Tips to avoid a debt hangover this Christmas

TIPS TO AVOID A DEBT HANGOVER THIS CHRISTMAS!


Christmas is fast-approaching with less than 5 weeks to go and it is one of those times of year that we normally throw caution to the wind, and just blow our budget regardless of the consequences.

The Christmas New Year period means increasing spending for many of us. We often get caught up in the spirit of Christmas spending on gifts, holidays and food. More often than not Australian’s turn to their credit cards as a means of meeting these extra costs!

Unsettling facts from the Australian Bureau of Statistics show that over 14 million Australians are paying off over $40 billion in credit card debt and in 2008, spent $36.95 billion dollars during the Christmas season at retail stores with two in ten relying solely on credit for their Christmas Spending. One in five Australians are still paying for last year's Christmas only six weeks before this festive season, and by Christmas day almost 17% will not have totally cleared last year's debt. Consider this for every $1000 spent on a credit card paying the minimum payments will take you 5 years to pay off.

The biggest tip is to put the credit card away for a rainy day and celebrate Christmas without dragging home a sack load of debt disguised as presents.

Remember that spending less at Christmas doesn’t mean you have less fun.

Here are some tips to help you get through the Christmas New Year season without a debt hangover!

Start Saving Early

§ Open a Christmas savings account.
§ If you committed to saving just $20 per week of 50 weeks you will have saved $1000.


Budget for Christmas early

§ Create a budget.
§ List all the people you need to buy gifts for and write down a specific amount for each person. § When shopping for each person and stick to your allocated budget.

Start Shopping Early

§ Consider shopping throughout the year. The closer it gets to Christmas the more expensive items can get.
§ When shopping leave your credit card at home.
§ Make a list of what you will need for your food menus.
§ Withdraw enough cash as per your budget to complete your shopping.
§ Take advantage of lay-by.
§ Start buying extra bottled and tin foods now. Prices increase the closer Christmas gets.

Be Creative with your Gift Giving

§ Try and make a few personalised gifts yourself. The internet is full of creative ideas.
§ Homemade cooking makes for a great gift.

For Large Families, draw a name from a hat

§ This will reduce the number of gifts you need to purchase.



Shop online

§ You can find some great bargains shopping online but ensure that you are using secure sites and keep a copy of your transactions.



Don’t fall into the debt trap over Christmas!
Christmas is about spending time with family and friends remember spending less at Christmas doesn’t mean that you will have less fun!
Sticking to your planned budget will ensure that you place yourself in a great position to start 2010.

In Control

There are things you can control and things you cannot control. If you focus too heavily on thosethings you cannot control, it can lead to an overwhelming amount of frustration & anxiety.

Choose instead to focus your thoughts and efforts on those things upon which you can have a positive influence. There are plenty of those things, and by giving your energy to them you can quickly and significantly improve the quality of your life.

Stop worrying so much about what others are doing wrong. Instead, put your time and effort into discovering what you can do right, what you can do well, and in using your unique abilities to create excellence.
Whenever you feel yourself getting anxious or frustrated by something that's beyond your control, stop and take a fresh look around. There's something you can do, right there & then, that will make a positive difference in the world.

The more you make use of the positive power that you have, the stronger that power will grow. There is always something you can do, and it always beats complaining or worrying about those things you cannot do.

Do what you can, when you can, where you can, with what you have. You'll find that it can make an enormous difference.


--Ralph Marston--

OMG

I cannot believe that 2 months have somehow escaped me. Well 2 months that I have not blogged anyway. Its not as if I have not been doing anything, entirely the opposite.

I even managed a trip to Perth for a few days which was totally unexpected. First time to Perth & loved the place. The amazing thing is I will be heading back over there in April next year for our National Championships.

Business is still a work in progress situation, training is also work in progress, & the body is following in the same path. All good!! (well most of the time, but hey, thats why its all good)

Have a look at this lovely lady.

Ruth is from my athletics club and this is how she celebrated her 100th birthday. Naturally she set a few more age records on the day.

She is one full on inspiration.

No turning back now

Still tracking to plan and actually starting to feel confident about it. I have committed to the 100 day challenge and I want to get those results. My goals are still to lose at least 6kg & at the same time get my fitness back for the new season of competition which starts in 5 weeks time.

My training now consists of walk/run at least 4-5 mornings for just over an hour, weight training Monday afternoons & sport specific training 1 day for an hour. I will bump up the weight training to 2 - 3 days after next week. my weight is sitting around 65.8kg at the moment and that is my starting point. It has fluctuated up to 66-67 over the last couple of weeks and I guess that was the turning point for me.

This is my starting photo- so its all out there now!!

I will post further updates of photos as I progress and the vital stats when I do them. Now that iss scary.

At last some progress

Had the best week of training. Last Sunday morning did a track session for hour & half & after a short break did my sports specific training. We did Javelin & long jump & absolutely nailed both of them. I was having some technical difficulties with the run up in both events so worked on that & came away on a high.

I have started getting up at 5.30am each day to fit my cardio in. So far so good- walk with some jogging thrown in for about 1hr 15mins. I needed to get back into that routine before I started working on my diet. It isn't all that bad but I just have to work really hard all the time to make any progress. Now that I'm actually seeing progress in my sport it is enough motivation to work on those extra kilos. I keep thinking how much easier it would be to run the 800 without carrying that extra 6kgs twice around the track.

The picture is Burleigh Beach, where I do most of my morning training when not on the track. The hill is our once a week hill sprint. We usually do 10 to finish off.

