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Browsing category: Uncategorized

  • December 27, 2010

    Reverb 10: Photo

    Sift through all the photos of you from the past year. Choose one that best captures you; either who you are, or who you strive to be. Find the shot of you that is worth a thousand words. Share the image, who shot it, where, and what it best reveals about you.


    July 6, 2010. It’s a Tuesday. My day off; he’s still jobless, so we have the day together. We usher in my 22nd year with lunch at Kermadec, a seafood restaurant on the waterfront (it’s not as swank as The Grove, but a lot swisher than the little ethnic places we usually frequent). The views are great – it’s airy and the lighting is fabulous. A spontaneous shot snapped by T turns out amazingly well. It’s me, with better skin and hair than usual. A little wry, a little self-conscious, a little awkward. No forced smiles or poses. It’s a moment of serenity, of getting away from everyday life, from stress and from worry, and back to the basics: the simple pleasure of dining.

  • December 25, 2010

    Link love (Powered by cheesecake and the King of Pop)

    First off, I gotta give a little love to a few people:

    Financial Samurai for including me in a little Yakezie roundup!

    Financial Highway Dollar Matters for including me in this week’s Carnival of Personal Finance.

    And PT Money for including  me in the Carnival of Money Stories.

    WORK/CAREER

    Check out Carlee’s list of resources if you’re starting out or wanting to get into event planning.

    Deb at Kommein explains how the internet changed the way we work.

    Editing Working Girl asks: Just how important is your job title?

    Health writing is an area of growth, and Dollars and Deadlines explains some ways to break into the market.

    MONEY

    J$ at Budgets are Sexy on why rich people are hot (!)

    A topic close to my heart – Donna Freedman on Get Rich Slowly blogs about the ins and outs of mystery shopping.

    Nicole and Maggie argue what women need is more money, not job satisfaction.

    LIFE

    Sandy shares some mottos to live by, including If You Burn Someone’s House Down, yours will be Burnt Down 3 Times Over.

    Sarah at Yes and Yes does a regular feature on interesting people, including her best friend who survived a crazy childhood (sounds more or less like what BF grew up in

    Amelia reminds us that we must cultivate our friendships just as much as we nourish our romantic relationships.

    This is just hilarious – Living Shallow on being a pasty white woman whose partner likes curvaceous, tanned women.

    Donna of Surviving and Thriving blogs about practising stealthy acts of kindness. (Love it. I often find gratitude almost as hard to accept as compliments)

    Everyday Minimalist shares a few great reasons for simplifying your life.

    Confessions of a Love Addict on clearing out the Ex Box – aka old boyfriend keepsakes.

    Finally, Shopaholly shares five amazing posts that she’s glad she wrote this year.

    Merry Christmas, everyone.

  • December 24, 2010

    Five years and counting

    December has meant loooooong hours for T, and he had to make special arrangements to leave on time so we could celebrate our anniversary this week…

    His boss asked what he bought me as a present, and when he said “Nothing”, Mr Bossman was a bit nonplussed.

    “When there’s an anniversary or a birthday, you HAVE to get her a gift!”

    But quite frankly, there really is nothing I want. Last Christmas he suggested buying me some guitar-themed ornaments that he saw at the mall. Initially I gushed at the idea…until I thought about it some more. They were actually kinda kitsch, and really, I do not need any more trinkets cluttering up my life! In the end, I asked for a charm bracelet – I don’t wear jewellery but I’ve always loved the concept of charms and having each one mark a milestone or special occasion.

    This year, I said I’d be happy if he paid for dinner. As for Christmas, we’d already bought a GPS and I unexpectedly scored a deal on a dSLR from a friend this week…so all I really needed was some solid headphones so I could play guitar silently.

    But back to my point – this week was our anniversary, our fifth, in fact. We’ve never really celebrated this date. Neither of us ever actually knew it up til now; it’s fixed in my mind as “the Wednesday before Christmas” (2005). But this year I made it a resolution to mark the occasion, and here’s how we did:

    A trip into town, where we saw this going on – some kind of crazy publicity stunt, obvs:

    I posed by Sky City’s massive Christmas tree, which unfortunately didn’t fit into the frame:

    A massage for him (his first ever, and it’s done wonders for his back pain – why had we not done it before???!! Going to make this a more regular thing) and a facial for me. I’d only ever had one before now, and while that was a somewhat painful experience, I only felt slight heat/tingling at one point during this one. My therapist quickly picked up that I had very “weak”, sensitive skin, and worked with it. Here’s me looking all shiny faced and cleansed of pore…

    Then over to the Grove – a swank restaurant near my office. It always gets 4 or 5 stars, and was by miles the nicest place at which either of us has ever dined!

