My Journey to Eliminate Debt

It's easy to get so caught up in things that we forget to enjoy the moments. I've been really aware that I need to start doing things for myself again, and start to get some balance in my life. Since my husband lost his job and Dad got ill, I think I have just been in survival mode. And it's been difficult to really take time out for myself each day. But I know I have to try and de-stress if I don't want to end up sick. So I've been trying to spend more time outside in the (sadly neglected) garden.

It is beautiful winter weather here at the minute. We have huge frosts in the mornings, freezing temperatures, followed by lovely sunny winter days, with sunshine and clear blue sky's. It's perfect weather to be outside for a couple of hours after lunch. About 4 pm the cold comes down and it's back inside in front of the heater again.

There is a lot of bird life here and you can hear them most of the day when the TV or radio is off. I planted trees close to the house so that we would attract them into the yard. The rosella at the top is one of pair that visit my fruit trees each morning. We also have a little starling that taps on the window each morning until we open the blind in the kitchen. He likes to torment the cat! I'll see if I can get a photo of them one day.

In the evenings there are hundreds of little pink and white galahs in the reserve opposite. They wheel about over our house noisily before settling down for the night. Sometimes they settle down in front of our house, hundreds of them! I just love it! I really would love to live in the bush, out of town if I could. We had a galah as a pet when we were kids.

I have been trying to take some time to myself to sit outside on the veranda in the afternoons. Just to unwind a bit at the end of the day. Yesterday the galahs decided to settle just opposite the house, close to the road. This photo only shows about 1/3rd of them.





As I was standing in my garden taking these photos they got a fright and all flew off, squawking.



I just kept snapping pictures while they were flying all around me... It was really a great feeling to be in the midst of it... mind you the car you can just make out in the bottom of the picture had to slam on the brakes!


On the business front the news is good. I already have a couple of new clients, and I am going to look at a room to rent in the second location tomorrow. Things are going well, and I'm feeling optimistic.

Something really good happened yesterday! I found out that the pay office have been calculating my leave & entitlements as if I were a part time employee instead of fulltime. I guess someone just hit the wrong button. I have queried my leave balances a couple of times and yesterday I finally found someone who took me seriously and got to the bottom of it. Instead of NO leave I had LOTS of leave!

I had enough sick leave to cover all the time off over the last few weeks.
I have 4 weeks annual leave owing!! This will help me cover that first month in business while I build up an income.
I also have 7 days of professional leave owing which I will am going to take ASAP.

The end result is that I will be on paid leave again by this time next week for three weeks!!!
This is all 'extra'leave, not annual leave, I have to take it now or I lose it as we don't get paid for it if we resign. It will give me time to get organised.

Yesterdays business planning progress:

• I purchased the report writing software, now I can start setting up templates

• I got a call offering me room in the town I live in, it's a great set up. Lovely rooms and old established gardens. Nice people to share with. I have taken it 2 days a week for $110

• I looked through the rooms in the other town, they are pretty basic, not really as nice as I would like, so I will keep looking and see if I can find something a bit better

• I got a phone call from someone who heard 'on the grapevine' I might be back in business asking me if I wanted referrals yet.... of course I said yes!!
  

Bring it on!!

Quick progress report on what I did yesterday:

I made an appointment today to look at some rooms for rent in the 2nd location about 45 kms away. They offer daily room rates which is what I need at the start.

I signed up for the web based program that will run all my business documentation, clients, finances, reporting. I took monthly payment option ($80 per month + sms charges). It has a great system that automatically sms's every client in my appointment calendar 24 hours before to confirm the appointment. I am paying monthly to start but later I can pay yearly and save 10%.

My daughter spent 3 hours yesterday entering all the referrer and contact information into the system. I paid her $45 to do it for me. It would have taken me a lot longer!

I have paid up my professional registrations, I will be talking to the indemnity insurance guy today and also asking him about income protection insurance.

