Laceshawl's Personal Finance Blog

This morning I walked 13 minutes in the rain to my own bank ATM so I wouldn't have to pay another bank withdrawal fee. After that I spent 25 minutes in the supermarket scrutinising all the bargains before buying
6 day old pumpkin seed buns nz1.00
sandwich tuna 1.30
quarter cabbage 1.00
can pineapple 1.10
peanut butter 2.00
I also went to the Asian food store where the legumes are cheaper and bought some black beans for 2.00
I also found .20 cents as a reward for being up bright and early. I was thinking what i could buy with it. I can get a knitting pattern from the Sally Army or maybe some popping corn from the bulk bin. I guess I will put it in the Christmas jar.

All I spent today was nz1.20 on chips as a treat for myself for being good this week. I still have $11.30 in my wallet, so will put $10 in the EF and the rest for Christmas.

So I'm continuing to be creative with the pantry. This morning I did curried beans.

1 stalk celery, finely chopped
1 carrot, coarsely grated
1 apple, peeled and chopped
Fry all until softened. Add 1 tablespoon flour and preferred amount of curry powder. Add milk to make a thickish sauce. Stir in one can of baked beans and heat thru.

This amount was more than ample for one person, but if You were feeding a family, you could make biscuits to go with it.

Was going to make today a NSD, but got a flyer saying pasta was on sale at my local supermarket, so bought 2 packets macaroni. That should keep me going for some time, and I still have .30 left over from my challenge.

this morning I made potato and lentil patties, with the can of tomatoes and tonite I made some gingerbread. I had one or two slices - okay, five. It was good.

And I found .70 cents.

I came across this useful website

http://www.simplesavings.co.nz/

for people saving money Down Under while I was looking for the info about the $21 a week grocery challenge. It seems they only do it for a week and mainly live out of what's in the kitchen, so not terribly helpful for living on a minimal amount long term. But some of the recipes look good so will try them out. I signed up for the free newsletter, and if it is any good I may look at paying the nz$47 membership.

Today I had pasta with the frozen mixed veg for my first meal, and pancakes with bananas tonite. I didn't get the oil hot enough before pouring the batter in, so they stuck to the pan and were a bit messy, but they tasted good.

I went to knitting group this morning. Normally we each put in .50 cents for a cup of tea and a cookie. But I found 50 cents on the way, so it didn't cost me anything. I now have a total of $2.10 gone in my jar this week.

Our group is haveing a project to knit baby things for Pregnancy Help. One lady had brought in a whole lot of fine wool, so I took some to knit some little singlets. Babies need wool in our cold, damp winters.

Like lessisenough I often only eat 2 meals a day -so did most of our ancestors until 200 years ago. The word luncheon was only invented in the 19th century, and it was for rich people. Because it is difficult for me to get up in the morning, I cook my main meal then. It gives me energy to face the day, and I go out feeling I've done something good for myself. And if I'm too tired to cook in the evening, I can just have a bowl of cereal.

So this morning I started with vegetable soup, made with barley, split peas, carrot, celery and potato. I made it really thick and had 2 good bowlfuls. I didn't have lunch but ate a handful of wild blackberries, and had a coffoe and a slice of chocolate cake at a friend's. This is not about turning down free food with some high minded remark about poor people ( heck, on my income I am a poor person) because I haven't paid for it out of my alloted nz3.00 per day. I intend to continue my normal way, just cut the usual grocery spending to nz21.00 a week.

I bought some salad bananas for 1.30 and apples for 1.10 because I had no fruit. This evening I made some banana porridge with cinnamon. I also had several cups of tea with milk, but I'm running out of teabags.

So I was checking out the blog of this lady who bought food for $1US a day.

http://lessisenough.wordpress.com/

It absolutely would not be doable for me to do $1nz a day unless I ate only rice and potatoes, but I recall hearing on The Money Man that it is possible to get your groceries down to $nz21 a week, so I'm going to give it a go.

The usual start-wit-no-food-and-buy-a-dollar's-worth-a-day strikes me as a bit artificial. Most folks would have a few necessities like oil, salt and flour in their pantry. I don't go for the argument that you need a car and storage space to buy in bulk either. In India you see women walking 5 miles home from market with 25 lbs of rice or beans on their heads. Anyway, this is not just a 30 day trial, but will go as long as I can make it work. So I'll start with what I have at home, which is
potatoes
pasta
rice
frozen mixed veg
flour
oil
cornmeal
pea flour
herbs and spices
carrots
celery
zucchini
pumpkin
eggs
baked beans
oats
milk
lentils
old fashioned soup mix
can tomatoes

That should keep me going till the weekend. I spent $16.30 already, so put $4.70 aside in case I need more milk. Hmm, I can see already I'm probably going to have to give up drinking tea and coffee. I shall be amazed if I can do this as the experts at the University announced earlier this year it costs nz120 a week to feed an adult.

