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Browsing category: Uncategorized

  • October 17, 2010

    50 questions that will free your mind, part 9

    (Previous installments can be found here.)

    41 .If you knew that everyone you know was going to die tomorrow, who would you visit today?
    My parents. Then as many of my friends as I could manage.

    42. Would you be willing to reduce your life expectancy by 10 years to become extremely attractive or famous?
    I don’t want to be old (says the young person). So yeah, why not? I did used to harbour dreams of being famous, after all. And life is easier when you’re one of the beautiful people.

    43. What is the difference between being alive and truly living?

    I think it’s really opening your eyes to what’s around you, appreciating what you have, seeking out opportunities, seizing the day. It’s making the most of what you got, loving like you’ve never loved, doing the things you love to do and everything else be damned.

    44. When is it time to stop calculating risk and rewards, and just go ahead and do what you know is right?
    When you’ve got nothing left to lose? Alternatively, when it feels right. When it consumes you. When you just KNOW.

    45. If we learn from our mistakes, why are we always so afraid to make a mistake?
    Because really, who enjoys failure?

  • October 16, 2010

    No questions asked

    So I hear that most retailers in the US have a no-questions-asked returns policy.

    Having grown up in New Zealand, the concept strikes me as totally bizarre. Here, the responsibility is on you to make sure you put a bit of thought into your purchases. Changed your mind about a pair of pants? Unless it still has the tags on and hasn’t been worn, you’re out of luck. Even then, odds are you can only exchange it for a store credit, not cash.

    I wonder if that is part of the reason for rampant consumerism? How easy is it to buy something knowing you can easily return it later for no reason?

    Personally, I hardly ever impulse shop, so when I buy something it’s because I really want it. There’s nothing inherently wrong with spur-of-the-moment purchases, but I don’t see why stores should have to take back products back “just because you changed your mind”. It’s a waste of energy and time for their staff; returns can be a tedious process, to say nothing of their wasted time on the original transaction.

    The Warehouse is the one retailer I know of with a very generous returns policy. 12 months on pretty much anything, and I don’t THINK you need a reason. They need one though; when you sell cheap stuff that doesn’t last, customers will expect a refund or replacement.

    Sure, I wouldn’t complain if local shops suddenly adopted a looser returns policy overnight; I’m just amazed that one exists. It doesn’t seem to make good business sense.

    Your thoughts?

  • October 16, 2010

    Link love (Powered by feta cheese and handpainted tees)

    I’ve had some amazing meals lately, not to mention discovered the “cuisine” shooting mode on my little camera, so if you want to see food pictures…then by all means keep scrolling!

     

    Chicken donburi with salad at Haru No Yume.

     

     

    Coconut cream and lemongrass mussels at De Post.

     

     

    Chicken satay at KK Malaysian

     

     

    The spicy KK chicken special. Simply beyond.

     

     

    Aged Angus sirloin at Eden Cloakroom (weird sauce, good steak)

     

     

    And my Akaroa salmon with herb gnocchi

     

    MONEY

    Got a smartphone? Check out these free apps to help you manage your money via Young and Thrifty.

    Shopaholly recently handed in her notice, and here she explains how she can afford to quit her job.

    Aloysa ponders the meaning of frugality and how it may differ across cultures.

    Girl with the Red Balloon asks how much you invest in clothing.

    Financial Samurai explains how higher taxes ended up saving him boatloads of money.

    Funny About Money on why she doesn’t think ‘money talk’ is intrinsically rude.

    WORK/CAREER

    Marian takes us through a day in the life of a social media consultant.

    Carlee Mallard explains how her (own) blog got her sister a job.

    One of the Working Girls shares some great, practical tips for networking.

    At Stratejoy, Lindsey takes the plunge and commits to an open-ended stint working on a boat.

    Jargon Writer blogs about setting pricing tiers as a freelancer.

    Guerilla Freelancing shares some marketing tactics for freelancers.

    At Dollars and Deadlines, 10 good reasons the editor rejected your pitch.

    Nicole and Maggie blogged about that classic dilemma: whether to follow your dreams or to take a more practical approach.

    FOOD

    Amy from Just a Titch on finding the balance between eating healthy and indulging.

    FruGal shares her favourite frugal superfoods.

    Perks of Being a Jap tries out two great recipes, including a Smashed Potato Soup. Win!

    I’ve never made risotto from scratch but this post by Iowa Girl Eats makes me want to change that.

    Does the sound of apple upside down cake appeal? And you don’t even need a cake tin for this one! I think Not Eating Out in NY could be my new fave blog.

    Mashed potatoes. Cheese. Onions. Kevin at Closet Cooking combines some of my favourite foods in this recipe.

    LIFE

    Hannah Katy from As Simple as That on what it means to become a New Yorker.

    World as a Muse offers insights into life with bipolar disorder.

    Finding Serenity wonders if she is just another ‘ignorant American’.

    Funny About Money on grad school options for someone with a liberal arts degree.

    And at Stratejoy, Renee writes about losing her fun and committing to rediscovering it.

