down to earth

Banks have no interest in you paying off your credit card debt fast. They make a sizeable proportion of their profits from the interest payments made on credit card debt. It is in their interest for you to take as long as possible to pay back what you owe. The average credit card account balance was $3,333 in November 2011. (Source: Reserve Bank of Australia, January 2012) Today I was going to present a lot of current information about what the state of credit card debt is in several countries but now I think that is the wrong way to go about encouraging you to start getting serious about paying off your debt. Seeing a lot of statistics can confuse some people and it angers others. There are some who have become comfortable with credit card debt and believe it to be part of modern life; I am not one of those people. I believe there is such a thing as good debt, and that is the mortgage you take out on your family home. Many of us will carry that kind of debt, many more of us will add to that with credit card debt and personal loans. It is that extra debt that I want to address today.

Unless you're working in a job you absolutely love and see your job as a career or a vocation, like the majority of the world's population, you're probably working primarily for the money you earn. There is no law that states you have to work full time for the rest of your life. If you can pay off your debt, save money and set yourself up for your later years, full time work could possibly make way for part-time work or early retirement. You do not have to work until you drop. You could take time out to enjoy life as well.

So how do we go about that? How can we draw a line in the sand and start paying off debt with the absolute intention of being debt-free, except for the mortgage, in the next few years.

Lay-by and layaway plans are making a comeback. Until the creation of credit cards in the 1950s, and their common use by ordinary working people in the 1970s, we all used to save up for what we wanted and needed to buy. Many people used lay-by or layaway schemes, which was a way to pay for products in instalments before you could take them home. It was a kind of forced saving. Many shops are bringing back their lay-bys and layaways, or expanding them to include a wider range of products and prices. More info below.
Stop spending. Adding to your debt will stop you paying off what you already owe.
Think of prices in terms of work hours. For example, if you earn $40 an hour and you want to buy a new TV that costs $2000, you will have to work at your job for 50 hours to pay for that TV in cash. If you put it on your credit card or get a loan, it will cost more. And remember, that 50 hours work is on top of what you'll be working to pay off your other debt.
Save an emergency fund. Everyone has unexpected debt from time to time. The fridge will break down, the dog will get sick, there will be something that crops up just when you can't afford it. Most of us put those unexpected payments on our credit card. If you have an emergency fund you don't have to do that. You can pay in cash. It's amazing how confident you'll feel when you have that buffer between yourself and unexpected debt.
If you have more than one credit card, pay off the one with the highest interest first.
Don't fall into the trap of paying the minimum payment each month. That option is the best one for the bank, not you. If you never pay more than the minimum payment, it will take you about 50 years to pay off your credit card. Every month you pay, you're also being charged interest, and it's usually high interest, so what ever you bought with your credit card will cost you about double what it cost someone paying cash. That doesn't make sense.
Pay cash. If you do that, you'll find you're much more likely to check for bargains and not be fooled into paying for something you really don't need.
Track your money to see where it is being spent. At the end of every week, work out your non-essential spending - all those cups of coffee, magazines, takeaways, movies, chocolates etc that you don't need. You non-essential spending amounts are your potential savings. Continue tracking for a month to see your spending patterns, when you have a month's worth of tracking, you'll see clearly where you can cut back and save.
Know how much debt you have. Sit down with your partner and work out what you owe. Then work out a plan on how to pay it off.
If you're doing this with your partner, don't lay blame, and forget about what you spent in the past. It is not productive to say: "YOU spent $200 on football tickets last month." or "YOU spent $400 on a pair of shoes." What is spent is spent. Draw a line and go forward from that point.
Make some of your own products - homemade soap, laundry liquid, bread, dishcloths etc will save you a lot of money.
Think about different ways to save: Cancelling your pay TV or mobile/cell phone will save money. Cutting back on groceries with prudent buying and stockpiling can save money. Reusing and recycling will save buying new - shop at op shops.
Renegotiate your monthly bills such as insurance, phone and internet accounts. Even electricity accounts might be able to be renegotiated. Do some research first and know what the competitors are offering before you phone your provider. Be polite and let them know you have done your research, ask for a better price and hopefully they'll give you one rather than lose you as a customer. At the very best, you'll get a good reduction, at the worst, your payments will stay the same each year.

I am not going to tell you this is easy. It's not. In fact, if you've got a lot of debt and you've been flashing the plastic for far too long, it will be difficult. But it's not impossible and it will get easier. Starting is the hardest part because as you start to see the rewards of your debt reduction efforts, you'll feel in control and motivated to keep going. We have no debt. We paid off our mortgage in eight years instead of the twenty years we signed up for. Paying off our debt was one of the important milestones for us, I guess it will be the same for you. I do know for sure that once you've made the decision to pay down your debt, started working on it and made some progress, you'll feel a kind of liberation and satisfaction.

