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Month: September 2011

  • September 9, 2011

    What we spent: August 2011

    As you might recall, August was to be the month of Austerity.

    More or less.

    It didn’t *quite* work out that way.

    We had that planned trip to Wellington (which was cheap as flights and hotel were paid for earlier, so this was just transport and food/drinks). Our car got some much needed, well overdue work done. And the big one: T replaced his stolen bike with a fully legal, fully running, lean mean machine. It is registered, insured, and quite pretty. And now he owes me big. As in, that motorbike cost almost as much as I’m hoping to spend on our wedding.

    But in terms of eating out, groceries, clothing and regular spending, we ran a pretty tight ship.

    Some highlights:

    Car maintenance – New brake pads and radiator.

    Dining out – Squeaking in under that $160 mark!

    Fees – a couple of ATM withdrawals (T…) and credit card fees (repaid with points, so really I shouldn’t even count them on here).

    Groceries – I am super stoked especially as this was for five weeks!

    Holidays – Food, drinks and transport for Wellington.

    Insurance – For the bike.

    Motorbike – The bike itself cost just under $4200, plus we got a bit of work done on it, and other bits and bobs – petrol, a backpack for T to carry stuff around, bike lock, those things that go on the ends of the handlebars for balance, etc.

    T fun – On par, perhaps at the high end. He’s started playing poker with friends (games are on AT LEAST three times a week, it’s ridiculous – but he knows he can’t afford to play that often).

    Utilities – Nothing exciting to report there.

    Vehicle – Still costing $80-90 to fill up every week. Hoping this will be reduced with the help of our two-wheeled friend. Our distances travelled are only increasing, though – I need to get to more meetings for work, he visits friends all over the place all the time, goes to the gym multiple times a week, wrestling shows every other week, and if he gets into the league, he’ll be going to training God only knows where and how often.

  • September 6, 2011

    100 in ’11: Flaubert, Gerhart and Antonioni/Flynn

    Madame Bovary – Gustave Flaubert

    Summary: I liked the blurb so much, I’m just going to pinch it – Emma is the “original desperate housewife”, struggling to find meaning in life.

    Emma Bovary is married to an incompetent doctor who dotes on her. She likes fine things, but most importantly, she has seemingly unrealistic romantic ideals – although men flock to her, she’s constantly searching for love and is always disappointed, leaving a string of failed affairs in her wake. She apparently suffers from depression or a similar illness coupled with a delicate constitution, and I came to find her constant misery grating (a sign of true-to-life writing, I suppose). Eventually she masterminds her own destruction, spiralling deeper into financial and emotional debt with horrendous consequences for her husband and child. Interestingly, all of the characters are flawed to some degree, none of them particularly likeable, and this was apparently a groundbreaker at the time; realistic fiction which didn’t moralise to readers. A fantastic if grim read.

    The Perfect Wife – Ann Gerhart

    Summary: A skeletal biography of Laura Bush.

    After American Wife,I was keen to find out more about the real Laura Bush, and this was one of the books Curtis Sittenfeld drew heavily on, she said. Thing is, the real LB was also intensely private, and Gerhart had very little to work with. The First Lady refused to be interviewed by her, so ultimately, it’s a bit like the literary equivalent of a brand new colouring book, outlines waiting to be filled in.

    Economics for Dummies – Peter Antonioni, Sean Masaki Flynn

    Summary: It’s economics for dummies, baby.

    What can I say? This was the perfect book for me. It covers macro and micro economics, super exciting things like trade, GDP, and plenty of graphs (which I’ll happily admit mostly went over my head). Especially interesting, although not particularly relevant to me or what I need to know, were the models for optimum production for businesses and economies of scale – and how governments use policy to manipulate the economy. I’ve always wondered WHY, exactly, we have inflation. Could we not just hold prices forever? But of course, we all want to earn more, we all want to get ahead, so the race to outpace the CPI continues.

  • September 5, 2011

    Link love (Powered by noodle houses and driving fails)

    Today is one of those days where curses are being slung around the house and love is on the backburner. Tired, cranky and hungry = cocktail for conflict.

