Taking Stock of my $$$

I decided enough was enough and put 30 minutes aside each night to sort out my finances, get my 2011 budget finalised and complete all pending items to do with $$$. I entered the most important jobs in my calendar as to do them in small blocks of time. This way I aim to reach my own goals and those that the Financial Coach encouraged in my FREE 1 hour one on one meeting.

I have a great Japanese Budget Diary I purchased in Paris earlier this year - but have not used it to it's full capacity. So I pulled it out of my handbag along with my wallet and got busy.

My 5 year old wallet and 2011 Diary

I went through all my dockets, entered amounts into my diary and placed them straight into the rubbish bin when completed. My wallet in now manageable and I feel such a relief after putting this boring job on hold for so long - and actually it was not boring, it was surprising pleasant and freeing.

Updating my spendings and up coming events.

I then entered all the fun free activities and other events that are happening around my town so as to keep on top of all opportunities.

I've found spreadsheets and electronic diaries don't really work for me. However I love note books and hard copy diaries. What about you, what works for you? How do you keep track of your finances? Do you budget, use jars, keep tabs, have envelopes?

Money Coach

Four and a half years ago we had nothing but a great social life and casual unstable jobs. We made changes by eliminating the expensive fun and all the small purchases we made because "we deserved them". We got ourselves an apprenticeship and a scholarship where we were paid a small but liveable wage to learn and skill up. During this year of learning we lived in a super cheap derelict unit (that we painted and cleaned) for 2 months, housesat for 5 months and lived in my mums 1 bedroom unit for about 6 months where we just paid her rates, bills and fees.

In that year we managed to save our tiny combined wages into a home deposit. We searched for a home for 3 months looking for a suitable unit under $220,000 which was hard in our small but expensive city. After 36 properties we found our unit and bargained down the price by $5,000 just because my books taught me to always try.

Within the next 2 years we gained stable permanent employment and paid weekly extra's into our home loan due to reading an inspiring book Your Mortgage And How To Pay It Off in 5 Years. We've been unit owners for 3.5 years. Last week I asked the bank how we were with our loan. I blushed with happiness when told we were paid up until July 2031!!!! We are 20 years ahead! However we also owe the Govt 26% of our unit which they own :-(

In the past 3 years I learnt about simple living and frugality. I stopped buying a new "treat" magazines every week (minimum 362$ per year) and as I became more eco conscience decided to stop purchasing new items as best as I could. Then I discovered Blogs! They taught me many tricks of the trade, kept me on track, challenged me further and I now love being a frugalistic woman. Allowing us to save and place money in nice safe, savings accounts.

Left Over Notes From Our Recent Trip - 6 Countries!

In todays free Money Coaching session I spilled my money woes, aspirations and future dreams. Tony drew pictures, explained concepts and gave me some tips on what I need to do pronto to save and protect some of our hard earned money. He also told me I need to get our money working for us and not sitting lazily in low interest savings accounts. This I knew but the unknown is so scary as we saved hard our small but growing pile of cash.

Here are some of the items he told me I should action now:

• Put the Govt owned portion of our home into our home loan. (property inflation is more costly then the interest)
• Get our will written. (Our will kit has been sitting in the cupboard unopened for 3 yrs)
• Put our savings finances together the Rambling Expat and I. (So that it has more strength)

The Financial Coaching services are EXPENSIVE for a miser like me and very daunting. But we've read countless books and still fear the Big Bad financial world. We will think carefully during the next couple of weeks and see if it's something we want to pay for, to help us along in making informed choices, financial freedom, passive incomes and early retirement.

Meanwhile I will keep to being frugalistic happy and use up all or most of the food I have in my home before buying more food this week. Tonight I made pasta sauce with 3 soft tomatoes, a few wilting basil leaves, a little rock salt and black pepper, a generous spoon of garlic and a dash or water. Placed on 3 types of pasta shapes with a sprinkling of grated cheese.

Home Made Tasty Pasta Sauce

For lunch I ate 2 avocados I had sitting on my desk from last week. Today was a no spend day and as a bonus I sold a book on Fishpond bringing in 13.88$ for our Borneo trip, after postage, book cost and selling fees.

As the coach said; I need to have every 1$ working for me. Well I'm earning and saving those dollars right now to get them working for me real soon.

Please do comment. Your thoughts, feedback and hello's make me very happy indeed. And to all my followers Thank You. You push me to keep writing and analysing my life. It's a good thing.