Update on my second job

I thought I should give an update on my second job.

Unfortunately, the managers decided to wind back the work and there is nothing for me to do. I haven't had a shift since October 2016 and there is no work in the foreseeable future. Not just for me, for all the employees.

In some ways, since I've spent a lot of time dealing with the separation from my husband, this has been a good thing. I've also noticed that I've been able to be more productive in my day job because I'm not as tired from the weekend work.

In positive income news, I received a raise in August which was worth more than my part time job was annually. That has certainly helped things significantly. I'm very aware of how lucky I am to have such a great job, and to have a generous pay increase thanks to moving up through the bands within our Enterprise Bargaining Agreement. As long as I can demonstrate that I'm performing my role and learning and growing each year, I *should* get a progression. So there is a possibility of a similar raise again this coming August, but I'm not going to count my chickens before they hatch there. Things are tight in my work industry, but as far as I'm aware from my Manager, progression payments have been circled off from any cutbacks.

Not having the second job has meant that I've also been able to be more present for my family through some pretty difficult times in the last few months. We've had illnesses and we lost one of my grandparents early this year so being able to drop everything and be there was important.

As my daughter gets older, I find myself not wanting to make sure that I can be present for her, and as she gets older her schedule with her own Dad (who she normally visits every other weekend) becomes more unpredictable. Working a weekend job and unpredictable teenager schedules doesn't really work. Perhaps losing the job was a blessing in disguise.

Financially, I haven't found its made any difference, thanks to the raise. Actually, having that extra income this year would have pushed me into a higher tax bracket, increased the amount I'd have to pay in levies through my tax, and removed the very small amount of social security assistance that I receive. I'd be working harder, for very, very little, if any, gain.

I'll keep my ears open and if a lucrative opportunity comes up I'll grab it, but otherwise I'm going to leave the second job for the time being.

Personal finance blogs

I'm re reading the wonderful archives of www.bloggingawaydebt.com

Tricia was such a wonderful inspiration to me. Now I'm up to 2010 and Bek's. I'm heartened to think that these wise women clawed their way out of debt.

I can too.

Another week until I get paid. The challenge for this week is to spend as little as possible.

I'm sitting on my couch and it is cold. But instead of hitting the button on the heater, I've put a beanie on. An extra jumper. Bed socks. I'm still cold but it's passable.

I'd rather be cold than have to pay more for gas this month. I want to put that money towards my debt.

Bills account

I have a bills account that I pay a set sum into each fortnight when I get paid.

This fortnightly amount is slightly more than all of the upper limits of my known expenses (PO Box, water, electricity, wood, gas, healthcare, grooming, clothing, insurances etc) annually, divided by 26. So I always have enough to pay my bills with some to spare. 

I paid my PO Box last fortnight but with my credit card, because that's the only payment method they take. The PO Box renewal is $129 annually.

What I forgot to do was transfer the money from my bills account to my credit card! I have the money for this expense saved in my bills account, so I'm robbing myself if I don't transfer it immediately - and risking being charged interest! 

As you know, I've paid my credit card down so that there is only a $100 balance remaining in total so I've transferred $100 this morning. It will take a day or two to come across but will mean that my credit card will be completely paid off. Woo!! It also means that there is an extra $29 sitting in my bills account... which is fine. I like having a bit of a buffer there in case of an emergency.

The bills account has a built in buffer thanks to my over-estimating, so it also acts as my emergency fund. It has a floating balance usually of around $1000 - $1500, but is currently a little depleted due to some unexpected bills thanks to some personal issues that I'll go into later.

I'll update balances and net worth when the transfer is completed :)

Everything has changed

So big changes around here.

My husband and I separated.

That was... hard and expensive.

He had signed my daughter up for a phone plan, and with the separation that bill now comes to me. I'm annoyed about that, but there's not much I can do about it.

We'd also purchased a large TV together, and because its staying in my home, that bill is also now mine.

I basically got nowhere for a few months. So frustrating.

Then my parents agreed to go guarantor on a house loan for me, so I could get my own place.

And then they changed their minds. Which is fine.

Dad instead suggested that they could pay out my existing loans, and I could repay them at 0% interest and so get ahead a bit quicker and into my own place without help.

That was very, very kind of him, and I took him up on that offer.

So, as it stands today:

I owe my Dad $32,178.

I owe $100 on my credit card (which has been put away and will not be used unless I can immediately transfer cash to pay off whatever purchase I'm making - therefore making it a cash purchase).

I owe $2335 to the TV debt. (also at 0% interest)

My Dad has asked that I pay him back in lump sums. So I'm saving the payments to him in a separate bank account and tracking my payments using NetWorthIQ.com

My net worth, when I started it last week was -$35,513

My current net worth is -$34,113

Its annoying that I'm higher again than when I started, but I've gone back to basics again and I've also done some tweaking to my budget to free up some extra cash.

I have been really distracted with the ending of my marriage and some family crises but I am absolutely determined to get out from under this debt as soon as humanly possible.

I think I'll try and say something every day about debt and debt reduction... to keep me accountable and motivated.