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  • Spending roundup

    $31.50 – trailer hire

    $20 – rubbish dumping (This really hurts…none of this was mine! It really irks me how much crap our flatmates accumulated, and left behind. Tyres, broken chairs, car parts, etc. We got rid of 400kg, apparently).

    $25 – gas

    $15 – food, all from the bakery; that’s two days of lunches over the weekend

    $120 groceries

    $110 monthly bus pass.

    As usual, this is pretty much all from the weekend… we rarely spend anything during the week and I don’t anticipate spending anything over the next few days!

  • Spending report

    We spent a fair bit on discretionary stuff this last fortnight.

    Week 1
    $10 to enrol T for learning workshops at uni.
    $12.50 on (A Question of) Scruples, a board game everyone should play at least once in their lives.
    $3 beer for T at his friend’s 21st
    $14.90 on Saturday dinner from Pizza to Go

    Plus over $50 on gas, due to driving around getting quotes for car repair, out to T’s sister’s, and out to the school for his new p/t coaching job.

    Also, it seems that $10 registration fee was for nothing. I booked him in for an essay writing workshop on a Thursday. He never made it, thanks to neighbourhood dramas, and having to wait for the police to take statements. And no, there aren’t anymore writing workshops scheduled.

    Week 2
    $20 on face wash plus eye drops
    $4 for a headband
    $15 on roadside hangi
    $10 on Chinese
    $28 at the zoo (I want to be a sea lion!)

    The zoo was pretty freaking awesome, and T had been keen to go for awhile as last year he did some work there and wanted to see it up and functioning. We went on Monday – the first day of semester break – figuring it would be fairly quiet. Not so! Anklebiters were everywhere, and everyone seemed to either be pregnant or have at least two kids with them. I think there was also some sort of school trip on.

    The only real disappointment I had was that the hippos were sleeping. We kept cruising back to check on them, but every time they were still in the same spot buried in a pool of mud. The tigers and lions were also napping in the heat – it really is spring!

  • What do you hate paying for?

    From Sunday’s paper: 10 things we hate to pay for. Though it seems to me largely cribbed from a similar MSN Money piece, 15 overpriced things we hate paying for. Popcorn00

    Here’s the list in short:
    ATM fees
    Movie refreshments
    Carparking
    BYO wine
    Bottled water
    Holiday surcharges
    Online ticketing
    Dental fees
    Wedding surcharges
    Commodity price rises

    To that list, I might add: although holiday surcharges suck, workers are entitled to time and a half on public holidays. You would be, so don’t begrudge paying the extra 15%. I usually don’t eat out on holidays, or if I do, I try not to moan too much about it. And…as good as popcorn always smells at the cinema, it NEVER EVER EVER tastes half as good as it smells! On the odd occasion that I give in and buy some, I’m always disappointed.

    Other things I hate buying: Eye drops. They don’t cost all that much – $5 to 10 – but you have to buy them every month! Which brings me to that other monthly expense I resent: tampons. I also find myself buying socks far, far too often, along with pens and razors (for T).

  • Cirque du Soleil – Dralion

    Tsk. After being pleasantly surprised to find I got paid for the two weeks I interned back in July, my bank balance was looking a bit healthier (seeing as I had budgeted to NOT get paid, and saved accordingly). And after buying half a car with BF, I just wanted to keep beefing up the savings as much as I could.

    Don’t worry, I didn’t quite wipe out the progress I made. But….I got an email advising us of a special staff offer – discounted Cirque du Soleil tickets. I was really surprised, cause I thought Dralion had already left town. Seeing a Cirque show is one of my to-do-before-I-die things, so after a bit of agonising, I decided to take the plunge and just do it. Overtime plus birthday money covered it all. Might not have been frugal, but it will be an experience…an extravagant, splashy-outy one, but one I have been SET on and not just a random decision. Seats cost us $95 each (down from $119), plus booking fee which came to just under $200. There were also cheaper seats ($75 and $50), but they were so far back and off to the side, we nixed that idea. dralion

    Just ORDERING tickets was somewhat exhilarating. I’m a total noob to this stuff. I’ve never played Lotto – wouldn’t know where to start – and I’ve never bought tickets to anything online (I’ve tried, though, oh how I’ve tried. 2007 RHCP concert comes to mind). I was all worried, wondering how I would get the tickets – would they be sent out in time? What if we got crap seats? Ah, the wonders of technology. I get to PRINT my own tickets, and we got to CHOOSE our very specific seats using their awesome java-type programme which showed a seating plan of the entire place.

