Laceshawl's Personal Finance Blog

I have been asked if I will work 2 days at the shop, and I'm happy to do that, but the math really sux. Above the nz$80 a week limit, I pay secondary income tax of 22 cents in the dollar, then WINZ deducts 70 cents in the dollar from my benefit. I am left ONE single dolar better off for every extra hour I work - and that's before I've paid for busfare and pantyhose. I shall still do it, because of getting a reference, but I feel like writing a letter to the Prime Minister asking him if he thinks this situation encourages people to help support themselves by working.

Today I worked both jobs. Boy am I pooped. But it's nice to be asked to work extra hours. At the shop this morning I was asked to bank the last 2 days of sale takings - great thick envelopes stuffed with $20 bills. I was glancing over my shoulder the whole way in case someone was stalking me. I was also considering whether I could claim expenses for 10 cents worth of shoe leather, when lo and behold! outside the bank I picked up a 20 cent and 2 10 cents.

Today we were putting away all the sales stock. i was cheered to realise how much was left and that it will all go out at the next sale. I won't be in such a rush to buy at a sale again - there'll always be another one.

On my way to the church cleaning job I stopped of at the little Asian grocers and bought 1.5 kg apples for nz$2. That is a very good price. Apples and all fruit have gotten real expensive.

I remeber when we first came to this country nearly forty years ago, there was no weekend shopping. There was an old joke about the American who arrived on Sunday and found New Zealand closed. Only the corner dairies were open for people to get milk, bread, icecream and cigarettes. No shops open on public hols, when it was a long weekend like Easter, the shops could be shut for several days. How things have changed. Now every day of the year you can see people stocking up for a siege.

I have fallen into the habit of dropping into the supermarket on my way home from church and picking up something from the deli. I also wander through the mall if I am in town to change my library books (tho I rarely buy anything there.) I have decided to make Sunday a day of rest and give up shopping. I am not going to die if I have to wait 24 hours for something.

ETA I found I had run out of laundry powder but rather than buy some I opted for a rest from laundry as well.

and I seem to be the one person in the country who hasn't bought a ticket. Everyone is talking about what they'll do if they win. The odds are 1 in 16 million - that's four times the country's population. I picked up 10 cents outside the Lotto shop - more than most people will win.

I was chatting with an artist at church today. He told me he had just bought 4 boxes of comics. I confessed I have 246 balls of wool.

He grinned. "Ah yes," he said. "We creative types need to keep a lot of raw material for inspiration."

So there. I am not a homely knitter. I am a fiber artist and I need plenty of supplies.

I worked extra hours this week because of the sale. I spent all the extra money earned in the sale. 65 balls of wool. Nearly nz$100 worth. 16 white, 20 black, 20 earth tones, 8 purple and one striped sock wool. All 100% wool and very good value - if I needed it all.

I tell myself it is for gifts to knit for other people and for charity. I tell myself I haven't got a white cardigan so I need to knit one. I tell myself I won't be spending money on other things if I am sitting peacefully at home knitting.

Who am I kidding? I have a massive stash already. It will take me at least 2 years knitting to get thru it. Why do I keep buying yarn and then not get round to using it. I am addicted to the thrill of fondling the lovely balls, the planning of a new project, the excitement of casting on a new garment. Once I get finished I lose interest. I have knitted literally hundreds of jerseys and kept very few of them.

I make resolutions to not buy any more yarn until I have used up my stash. This week my resolve crumpled again. My stash is bigger than ever. The pleasure I get from knitting is beginning to be spoiled from worry about the money I am wasting. My hobby has gone thru passion to become an addiction.

There are no twelve step groups for compulsive yarn buyers. All knitters are stash hoarders and enable each others habit. Working in a yarn store is the worst environment for an addict. Everyone there only works to support their habit and spends more than they earn on wool.

My last remaining excuse is that if I didn't keep my fingers busy knitting I would be a chain smoker. There, I'm feeling virtuous again. It's good for my health.

I said all the coins were covered up by the snow yesterday. Today it is all melted and I found 90 cents.

Winter arrived with a vengeance today. Minus 4 degrees C and snow down to sea level. This happens 1 or 2 days a year in our town and always causes chaos. The place was cut off from the rest of the country with motorways closed. The buses stopped running and all schools were closed. I was happy to stay indoors and watch the pretty flakes falling and the students enjoying a break from exams by sliding down the hills on baking trays.