I have to admit to a few moments of anxiety about the finances but I opened my emails and a colleague has emailed me to see if I am wanting to take on more clients which encouraged me. I will call her today.

I contacted my old landlady and she does not have a room for me rent regularly which means I need to find new rooms here where I live. I have contacted some agents and will be looking at some rooms on Friday.

Better dash...

Now that I have made the decision to re-open my business I am working flat out to get myself organised ASAP. I have set the start date for the 1st of August. That gives me six weeks to finish up at my current job, find business premises, do some marketing and promotion and set up all my files, paperwork, billing etc. I am going to use a mainly paperless system so that will take a bit of organising and a lot of scanning of documents. Everything will be kept on my laptop and printed off only if needed. All my client records will be kept online in a secured system.

• organise rooms to rent for both locations, must have internet access
• purchase account / record / appointment/ finance software
• purchase report writing software
• create business document templates
• transfer client paper files to computerised system
• design and print business services brochures
• write marketing materials and distribute + advertise last week in June
• create referral / marketing database
• build new business website
• upgrade professional indemnity insurance
• contact providers and negotiate contracts
• get stationary printed with new addresses

... I'd better get cracking!!

Rant warning! I just got an email from my new boss that has helped me make a decision about leaving work to start my own business up again sooner rather than later! I am due back on Monday after 3 weeks off sick. One of the reasons I am sick is because I am tired, stressed, overworked and run down. My colleague left at the start of the year and has not been replaced. So I am doing the work of two full time employees. I should be getting paid extra for this, (an extra 1/3 rd my wage), however they have been able to come up with a range of reasons, so that I don't get an extra cent.
I've been warning them that the situation is impossible, and in fact risky, for months now. At a meeting 6 weeks ago my concerns were dismissed and since then things have only got worse with several very serious situations happening.

Anyway the email was to say (pardon my sarcasm!)

" We know that you are overworked and underpaid and dealing with crisis situations of the VERY worst kind on a weekly basis, and we REALLY appreciate how hard you work and the extra hours you put in, and you are just wonderful but guess what, we still won't be replacing your colleagues position for a while longer, and we still won't be paying you extra, or giving you any extra help at all, because we know that you are superwoman and you won't mind...

In fact we know that, like most people who work in the helping professions, you will just do the extra work and deal with the crisis, and work late for nothing extra because you really do care about the kids you work with and so we can take advantage of that and get more value for our money.

We are very sorry you have been so sick to have missed three weeks off work, it has been really inconvenient for us, and we really need you to come back because the work has piled up enormously while you where gone, mainly because we didn't replace you, it saved us three weeks wages!!! and my budget is going to look fantastic for this financial year! What a great impression that will make for my first year in the job! I may even get a bonus for saving so much money!

So glad to hear you are on the mend, and by the way if there is any thing at all that I could do to help, (apart from employ someone, pay you extra, actually realise how serious the situation is, or talk to you in person as I have on 1 occasion in the last 6 months, or actually visit your place of work, or communicate with you about what is going on ) then please don't hesitate to ask, I am here to help you ...

regards

your new boss who is going to get the shock of his life when I resign in a months time and he has no staff for two locations"


I wanted to wait until my husband got a job till I left but I have decided to take the leap and just leave in about 4-6 weeks and be self employed again. I can earn at least double the income I currently earn when I am up to speed so I am making plans and moving on!

It seems to be the week for it, a few other bloggers are pretty annoyed with their bosses as well!

Krystal got gypped on a payrise as well:
Furious the day after!

and Fabulously broke had someone else take the credit for her hard work: (don't you just hate that!!)
Fabulously Broke in the City: I hate PMs


Excuse my rant but just needed to vent my frustration and I feel much better now :)

How quickly the best laid plans can come unstuck! I have been off work, quite sick, for two weeks and I will be off work for at least another week. I have already used up all my sick leave and by the end of this week I will have used up all my annual leave. So when I return to work next week I will have no sick leave and no annual leave left.

