Money matters

[BaDaBing]

Hi everyone,

I have just read something that has made me feel very relieved so I wanted to share it with you. I am doing a financial planning subject at the moment and in one of the text books it said it's common that most young families will tend to go through a period when their children are young where they spend more that what they earn.

I was so relieved to read this as I thought it was only me in this boat, I find myself constantly struggling to keep our head above water in the budget/finances pool and I barely succeed :o . I have felt like a failure as I see my SIL and friends who all seemed to be doing fine. I have no idea what they are doing differently to us but it is frustrating. :banghead:

I'm wondering, are other people in the same boat as me or are they more efficient with their money? :rolleyes:

[blessedmummy]

yeah, our money is ok i spose.. we get by ok, though there are a few debts though!:o (about $10,000 worth!!!:eek::o) but we are slowly paying them off.. prob take a while, but hey.. least we paying them! :)

[Mummy-2-2]

we have gone from two good incomes to one and are doing ok.

We have hit some tough times, but have managed to get rid of the credit cards and are working on the loan etc and are quite ok now. I dont feel the need to go back to work at all now and although we'll never own a house at this rate, Im happy with the way things are.

[mum2bubba]

At the moment we are on one income and we are doing ok, I need to fill in some forms for center link (again :rolleyes: ) and then we'd be doing a bit better. Center link sent us a "loveley" letter saying that we owe them $4000 :eek: but we rang up and told them that they had made a mistake and they agreed (after reviewing everything) phew!

[InSaneOne]

we seem to struggle too at certain times of the year. but some months we are fine and able to put away a little bit that helps when things all come at once. believe me we aren't extravagant spenders - we don't eat out (maybe once a week we order takeaway) we don't get new things (no clothes or magazines or video/dvd rental) our main form of entertainment is foxtel which we like to sit down and watch a movie after the kidlet is asleep. we are managing but it is so frustrating at times not to be able to buy something that you really like without having to save.

and i can so relate to the whole sil big spenders. my sil and her hubby are frequent visitors at the local tavern and spend up big on keno and on the pokies (she will quite happily feed $100 into the machines) and also larger drinkers. they always seem to be buying new things or making major improvements to their house (which they own outright)

it is not fair sometimes but hopefully we can all win in the end and be able to save someting for our futures.

[westerner]

i would like to think we are efficient with our money.. we have never gone without anything.. always get what we need and what... pays bills on time... have no debt... i credit this to having no credit cards and only spending money that we actually have..

is that an issue with spending money you dont have??? that would make it difficult to catch up and pay it back which may cause trouble... ( not sure if this relates to you or not.. )

every thing that needs to be paid gets paid first.. ie bills etc.. then shoppping (food) then money put away as savings and then extras if we choose to... we have never been in a bad situation because we have the attitude if we dont have the money for it we dont get it.. i think credit cards contribute in a very bad way and if you did have one that is adding to your money problems CUT IT UP... :shame:

but everyone goes through troubles when money is tight or they didnt budget properly or an unexpected bill pops up... never fear, its not just you and its not just young families either...

:fingerscrossed: to you and your family that you sort any problems out and get through it...

(and it can be overwelming so dont be afraid to ask for help organising a budget or plan to help you over come your money difficulties..)

oh yeh one last thing...
YOU ARE NOT A FAILURE... dont compare your self to your sil,friends or others because everyones situation is different.. good luck hunny


edited to add : one income and we are doing fine :thumbsup: regarding poll options...

[BaDaBing]

We have a fairly big mortgage repayment for just one wage and then on top of that we have an equity loan but no other credit cards. If we didn't have that equity loan, I don't think we would have survived this far, we surely would have had to sell our house.:thumbsdown:

I am doing a uni degree so I guess that makes me feel better in the fact that I know one day I will earn more money and be able to contribute more but then I worry we just spend more money on stuff that we don't really need anyway.