I actualy didn't need to cook dinner tonite as we had a lunch at Artsenta and I am full of sausage rolls and tomato sandwiches.

Our minister recently resigned and we are looking for a new one. In the meantime we are having a variety of services. This morning we had a DVD called Indescribable, with pictures from the Hubble space telescope. Awesome, and certainly puts my troubles in perspective. It's good to be reminded I don't have to worry about running the Universe, God is doing a fine job, so I can certainly put my trust in Him for my future.

I makes my little plans and dreams my little dreams, but who can tell what the morrow will bring? Even if I never get to be fully Financially Independent, it's still good to remember I have never been without food and clothes to wear. I'm not going to give up planning and dreaming, but I'm not going to obsess with worry over the future either. Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereoff.

Bought groceries for nz$16.30. Zucchini is cheap at the moment, $3.49 a kilo, so am having zucchini fritters for dinner tonite.

Having been debtfree for almost 7 years, I took out a loan back in October for a heatpump. It was under a Govt scheme for more energy efficient houses and is interest free. I borrowed $nz3,800, and am now down to $3,270.34. Costs me $24.03 a week.

I added up the money in my various accounts
checking 316
home repairs 436
billpaying 2,380

total $3,182 so I have almost enough to pay it off in a lump sum if necessary. In the meantime I'm enjoying my cosy house.

Not that I'm superstitious - actually I can't ever remember anything bad happening to me on a Black Friday. I got 8 sesame seed buns from the day old bread bin for $1nz. Then in town the Presbyterian opp shop was having an end of season sale - 5 items for a $1. So I got a plain black skirt (because you can never have enough for work), a navy dress and a red dress, a pink blouse and a turquoise top. When I added up the price tags they would normally have cost me $22nz. Because today is Friday I had fish and chips for dinner $2.80nz. Hope all for whom the day is just starting are smiled on by fate as well.

Wow, it's good to be back among such a friendly supportive crowd. I'm feeling heaps better (have also switched off talk radio with people endlessly moaning about the economy)

I wrote this poem to express my thanks to all the good people who have helped me during the dark days

For by You I can run against a troop, by my God I can leap over a wall - Psalm 18.29

Not so much an army
of sword wielding warriors
as a gang with sticks
whacking down nettles
lopping heads off thistles
and tearing down the ivy
with their bare hands
Then a gentle blanket
was laid down
to guard me from the damp earth
Someone stood atop the wall
and let down a rope
Willing helpers secured it round me
Then pushed and shoved from below
while invisible horde
heaved and hauled from the other side
As I came alive
I started to dig into the gaps
with fingers and toes
then press myself up
with the aid of hands and knees
like crawling up sideways
as enthusiastic supporters cheered me on
And so I gained freedom over the wall.


And I found 50 cents outside the supermarket! It's going into rebuilding my emergency fund, which currently stands at $nz2380. I want to get it up to $5000.

Wow, 6 months since I last blogged. It has been a rough 6 months. I have been sick and in pain and had to spend a wad of my savings on house renovations. I'm beginning to think I shall never achieve my dream of being financially independent. I've even been on anti- depressants. Gimme a virtual hug, someone.

Never mind, I'm not going to stay stuck in misery. I'm still a lot better off than many folks in these tough times. I figger the bright side is there'll be fewer employers wanting full time, but more demand for p/t and casual staff. I should be able to pick something up. In the meantime, i am honing my skills of telling the difference between wants and needs. Plus I'm still able to put $10 a week into my Kiwisaver.

that's what my wall oven went on Friday. I called the repairman to replace the fuse, and he tells me they no longer can get parts for that make - Ok, it is 25 years old. So I'm looking for a new oven this weekend. Unfortunately, they are also made to different measurements nowadays, so I'll have to get some joinery done as well. Noooo i want to hold on to my money!!! But as I am still looking to sell this place further down the line I guess it's worth getting a decent job done.

