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Month: January 2011

  • January 15, 2011

    Link love: Powered by forward thinking and small pleasures

    I am really tired this week. And I don’t know why. Too much time spent reading and watching movies? Long intense days of work spent glued to my computer screen?

    LIFE

    Hannah Katy is always inspiring, not least because she’s out to change the world through volunteering at the UN.

    This pretty sums up my housekeeping routine. Thanks, Stupid Ugly Foreigner.

    JD Roth explains why his wife does all his laundry for him – and it’s probably not why you think.

    Well Heeled talks about non-traditional engagement rings. Yay! I definitely don’t want a diamond – probably a ruby. Although I don’t ever want to wear any piece with a four-figure value (preferably, in the low three figures) so maybe that’s not viable.

    Tall Brunette’s ode to scent, and how it can stir up memories like nothing else can.

    The Non Student realises there are some friends not worth making the effort for.

    Sage advice from Stephanie Klein to anyone in a love triangle – Who are you in the When Harry Met Sally scenario?

    Sandy has some tips for shopping for other people’s kids (incidentally, I bought my first-ever present for a toddler. It’s surprisingly fun looking at kids’ clothes! Can’t wait to see the niece in her new threads.)

    LOVE this post by Little House on the Southern Prairie, which is basically my philosophy on expensive goods – they’re too good for me. Avoid buying stuff that makes you worry.

    Money Rabbit wonders how to achieve fulfillment and balance in a busy life.

    Lianko’s thoughts on being a minority and the identity struggle.

    WORK/MONEY

    Food for thought – what else might you be doing one day and are your skills transferable? Dana gets thinking about possible backup careers.

    Nicole at Rainy Day Saver writes about justifying large purchases.

    On a similar note, Almost Frugal wonders when it’s time to replace, rather than repair.

    A great guest post on Yes and Yes about how to love life even if you don’t love your job.

    FOOD

    I do not know how to pronounce bouillabaisse, but it looks dang tasty and I’ve been intrigued by it ever since I first encountered the word in a book. Here, Asian Pear walks us through making it. And here, really awesome tips on maximising leftovers.

    BF doesn’t have much of a tolerance for heat, poor thing, but hopefully he can handle these chicken fajitas via Closet Cooking (no fresh chillies!) I took him out for Malaysian last night and, ridiculously excited at the prospect of assam fish and roti canai, failed to consider how much of the food he would actually be able to eat. Also, mashed beans?! I am intrigued.

    Something I’ve been wanting to do is make my own cereal like Lisa – but I’m super picky so it would probably involve oats, nuts, coconut and either apples or berries.

    You had me at “udon”. Here’s an Asian inspired broth from Poor Girl Eats Well – light enough for my summer consumption but sufficiently comforting enough for those in the northern hemisphere.

    Happy weekends…

  • January 14, 2011

    Imagine.

    House in Lipsk.

    Image via Wikipedia

    What would you do if you no longer had rent or a mortgage to pay???

    My parents own their house and are mortgage free. They have been ever since we came to NZ. It’s pretty amazing…I was just thinking the other day how low their bills must be. No mortgage. I don’t think they have very much insurance (not even sure if they have car or contents insurance. Blergh) Neither works full-time.

    From an NZ-centric point of view, paying off the mortgage ASAP is a no-brainer. Mortgage rates here are quite high and we don’t have 30-year fixed terms. As far as I know, the longest you can lock in is 5 years.

    Housing is usually the single largest expense for any household, and if you can eliminate that…well, I can’t even imagine the possibilities! It varies, but rent is up to 40 per cent of our total spending, or up to about 20 per cent of our income. With an extra $1000 a month, we could eat like royalty, take a trip every month, or shave years off saving for a down payment.

    But that just ain’t gonna happen, so I’m not going to think too much about it. I’m one of those people who hates being asked “What would you do if you won Lotto?” I like to fantasise about things that are REMOTELY within my reach, thankyouverymuch.

  • January 13, 2011

    Why I liked having a car nearly as old as myself

    It’s been a couple of months now since we said sayonara to our old white hatch, and I’m finally used to seeing something completely different in the driveway when I get home. (ETA: For those who don’t remember, our new car is still more than 10 years old.)

    Despite its faults, it had its good points:

    – No car payments. Pretty self explanatory. (Not that we now have car payments…we paid cash for our new one as well.)

    – No need for full insurance. Not worth it.

    – No need to worry about nicks and scrapes. Obviously.

    But I hope that the benefits of our “new” car will outweigh the above. Namely:

    – More efficient.