Its just a constant struggle and I get so sick of worrying about it! I think you ladies that are doing well are fantastic. I envy you.:o

[bubs_and_us]

we are in the "1 income and struggling to keep our heads above water"

i really do try, but sometimes its so hard. we have a personal loan, 2 credit cards and we are paying a ridiculous amount in rent! :thumbsdown:

we are definitely spending more than we earn some weeks, hence why im struggling to pay the credit cards off :banghead:

[*Chels*]

We live on one wage and centrelink assistance.
I mean,we arent poor or anything,our bills are always paid on time and we always eat but it does seem like we arent really getting anywhere!!
But we are saving for a $12,000 wedding so I guess thats why we arent getting anywhere LOL
Its very frustrating,that is why Im looking forward to going back to work someday.I cant imagine having a mortage on one wage!It would be impossible for us

[Milliner]

We are living on one wage at the moment, things are ok but we can't seem to save a thing. Bills bills bills. Thank god we don't have a mortgage to pay off.

[QTB]

we are on one income and doing ok... except hubbys stupid $450 phone bill! aghh we still manage to pay all our bills etc, we only have phone/power/rent and hubbys mobile bill no other debts we dont eat out at all, but i must admit i spend wayyyyy too much $$ on DS! but hes worth it!

[Mumma2Be1982]

We are living on one wage atm as we have a newborn son, we at one stage were struggling with a ridiculous credit card debt until my dad came to the rescue and paid it off for us, now we have no credit cards and definately not living above what we can afford and doing alot better for ourselves with a little extra spending money

[sugar n spice]

we are on one income and doing fine. We have a lrg home loan and average size c/c debt but thats all debt wise oh of course we have a store shop loan as well that is about to be paid off. other than that we are fine and have money left over most pays.

[LittleBoysRock]

We are one on income and we are ok I think. We have a bit of debt which we pay more than min amount. We have a bills account so the bills are always paid the day they come in. I would like a bit more free money to do what I want with but hey who wouldnt!!

Things are def a lot tighter than they were before children but we had two incomes then and didnt really live to a budget.

[Niki]

we are on one income and doing fine, sometimes we have a hard fortnight but not very often

[Cheekychops]

Our situation isn't up there.....ours is 1 and a bit!!!! I wouldn't call mine a wage, but it certainly helps - I get about 1/5 of a wage if that makes sense.....we are getting by sticking to a budget......we don't really have spare money but have chosen to send DS's to a christian private school - that's what my money goes towards......but if we weren't doing that I would say we are doing fine on one wage....

We have only one debt and that is 1/5 of the house......we own the other 4/5's......own our vehicles all our furniture etc......we were very wise/strict with our money right from the start and think that has made a huge difference!!!

[gremily]

I put 1 income and fine, although it's not like it isn't a struggle, we're kind of inbetween, but not bad enough to say we're drowning!

Some wks we struggle to do any food shopping, but just get as far as we can with what we've got. So long as the kids are well fed, that's ok for the moment.

Df is on the base rate in his work atm, but has great opportunities ahead. We knew it would be a struggle for a few yrs, when he change to this job, but we keep trying to look ahead. He had a great paying job, but it was monotonous and he hated it, especially after 10 yrs. Now he's in the job of his dreams, the pay is alright, but it can get extremely good.... something to look forward to.

Sometimes I have a cry, the rent's due, there's bills to pay, dd1 has an excursion coming up. There have been a couple of times that we've borrowed money from parents, which I am forever grateful for.

In years to come we'll look back on these times as building blocks. We've begun to manage our money better (ie I manage the money:D ) and don't go buying anything unnecessary, just the essentials.

