I need to get a grip…

Here I am whinging because I can’t subscribe to a magazine immediately (luxury item, not a need!) and I’ve just read on a friends blog that she and her hubby are short their rent money because she had to replace her glasses. Kind of puts my ‘issues’ into perspective! Ok, I feel like a worm, extremely selfish, low-life human being…..

Especially in light of this…. I bought fabric today! I needed some other colours of floss so I went to spotlight and came home with two lengths of fabric to make some summer work shirts out of… What I should have done, being that I only have a few summer work shirts (hang on, I’m only going to be working two days a week, how many do I need???) is buy them secondhand. I really suck at this Compacting… Bring on April and freedom!!!

This all doesn’t say much about my self-control or commitment does it…. Nine days into Compacting and I’ve broken the pledge already. I can sook, flagellate myself, or get over it and move on. I think the last option is the best one.

I guess the best thing now is to actually make the shirts, instead of having the fabric get lost in my stash, like 90% of the rest of the fabric I’ve bought in the last year! Hubby agrees… He’s on my case too. Sigh…

Delayed Gratification

As one of my Compacting Exceptions I am allowed to buy the craft magazines that I regularly purchase. Normally I buy them from the Newsagents, but I worked out last night that if I subscribe then it costs less. So, I reached for the credit card…. and then realised that because of the Money Makeover I’m not allowed to use credit!!! Argh!!!! I have to save and pay cash…. All I can say is thank heavens it’s payday on thursday, although one subscription will literally take all my spending money for the fortnight… so I will have to put away half this week and half next pay… I wonder if I could negotiate with Eddie to sell some stuff on ebay and use the money from that?????

I want… I want…

To spend money!!!!! I had to buy some embroidery floss today (comes under my exceptions!) and saw some gorgeous fabric. It’s just lovely! And some stunning knitting patterns that I could make for winter next year. And the woollen mills here are having a sale and I want to stock up before we leave. And I need to buy a gift to send to a friend, and I can’t buy it because I could actually make her something from what I have here, but I WANT TO BUY SOMETHING!!!! Oh, I also want a big stock pot for making stock as my biggest pot only makes about two litres at a time…

And yet I’ve CHOSEN to put myself through this torture and denial! What was I thinking????? I must be just about ready to be committed to an insane asylum…

The point is, although it’s no comfort to me right now, that Compacting is about doing without, or finding a way other than buying new. So by denying myself, I’m actually following in the compact. It doesn’t feel good! I don’t feel any self-righteousness, doing good for the planet and my wallet feelings, right now I am feeling like such a drongo for actually choosing to do this!!!! Bah humbug!!!

Back to the embroidery thread this morning, I had to replace some that I left in Canberra a few weeks ago. I’m in the middle of a smocking project with it so I couldn’t substitute a similar shade from my other threads. So I went into my favourite shop, full of fabric, threads, wool, patterns, ribbons, it’s like a treasure trove! I normally go in for one small thing and come out $100 later…. and my fabric/thread/wool/pattern stash increases! Not today, I bought the thread, paid 90c and left. That was hard.

Reading what I’ve just written, I sound like a little kid stamping their feet and throwing a tantrum in frustration at not getting their own way! Well, that’s what I feel like!!!! Thankfully, I’m a wee bit more mature than that and can deal with this a bit better, but yeah, I wouldn’t mind stamping my feet! Anyone want to watch me throw a tanty???? LOLOL!!!

The rooster is gone!

Thank heavens for small mercies! That revolting creature was starting to crow from 4.30am onwards and keeping us all awake… We’ve all been cranky and tired. I gave him away to a good home after advertising on Freecycle and they picked him up yesterday. The sleep in this morning was wonderful!!!

I can’t say I’m sorry that he’s gone. The girls (hens) didn’t really get on with him too well, and I think that affected how I felt about him too! It’s nice to be back to just the two girls, they’re sweet.

Paid out and closed!!!!

For several years I’ve had a credit card that ran at 26.75% interest!!!! Yikes!!!!!!! As of today, it is fully paid out and closed! Yippee!!!!!!!

One debt down, four to go, plus the mortgage…

Debt Snowball Calculator

I found this really cool tool to work out how long it will take to pay off debts using the Snowball method! Snowball Debt Calculator

Links for Compacting

A few people have asked for more information and/or links on compacting. Here are a few that I’ve found from Google

Mama’s on the Compact

Out of the Retail Rat Race (very timely seeing as Christmas is so close)

Don’t Buy New

Living Green This article focuses on the environmental impact of Compacting, and states that there is very little environmental effect from Compacting. I think this is flawed, as the author doesn’t seem to take into account the environmental impact of manufacture, limited usage, disposal or even that fact that if an item is reused, recycled or remade into something else then that is one or more other items that don’t need to be manufactured/bought/disposed of.

For me, compacting is more about breaking my excessive consumerism habits. This was brought home to me by the fact that my nine year old daughter expected me to buy her a treat, toy or lolly every time we went shopping, even when I just went to fill the car with petrol. If I refused then we had a (minor) scene and at one point she said “But you always buy me something!” Oops…. She sees me go into a fabric or craft shop for one or two items, and come out with $100 or more of other stuff, that is then put into bags and added to my craft stash. What is this teaching her?

I don’t go in for ‘Retail Therapy’ as such, I don’t go and spend hundreds of $$$ on clothes that I wear only once or twice, but I have my own bad habits to break. And as a parent, I see it as my responsibility to teach my child that money is a tool, purchases need to be thought about and planned. The value of money is not necessarily the face value on it. And what is the value of having a cluttered home, a bedroom with so many toys that you can’t see the floor? What is it teaching her about blessing others when I allow her to keep every toy since she was two? Why does she need new toys all the time, when she has so many she doesn’t play with them all. And possibly the most important lesson, being able to say no to yourself!