    * * *

    Anywho, Thursday was the night, and it was amazing.  (It was a spendy night.  We made an evening of it – I had classes, then work, and T had his class in the afternoon, so we met up, ate dinner at the Roundabout pub in Royal Oak ($33), popped across the road to get a drink and snack to take with us from Pak n Save ($4), parked – right up front with the VIPs and VWs, BMWs and Holdens, because a friend of T’s was the parking guy ($6) and one ridiculously overpriced hot dog for him ($5.50).

    What can I say? If you’ve seen it, you know how incredible the things they do are. If not, well, they were just unbelievable. The goofy Italian-looking clown/ringmasters did a great job of entertaining us at the start, end, and between acts, without ever speaking a word (of English, that is. They squawked, shrieked and laughed aplenty and had us rolling around at their slapstick antics. They recruited a man from the audience to play along on stage with them, who we later found out was actually part of the whole act.)  There were crazy contortionists, twisting themselves into positions I almost couldn’t bear to watch. There was balancing on poles, balls, hands, heads. Graceful dancers of all kinds, albeit in rather corny costumes. There were amazing aerial acts, swooping around on lengths of silk; dancing dragons; juggling to the power of ten; tiny dancers forming human tiers three and four tall; lizard like trampolinists soaring up, down and back onto the walls, seemingly sticking to them like real life spidermen. We both agreed they were our favourite act – they seemed to defy physics and gravity, never losing momentum, yet never stumbling as you might expect each time they sprung up and came to a crisp pause at the top of the walls.

    781px-Dralion-Vienna An honourable mention also goes to the last couple of acts – the rings and the skipping. The supporting performers got their chance to shine, instead of simply dancing and slithering around the main acts; they mounted rings of all sizes onto a mini trampoline and dived, vaulted and flipped through them – gave me bad flashbacks to gym class, actually. They fouled up a couple of times, which just endeared them in my eyes. They swiftly regrouped and repositioned their hoops and carried on, uber-professionally. They even almost managed to do so in time to the music. I wasn’t too keen on the second part, however – skipping and flipping through massive jump ropes of yellow material, which caused far too many mistakes. The pyramid jumps were the most nervewracking. The poor guys at the bottom were obviously shaking under the strain, and it was painful to watch. Too many slipups in that one.

    It’s almost better to watch some of them in slow motion, so you don’t miss anything. One, because sometimes they’re just that damn fast, and two because for the multitasking-challenged like me, it’s hard to focus on more than one thing, and there’s so much going on at once.

    It made me want to be part of a show again. I’m not a performer, but I get a buzz out of being involved with them. Every single year I was in the school talent quest doing something; I hated being on stage, but perversely, I got such a massive high off it and would be walking on air afterwards. And I have such great memories of intermediate – my school devoted second term, every year, to the schoolwide production. It was always a musical, and EVERY student was involved, if not acting, singing or dancing, then doing lights, sound or props. Our shows were always brilliant, because that was our job everyday for two months, not just fitting in rehearsals after and before school. They probably don’t do that anymore – it was pretty unorthodox, and the teachers behind it have probably gone by now – but I think it was a fantastic idea.

  • Quick one

    I’m back in Auckland! Whakatane was really something. The whole sunniest town in NZ is so true, and you know what, good weather is nothing to sneeze at! Heat pumps in the motel and at work meant I was pretty much never cold and my hayfever was under control. I even wore my contacts a few times. Coming back to my cold damp house kinda stunk….but I guess there’s nothing like home.

    The drive there and back was really pretty. Just before we got into Whakatane proper (around Matata??) the ocean view was a.ma.zing. It looked like the very edge of the world…like you could just sail out to the end, and fall off and disappear. Photos below…

    Expenditure: Well, BF and I went to the supermarket on Sunday morning and spend about $35, mostly on food for him. I bought $30 of groceries in Whakatane, another $10 in food for a big shared dinner we made on Wednesday, $11 for seafood chowder (my first chowder ever!) in Opotiki, and about $25 on drinks. Drinks were $2.50 in Opo but normal price in Whakatane… I also spent about $5 on random tea and wedges on the way home.

