Carers under 30...

Going back to basics @outlander first step is to work out where your money is going - write down all expenses, every payment plan, rent, petrol, electricity, etc.

^^^^

And the time span when they are due eg. weekly, fortnightly, monthly, 2 months, 3 months, once a year ..... for the bills or regular payments.

You might fond that that there are some weeks or months when everything seems to be coming up at once, so they are weeks or months to plan around, and not load them up even more with medical appointments, buying gifts for Christmas, etc.

As @Former-Member said, the first step is working out what is going out, and to where, and how often.

Being arty, it might help you to use a calendar and coloured dots for different payments ..... red for medicals, blue for grocery shop, green for utility bills, purple for phone, etc. it can be easier to see the pattern of spending that way.

@outlander

😞 Hard stuff @outlander.

First move is to trim out or reduce any that can be. If you've got credit cards, use them as little as possible. They've got one of the worst interest rates around.

What works for us is having all our regular bills on direct debit, with the money to cover them going in to a separate account. It's actually a passbook account. Very "old school", but only being able to withdraw over the counter means we think carefully when we do. You need to be able to put a bit more into the account than your bills are likely to be, so that if a bigger than usual bill comes through you're not overdrawn. This also works as our "emergency fund" because the "bit more" means we can usually accumulate a small amount of savings. Not heaps, but enough to help out with unexpected car repairs and suchlike.

Everything else comes out of what's left over, including food. We've found that healthy eating is more about knowing what and how to cook than big grocery bills. I rarely pay over $10 per kilo for meat, which means keeping a good eye out for specials and markdowns, being willing to have mostly-veggie meals some nights, and knowing how to cook said veggies so that no-one feels like we're missing out. (Last night was a mostly-veg soup, but with a rich homemade chicken broth, a bit of reduced-to-clear cream, and a small amount of half price chorizo added. Was yummy with toast made from slightly stale bread... 😄 ) I know for you this will largely be dependent on what your Pop is happy to eat. It's not the kind of budget that puts steak or lamb chops on the plate- although roasts can be surprisingly affordable.

Our clothes are mostly second hand, but chosen with care. Furniture and household goods ditto. We do spend out a bit on hobbies- Hubby on "making things" so tools, timber etc., me on gardening, so plants and potting mix. But the latter gives us fresh fruit and vegs so possibly pays for itself. Have never quite gotten around to doing its budget. And Hubby makes some useful things too. 🙂 We also allow a bit of money for a cuppa or occasional meal out. The hobbies and cuppas/outings are pretty important as self care.

I'll ditto what @Former-Member said about tracking expenses. I don't do so all the time, but every now and then I'll keep a record of all spending for a month, usually by writing it all down on the outside of an envelope, and putting the receipts inside the envelope. That way if gorcery spending, for example, looks unexpectedly high, I can pull out the relevant receipts and find out why.

I've found that tracking expenses is most useful when there's been a change in income, but oddly that includes times when income has increased. I think what happens is: income increases... we go "oh phew, we can relax a bit, and maybe buy xyz that we've been putting off"... and suddenly the money's short at the end of the fortnight. 😛

All sounding good @outlander. 🙂

Ouch. I think I remember you mentioning about the credit card. 😞

I don't know if anything can be done, but maybe ask Centrelink if they can refer you somewhere for financial counselling. Given that your Pop effectively ran up a credit card bill by mistake, and possibly wasn't mentally competent enough to realise what he was doing, I wonder if there might be compassionate grounds for asking for some or all of the interest charged to be reversed? No promises, but could be worthwhile at least finding out.