Getting back to basics

My main focus at the moment is to 'remove' this extra 6kg that i have easily managed to accumulate back on to my lower body. That is stomach ,hips & thighs in no particular order.
I don't want to "lose" the flab because I worry that I might find it again!!
So i will go about removing it. You know I have maintained my weight for almost 2 years now but over the last 6 months I have just slackened off too much and it is starting to creep back on again. I won't make excuses but there have been reasons for this change and until your mind is in the right frame it just makes it very difficult to maintain.

I know exactly what I have to do as I can still remember how great I felt in 2007 at the end of my 12 week challenge and beyond. I want to get back to that level again. I can't believe I used to actually run to my weekly weights training session ( distance 1/2 hour) & walk home after. At the moment I can't imagine how I did that.
Just this week I feel strong enough to continue with the right food choices and get back into my daily exercise. Previously I felt that I have been going through the paces, but really not achieving anything.
Well it is day 3 and all on track.
Monday 30 minute walk am.. Weight training pm..Tuesday jog Burleigh beach & 10 hill sprints, Wednesday( rest day) 15 min walk treadmill -15 min stretches.. Tomorrow back to beach

Decision made

I have decided not to compete at the World Masters Games in October. My fitness level at the moment is just not where I need to be. I could start pushing harder now but with my injury track record I don't want to go down that street again & ruin my whole season.
Our official season starts mid september, so I am just going to keep slowly building my fitness until September & then start putting in some harder yards. It is a long season until April next year when I want to be at my best ever for the Nationals in Perth.

Taking control -- of your money

Do you control your money or do feel that money controls you?

As employees we receive our pay each week, fornightly or monthly. Whenever we are paid it doesn't really matter, what does matter is what you are doing with that pay.
Most people know how much their regular income is but do you really know how much of that income is going out? Or more importantly where that income is going. OK, of course you use it to pay the bills, buy food, run the car,etc, etc, etc. But my question to you is do you really know dollar for dollar where your money goes? This is really important and if you are always just living pay day to pay day then you need to start looking more closely at your spending.

The first step to taking control of your finances is to do a budget. Its a bit like starting any project, you need to have a plan and your budget is the first step. This can be such a valuable tool for realising your goals no matter how big or small. Carry a notebook with you and keep a record of everything that you spend money on. This will soon tell you where you money is going & open your eyes to how much things really cost once you start to keep track. Keep this record for at least a month, but make sure you include absolutely everything- that cup of coffee, or extra few dollars for lunch money, or change for parking meter.

This is your absolute starting point if you want to control your finances and get to where you want to be. We all know it is possible to get to where you want to go, its just that you need to know how to go about it and have a clear picture of your income and expenses. It may not be a pretty picture at first, but you have to make that start.

How high is too high

Started training full on today.Up until today I have just been building up on some endurance running.
I completed a track session first then some event training. Today was Hurdles & Javelin

Hurdles is completely new although I have attempted the event once without too much success.
It is an 80m event with 8 hurdles @ .76m high.

At this stage it is definitely a challenge. I can get over them without too many problems..but forget about the technique, it is more of a jump.

Sally McLellan I take my hat off too you. I will just have to watch your technique a bit closer!!
Good luck at the World Titles & congrats on your recent win. Go Sally!!

I'm on the team!!

We had just finished our training run along Burleigh esplanade & while doing a few stretches started talking to an elderley man. He had a problem with his walking stick & after helping him fix that he was on his way. As he was walking off he said he must keep moving along as he was 'on the team'. Of course we asked what team was that and he said.. any team, it doesn't matter.
He was 81, had surgery for blocked arteries in the last 9 months & now had prostrate cancer, yet he still had a great attitude and was obviously going to keep going right to the end. Good on you, you made my day!!

Goals.....staying inside the goal posts

"We must walk consciously only part way toward our goal, and then leap in the dark to our success" Henry David Thoreau

I am one of those people who needs to have a specific goal set in concrete or it just ain't gonna happen... (not the way I want it to happen anyway)

As much as I dream about it and think it will happen..being the never ending optimist that I am.. I just seem to get sidetracked. You you think that because I lean towards the positive end rather than the negative, I shouldn't have too much trouble. Far from it I'm afraid.

When working I find I can easily get sidetracked from the job I am supposed to be working on and usually end up with 2 or 3 things going at once and achieve none of them. The exact opposite will happen when I am under pressure to finish a project by a certain time, I usually come through pretty well. Another time I was completing a 12 week body challenge and I stayed completely on track from start to finish with great success.

My point is it always helps to have a goal. Not just a wish list, but something that is achievable in a period of time. Write it down, have a picture that you can see everyday so the vision is not lost along the way. Ask for help- have a coach or mentor-someone that you are accountable to.
Ask yourself what is the reason you want to achieve this goal. That answer is probably going to be the real reason behind your success.

Would you like to improve your current Lifestyle?

We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then , is not an act, but a habit. Aristotle

Whether that improvement relates to your finances, your weight your fitness or any other areas, it doesn't matter, this blog is all about connecting with with other like minded people and hopefully you will find something that you can relate to which will help you & or your family live a healthy lifestyle.

Are you always starting or restarting a 'diet'? You know there is always some excuse why you have to wait until Monday, Tuesday or Wednesday or whenever to start on this diet.
well, just forget the 'd' word & start living your life now. You might fall off the wagon along the way, but hey, don't beat yourself up about it.. just get back on that wagon and continue where you left off. "Diet" is now going to take on a new meaning. It is going to be the way you feed your body to live a happy, healthy lifestyle.