Alice_AU journal

Where are you and where are you going?
bostonimproper
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Joined: Sun Jul 01, 2018 11:45 am

Re: Alice_AU journal

Post by bostonimproper »

Wow, that sounds like a lot. I hope you’re able to resolve the housing situation soon, and that a lot of the tension you’re feeling is able to flow out from there.

mooretrees
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Joined: Sun Jan 27, 2019 1:21 pm

Re: Alice_AU journal

Post by mooretrees »

Phew and dang. Having witnessed a few divorces, this part seems to be the worst, the in between and unable to move as quickly on to the next iteration of your life is rough. But it has an end date!! I'm sure tough times are still ahead, but I can see how having a date would make me crazy and so hopeful. Best of luck and I hope these next two months fly by.

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Alice_AU
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Joined: Fri Aug 09, 2019 2:42 am
Location: Sydney Australia

Re: Alice_AU journal

Post by Alice_AU »

Thanks. Will keep going. Rental market is brutal at the moment here, put some applications but didn't get any of the places I applied for. Last one was rather upsetting: I applied, heard nothing back for a week, and just saw the rental agency/owners scheduled another open house for tomorrow (obviously hoping to get better applicants than single mum with 2 kids and 2 dogs). Even though the ad said 'pets considered' and despite that I have a good job and 5 years of perfect rental history - still didn't get approved. Crazy. No wonder I'm so desperate when it comes to getting my own house eventually.

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Alice_AU
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Joined: Fri Aug 09, 2019 2:42 am
Location: Sydney Australia

Re: Alice_AU journal

Post by Alice_AU »

Ended up not moving out, still together. Things are peaceful at home and let's see how it goes.

The house (investment property) nightmare continues, I am trying to find another builder who will take over and complete the unfinished build. However, it is proving not easy (and not cheap). Markets this year aren't doing that great either, on my tiny starter portfolio of $40K it's like $2K loss since January.

I'm just in "whatever" mode. Whatever may be will be, all I know is that I have to go to work, look after kids and dogs, keep the house clean and myself calm. Updating my spreadsheets at the end of the month with the same 'whatever' mood, and waiting for the better times. As hobbies go, I'm in sewing stage. Making clothes and patchwork quilts, keeps me happy.

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Alice_AU
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Joined: Fri Aug 09, 2019 2:42 am
Location: Sydney Australia

Re: Alice_AU journal

Post by Alice_AU »

Another journal entry from a somewhat uncertain stage of life. "This too shall pass", but so far:

Family
Things are good with me and my husband, not splitting, not divorcing, leaving peacefully and being extra careful with each other as I think we both appreciate this peace. Kids had some health + teenage behaviour issues but touch wood all is sorted now. In-laws are coming to visit for 3 weeks, not sure what it will be like. Especially mother-in-law. Can totally see her looking at me with disapproval and thinking "You! Contemplated adoption reversal of my precious 43yo baby boy!" So I intend to just smile and nod, and stay our of the way as much as possible.

Housing
Unfinished house continues to be a nightmare. To date, I made $88K of progress payments to the builder, the builder gone into administration and this is effectively lost. The insurance may cover up to $58K if all goes well but it hasn't been approved yet, and anyway even if fully approved this will mean a $30K loss just on this. In addition, I still can't find anyone to finish the partially-started build. Had one quote but $60K more than the original one (and I don't have this extra $60K...). Don't know what to do - thinking that if possible might look into selling the plot as-is, if anyone buys it...

It is winter here in Australia and the rental house we're in gets super-cold. It is 11-12 C in the mornings, gets a bit better if we switch the electric heaters/AC on but any heat disappears immediately when these get switched off - like 5 minutes and the house is freezing again! And the typical winter bill for electricity is $1200-$1400 for 3 months even when being careful with usage. The windows here are single pane glass in aluminium frames, front and back doors have gaps all around you could peep through, there's no insulation anywhere - floor, ceiling or walls, and no central heating either, just one AC unit in the living room.

Work
Work has been crap. My immediate manager is a classical workaholic, textbook-type, with all symptoms: crazy hours, obsessive, controlling, micromanaging, chaotic... seems the more effort we put the less efficient we get. Need to finish an important project with end of September deadline, and will have to think what to do next because I couldn't carry on like this indefinitely. This is exactly the time in life I could totally do with some FY money but unfortunately haven't got any!

Money
With everything else, my savings rate and discipline have been non-existent. I bought comfort and convenience to get me through everything else, but at the cost of long-term security. Alas. Oh well... this too shall pass.

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Alice_AU
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Joined: Fri Aug 09, 2019 2:42 am
Location: Sydney Australia

Re: Alice_AU journal

Post by Alice_AU »

PS: my devices are spying on me

I had quite a few suspicions before - e.g. ads showing up after discussing buying certain items (not googling these items, just talking about them!) and similar.

Now - just wrote in the post above about my work dissatisfaction and stress... and this comes up in my youtube feed! And I never searched, watched, read or even heard this term before and definitely never watched anything on these channels or anything similar. Weird or what?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GwLxjFj5dw8

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W8bgRz2SOR0

horsewoman
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Joined: Fri Jun 07, 2019 4:11 am

Re: Alice_AU journal

Post by horsewoman »

Oh dear, the house situation sounds nightmarish! I hope you can resolve it somehow.