    His crayfish with duck, pumpkin puree and cute little veggies:My market fish (and yes, that’s foam you see there like on fancy cooking shows. It tasted damn good, though I had to repress the sensation of consuming nasty seawater-type fizz):

    and then from St Patrick’s Square, over to the Domain for a spot of people watching and a short stroll.Normally, I detest planning events, no matter how simple, because they never work out for me. I always put too much stock into birthdays, for example, and am ultimately almost always disappointed. And when things do not go as I had intended, my inner control freak freaks out. But this? This was pretty much as perfect as it could have been.

  • December 23, 2010

    Reverb 10: Travel

    How did you travel in 2010? How and/or where would you like to travel next year?

    This year I didn’t do a heck of a lot of travelling. My schedule didn’t really allow for that, and I was focused on building up savings from my first year of FT work. Money was also tight for some months there while we went back to being a one-income household.

    In 2010, we crossed a couple of things off my travel bucket list. We booked a night at the Duxton in a spa room on New Year’s, and in February we spent a long weekend on Waiheke Island sunning, swimming and snorkelling. Bliss.

    In September, we went up to Waiwera overnight for T’s birthday. Stops were made to buy fresh scallops from a roadside vendor, fresh produce at the Matakana farmers’ market, and of course, relaxing in the thermal pools themselves.

    In 2011 I want to see more of my own country. Hot Water Beach, Tawharanui, the Kai Iwi Lakes, Mt Maunganui, and a trip around the South Island. But as I’ve said, the current plan is to focus more on one of the two big trips, America and Europe. We agree the South Island can be done anytime, really, and will be much cheaper than, er, a 20+ jaunt to the northern hemisphere.

    Here’s to realising big dreams.

  • December 22, 2010

    Possible trip 2: Europe

    Saint Petersburg Mosque

    Yes, The Bronze Horseman is the main reason I want to see St Petersburg. Image by Peer.Gynt via Flickr

    The unpopular option, as voted by y’all. Still, it deserves a post of its own. Luckily – I think – it’s a trip which would be in many ways a smaller headache to organise (eliminating the road trip and vehicle rental issue entirely).

    But first, I quickly wanted to say a humongous THANKS – I am so overwhelmed, both for all your tips and advice, and psyched to hopefully put some faces to bloggers. You’ve given me lots to think about, including possibly going straight from Vegas over to New Orleans and skipping the rest of the west/south. I guess that would mean organising two separate car rentals (eek!) and as Me in Millions suggested, doing public transit on the east coast – from DC up to NY and Boston. And yes, we will definitely be driving the Big Sur, for sure.

    And perhaps we need to add Florida in there so I can meet Stephany (I wouldn’t mind being dazzled by Miami while down there). And possibly starting in Vancouver and taking the Amtrak down – unfortunately Vancouver can be an expensive flight and international Grabaseat deals are usually very last minute (as are car relocation deals). Last month I saw both SF and Vancouver flights for $999…for travel this month. On the flip side, hopefully early planning will help us save some moolah as well.

    But back to Europe.

    Like 99% of the world, Western Europe is what we’re interested in. In fact there are so many places we want to go,  I reckon we won’t make all of them this time around. These include:

    • London (and maybe Ireland)
    • France
    • The Netherlands
    • Germany
    • Italy
    • Greece
    • Maybe Spain
    • Russia (well, just for St Petersburg)

    We’d almost certainly land in London (possibly staying with my cousin), then Eurail it around.

    We’d be hitting up the museums, galleries, ancient sites, and eating tons of fresh local food. /drool

    What time of year is best – maybe autumn, again? We don’t want to go in peak season. Also, I’ve always wanted to see a white Christmas…maybe we could go in winter or is that just insane?

    Thoughts on how much to budget daily, or hidden gems we must visit, or advice on finding and booking accommodation ahead on line…? I must say I envy those of you in the US – it’s just a jaunt across one ocean for you, but from here, it’s all the way around the other side of the world.

  • December 21, 2010

    Possible Trip 1: America!

    Grand Canyon, Arizona. The canyon, created by ...

