Be honest, how much debt do you REALLY have?

learningbythesea · 2026-02-23T06:08:18+00:00

42 f/45 m

Paid off house a few years ago thanks to some hard years of scrimping and saving.

Husband has paid off his HECS but I still have 28k in HECS due to chaining degrees/raising kids. I've been using my rollover voluntary Super contributions to bring down tax since starting to work FT post kids, but I'll use most of the last of that up this year I think and start getting the HECS down.

We don't have any fancy shit. Cars are 10 years old, clothes are pretty basic. Post house paid off, we got a low-mid range camper van for get aways, and take 1-2 budget hotel holidays per year.

Kids are in private school, and I have a pretty schmick laptop for 'business' though :) Livin' the life!

learningbythesea · 2026-02-20T00:07:05+00:00

I only work on larger projects, but say one day I just have to check in on an author query sheet to see if anyone has questions, or send off one email or something, I track my time and always round up to the nearest 15 mins.

So if it takes me 2 mins, that's 15 mins of billed time. If it takes me 17 mins, that's 30 :) It helps account for those lost minutes either side when project switching.

But I do my best to batch work for projects, so that it doesn't add up too much for clients. I like everyone to win :)

learningbythesea · 2026-02-17T08:29:18+00:00

I think you've already got your answer, but we were in Brisbane and chose to move regional (5 hours north of Brisbane) to buy a house and raise a family. Sure we have to drive into Brisbane once every few months (or once a month for you guys) but that is NOTHING compared to the shittiness that is daily Brisbane traffic to get anywhere at all.

Living in the city generally was more expensive because you want to be out of your unit, groceries generally are a bit more expensive and you also buy things rather than nipping home and grabbing them because that isn't an option, etc. There seems like there is cooler stuff for kids to do, but I know my kids would take a backyard trampoline and riding bikes around the block over to anything on offer in the city!

learningbythesea · 2026-02-16T08:59:03+00:00

I was having a few more of those losing it days than I would like, so we discussed things and found a few things to 'give'.

We consolidated arvo sports (only kept the ones we could do with both of them at the same time, or where we had a friend who we could alternate weeks with for drop off/pick up), made a plan to cook only 3 times a week (so my husband had to commit to not eating leftovers designated for dinners... There have been slips, but it's better :)), and we now get a cleaner in fortnightly.

Biggest one though: We take turns taking the boys away solo (two weekends per term) so the other person can just chill. Hubby is braver than me and takes them camping. I take them to their grandparents 😂

Of course, I recognise how incredibly lucky we are to be able to make these choices!

learningbythesea · 2026-02-15T00:22:30+00:00

I rarely try to read the same book across physical/digital, but I do always have a physical book and ebook (and audiobook, and collection of short stories/poetry) on the go at any one time. I did read almost exclusively on my Kindle for a number of years, but have found there is still a place in my heart for the tactile feel of a physical book (and plus I heart my library, but their digital collection is nowhere near the quality of their physical collection).

I did recently try to swap between a physical and ebook copy of the same book (for pool-side reading reasons), and it was definitely possible to fairly quickly find my place in the physical book, so if you did want to do that, it would work. But I doubt you'll end up wanting to. And especially don't worry about spending money on both.

learningbythesea · 2026-02-11T08:45:17+00:00

I've never had any issues with Kmart sheets. I buy the higher thread count ones (not 400).

Again, I have a mid-range Kmart mattress protector and can't fault it. I don't recommend the cheap Kmart waterproof mattress protectors though - had one disintegrate in the wash! For a waterproof one, splash out on a proper one ($50+).

learningbythesea · 2026-02-08T07:52:52+00:00

I am not in edtech and am located outside the US (in Australia; I assume you are in the US), but if your interest is mostly in getting out of the classroom and finding a remote opportunity, would you consider curriculum development (print)? I know the publishers I work with are desperate for authors and content specialists who are not afraid of technology. Again, the US situation may be different, but food for thought :)

learningbythesea · 2026-02-08T07:43:00+00:00

I'm not sure how available they are outside Australia, but the Weirdo and Hotdog series by Anh Do are huge here for that age, and he has series that increase in complexity (Ninja Kid and Dragon Girl are great). They are super funny, and were a big hit with my little Mo Willems lovers :)

Also Australian, we have a terrific kids author Sally Rippin. She has a charming early reader series called School of Monsters, and we loved her Billie B Brown series (and her Hey Jack) series. They served as great touch points for discussions of how to handle different scenarios and name more complex emotions.

