I Found A Money Tree!

In the space of about 20 minutes, somehow, amazingly, I discovered I was sitting on a money tree!

It’s tax time here in Australia and there is money flying left, right and centre. I’ve spoken before about how our social security system is set up - it is very much geared toward families and children and most families get money from the government to help with the cost of raising children. There is, unfortunately, a small portion of people who abuse this facility (having children specifically for the government payments), but there isn’t generally a stigma associated with family payments.

Well, today I finally got around to ringing the agency which overseas social security. I knew we had some payments coming our way but they were dragging their feet. Without going too deep into it, families are supposed to estimate their income for the year ahead and the payments are given as a fortnightly amount according to this estimate (the more you earn, the less you are given in family payments, and so on). We have always over-estimated our income on purpose, because at tax time, you get the ‘leftover’ money paid as a lump sum. On top of that, there are a few ‘once a year’ payments that happen at this time of year, one or two of which are tied in with our son’s disability.

Phew. Did you get all that?

The upshot of today’s phone call is that the sum of money coming our way was several hundred dollars more than what I was expecting. It hits our accounts on Monday. This, along with our tax return (already paid) and the bonus part of my mother’s estate, increases the buffer between ‘happy’ and ‘concerned’ (LOL). We’re still knuckling down with Financial Spring Clean September, but there might actually be a little leftover to put toward household repairs.

And maybe a treat or two ;)

Cheers,
Lizzie