    Image via Wikipedia

    As I mentioned a little while back, I’m going to go hard on the travel fund in the new year, focusing on saving for one of the two major trips I want to do.

    I have a friend who recently did just this: road trip across the States – but before I pick her brain on logistics, I figured I’d hit you guys up for ideas and tips.

    First: Getting there.

    It looks like flights will cost around $1000, one way each to LA  (we could also fly to SF but pay a premium for it.) I don’t know how much flights back from NY to Auckland are, but a quick glance suggests around $1500 (chokes). So we could be looking at $5-6k alone on flights.

    Ideally we would fly in to Seattle, but I don’t think we have flights there. There’s also the possibility of timing it so we can fly to Hawaii with a friend first and have a couple nights’ free accommodation, but I don’t have high hopes of that working out.

    Second: Getting around

    The reason I mentioned starting in Seattle is I want to see Washington. And Oregon. But I guess we can always drive up from Cali, and then back down again (sigh). Basically, the rough plan is driving from the West Coast to East, probably along a somewhat southern route.

    Other stops that are non-negotiable: SF, LA, Vegas, New Orleans, DC, Boston, New York.

    There’s a little more detail on my travel bucket list page. While the Grand Canyon is up there, for example, I’m not generally too keen on outdoorsy pursuits. No big hikes for us!

    Other suggestions welcomed! Options floated include Colorado, Florida, Pennsylvania, Texas, Tennessee… BF wants to see a live wrestling match, and be in the Letterman audience. I want to go to some kind of theme park – not too fussed as to which one really, but maybe Universal? I always wanted to go to Disneyland, but that desire has faded over time.

    Getting around, b)

    I don’t even know where to start. Do we buy a car? (How? Where? Argh!) Rent one? (We’re both under 25. And are one-way rentals outrageously priced?). Rent a campervan? Or even just fly from place to place (although I think that’s at the very bottom of the list.)

    Where you come in

    We would probably aim for a 3-week trip (maybe 4 max.) I’ve had a quick look at car rentals and the very cheapest is $2-3k for (choke) and probably additional charges galore.

    So. Any tips for how best to do this and how much to budget per day or for the whole trip? Should I take the cost of flights and double that, maybe?

    • Any places we must see/visit?
    • Hostels to avoid?
    • The best season to go (think weather-wise and cost-wise). Early autumn perhaps?

    Oh and, would we need to book our accommodation ahead of time?

    The kind of trip we want to do would involve… a lot of sightseeing ( the free kind). I anticipate we’d mostly make our own meals and stop at supermarkets but also sample local food wherever possible..maybe one meal out a day max (and certainly not every day)?

    Shite, I’m feeling overwhelmed already. Okay. Any and all advice welcomed.

  • December 20, 2010

    In the week before Christmas…

    A Danish Christmas tree illuminated with burni...

    Image via Wikipedia

    One. I happened to be watching the TV news the other night. One of the stories focused one of the newly redundant Pike River miners. He’ll be lucky to get a week’s holiday pay (the rescue operation is costing something like millions a day and the company can’t sustain that kind of drain) and he was auctioning off a rock from the mine. He called it a “charity rock” and hoped to make maybe $30-40 to help pay the utility bills. Bidders had already pushed the price up to $1000 though, and I hope it goes even higher.

    Two. T works with a bunch of people who mostly hail from a relatively low socio-economic area. Some of them have been there for years upon years, and are known to often take their big holiday paycheck, spend it all on gifts and food for Christmas day, and be left with nothing. Apparently they’ve even been known to complain abut not having enough gas money to get back to work. They’re damn lucky to have such a good boss, who is arranging for some of them to get food vouchers instead – and if he could organise for MTA vouchers to take to the petrol station too, he would.

    In the week before Christmas, I am thankful that T is getting a back paid raise, that I am getting a full 8 days’ leave (nothing planned except reading, baking, blogging, running, and other leisurely activities as I see fit; he unfortunately won’t get any time off), that we have never EVER been down to the bone and actually worried about putting food on the table or keeping the lights on.

  • December 19, 2010

    Link love: Powered by olive oil and unshaped plans

    I learn a lot at pub quizzes. There’s nothing quite like it to expose your total and utter ignorance. I now know what condors and chrysanthemums look like. I’ve seen countless flags from obscure countries, and been introduced to titles and theme songs of TV shows like Falcon Crest, Men Behaving Badly, Wonder Years, and more. We’re a pretty successful team, aside from the sports round. All but one of the regular members are older than me and infinitely more knowledgeable. At first I felt ridiculously self conscious being able to contribute to little, but I’m finally learning to sit back and relax, and reassure myself that the pleasure of my company is enough (HA!)