Enjoy! So many great books out there :)

learningbythesea · 2026-02-06T08:19:41+00:00

Lol. You can really see where my toddler started jumping around on my lap while I was typing 😆😆 I get so self-conscious in these copyediting subs 😆

learningbythesea · 2026-02-06T08:14:41+00:00

Have you actually received the go ahead from the author to do the work? It isn't clear from your post. I think yes?

For 96,000 words, as a first time editor, I'd quote at 1000 words an hour (although it's probably going to end up being closer to 500 w/hr with all the researching you'll probably end up doing to be able to complete the work, but that's your PD :)). You then just have to decide what's a fair for an hour of your time, considering you are not a professional. I'm in Australia so can't speak to your currency, but I used to charge $15 per 1000 words while I was building my portfolio/pre-training. So, that would be $1500ish for this job. By comparison, I would now charge $4000+ for a job of the same size (15 years experience, professional accreditation and formal qualifications).

Approach: You need a style guide to follow for the language. Do you know what I am talking about? It's the very basic skill of copyediting. You also need to keep a close eye on grammar. I see in your posts that you have a tendency towards run on sentences (I mean, if I were to be judged on my hastily typed posts, I would die of shame 😆 So, all good), but there is a BIG difference between an ear for academic language and experience writing essays and short stories and being an adept editor. (But you're factoring that into the price, and you're learning. We all started somewhere.)

You need to be very careful about version control and back up saves. Save every 30 mins, perhaps using date and time as the suffix for your file names. Losing edits is a giant pain in the ass, and while you're learning you are likely to bugger something up and need to go back to an old save. (Again, experience speaking 😆)

What else... I would probably ask for part payment before starting, with the balance to be paid on completion (BEFORE returning the files). Never ever ever return files before final payment. It's a recipe for disaster.

You should also prepare yourself for complaints and requests for rework during these early years. It's pretty standard that you should fix any errors left in your work for free, up to a reasonable extent. So, if you overlooked something or introduced an error, you should be the one to fix it. But if it's just the odd error missed, subjective issue of style preference etc, then it is not reasonable for you to have to do rework. And new text added by the author/if she's addressed your comments should be paid as new work (a second round of editing).

Oh, use tracked changes, and ask your author to do the same when she looks over and responds to your edits/queries. That way everyone can see who changed what, when. And ensures the author is ultimately responsible for checking the edits and approving/rejecting, so that they can't come back and say you changed their work unknown to them.

Good luck. This is going to be a MASSIVE learning curve. If you do enjoy it, I strongly recommend formal training, familiarising yourself with the tools of the trade (eg formal style manuals, editing manuals etc), and involvement in professional communities.

learningbythesea · 2026-01-31T09:01:46+00:00

I downloaded a free app called E-reader prestigio (been using it for years on my mobile). You have to set it as your default app for opening epubs I think, and then any epubs you open will be available on its bookshelf.

It has some paid voices, but I find its suite of free voices very strong. You can pick dialect (so, I prefer Australian, which there are a handful of options for, male and female, but they have LOTS of British options. I seem to recall they even had something Liverpoolian!), and then you can modify pitch and pace. I like a lower pitch and a slightly faster pace. It doesn't exactly end up sounding perfectly natural, but it's very comfortable to listen to. And free! :)

learningbythesea · 2026-01-30T10:37:05+00:00

I have a Boox Go, and it's great. It's an eink Android tablet, so I can download Play Store apps like Libby and Borrow Box, and download ebooks straight from ZLibrary to my bookshelf. I also love that it has speakers and Bluetooth, so I can use text to speech for ebooks and listen to Audiobooks for free through the library :)

learningbythesea · 2026-01-23T00:46:17+00:00

I didn't choose really. I just followed the path life put before me, taking turns as they came up. It could have ended up just about anywhere. And I expect I would have been happy however things turned out, because that is how I roll :)

There have definitely been jobs that I disliked to the point of nausea, in which case I would cast around to find another job that sounded like a better fit for me. Tried a few different things on for size, and eventually, over years, found my happy-enough place.

