After months of enjoying better health and being able to take on more work, I woke up this morning with my knee on fire, so off to the dr for pain relief. $56 for visit and prescription. I should not resent this creaky old body of mine, but I'm looking forward to the day Jesus gives me a new improved model.

found 50 cents
spent $1 on a can of peaches

There was an item on the news this morning about borrowing by local councils. One observer reckons it's far too high. Councils used to use sinking funds for capital projects, now they borrow against these funds. A spokesman came on to defend the council saying they used very sophisticated methods to control the debt and some councils had lazy balance sheets - they actually needed more debt.

I'm just a simple soul (it was all those "sophisticated" borrowers that got us into this financial jam). I see only that if you borrow money, you have to pay it back. With interest, so that means you pay more, or rather the taxpayers do. My rates have gone up a lot since the sophisticates took over the council.

Yes I know, you'll save money in the long run because the return on assets is greater than the cost of borrowing. I'll believe next time i see a council project come in under budget. Somehow the cost always requires more borrowing than anticipated and up go the rates again. If these financial clever clogs want to play financial geniuses, they can do it with their own money, not public funds.

I'm grumpy, can you tell I just got my property tax bill?

left the heater on all night. No refunds due to carelessness.

It is officially 10 days till spring. Today was a beautiful sunny day with warmth in the breeze., but there will be a frost tonite.

I checked this week's specials in Countdown - canned corn for $nz1.05 so I got 6 cans. Also baked beans and spaghetti for .69 cents, so will go back for those later. (Only $5.70 in the wallet until Wednesday, but I don't think I'll need to buy anything.)

New World had a special on rolled oats this week - 60 cents off a 1.5 kg bag, so I bought 4. Should keep me going for a couple months. Marmite was also on special for $nz4.99 so I bought 2. I'll be bursting with energy after breakfast.

Having put on a little weight - erm, gone up a size, I am finding it harder to get fitting clothes in the charity shops. I was down to 4 pairs of trousers I can wear. So I went to Classic Clothing and bought 2 pairs of jeans @ $29.99 each. $10 off per pair. I should lose weight but if I do that my new clothes won't fit!

and is predicted to go on for the next four days. This morning it was coming down in spurts so I got to church where the oldies were all talking about the Big Snow of 1939. I thought i would stop by the supermarket for some teabags - the place was chocka with people all stocking up. I got my teabags plus a big pumpkin and some cheese. Soup and scones tonite.

Not because I was sick but he likes to see me when my prescriptions need renewing. nz$30 for the signature and $9 to the pharmacist. Happily all three medecines are subsidized. Then in the afternoon I was called in to work at the shop becuase someone else had gone home sick. So I earned the money back.

They say never go grocery shopping on an empty stomach. i was looking for dinner ingredients today and I had nz$4 to spend. I wound up with sardines, rice crackers, five bananas and .30 cents change. I justify it by saying I saved on electricity by not cooking.

Almost at the end of the month and I still have money in my wallet, so I dined out. Twice even.

That is, I had coffee and a gooey muffin with a friend and I bought a helping of fries. Loaded with salt. Yummy. Total amount paid nz$6.60. We po' folks likes our little treats, even when we're bent on saving every penny. I'm looking forward to that nice rest home where people bring me food.

I am atoning tonight by finishing the last of the celery from the garden before it freezes.

My only purchase today was a bag of oats for nz$2.29. Hmm, .50 cents more than last winter - I thought prices were supposed to go down in a recession.

As I picked out my store brand packet, I couldn't help noticing all the schlepped up oats at fancy prices, all full of dried fruit (and a lot of sugar) and all the granola/candy bars. Amazing what the healthful reputation of oats will do for the manufacturer's bottom line. Aha, they're all buying the stuff - that's why it's getting expensive. I thought competition was supposed to drive prices down.

Write on my tombstone: she pondered the nature of oats and capitalism.