    Looking down on the town

    Looking down on the town

    Down by the river head

    At the riverheads

    At the riverheads

    At the riverheads

    Down by the riverhead

    Possibly not the most picturesque part of the township, but I liked the light

    Possibly not the most picturesque part of the township, but I liked the light

    Here we go - postcard perfect

    Here we go - postcard perfect

  • Weekend spending

    It’s been a  relatively spendy week. One of BF’s debts is paid off, leaving about $40 more a week wiggle room. I’m hoping we’ll be able to manage this well. I’d like to up the amount we put away every week for bills from 35 to 45. We also spend $50 in the middle of the month every month to top up our phones. In the other three weeks I’d like to put that amount (or close to it) to the Visa, to his car loan and to savings.

    After rent and bills, here’s what our spending looked like:

    – $7.80 for Subway
    – $10 for burgers (yep, we ate out TWICE. Tsk)
    – Approx $115 for groceries (90 at the supermarket, and 25 at the butcher and grocer)
    – $12 for some crazy heavy duty tape stuff, which went over the hole which appeared in the car exhaust. BF will be calling around wreckers on Monday to source a new exhaust. Huzzah…
    – And a whopping $70 for headphones *shamefaced*. Obviously these were to go with my iPod which I got on my birthday. The first week I borrowed the flatmate’s headphones, but then he wanted them back. So it was time to get my own! I was hoping to spend maybe $30. But BF insisted on getting GOOD quality ones, with the soft earbuds or else the ones that hook over your ears. I can’t STAND those things, and he realised they wouldn’t work when I wear glasses (which is most of the time, now). So we ended up having a stand off between a Panasonic pair and a Sony pair, both with the inner buds with three different sizes. Left JB Hifi almost $70 poorer, but with the best headphones I’ve ever had. They should last a bloody long time, and BF is happy – and yes, he will be using them a lot. I imagine we’ll be sharing the iPod about 50/50, so we both neded to be happy with the choice.

    We also made an extra $20 payment to the old car loan (!!) after BF sold off one of the parts. I’m hoping that since I listed it on TradeMe we’ll get more interest. I had been putting off doing so because I thought it cost $30, but in fact that only applies if you’re listing it under Cars (as opposed to creating a listing for a car part). Sweet! And that is why we ended up with an extra $30 to kick around, and why I finally gave in to BF and bought the pricier headphones.

  • When is cheaping out okay?

    Dog and Kristy posted about the things they refuse to cheap out on. I always like to read these kinds of posts; everyone has different priorities and no two people are ever going to have the exact same list.

    I definitely agree with Dog on going for the better neighbourhood. After living here, I’m determined to only go up the suburban ladder, not down. This story about a family who’ve been burgled seven times (why haven’t they moved by now??) elicited floods of responses, with people wanting to share their stories of being robbed. Anecdotally, Auckland’s burglary rate seems ridiculously high. If you haven’t been affected, no doubt you know somehow who has. The common theme was just how powerless and helpless you feel after being hit by thieves, and how little (if anything) police can do. Even with proof. There’s only so many times you can claim insurance before your premiums hike, and if you’re a homeowner, moving may not be as easy a solution as it sounds.

    And kitchenware for sure, if you can afford it. Especially knives. Nothing worse than hacking away at a cut of meat with a blunt knife, or trying to slice through a stubborn tomato (and probably nicking yourself while you’re at it!).

    We also try to make better food choices when we eat out. Less greasy, fast food crap; we try to pay a little more for maybe Thai or something, instead of nasty food court sweet and sour pork or Maccas.

    Work clothes are also something you need to invest more in, methinks. That’s really going to hit me once I graduate; I’m going to need to build a proper work wardrobe, and seeing as I don’t have truckloads of cash at my disposal, I’m going to have to go with fewer, but better quality pieces.

    For me, I also need good skincare and foundation. I have difficult skin – super touchy, super sensitive, yet super oily. I think I also have mild rosacea, so I need gentle products that aren’t extra moisturising because they’ll turn me into a grease slick. So many products are designed with sensitive, DRY skin in mind (which granted is more common than my kind), so it’s a struggle sometimes.

