Fri 7 March 2008
Today Just Keeps Getting Better
Well, you already know about our nice financial surprise today.  On top of that someone might want to inspect the rental house on tuesday so hopefully they do, and they like it so we're off the hook.  Please keep everything crossed for us.  Paying rent and a mortgage is painful!!
 
And, well, they say it come in 3s and for us it certainly has today.  Mike had a 2nd interview today for a job which he's really excited about.  It's a PM role in a company which administers superannuation funds.  Basically, for a long time now, he's been hankering after a job which more accurately reflected the type of work he was involved with at Scotam (yeah, I know, Elaine, Izy, Sandy, Mike and Fiona I know you're screaming nnnnooooooooooo) but that's where his heart is.
 
Anyway, he's been offered the job and as they say in Oz he's stoked lol.  He is soooo excited and thinks this could the the job which he has for years to come.  They are going to put him through Prince2 certification also which is a huge bonus.
 
It's slightly less money than he's currently on, but hopefully, he'll get a whole lot more job satisfaction and there's a bonus scheme too so at the end ofthe day he might be better off.
 
Finally, it's Labour Day weekend here which means a long weekend for us and Monday off yyeeehaa.  We've not got a lot planned and we cancelled going to the Port Fairy Folkie as we didn't know what pennies we'd have which is a shame.  However, Andy and Helen have invited us round for curry on Saturday so it's not a complete washout, and we'll get to catchup with the Port Fairy Contingent next week as they're coming up so we can sll go see the Formula 1 GP together (and Mike and Campbell get to go see Ozzy play live too).  Sunday is supposed to be 35 degrees so we may go to the beach to relax - oh life is hard lol.
 
Hapy Friday :-)))))))))))))))))))))))))
posted by herrchook at 07:51 | in:
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Fri 7 March 2008
Don't You Just Love A Surprise
The Australian equivalent of the child benefit is called Family Assistance and is managed by the govt organisation called Centrelink.  To be honest, we never thought we'd be entitled to it as it's means tested and Mike earns a good wage.  Anyway, we've looked at the forms many times and they always looked so complicated that they always ended up back at the bottom of the inbox.
 
Well, a couple of weeks ago, and with a new mortgage looming, I decided to procatinate no longer, and got online and on the phone and filled in all the forms.  I quickly got a letter telling me they needed to see our rental lease, visas and bith certs for the girls and I duly trotted off to the local centrelink office last Wednesday.
 
I was just this morning wondering how long it would take before I heard from them when the postie brought me a nice surprise in the mail....
 
They owe us over 6 months back family assistance payments and have paid a lump sum into our bank account.  Also, with effect from next week, we'll get regular payments which will cover about a whole weeks food bill per month so I'm really really excited.  Of course, it may well be reduced once we stop renting as I think a portion of it is what they call "rent asistance" but for the time being it's all very much appreciated.
 
Advance Australia Fair
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