Anyone else in Mortgage Stress ? 50% Pay ?

[weg]

-Pkt rice paper
-Pkt rice noodles softened in hot water for 3 min, rinsed in cold water and drained
-left over chicken marinated in hoisin sauce shredded
or
-fried/grilled marinated chicken piece shredded cold
or
-any other meat like left over pork
-finely sliced red onion
-grated carrot (use the potato peeler for long strips)
-cucumber cut into julienne strips or thin slices
-bean sprouts (optional but adds crunch)
-mint leaves shredded
-coriander leaves
-Hoisin sauce

Pour hot water into large pie dish for soaking individual rice paper one for 15 or so seconds (if paper is breaking you're soaking for too long).

Add enough of all ingredients onto one half of laid out rice paper allowing a little on each side to cover edges before rolling securely.

Hoisin sauce mixed and stirred with half water as a dipping sauce

---------------------

Cover in Glad Wrap if making a few and storing in fridge. They tend to stick a bit but separate nicely with care.

Paper and noodle are very cheap but still store dry for a long time in Glad Wrap in the pantry. Unlikely you will use the packet unless making a large amount.

Buy herbs at the Asian grocer if you can - way cheaper at 80c a bunch.

I think the mint and Hoisin flavours make these really nice.

Bottle of Hoisin sauce will last a long time and will see you through many batches.

 

[wylie]

Thanks Weg. Will give them a try .

 

[weg]

Thanks Weg. Will give them a try .

That's OK, but just a warning, you won't be able to stop at one .

 

[BuildingBlocks]

How long do you need to cook them for?

Also, grow your own herbs if you can

 

[zed_kid]

wait, why are we cutting out the offset account? i couldnt imagine living with out one...

 

[weg]

How long do you need to cook them for?

Also, grow your own herbs if you can

These are Vietnamese cold rolls - no cooking apart from the cooked meat you put in them.

They are quite different to Spring rolls that need cooking.

Agree with growing herbs, although between my mother and the elderly Italian and Greek ladies across the road I have access to a few kinds. Befriend these types of people .

Also fresh herbs freeze well providing you don't want the 'look' of fresh herb in your dish.

Just form it into a pencil thin roll in Glad Wrap and chop from one end as you need it, then rewrap and put in freezer till next time.

Freezing is good for herbs that you don't use too often or you only need a bit and don't want to go out and buy it.

 

[Shaneelastic]

Find partner who already has a PPOR ?

Yes that would be handy

 

[Alex P Keaton]

Ok so yesterday I went to woolies at lunch time and bought some margarine, some vegemite, some porridge and some veges to keep with me at work. Also bought some tuna for tuna sandwiches. I have eaten at mum and dads a couple of times lately and will eat dinner there 3 times a week. My parents are happy with that!

I did well for a while and limited my take aways but then I must have forgotten or something and went back into bad habits. I think sometimes I got lazy and wanted variety in my diet so I was going out sometimes buying sushi and noodle box and that sorta thing. Not every day but a few times at lunch and few times at dinner really does add up. Because I have been so good with my weight loss I was also tending to reward myself with the takeways and forgetting my goal of keeping to budget. I really need to start cooking again. I'm good at cooking chicken breasts. They will come in handy for lunches too.

So there is my update! I now also have drummed into my head before I buy anything "Do I need this or is this a want" and that is working well.

That new credit card that came in the mail yesterday that I was going to use i've decided I will only use as a backup if I absolutely have to (as last resort) and when I do get my tax return in September I'll pay it off in full. I wont let the amount get high. I'll use it only to pay for my rates and water installment that is due. It will be a managable amount.

I feel more in control of things now! I just have to keep reminding myself to stick to my budget. That I have only a certain amount to live on and to spend only that amount.

 

[Alex P Keaton]

Can you move in with them for a couple of years?

If I really had to/needed to they would let me move in but I think I can manage. The rental will increase soon as well. I just need to manage my money better. Cutting down on the food I buy will help. Also looking at other places I can cut my expenses down.

 

[kathryn d]

If I really had to/needed to they would let me move in but I think I can manage. The rental will increase soon as well. I just need to manage my money better. Cutting down on the food I buy will help. Also looking at other places I can cut my expenses down.

How old are you?

 

[zapoix.]

Cutting down on the food I buy will help.

I buy tomato chees bread and do toasted sandwiches every day for lunch
it back fires on me some times when I get home from work and the good wife
says lets have toasted sandwiches for dinner but i live with that

I never buy lunch if i an avoid it. It is such a wast of hard earned mula

 

[Belbo]

Agree with everyone here who have said, don't buy take-away anything, and credit cards are danger, danger, Will Robertson!

Lunch: Cook all meals at home, and always cook extra for lunch. I eat leftovers for lunch at work every single day. Three benefits: cheap, healthy and quick. I'm on call for the phone or visitors to the showroom even during lunch 'breaks', which doesn't hurt me one bit and helps all parties involved. (So a bonus career-building mega-money saving strategy to boot.)

Restaurants: Just don't do 'em, unless it's to catch up with friends 'on neutral ground' or as a special treat (like with a lady friend), otherwise go to each others' houses for dinner and a decent chat and a simple honest meal, without all the palava, expense and calories. The simple truth is that food out costs 3 to 4 times more than great food made at home, and it's always indecently sweet, salted and often fattening (which plays havoc with your tastebuds' expectations of home-cooked food).