    – Safer. Airbags, dude.

    – More reliable  – hopefully we’ll spend less on regular upkeep. And certainly remove the time and stress associated with major car issues, including passing WoFs and, you know, actually getting around like a car is supposed to enable you to do, rather than being stranded on the road.

    – Seatbelts and windows that work every time.

    Plus, after recent trips, we learned the following:

    – Room to sleep if absolutely necessary

    – Seats that don’t hurt BF’s back on long trips

    – Better and safer handling (it “sticks to the road”, sez he.)

    Do you ever miss your junker? Heck, have you ever even had one, or are you one of those spoilt kids who had your first car bought for you, and thus got onto the vehicle treadmill relatively painlessly? 😛

  • January 11, 2011

    When writing is in the blood

    De La Salle-College of Saint Benilde

    Image via Wikipedia

    I’ve always been a writer. When others played with Barbies, I wrote stories which my dad illustrated and bound so they resembled a real book. Then I embarked on writing my great teen novel, followed by my songwriting phase. I really should dig out some of my old stuff and post it, just for giggles.

    Now I blog.

    I’m not the best. The wittiest. The fastest. The most verbose, reflective, or introspective. People apply the creative label to me, overestimating my abilities, and I aspire to levels beyond my current capability.

    But I believe you don’t need to be the best at everything. Nor should you try to be. Maybe like me, you have too many interests. Books. A musical instrument. Movies. Photography. Cooking. If you enjoy what you do, then that’s enough.

    Personally, I have to resist the internal urge to  try to write an amazing, insightful, or otherwise awesomesauce blog post every single day (damn some of you whom I won’t name; you set the bar bloody high), and instead I’ll muddle along in my own middle of the road fashion.

    Do you ever feel the pressure to be a better blogger? Or to excel at something you really do just for fun?

  • January 10, 2011

    What we spent in 2010

    **  I often get questions about how I do my monthly roundups and track transactions, so I compiled a sticky post that hopefully sums it all up.**


    I have never done an annual wrap. It’s quite an eye opener, isn’t it?

    Some thoughts:

    – I wish I’d kept track of every item of clothing bought. (Realistically though, I’m far too lazy.) I do know this included at least two skirts, two tops, two pairs casual shoes, runners, sandals, jacket, handbag, dress, boots. T bought new shoes, pants, shorts, some shirts and a jacket (plus possibly a couple other items on his own dime.) This category is actually clothes AND grooming, so also included things like haircuts, skincare, etc.

    – Our eating out is basically staying within range, but as always, it could be lower. Y’all know I say this with reluctance, because while some people like to spend on clothes or shoes or gadgets or adventure pursuits, WE LOVE FOOD. I know if this included all his food spending, the total would be horrendous. This year I’d like to see if we can manage on $160 a month, even in milestone months (we go out to dinner, that’s how we celebrate).

    Which brings us to entertainment. I calculate at least a third (roughly $850) was spent on concerts (7 tickets. 2 of them we haven’t been to yet!). There was another $300 or so on two more Metallica tickets too, which I onsold. Then BF’s Xbox, and a new cell phone, which brings us up to about the $1700 mark. The rest was little things like trips to Video Ezy, monthly Fatso DVD  subscription, a trip to the cinema every few months, visiting the driving range…and that’s probably the extent of it.

    Fees and interest…well, you can see at what point I just decided to pay off the CC and get T to repay me directly.

    We have some good weeks and some bad weeks with groceries. That much is obvious. Even in a lean month, it seems $500 would be the absolute lowest we can get by on. We could cut that to some extent if I was prepared to start buying dried beans and lentils and the like, but I’m not. Yet.

    Almost half of “gifts and donations” was my dSLR alone. Yep.

    Holidays included a fishing trip and road trip (him), some weekends away (us); events included birthdays and anniversaries. Did we get nearly $2000 worth out of those? I’m not sure. I guess it’s hard to gauge over several small, spread out trips. Generally, I don’t think these include gas for trips but do include things like food.

    Obviously the big home expenses were moving costs and bond, and replacing our stolen computer and TV. (We did get insurance to pay a large portion via cheque.)

    So much for cheap car insurance! We replaced our beater (which I didn’t include in here at all, actually), and shouldered the cost of full insurance. Contents insurance went up this year, too – boo.

    Medical costs add up fast, do they not? Most of this was optical (lenses, eye exams, solution) with a few prescriptions and other meds thrown in.

    Utilities registered a big blip when we moved. I still rage a little remembering why.

