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Archive for October, 2006

New printer

October 28th, 2006 at 06:47 am

My old Epson has given up the ghost and the man at the shop informed me that kind is no longer being produced. I thought i would have to spend at least $100 for a new one, but a friend of mine had just updated his Canon because he wanted all sorts of fancy features, and offered me his old one for $30. I have just installed it and feel like a computer genius.

only purchases today
ink cartridge nz8.00
bananas for lunch nz0.50

I did a little paint scraping and now have nearly cleaned one window. I spent most of the afternoon knitting. I am giving homemade gifts this year - hats and scarves. I have a TON of yarn in my stash and am not allowing myself to buy any more for 12 months. It's silly to keep on buying new stuff when I'm not using what I've got.

Small treat

October 26th, 2006 at 08:19 pm

A coupla pizza buns for $nz1.60. Ham and pineapple, mmm...

That is the only money I have spent today. Got inspired by the exercising on some other blogs and decided to walk to work, got a lift back from a coworker.

Oh, and I found 10 cents but gave it to a street collector.

The Govt giveth with one hand

October 25th, 2006 at 07:42 am

and taketh away with the other. I was informed that anyone with an income of under $nz20,000 last year could apply for a $500 rebate on rates (property taxes). As this most definitely includes me, I hurried to get the forms. And waddya think was written on them?

*if your income last year came from a sickness benefit you must declare any rebate recieved as income.*

in other words, Work and Income is now going to turn around and deduct 70 cents in the dollar from me. And they wonder why people stay stuck in the poverty trap.

Never mind. Payday again tomorrow. I still have $8.40 in cash from this week, and food for a couple days.

Income going up

October 20th, 2006 at 10:02 am

Just before I stopped work today the boss said casually, let's keep taking it week by week, shall we? But the agency rep tells me he was very keen to have me stay on. They are coming up to their busy season, so i think I will be working until Christmas.

So my weekly income is now

Work $202 after taxes
Disability allowance $38

The first thing I did was increase the automatic payment to my House a/c to $30 a week. I am also going to put $20 a week aside for purchasing Govt Bonds for my Emergency Fund.

And I need to buy a new printer. I shall have to draw up a little list of things I need.

Waiting ...

October 19th, 2006 at 08:25 pm

to hear whether i get more weeks in this job. The office supervisor keeps saying she wants me to continue, but the boss is away this week so haven't been asked yet.

Doling out the money s-l-o-w-l-y and carefully in the meantime. Today's spending:

prescription 17.00
busfare 2.60

made do with banana and oatmeal for breakfast, cheese sandwich for lunch, and zuccinni fritters for dinner. The same as I had yesterday.

I am having to go to dad's house this weekend. The financial matters are now in the hands of the Public Trust, and they say it is to be sold, so I need to go and make an inventory of the goods in the house and decide what is to be done with them. None of us really want the furniture, but the pictures and books have sentimental value for all of us.

Thank you Universe!

October 18th, 2006 at 09:22 am

for the encouragement. Today I decided to walk back from work to save money and because I need the exercise. On the way I found a dollar and two 10s! With a little bit of change I had in my jar, I now have $6.20 and I get paid tomorrow.

Money diet

October 17th, 2006 at 06:31 am

Woe is me. Announcing that I intend to save money is like announcing I'm going on a diet. When I try to cut food intake I start eating everything in sight. When i decide not to spend everyman and his dog is ringing me inviting me to all sorts of delightful places - at a price. I managed to blow $14.95 of my remaining cash at lunch with a friend and now have only $3.80 left. It's that blasted ATM card, i just keep thinking, I can get some more cash out.
I could go into all sorts of psychological reasons why I do this (I'm reacting to my dad who was always nagging me about wasting my money)but never mind Freud. I've just got to stop. Otherwise I'll be having to go without food for a week in order to save money.
I can do this. I know I can. Heck I've faced big challenges in my time. And if I'm smart enough to go back to college and get my BA at the age of 40, I'm not too old to learn new tricks.
Encourage me wouldya?

Time for some Serious Saving

October 15th, 2006 at 02:05 am

Having had the lowest income in the country and a load of family requirements AND repairs to be done on the house recently, I've been going backwards - using up savings.

This is what I have left
Check 28.88
Bill paying a/c 417.79 (electric bill of $nz134 to come out)
House 286.13 (this is the one I use for anything to do with the house - repairs, replacing appliances, linen etc) It is kind of a Freedom Fund for dealing with unexpected expenses)
Travel 163.34
Bonds 1180

Hmm, not terribly healthy looking, but at least I'm not in debt. I've got to tighten my belt and do some money building exercises. My goals are:

1. Get the House a/c up to $1000 by the end of the year. If I get this job permanently I'll build it up even more. I'd like to pay for all the repairs in cash and avoid taking out a home equity loan.

2. Hang on to the $1000 in Bonds as a Baby Emergency Fund, eg if I have to do any more travel because of sickness in the family, and then get it up to a full 3 months worth of expenses. $5000 would make me feel comfortable.

3. Start paying into my retirement savings again.

At the moment I have $22.90 in my purse, but I won't get paid until Thursday. I feel a challenge coming on ... can I get by paying for just milk and busfares and make it last?

First Week at work

October 14th, 2006 at 03:38 am

Well, i got my first contract thru the temping agancy. 2 weeks of 20 hrs per week. I completed my first week this week, and the office supervisor said I fitted in well and she hoped the boss would ask me to stay on as there was plenty of work for me to do. So fingers crossed. I am getting my first pay next Wed, and will be getting about $50 a week more income after the cuts to the Sickness Benefit are made. My only current extra expenses are $2.60 a day busfare.

I got a quote of $960 to put up new spouting. Not cheap, but a new downpipe needs to be put in and scaffolding hired. I am concerned they may also find some of the facing board needs to be replaced. So I will probably need to take out an equity loan, but I'm not doing it until I have a permanent job.

My friend Dan came round and gave me a hand today stripping paint off the window frame. Nearly all the wood in the house has been painted over and i want to get back as it is lovely timber underneath. Then I will just paint the walls and put rugs on the floor and unbleached calico curtains. It will be a sort of Indian look. Stripping off the paint was really slow and Dan suggested I look at getting a carbide stripper, so I'm off to check out prices.

Expensive Fun

October 3rd, 2006 at 01:31 am

Well, I have had a lovely time with sis going round the 2nd hand shops looking for furniture. I bought
a lounge suite for $NZ249
a dining suite for $nz180
and a filing cabinet $70.
Some plastic boxes to store all ds comic and DVD colection in.
A couple rubbish bins.
A new single mattress
I also had to get some tools and some paint stripper so I could get started on redecorating. i am still waiting on the quote for new spouting.

I also had to pay Toastmasters subs, and buy a choir uniform and music folder. Plus a trip to see dad.

All this is necessary expense, but last month I spent over $nz1800, while my income was only $800. Time for another austerity month.

I have signed on with one of the agencies to see if I can get some temp work.