Credit cards: Unless you don't need them (so use them simply for convenience such as for making hotel bookings, etc), they will keep you poor. That's why they were invented. Credit card companies hate 70% of us, but they love the 30% that can't maintain control. And they'll keep offering you more credit and more cards to flip you from the hated to the loved camp. Oh, they're a trap for the undisciplined, alright, and anyone in tight circumstances can easily lose discipline: Indeed, is most prone to lose discipline! - and spiral out of control into the welcoming arms of credit collection agencies.

APK, you've pushed yourself incredibly hard to invest and to get to really a healthy weight. Well damned done! So it's a bit tight now? Tactically, economise and avoid the credit card trap. Psycholigically, reflect on your achievements, how much you've achieved, and how cool that is. Make mind over matter, rather than want vs need, your own personal mantra. Because you're already 99% of the way there on the strategic score to my way of thinking, and the last 1% is simply tactical manoeuvring for you now.

You could probably teach most of us a thing or two about getting a grip; Think on that, and exalt in where your hard yards now could end up taking you.

 

[Alex P Keaton]

I've decided to move into my IP!!

Thanks for the encouragement Belbo. Yes I am happy with what I have achieved property wise and weight loss wise over the past 3 years! I lost my way though managing my money, but all is not lost. I'll turn this around. I'm looking at the positive side of things and being very grateful for what I have. Some people dont even own a home and are far worse off financially than I. I have my health which I'm thankful for too. There is a lot to be grateful for living in Australia!

I've just been talking to mum. She says she is happy to loan me $2000 to help me out and I'll repay her when I get my tax return back in September. I guess I've had to learn the hard way haven't I! I wont be making the same mistake again! I'll learn to manage my money!

Good news is I wont go under with the help of that loan which will help keep me afloat until Septembers tax return.

I had a brainwave... My plan of action is to move into my rental property and make my PPOR my IP. Thanks to the poster who suggested this!! I'll have to go re-read what he said! Thanks everyone, you gave me lots of options to think about! I can command a higher rent if I rent out my PPOR and I'll have to do the calculations but instead of having to afford 50% of my pay in PPOR & IP repayments I think it will be cut down to around 30 or 40% or something. I'll create a new topic and quote the figures. I wont move in with mum and dad (absolute last resort to do that) it is not fair on them as they are retiring in around 5 - 7 years.

 

[Alex P Keaton]

Help please

If I move into my IP and rent out my PPOR it will only cost me $290 a month to hold rather than $520 what I'm paying now. Ok so what I'll do is increase the rent of my IP in January to $260 per week. Up from $230. If she doesn't agree then I will move in, which is what I have planned anyhow. If she does agree then great she can stay! Anyone got any tips about timing it right so that both my properties arn't vacant at the same time? Mum says I can stay with them if I need to for a little while whilst waiting to fill a vacancy.

thanks


PPOR Repayments $1050 a month
Management fees $240 a month
Expenses = $1290 month

Should rent for at least $1000 a month

Negatively geared by $290 a month



IP Repayments $1200 a month
Management fees $240 a month
Expenses = $1440 a month

Renting for $920 a month

Negatively geared by $520 a month

 

[Pa1nter]

I'm glad I am not in your situation,however after reading your last post I would like to have some input if I may.

Even in the most perfect scenarios,moving out of your PPOR into your IP has its own set of problems.Not something I would do personally.

All I can do is try and place myself in your shoes,and imagine what I would do.

For me there are only two wise things to do.

1: I have rented out a couple of rooms before in my PPOR and it is very successful in creating extra money,especially if you are single.
($80 a room x 2 is a great help)

I am sometimes a little scared to raise rents in case tenants find another place to live,so beware there,an empty house or even two empty houses for two months could complicate things for you even more.

2:Advertise the PPOR to rent and when it gets approved tenants ,store your belongings with your parents and either stay with them or look for share accommodation with a stranger or friend closer to where you work.

12 months of this should sort things out for you and then you can step back into your existing life as if nothing has changed.

Another thing,borrowing money from family can only to bad feelings,
Using a credit card in your position is like committing suicide,cut it up now.

 

[Edmond Dantes]

Increasing the rent in your ip from 230 to 260...hmm.. just do your homework and ensure tthis is realistic. Better to have rented than vacant for who knows how long!

 

[locko24]

Management fees $240 a month

Why such insane management fees Alex? Over 25% on the IP!

Can you work around these? Get rid of those fees and it would seem all your problems would be solved.

 

[Alex P Keaton]

Even in the most perfect scenarios,moving out of your PPOR into your IP has its own set of problems.Not something I would do personally.

2:Advertise the PPOR to rent and when it gets approved tenants ,store your belongings with your parents and either stay with them or look for share accommodation with a stranger or friend closer to where you work.

12 months of this should sort things out for you and then you can step back into your existing life as if nothing has changed.

Yeah I've been thinking about it and I dont think its a good move to move into my IP for various reasons.

It looks like I'll have to move back in with my parents for a year or so. I was talking to mum and I asked her would she mind she said it would be fine.

What is a fair rent to pay mum and dad for room and board?? $200 a week ? $300 a week. I would be a boarder!! I wont be getting a free ride!


In 1 - 2 years time then I could move back into my PPOR. I'll have saved a bit of cash and the rents will have increased on both my properties so it'll be easier to cope with repayments.

 

[Pa1nter]

What is a fair rent to pay mum and dad for room and board?? $200 a week ? $300 a week. I would be a boarder!! I wont be getting a free ride!I

I am sure $100 a week is adequate in the circumstances and a bit of helping around the house wouldn't go astray.

 

[Alex P Keaton]

I just dont want to be a freeloader. I reckon $200 pw is fairer and I'd be able to manage it. I'll see what mum and dad say. Yeah and I'll help around the house and help with the cooking.