    And our transport costs. About $1200 of that is me and my bus fares. Another $1000 or so on maintenance, at least. Perhaps $300 for annual registration. And PETROL. Let’s just say that at practically $2 a litre, $80 for a tank every week does not make a happy financial controller (that would be me.)

    I had guessed around $500 for car repairs and maintenance, but we spent more like double that. Hopefully the ongoing costs of our current car will be lower, and even with increased insurance, the peace of mind that accompanies better reliability has so been worth it to date. T puts a lot of ks on the car, so tyres (EXPENSIVE) may not last as long as they otherwise would. What I really need to do is sit down and reassess what we put away each week for irregulars and calculate a new amount for 2011.

    Side Income

    Earlier in 2010 I set a reach goal of making an extra $4000, outside of my day job.

    The total came to $5533, thanks mainly to freelancing, tutoring/editing, as well as focus groups,  gifts and mystery shops.

    Which is actually a pretty big number. Where did it go?

    I didn’t track exact dollar amounts but about $4000 was saved – I’m talking general savings, my travel fund and a little into our irregulars account. Maybe a little more. The rest was spent on “extras”, like clothes and shoes, contact lenses, the odd gift, an external hard drive.

    In terms of mystery shops, I netted $687 in addition to $756 roughly of free stuff (clothes, beauty, food, lotto tickets.) Whee!

    PFers, are you doing annual recaps? What on earth possessed me to spend the better part of a day crunching numbers?

  • January 9, 2011

    Tracking expenses – the lowdown on how I do it

    I always seem to be getting questions about how I manage/track money, so here’s my attempt to answer everything in one sticky post:

    The basics

    Two words: Internet banking. It’s one of the reasons I’ve been with ASB so long…their internet banking and expense tracking is awesome (although I think BNZ and Kiwibank are starting to catch up.) Here’s a screenshot of what this looks like:

    I usually check in a couple of times a week and categorise new transactions. Come the end of the month, I look over all transfers and payments and make sure everything is correctly identified. Generally, I remember any unusual expenditures (eg car expenses, concert tickets, etc.), and I’ll make a note of that. Switch over to the Dashboard view, and there are the colourful graphs that I pinch and post every month:

    Oh, and I virtually never touch cash at all, which helps with the tracking.

    Of course, it’s not infallible. You can’t “split” transactions – ie, once in a while T gets a box of beers while we’re grocery shopping, but it’s all lumped into one payment – so it’s not an exact science. But a) those are the exception, not the norm and b) I’m far too lazy to put any more time into money management than I currently do. If you’re more diligent than I, there are PLENTY of other programmes that will do a very thorough job for you.

    The nitty gritty

    Monthly roundups (for now) include all my expenses and our joint expenses. They usually include his allowance, fun money or whatever else you want to call it. Except in November, when I undertook to track all of our money and live on $2500. Debt repayments refer to a non-interest-accruing debt of his.

    They don’t include (the full amount of) savings. That’s because I handle cashflow in what T calls a ridiculously complicated way. To which I say, hey, it’s worked for me for years!

    Basically, I work on the premise that many self-employed people use (even though I have a regular job). I “pay” myself from my savings account every week. When I get paid, the whole amount goes straight into savings. To be honest, I don’t recall exactly when or why I adopted the method – maybe when I started getting paid fortnightly but still paid rent weekly? Regardless, this means that what I save doesn’t show up in a neat little transfer of its own – because it’s already in my savings account, minus the amount taken out for living costs.

    I’m a fan of the zero-based budget, and psychologically like having very little in checking – it definitely cuts off the possibility of the desire to spend it.

    Finally, the percentages are of total spending, not of income, since as explained savings don’t show up as a true line item.

    Net worth

    You won’t find net worth updates here. 1) I don’t place a whole lot of importance on it at this stage. 2) I’m far too lazy to do that every month. Got money with Rabo? You’ll understand why! 3) The whole semi-anon thing; I’d happily talk to you IRL about how we spend and even save; I’m not sure if I’d tell you how much I’m “worth”.

    Got any questions? Shoot, and I’ll try to answer.

  • January 8, 2011

    Link love (Powered by tan lines and coconut curry)

    I love where we live. We live on our own, in an affordable place, that’s small (less cleaning) but not cramped (except the dang kitchen). It’s a great suburb and close to almost anything you could want.

    But one shortcoming has become clear this summer: lack of ventilation.

    At our last house, our bedroom had three sets of windows. In our studio/1-bed, our main room/bedroom has a large sliding door with no window opening. There is a tiny window at the far end of the kitchen with glass slats, and another smallish window in the bathroom at the far end, so they’re both basically useless for cooling the bedroom. I don’t like the idea of leaving our sliding door – FRONT door, basically – open at night, even if we shut our gate.

