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.

Today was a lovely sunny day. My support group went for a drive to the Peninsula and looked round a historic town. I virtuously refrained from buying an icecream or soft drink. Then we went to someone's place with a lovely view of the beach for a barbecue. I paid nz12.50 for my share of transport and food. Yes I could have stayed home and not spent the money, but who wants to be rich with no social life? Not me! I'll enjoy my modest treats - after a meal at a restaurant could cost me 3 times that amount - and find other ways to cut costs. I find if I try to deprive myself too much I wind up having a backlash and going on a spending binge.

Last night in the enthusiasm of setting resolutions I declared I was going to cut out caffeine. Supposed to be good for my health, and I'll save money on tea and coffee and power by not boiling the jug to make it. I woke up with that familiar withdrawl headache and decided to rethink that idea. Too much like deprivation. I have to have my little treats to keep me happy if I'm to feel good about saving money.

I decided to turn ds' room into a hobby room/office, so today I sorted out my hope chest where I keep all my projects. I found some nice material I bought to make a skirt. My neighbor admired it and said she had some old patterns, so I had a look through and found one I liked. All I needed was a zipper, and I got one at the Salvation Army for nz.50 cents. Sewing notions are sooo expensive it's hardly worth making your own clothes nowadays. Patterns too. I found one pattern I bought years ago intending to make a top - you could date it by the power shoulder pads.

I also looked through my yarn. I can tell where I'm at in my life by how my knitting is going. At the moment I'm doing miles of boring stockinette in a neutral color, so the next project will be something a little more exciting. I have a big stash to keep me going for a looong time - in fact, I even gave some away. Gasp. But I asked myself the question, if I had the money again would I buy this? The answer was definitely not, so off to a group knitting blankets for Roumanian orpahnages. Crafts are wonderful outlets for creativity, and I think they are spiritual too, but hoarding supplies can get out of hand. No more impulse snapping up of this and that because "I'll use it one day." From now on I'll decide what project I want to do and then shop for that. Some of that yarn has been sitting in my hope chest for 5 years.

Because I am using mental health services, I am entitled to attend the local art centre for therapy. I started today with a creative writing class. We looked through glossy magazines for phrases, and I wrote two poems.

Designer Life
It's that time of year to age beautifully
Take a basic quick mix hanging garden
Add an easy care formal contrast funky handbag
Avoid chandeliers - they cause skin damage
Elegant glasses and dramatic dresses
should not be left in direct sunlight
Team a stained glass window with a classic jacket
for squeaky clean tender barbecued asparagus
Look as young in your pergola
as you do in your silk shirt
Use your no hassle trimmer
to make a decadent golden cake
for a balmy climate


The other sounds quite depressed, but I'm slowly coming right.

The Last Shop
We retail black
You can call it burnt charcoal
or ethnic ebony
and we'll charge an extra $300
but when all's said and done
lie down in the box
in your black polyester work pants
or your strapless little black dress
There'll be no money in your pocket
just white bones in black earth

The price of petrol must be pinching - I've seen a number of SUVs for sale. There is an Isuzu Bighorn parked just down the road with a sign in the window. They cost over NZ$40,000 new, and he's asking $5,000. Just behind it is a 1969 VW beetle which is asking NZ$4,500. I think I'd rather have the VW. They're really reliable and hold their value well. Besides, I have fond memories of whizzing around in a former bf's VW. But at the moment I'm better off managing with taking the bus or walking - I need to exercise.

Now I'm no pedantic English teacher, ready to jump on every little misuse of the language, but...

there is one radio ad that has me concerned over whether I should let the store know of their mistake. It's a furniture and appliance store that offers terms, as most do. In the ad, the announcer enthuses about "Smith City's infamous Easypay."

I guess whoever dreamed up that one thought that infamous was the same as famous. Not so - infamous means notorious.

At least people who get into trouble over their payments can't claim they weren't warned.

The money plant cutting my friend gave me a few months ago has been growing really well.Last night I thought it was about time I gave it a bit of feeding and watering, so I stepped out onto the front porch - and it was gone! Not there! Missing! Somebody walked off with it!

It's a shame, because in general this is a good neighborhood - but some people who are otherwise honest don't seem to think it's stealing if they take plants (and books, but that's a whole 'nother story)

I hope they put it in the wrong corner and it brings them bad Feng Shui. I found 60 cents this morning so hopefully my luck hasn't altered.

A while back I picked up a jersey in a thrift store for a dollar. I unravelled it, then spent the last couple weeks knitting myself a lovely warm bright red scarf. Today I wore it for the first time, and got some compliments. I thought I was pretty smart for a dollar.

And now I've lost it. Agghh, I must have left it in the lecture theatre. I was right! It's all Shakespeare's fault!

sigh, 16,000 students on campus. Will it fall into the hands of an honest one who gives it to the lost property office? Or will I see my scarf wrapped round someone's neck at the pub? Will it wind up draped around a lamppost, or used as a lampshade in a hall of residence? The possibilities are endless.

Fortunately I still have plenty of the red yarn left. I'm thinking of knitting a beanie, or maybe a bag.

Well, no, just that words strong enough to express my disgust are not exactly - family friendly.

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.

Sometimes there are emergencies which turn out to be not so urgent as it first seems. I had just got in and put my feet up,when I got a phone call from my mentally ill friend. She has not been cooperating on taking her medication, so the doctors have ordered a nurse to come round every 2 weeks and give her an injection. H asked if I could take a taxi to her place on the other side of town and be there when the nurse came.

I only had $5 on me and I knew H couldn't afford to pay for a taxi. Also, I thought it would do no harm to set some boundaries with her, as she can be very demanding, so I asked when the nurse was due. It turned out there was plenty of time for me to have my lunch and then catch a bus.

