Laceshawl's Personal Finance Blog

I really don't think nz$5 is all that expensive for a knitting pattern because you can use it any number of times, or resell it on trademe. But people grumble about the price.

This afternoon a customer asked me if they could take away a pattern and photocopy it!! When I got over my surprise I explained that wasn't possible because of copyright law and she went off muttering. When I looked again, she was sitting at the pattern table with pen and paper, copying out by hand!!!

Well, what can you do? the customer is always right and this one spends a lot on wool, so the manager said to leave her. But honestly, if you're that set against paying for a pattern why not look in the thrift stores or borrow a book on designing from the library and create your own.

Reasons to be Financially Independent no 53

So you don't have to take a day off work when the repairman is coming.

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.

this, folks, has turned into a no hold barred pro wrestling match. In the black corner is tina, ably seconded by her Efund. In the red corner, the villain of the piece, Murphy.

And Murphy has just attempted a low blow. After knocking out tina's tooth last week, he proceeded to infect the empty socket this week. However, the dentist treated it and made no charge!!!Murphy came back almost immediately with another kinghit - a tax demand from the regional council that has gone up over 20%! Tina is now sitting down and writing out her request for a rates rebate. Stay tuned for the ref's decision on this one.

Well, it's been a disaster of a weekend. In the last 48 hours the washing machine stopped functioning (I'm guessing a blocked pump); then an element on the stove top stopped functioning ( as it is a very old stove I'm expecting to be told it's not repairable so will have to buy a new stove); finally the electric kettle stopped functioning ( I went to KMart today to buy a cheapie replacement, but all the jugs they had were fancy schmancy stainless steel and cost too much, so I'm temporarily boiling water in a pan)

All this and I'm still smiling. I have over nz$3000 in my EF fund to deal with these setbacks. Murphy - you're out!

I was working in the shop this afternoon. It's interesting that most people chose to make even small purchases with thier debit card. I guess they just don't carry cash any more. I only made $47 in cash sales, all the rest was electronic transfer of funds. Wonder if they'll do away with cash one day. Hooray - no more balancing the cash register at the end of the day.

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.

As I was waiting for the bus I noticed a 20 cent coin on the street. I waited for a gap in the traffic so I could go over and pick it up, but no traffic gap before my bus came, so I had to leave it. Sob! I want my free money!

Today was a good day for saving money. I hung the laundry out on the line, opened all the windows to let the natural air conditioning thru, enjoyed some free vitamin D on my skin and thanked God he doesn't charge us for universal power.

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.

Thankfully it was only a 24 hour bug, so I'm back on my feet again. I am eating some chocolate which is a cure for all human ailments of body, mind and soul.

Ugh, I'm coming down with a nasty bug; runny nose, sore eyes, upset tummy and aching joints. I got some Vitamin C and if I'm not better tomorrow I'll go to the dr.

Now's the time of year when I normally go into whirling dervish mode, pulling contents out of cupboards, cleaning them and then often as not, donating them all to the Sally Army, only to buy a fresh load of stuff to fill up the spaces. The sight of all the new stuff in the shops makes me think my stuff is old and tired and needs to be replaced, when in fact it will last for years with care. I don't really need new summer clothes and curtains, it's the advertisers who make me feel discontented. I firmly remind myself of Dave Ramsey's mantra; live like nobody else now and later on you can live like nobody else.

The weather has been so warm the last few days I didn't need to have the heater on. Yay for coming summer and lower power bills.

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.

Last month was a bit spendy so September calls for belt tightening, with my shop hours going down to Saturdays only. Food, power, medical expenses and transport are all that are allowed. I'll be interested to see what it costs me to live on a bare bones budget.

I found 20 cents coming home from work. I got home and as I was pulling my front door key out of my pocket, the coin flew out and rolled down a crack in the path. Never mind, it'll be something for future archaeologists to get excited about.

I joined myopinions.co.nz to do surveys and got 150 points just for joining. I discovered I can transfer the points to my Smilecity account, so I transferred them and now I have almost 3000 points in my Smilecity account. Yay, I will be able to cash out a nz$30 check soon.

It's official, food prices are up 8% since last July, fruit and veg up 12 %. Oh the pain. TG I'm not feeding a family anymore, it must be so hard.

But I was surprised at the interview on the radio about it this morning. The reporter opted to quiz the spokesperson about the price of lettuce and tomatoes, complaing about how expensive they were. Doh! If you're hard up you don't buy lettuce, which has few calories. And you certainly don't buy them in winter - you buy the veges which are cheap then.

