Steps in purchasing your first home (more specifically first apartment)

Goals completed: One

For me the process has been quite an ordeal because the solicitor didn't talk to the real estate who didn't talk to the bank and no one talked to me. So unless you already know all the in's and out's of the whole process there is a lot of stress involved. And like me you end up drinking by yourself wondering why no one ever told you what to expect. Probably because my parents went through this 20 years ago and have forgotten or else they would have actually told me what to expect. I'm not going to babble on about the part where you need to figure out how much money you can afford to repay monthly, what your price range is, looking for a place to make an offer on. I'm going to start from what happens when you make an offer.

Making an offer

• How much will you pay as your initial deposit? And make a note of when you need to pay it by.
  
• How long will you require to get your finance approved? If it happens quick it will be 7 days, but to be safe you should have at least 14 days. 21 days if the seller isn't in a rush, because there's a lot of peace of mind involved in having the deadline further away. If you set a deadline and you don't get your approval by then the seller can cancel the contract. This process may require you to get your identification verified and get all your finances in order showing bank statements and pay slips.
• How long will you require for settlement? Usually 30 days, unless you already have finance approved it's best to at least have 30 days, but it can be more.
• Do you need building and pest inspections? Unless you have serious doubts there is not a lot one of these inspections will tell you. But then again this will very much depend on the building. You will probably want to take note of chances of termites, your balcony stability, exposed circuits, holes in walls. Things that might make the place unlivable.
  

Once your offer is accepted

• Call your bank straight away and fill out the loan application, get that ball rolling as soon as possible. This process may require you to have a contract of sale, copies of bank statements and identification verification.
  
• Contact your solicitor, authorise for them to perform the searches. You may need to pay for the searches as you go, or they will be paid in bulk upon settlement.

Once finance is approved

• You will need to sign the mortgage documents, if you go with ING direct as I did you will need to have a JP or solicitor witness you signing them. Then your contract of sale will go unconditional.
• If you go with ING direct you will also need to organise your First Home Owners Grant form as soon as possible because they will not set a settlement time until they have get that confirmation. Most other banks will probably just require you to sign the form and you're set.
• Your solicitor will ask you to fill out a first home owners transfer duty concession, which is probably the most straight forward form I had to fill out.
• Organise your bank cheques (or be prepared to organise them) for: the remaining deposit payable [the bank only pays the mortgage amount (which includes all their fees) and you should have already paid your initial deposit] and solicitor fees. Unless you go with Westpac or NAB then they will organise the chques for you; you will want to ask your bank to make sure. The total cost of purchase will be adjusted for corporate fees, council rates etc that the seller has already paid. You will need to get these cheques to the solicitor before settlement.
• Buy insurance. If the property will not be occupied immediately and there is a tenant in place you will need landlords insurance. Then you will need contents insurance. You should have been shown a certificate of currency stating that the building is insured, including public liability insurance.
• Buy alcohol - either to celebrate or to dull the nerves a bit.
  

Day 21:

Goals completed: 1

I got my paper shredder, spent quite a while just shredding stuff. I think I've almost gotten everything. I still have a few more receipts I just don't know how to store them. I will have to figure that out eventually.

How are my other goals going?
Well giving up soft drinks has been slightly easier than I thought it would be. Although there are moments where I crave a coke. I haven't been doing too well on the swearing thing, but MATLAB really tries my patience sometimes. Also the vegetarian thing isn't going well. I think I skipped last week. Does instant noodles count?And the only new meals I have cooked are really attempts at cooking. Like I tried to throw together this pasta dish my mum makes where she beats an egg into the pasta but all I did was burn the egg. So that was new. I am going to try to cook a vegetarian dish tomorrow, it will have that fake meat stuff in it.

Also finally got through knitting one of the sleeves for the cardigan I am making, hopefully I'll be done with the other by the weekend.

Day 11:

Goals completed: 2

I have been using ING for probably about 7 years now, and apart from taking too long to do my building valuation I haven't had any complaints. I like that the money can't be accessed too easily because it prevents me from spending it. Sure there are drawbacks but when you're trying to save, you have to love that in a back. I also like that you can easily set up lots of different accounts and you can name them. I just set mine up to "home deposit", "my valentine", "HECS" and "big holiday". And you can set up separate automatic transfers to each so now I'm not going to have to think about whether or not I remembered to set aside $100 this month o $1 yesterday because ING has taken care of it. Of course you have to ensure that there is money in your chosen bank account or else you get some nasty overdraw fees.