    And sheets! I can’t stand cheap sheets. They get scratchy and lumpy in no time at all, and I twitch in revulsion at the though of having to lie on them (even with a layer of pyjamas in between). Nope, gotta be good sheets that last awhile.

    Batteries and electronics. I mean this in the sense that I’d always go for a name brand – generic batteries tend to have very little power in them, and when I’m buying a phone/tv/computer, I want to know that I can trust the manufacturer.

    Then there are the things I’d prefer not to cheap out on (bras, shoes, appliances) but usually do. Thoughts?

  • Irregular expenditures

    I finally got my A into G and calculated what we need to be putting away weekly for our main irregular expenses.

  • Insurance (car) – $10 approx
  • Insurance (contents) – $5
  • Water – $15
  • Car reg – $5
  • Car fund (for Warrants, oil, repairs and maintenance) approx $10-15                             = TOTAL $50
  • And I currently put aside $35 weekly for power and phone bills, which needs to go up to $45. I’d also like to consolidate all these in one Irregulars account, instead of lumping them in with my main savings account. I might also have a separate one for the car stuff (which we have been shunting into BF’s BNZ checking account) …and one day I’d like to have a Holiday account as well!

    Whether we can put this into action? Doubtful. But we’ll see how things go next semester with BF starting his course and with any luck picking up some regular part time work. For now, there is literally nothing left after paying rent, bills and buying groceries. Irregulars are coming out of savings and not really being replenished, apart from the odd extra income in months when I do mystery shopping. But now I have a better picture of where we need to be at.

  • It’s a Monday, but it feels like Sunday…

    because I’m on study leave!

    Not that I’m doing much studying.

    It’s really, REALLY hard to get motivated. This is my only exam, and should be my last one EVER. Oh sweet, sweet relief.

    But….I just don’t care! I’ve handed everything else for all my other papers. This is a core paper that I need to pass to graduate; it’s the most academic of all my papers, and the most stuffy. At this point, as long as I pass, I actually don’t think I’d care.

    Well, as long as I didn’t get anything below a B-. I’m Asian. To get a C would be, shall I say, unthinkable.

    Had a good weekend, financially. Went shopping at Lim Garden (crazy Chinese supermarket in Mt Albert). We got all our meat and produce there – spent about $25 or something ridiculous on meat in total – and bits and bobs like noodles, sauces, sugar etc. If only they stocked everything a normal supermarket does…it would be perfect. We still had to go to Pak n Save for things like razors, tampons, baking soda and cereal. We spent $51 at Lim, which pretty much covered all our dinners and other important stuff, and then a whopping $60 at PnS! This did include toiletries and a fair few treats, to be honest. If we go back to Lim this week and spend a similar amount, I’ll try to make sure we rein ourselves in at PnS afterwards so we can really get that grocery bill down.

    One thing that has always been hard to manage is BF’s lunches. While he was working, I usually made him rolls or sandwiches – sometimes the odd pasta, salad or fried rice – and he had another $40 or $50 for lunches. I know, that’s a lot, but the physical work kind of calls for it, and the kinds of food places around his workplace were expensive. Honestly, it was just one of those things it was easier to pay for. Especially when he was on sites that didn’t even have any kitchen facilities at all. Since he’s been home, he hardly eats lunches, but he has had a couple of one off days worth of work recently and that’s been hard to account for – especially not knowing until the last minute. We’re just taking it as it comes.

  • We shopped at Countdown this week, and had to get things like batteries, a multiplug board and mop in addition to groceries. But with the help of my Visa Rewards Card (which is accepted there) we got out spending $113 out of pocket. Of course, I got home and realised I forgot to get any fruit, but we have some fruit salad somewhere in the pantry.

    Although Countdown is pricier than PnS, it also has some really good specials from time to time. EG:

    Cheese – 500g Anchor, 4.99. Saved 4.10 (finally prices are starting to come back down!)
    Griffins malt/wine/arrowroot biscuits – 2 for $3.50 (except you always have to buy both to get the discounted price, which can be a pain)
    Meadowlea margarine – 2 for $5. Saved 2.50
    Watties canned cooking sauces – 2 for $4.60. Saved 1.80
    Leaning Tower pizzas – 2.99 ea. Saved 2.70

    And CD are usually pretty good about scanning through the correct prices, too.