So here is a basic beating-the-winter-depression dish. Throw a generous spoonful of caraway seeds into oil. Add plenty of thinly sliced cabbage and carrot and cook until wilted. Add as much as you can afford of cooked black eyed beans and lots of tomato sauce. Pop the lid on and simmer until veges are cooked.

Not a good day. I slipped crossing the road and suffered minor damage to my knee and major damage to my jeans. I am debating whether I should put a patch on or splash out a whole $2 and get a new pair at the opp shop. I also need to buy a new pair of shoes as the soles are horribly worn - which is why I slipped in the first place. I have not calculated the cost of a bandaid.

Okay, who was the wally that threw a perfectly good whole pumpkin onto the road and left it to be squashed by passing cars?

Wasting good food - grr. Drives me crazy.

OMG canned tomatoes up to nz$1.09 (store brand - the name brands are %1.59) What do I do? They're one of my staples.

Guess I will use less tomato and more onions.

So we are heading into spring and with the warmer weather, people are not buying as much wool. The word has come from head office that hours are to be cut back, so I will only be working Saturdays at the wool shop now. However we get a lot of tourists in summer and they like to buy New Zealand wool, so hours may pick up again. At least for the meantime, I will be able to go to creative writing classes again.

I have done my sums and will be able to still save $100 a month.

The supermarket down the road has a notice up. From Monday they are going to charge 5 cents a bag for plastic shopping bags. For the sake of the environment, of course - nothing to do with the bottom line.

Not that it makes any difference to me, I bring my own bag anyway. But I do wonder what the charity shops that ask people to give them their leftover bags will do.

Piled higher and deeper. In cash, that is. This month I had 3 biweekly paydays and 5 weekly paydays, plus tax refund, so nz$1563.91 going into the a/c. That seems like sooo much money after what I've been living on. I now have $1482 altogether in my various sinking fund categories.

Repairs 968
Xmas/gifts 18
Medical 117
Clothes -20 (how did that happen?)
Dentist 193
Travel/hols 195
Entertainment 11

I have a trip to the dentist coming up soon, otherwise I'll just keep piling the money up.

The Asian greengrocer was selling soup bags of old vegetables for nz$1. I got carrots, parsnip and tomato, and added some pasta, parsley and a touch of chili. Very comforting on a frosty nite.

I used an online calculator to work out how much I would need to save. At current interest rates, to replace the sickness benefit of $nz190 a week, I would need nz200-300 thousand. That seems so much I got depressed wondering how on earth I could possibly reach that amount.

Then I realised, at the moment I earn $139 a week in the hand, so to get up to $190, I only have to have nz51 a week interest coming in. Much more manageable - smiles again.

The traditional route calls for investing in somewhere like the stock market and letting your gains compound. This does not work for me becuase of the abatement regime. I need to have use of the interest to avoid being squeezed.

So what I am going to do is start paying my savings into an interest bearing investment. As the amount of interest paid to me rises, so the amount I am recieving from the govt will go down. And I can carry on paying a percentage from my jobs into Kiwisaver for retirement. Sorted!

There is a big stink going on at the moment caused by a politician's decision to release the welfare detAils of 2 women who criticised the govt.

http://tvnz.co.nz/politics-news/privacy-issues-stir-bennett-...

I'm not happy at the thought if I decide to go public on an issue my file may wind up on the minister's desk and then splattered all over the media leaving me to be villified by talk back hosts and bloggers. Hey, some people are convinced that everyone who recieves disability is a malingerer.

When someone applies for public assistance to which they are legally entitled, they have to give a great deal of private information - one reason I'd love to get off welfare. Amounts to which people are entitled can easily be worked out if you know their circumstances, but also you have to inform the govt dept about details of child support, p/t jobs, financial assets, etc. Is a welfare recipient entitled to expect those details to be kept confidential? And what about medical conditions of people on disability? Are they to be discussed in the media?

So even though I have a bigger income now, I'm still determined to keep costs down and save as much as possible. Every dollar closer to financial independence makes me less dependent on the govt and the whims of some politicain. It seems a very long way off on what I have now - but I will make it happen, some day.

Life is hard sometimes. Especially when I'm coming home from my evening cleaning job and I'm hungry and I have to go past all the fast food joints in our area. The thought of going home and waiting while I cook up a meal makes me want to give in and buy some pizza or a burger more often than I should.

So I'm taking action. Before I leave for work I put a banana or some raisins or some other snack in my bag and nibble on it as I walk past the Chinese takeaways. On a cold night it's not as comforting as fries would be, but it works.

Maybe next winter I could get a thermos and fill it with really thick soup? At least I didn't spend tonite and I found 10 cents outside the Indian restaurant so I came home richer than I went.