Unfortunately I have been unwell again and have had to quit my job. At least I have managed to save up enough to put me in a good financial position for the next few months, and hopefully I will get back to work in the New Year. In the meantime I am being veeerrry careful with the cash - no more buying coffees as I'm always tempted to buy a nice little ginger slice or sandwich or other goodie to go with it. The coffee alone costs nz$3. But I did buy a whole crown pumpkin for $1. Funny thing, I would never eat it when I was little, but now I know why nana served it so often. I have plenty of rice in the pantry as well, so I may get a little sick of pumpkin risotto. I have nz$4.20 in my pocket and no plans to buy anything other than milk until Wednesday.

abeautiful day, hard to believe we are in the middle of winter - it is almost like spring, with the primulas coming out. We have been very lucky with the weather, a gorgeous Indian summer and a mild winter, apart from one very nasty week of sleety stuff. If this is global warming, bring it on!

When I say I work for a power company, peopele immediately start moaning about how high their electricity bills are. Of course they are all convinced they don't use much power. If they were to go around their house and make a list of all the items they have that run on electricity, they would be surprised. Since beginning this job I have learned the importance of reading the meter daily. Once you know what your usage is, if you find you get a higher use (mine is at weekends) then you can think about what you are doing differenctly.

And if you're still convinced that it's not you - there's something wrong with the meter, here's a test you can do. Go round and switch off all your appliances, incl your hot water. Then switch off at the mains. Wait for 10-15 mins and the little disk should stop moving. If it's still going there may be a fault with the meter, but usually faulty meters slow down or stop. Switch back on, then plug in your applicances one at a time, checking the dial between each new one. If you find the dial really speeds up when you plug something in, you need to look at getting a more efficient model. Hope this advice helps.

Even though I'm only working 20 hours a week, I find it very tiring and don't have much energy for anything else, which is why you haven't heard from me for a while. However. I'm getting used to the job, and my bank account is looking much healthier. $4180 in my EF, plus over $1000 in my billpaying a/c, and $600 in my home repairs a/c. I paid $260 to get the garden all tidied up. Next month I'm flying up to Auckland for the National Conference of my support group, airfare paid for, so I only have to find $100 for accomodation. I also bought 2 pairs of shoes for work from the Warehouse, one for $19.98, the other for $14.98. Working is good as I have less time to wonder round the shops, but I'm getting a bit lazy about cooking for myself. Too many purchased sandwiches. There is a challenge on The Money Man to spend nz$21 a week on groceries. I will give it a go.

I have been warned of the "new worker's spread." There is lots of food at my new work place. We are provided with morning tea on Monday (cookies) and a fruit platter on Wednesdays. The trainer is handing out lollies as rewards and there is a snack machine plus baked goods for sale as a fund raiser. Not only could I easily spend a lot of money - I could get fat.

I went to the supermarket after work today, the 5pm crush is something I've avoided for a long time. I saw someone I knew and she had a deli cooked chicken, some salad greens and a bottle of wine. Her bill came to over nz$30. I asked her if the wine was for a special occasion and she said no, it was just a regular dinner. Guess I'm lucky I can't drink alcohol with my medication.

Today I received $28.47 as a tax rebate. Thankyou - I'll put it in my doing-up-the-house-to-sell-it fund.

I'm still around and full of good intentions, but hit a glitch with the computer this week. I am in the process of drawing up a list of needs - needs, not wants - to be purchased out of my first paypacket. So far I have listed:

1. mouse
2. socks
3. get defective light switch in dining room fixed.

Of course the list of wants is endless, from a 3mm circular needle to a laptop. I shall start a second list titled thneeds - "a thneed is a thing that everyone needs."

I received the info from my new job. I'm going to be working for a power company, and I get 25% discount on my power bills. Yes! Also I can pay 8% of my salary into Kiwisaver, and get a match of 1%, rising to 4% after 3 years. I'm wearing a big smile today.

Today was a NSD - good for me. It was a close call tho. In one of the opportunity shops they had some laceweight wool, a beautiful deep red colour, enough for a shawl and only nz$16. It was positively screaming "buy me". But I resisted. I already have a whole boxful of yarn that I couldn't resist buying - I am going to use it all up before I buy any more, plus the material I have and the unfinished crossstitch projects. It's silly to keep buying stuff if I don't get round to completing it.

My artist friend disagrees. He says if you're creative, you need lots of raw material for projects. Maybe. But all those unused skeins represent $$$. If I don't buy now, and put the money aside, I'll be able to afford it when I'm older.

I have been reading James Scurlock's book Maxed Out. I haven't seen the documentary, but he talks in detail about some of the cases in the book. Terrifying how easily some people fell into the debt trap. Having formerly been a volunteer tutor with an adult literacy group, I wouldn't be surprised if some of those folks can barely read. I blame it all on the education system for not teaching financial literacy. I can remember going off to university with my brand new checkbook and not knowing how to write a check for my fees - the woman at the registry desk had to tell me how!