So if I were to need more time off next week (which I shouldn't) we would be without an income and I would be taking leave without pay. Or $1000 emergency fund would realistically only cover 2 weeks and we would be in serious financial trouble before the month was out.

Unexpected sickness has been the cause of a lot of our financial problems. It has made me think about the need to have a fully funded emergency fund of 6 months expenses in savings. I also am going to take out income protection insurance before I reopen my business again.

The last week or so has been quite worrying, My health is improving now, but it has definitely given us a good scare about just how vulnerable we are financially on one income. My husband is still job hunting with no luck. I am trying to work out the best time to make the change to self employment now that I don't have a buffer of holiday leave to use up.

One reassuring thing has been watching my affiliate payments trickle in. I hope to build this up further over the next few months so that my mortgage is paid by online earnings. But for the moment, it's back to bed for some more rest and sleep.

Well this blog is one year old today! I've had a lot of time to contemplate this post.
I have been off work sick for a week and half. I got sick with the flu, it turned into a chest infection with asthma. I spent most of last night in the emergency room after my asthma suddenly worsening and I'm feeling very grateful to be home now and feeling a little better.

I'm not going to go over all my debt / savings numbers today, they are posted at the end of each month. Instead I have been thinking about the simple life that I am seeking through debt elimination. Really, it is the lifestyle of having choices that is appealing when I think of being debt free, not creating wealth for wealth's sake.

What am I aiming for? Well I want to wake up with the choice to work a bit, travel a bit, and not worry about the bills. I want to be able to go out now and again with friends and spend time following a few of my own interests like hiking, painting and just curling up with a good book.

Being so sick at the moment really does help me keep it in perspective. I have a couple of auto-immune disorders and stress causes them to flare up. The last couple of years stress ( Dads sickness, partners job loss and financial difficulties) has had a really bad effect on my health and it's just finally catching up with me lately.

So I just want a simple life, with simple pleasures at the end of the day. And that's what my debt elimination journey is about. The freedom to choose!

Reading forums is a great way to learn from others and meet up with like-minded people. I read a lot of forums and blogs and even though I don't comment on them all I learn a lot from visiting. Here is a list of financial forums that can teach you more about personal finance.

Personal Finance & Investing:

Savings Advice Financial planning, debt help, loans, mortgages, retirement and 401k, investment, and general finance discussion forums

The Finance Forums Financial planning, debt help, loans, mortgages, retirement and 401k, investment, and general finance discussion forums

The Get Rich Slowly Forums A place for Get Rich Slowly readers to ask questions and exchange ideas.

Wise Bread Forums Living large on a small budget. Finance Frugality & Chit Chat.

Kiplinger Personal finance advice and business forecasts

Topix Personal Finance Forum

Fat Wallet Finance Forum

UK : Finance & Money Forums All general investment topics, such as funds and fund management, equities investment, forex, commodities, and general finance issues:

HotCopper Australian Stock Market Forum

Aussie Stock Forums

Interactive Investor. UK

DayTraders.org forum

Dave Ramsey based forums

Personal Finance Community

Frugal Village Dave Ramsey

Living Like No One Else! ( my favourite!)

Frugal Living

Frugal Living Forums

Frugal Moms Work from home and practice frugal living.

Totally Frugal

Mommysavers

Money Saving Expert UK. A great site with heaps of money saving ideas.

And my two very favourite forums:

Simple Savings. Full of frugal living tips, has saved me a lot of money over the last year.

Simple Living Network Forum. Wonderful site! It looks at voluntary simplicity, frugality, and the principles of "Your money or your life" book.

Now there are literally hundreds of forums out there so I'm not listing them all. But if you know of a really good financial forum leave a link in the comments and tell us what is good about it and why you like it.

Completing a thorough SWOT analysis is a good first step in getting organised to re-open my small business. I use them often with clients and at work to help clarify exactly what areas of a business, or project need attention. I have been working on plans and ideas for getting back to my own business and started with a SWOT analysis.