I'd also like to add that even though we struggle, I couldn't imagine going back to work atm. DF is quite happy with that, and does what he can to compensate. I love him immensely for giving me the opportunity to be with our daughters as they grow.:kiss:

[HugsAndKisses]

i put two incomes and fine.....i think we do pretty well for ourselves. neither of us work full on and we manage to pay everything and have a bit left over most weeks....we do have tough times when DF doesnt have much work on, but when he does we do quite well:yes: we have a credit card but we only ever use it if we know for sure we'll be able to pay the full amount when the bill comes....we've never paid it late...

recently we have bought a car though which is 1500 all up but we are managing the repayments so far so:fingerscrossed:

[FourAngelKisses]

We have one income and we do okay some weeks, but most weeks we struggle really bad. :( It's hard when you have to say no to the kids all the time or when they have to miss out on school activities because you can't afford to send them. They understand why, but it still breaks my heart to have to say no.

[EskimoMumma]

We are on one income and are doing fine. Of course we are screwed when the car breaks down, but we manage :D

[jessgray]

we are on c/link payments and we do ok. we manage to pay our bills and rent and child care fees. there are times were we do fall behind in bills but we always get back on top of bills eventually lol. we have never had the gas or electricity cut off so we arent too bad at catching up :D
at the moment we are hunting for a new car coz our car is in need of fair bit of work and it would cost us more to fix it then to buy another one lol

[Rhoxie]

We are on one income and doing fine.
There is always plenty for bills and food etc we have a pretty good mortgage thank goodness and put quite a bit away for the children's future education and our own savings

Change of seasons always gets a bit tight though as quite often all three have out grown clothes and shoes.

I must say though we are rather frugal - don't go out much, and don't buy unneccessary new things. - I had a laugh the other day as I bought two new bath towels and I realised that I'd never actually bought bathtowels before we are still using the ones my dad let me take when I moved out of home 12 yrs ago and the one's we got as wedding presents nearly 10 yrs ago ! lol :laughing:

The main unnessary expense we have is the children's extra curricular activities - They all do swimming lessons, and the big two do little athletics and soccer and the munchkin has playgroup which add up to quite a bit but at the moment it's not killing us and they love their activities so it's not a problem.

[~Emmylou~]

We're on one and a half incomes - DH works part time - and about to have baby number two.

We don't live beyond our means, in the sense that we don't owe much on credit, but we do live from week to week usually. Most of the time we get by ok and if something really major comes up we have a credit card to fall back on but we don't use it much.

[pookiesossige]

One income, two kids, a morgage that takes up 75% of our entire income..... Yes, it's hard!!! We would never have been successful in our morgage application nowadays- but we got it when I was working also. But YAY we paid off our credit cards and chopped them up last week!! :smiliedance: It's little victories like that that keep us going :D

[grubindi]

we have 4 kids and only 1 income(dh) he is on avery very good wage and we get sfa from centrelink. we always have money and have no debts billas are paid when they come in. so in our case we are doing extraordinarily well:smiliedance:

[DQ]

We are just "plodding along".

One income, 4 kids, but we are happy.:smiliedance: We will probably have more bubbas too.

[MummyCharmzy]

We have one income and are doing fine, of course sometimes it can get a bit tight but for the very most part we are comfortable. I am quite frugal most of the time, I do splurge on my cloth nappies and the likes but I am good at saving money in other areas so I can afford to splurge hehe :D

[1+1=5]

wow everyone is doing really well! i was expecting more people to be in the same situation as us. we are drowning big time and we don't do anything. we live off DH's wage and FTB. i have no idea why we are the way we are. we don't go out, i haven't bought clothes for myself for about 4 years now (with the excpetion of a bra or two and some undies!), thats something i get as 'birthday presents' from mum. we are ALWAYS behind on bills and we don't own a credit card. we rent and we are always at home because we can't even afford the petrol or parking fees at the local shopping centre. food always runs out about two days before we get paid.
having said that, we are much better off now than we were a year or so ago when our food budget was anywhere between $30 and $70 a fortnight for the three of us. now we can afford between $100 and $150. yey.
i know it will get better because i'm studying and getting close to the finish line. i'm also greatful for the money that we DO have. we find ways of gettign what we need by selling off things on ebay or pawning DS's guitar equipment from his younger days....my old snoboard is next in line...nooooooo.lol.