Argh!!! She’s a He!!!

It looks like my first instinct was correct… this lovely white creature is really a He! He started crowing at 5.30 yesterday morning, and has been attempting to mount the girls. They’re not too impressed with him at all unfortunately!

He has to go, for the same reasons as the first rooster! Our neighbours haven’t complained yet, however I’m not waiting until they do!

Money Makeover

We’ve decided that we needed a complete Money Makeover a’ la Dave Ramsey. We’re fed up with living from pay to pay, giving the banks masses of interest, living with debt and wondering what happened to our money. Our current debt, not including mortgages, is roughly two thirds of Eddies yearly wage. Add in the mortgage (investment property) and it’s 2.1 times his wage. I’m not even going to calculate the interest bill on that… Our total Net worth is roughly 115% of his yearly wage, although if you consider that we have both worked over twenty years each, on fairly high paying jobs for that time, that really isn’t a lot of Net worth!

What we are doing is:

Emergency Fund. We have set aside $1000 as an emergency fund, so once we get going properly we won’t have to use credit at all. Note the word ‘Emergency’, it it could be foreseen and budgeted for then it’s not an emergency.

Budgeting. Working out at the beginning of the month where our money is going to be spent that month. Instead of wondering where it went at the end of the month, we’re telling it where to go! In theory, if it’s not in the budget then it doesn’t get spent, and if something comes up then it has to be made fit into the budget. We’re working on this, there are some things that we have committed to or need (like some car parts for Eddie to repair his car) that don’t quite fit and are needed.

Paying Cash. Our grocery, car and bill money is being withdrawn from the bank and held as cash in plastic baggies, so we can see exactly how much we have. Paying cash is harder than whipping out a credit card, it’s ‘real’ money. I have ceased carrying my credit cards, although I’m not quite ready to cut them up yet.

Debt Snowball. Any money not required for essentials is put into paying off our debts. The minimum is paid on each debt each month, with any extra funds going onto the lowest debt in addition to the minimum. As the lowest debt is paid off, that money is then moved onto the next debt, so it snowballs.

Net Worth. I’m keeping a chart of our net worth and also the debt each month. So we can see improvements and make sure we’re keeping on track.

Dian. She now has to work for any pocket money. We were previously paying her $4 a week, plus extra for jobs she did, except that she very seldom did any work! So now no work = no pay. Of her pay, she is required to tithe 10%, bank 10%, save 10% in an envelope, and the rest is spending.

In addition to this, in line with Compacting as well, I’m working on decluttering the house. We have so much ’stuff’ here that it’s impossible to keep tidy, if we move to a smaller house (very likely!) we won’t have room for it all. So I’m, very slowly, working on simplifying life here.

I’ve been doing a lot of reading lately on money and frugal living and it’s really changed my attitude to money, credit and purchasing. Affluenza… I am guilty. I don’t have to stay that way though! Will my family follow suit and join me in this? I don’t know, what I do know is that I am responsible for my own behaviour and actions, and for teaching Dian as well. I can only do what ‘I’ can do.

Compacting - Six Months of not buying anything new

I almost can’t believe I’m doing this… I’ve been considering it for about three months. A friend of mine did 12 months, a whole year, of compacting which is where I first heard of it.

Compacting - The Compact has several aims more or less prioritized below:

• To go beyond recycling in trying to counteract the negative global environmental and socioeconomic impacts of disposable consumer culture and to support local businesses, farms, etc. — a step that, we hope, inherits the revolutionary impulse of the Mayflower Compact.
• To reduce clutter and waste in our homes (as in trash Compact-or).
• To simplify our lives (as in Calm-pact) . (Copied from Mama’s on the Compact)

I have decided to Compact as part of an on-going project to declutter our home, to make it easier to keep clean, find things, be more organised. As part of a simpler way of living, because we are all so caught up in buying ’stuff’ rather than being frugal and reducing, reusing and recyling. Our world can’t handle the affluenza that is overtaking it. We are also as a family starting a “Money Makeover” and paying in cash for any purchases, keeping to a strict budget, and concentrating on clearing our debts. This Compact will support that.

So I am pledging that for the next six months, with the exceptions below, I will not purchase anything new. I will reuse, recycle, buy second-hand or go without.

My Compact starts from today, 20 Oct 07, and is for six months which ends 20 Apr 08.

My exceptions are: I can purchase thread, notions etc to complete craft and sewing projects, provided I already have a minimum of 80% of the items required here already. This includes paying for framing of some of my embroideries that will be completed in the next few months.

I can purchase my normal magazines, two quarterlies and one monthly craft mag, plus one environmental gardening magazine. These are used regularly as resources and inspiration, and read constantly!

I can purchase the fabric to make a skirt that I have been planning for the last two months. I saw a gorgeous skirt in a shop, priced at just under $200 and decided that I could make it easily. I haven’t had time yet, so I’m giving myself permission to buy the fabric (probably under $30!) when I have enough time to make it.

Christmas presents. In the interest of saving my sanity, I am making an exception for buying Christmas presents. At this time, Christmas is two months away, I am completing assessments for a course I am graduating from in early december, working part time, looking for full time work for next year and preparing for an interstate move in early january. I will attempt to buy from Fair Trade, Cottage Industry and Local Artisans. I also have several presents already purchased, which does make this a bit easier!

When I start work next year (assuming I find work) I can purchase up to two pairs of suitable shoes.

I should also add that Eddie and Dian are NOT compacting. They can still buy new. This will be an interesting six months!