Can I just ask, and you don't have to answer, but why wait till july to lodge? Is it for the end of financial year? Other wise it is just another month of debt piling up. I don't know if they have warned you of this but our trustee froze our bank accounts for a bit to ensure that everything we said was legitimate so just be prepared for that. Also they will want a fee as well but the amount depends on what is left in your estate. I felt horriible doing it, like I was chickening out of my debts by doing it, but we really had no choice, and the relief after lodgement was just palpable. You don't realise how much stress you are under sometimes until it is gone. Good luck.
Muminalice- We've stopped making payment to the debtors that will go onto the bankruptcy, so it won't make much of a difference except to stop the awful harrasing phone calls. As for the tax returns, its partly that but not really, we have some other stuff we need to sort out and we want to sell some little things aroudn the house to try to catch up on things liek the phone bill electricity etc so that its all in order. I think its just the best time for us to do it, also need to be sure that we hae a stable lease on our house as I knwo that bankruptcy can make getting a lease alot harder. On that note have you found it hard (if you rent) to get a place with the bankruptcy record?
Trust me, you're not the only one. The only way i have found works is to make a budget of everything that needs paying each week. For the bills, i pay $10-$30 on each depending on how much they are each month and i take a calculator with me to do the grocery shopping so i don't go over budget. We have avoided credit cards on purpose so we dont have debt. The only debt we do have is our mortgage.
Hi Ella, I haven't read everyones responses to your post so sorry it I am doubling up, I just wanted to quickly offer you some advice
We don't really talk to others about our money/finance because we know many people are doing it tough and we are doing 'ok' right now so don't want to seem insensitive. If people ask how we manage we are happy to tell them with the hope that they can reduce some of the stress surrounding their own situation. Basically when dh and I met 4 years ago we were thousands of $$$ in debt between the both of us. Since then we have paid that off, built a new house and furnished it with all new furniture including the big flat screen tv lol and purchased a new 2nd hand car. Now the only debt we have is the home loan. Most of the other stuff we bought outright there and then or with the bigger stuff we put it on GE and paid it off in the interest free time frame. We did this by allocating the money each fortnight to pay it off and kept it aside as if we had been paying it back to GE but that money was actually in our home loan account offsetting our home loan. The same goes for our credit cards, we purchase everything on them to get points and to make it easier to keep track of things and then we allocate the money aside each fortnight as if we had actually paid for it with cash rather than the credit card. That way when the bill comes we already have the money for it and never pay interest on the credit cards. The same goes for every living expense we have, the money is 'allocated' well before the bill comes in so we don't have to worry about having the money when it arrives. I can hear you saying "that's all fine if you have the money in the 1st place" which is true. The bottom line is that you either need to cull your living expenses until they do not exceed your joint income or you need to make more money. If your time is already full with working the hours you do than the only option is to get a higher paid job or to cull your living expenses. Then get yourselves out of debt and then once that's done you can start saving some money and you will slowly climb out of the rut. This really does take commitment from both you and your dh, you both have to be prepared to 'happily' go without to make sure your expenses don't exceed your income or 'happy' to work more hours or 'happy' to change to a higher paid job, 'happy' to sell everything you don't use or really need anymore 'happy' to down grade your cars or even 'happy' to move house or town to cull your living expenses. I hope that all makes sense and I haven't rambled too much!
Thanks everyone for replying, I must say that after having read everyones tips and stories this morning, the world isn't changing and I haven't discovered a way to save $1000 a week but I am starting to think more positively and getting a few ideas. I'm going to start a thread to get some people to lend me their meal plan lists that they do up for a week and see if I can do one of them. We eat very frugally but I'm sure there's another $5 I can save somewhere. Also I think I might go have another look at some more op shops this week as I'm in need of some maternity clothes and they're just too expensive from normal shops.
Thanks again and keep the stories coming. It's truly inspiring to hear from so many people of different walks of life!
Nothing like a cuddle from DD after a hard day's work!
Oct 2007
in my own world
3,267
Thinking positive is a great step!
With regards to mat clothes, i never bought any. I cut the front part of the elastics off my tights (which i got for $6 at SES (cheap store) and they worked great and i bought those baby doll dresses which you can also wear after your pregnancy.
Have you had a look at this site. The $120 Food Challenge
I was shown this at the weekend and some of the others know about it. When I get a bit of time I am going to try it. I haven't had time yet to take a good look at the site.
I've had a look at that site. Might try it myself. You do have to make just about everything from scratch though, including bread, but hey $60 a week for food aint bad.
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