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Home > Archive: March, 2007

Archive for March, 2007

Opportunity strikes ....

March 31st, 2007 at 10:11 pm

...or does it? I got this email offer

"Have you ever dreamed about owning a piece of a big company? Too expensive? How about ownership without paying a penny...ever? Too good to be true? No! Amazing and unique? Yes! Totally legal and fully disclosed? Yes! Join us and own a piece of the next big Internet company - completely free forever! You will even get a $10.00 sign up bonus, free downloads, and a contract assuring you of ownership . Totally free - now and forever!"

And BTW, my family also owns a castle in Ireland I'd like to sell you, complete with title of Count.

Graph line heading down

March 28th, 2007 at 09:26 pm

No - not net worth! Weight. I am now down to 161 lb - only one more pound to reach my goal. Today I saw a friend who commented I'd lost weight and looked well. Doing the happy dance.

Gold prospecting

March 25th, 2007 at 09:08 pm

I have been on camp, staying in an old schoolhouse at an old goldmining town. It is almost abandoned now, and the rabbits have taken over. No one had brought a gun or we could have had rabbit stew; they hopped right up to the camp (rabbits are an introduced pest in New Zealand). When I was young we never bought meat, but lived on the rabbits my brother shot. There were a number of wild apple trees around; they tasted good; tart but full of flavor compared to shop bought. We visited the nearby tourist town and found a mall with high price fashion clothes and expensive cafe/bars. Didn't buy anything. Sunday morning we decided to try our luck at goldpanning. Drove high up into the hills and found a stream. Prospecting is hard work; digging mud out of the banks, and washing out the pan in a cold mountain stream. We only found a few specks of fool's gold (iron pyrites), so back to the city to look for a paying job. According to the history books, it was the pub owners who actually made their fortune in the goldrush.

Halfway there

March 19th, 2007 at 10:15 pm

My No 1 goal for this year was to save up $5000 in my emergency fund. I am now at $2500. Go me.

Debt Down Under

March 18th, 2007 at 09:21 pm

There was an article on the news today about increasing bankruptcy in New Zealand. Bankruptcy rates have gone up 22% in just ONE year. Stunning. Interestingly, the main causes are given as unemployment, health problems and divorce. In other words, people took on debt they thought they could handle, then life pulled the rug out from under them. In the same article, the bank workers union has called for changes to be made to their bonus scheme. They are not happy about being paid extra for selling more credit cards, as they don't think people should be encouraged to get into debt. Sadly, most of our banks are now owned by overseas financial interests, so policies are not being made with New Zealanders interests in mind, but to make profits that will go offshore. My own town has one of the highest bankruptcy levels. I think this is due to the fact we have low income levels combined with skyrocketing property prices - which is now starting to bust; the number of mortgagee sales is increasing. It is all very sad when you think we were founded 160 years ago by thrifty hard working Scottish pioneers. We seem to have lost our traditional values in the last generation.

Preapproved credit

March 12th, 2007 at 08:42 am

Being committed to debtfree living, I have done quite well without a credit card for the last few years. I guess not running up debts is a good way to avoid credit card solicitations, for I seldom get them. So I was surprised to recieve in the mail this morning a preapproved credit card offer with -gasp!- a limit of $nz4500. It took me all of 2 seconds to realise that this is the Westpac bank I have $18000 invested with, so they were likely banking (sorry for the pun) on grabbing my assets if I default. They obviously don't know the smallness of my income. Up until recently in NZ you had to have a decent sized income to apply for a card from a bank, but they have become much pushier.

The presentation was ridiculous, with blather about my star sign and how they'd matched me in heaven. It wasn't all that great a deal either, with an initial 6 month offer of 6.99%, going up to 12.65%. Fees of 32.50, and 13.95% on cash advances. I did have a credit card when I travelled overseas, but I already had the money saved up and paid it all off at once. I will say, if I had a spare $4,500, I would travel to visit ds in England, but I'd be looking for a card with plenty of airpoints.

Actually, I'm thinking that maybe the best thing to do is take my CD money, and invest it in Westpac bank shares. They must be making a huge profit.

Money for scrap

March 11th, 2007 at 04:11 am

I have this old pot belly stove in my living room. It no longer conforms to regulations, so I can't use it, plus I no longer have the strength to chop wood for it. I have been planning to get it removed and put in more efficient heating. I was chatting with one of my neighbors about my renovation plans, and he said he would like to have it - he plans to do something with gas with it. He has offered to remove the stove and connected radiator for me, plus he will pay me $100nz. Beats having to pay someone to take it away to the dump.

Twenty dollars

March 8th, 2007 at 11:38 pm

So the next level of manifesting money was $20. I got the idea to take some books I had down to the 2nd hand bookstore. I made $19, and all the way back I kept telling myself there was another dollar for me somewhere. Well, I stopped at the supermarket and there it was! Lying just by the lottery counter! So I bought a can of tuna and dropped it in the food bank collection can - much more useful to a poor person than buying a lotto ticket. On to the next level, but I think the odds are against me finding $50 in the streetWink I'm going to have to take some form of action.

Manifesting money

March 7th, 2007 at 08:29 pm

I have been reading all about mind power and visualizing to achieve your goals for some time, but it always seemed such a complex thing I never kept it up for long. But yesterday I came across this website

Text is http://www.themoneymanifestor.com/money.html and Link is
http://www.themoneymanifestor.com/money.html which outlines demonstrating increasing amounts of money in steps. Well, I decided it should be easy enough to demonstrate a dollar, so sat down and contemplated that for 5 minutes. Then I went for a walk and found coins totalling $1.20! Woohoo, I'm a Master at the first level! Now on with manifesting 10 dollars.

ETA: I just had the thought to check a compartment of a purse I don't often use - and waddya think - I FOUND TEN DOLLARS INSIDE!!!!

Killing wasps

March 5th, 2007 at 09:05 am

We are having brilliant hot weather this month. Unfortunately it also means there are lots of wasps around. Australian ones with a very nasty sting. I found 2 nests in my garden and rang the pest exterminator, but he is so busy he couldn't come for a few days. A woman in my church told me to get rid of them by pouring gasoline on them. So this evening when it was dark and they were all in the nest, I sneaked out with a funnel and a pint of gas and poured it in. Hope it works, as it's certainly a lot cheaper than paying someone to do it.

Easy Come, Easy Go

March 3rd, 2007 at 04:26 am

Last month saw the start of the academic year, with thousands of students pouring into town, and much beer pouring in the hotels. It does get pretty rowdy during Orientation Week, so I steered clear of the University last week. But I did get to sell some old textbooks - $26.25 in. Good.

Then I attended the market with oh so many stalls selling all manner of interesting bric-a-brac. I bought some magazines, jewellry, and some pain au chocolat and a cheese filled croissant from the Alliance Francaise. $13.50 out. Bad.

I have quickly transferred the other $13 to my online account. From now on, I am only allowed to spend the interest I earn from it on goodies.