The only problem I didn't know if I was needed at work or not. I rang several times but only got the usual answerphone message. In the end I walked there and found the place was shut. And if there was any money on the ground it was covered by the snow.

Never mind, I would sooner take the trouble than not turn up and be growled at for absenteeism. Now I am going to have a long soak in a hot bathtub then make myself a plate of chili beans.

According to the scale this morning I have lost 3 lb. I celebrated this evening after work by buying fries. Oops.

I'm not sure what to call this - maybe sweet and sour pilaf. It's what you cook when the pantry's almost empty. Fry sliced onions until golden, throw in some rice and cook till the grains turn white. Add your preferred amount of salt, vinegar and sugar. Toss in a handful of raisins and pour in boiling water. cover and simmer until the rice is cooked and the water absorbed.

Sorry for no precise measurements. I'm a pinch of this and dash of that cook - I don't even own a scale.

Yay! I now owe less than three thousand dollars to the Credit Union - this is my only debt. Since it is zero interest there is no rush to pay it off, but it's nice to see the amount going down

I thought I would wear a skirt this morning since I have completed my nice legwarmers. Woe is me! I tried on three skirts and couldn't do the zip up on any of them. I rushed to the bathroom scale which confirmed the bad news - I weigh 170 lb. Too much! I'm going to have to rescusitate the diet. No more raspberry buns and cheese scones and fried potatoes. Pancakes regarded with aversion. No more sugar in my tea. All the bad little habits which sneaked in have to go. Sigh. But better than having to spend money on fat clothes.

Today I went opp shopping with a friend. I decided I didn't need any new clothes, and there wasn't anything I really liked anyway. The nicknacks all need dusting so i passed on buying ornaments, but I did come across a big bag of new wool for nz25. A lovely chocolate brown. I was tempted to buy it and knit a cardigan, but decided I don't usually wear brown so dont' have much it will go with, and anyway it was too much money to spend. Then we went and had a cup of coffee nz3. Hmm, I'll never get anywhere if I keep celebrating saving money by spending money. I think I will keep out of the thrift store until my EF is up to nz5000. It's far too easy to impulse spend a couple bucks here and there - and find at the end of the month I've spent megabucks. I need to get real disciplined and shop with a list of what I need rather than popping in just to see what there is.

I think the supermarket bakery is getting a wee bit greedy with their prices in the day old bread bin. A bag of scones used to cost nz1.50, now it has gone up to 2.99. Too much - I'll go back to baking my own.

I got my insurance bill. Because I have made no claims on house and contents my payment has gone down. nz506.16

So I get to work and there is a cunningly placed box of patterns. Of course I can't resist going to have a look and finding one for .80 cents. The good thing about patterns is you can use them any number of times.

which is something I don't do very often. Movie going has just never appealed to me, but since today is discount day I thought I'd go and see Untouchable girls. It's a doco about the Topp twins, the world famous in New Zealand yodelling lesbian twins. I had a good laugh, but some of the political footage made me feel really old. I need to start my own campaign about price gouging on icecream and popcorn.

I nearly came out even today. I went to post my tax return and then I remembered; for most govt departments sending in forms is freepost. The IRD asks you to pay for the stamp yourself (maybe they are trying to boost Post Office revenue?). So I went to buy a stamp for nz.50 and on the way back I rescued a 10 cent and a 20 cent from being buried alive. There were roadworks going on and they were lying not far from the hole. Glad the workman didn't poke his head out as I was picking them up or I'd have been embarrassed. Now I wonder, do I have to declare .30 cents as income from the Ministry of Transport?

It is still drizzling outside so I decided to stay home and do my tax return. I wound up doing a major search of all my papers becuase I couldn't find the reciepts for my charity donations. In the process of going thru my filing cabinaet, and turfing a lot of old stuff in the process, I wound up with properly sorted and labelled categories. Now I have to stop myself from just shoving stuff in the miscellaneous folder.
BTW, I did find my reciepts.

I decided with all the nasty weather we are having lately I need a pair of legwarmers. Not enough suitable wool in my stash, so I decided to buy some at work today. I knew the cheapest all wool I could get would cost me nz2.80 a ball and I'd probably need at least 4. On my way to the shop I thought I'd look in the Hospice shop as they often have balls of yarn. While I was there a hand knitted sweater caught my eye. I didn't like the design much, but I recognised the wool as retailing at nz11.80 a ball. So I bought it for $4. Once I've unravelled it I think I will have enough for a vest as well as legwarmer, or maybe a scarf and beanie.

