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Home > Archive: October, 2010

Archive for October, 2010

Just like the government

October 14th, 2010 at 07:46 am

It's official. According to Mr Bill English, he what hold the nation's moneybags, the economy is slow to recover because people are saving money instead of spending. Guilty as charged, your honour. He went on to say that under current circumstances it behooves the govt to be fiscally responsible and not go on a big spendup. Okay, so it's important for the govt to balance its budget - and they want me to go into debt to buy stuff? I'm only doing with my cash what the Treasury does.

World's cheapest recipe

October 10th, 2010 at 05:13 am

No money out apart from envelope at church. I put on a sweater to keep warm instead of turning on the heating and made potato patties. Coarsely grate 2 medium sized murphies and gently squeeze out excess water. Stir in half a finely grated onion, 2 tablespoons of flour, and salt to taste (I like lots).Drop spoonsful into hot oil and fry till nicely browned on both sides.

If ever I get down to my last $10 I will buy a big sack of flour and one of potatoes and live on this for a month.

Look after the pennies

October 2nd, 2010 at 07:01 am

and the pounds will look after themselves was one of grandma's most frequent sayings. Today I frugalled thusly:

line dried the washing
roasted the seeds from a pumpkin instead of buying them from the health food store at umpteen dollars for a tiny packet
picked up .20 cents from beside a parking meter
decided not to buy a nz$2 top from the charity shop.

This is the way we earn our pay

October 1st, 2010 at 07:06 am

Today is the day of the big tax changes, hailed by our Minister of Finance as the most important in 25 years. Goods and services tax goes up 2 and 1/2%, and income tax is lowered, in my case the bracket goes down 3 and 1/2%. With an income of less than nz$20,000 pa I really don't expect to see much significant difference.

The govt says this is being introduced bacuse it is fairer, I suspect, as I grow more curmudgeonly in my old age, it is because they hope people will spend more and get the economy moving again. Also, with sales tax, they can hand on much of the cost of collecting it to the business owners instead of govt employees.

Be that as it may, I can only control my personal economy. I continue to be one of those scrooges who are sitting on their bank account and deepening the recession. I did a little stockpiling last week before the prices went up, of toothpaste and canned tomatoes. I was looking for a double bed to buy, but couldn't find one I liked.

The changover of prices is a major hassle for retailers. My local supermarket has a notice up saying problem postponed over the weekend. At work, like many other places, the owners have decided to take the opportunity to review prices and stocktake. Much of my day today was taken up counting tubes of buttons (yes, every button had to be counted) and deciding whether the price should be rounded up another 5 cents. This is important skilled work, bud - you need a university degree for this. My poor back is aching after standing all day on a concrete floor.