There's a sale on at the yarn shop. It's good because I get extra hours, but it's hard being surrounded by lots of lovely cheap wool and seeing it all walk out the door, wondering if there'll be any left for me. I keep wanting to buy, buy, buy but I am staying focused on my goals. The only purchase i have made is 3 balls of black silk laceweight, because it's hard to come by, especially at nz$4.50 a ball. It's for a special gift for a friend at Christmas, so it's budgeted for. And I bought a new cable needle because I lost mine.

I must make time to visit the wool shops when I go to Britain. I will buy something really special as a souvenir.

trying to interfere with my resolution to save. Today I had to buy a new watch battery nz$15.90.

Still squeezing those dollars and not buying anything I don't have to, but today I bought some reduced price raspberry buns for nz$2.80 and a top at the Presbyterian opp shop for $1. Was tempted to buy a new raincoat for $139, but I will put it off until next month. And I found 10 cents by the parking meter.

Last week I started back at my afterschool care cleaning job. Guess what - there is an outbreak of head lice in the little darlings. My poor scalp started tingling, so I hied me to the pharmacist who assured me nits love clean hair and sold me a natural louse killer for nz$22.50. Yikes! I need a lawyer so I can sue for mental stress, public loss of face and anything else that stands a chance of getting me my money back

One of the girls who works there has dreadlocks. Poor thing, she is going to have to cut them off.

I borrowed a book from the library last month called The Armchair Economist by Steven Landsburg. I was so diligently perusing it trying to educate myself I forget to return it on time and it cost me 30 cents. Still beats signing up for a semester study on the subject.

I have decided the problem with economists, financial policy advisors and others of that ilk is they are all doing better than average so support whatever system enables them to do well. If economists earned minimum wage I bet we'd see some very different economic theories.

Oo it's hard to be working in the January sales. People all around you snapping up bargains and you wonder if there'll be any left for you. Plus there's that staff discount. All too easy to pull out the debit card and there's one purchase of nz$51.90 and another of 119.70 and I'm carrying home my winter wardrobe to be knitted. I justify it by telling myself I can wear my jerseys at work, but really, I don't think I'd have bought so much wool if I'd had to pull a wad of notes out of my wallet. So I'm going to go to a cash basis and see if the pain of parting with the greens makes me spend less.

The Red Cross shop had a dollar a bag sale. I didn't need much, but I got two pairs of black pants, because you can never have too many pairs of black work pants.

my tooth. Goshdarn grit in an apple. Because I have previously had a root canal on that particular tooth there was no pain, but it was past saving. The dentist neatly extracted it, along with nz$245 from my savings account. This, she says with a gap toothed smile, is what emergency savings are for.

I often pick up fruit and veges at a little Asian store not far from me. They are cheap but you have to use them quickly as they sell them near their best by date.

I had some pumpkin in the fridge I was meaning to get round to using. I delayed too long and it turned all soft and slimy. Ugh, I had to throw it away. 99 cents wasted. Maybe I should start doing like grandma and buy my greens every day.

In the meantime, a note to self. When you buy something and don't use it you are throwing money away. Remember that dress you thought you would wear to a party some time and never did? nz$120 thrown away (actually a donation to the Sally Army that time) Always, always, always ask yourself before purchasing whether you are going to truly use it or you just want it. You are going to have to save up $200 now to generate that $1 pumpkin income in retirement.

If I go back 20 years, new roof on house, nz$3,600 and first ever computer nz$1400. Since then various house repairs, replacing hot water cylinder and kitchen floorboards, and most recently putting in the heat pump. All in all, necessary purchases. The only other thing I spent $3000 on was going to India. Even my last car was only $800 (if I add in repairs to it it probably comes to over $2000 spent on it total)

I'm saving up money for a trip to Britain to see ds, probably nz$5,000, apart from taht there's nothing I really think is worth spending one grand on.

Yes I'm on a bare bones budget this month, but I'm not so hard up I can't afford to post a pair of handknitted sox to my dad. nz$4.50 I could have written a poem and paid just .50 cents postage, but he has dementia and I think he will appreciate the sox.

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 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.

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?

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.

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.

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.