I guess I am very fortunate I was reared by Depression Era family members who really dinned it into me debt is not a good thing. The only acceptable kind was a mortgage, and that was paid off as quickly as poss so you had a secure roof over your head. I only ever had one store card. When I bought my own house I had all sorts of little expenses, needing to buy tools, put up shelves etc, so I applied for a card with Mitre 10, the DIY supplies store. Wow did I ever get a shock when I ran up $500 worth of stuff in a couple months! Then I saw how much the fees and interest rate were on the statement. I sat down with a calculator and figured it would take me 5 years to pay it off and twice the amount charged if I kept making the minimum payment, so I paid it off as fast as I could and cancelled it. I am very fortunate I had an education and knew enough to go to the local library and start checking out books on personal finance when I realised I had a problem.

I wonder if people would be more careful if we legally obliged credit cards to be referred to as "debt cards"? There's a force - at least to me - about the word debt that doesn't seem to exist with available credit or home equity loan. Or maybe, as I did when I first tried my store card, they just think it's only $25 a month and don't focus on anything else. Of course I was a young knowitall new grad back in those days. Nowadays I see students putting beer and pizza on the student loan, never noticing how it adds up.

Today I went to the supermarket early, and bought a couple date scones for lunch from the day old bread bin for .80 cents. I found .40 cents by a parking meter on the way back. That's nz$1.40 saved.

I can choose to spend it on ... nothing very much, but if I save it and invest it at 5% it will bring be in .07 cents a year for the rest of my life. I keep trying to bear this in mind when tempted to spend.

Clearly I live in a very different world from our politicians. New Zealand is having an election this year, and promises loom large. John Key, leader of the National Party, just announced that his party would spend $1.5 billion making highspeed Broadband available. I appreciate the thought, but where is the money coming from, given we're heading into a recession. This is the same party that is promising tax cuts to high income earners. I thought they were supposed to be all about govt non-intervention in business. He says it will be good for people who can telecommute. Hmm, maybe our politicians could set the example and have teleconferences, instead of flying all over the country -and world - at taxpayers' expense. Given a Member of Parliament earns 3 times the average wage, I don't think they're in touch with how ordinary people live.

Yes, I've been MIA for a while, but I've still been lurking. Thanx for kind enquiries while I was gone. I wanted to make sure I was on my feet again before I made any rash plans for the future.

The good news is I am feeling much better, and I am even starting pt work soon. Training begins 5 May, for 8 weeks, then I will be working 20 hours a week. Money coming in! cool!

The bad news is I have gotten myself into some bad habits financially. Because I was struggling to cook for a while, I started eating out more. Not topline reastaurants - my idea of eating out is a cup of tea and a sandwich, but still when you haven't much money it adds up. So I have to knock this behavior on the head. I bought some zuccini on manager's special yesterday and made myself a frittata. It was nice to have a home cooked meal again, so today I'm going through the cookbooks and planning meals for the week. We're heading into winter here, so lentil soup is on the cards for tonite.

ds sent me a cute decoration for the Christmas tree, made of gold material in the shape of an elephant. My friend who's into Feng Shui has declared it to be a symbol of prosperity and came over with her books to figure out the best place to hang it to enhance my wealth. By the wood stove, apparently. Um, I think it might covered with ash.

The radio here is already celebrating Elvis' birthday, so I get to eat peanut butter and banana sandwiches in his honor. Not fried, tho, I don't want to wind up a blimp.

I got a prescription filled nz7.82. Apart from that I stayed home and knitted. so long as I'm doing that I'm not out spending money.

I thought I was doing well with the new shawl but I goofed majorly and had to unravel the whole thing. Start again. But the patience I have to exercise is a transferrable skill, especially when it comes to making my money grow.

For both knitting and handling your money you require a pattern, or plan. A few creative geniuses can just start and keep it all straight in their head, but most of us require a vision of what we want to achieve, and the details of how to do it - Written Down!!

Your pattern or plan must match your current skills. Don't expect to do a complex Aran if you're a new knitter, and don't invest in complex tax shelters if you haven't mastered basic budgeting.

It's important to get good advice from experienced people in the craft. This is easy with online communities today.

Be prepared to take time. Knitting is one stitch after another, saving money is one dollar after another. It's better to do a little towards your goal every day than to do a whole load of things one day, then ignore it for weeks on end.

You need the right tools and material for the job. These are simple, but gaining proficiency requires constant practice. You will make mistakes along the way, so be prepared to go back and fix the major botch ups, but don't sweat every little glitch. So long as you stick to your plan you'll be okay.