A SWOT analysis means looking at the Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats of the business. My small business provides services and consultations billed by the hour. Clients are either private or under an employers, insurers or medical contract. Some of the areas that need attention in my business are:

1. Easier financial/ taxation record keeping
2. A more efficient billing system
3. Reducing missed appointments
4. An improved system for report writing and document management
5. Managing my workload so that I don't get sick

My main business weaknesses are related to record keeping and paperwork, which I just don't enjoy! SoI have been trialling several different systems to automate paperwork, billing, client records and financial records over the last week. I think that this will save me a lot of headaches, a lot of money and free up my time for getting on with my work. It will cost much less than employing a bookkeeper which was another option I have been looking into. So I am booked for a training session with the software provider next week.

There a few great small business sites that I can recommend for anyone interested in starting up or improving a small business:

Mind Tools This is a really good site for anything career related and also stress management, work - life balance. I use it a lot at work with clients and there are heaps of free resources and an excellent newsletter.

Business Balls This site is another favourite, straight to the point and lots of really useful information.

Bold Advice for Business Success Catherine's blog is really down to earth and full of great ideas. I enjoy it because she understand the ups and downs of business in the 'real world' and she writes very well. Here's a couple of great posts by Catherine:

Is a pig blocking your business pipeline?

Six things you can learn from a man who had no shoes.

It's been a month of reflection and refocusing on where we are headed both financially, and as a family.

Mortgage Balance: $150,473

Credit Card 1: $12,734

Credit Card 2: $0 A total of $3000 paid off!!

Tax: $5,800 paid!! Balance: $2,826 (due in next financial year)

Emergency Fund: $1000

The Good!

• Paying off the Buyers Edge card and cancelling it felt great!
• Joining Dave Ramsey's Financial Peace University, it helped me to get focused again.
• Talking things over as a couple again and making some big decisions
• Deciding to reopen my business in the next 6 months, this will increase our income a lot once I get up and running again.
• Starting to sleep better - finally!
• Launching my own information product and building a list!

As a part of reviewing our finances this month I have been considering my career options. And after weighing up lots of pros and cons I've decided that I will be returning to running my own business within the next 6 months.

I am relieved and excited about this decision and have to say I've been sleeping a lot better the last few days since I decided to do it!

When I started this blog I had recently opened my own business (service /consulting)and it was doing very well. I had gone to university as a mature aged student and spent six years getting qualified for my career change, plus a couple more years working in all kinds of low paying jobs to get experience.

It was my dream to be in practice for myself in this field and I felt like I had finally made it. My own beautiful offices, working for myself doing what I love and being well paid for it.

At the same time I was offered a few days relief work at my current workplace so I took it to supplement my business in the early stages.

When Dad got sick it became impossible to maintain my business in a professional way. I was continually having to cancel clients and contracts and eventually I made the decision to close it. Instead of working for myself the relieving position became full time employment, which was ideal while I was trying to care for Dad at home as I had sick leave, holiday leave and a lot of flexibility.Plus I just love the work! The pay rate is about 1/3 what I would make working for myself, but the conditions are really good.

A few months ago I was told there was to be an opportunity for me at work to move into a six figure income position. Last week I finally found out that this position will be available but the duties have now been changed. I've spent this week checking out the changes to the job and talking with colleagues about my options.

I have decided not to apply for the promotion but to start making a plan to set up my business again by February 2009 at the latest.The good thing is that I don't have any set up costs, and the overheads are very low. I just need to do some marketing to build up my clients again and find some contract work. I'm working on a 3-6 month plan to open up again. The timing will depend on when my husband gets a job.

Financially we will be better off in the long term but I am concerned about cash flow in the short term. So over the next few months I will be redoing my business planning and finances and sharing it here.

I've been in a bit of a crappy space the last few months since Dad left. I'm starting to feel a lot more like myself again since we've been talking about finances and goals this month and making plans together for the future. I feel like I'm out of my 'rut' and back on my feet again!