salary sacrifice plan - apparently you can just fill in a form, take your receipt for the computer in, and they will refund the amount and then start deducting it from your salary. If I can't do that it's not a big deal because I had saved the money up, but if I could do it, it will be nice to still have money in my savings account!
This weekend wasn't one of them. Saturday was fine, I bought a loaf of bread but that was it, but yesterday.....
I BOUGHT A NEW LAPTOP!
I've mentioned quite a few times on my blog that I needed a new computer. As much as I loved my old one, he turns seven next month - which is above and beyond the life expectancy of a laptop!
With the $900 bonus from the government, I had $1,200 in a "short-term" savings account which I had allocated in my head to a new laptop.
I saw what I thought was a decent one, my brother (who is much more computer savvy than me) agreed, so I bit the bullet and bought it.
It was $1,297 - aToshiba Satellite L300/0WC Notebook, and came with bonus Microsoft Home and Student 2007.
I'm still using my old computer to write this, I had so many assignments to do over the weekend, and spent a couple of hours going to buy the computer, so didn't have time to start playing with it.
I'm personally not a fan of Vista or Office 2007 - I prefer XP and Office 2003 - but I guess I need to keep up with the times.
So it was about what I was looking at spending, and when I get into work today (which I should be leaving for in about 7 minutes), I'm going to look at the salary sacrifice plan - apparently you can just fill in a form, take your receipt for the computer in, and they will refund the amount and then start deducting it from your salary. If I can't do that it's not a big deal because I had saved the money up, but if I could do it, it will be nice to still have money in my savings account!
Monday, May 4, 2009
Progress Bars
I've started making progress bars for my blog. It is great to visually see how much you have paid off/saved. EG: I've been thinking I've barely made a dent in my credit card debt, but I have paid off almost 14%. That isn't to be sneezed at.
A huge thanks to Stacking Pennies, who posted a blog entry on how to make the progress bars. (I'm pretty incompetent when it comes to html!)
A huge thanks to Stacking Pennies, who posted a blog entry on how to make the progress bars. (I'm pretty incompetent when it comes to html!)
Swine flu
Unless you been living under a rock for the last week, you will have heard of Swine Flu, which from what I understand from watching Sixty Minutes last night, it is combination of a pig (swine) virus; a bird virus; has been passed from pigs to humans and now can be passed from human to human.
It is officially known as Influenza A(H1N1) and more information can be found on the World Health Organisation website.
Obviously any new disease is a concern, particularly when there is no vaccine. But this is a time when I think the news is doing more harm than good in terms of causing panic.
According to the WHO, as at 06:00GMT 4 May 2009, 20 countries have reported 985 cases. There have been 25 deaths, all in Mexico. There haven’t been any deaths in any other countries.
Obviously it’s upsetting that people have died, but in the grand scheme of things – and this will sound callous - but 25 people really isn't that many. My hearts go out to the families of the people who have died, but the way it is being discussed on the news/current affairs, you would think there are people lying dead in the streets worldwide.
In 2006 there was Bird Flu; and in 2004 there was SARS – and yet we have survived.
In the last week signs have gone up in all the toilets at the uni I work at, saying protect yourself from Flu by covering your mouth when you cough; using tissues; disposing of tissues properly; and washing your hands. Shouldn’t people be doing that anyway? I mean, I work at a university – if people are university students and don’t know to wash their hands and to use tissues – heaven help us.
So far the WHO hasn’t released any information on the economic impact of Swine Flu, but with the economy the way it is, and even just the flu season in general, I think people will be going to
work even when they are sick.
If you are a casual employee and take a sick day, you don’t get any pay, I’ve already heard of a lot of casuals getting their hours reduced so they won’t want to lose any more.
Even if you get sick leave, if you are concerned about redundancies, you may not want to take any sick days in case your boss thinks you are just “chucking a sickie”.
It is officially known as Influenza A(H1N1) and more information can be found on the World Health Organisation website.
Obviously any new disease is a concern, particularly when there is no vaccine. But this is a time when I think the news is doing more harm than good in terms of causing panic.
According to the WHO, as at 06:00GMT 4 May 2009, 20 countries have reported 985 cases. There have been 25 deaths, all in Mexico. There haven’t been any deaths in any other countries.
Obviously it’s upsetting that people have died, but in the grand scheme of things – and this will sound callous - but 25 people really isn't that many. My hearts go out to the families of the people who have died, but the way it is being discussed on the news/current affairs, you would think there are people lying dead in the streets worldwide.
In 2006 there was Bird Flu; and in 2004 there was SARS – and yet we have survived.
In the last week signs have gone up in all the toilets at the uni I work at, saying protect yourself from Flu by covering your mouth when you cough; using tissues; disposing of tissues properly; and washing your hands. Shouldn’t people be doing that anyway? I mean, I work at a university – if people are university students and don’t know to wash their hands and to use tissues – heaven help us.
So far the WHO hasn’t released any information on the economic impact of Swine Flu, but with the economy the way it is, and even just the flu season in general, I think people will be going to
work even when they are sick.
If you are a casual employee and take a sick day, you don’t get any pay, I’ve already heard of a lot of casuals getting their hours reduced so they won’t want to lose any more.
Even if you get sick leave, if you are concerned about redundancies, you may not want to take any sick days in case your boss thinks you are just “chucking a sickie”.
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