A bit of luck with the $

Went and got my tax done at the tax agent down the road. Doesn't take long when you have all the paperwork ready. And he just does it on a computer and it comes up with a magic number at the end. Pleasingly this year I'm getting back $1,200. Should take a couple of weeks to go into my account.

I had all the usual deductions, including over $130 a quarter for union fees. Getting quite expensive that one, but it's worth it in the end (especially considering the 4% wage rise this year negotiated with the company by them). Laundry for washing work clothes, and a bit for the mobile phone making calls to work on it (that must be when I text saying I won't be in!).

The biggest thing however was because I'd got so much less money from work this year, I'd paid way to much tax on some superannuation I cashed in last year, and got pretty much all of that back. 

I will of course pay it straight onto the credit card debt as soon as it arrives in my account. No partying with that lot. Simon joked that I was finally worth knowing now. I said that perhaps I won't have to sell my ass after all!  :)

We are finally getting the 4% pay rise this coming week it seems. It's taken ages for the agreement to be perused by Fair Work Australia and signed off on as a legal document. But it's all been done and is now simply up to the company, they are saying this pay. Then the week after, the back pay to Jan, which we all fought for in the negotiations. They initially flatly refused to back pay us to Jan (when the previous agreement ran out) blaming us for the slow progress. When a strike was imminent though they caved, and we got it. It's taken so long for it all to go through the legal channels and be signed, they're looking at about 6 months back pay now. Dunno how much I'll get, if anything, though as I wasn't there for 2 months. Will be interesting to see.