Credit card debt is one of the most insidious and treacherous modern life traps - it will stop you living to your potential. If you're up for it, I refer you to Lisa's debt challenge on the Down to Earth Forum. There are many people there making a commitment to paying off their debt and getting support and encouragement as they go, from others doing exactly the same thing. If you decide to take this important step, click on the link and join in. Let me know what you're doing - I am interested and really encourage you to do this. If you've paid off your debt, or are in the process of doing it, please tell us how you did it. Your tip might be the one that saves someone else.

Additional reading
An excellent credit card resource - check out how long it will take you to pay off your credit card debt here

Reduce credit card debt - Australlia
Reduce credit card debt - UK
Credit card calculator

Lay-bys and layaways

With all this rain around we've developed a mould problem in our home. Usually we have the front and back doors open and that good ventilation stops most moulds from establishing. However, with the house locked up for the past week, the high humidity and the rain, mould is now growing on the wooden walls near our front door and on the lower parts of cupboards in the kitchen.

Most of us will find mould growing in our homes at some point. Either in the bathroom or, in humid climates, on the walls, like we have now. You'll need a safe and effective remedy at some point, so I hope one of these methods works well for you.

Mould is not only ugly to look at, it can cause health problems so if you see mould growing, do something about it straight away. The longer you leave the problem, the harder it will be to get rid of it effectively. If you have asthma or any allergies, you should do this type of cleaning with a face mask on so you don't breathe in any spores. Many people use bleach on mould but I've found it just takes the colour out of it, you think it's gone, but it soon grows back. The best treatments are safe ones that don't rely on harsh chemicals or bleach. Don't try to brush it off with a dry brush or broom first, that will just spread the spores around and the mould will probably establish in another area.

MOULD FIRST AID

Mould loves dark, poorly ventilated rooms - open the windows and doors and keep the air moving through the room.
Mould loves warmth and moisture - if condensation is building up, open the window and wipe down damp surfaces.
If you have mould in the bathroom grout, it's almost impossible to remove. It's best to remove the grout, treat the tiles with vinegar or tea tree oil and re-grout.

Mould is an accumulation of fungi that will start to grow if the conditions are right, such as in the presence of water and warmth. In our case it was the humid air and the closed house that started off our problem. We can't get rid of the humid weather, unfortunately, but we can create a well ventilated space and that's what we've done.

Treating mould effectively requires a two stage attack - washing the mould off and drying the area and finishing off with either clove or tea tree oil in a spray. Tomorrow, when I'm home again, I'll wash the walls with hot water, bicarb (baking soda) and vinegar. I'll use 4 litres/quarts of water, ½ cup white vinegar and a tablespoon of bicarb. Washing the walls should remove the spots of mould but I need to clean around this space too - if any spores are left, they'll re-establish the mouldy growths again. If you have mould on hard surfaces - like cupboard doors or smooth walls, you can use the liquid solution above or a paste of vinegar and bicarb (baking soda). Wipe it on the surface, leave for 20 - 30 minutes, then wipe off completely with a clean damp rag. Make sure all the solution is off, then wipe over with a dry cloth.

For the second and final treatment, the lovely Shannon Lush, Australia's cleaning guru, recommends ¼ teaspoon of clove oil mixed into a litre/quart of water in a spray bottle. I have no clove oil here but I do have tea tree oil and that works well too. Just add one teaspoon of tea tree oil to a cup of water in a spray bottle, shake it well. After you've completed your initial cleaning of the surface, spray that over the affected areas and leave it on. If you notice the mould growing back, repeat these steps, always finishing with either the tea tree or clove spray.

If you have fabric that has mould growing on it, wash it in a couple of litres of water to which you add two tablespoons of homemade laundry liquid and two teaspoons of borax. Soak the fabric overnight in this solution, rinse well and dry in the sun. If that doesn't remove the stains, you may have to soak the fabric overnight in a solution of hot water and oxy-bleach, like Napisan, Dri Pak or OxiClean - or their generic alternatives.

Good luck with your cleaning and don't let mould grow too long before you do something about it.

BTY, we had 108 mm/just over 4 inches of rain yesterday.

We were away for just two weeks but when we returned and drove into our little lane, it felt like we'd been gone a lot longer than that. The trip home was exhausting and a bit harrowing in places as we had to drive through the edge of the flood waters but it was SO worth the effort. Both Hanno and I want to thank everyone who travelled to their local bookshop to meet us. We left a trail of loyal friends behind us and many book shops sold out of copies of the book by the time we left. I was amazed, and probably shouldn't have been, at the generosity and kindness of these people who we'd never met but who felt like, and treated us like, friends. Not only were there warm and comfy hugs there were jars of jam and pickles, home brew, banana bread, gluten-free muffins, dishcloths, soap, chillis in oil, cards and many good wishes brought along for us to take away as mementos. Thank you so much. Both Hanno and I were over-whelmed at the friendliness and generosity of you all. We were treated like the king and queen! It was quite something.

