Financial Tips and Strategies

Need a new washing machine

feeds@yuku.com (jeanie34) — Sat, 24 Oct 2009 07:36:09 GMT

Our POS* Electrolux Ecovalve finally gave up the ghost yesterday - after just under 5 years service, many repairs during the latter stages of its warranty period, inability to select specific programs for the last 6 months, requiring resetting 3 times a wash for the last month and deciding that a mattress protector would be its Waterloo.

So - I guess our Christmas present this year will be a washing machine.

I like Front Loaders as they clean and the water issues -...

Nice surprise

feeds@yuku.com (Lin) — Fri, 16 Oct 2009 11:31:01 GMT

I checked my daycare statement today for the first time in many months. I am sooo slack with these things! Sometimes I don't open any mail for months at all. Though I do pay my bills online when I think of it.

Daycare I have been paying by direct debit forever. I paid extra money when they suddenly required us to pay two weeks in advance last Januari. And then changed the bank account details a couple of...

Ouch

feeds@yuku.com (Lin) — Sat, 22 Aug 2009 14:46:39 GMT

I hate this time of year! I just paid my winter electricity and gas bills and my car rego. An astronomical amount altogether! And I haven't done my taxes yet...

Space 4 - single parent accommodation & childcare exchange

feeds@yuku.com (GollyGosh) — Sun, 16 Aug 2009 21:50:53 GMT

I just wanted to put a link to this in somewhere. It's a 'single parent accommodation and childcare exchange', single parents sharing homes, negotiating rent deductions in return for childcare that sort of thing. Space4

X-Rays

feeds@yuku.com (Lin) — Thu, 09 Jul 2009 16:15:11 GMT

The private rheumatologist I saw for the first time a few weeks ago and who charged me $200 for the privilege, ordered me to get some X-rays done. I don't have the referral with me here, but I can guess it will need to be of my whole spine and both hips at least. So I just called the local imaging company to make an appointment and they told me it will cost me $430. Medicare will reimburse $160 as I understood, leaving me out of pocket $270!!! So I called the rheumatologists practice to...

Aaaarrggghhh! Phone company invoice

feeds@yuku.com (Lin) — Fri, 26 Jun 2009 19:21:30 GMT

I just received an invoice from my previous phone company for $500. And then I remembered that I forgot to drop off their equipment: modem and tv-box thingy, so that's probably what it's for. The nerve to charge me that much for a modem that was 4 years old and basic 2yo set-top though!

Do you think I can still contest it? I cannot get through to their helpline tonight...

First home buying

feeds@yuku.com (xaviera1) — Sat, 02 May 2009 00:17:26 GMT

My best friend has recently decided to venture into the property market - single mum with two dependent children (16 and almost 14) she has well paid permanent job (not 6 figures but close). After the initial hype about 'getting in before the first home buyer's grant is demolished' she has decided to wait a while longer to see what the market does. What do you think? She was put off by the massive influx of home loan applications that have come in which has been so prolific that...

3rd stimulus package

feeds@yuku.com (moonchild) — Tue, 21 Apr 2009 20:37:58 GMT

Things arnt looking crash hot.... Im not so convinced you can spend yourself out of the big R... isnt that kinda what the banks did by offereing bad loans etc...
I think George W has a lot to answer for.... But then Little Johnny did hold this country in good stead
Mind you a recession is enevitable I guess...
They forcast interest rates to be up on the 8-9 mark by next year... I feel guilty at looking forward to this only becuase people will be losing their homes and I...

Car insurance

feeds@yuku.com (Lin) — Tue, 21 Apr 2009 11:17:44 GMT

I don't have car insurance - apart from the compulsary 3rd party (medical) - as it seemed so prohibitively expensive when I checked the rates a couple of years ago. Maybe that was because I'd only been driving for about 5 years? And also, I think I tried NRMA - the ACT equivalent of RTA? - and they're apparantly not very competitive.

I just checked on AAMI and I could get comprehensive for $474/year! I'm sure it was close to $1000 when I checked when I bought my car....

