Responsibilities

I've been contemplating certain responsibilities of being a parent. No longer can I pretend I'm still a teenager "playing house"- I am married with our first baby very, very much on his way (any day now in fact). Shane and I are looking at things such as life insurance, making sure our superannuation accounts are consolidated, private health insurance, car insurance, and making sure our dental and health checks are up to date. We will have more than ourselves to think of from now on- and I want to make sure that our futures are as secure as possible, for the sake of our little Peanut.

Post-irrelevant, but wanted to show you very thoughtful and gorgeous gifts from my sister Benita who has arrived from the UK and NZ- cutest bear, and wireless headphones- so TV noise doesn't bother Mum & Baby. Very thoughtful eh?? Also Benita suggested the headphones would be great for me to wear to listen to music if I get stressed about Peanut crying- I can hold him and still stay calm. SUCH a good idea eh? Thanks so much Aunty Benita! Xx

Of course there's also everyday parenting responsibilities as well- making sure our baby is safe and secure at all times, making sure our home and car are safe, and making sure we are happy and live a stress-free lifestyle(as much as possible-), as stress can be the biggest killer. I am ashamed to admit I have never had any form of insurance, I've never thought it worth the expense up until now. I have also been pretty slack with getting regular dental and health checks, but now I have our son to think of. I have to make sure Shane and I are healthy so that we will be around for a long, long time to care for our son and to still be there for him when he is a grown adult.

I am booking Shane in to the dentist this week, and I will do the same for myself in a month or two after I am settled in with Peanut. We will strive to keep on top of age- and sex-relevant health checks, and others such as diabetes and skin cancer checks; as we are all told time and time again early detection is the best way to survive such things. We also need to organise our wills, with God parents named in the unlikely event that both of us should die.

I have mentioned before my dislike of paper work, but in this case I need to bite the bullet and knuckle down and get these important things done. There is more than myself to consider here, and these things are possibly the most important tasks I should have on my To-Do list over the next few months. Don't worry- I won't put pressure on myself to get all of this done with a new-born- I will just make sure they are completed when we are settled in with Peanut.

What kind of things have you organised in your life, to make sure your parenting responsibilities are taken care of? Or if you don't have children yet, what other life responsibilities have you organised for your own future?

Hope you are having a great week :-)

Tax Time

This week I'm starting to get organised to deal with the dreaded Tax Time. Is it just me or does this time of year give everyone the jitters? And I don't even do my tax return myself, both Shane and I take ours to an accountant. It's just one of those paper-work things that I can't stand doing.

We have taken our tax to an ITP office for the last 2 years and I find them wonderful. It does cost, but they take their fee out of the return. They also know all the tricks of the trade to get the most out of my tax return, claiming this and that- things I never would have thought of myself. Even if it costs me about $200 to get my tax done (small business), I still make a profit due to the return I get. Yes I could spend the time to learn how to properly do my own tax return, but honestly I have better things to do and I'm just not interested in accountancy!!

Shane's returns, on the other hand, aren't so predictable. Sometimes he gets a good return, other times he has had to pay tax. I have no idea why there's such a big difference from year to year, but it has something to do with him working in hospitality. We have a little money set aside that we could use for a tax debt if it comes to it, but I really hope this year we won't have to. That money will be much better staying put growing interest, for an emergency; or if we need to buy a new car; a house deposit; or maybe a holiday one day, who knows?

Those of you who came from Rhonda's blog (thanks! :)) will know that Shane and I had planned to go over- seas after our wedding, and were planning to be in Spain at about this time. Obviously pregnancy wasn't exactly on the travel agenda; Peanut was of course planned in our future, but his timing wasn't exactly planned :) SO we've had to put the travel plans on hold, for now. I know that we will still get there, to my Dad's house in Spain, to the UK where my sister lives, and to Germany to see Shane's extended family. But we are just over-joyed at the slight detour in our plans; we couldn't be happier or more excited :-)

Sorry- I always go back to Peanut- even in a post about Tax!! Haha :-)

Back to the Tax. I use those cardboard concertina cases for our paper work such as payslips and previous tax returns, receipts etc, so that I know where everything is when it comes to Tax Time. These are cheap- about $8 from Big W or K Mart. I label the compartments inside, and also put a year label on the front. Shane's payslips are all in there (he gets his in paper format- so old fashioned! BTW he also gets paid with a CHEQUE- can you believe his boss??)