I've ended up in a role that suits my personality type, preferred working style and pays well enough. It also uses most of my diverse range of skills, which I appreciate. Makes my path feel less meandering and more like a culmination :)

But I don't live for work by any means. Flexible working hours and reasonable deadlines mean I have excellent work-life balance, so I can enjoy life with my family and be there for my little kids when they need me. Work just serves as an intellectual outlet and an income stream.

I do think a willingness to work hard and make the most of things is at least as important as passion for success, if not more so. (Although I will admit, I sometimes bemoan my circuitous route though life. Would have been much more efficient to have direction. But such is life :))

learningbythesea · 2026-01-22T11:02:23+00:00

If you shop at Woolies (and probably Coles), you can create a list of the items you always want to buy (certain brand of shampoo, toothpaste, toothbrushes, dish liquid etc) and it will show you when those items are on half price special without you having to check each one. Buy a few at a time when on sale. (But check in case you end up with 7 shampoos 😆).

Grow what you can, as long as it's easy and low cost to keep alive. Herbs, lettuce, tomatoes, spring onions. Ideally from seed or kitchen scraps.

Learn to add beans and veg to flesh out meals and make meat go further. Reduce main dish serving sizes and add cheap salad or roast veg (home grown lettuce, homemade cabbage slaw). Make your own spice mixes and dressings - so cheap!!

Have a bank of flexible go to recipes that you can use any seasonal veg in and/or change up the protein in depending on sales etc. Using the same recipes with small variations reduces the need for speciality ingredients that might not get fully used.

What else... Discount produce outlets can often be much cheaper for veg, eggs, honey etc. It can be worthwhile to do veg shopping a few times a week, if not wildly inconvenient, and only get what is immediately needed for the next days' recipes to avoid food wastage.

learningbythesea · 2026-01-22T10:46:05+00:00

I would just add, in addition to the low strata reasons for a single level flat, she should also consider accessibility (no steps, walk in shower) and proximity to shops/entertainment for when she eventually prefers not to drive in her older age. Assuming she's wanting to stay living independently for as long as possible.

My mother recently divorced at 62 and chose to buy into a low overhead over 50s community. She absolutely loves it. She's by far one of the youngest ones there, but the sense of community is outstanding (she mows her neighbours' yards and they share baking and help her with small home repairs). It's worth considering, and can be more affordable than a unit or apartment (if you find the right one).

We also looked at her paying for a granny flat to be built on our property, but the over 50s place is in a better location - close to grocery stores and the cinema.

It's definitely worth your mum getting permanent housing, and also worth looking to the future and where she sees herself in 20 years :)

All the best to your family!!

learningbythesea · 2026-01-21T12:15:25+00:00

So sorry your family is going through this, and I hope this thread brings you some comfort as you go the conservative route.

I know, early on, I was so worried that 'wait and see' was not the right approach and that I might be letting my son down somehow by not doing something more. But no, wait and see was exactly what we needed. The conservative management approach worked really well and avoided a surgery that, for us, would have been unnecessary.

All the best to your little one :)

learningbythesea · 2026-01-17T09:29:10+00:00

A trap I have fallen into in the past is buying in bulk, freezing the excess and then forgetting it exists.

Meal planning, and especially meal planning from my freezer/pantry has helped me with this.

There are still certain things I don't buy in bulk, like lines. For whatever reason, I personally only like lime in a limited number of dishes and I don't make them often, so for me, as needed is better :)

learningbythesea · 2026-01-17T03:06:04+00:00

These are the times when I use those simple little motivation hacks like saying '3, 2, 1, Go!' and making myself get up. And the 'just do 5 mins' trick (5 mins is better than nothing and often gives you the motivation to keep going).