    With temperatures soaring, we’re forced to rely on a fan. And even our little fan is costly to run.

    Also, lately I almost wish we had the space to accommodate couch surfers. Two houses ago, we had two or three Americans stay with us, and it was pretty good fun. But right now, we don’t even have a couch, let alone a guest room.

    Am I missing a really obvious way to cool us down at night? And do you play host enough to warrant having a guest bedroom?

    LIFE

    The single best post I’ve read in a long time from Make Under Your Life – Don’t turn your wants into have-tos.

    On one of the newest additions to my Reader, Eat Move Write tackles a thorny reader question: reaching out to overweight siblings.

    Via Conventional Freedom, why lifestyle design is a pyramid scheme.

    I LOVE these film roll wedding invitations, via Geek in Heels.

    Distractible Jane blogs about dog breeding and how to choose an animal to adopt.

    SassyGirl returns home after four months abroad and realises where her new life lies.

    Want to learn a new language? Zen Habits shares the keys to succeeding.

    Melissa on why tradesmen > suits (or in her words, scrawny corporate geek).

    Funny About Money on bag-lady syndrome and why she’s afraid of ending up sleeping under a bridge (she has more logical reasons than mine).

    Do the people in your life know what they mean to you? Emily Jane’s post has helped me crystallise at least one goal for the year (hopefully I’ll have a proper post up sometime this month).

    Yes and Yes tackles a delicate topic in True Story: I Had an Abortion.

    Alisha at Stratejoy shares five ways to give back.

    FOOD

    Kyla Roma shares a divine looking recipe for sea salt chocolate chip cookies.

    Poor Girl Eats Well has a red quinoa and asparagus salad brewing, which I need to jack up a version of quick smart.

    Cauliflower is good. Indian food is better. Cauliflower takari = a win, surely. And cauliflower rice.

    Another veggie meal: Cuban beans and rice from Liberal Simplicity.

    I love this. Food confessions from Dinner: A Love Story (notice how many more the male half has??)

    WORK/MONEY

    Investing Newbie is back! Here she shares some strategies for fellow jobhunters.

    Jackie at Money Crush explains how to find your “something” that will make you money.

    Debt Ninja weighs up a difficult decision: dream city, or dream job, pay cut, and a city lottery?

    What communication skills do you wish you’d known when you were starting out? Amy at Just a Titch needs ideas for a class she’s teaching.

    Kommein explains what it’s like returning to an office after working as a freelancer.

    I’d never thought about this, but Write Around It All had a great post on what the “free” in freelancing really means.

    While I enjoyed my magazine journalism paper, it really wasn’t all that useful in many ways. Dollars and Deadlines is great for the nuts and bolts – here she gives an example of a query letter.

    Allison at After Graduation’s take on the old “it’s better to have failed than never to have tried” mantra.

    Small Steps for Big Change wonders how she might fill up her summer – there are a LOT of options.

    MoneyCrush explains why you should create a bare bones budget even if you don’t use it.

    Awesome for the blackhead tip alone. Budgets are Sexy on three health-related frugal hacks.

  • January 6, 2011

    Net worth, weddings and other contentious issues. And people who need to STFU

    Something has been irking me of late. I’ve noticed it almost exclusively in the personal finance blogosphere. This is possibly because by its very nature, money is a polarising topic. (Hence why many write anonymously.) This invites, whether we like it or not, judgement from others. Or maybe it’s simply because it’s a niche I spend so much time reading. Who knows?

    Serendipity summed up much of what I have to say in this recent post. But I have a little more to add.

    I’m lucky to have awesome readers. I can count on one hand the number of trolly commenters I’ve had on my money posts. Others… well.

    Weddings

    Swear to God, almost every wedding post I read makes me less keen on having one. Especially when the bar subject comes up. Open bar? No? What a cheapskate! Who do you think you are??

    Weddings are not about you, the guest. It’s about the couple. Their union. If the provision or lack thereof of free alcohol is such a big deal, then RETHINK WHY YOU’RE ATTENDING. Cheap? Cheap would be not serving food. Or not playing music at all.

    If you think it’s tacky, just don’t be a total ass about voicing your opinion. It’s when you suggest maybe cutting back in other areas so guests can have free booze…that’s overstepping the line. This is not your wedding. You don’t know the couple’s priorities. You don’t know if music, or amazing video, or a live band is more important to them.  Piss off.