Re: the spying devices - are you using an android phone? With the Google keyboard? Thats a sure way to get personalised ads on YouTube...

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Alice_AU
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Location: Sydney Australia

Re: Alice_AU journal

Post by Alice_AU »

Thanks! Sooner or later I will, but will be an expensive lesson. Like Dave Ramsey says, "I've done stupid with zeros at the end".

re: spying devices - I'm on my Dell laptop right now and signed on to google so must be it (this time), other times it could have been an apple phone or maybe even a Samsung smart TV :lol: I'm not even complaining. Clearly not overly obsessed with privacy (writing on the forum, for starters) and the youtube suggestions turned out to be both relevant and entertaining, so why not? Hey Google, maybe next time point me towards an honest reliable builder in VIC who's up for a little challenge?

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Alice_AU
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Location: Sydney Australia

Re: Alice_AU journal

Post by Alice_AU »

Time for the EOY update.

2020 was crazy:


- Nearly got divorced but got back together

- One child had a surgery (all ok now touch wood)

- Another child had mild ADHD diagnosis and a prescription for ADHD medication. He finished Year 12 in school and got offered a place in Uni but decided to defer for a year... little bugger. I'll leave him in peace for 1 month to recover from exam stress etc. but in February will have to insist that he gets a job or attends a short course in a local college, something, anything rather than doing nothing at all/playing PC games all day

- Our older doggy died on Boxing Day after couple of months of palliative care, IV rounds and syringe feeding (chronic kidney failure). When she was ready, we invited a vet to come to our house and help her to pass peacefully and pain-free. RIP sweet baby, my daughter and I sobbed for days but getting better now. However our younger dog is totally depressed and sleeps all day, doesn't even beg me to go walkies or to throw the ball for her

- I didn't find another builder to finish the half-finished house, had a couple of quotes but all were too high and one was suspiciously low (and that builder had really bad online reviews too), so decided to put the unfinished house on the market as-is. The real estate agent recently sold one just like that and said it definitely can be done, so will see how it goes

- Workload got out of hand, we had severe staff shortage and several key projects to complete, ended up working stupid hours, nights and weekends

- Self-care as a result gone through the window - in just one year I'm 10kg fatter and feel like 5 years older, look rubbish and not fun to be around I suspect

- Same with financial discipline, self-control and NW - all out of the window. Just in the past month, I've bought ridiculous things like $600 worth of Japanese glass beads, $300 of knitting wool, $400 of Porthmeirion Botanic Garden dishes and the like. All is probably just stress/grief spending.

Some positive things too:

- learned to swim for the first time, took adult swimming lessons once a week for 9 months and got pretty ok at it

- bought a car after 6 years of public transport. It is a used 10 year old Ford Fiesta with 120,000 km, was $6,990. I love it, the long-forgotten convenience of driving is a real treat. Was able to take the said swimming lessons just because it's now 10 minutes of comfortable ride to the pool instead of 40 minutes each way walk-wait-bus-walk whilst having wet hair and a heavy backpack

- got a completely unexpected promotion and a 20% pay rise just before Christmas

- house build insurance payout came through and covered 58K of the total 88K loss, so I lost 'only' 30K in this IP 'adventure' overall

- my mum came to visit from Bulgaria, saw her fist time since Covid. Thinking of applying for parent PR visa for her but in Australia it is not a simple thing - $50K cost and 4-6 years wait. At least, the initial payment is only $4k, with the rest due at the end (after 4-6 years) so might as well apply now. We have started collecting all of the required documents, there's a lot to put together

- got a new ?hobby? don't know what else to call it... but I started an online/part-time nursing degree. Almost by accident - was browsing in relation to my daughter's surgery, saw this online course, clicked 'Enquire' thinking they'll just email me a pdf brochure... but they called and the state must be desperately hunting people giving the shortage of nurses, somehow I signed up. The tuition fee is heavily subsidised and is under $3k pa for 4 years. Now learning anatomy and physiology in my spare time and will attend weekly 5-9pm class starting February. It's been great fun so far but I don't know what I'll do with this degree in the end. Nurses are paid maybe a third of what I get paid currently... at the same time, if I get complete burnout in the current job then I now have an escape plan, and this feels really good.

NW update with some tweaks:

2016: 76,901
2017: 102,141 (+25,240)
2018: 142,253 (+40,112)
2019: 211,447 (+69,193)
2020: 283,908 (+72,462)
2021: 381,176 (+97,267)
2022: 369,973 (-11,203)

... have to do better in 2023...

chenda
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Location: Nether Wallop

Re: Alice_AU journal

Post by chenda »

Good to hear from you Alice, and sorry about the doggo : (

You're saving rate is looking great.

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Alice_AU
Posts: 136
Joined: Fri Aug 09, 2019 2:42 am
Location: Sydney Australia

Re: Alice_AU journal

Post by Alice_AU »

Thank you chenda
My saving rate is around 35%-40% on average, and NW movements seem to be heavily dependent on the investment gains/losses. Last year, for example, I added $38k myself but lost $49k (stock market and IP)...

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