Having successfully paid off a NILS Loans from Family Care Shepparton, Dianne was eligible to participate in the *AddsUP Savings Plan – a program that encourages people to save.
As a single mother of two boys and full time carer to her son with Down Syndrome, Dianne never thought she was in a position to save. But the routine of repaying her NILS Loans along with ongoing support from the team at Family Care Shepparton, Dianne managed to save the $500 which, when matched by NAB, become $1,000.
To repay her NILS Loan and save $500, Dianne focussed on little changes that, when combined, had a big impact. Simple things like shopping around for the best phone and energy plans. “I’d never even thought about it really, I just paid the bills because that’s what I’d always done.”
Dianne is now utilising the savings habits and the $1,000 from the *AddsUP Savings Plan to save toward a much needed new car.
“I’ve got an old Hyundai Excel – it’s done about 280,000 kilometres and it’s probably seen better days. The air conditioner doesn’t work and when I went to get it fixed they recommended I didn’t do it … a new compressor on it is likely to put a lot more strain on the motor.
“We try and make our trips early morning or later in the evening during summer because the middle of the day it’s quite warm.”
She has opened a new NAB savings account, made a budget and is ready to save.
“From February I’ll be putting $50 a fortnight toward it until my NILS loan for my lounge is paid off. Then I’ll be putting $120 a fortnight toward it. If I do that, by the end of the year I should have a fair bit of money sitting there.
“Another car is definitely on the cards … That’s something I wouldn’t have even thought about before I started with these programs (NILS and *AddsUP) … It’s something that you think, I can’t afford it and there’s no way I could save money to be able to do that.’ It definitely changed the way I think.”
*Please note: The AddsUP program is no longer available.