H was complaining about having people come in and invade her privacy, so I was blunt with her. I told her it was the cost of retaining her independence, and if she didn't cooperate, she might wind up living in supported housing with other psychiatric patients. She was a bit shocked, but seemed to take it in. She cooperated with the nurse. We spent the afternoon going thru her wardrobe, looking at how she could mix and match outfits in new ways. She decided maybe she didn't need to buy new clothes after all, and even gave me a nice purple top which didn't fit her.

It has been a long and difficult time today. My friend H who had a breakdown at the end of last year rang and asked me to meet her in town. She told me she is going bankrupt. The only money she has was a check from a non-profit and she wanted me to help me work out what to do with it. It turned out she could afford $20 on groceries for the week, so I went shopping with her. First I had to stop her diving into several clothes shops on the way; then she said she "needed" incense, but I was able to persuade her she should get food first.

H is not only irrational, but has an eating disorder. It was like shopping with a difficult toddler. I was trying to steer her to the fresh produce and the bulk bins of beans and grains, and she kept heading for the brightly packaged convenience foods. Every time she saw something she liked she wanted to put it in the basket, so I would demonstrate how much we had already spent on the calculator, and we had to decide what she should take out. When I tried to point out the store brands were cheaper, she replied, "I have expensive tastes." I remembered what a beautiful person she was and that she is now unwell, or I would have lost patience.

In the end we got
2 cans of gourmet coffee
bread
a HUGE block of cheese
bananas
canned tomato soup
pumpkin seeds (for the same price as a whole pumpkin)
dried figs
frozen oven fries

I could not live on that, but she was very happy with it. When we got to the exit she announced she was tired and wanted to take a taxi home. I was tired too, so let her have her own way.

As she was pulling out her cell phone, she suddenly stopped, looked at me and said, "If I catch the bus instead I'll save money, won't I?" She caught the bus, and as she was leaving told me that she was going to put the $10 she'd saved aside in case she needed it later.

I can remember what it was like when I was trying to get started taking control of my finances. There seemed so much advice it was all overwhelming. I had to get started by taking baby steps, and I hope that is what H is now starting to do as well.

This is Talk Up Toastmasters. Last night I went to my Club after the holiday break and had a great time. We had 2 prepared speeches: one guy told us about the life of George Westinghouse, and the other talked about fishing. I wasn't keen on the latter as I'm vegetarian, but he was enthusiastic, and very funny too. One thing that really cracked us up was his telling us how he bought a boat, but with the little amount he's been able to do, he reckons each fish cost him $1000! Then we had Table Topics, and I was called on to say what I'd done in the holidays - in Africa! So I made up a yarn about climbing Mt Kilimanjaro and collecting snow so the Africans would be able to have freezers.

Toastmasters is not only educational and informative, it is also heaps of fun, and develops great communication and leadership skills. You gain great confidence by being able to stand up in front of an audience and speak your piece. If anyone needs to do presentations for work or study,you get plenty of friendly, useful feedback. If you have a fear of public speaking and would like to overcome it, there is no better place (and cheaper)to learn than Toastmasters. Check out the website

My third post of the day, but I had to comment on this. John Key, the new leader of the National (conservative) Party, has just made a speech in which he declares his party will make people on welfare work for their dole. He says he doesn't intend to dismantle the welfare system, but it is being interpreted as a "get tough on the bludgers" speech.

My reaction? If they're creating schemes to help unemployed, disabled, single moms etc back into work, great, I'm all for it. But if there's work out there, shouldn't people be paid at least the minimum wage for it? Most beneficiaries I know want real work for real wages, not time filling schemes for a pittance. Yes, it should be more worthwhile to work than be on welfare, but why is the answer always cut the benefit? Does anyone ever ask why people who work 40 hours a week are still unable to properly feed and house their families? Could it be that wages are too low? We have had the Employers Federation recently declaring that an increase in the minimum wage will put more people out of work, but it seems they're also not prepared to pay more taxes to help the unemployed. The National Party wants to cut the higher tax brackets; if they're really interested in helping the working poor, why don't they cut the lower ones? Mr Key makes a big play of the fact he was brought up by a single mom in a State House, and now is wealthy. I'm afraid he strikes me as one of those selfmade men who despise other poor people and is ungrateful for the help he recieved along the way. He seems to think his childhood would have been a bowl of cherries if his mom had been forced to work. As the child of a workaholic single father, I can assure him it wouldn't. Is his party going to help all these newly working parents by providing affordable, quality childcare?

It seems to me he is just having a go at the same old easy target, and proposing simplistic solutions to very complex problems. He also went on about that other old whipping horse of politicians: crime. No parole for violent criminals. Well, all I can comment is: at least they won't be on welfare will they? They'll be enjoying 3 square meals a day and it'll cost the country umpteen times as much to keep them locked up.

Last month a friend gave me a cutting from her jade plant, which some people call a money plant. It has been sitting in an eggcup of water on my kitchen window sill, and has now grown a nice little root. So this morning I potted it in an old container by my front door. My friend tells me this is a good place to put it so it will bring prosperity to my house, according to Feng Shui principles. Here's hoping it works

I am fortunate to have a paid off mortage and be out of debt. I also have $15,000 in a retirement saving account from when I was working. Being an honest person I declared my assets to Work and Income when I got sick, and found that, if I kept them, I was unable to claim a whole range of benefits. I have the choice of either spending all my money on trips to Australia and lotto tickets, then running bakc to the govt squealing how poor I am - or keeping what I have and being on a very low income. I am looking for a way to increase my income, either from interest on investments or rental property.