I tried this recipe for fluffy blueberry pancakes and their idea was that the blueberries should be added as the pancakes were cooking, which turned out to be a bad idea because one side of the pancake turned out a bit demented. I should have followed Nigella Lawson's recipe and turned the blueberries into a blueberry syrup instead. I think this counts as a vegetarian meal (technically fruitarian).

It has taken me a while but after consulting numerous lists I have come up with the following lists:

Books I want to read:

• Little women(as I said before)
  
• Art of War by Sun-Tzu (it was referenced in Numb3rs so I'm pretty interested in reading it)
• Book thief by Markus Zusak (another book on my bookshelf, on the top 100 A&R list)
• Fight Club by Chuck Palahniuk (I liked the movie so it will be interesting to see if the book lives up to my expectation)
• Catch-22 (I have read the first chapter so many times, but I've never been able to continue with it)
• Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand (been on my list for years and I finally bought a copy so I have to read it)
• One of the many Jodi Picoult books (I've only read My Sister's Keeper which I really liked)
• A tree grows in Brooklyn by Betty Smith (been on my list for ages and I really want to find a copy)
• An equal music by Vikram Seth (sounds tragic though)
• The Princess Bride by William Goldman (one of my all time favourite movies)
• 1984 by George Orwell
• Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett (it's been a while since I read it)
• Paradise Lost by John Milton
• Oliver Twist by Charles Dickens (never quite made it through the whole thing, although I've read the first half several times)
• Alice's adventures in Wonderland and Through the looking glass by Lewis Carroll
• Grimm's fairy tales by Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm
• The Phantom of the Opera by Gaston Leroux
• Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck (I just love the title, I just have to get past the first page)
• The Origin of Species by Charles Darwin
  

Books I will never read:

• Wuthering Heights (such drama!)
• Vanity Fair (the characters were all so unlikable and after reading Anna Karenina I don't want to read another book where I just can't stand the characters)
  
• War and Peace (it doesn't even sound interesting)
• For Whom the Bell Tolls by Ernest Hemingway (no war stories!)
  
• Moby Dick by Herman Melville (the story is so long and all about a whale?)
• Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov (not sure if I want to read a story about a pervert)
• The Odyssey by Homer (I don't need another epic story)
• Lord of the Rings by J.R.Tolkien (I skim read it the first time and have no desire to ever read it now that I've seen the movies)
• Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne
• Tess of D'Urbervilles by Thomas Hardy
• Crime and Punishment by Fydor Dostoevsky (about time I gave up on this one)
• The Communist Manifesto by Karl Marx (my dad might kill me if he caught me reading it, besides I already know the highlights)
• Anything by Virginia Woolfe (I read Mrs Dalloway and it was depressing)
• Anything by Bryce Courtenay (I know he is one of Australia's bestselling authors but all his books were just so boring)
  

Books I have loved and may well read again:

• To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee
• Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas (Actually any of his books)
  
• Adventures of Huckleberry Finn and Tom Sawyer by Mark Twain
• Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury
• The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde
• Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen
• Chronicles of Narnia series by C.S.Lewis
• Lord of the Flies by William Golding

There were other books that were on my list that I just removed for no particular reason other than that I had no idea why they were on my list to begin with since I had expressed no interest in reading them and not even attempted to read them. So I don't have 33 books to read, but there are new books that I'm sure I will want to read that I haven't come across yet. It was quite cathartic to come up with a list of books I don't want to read. It felt like I was committing blasphemy, but I can finally stop trying to read them just because they're "great works of literature" rather than because I'd enjoy it.

Day 3:

Goals completed: 2
It was quite refreshing sleeping before 12pm, I woke up this morning at 9am feeling really refreshed. I went and did my grocery shopping and I managed to just fit under my $35 a week budget. Although it was very tempting to buy a fizzy drink. A fizzy drink always hits the right spot when it's 30+ degrees outside. You can't exactly drink tea. I did buy some milk so maybe some cold milo will make me feel better. I also bought some refreshing grass jelly. I may have to buy that stuff in bulk for summer if I can't have coke.