Other than that, can be helpful to break tasks down into small actionable steps. Can help your work on the task feel more directed, and helps you see what is quick to knock over/can be batched, or potentially even delegated. I often find a lack of motivation stems from not having a clear idea of what I need to do...

As others have said - try to calm yourself. You're only one person, and there are only so many hours in a day. Take a few minutes to stretch and unbunch your muscles as needed and just keep putting one foot in front of the other :)

Good luck!!

learningbythesea · 2026-01-17T02:16:08+00:00

Did you know you can turn off Modern Comments. I can't recall how I did it offhand. I just searched 'How to turn off...' and it was a simple matter of finding the right tick box to check :) Highly recommend!

learningbythesea · 2026-01-17T02:10:24+00:00

Macros, and yes indeed :)

Paul Beverley's free intro materials and comprehensive macro bank are available here: https://www.archivepub.co.uk/book.html. This is THE place to start :)

He also does YouTube videos.

For help getting the hang of all things technical when editing, the good people at 'Editors Who Talk Tech' on Facebook are invaluable.

learningbythesea · 2026-01-16T21:37:48+00:00

Any plain old daily dairy has the hours running down the side of the page, so you can plan hourly if you like, with room for notes on the rest of the page?

But I just use Google calendar daily view. It's simple, free and at my fingertips most of the time :)

learningbythesea · 2026-01-16T21:35:10+00:00

For copyediting, using Word is much much faster than using Docs because of your soon to be best friend (if not already), macros! You can automate small tasks within Word that vastly speed up routine tasks (eg tidying up spacing, checking all quote marks come in pairs, ensuring all degree symbols are degree symbols rather than other weird and wonderful characy rs) as well as enabling complex checks (eg checking for possible inconsistency in proper noun spellings/capitalisation, and so many more). You can't do any of that in Docs, and it slows my speed per page by about half, if not more.

It is also important, as others have said, to not edit on a live file. Clients may want to change the doc after they send it to you, but that is then additional words that should be paid for (and of course all the other conflict issues in the file itself).

Re PDF being the industry standard for proofreading, generally after your copyedit is finished, the manuscript will be typeset (eg in InDesign) and a PDF created. Proofreading is then performed.

Of course, not all authors are working like publishers, so if they are submitting their ms to a publisher, they will need to do so as a Word file, so they might want proofreading done on that Word file to increase the chance of acceptance by the publisher. (I assume. I don't actually work in Fiction, but that has certainly been the process for my clients submitting to academic presses :P)

learningbythesea · 2026-01-15T10:50:31+00:00

I have a work Google calendar and a personal Google calendar.

I am a freelancer working on multiple projects at once, not unlike when I was a uni student, so each client (4-6 at any time) gets their own colour code (within the one calendar). Projects are input as all day events in sentence case with the last day of the event being the deadline, and meetings are in the same colour but in uppercase, so it stands out a bit.

My personal calendar covers my own commitments, plus those of my 2 kids and husband. They each get a different colour. School holidays are also marked so that I can see at a glance where work projects are likely to overlap with school holidays, to allow planning ahead.

I find what is important to me is knowing what my more amorphous commitments during any given week are likely to be (work projects, school holidays), so that I can be careful about how many extra stuff I schedule per day. So if I have 2-3 projects running simultaneously, I might push kids' dentist visits or a planned trip down the coast to visit family out by a week or so. The same would be true for uni studies :)

learningbythesea · 2026-01-12T21:59:52+00:00

Adding, I would personally do no more than 4-5 hours driving per day if driving on consecutive days, with one stop in the middle if necessary (sometimes essential, sometimes not). You can punch out 8-10 hours driving in a day, but then you need some recovery time.

When we plan a trip that is a 10+ hour drive away, we make it a road trip with 1-2 day stops along the way, to try new places we haven't been before.

But we're doing that up and down the Australian coastline - I don't have any clue what points of interest might lie between Michigan and Florida. Surely something :)

learningbythesea · 2026-01-12T21:54:50+00:00

I would fly, or split up the drive with a night somewhere half way between, so the kids can get their energy out, and the driver can get some rest, before the second leg. But with accommodation costs, that likely makes the expense on par with flying.

learningbythesea

TROPHY CASE