    Net worth

    Quick backstory: Fig, in a very honest and slightly downhearted net worth update, confessed to sometimes feeling discouraged at her lack of progress in comparison to some (no fingers pointed or names named, just a frank statement).

    FB, in her own net worth update, wondered if she should stop sharing hers. Although I did not follow the debate, I’m going to make a statement here. Apparently a bunch of people jumped on the slagging bandwagon and tore into…well, you can imagine what was said. This was not Fig’s problem or FB’s problem. Blogging is (or should be) a safe place to share. It is the snarky, smartass readers who form a lynch mob and turn near feral who are/have the problem.

    I didn’t read the comments. I refuse to. I am always amazed at how rude some people can be on the web, and if I can avoid being disappointed once again in the human race, then I’ll snap up the opportunity.

    Assuming you are not some kind of millionaire, can you honestly – in your heart of hearts – say you never feel slightly disheartened when you see others with net worths many, many times larger than yours? That you never compare yourself and come up short?

    If so, then you’re a better person than me. In fact, that makes you a perfect human being. Congratulations.

    Actually, no. That’s not quite accurate. To earn the title of “perfect”, you would be actually encouraging others, rather than ripping them to shreds without a second thought.

    And more generally…

    There are many, many bloggers out there on a quest to become debt-free, and are doing incredible things to get there. But they are human. They have emergencies that derail them. They need the occasional break, the occasional splurge. It’s about dedication, not deprivation. It’s only healthy. Again, as above – are you walking the walk yourself, every single day, never ever ever veering off the path? If not, then STFU.

    We bloggers are, by nature, a reflective lot. When we write about and acknowledge our mistakes, we’re taking the first steps toward rectifying them. Your bashing there can be never be helpful.

    This is not to say you should never voice a dissenting opinion. In fact, I sometimes think people are TOO sensitive about comments. A misconstrued word. A new reader who lacks background knowledge. Etc.

    Haters will hate. But for the love of God, try to couch your critical comments constructively. If you’re genuine about wanting to help, take a little time to think about how you phrase it – we’re much more likely to take it on board. And have the balls to put your name to it.

    I move that douchebag Anon comments should hereby be rejected. Who’s with me?

  • January 5, 2011

    Well hello, 2011…

    Happy New Year!!!

    {photo}

    How did you see in the New Year?

    I spent mine battling my sinuses for control, out at a house in Glen Eden bush. There were fireworks. There was music. There was Circle of Death, in which I promptly lost my glass of Coke – no, I’m not ashamed to partake in drinking games with a non-alcoholic drink – to a bourbon and coke (which is fine, that was once my beverage of choice), then to a tequila and juice and the dregs of a beer before my glass was returned to me.

    T and I also made it up north to Pakiri, and down to the Coromandel. I missed my weekly Link Love for the first time, and had a couple of days away from the internet. Blissful. Initially I was worried about how I’d fill my eight days off, but with half of those spent travelling, that wasn’t much of a problem at all. In fact… the time flew by. Now it’s time to deal with the crap that comes along with Christmas – gift bags which need storing for reuse, unwanted stuff to donate or regift, etc. And getting back into a semblance of routine; holidays are the enemy of healthy eating, sleep patterns and balance in general.

    Mostly from up north; I didn't snap many pictures on the second trip

    Mostly from up north; I didn't snap many pictures on the second trip

     

    There really is nothing like friendly small-town service. Or a country night sky, literally full of stars. And anti-abortion billboards planted firmly into farm paddocks along the open road. And making the half-hour trek over the rocks and through bush to New Chums Beach in only jandals and a bikini. Or sleeping in a car, the squawking of peacocks faintly audible in the distance.

    I love getting away from the city. But returning to Auckland is just as sweet – to plentiful hot and cold, even drinkable water, to showers, to toilets. Remember my campervan idea? Nix. I’d already kind of decided that when we replaced our old car, but observing the slowness first hand and hearing of the inability of certain toilet facilities to handle number twos definitely hammered that home for me.

    Also, you may inadvertently have seen an old post or two in your Reader. I have no idea why, and apologise for the confusion.

    Finally, thanks to my top referrers for the year!

    Jessie’s Money

    Sense to Dollars

    Serendipity

    Girl with the Red Balloon

    And thank you to every single one of you who keeps on reading. While in some ways I think I need to draw back a little from blogging and online pursuits this year, I just can’t imagine not doing this. Google Reader was, amazingly, my second biggest referrer. So that means at least some of you really, honestly, give a shit. You rock. You. Yes. You.

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