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shelley at moneymummy.com.au

Shelley Marsh

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So far Shelley Marsh has created 82 blog entries.

5 Easy Ways To Sort Out Your Finances for 2015

I cannot believe 2014 has flown by so fast!!!  It feels like one minute it was January, then June, then for me November and December have just rolled into one!!!  Given 2015 is approaching fast, here are some easy ways you can sort out your finances in time for the new year!

1) Do a budget

Oh! I hear you groan. Don’t worry, I understand!  But the truth is that a budget does not have to be a complicated scary beast and it is the BEST way to keep control of your finances.  I used the MoneySmart website’s free budget planner and it was dead easy to get my budget done.  If you want to check out the planner click here, or if you want to read about how I did my budget click here.

2) Boost your income

There are lots of ways to boost your income but one […]

By |December 21st, 2014|General Finance|6 Comments
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15 Ways To Save Money In 2015

As most of you know my day job is to teach social workers about money so that they can then help their clients with their financial issues.  A big part of the course is exchanging ideas on ways to save money.  I love to hear everyone’s tips for saving money and it is one of my most favourite parts of the course.  So, given I have heard heaps of ways to save money, I decided to compile all the best ones into this list.  I am not suggesting you do all of the things on the list, but take a look and use the ideas that make sense to you.

  • Use a separate bank account that is hard to access.
  • Direct debit a set amount into your savings account as soon as you get paid.
  • Get your employer to directly put part of your pay into your hard to access savings account so […]
By |December 11th, 2014|Saving|17 Comments
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How Do I Know If I Have Enough Superannuation?

I don’t know about you, but for me time is just flying by.  Even more so since we had our daughter.  Time seems to have gone into hyper-drive!!!  What is that???  One minute I was 27 years old, footloose and fancy free roaming the globe.  The next minute I am 41, married, with a mortgage and a four year old, hearing the word “Muuuuuummmmm” several million times a day.  A completely different life.  But somehow the years in between seemed to have just whizzed by.

And from what my mum tells me, time goes by even faster from here on in – next stop 50, then 60!  What the??????  I was pretty sure that this was never going to happen to me!  I guess it is!  So I had better make sure I am financially prepared for my retirement.  Especially given – if the current legislation passes– I won’t be able […]

By |December 4th, 2014|Superannuation|8 Comments
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Are Christmas Club Savings Accounts A Good Way To Save For Christmas?

You have probably never even heard of a Christmas Club Savings Account.  They are an account that helps you save for Christmas by allowing you to make direct deposits of your savings during the year but you can’t access the account without penalty until Christmas time, generally from the 1st of November.  Christmas Club  Savings Accounts were really popular in the 1970s and 1980s and are now becoming harder to find.  The big banks no longer offer them but you can still find them with some of the smaller banks and credit unions.   So are Christmas Club Savings Accounts worth it?

Well, the biggest pro for a Christmas Club Savings Account is that they allow you to start a regular savings habit for Christmas, while restricting your access during the year.  Generally speaking most accounts allow you to access your money for free from the 1st of November until the 31st […]

By |November 20th, 2014|Christmas|13 Comments
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How I Raised An Extra $910 To Pay For Christmas!

Freaky!  How fast has this year flown!!  I cannot believe it is already the first week of November and it is only 7 weeks until Christmas!!!  Yowsers!!!  So given the time pressure lately I have been putting a lot of thought into how to raise some extra cash to help pay for our Christmas.  Not that our Christmas is particularly elaborate, usually it is a pretty simple roast chicken lunch at my house for my mum, sister, hubby, daughter and myself.  We try to keep Christmas simple and low key.  No pressure.

However, this year Miss Money is hankering after a Barbie Dream House and with $270 being the best price I can find on the internet, it is a big chunk of the Christmas budget.  Given I have fond memories of my 1970s/early 80s Barbie Townhouse I would really like to get it for her.  Also on the Christmas shopping […]

By |November 6th, 2014|Christmas|22 Comments
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Surviving Redundancy

I think I am in a pretty unique position to write about redundancy.  You see, I have been made redundant twice during my career and my hubby was made redundant at the start of 2014.  So a score of 3 for our family so far.  The first time I was made redundant was in 2004, when the British hedge fund I was working for packed up its Australian office and moved back to the UK.  One minute we all had jobs.  The next minute none of us did.  The model we were trading off hadn’t been performing, so we kind of saw it coming.  Even then it was a shock.  The second time I was made redundant was in 2012.  It was my 39th birthday and I was 11 months in from my return from maternity leave when I was taken into the little room and told my services were […]

By |October 22nd, 2014|Budgeting|19 Comments
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How To Win Free Stuff!

This post is a guest from my great friend Lisa-Marie from The Retro Mumma.  I am constantly in awe of Lisa Marie’s ability to win the best free stuff.  She is always winning the kind of stuff that you really want.  So she has popped over to Money Mummy to share her secrets with all of us. Take it away Lisa Marie!

How To Win Free Stuff!

Today I was pampered and treated to a beautiful cut & blow dry from Yeah Hair Baby in Marrickville.

What was even more fabulous was that it was FREE!

Some people say that I was born with a 4 leaf clover, but I don’t believe that – it just comes down to the old saying of ” you have gotta be in it to win it”.

So how did I win this beauty treatment? Well I won it through a Facebook promotion on the Yeah […]

By |October 14th, 2014|Saving|10 Comments
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5 Simple Savings Ideas That Absolutely Everyone Can Use

This post is brought to you by ASIC’s MoneySmart website

Most people think that in order to save money you have to do some really grand gesture, like only soup for dinner for the rest of your existence, but saving money does not have to be that difficult.  In fact, I believe that when it comes to saving, it is the small things that you do every day that really matter.  So here are five of my most favourite simple savings ideas that absolutely everyone can use in their everyday lives.

  1. Choose a goal and create a plan

    You need to have a savings goal.  Without a goal it is easy to splurge money on a whim.  Goals give you focus.  Everybody has different savings goals.  Choose yours, whether it be a holiday, buying your dream home or saving for your child’s education.  You don’t have to have just one goal, […]

By |October 6th, 2014|Saving|26 Comments
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10 Ways To Reduce Your Average Electricity Bill

Last year I wrote about my horror at receiving a $1400 electricity bill for winter!  I realise that my house is all electric but still the shock prompted me to search out a better deal.  A couple of weeks ago I received my winter electricity bill for this year.  I am proud to report that my winter electricity bill was down 28% from last year and is now around $1000.  Although a lot better than last year, $1000 still seems like a lot to me for a small house with 3 people living in it.  Surely there is more we can do?  So here are a list of some of the things we are going to implement in our household to cut our average electricity bill even further.

  1. Finish our move to energy efficient light bulbs

    We still have quite a few old light bulbs in our house. A move to energy […]

By |September 25th, 2014|Saving|16 Comments
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5 Easy Ways To Sort Out Your Superannuation for Spring!

Yayyyy!  Spring has sprung (not that you can tell from our recent weather!) and it is time to get cracking on sorting out all those things you have neglected over the cold winter months.  Now I am not just talking about getting rid of the dust bunnies hiding behind the furniture (guilty) but spring can be a great time to sort out your superannuation too!  I know most people would rather poke their eyes out with hot sticks than think about their superannuation.  However, the truth is that superannuation is your friend; it is there to help you out when you get older and want escape from the world of work forever.  Unfortunately nowadays you cannot rely on the pension to save you as governments creep the qualification age further and further away.  So do it!  Follow these five easy steps and sort out your superannuation for spring and keep yourself […]

By |September 8th, 2014|Superannuation|18 Comments
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