I am a lady on a low income. Well thats what the website says! I am a disabled single parent with a young 7 year old son living with my parents. Together with my parents, I have a mortgage and I manage to send my son to a private school. My personal income is low but together with my parent's income we manage to survive. We are even on track to pay $112 000 of mortgage debt by 2012. We are very frugal people, we do not have any addictions. We have enough to eat.
I need to be able to pay off this mortgage while we have the income to pay it off quickly. There is no way I can afford to pay it off without my parents.
To be exact, our current debt is $112 110.84 and the credit card is $377.01. We will pay the credit card off in full by the 5th of next month. Our household income is 1702.72 a fortnight. That amount will go up by $30 next month.
Our shopping bill is about $250 a fortnight and we pay about $300 for meat every 3-4 months. Bills work out to be about $150 a fortnight.
My Dad collects stamps. This costs $45 a month. He also plays chess, this costs about $13 for every tournament he enters every couple of months. I have a membership at a local video store that costs $44.95 a month. I'm not sure if I will continue with this.
The stamps and the videos are paid for by our $25 a fortnight pocket money. So pocket money for my Mum Dad and I costs $75 a fortnight.
I also go to a weight loss group that costs $8.50 a week, ($5 a week which is given back at the end of the year in a lump sum, $2.50 transport and $1 rent)
Thats all I can think of for now. Join me as I track my budget, my spending and my failures and successes!
Introduction
February 18th, 2007 at 06:46 am
February 18th, 2007 at 07:40 am 1171784410
February 18th, 2007 at 08:15 am 1171786536
February 18th, 2007 at 08:05 pm 1171829125
I would recommend dropping the video membership, unless it is VERY, VERY important to you. I don't know if you have Netflix there, but you can do much better with the one-at-a-time plan. I don't actually subscribe myself; I have learned to watch regular TV or read library books for entertainment, and I'm quite happy with that. I DO treat myself to a matinee occasionally.
Also, the weight-loss club is not a necessity if you're really trying to cut back. Weight loss is always free, and we all know how to do it. Problem is it's HARD, but let's face it, we all know how!
Just some suggestions -- I think overall you are doing very well on a challenging budget, but I know you want to get that mortgage down!
February 18th, 2007 at 08:31 pm 1171830712
February 19th, 2007 at 02:45 am 1171853129
I see that you come from Australia as well!
There are a few Aussie around here.
Best of luck with your saving goals
February 19th, 2007 at 01:15 pm 1171890946
February 23rd, 2007 at 08:37 pm 1172263075