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Spiteski posted:Kept the cost under 6 dollars, as opposed to the usual 10-15 too so not a total blow. I guess I can keep updating every week or so on saved money, and progress towards the not spending on poo poo. Or how about you account for every dollar of every week and total it up for us? You don't even know what you spend on half your expenses, so this would be a good start.
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Jun 3, 2015 12:33
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Nam Taf posted:Or how about you account for every dollar of every week and total it up for us? You don't even know what you spend on half your expenses, so this would be a good start. Ok so this week I've managed to have 140 saved with no other costs coming out until tuesday which will be next weeks running total. I'll do an itemized list tomorrow when I've got free time but for me ending the week without hitting 0 or close to it is pretty good.
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Jun 7, 2015 08:00
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Spiteski posted:Ok so this week I've managed to have 140 saved with no other costs coming out until tuesday which will be next weeks running total. Keep going with this. When you discover where you money is actually being spent it gives you a lot of power to focus on reducing spending.
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Jun 8, 2015 05:51
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You are absolutely not entitled to the accommodation supplement when you have no accommodation costs. Hopefully they don't check, otherwise that is another debt you'll need to pay back. Maybe you mean the accommodation benefit, but that is based on what part of the country you live in and has nothing to do with transportation costs. The only part of the scheme which covers transportation is Course Related Costs, which would be adding to your student loan. And again, thank you for using taxpayer dollars to fund your expensive party. I'm gonna be invited right? I want to benefit from my taxes. Edit: You have two cars? WOF costs? Rego costs? Are you going to do an oil change at some point in the next year?
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Jun 8, 2015 09:21
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ITM posted:You are absolutely not entitled to the accommodation supplement when you have no accommodation costs. Hopefully they don't check, otherwise that is another debt you'll need to pay back. Maybe you mean the accommodation benefit, but that is based on what part of the country you live in and has nothing to do with transportation costs. The only part of the scheme which covers transportation is Course Related Costs, which would be adding to your student loan. I did check this as soon as I saw it, but according to Studylink the caveat to the accommodation supplement is that you aren't entitled to it if you live with you parents unless you have a child, of which the OP has two. I am pretty sure it's legit. I'll admit I was surprised by the Working for Families when they don't work though. Still. Ehh, it would either be study assistance or the dole. I'd rather my tax went toward people trying to keep a roof over their heads while trying to study and better their employment outcomes rather than long term unemployed beneficiaries. OP has correctly asked for an asskick to cease said taxpayer party.
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Jun 8, 2015 10:10
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The recent budget announcement is also targeting more money for children especially to help children in poverty. So I'm not entirely surprised that these benefits work like that. Still waiting for this expenditure list. I was expecting something since I got home late from being at a marae.
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Jun 8, 2015 10:37
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Tamarillo posted:I did check this as soon as I saw it, but according to Studylink the caveat to the accommodation supplement is that you aren't entitled to it if you live with you parents unless you have a child, of which the OP has two. I am pretty sure it's legit. I'll admit I was surprised by the Working for Families when they don't work though. Still. Ehh, it would either be study assistance or the dole. I'd rather my tax went toward people trying to keep a roof over their heads while trying to study and better their employment outcomes rather than long term unemployed beneficiaries. OP has correctly asked for an asskick to cease said taxpayer party. Yea this is correct, having two kids puts us in eligibility for it, and its sweet F-all anyway. Working for families has two aspects, family tax credit, and in work tax credits. The former you are eligible for under any circumstance based on income, the latter you get if you are also working 30h+ a week. We only get the former part. Also it should be noted that we have cancelled the wedding ceremony and reception and are going to do a registry office thing and have a 5yr re-wedding when we're both working. So no more over-5g budget to save for. All savings are now going on credit card first (as partner is about to be interest free for duration of study once more) Sorry for not posting up the tally, had studying to do last night for an assessment, so here is the tally Starting money monday morning: $26 Tuesday Pay(WFF): $157 Wednesday Pay: $361 Carpoolers Pay: $80 Total after Income for week: $624 Petrol cost total: $133.20 Credit card payment: $160 Vodafone bill(monthly came out both phones): $79.14 IRD repay: $20 Fines repay: $10 Supermarket shopping: $68 (this included slightly more than normal with my take-in lunch items) 1x Weak rear end moment where I got a bakery breakfast and coffee: $9.70 Remainder at end of week: $153.96 So I had one day where I didn't resist, which was poos but miles better improvement than previously. After taking away my starting cash I am pretty much $124 saved and if you include the payment on the credit card I have saved a pretty decent chunk of cash this week. I'm thinking if I can continue at this pace, then whatever over 100 I have at the end of week I can increase as payment on credit card to help that go quicker. Obviously weekly expenditures will ebb and flow with timing of bill payments (IE, my phones dont come out weekly, and other weekly shops / doctors visits can through this off) I will say it was loving hard this week not buying stuff. Energy drinks are goddamn tempting. I also don't know how we'll go resisting using some of this money each weekend.