Internet and phone contract

feeds@yuku.com (Lin) — Tue, 03 Mar 2009 13:17:31 GMT

I signed up for a broadband and VOIP phone plan almost 2 weeks ago. When I signed up - over the phone - I'm sure they said someone would contact me in 'a couple of days' to arrange a date for the installation. Which should've happened within 2 weeks of signing up I was told. (I'm a tad vague because phone calls like that always last an hour and then they make you listen to all the disclaimers and fine print)

Not a word! So I just called, was on hold for about 20...

home savers account

feeds@yuku.com (moonchild) — Tue, 03 Mar 2009 12:23:04 GMT

I am thinking of opening one of these in the next week, but want to know if anyone has looked into them and what you guys think.
I have just signed a new work contract, so would be at least 3 years away from buying (not buying where I will be living). Secondly I am eligible.
I have $20k to start the savings ($$$ my dad left me in his will) and with my new job I could easily afford $600 a month in savings.
I like the idea it cant be touched (I am an incredibly bad saver,...

Shocking bill payer

feeds@yuku.com (Lin) — Mon, 16 Feb 2009 12:45:33 GMT

I am so bad with paying bills. I try to do everything by direct debit, but after losing an argument with the phone company a while back over them billing me monthly and refusing to bill me fortnightly, I stopped my direct debit with them to avoid bank fees for insufficient funds.

Thursday night I tried to call a friend who is currently experiencing a severe cash flow crisis and got a "This service is temporarily suspended" msg. I assumed her phone had been cut off, so I...

Government jobs

feeds@yuku.com (jeanie34) — Fri, 13 Feb 2009 14:15:32 GMT

Hey there.

Just wondering if anyone knows of where the pay levels and responsibilities for various levels of government jobs could be found?

We have searched the Qld Govt website, but although there are award levels for all other sectors there appears to be nothing on this?

Money, Money, Money

feeds@yuku.com (moonchild) — Tue, 03 Feb 2009 18:45:17 GMT

So what do we think about the stimulous package... Think I am taking my $$$ to the pokies...
We all know I am kidding - but will it work and is it worth the deficiet?
I did like the infrastructure upgrades for insulation etc to reduce Greeen House gas... That was pretty fabulous.

Childcare fees - our turn

feeds@yuku.com (Lin) — Mon, 19 Jan 2009 09:14:24 GMT

I must admit that I am terrible with reading the childcare centre info that gets sent to me by email or deposited in Ella's pigeon hole. So that's probably why I only just discovered that the fee went up by $73 a week since 12/1. After CCB, that means $45 extra for me to pay. There must have been another pay increase that I missed too, because my direct debit is still set to $77 below the amount I actually need to pay!

The full fee is now more than I pay in rent per week....

Acronym deciphering - Centrelink

feeds@yuku.com (u2msdc) — Fri, 05 Dec 2008 08:40:31 GMT

I am hoping that someone here can help me decipher this. I have just checked my bank account and there is a deposit in there that says - Direct Credit AUS GOV FAMILIES etc... and when I looked it up on Centrelink, it tells me it is Arrears Payment CCQ...

Does anyone know what CCQ is?

It is not much money, but I don't want an over payment and I really don't want to have to call them to find out why they are giving me more money. Any help appreciated...

Savings dissapearing fast

feeds@yuku.com (Lin) — Wed, 29 Oct 2008 11:16:00 GMT

I was doing so well moneywise... Now I just paid the gas, electricity and phone company $1100 and I think I owe the newspaper 100s as I haven't paid for my paper in months, ...

I'd better stop buying stuff for a while.

Child Care Rebate

feeds@yuku.com (LaLa07) — Fri, 24 Oct 2008 10:31:09 GMT

Woohoo! I just saw on the Centrelink web page that my 50% CCR for the last quarter will be paid on Tuesday. Its a nice little sum which I used half of already to treat myself, and the other half I will spend wisely on my holiday.

Stock market and super

feeds@yuku.com (lilfena) — Tue, 23 Sep 2008 23:41:59 GMT

OMG - I just got my super statement and I lost over 50% of what I put in - the worst thing is that I have just started to make more significant contributions to my super - I would have been better off having that in a term deposit. I know it's a long term inverstment, but I cannot belive I lost so much!

Tax Returns

feeds@yuku.com (u2msdc) — Sat, 13 Sep 2008 14:51:13 GMT

Got to love this time of year and even more so when it comes with TWO big surprises! We did our returns the other week through an agent due to self employment and the army. D's was a nice surprise and about $2500 more than we thought we might get and mine was around what I expected. So surprise number one, we were going to get $2500 more than we thought.

Surprise number two came when I got my return. I forgot we had over estimated for FTB and did not realise by how much....