    But I can think of three good things to write about, so let’s focus on those instead:

    – My decision to take a full scholarship and graduate as a journalist is validated every time I hear stories of non-journalism majors not even being able to get an editorial assistant position. Even fellow Communications degree-holders who didn’t do journalism have barely a hope in hell – and it’s just as tough for BA grads, even if they took media studies.

    – We went over budget this week by $10 for the first time in more than a month, and I couldn’t be happier. I happened to be lunching at a cafe in Ponsonby, and popped into the nearby Nosh on a whim. Talk about a pleasant surprise! Quality was, of course, far superior to other supermarkets – but thanks to a host of amazing specials, it wasn’t too bad on price either. We did most of our shopping there – $3 for eggplant, $2 a kg for potatoes, $1 a kg for kiwifruit, $6.50 for four litres of milk, and more, made the decision easy. We also picked up some pancetta, four kinds of cheese (more than $20 worth) and some amazing cuts of organic meat. Seriously, I’m thrilled, and resolve to visit the branch near our house more often (we’ve only been there once, though the sales then weren’t as impressive).

    – Plans are afoot! New Year’s is booked (we’ll be staying at a house in the Coromandel which some of T’s friends are renting) and going to Coro Gold, and I want to fiiiiinally visit Hot Water Beach and Miranda Hot Springs on the way there. I’m not crazy enthused about either the concert or the company, but I am keen to get out of Auckland and actually do something special to celebrate for the first time in years. I also want to find time to visit my friend up north and the Kai Iwi Lakes.

    WORK

    How to grow some balls at your next networking event, on Brazen Careerist.

    Jen at Bullish on the things she wishes she’d known at 18. Amazing.

    Ms Career Girl reminds us to trust our instincts and shares a startup horror story.

    I relate so much to every post at Her Every Cent Counts, including this one on not meshing well with other people.

    Blonde on a Budget ponders the logistics of job hunting while in debt – something I’d never considered.

    Totally Money on what to do when your dream job isn’t.

    LIFE

    “We can only ever realise a finite amount of possibilities in our lifetime” – Stacking Pennies on choices, experiences and the passage of time.

    Love this. Lindy at Minting Nickels on “being a B”, or as the saying goes, doing your best and leaving the rest.

    Baking n Books reminds us that blogs are not accurate reflections– and everybody has their own troubles.

    Information. There’s just so much in the shower of data, via Seth Godin.

    FOOD

    Wandering Food Lover fires up her Chinese kitchen.

    OMG. Salted caramel slice, via Hungry and Frozen.

    Two from the $120 Food Challenge: Bacon and avocado salad, and apple/cheese crumble. Mmm.

  • September 3, 2011

    Will something better come along, or is this as good as it gets?

    House

    If only...Image via Wikipedia

    This week, we viewed our first prospective new home since our rent went up and we started tentatively looking at what was out there.

    Of course, it’s rare that a place lives up to the promise. The shower was far too small and low for T, the outside was positively peeling and dilapidated (I’m fine with a less than pristine exterior, but this was going a bit far) and quite significantly, the landlord came across as somewhat of a douchebag.

    The key things we do like would be having a garage and a bit of garden (yes, for under $300 a week!) and a decent sized kitchen. It’s one of two split units in an old villa/bungalow, with a third detached unit out back. The location is great and the street seems nice enough. I spend the majority of my time at work, so I want to live close to the office (logical, right?). This would be walking distance. (T is pretty much always going to have a long commute; the industrial areas are all out south and a highway hike away – and we would never, ever live in south Auckland.)

    The other attraction was the lack of letting fee – the landlord manages the property himself. He also, unfortunately, came across as a wanker, rushing us through the interior, attempting to scare every prospect into applying on the spot by touting the number of views on the TradeMe listing and going on about how in his decades of experience, the market is the tightest it’s been in years. That MIGHT have something to do with the Rugby World Cup, the biggest event Auckland has hosted in a long time. He also saw fit to deliver a lecture on how we should always come to viewings prepared with references and information to wow property managers. Mmmhmmm. I am aware of this. Perhaps the reason we weren’t jumping to sign on the spot was more due to doubts about the place?