[bpato]

Andrea

Don't stress we are in the same boat. I got paid yesterday (and yes I am a full time working mum, a teacher) and we have $60 left until DH get paid this time next week. Where the hell does it all go.

My wage littlerally pays the home loan, and it not the biggest loan either, under what we could afford at the time, but due to interest rate hikes it's getting up there, and paying mum to look after DS, and that is about it.

Both DH and I are workign professionals and what I wqould call your average wage, nothing speiacl. God know teachers don't get paid anything near what they are worth and neither does Dh, who was promised a pay rise over 2 years ago when he took on a new position. Well we are still waiting for that.................

We have 2 credit cards whcih are just about maxed out from buying groceries and those life neccisities, and god I even use claoth nappies to try and save money.

We just don't seem to be getting anywhere fast. Mind you all the bills are payed on time, most of the time anyway.

Oh we don't get a cent from the government either!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Well I have had my vent and will go and be dpressed about it else where now.

Belinda

PS can anyone tell me this weeks lotto numbers????????????????????????????

[jessgray]

i am dreading the christmas shopping lol my family is multiplying lol my bro has a kid on the way in early jan, #2 will be about 2 months old lol...and thereis 2 more bubs in the family born this yr.
argh...i should have done a christmas club thingy lol
i recently got a debit card i was all exited about getting one ( very sheltered i am lol) there is a unspoken rule here: jess isnt aloud ot have a credit card ever :laughing:

i am the one who keeps track of bills and how much we pay so if they are over due its my fault lol

[Becteria]

We have two incomes and a crazy mortgage plus the left over debt from last months wedding and my little shopping addiction reared it's head yesterday.

Oh well.

We're not that bad, we wish for things we dont need but we are very lucky to own our car, have a home and things to put inside it, the ability to earn an income and lots of lovely things (wedding gifts rock!) We have food, i spend about $350 a month on groceries for the three of us. Its crazy how much it adds up!

My work has just started doing income protection and life insurance - thats when I paniced. I didnt have insurance and neither did DH and I realised if i got sick (my major fear is cancer, it's always in the background since a close call with cervical cancer) or died that my family would be poverty stricken. So now I have to pay that premium as well as car insurance. But its worth it.

[countrymumof4]

we get by on one wage....my poor df has gone from only supporting himself to a family of 6 within a year.... a huge adjustment but he does a wonderful job:kiss: ....

[StarMumma]

I must show this thread to my DF as he seems to think EVERYONE bar us is doing so much better :rolleyes:
We have one income, one mortgage, too many credit cards and a car loan:o
But still we do ok. Most weeks we get by ok. We never borrow from family or friends and just make do with what we have.
Lots of times we live beyond our means, but the bills are always paid, mostly there is food in the house, petrol in the cars, etc
But there is nothing for the future or emergencies. DF's car is running c#*p at the moment and I only hope it survives until we get our tax cheque and we can get it serviced :fingerscrossed:
DF an I have differing opinions on money though, and this can cause lots of stress. More stress than money it's self:banghead:

[mumtofour]

We are on one income...nearly 4 kids, a mortgage & a car loan... We don't have any credit cards, We pay all of our bills weekly so that when they come in, there is little or nothing to pay. We have also just opened an ING account that DP puts 10% of his pay into each week..this is only in DP's name so I can't access it, which is a good thing:yelclap: , with a new bub on the way.

[Tizi]

I've just quit my job after only being back to work from maternity leave for 4 months. Dh was home with our youngest on long service leave for that time but now that we have to pay for daycare it's not worth me working. Half my wage would go on daycare!:eek: and I would hardly get to see my son so we've decided to give up my wage for the moment so I can stay at home with our little boy and my other two kids can have their mum at home in the afternoon when they get home from school too which they love:smiliedance:
I've only been home for a few days so we haven't experienced the one income yet and yes I am a little scared that we will struggle...but I feel like I've made the best decision for my children:D
I'll get back to you on the poll!