We stayed a few days at Tricia's on the way down south. This is a lovely family dinner at Tricia's - Hanno, Tricia, me, Danny and his girlfriend, Laura. David was behind the camera - cooeee David!

We checked into The Olsen, an art hotel chosen for us by Penguin. And yes, the cricket was on TV so that was on before we did anything else. Wow, such splendour! That bed you can see above is the most comfortable bed I've ever slept in. I thought my bed at home was great, but this one beat it.

Along the way we also visited Byron Bay for an interview with local journalist Megan, 2GB in Sydney with Chris Smith (Sydney's biggest radio station), the ABC studios in Melbourne for a number of interviews, including one with Richard Stubbs (which made it into the Weekly Redux along with Graham Nash, Ralph Fiennes and the wonderful Frank Woodley!), and to the massive Herald Sun building for an interview there with journalist Jane Howard who whispered to me: "you wrote this book for me, didn't you?" We went from Byron Bay to Blackheath to Sydney to Melbourne to Ballarat to Castlemaine to Bendigo to Albury to Canberra to Bathurst - where we were caught up in the floods, and home via Dubbo, Gilgandra, Tamworth, Armidale, Dorrigo, Belligen and the Gold Coast. It was an exciting and life-affirming trip because everyone we met was generous with their praise of the book and the blog and we were made feel special every place we went! We were to have visited Wollongong to meet friends but that was not to be and the political shenanigans got our spot dropped from The Circle. Oh well.

On the beach at Byron Bay with Megan.

Oh dear, I knew I should have written down everyone's name. I think this was at Albury. Sorry ladies, please remind me in the comments so I can add it here. Update: The pregnant lady at my side is Alison - it's baby number 3.

This is my Penguin publicist Dianne Biviano with me in the ABC studios in Melbourne. She did a wonderful job promoting the book and put together that incredible itinerary I posted.

Uh oh! This is what we found in Ballarat!

Also in Ballarat were Lisa and her cute baby.

Linda from The Greenhaven Good Life and Christine from Slow Living Essentials - in Castlemaine.

Lisa and Janine with Hanno in Bathurst. Lisa was the first radio journalist to interview me many years ago.

In the ABC studio with Richard Stubbs. I really liked doing this interview. He was such an interesting man.

Hanno and I in the ABC Melbourne studios.

One of the highlights of the trip for me was to meet, for the first time, my editor, Jo Rosenberg. Over the course of me writing the book, and the editing of it, Jo and I developed a very special friendship. She is a little younger than my own children and she feels like a daughter to me now. Jo and her gorgeous husband Eli took us out to dinner at a wonderful Caffe Cucina in Chapel Street. Wow, the food and atmosphere there was superb and while the rain fell outside and we talked and laughed over dinner, and when we walked in the rain back to our hotel a short distance away, I felt that this night was one I would remember forever.

Here is is four of us at Caffe Cucina - Jo, Eli, Hanno and I.

The next morning at the Penguin office, Jo and I in her office.

We went to the Penguin headquarters the next day to meet some other Penguins, namely Allison Colploys who designed the cover of Down to Earth. Oh my, what a charming girl she is! A delightful mix of shyness and youthful exuberance and just bursting with talent. Allison won the young designer of the year award in 2009. Hello Allison! Meeting you was one of our highlights. :- ) I really was supported by a large group of talented women in the making of this book. On the way into the Penguin building I heard someone say: "there is Rhonda ... and Hanno!" It was Kate from Fox's Lane blog. We had never met before but I have commented on her excellent blog and she on mine so, naturally, in the way of the blogging world, we "know" each other. What a great surprise! This book certainly has lead me towards many incredible people; a wonderful side benefit.

I loved that people saw Hanno and I as a team, because we are that, and a couple of people asked him to sign their books too. He was recognised on the street and when he couldn't find the bookshop after parking the car, he asked Janine and Roger for directions, and they just happened to be on their way to meet us. I loved the friendships that have developed invisibly and easily over the years and that when I spoke about my family: "We stayed with Tricia.", "Kerry is staying at our place." etc, everyone knew who I was talking about and no explanations where needed. Lots of people asked about the babies and I will be sure to tell Jamie and Alexander that when they were little, people loved knowing how they were and what they were doing. But most of all I loved that I knew deep down to my bones that the trip was a success and we would have been poorer for not having done it. It was exhausting, hard work, scary, and a bit intimidating meeting all those people but we had such a wonderful time that I know we will not forget it - ever.

When we got home on Saturday night, as I lay in my own bed, the thing that made the most impact on me was the silence and the darkness surrounding us. Almost everywhere we stayed in those two weeks had unfamiliar noises and lights that illuminated the night. But back here at home I found comfort in the dark silence and I slept soundly in my own bed. Simple pleasures, yes, but genuine and satisfying nonetheless. It's good to be back with you.