Was too lazy to go to the library today so instead I have decided my book of the month is going to come from my own collection of books: 'Little Women' by Louisa M. Alcott. I haven't read this book since I was small and my memory of it has been replaced by the movie, so I will be glad to read it again.

Studying is not going so well. Still looking through notes from weeks ago.

I wanted to quit so many times with the photos and writing stupid advertisements. In the end I stuck with it and I have now offloaded a whole bunch of stuff onto the internet.

If anyone else is interested in figuring out their carbon footprint, there are quite a few calculators around.

Global footprint network - interactive with lots of sounds
Told me that if everyone lived like me we would need 3.2 planet earths
65% of my carbon footprint comes down to my food choices - it's because I'm a meat eater! So one of the things I'm supposed to do to reduce my carbon footprint is to eat half the amount of meat I usually do. The other big one is not flying so much. I don't think I could not fly home. So until they invent teleportation, flying it is.

Carbon neutral - a little more in depth since some things were more quantitative.
I need to offset 5.96 tonnes of carbon dioxide. So I need to plant approximately 36 trees and donate $119.20. Again air travel and meat eating did not serve me well. But the surprising thing this time was the energy bills. I always though my electricity bill was quite low, but I guess it depends on the month.

BP Energy lab - this one doesn't take my meat eating into consideration
My footprint is 3.00, and the average in Australia is 14.36

Green generation -asks you lots of strange questions and I'm not sure how accurate it is since it asks for everything in dollar values.
My housing footprint is 29% bigger than the average Australian
My groceries footprint is 84% smaller
My shopping footprint is 299% smaller (which does not seem right at all)
My transport footprint is 62% smaller (when you walk to work that happens)
My services footprint is 89% smaller.

I think I would go with the carbon neutral calculator.

Day 2:

Goals completed: 3

I got on the scales today to figure out what my percentage of body fat is using the body composition scales at work. I work 50.8 kilos and 18.1% of that is fat, 9.2kg. For women it should be about 21-33%. Total water composition was 50.8% (45-60%). Visceral fat mass = 1. Physique rating of 8 (Thin and athletic). My BMR is 1262 calories, which is way less than what I usually consume so I should probably increase the exercise. I have the metabolic age of a 12 year old (I hope I don't age metabolically any time soon). I forgot my muscle mass but I think it was between 20-35, I know it's a big gap. I also forgot my bone density which was the calculation I really wanted as well. But it's hard remembering all these numbers as the flash by let alone what the numbers are for. I am in no rush to weigh myself again. It feels weird getting on the scales. Interestingly I have gained 3 kilos in the last few months but I haven't noticed because if anything my clothes are looser. So where does weight go?

And today I also got my weights. I decided against getting the dumbbells choosing to get toning balls instead because these looked more interesting. I even did some research last night onto what sort of exercises you can use them for. And you pretty much use them the same way as dumbbells, but they are apparently softer and a more comfortable alternative.

Also got all my web browsing bookmarks organised. I had quite a few broken links and even some duplicates. I got rid of most of them and organised the rest into folders and moved the ones that I click on the most into my toolbars.It makes my web browsing a little more efficient.

I kept up with all my daily goals again, although again I did not notice the swearing. I'm beginning to worry that I did swear and thet just because it is so normal for me I haven't noticed.


I wanted to figure out how I was going to organise my receipts tonight but all my googling did not turn up any great ideas. Everyone seems to scan and put them on their computer or organise them in folders, shoeboxes orplastic sleeves. None of these really appeal to me. There are companies such as shoeboxed out there trying to help people to organise their receipts. I saw a folder at kikki.k, but I'm not sure if I need it. The paper shredder on its own may do the trick. I might just start sorting them into piles tomorrow and see where I go from there. I am not feeling well this week so I won't be going to my yoga class. I'll start that next week. Also going to get a move on with the photographing and selling of all my ebay items while I am still motivated.

Day 1:

Goals completed: 1

I completed one goal today - I bought a tea infuser spoon (instead of the teapot) so that I can bring my tea leaves to work.