    Anyway, thanks to the holidays, we’re taking a break for a month. What probably won’t be taking a break are my link roundups, however.

    LIFE

    Kara asks: What do you do when someone unexpectedly gives you a Christmas present?

    Amber of Girl with the Red Hair explains how she overcame a running injury.

    Speaking of which, Stephany is wondering if she’s cut out for running, or whether to press on.

    One more exercise post…Well Heeled wants to know if you ever actually come to enjoy working out.

    Backpacking Journalist on the pros of using tour groups (if I was travelling alone, I would definitely sign up for one!)

    Girl and City loves – and hates – Singapore. Here’s why.

    Everytime I read a dating post, like Tall Brunette’s, I am so thankful to not be single. And props for getting back up every time.

    A couple of days after I wrote this post on minimalism, Heather Rae also blogged about the same thing and struggling to find a balance.

    There seems to be an emerging trend against having children, especially in the PF/minimalist area. But even if you think you and your partner are on the same page, things can change, as Shiftless and Lazy shows.

    Following on from that, Geek in Heels posted some charts on happiness and how it changes over a lifetime (HUGE dip once you have young children!)

    A hilarious guest blog on Punch Debt about Apple fankids (amen!)

    Ginger recently hosted an alcoholic guest and wonders whether she dealt with it in the best manner.

    I recently purged my book collection (all gifts and other freebies, so it didn’t really reflect my reading habits). I figure it must be much harder to do the same for a collection with real meaning to you, but Lesley explains how she did it and broke free of books.

    A wicked mashup of 2010’s films, via Static Image.

    WORK

    J Money just got fired (incidentally I think that term is tossed around far too loosely…isn’t “fired” only when you’re terminated for performance issues? Isn’t this a layoff?) and explains the whole story, including how he may be going back as a freelancer.

    Working Girl blogs about the pros and cons of offices vs telecommuting.

    FruGal on how to use the party season to help your career.

    Carlee Mallard comes to some conclusions about her job and what she wants from a career.

    This post from Cordelia Calls It Quits says it all: The Way Things Are Isn’t The Way They Have To Be.

    But as inspiring as posts about lifestyle design, location independence and making your own job are, Financial Samurai reminds us  it’s okay to just follow the traditional path too.

    A guest post by Alexandra Franzen on Yes and Yes asks how you want your future resume to read.

    FOOD

    Farmers’ markets are about fresh local produce, right? Apparently not all of them are, as Emily found out.

    Apparently festive fare is costing less this year. And for some reason, turkey is included in there. WTF? Who eats turkey at Christmas? (Americans excluded). Funny About Money shares her holiday feast (it’s easy, tasty, detailed and not turkey.)

    I love mushrooms. Do you love mushrooms? And cheese? Then this recipe from Wandering Food Lover is for you, too.

    I have 8 days off from the 26th (the longest break I’ve had in…years, it must be!). One of the first things I’ll be baking are these orange chocolate cookies.

    Stef at A Touch of the Crazy had me drooling over this Boston Cream Pie.

    And this is a gratuitous post with no real purpose, IMO, than to make you ravenously hungry. NOMMMMM.

    MONEY

    A fun quiz from First Gen American- how frugal are you?

    Serendipity asks, what do you do when your partner racks up debt without you knowing? To his credit, he came clean not long after.

    I’m quite partial to posts about living on one income, since I’ve done it for quite a while and imagine we’d do it again at some point when we start a family.

    Blonde and Balanced admits she’s scared to combine finances.

    Finally, to be honest, I’m quite over posts about Christmas presents. I’m over Christmas, full stop. Especially when BF asked what I wanted. I was all, I don’t want anything, aside from headphones and a trip overseas. (He was meant to get me headphones but he seems to like gift buying, so I’m buying them myself while he comes up with something else on his own.) Or a food processor, but we don’t have room for it. He on the other hand is always seeing stuff he wants. ANYWAY, I decided to pick out one, and that’s Bridget at Hithat’smybike’s post on how she set up a minimalist Christmas.

  • December 18, 2010

    Reverb 10: Lessons learned

    What was the best thing you learned about yourself this past year? And how will you apply that lesson going forward?