[Becteria]

Tizi - We did the same thing when Maikyra was 6 months old (i went back when she was 6 weeks). I have eased myself back into 2 days a week plus working from home.

Sure we ate all our savings away but are we happy? Hell yeah. Dont worry about money it will come to you... within reason, you know what i mean?

[mum2elouise]

We have just the one income - well, hubby works full-time and i'm a sahm to our 8 month old so i get the good old centrelink payments but it's not really that much... We are fine with our cash:thumbsup:

[BabyJoy]

We're on one very low income and rarely have our heads above the water... too depressing to even think about at the moment. I used to think I was good with money but then some days three bills come at once and it's such a struggle. We don't get anything from Centrelink - we just wait and see at tax time. We only got $500 for last financial year - and the government wants us to keep having babies!! Fat chance at our place. One baby is all we can afford. I absolutely HATE living hand to mouth!

[Rhoxie]

For those of you on low incomes you can get a low income health care card which can help get you discounts on your power bills, public transport and a few other things. I think from memory the cut off is around 33,000 per year or if you are on a variable income if you can supply 6-8 weeks of pay slips of a reduced income you can also qualify it.

We have one income which used to be way below the cut off for the health care card but is now just over (yay for payrises! :).

Here are some things that help us get by
1. Plan your meals for the week/fortnight so you know exactly what you need when shopping.
2. Check your local greengrocer to see if their prices are cheaper and if they are get all your vegies there.
3. If you have kids in school or regular activities see if you can car pool - all those little trips add up.
4. Home baking does save money. Esp for kiddy snacks - pikelets and home made muffins and biscuits can be made very cheaply. Most packet or jar dinner mixes can be made with a few basic ingredients a lot cheaper than the $3+ per jar - google recipes :)
5. Bulk billing doctors - find one !
6. Find a cheap hairdresser (ours does our whole family for $60)
7. Handme downs, Op shops and end of season sales are your friends !
8.Cloth nappies and bulk buying your nappies when on sale.
9. Join a freecycle web group where people give away items they no longer need.
10. Make an effort not to be a 'consumer'. There are a million and one things that you can 'want' but you probably don't actually need. Change your frame of mind.
11. If you have a skill or a service that you can 'trade' with friends then do so - eg I trade my hubby's IT skills for babysitting.
12. There are lots of fun things that you can do for little or no money - be creative.
13. The hardest part is the positive outlook if you let it depress you then it's easy to stuff things up and to wind up in a hopeless pit of dispair - I know we've been there! :) . Keep your chin up and be sensible and it's ok to say 'sorry but that's just not in our budget at the moment' :)

[Amberlea]

Im a single mum - so one income.. I work two jobs - both part-time and I manage to keep my head above water and pay what needs to be paid etc.
One job allows me to do computer work from home whenever I have a few hours free and I do housekeeping 3 days a week.
My income is approximately $31,000 before tax.

I'm not rich by any means (where are those lotto numbers that someone else asked for??), but I do get by and it all comes down to budgeting and working out what are necessities and what are "wants".

I shop once a fortnight at greengrocers and butchers (cheaper than supermarkets), and do the rest at Bilo/Safeway. I dont buy rubbish that I dont "need".
I do menu plans when I can be bothered - they do make a huge difference and theres no "oops I forgot that was in the fridge = yuck, in the bin it goes".
I pay everything weekly (phone, mobile [pre-paid], elec, rego, daycare, etc) and have an ING bank account that $40 a week goes into (I don't miss it when I can't see it)
I don't have credit cards - I have a visa debit for anything that requires one, If I want to buy something and don't have the money - I stick it on layby or go without.
I buy kids clothes on sale - I get winter things at the end of winter, and summer things at the end of summer etc.. major savings there.

Its not hard to survive on a minimal income - you just have to be sensible and work out what you can and can't afford, and moreso - what you really need.

(I budget my money well enough to still support my nasty smoking habit - and to treat myself to a drink each weekend :p)