I did manage to survive without coke (I did have a coffee and 2 fruit juices so I still got my caffeine and my sugar).

I didn't swear out loud, but I swore inside my head. I promise to work harder on that one.

I had my special K for breakfast and a regular coffee.

It's not what I had in mind, but I did try something new when I went into Maccas today. I tried the Grand Angus (without onions and pickles of course) and I have to say that I was impressed. I liked the bread as well. Although the burger didn't stay together as well as a quarter pounder, but I've always found that the best burgers are a little messy to eat.

And for dinner I made salmon curry:

It tasted odd and a bit too fishy for my liking.

And I also had my multivitamin, but I almost forgot. That is the problem with vitamins, I just end up forgetting.

Hopefully I manage to get to sleep by 11. Then I think I would have gotten off to a good start.

101 goals in 1001 days

It took me like 4 days to come up with this list (probably longer). And yes I took a lot of inspiration from other people (http://101goalsin1001days.com/about/) and some of them are very generic. Some of them are just things I've been putting off and never gotten around to. And others are actual habits that I want to be able to maintain. Then there are the things I want to do for fun. But looking at my list I don't think there's going to be much ticking off to do since most of them are more long term goals and all that traveling I plan to do is going to need to be carefully planned since there's annual leave and savings to accrue, not to mention my uni timetable to work around. But I did manage to read some strange and whimsical goals, like:

• colour every picture in a colouring book
• paint my own mug
• hug and kiss a friend's baby???
• buy art
• send a message in a bottle
  

Intended start date: 1 October, 2009

Hobbies

1. Finish knitting a jumper for Gabriel
2. Knit my sister a cardigan for Xmas
3. Send my sister a care package with all her favourite Australian foods
4. Learn how to knit a beanie
5. Work out how to cable knit
6. Write in my journal every day (until the pages are filled)
7. Do the 26 things project (http://sh1ft.org/projects/)
8. Do the 365 project (http://photojojo.com/content/tutorials/project-365-take-a-photo-a-day/)
9. Work my way up to buying an SLR
10. Finally get my year 12 formal photos printed out
11. Sort through digital photos and remove if blurry or duplicates
12. Cook one new meal a week (0/143)
13. Take a self defense course
14. Learn conversational Japanese
15. Organise my list of “books I want to read”
16. Read at least one of the books from the above list each month (0/33)
17. Decide on a list of classic books it is okay to never to finish/read
18. Read 5 self-help books (0/5)
19. Solve a Rubik’s cube
20. Buy a fish/plant and actually remember to feed it and keep it alive.
21. Go over thesis – reread it and maybe fix up the code.
22. When I’ve bought my first home, paint the perfect feature wall of my dreams.
23. Learn how to play poker
24. Learn how to drive a manual car
25. Sort through jigsaw puzzles – which ones to frame, and which ones to sell/donate/throw
26. Learn how to format a computer
27. Attend a movie marathon

Travel

28. Go to New York and visit Times Square
29. Go to Japan and visit ninja school and buy a kimono
30. Go to Toronto/Texas/Florida to visit my aunts
31. Learn to ski/snowboard in another country
32. Go whitewater rafting in New Zealand
33. Sleep outdoors underneath the stars
34. Go whale watching
35. Go snorkeling at the Great Barrier Reef
36. Visit an Australian state/territory I haven’t been to yet (WA. SA, NT, TAS)
37. Finally have a White Christmas
38. Go to Aria and try their most expensive Wagyu beef

Finances

39. Buy my first home
40. Make a will
41. Increase superannuation contributions
42. Put away a dollar a day into a separate savings account – then spend it on a Valentines Day present for myself from Tiffany’s (Snowflake charm bracelet)
43. Put aside $100/month to contribute towards HECS debt so that I don’t owe tax
44. Organise loose receipts, somehow.
45. Buy a paper shredder to get rid of old receipts and statements
46. Keep grocery bill to $35/week
47. Finally get around to selling the pile of stuff I’ve labelled “for sale on ebay”