    I’ve come to accept a few things. That I am a control freak. That sometimes I overthink things too much. That I really do have a terrible memory, for faces, for movies, for dates. That I am an introvert to the core, and that I’ve almost totally forgotten how to act at social gatherings, aside from the company of a select few friends.

    But mostly, that I’m awkward. In almost every sense of the word. I’m awkward physically, I bump into things, I trip over things and if you’re walking next to me on the footpath, don’t be surprised if I push you practically onto the road. Walking in a straight line is apparently just one of those things that eludes me.

    And of course I’m awkward socially. I know I’m not alone in saying that, especially in the blog world. I know, theoretically that while I’m shifting from foot to foot, nodding, and trying to maintain solid eye contact, that sometimes the other person is feeling equally as uncomfortable (although they’re usually better at hiding it.)

    But by now, it’s pretty obvious that this is not just a phase. I’m not going to grow out of it. Sometimes I can fake it. But I’m going to have to live with it and learn to deal with it. I’m going to accept social invitations, even when I’m 99% positive it’s not going to be a pleasant experience and I won’t know many people there. I’ll make better watercooler talk with people in my department, even if I can’t quite manage it with those from other teams. Staying in with a movie or book may be the more appealing option most of the time, but often it’s also the cowardly one.

  • December 17, 2010

    20 financial milestones for your 20s – how I stack up

    # 1 – Finance a dream vacation…in cash
    Working towards it, as you all know!

    # 2 – Pay off your student loans
    N/A

    # 3 – Automate paying your credit card bill in full
    I’m a big believer in automation, but my version of automation involves a lot of manual transactions. What can I say? I’m a control freak, and I like flexibility. I pay mine every week, by the by, except expenses incurred by mystery shopping, and extra large purchases (usually wait til the end of the month and keep the money in savings)

    # 4 – Get rid of all bad debt
    I’m debt free. BF has some debt but it’s non-interest accruing (some of it’s to me!).

    # 5 – Build an adequate emergency fund
    Done, although I wonder if $10k is enough sometimes. To some it may seem excessive, to others, puny. /shrug

    # 6 – Make your first, and last, investment mistake
    I’ve joined Kiwisaver, and have a couple grand in term deposits, but that’s the extent of my investing so far.

    # 7 – Develop a statement of cash flows
    Y’all have probably seen my monthly spending posts, yeah?

    # 8 & 9 Max out a Roth & Contribute to your 401(k)
    Bloody Americans. I contribute 4% to Kiwisaver, with a 2% match.

    # 10 – Get a degree or certification that increases your earning power
    Just graduated. More training is not out of the question later on, although it would probably be pretty practical, say, learning more about the Adobe suite.

    # 11 – Take a career risk
    Hmm. I don’t really think I’ve done that. But plenty of time still!

    # 12 – Negotiate something
    Oh god. Haggling is up there with public speaking for me. Even when JB Hi-fi had a sign saying “Ask for a deal!” I made T talk to the salesman. One day…

    # 13 – Earn your first side grand
    Done!

    # 14 – Start a sub-savings account for an upcoming financial goal
    Also done! Travel fund now over a grand.

    # 15 – Set a target retirement date
    Meh. I’m not really too fussed. I’ll just go with the default, 65, shall I?

    # 16 – Monitor your credit
    NZ only introduced proper credit scoring this year. But yes, I have looked at both of our reports. They’re okay. Time and longevity are the only way to improve them.

    # 17 – Say no to a financial salesman
    Aside from fundraisers? Oh, what about pushy bank staff trying to sell additional products?? Hellz yeah.

    # 18 – Give just enough to make it hurt
    I give, but not enough to make it hurt. Unless you count presents I’ve given T, which sometimes do hurt a little (the girl who never got presents growing up is apparently willing to spend a couple hundred on her SO’s birthday)

    2 Milestones for the Over Achiever

    # 19 – Invest $1 for every $1 you spend
    Wow. We’re sometimes able to save nearly half of what we make, but that’s not the norm. Yeowch.

    # 20 – Start a 529 College Savings Plan
    Again, these damn Americanisms. Nope. Have no equivalent and no reason to (tuition here is not as astronomically expensive and loans are all given by the government to absolutely anyone).

    * And thanks to Mighty Bargain Hunter for hosting this week’s Carnival of Personal Finance! Apparently I’m in there talking about lifestyle creep. *

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