I found two coins on the way back from church, a ten cent and a twenty cent. I now have a total of nz26.40 in my change jar, so will buy a $25 Bonus Bond tomorrow.

I actually don't collect all that much change. I think if I had lots of it, I would be looking at reducing my spending on sundries, then reducing the amount I got out of the bank. I never have masses of it in the jar - I hate the thought of missing out on even miniscule amounts of interest, so when it gets to about 10.00 I usually stick it into a savings account.

It's that blessed debit card that does it. When I have only a little cash to spend i am careful because i don't want to get any more out, but since my pay went it the debit card keeps telling me - go on - only $6.00 for lunch; you've got $300 in your checking account, you can afford it. I guess I can because the bills come out of another account, but there are things I am planning to buy, like a new coat, and frittering my money away stops me reaching my goals. I only spent nz3.20 in cash today, on a needle guage which I'd planned to buy, but nz20.00 went on junk food and other junk. I'll have to stop carrying the plastic fantastic.

At work we were tearing the covers off the old knitting magazines to claim credit, and the manager told me I could take them home if I liked, so long as I didn't sell them to anyone. So now I have a fresh load of patterns - the trouble is I want to buy a fresh load of wool to knit them all. Hmm, I can see I am going to be spending a lot of my wages in the shop.

So today was the annual big book sale. The books have gone up in price from .50 cents to nz1.00 each. I heard some of the workers saying next year will be the 30th and the last year in the current format. It goes for 24 hours and they have bands playing. As it was so crowded I didn't stay long, just bought a big load of craft magazines for nz4.50. Should keep me busy over winter. I like it that the older ones show you how to make stuff out of odds and ends, instead of going out and buying special materials which cost a bomb.

It was really wet out side so I stayed at home and had a NSD - except the meter reader called so I will be getting a bill shortly for the power I'm using.

I did my banking online. My pay from my first job went thru last week, 73.30, and the one from the second job eventually turned up today, 75.30. I haven't got a payslip for that yet, and I suspect they've automatically enrolled me in Kiwisaver and taken out 2%. I've an idea you're only aloowed to sign up for one job with the scheme, but I will have to check. Would be a shame to miss out on the employer contribution.

I also recieved nz20.00 from my Bonus Bonds. And a letter from WINZ saying they are going to deduct 32.00 a week from my benefit, but that's okay. I just have to keep them informed if my hours change.

Routine visit to the dr today, altho I've been feeling more energetic recently, I had to get a new prescription. So with my Community Services card it was nz30.00 for the dr and nz6.00 for the pharmacist. However as a high user, I qualified for a free flu jab. My arm is sore, but hopefully I am protected for the winter.

Brr, it's freezing today. A southern blowing all the way from Antartica, and snow down to 300 meters. I need warm wooly socks, so bought sock needles for nz4.30 with my discount. I have forbidden myslef from buying any more wool until I have used up my stash - good job I have lots of fingering wool.

What happened? I took nz 40.00 from the ATM on Wednesday and two days later I only have 14.50 left. This is what happens when you're not paying attention - automatic pilot takes over.

I have just started a spirituality course which includes a section on mindfulness. Instead of watching my breath in and out I think I shall have to start watching my cash in and out. Dollar Buddhism.

I love cheese, but rarely buy it as it is so flippin expensive - and fattening. Today I thought I would splash out on a far too small piece for nz5.00. I have already eaten all of it on toast. I don't regret the money, but now I'm worried about getting on the scale!

I recieved notification that I earned nz133.98 interest last year. Happy happy joy joy. If I use the 20% discount I get on purchases at the yarn store, I can get some Rowan wool.

...but it pours. Today I got offered a second job, working at the LYS (local yarn store) on Saturday. I hope I can cope with 2 part time jobs, but there is a chance I may be offered more hours at the yarn store, in which case I will let the cleaning job go. In the meantime, I think it will be enough to see me through the winter (always a difficult time for me)

My mouse decided to celebrate by dying on me, so purchased a new one for nz29.95. I also thought I would buy myself a little treat, so went to a cafe I haven't been to before. A club sandwich and a long black cost me nz8.20. Ouch! I'll stick to a samosa from the Indian takeaway in future.

Only 5 hours cleaning a week, but for nice folks and the amount earned doesn't interfere with my benefit. Now I can start contributing to Kiwisaver again. My paln is to keep living on just the amount of the benefit and save all extra money into my EF (which currently stands at nz2,358)