My invoices/receipts from my organising jobs are all stored in folders on my computer. I haven't had to show them yet to the accountant, but they are there ready to be opened, when and if it is required. I always take in to the accountants our previous tax returns from last year as well, in case they want to see those. I've also done quite well with my book-keeping, keeping track of hours worked and every dollar I earnt etc, and all my expenses. I take the book in and the accountant praises me on my organisation :-D I love the little slap on my back!

The worst thing for me is the waiting for Shane's group certificates from previous jobs. I am hoping they will be posted to us promptly this year so I can book in our appoinmtent with ITP as soon as possible. The sooner it all gets done, the sooner I can relax and not think of tax for a whole year!!

How do you deal with your tax return? Do you do yours yourself, on time, or a few months late...or will you pay someone else to do it for you like I do?

Financial Matters

How was your Friday the 13th? Mine’s been lovely. I spent some time with my nephew Jamie and his gorgeous mum Sunny. We went for a stroll along the water here where we live in Southport. The sky was deep blue with not a single cloud in sight; one of our first true winter-y days. Beautiful.

While managing money is definitely not one of my strengths (ex spend-aholic), I am slowly learning how to keep up with our finances. One of the best pieces of advice I have been given by an excellent accountant I know, was to decide who out of the two of us, would solely pay bills and manage the money. I’m sure a lot of couples out there can share this responsibility, and some couples just do their own thing and don’t share money or accounts. But for Shane and I, we were sharing money, sharing the responsibility of paying bills; and sharing the problems caused by that not really working out for us. We didn’t know who had paid what bill and this caused some late fees and frustrations.

Shane and I decided that as I have the extra time, it would be I who managed our money (I guess I drew the short straw here! Lol). It was tough at the start for me to have this level of responsibility on my shoulders, but I am slowly getting there. I think the biggest breakthrough for me, was when I realised in order to do this successfully, I needed to know exactly what was coming in, and what was going out (Duh!). I was curious to see just how much of our hard-earned money I was “fritting away” on Ahem, can I say crap in my blog?? Sure, it’s my blog.
So I kept a cute little notebook and pen in my bag at all times, and would write down every single dollar we spent while out. At the end of the week, I added it all up and basically, was shocked.

Needless to say once you know how much you earn, how much you spend, and how much, if any, you have left over to either save or pay off debt, life seems to become a whole lot more enjoyable, honest and (can I be a little Dr Phil here) REAL. I found I really needed to be down-right honest with myself about money and accept the fact that it is NOT acceptable to use the credit card for awesome new jeans and pretend that it is ok...

We still use a book to keep record of what we spend on shopping, food, bills and fuel etc, and this enables me to work out our budget. I actually enjoy it these days (especially getting out my cute little calculator), and I feel somewhat empowered.

I have already mentioned my trusty Bill List on a whiteboard near the kitchen. I use this to keep track of bills due. I also have another great thing in the house that keeps me organised with bills and general paper work to be filed. It’s a 3- tiered A4 size plastic container that stands up-right on the desk (will post photo. I got this from Officeworks). Each of the 3 tiers is labelled (naturally)- one is Bills to Pay; the next is Paper to File; and the third is Medical. As I am pregnant the Medical tier is relevant. In another stage of my life, this third drawer might become Outgoing Mail or such. I can imagine one day we might need another of these containers, for paper work such as School Notices. It does mean that I have to handle all my mail twice- into the container and then once it’s been “actioned” (for e.g. bill paid or school fete attended), into the filing cabinet or shredded (my favourite job!). Some Professional Organisers advise that you only handle paperwork once. But I don’t enjoy having to go to the filing cabinet every day; I find my system works for me.




Now if only I could get on top of rolling over my superannuation.... Suggestions anyone?? :-)Thanks for reading.