debt | organised castle

Just when I thought I was back to blogging in earnest, life threw me one of those curved balls. There was not enough time or inclination in my days to include blogging but now I am truly back.

We carefully planned our budget for when we were on holidays and stuck to it. Since we have been back there have been several expenses, such as the doona covers, car service and lawn mower repairs as well as restocking food items after being away but now it is time to get serious again and get the debt reduction heading in the right direction.

We have discussed and set our financial goals for the remainder of the year. If you break things up into small chunks it usually is less daunting and debt is no exception. It is 14 weeks till the end of 2012 – that is 7 paydays for most of us. What can you achieve?

There comes a time when you are not doing your children any favours by constantly shielding them from the reality of the world and the consequences of their actions.

That time is now. Belle has been struggling financially since she has been separated from her partner (19 months). This has been as a result of a combination of factors, including residual debt from the relationship, limited income, Cetrelink challenges and inconsistent child support from an unreliable ex(even though it is collected through the Child Support Agency). But most of all it has been her own inability to face the reality of her situation and understand that expenses must be less than income or you will get into strife.

We have supported her emotionally and financially every step of the way, however, tonight I ran out of patience and think I have finally made her realise that the numbers simply don’t add up.

The Duke and I have discussed various options with her and we have started to put together a plan which will see us take on some of her debt but it will allow her to be able to live within her means (as long as she is very frugal). The responsibility will be entirely her own rather than us propping up her finances on an ad hoc basis.

If she does this using the assured income (paid work plus Centrelink) then when she does finally get some more child support payments they will be able to be used to buy clothing requirements for the children, create an emergency fund and pay modest amounts off her debt to us.

This is not an easy task but one that has to be done.