Personal

48. Fall in love
49. Give someone, who I wouldn’t usually give a chance to, a chance
50. Join 5 different social groups
51. Host a board games night
52. Find 3 charities I feel passionately about, that I can either donate money or time to.
53. Create a wardrobe database – cataloguing failsafe outfits to save time getting dressed.
54. Any item of clothing that does not go into an outfit should be given away to charity.
55. Clean out my Sydney closet – it has become a repository for junk. Decide what can be sold or given away. Organise it so that I don’t have to bring clothes from Brisbane to Sydney.
56. Get a professional French manicure
57. Work out how to use eyeshadow without looking weird
58. Get a completely different hair cut (not a layered, shoulder length bob with a fringe)
59. Visit dermatologist – to fix acne scarring
60. Visit orthodontist - get the braces I’d been planning to get.
61. Learn how to walk in heels properly so that I can wear them outside, and not just indoors.
62. Organise computer files and backup everything.
63. Go through all my old letters and let them go. Some things I just don’t need to hang onto anymore.
64. Remember to call home once a week (not once every 2 weeks)
65. Organise all my bookmarked webpages.

Habits

66. Work on my small-talk skills. Just because I like silence doesn’t mean everyone does.
67. When dining out – avoid getting the same meal every time
68. Go without tossing my clothes on the bed and actually put them away in the closet or laundry basket.
69. Don’t buy anything new (apart from food) unless it is for the purpose of replacing something else.
70. Try to avoid swearing – have noticed that I have been swearing a little more recently.
71. Change my pillowcase weekly (not whenever it starts to feel gross)
72. Learn how to touch type. It’s embarrassing that I just type however I like

Health

73. Take a multivitamin a day
74. Run 5km (jog – run, but try to avoid walking)
75. Run 10km (jog – run, but try to avoid walking)
76. Go to Body Combat every Wednesday
77. Do yoga once a week
78. Work up to being able to do 100 sit-ups without stopping
79. Work up to being able to do 40 push-ups without stopping
80. Buy some dumbbells so I can do strength training at home
81. Learn to use three of the weights machines at the gym and actually use them
82. Stop drinking soft drinks
83. Will start drinking tea at work - buy a teapot so I can have loose tea leaves rather than tea bags
84. Rid my fridge of chocolate
85. Find a moisturizer I actually like and feels like it makes a difference.
86. For one day of the week go completely vegetarian
87. Figure out my percentage of body fat
88. Replace my daily breakfast of toast and butter with Special K or yoghurt instead
89. Every weekday attempt to be asleep by 11 and on weekends to be asleep by 12
90. Go for an ice breaker swim

Work/Study

91. Write down where I want to be in 5 years. What my dream job is and how I will get there.
92. Volunteer to run a social event at work
93. Earn $80K a year (not including bonuses)
94. Study ahead of time (i.e. more than 2 weeks before the exam)
95. Get a 5 (Distinction) in all subjects

Random

96. Have my fortune told
97. Donate blood (and try not to faint)
98. Pick a karaoke song – learn all the lyrics and become really good at singing it.
99. Figure out which cocktail I like and learn how to make it
100. Figure out my carbon footprint
101. Make some new playlists for my ipod

Knitting #1

Knitting has been on my list of new year's resolutions for a few years now. So I finally did it. I went out and bought some wool and taught myself how to knit. I am not that great, but from far away I don't think you can really tell. So far I've made one scarf and one scarflet/neckwarmer thing. It started off really difficult, and it still is because I haven't figured out how to fix stitches, I just start from the beginning again. It's been a lot of fun buying the wool, looking up patterns and learning how to knit. I just put some episodes of grey's anatomy or gilmore girls on and I just knit. Time passes really quickly. I have stayed up way past midnight knitting. Hahaha. I'm such a party animal!

I bought some grey and orange wool because I've wanted a grey and orange striped scarf for ages but never quite found the right one.

Bookfest

I was practically broke this week because last weekend I spent my last $20 at bookfest. Look what $20 can buy! I was pretty impressed that I managed to find the first three books in the Jason Bourne series. I will have to find the others in January. I have to hunt harder for the James Patterson books. Luckily I only had $20 or else I would have had to carry a lot more books home! I got tired pretty quickly and didn't even manage to see everything. Overall it was a great hunt.