    Don’t even get me started on the application form. Blurry and obviously photocopied too many times, it goes beyond any agency form I’ve ever filled out. Three character references in addition to previous tenancies, work and income info, and vehicle details? Not only that, it asks not for their contact details, but for references to be “attached”. Nobody gives written references these days; those died with personal cheques. Stuck in the past century much?

    So I’m torn. Do I bother filling out the application form, not being entirely sold on it – and knowing competition is likely to be fierce? T likes it well enough, but doesn’t love it (as I say, he’d much rather live way further west, unlike me. Compromising on location is proving tough). He’s really eager to move out, but I just know that having to crouch to get under that showerhead – which doesn’t even have adjustable pressure – every day is going to get old.

    Can I picture us living there? Well, we’ve lived so many places that anywhere can feel like home, really; that’s not a good test for me.

    Really, it comes down to that age old dilemma – get in quick, or wait for the ‘perfect place’ which may never emerge.

    What do you most value in a place to live – proximity to work, friends, amenities, bars and clubs and cafes? Outdoor living, kitchen, storage space?

     

     

  • September 2, 2011

    Wine and Love

    I’ve seen Wine and Love done plenty of times before, and seeing as the past couple of weeks have been full of ups and downs, thought it an appropriate time to finally join in!

    Reasons I love my wine [er, peanut butter milkshake] this week:

    • Rain. Oh, the rain! Just as you get lulled into a false sense of spring, winter rears its head for the last time and robs me of clean dry underwear.
    • Money flowing out. I’ve bought festival tickets for New Year’s (can’t remember the last time we actually went away and did something cool to ring in the new year), and anticipate some hefty dentist and drycleaning (T and I have not had any of our coats cleaned in the few years we’ve had them, ick) bills.
    • Taking work home. I don’t mind it, and often find I write better in bed, but not after the day I’ve had, which involved…
    • Scraping up the car twice in one day, running the battery flat, getting stranded.

    Reasons I’m smiling/loving life this week:

    • Tweeting for assistance and getting jump started by a stranger (also, finding a lead on a story through tweeting a link last week. WIN). Now, to pay it forward…
    • Going to a sweet event with amazing three-course dinner and coming away with a generous freebie.
    • Cake mix. So good, so moist, so perfectly risen. My cakes taste fine but look like a disaster zone, generally.
    • Attending my first Fashion Week show. It was a bridal show. I wasn’t expecting or planning to go, but there I was in my Warehouse sneakers, secondhand jeans and Cotton On cardigan. Surprisingly, the designs were actually pretty wearable, and gave me food for thought as to what I might like in a dress.
    • Impending freedom! Today marks a big deadline for me.
  • September 1, 2011

    August goal checkin

    And another month bites the dust.

    • Save 40 per cent of income. Okay, I suck. Reviewing the numbers, it looks like I only saved about half of what I wanted to, because I bought our Foo Fighters tickets late in July (getting paid halfway through the month is annoying for looking back at this). I’m not sure how September will turn out; I anticipate FINALLY going to the dentist, and taking care of some long overdue drycleaning. But August as a calendar month, aside from vehicle expenses, was pleasantly frugal.
    • Keep eating out to $160 a month. DONE! (Er, well, dining out on our Wellington trip was counted as travel expenses. I’m cool with that if you are)
    • Donate to charity every month. Done! I sponsored someone who did something I could not hack – the poverty line challenge for a week.
    • Text one friend a week. I think I actually achieved this with very little effort!
    • Learn to confidently use full manual settings on my dSLR. Not a heck of a lot of progress on that, to be honest.
    • Read 100 books (I’ve set up a challenge on Goodreads; I know at the pace I read I can easily make this if I keep up momentum. But if I don’t I won’t be too sad.) I’m falling behind, slowly but surely. I’ll probably be doing well to make 80 by year end. Check out my latest bite-sized reviews here and here.
    • Continue running at least once a week. Win! And I’ve walked to and from work numerous times this month. Hurrah.

    How did your goals go last month?

     

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