Stupid finances

Budget snapshot

Seems like I've got a achievable goal. Time to really get started.

How I got here…. like a idiot.

2014. Age 22. Maturity level 1/10

Picture this but slighter younger and less sunburnt.

I had just moved back to a small town in Western Australia.

Thats where I met my wife to be. 6 months later she was pregnant with my first child. Maturity level 3/10

We got engaged and I got my first mining job after being unemployed for 6 months. 60k per year and debt free.

My gorgeous daughter was born in April of 2015. I decided we needed a big family car… one meeting with a dealership later and I had a used kluger for $30k at 14.7% interest.

I started a blasting job which put me onto $87k per year.

We splurged and bought expensive furniture, clothes, household appliances etc.

We even went on a few holidays.

Then we bought the Cafe. $18k to takeover from the owner and $40k of kitchen equipment finance.

After about 8 months of what I thought was smooth sailing I decided to help out at the Cafe on one of my breaks. My wife had told me the Cafe was doing well…. it wasn’t. Over $50k of unpaid delivery bills, wages, finance debts, and even the rent for the building. I closed the doors overnight. $100k of debt taken on in one night.

Shortly after that we separated. I traded the family car in for a patrol and an aurion. 45k and 20k. The klugers payout balance added to the patrols finance costs.

I went to Fly in fly out work. $120k per year and focused all my money into paying the Cafe debts so I wouldn’t go to court. I slaved for a year and a half. But I fell behind on the other debts.

All the Cafe debts where cleared. I was left with debt collectors chasing me for the cars 39k and 14k at that point, some daycare fees $2k, a $10k credit card, telstra phone debt of 6k, and I was broke as.

I foolishly entered into a part ix agreement for the patrol, credit card, telstra, daycare fees and managed to talk toyota into letting me keep the aurion.

36k over 36 months. Sounded good for the part ix. Until after I signed and I got hit with the 12k of fees. Ah well I signed it so let’s go.

All this while also funding my lawyers through family court. $30k down so far and more to come.

Met a new girl. She is gorgeous. She understands my situation. We have a daughter together and along with my other daughter, and 2 step children we have a big happy blended family.

My absolute rock and the smart side of my household. I am constantly amazed she is still with me, I promised to spoil her once I’m debt free. She says that’s not what she wants.

She encourages me to be smarter. Maturity level 100/10 my Maturity level 6/10

Took a residential mining job $91k per year. For the last two years I’ve struggled to keep paying my debts, rent, law fees, bills, etc.

I entered a rent to buy agreement for a home $70k plus $150 per week. It needed work.

I finally found another residential mining job $120k per year but its 65km from home.

I started this blog. Because I needed accountability to keep on track.

My car is back up to current payment.

Part ix is 6k behind but have spoken to the provider and have a plan over the next 2 pays to catch it up.

I have $0 out of the 70k needed for the house.

I have $0 savings for an emergency fund.

All my other bills have been caught up by my girlfriend. I love and appreciate everything she does for me. Absolutely my rock.

My youngest princess. I want her to be proud of her dad.

Maturity level 11/10 getting this shit sorted so I can leave something other than debt for my family.

Follow me on my journey if you want as I start to kick myself in the right direction.

Budget planner

Watching Mighty car mods while working on my budget. Will have a full post tomorrow after I have worked through it all. I need some sleep now though.

Work v play

Working hard to get money is easy compared to saving money to play hard.

The Rent to buy house

Since I mentioned the house situation I thought I’d explain it Incase people are wondering.

I’ve entered a contract to rent a house for $150 a week for 5 years or until I can buy the house for $70k

The house is not a pretty sight but with a credit score lower than my IQ I figured it was the only way to secure some asset that will be able to help later on.

It’s a diy project that will also be considered in my budget.

This slideshow is after a good cleaning of all the rubbish and waste inside the house. The plan is to fix it to the point I can move into it and stop renting where I am now.

Bank accounts

Having only started today I’ve got an extremely challenging climb ahead.

I had bank accounts with Westpac, ANZ, ING, and Commbank. I used them to move money around to avoid bills and direct debits.

I chose one bank to commit to. Commbank came out on top purely from product choices down the line.

I have closed all other accounts, and opened a savings account and a shares trading account (planning for later on down the road) with Commbank.

Shredded the other cards and binned them.

I’ve changed all my bills, debits and pay to go into my Commbank account.

Pay day is a couple of weeks away. I have no savings whatsoever and only $150 to survive until then (lucky my cupboard and fridge is full at the moment.)

Already feeling like I’m less confused about where my money is going and deleting the mobile banking apps made me smile to myself. Oddly liberating….

I’ll be sitting down tonight and writing up a spreadsheet to work out all my expenses and formulate a plan for getting back up to date with my debts.

Stay tuned.

A summary of my stupid predicament

Hi Reader,

My name is Blake and I’m an idiot. I am 28 years old, have $120k+ of debt with zero actual assets.

Bam! That’s hard to actually admit. But I intend to fix this over the next few years and thought a blog might help me be accountable and to maybe help someone else in a similar situation find inspiration.

Here is a breakdown.

Car loan 10k
Rent to buy home contract (only way I could see of getting a home in my credit score situation.) $70k plus $100 per week in rent until it’s paid off.
$39k in a debt consolidation agreement part ix.

I am behind in payments on almost all of this – except the home.

I am on $120k per year leaving me about 7k after tax a month.

$7000
Child support -$1160
Rent to buy -$650
Debt part ix -$1015
Car loan -$360
My leftover amount covers bills, groceries and silly purchases.

I am going to fix this so I am living below my means but not becoming a penny pinching sob story.

Here is the plan.

The next few months will be tough.

Minimising my expenses
Pay the overdue accounts back up to date.
Close any unnecessary bank accounts and only run 2 accounts (a transaction account and a savings account)
All while saving 20% of my take home pay for the start of an emergency fund (I’ll be aiming for 3 months of take home pay for it so $21k)(this will also be a long term goal)

Once I make it through the next few months I will reassess and create further goals.

So join me on my journey to reverse my mistakes and feel free to get in contact to give me tips, share your stories or ideas.