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Jun 8, 2015 19:57
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Spiteski posted:Yea this is correct, having two kids puts us in eligibility for it, and its sweet F-all anyway. Two things: 1. I think it's very smart of you to cancel the big wedding reception. At this point, you cannot afford it. Are you also canceling the honeymoon trip? Just because you are cancelling the formal reception doesn't mean you can't celebrate. Some of the best wedding celebrations I have ever been to are backyard bbqs with tons of friends and family. You could save up for a modest party and still celebrate this big event in your life. 2. You should set savings goals per week and put money away at the beginning of the week - before you are tempted to spend it on crap or on the weekend. Put $150 away and make it a game for everyone to get through the week on that amount. If you have leftover $, you can save that up for fun stuff.
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Jun 8, 2015 20:24
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Spiteski posted:Also it should be noted that we have cancelled the wedding ceremony and reception and are going to do a registry office thing and have a 5yr re-wedding when we're both working. So no more over-5g budget to save for. All savings are now going on credit card first (as partner is about to be interest free for duration of study once more)
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Jun 8, 2015 20:25
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ufsteph posted:Two things: It depends on what happens with the family that was giving us the 5g for a proper wedding. We're going to see what they feel about us having a bbq thing and using the rest for a honeymoon trip to the south island. If not, then no honeymoon or at least nothing that involves big travel expense. After talking it over for a few days we are surprisingly ok with having a teeny party instead of a typical wedding.
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Jun 8, 2015 21:10
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Thanatosian posted:I know this sucks from the perspective of "we really wanted a huge wedding," but good on you for starting to take your finances seriously. Echoing this, it stinks you've had to change your plans but you've just removed a huge financial stressor, and if you can keep up the good work you will be well on your way to paying off your debt by Christmas and then actually saving real proper money afterwards.
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Jun 8, 2015 21:17
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Good job on buying less stuff this week and extra good job on canceling the big wedding plans. You made a sacrifice there that will really help you.
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Jun 9, 2015 19:53
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Well we've heard back from the family who were going to give us the money and they've said they'd rather not still give it to us if it's not going to be a large wedding, but instead my partners parents have given us 500 and my brother has given 1000 to put towards rings, some food and alcohol and the registry costs. So that's cool. Were going to have a look at what that gives us as options to do and see how much of it we'll use up.
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Jun 14, 2015 03:07
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Take the word "wedding" out and put the word "party" or "celebration" in. Can you plan a kickass party for all your friends and family for $1500 it so? Of course you can! Get creative with food (or do a pot luck), buy alcohol at market prices, host it at someone's home who likes guests and has a secluded yard, have the amateur stereo family member DJ - the sky's the limit!
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Jun 14, 2015 12:13
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Just a quick update; I have managed to get another bank's offer of interest free loan up to 2500 for the duration of study + 2 years after completing study (2 years after is more than my current bank offered) in order to avoid that fuckaround with my current back refusing to change my credit card to their interest free overdraft account. So I've taken 2000 as the overdraft limit, paid off the entire credit card and transferred my savings into the overdraft which is now sitting at -$1100 all up. So I no longer have any interest bearing debt. My partner has successfully changed their account back to a student account and her overdraft is no longer bearing interest either. Once my overdraft is paid off completely we plan to reduce it to the minimum 400 and then work on paying hers off. Without needing to plan saving for a big wedding, we're looking on pretty good track to get rid of debt before we finish studying completely and have a nice little egg saved or at least cover any surprise expenses.
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Jul 6, 2015 01:17
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This is a much better position to be in and you're getting the most out of the student deals as well. Stay on track.
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Jul 6, 2015 01:59
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Spiteski posted:Just a quick update; I have managed to get another bank's offer of interest free loan up to 2500 for the duration of study + 2 years after completing study (2 years after is more than my current bank offered) in order to avoid that fuckaround with my current back refusing to change my credit card to their interest free overdraft account. So I've taken 2000 as the overdraft limit, paid off the entire credit card and transferred my savings into the overdraft which is now sitting at -$1100 all up. So I no longer have any interest bearing debt. Yeeeeahhhh winner winner chicken dinner! Good work!
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Jul 6, 2015 07:43
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It's good that you got that new loan, but you should still create a reasonable budget and focus on not wasting money on junk.
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Jul 6, 2015 18:26
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ufsteph posted:It's good that you got that new loan, but you should still create a reasonable budget and focus on not wasting money on junk. Yea this is the main focus at the moment. We've managed to cut out energy drinks and all fast food. Though we have still on occasion given in and bought a couple pies at the bakery for lunch. It's a huge improvement over semi daily takeaways. But it still leaves us room for improvement.
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Jul 6, 2015 22:18
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