  • October 15, 2010

    An ode to neighbourhoods

     

    Mt Eden viewed from One Tree Hill

    Image via Wikipedia

     

    Not too long ago, a story broke about a power outage in my area. I’ve lived here since March. Yet, I had no idea where the street in question was. I consulted Google Maps; turned out the affected road was just around the corner from my house.

    That’s in stark contrast to my old neighbourhood; I lived in the same area, or the same cluster of suburbs, for over 10 years. From White Swan Rd to the Titirangi Rd end of New Lynn and from New Windsor in the north to the bottom of Lynfield, I bet I could name and locate (or at least recognise) most of the streets off the top of my head. After all, I’ve walked or driven down most of them at some point back in the day.

    I really took that for granted. When you grow up somewhere, it becomes your playground. I was lucky to grow up in a safe, quiet area, with half-decent schools, near a (unswimmable) beach, with lots of parks and bush walks. It may not be as handy as where I live now, but it’s a hell of a lot more affordable. I could NEVER afford to buy a house in Mt Eden, let alone Epsom. And even given the choice, I’m not sure I’d want to. It’s a little bit too posh for me; I would never feel quite as home as I would in my old down-to-earth, staunchly middle-class ‘hood.

    How well do you know your neighbourhood? Would you ever return to the area where you grew up?

  • October 14, 2010

    Getting the most out of credit card rewards

    This quarter, I redeemed $35 in credit card rewards, as well as using $22 to pay for the six monthly Visa and True Rewards fees. ($57 in three months is a pretty good haul, right?)

    Right now, I’m left with about $8 in rewards dollars.

    But the thing is, I don’t know how long it took me to earn all that. I make $1 for every $150 spent, and given that I try to put everything on CC that I can, it adds up at a respectable pace. I know I’m coming out ahead, but I don’t know if it’s by $2 or $20 or $50. I guess I should have saved those quarterly statements…

    Every so often I contemplate opening a credit card elsewhere instead. But the convenience of having it linked to my main accounts and making real-time transactions is too hard to give up. After all, the ASB Visa still has one of the lowest annual fees. I can use my reward dollars at the cinema, supermarket or a range of other stores or just apply them to the Visa as free cashback, essentially. It looks like this is about as good as it gets for a personal card.

    Do you have your credit card/s with your main bank?

  • October 13, 2010

    Nickel and diming

    Via PhillipC on Flickr

    Ah, those mythical $1 airfares. I thought it was my lucky day when I received a Jetstar email about their $1 Christchurch and Wellington fares; the sale started at 4pm, so you can bet that when the time rolled around, I was there refreshing like a madwoman.

    First, the sale was limited to Tuesdays and Wednesdays. So we could have a week long trip…or an overnight. I figured a one-night stay would be enough to get a quick taste of the city, without wasting too much precious leave.

    The times were also pretty limited – two flights a day, one mid-afternoon, one at night.

    Then it came time to wade through the extra shite they try to pawn you: allied hotels, rental cars and whatnot.

    Then I filled out all the details: my legal name, his legal name, my contact details, blahdeblah. And then my booking timed out. I had to start from scratch, but thanks to the magic of autosave, I didn’t have to type everything out in full again.

    Only THEN did we get down to the serious business of seat selection. And this is where it got good. Each standard seat came at a cost of $3! Extra legroom and other special seats incurred even larger fees. My $4 flights ($1, return for two) was ballooning to $16. And I knew I’d have to pay another $5 or so for a booking fee at the end, plus who knows WHAT else before then.

    At this point, I was not too happy with their sneaky calculations, and clicked out of the site. Perhaps other airlines’ $1 fares work in a similar way, but with all the bad Jetstar publicity, and the very limited travel dates, I’d rather hedge my bets elsewhere.

    Who’s ever snagged a $1 fare? Is this normal and how much should I actually expect to pay once all is said and done?

  • October 12, 2010

    The foods you love to eat (but hate to cook)

    I am an unabashed lover of food. It’s why I agonise for so long over my choices when we go out to eat. I want to enjoy my meal; I want to fill my belly with amazing flavours; and I don’t want to be disappointed on taste or value for money.

    There are some dishes I could happily eat every day for the rest of my life – I think – but I am utterly incapable of making them. Most baked things, for example. Things in pastries. Things that involve big hunks of meat, as opposed to nice, diced, bite-sized pieces.

    And then there are recipes that technically are within my realm, but they’re just too much damn work. I mean, they taste amazing, but I’m just not sure they’re worth the time and trouble.

    eggplant moussaka

    Image by h-bomb via Flickr

    Moussaka. Eggs. Cheese. Meat. Eggplant. Onions. What more could you want in a dish? But oh, the preparation, to say nothing of the oven time. Sigh.

    A photo of lasagne

    Image via Wikipedia

    Lasagne. Love the thin pasta sheets, love the whole idea. But again, the baking time? We usually opt for shepherd’s pie instead, and when I say shepherd’s pie, we usually take it a step further, even, and basically serve up mashed potatoes with mince and sauce on the side.

    Left to right: Chenjeh Kebab, Kebab Koobideh, ...

    Image via Wikipedia

    Kebabs. You spend all that time cutting up ingredients, painstakingly threading them all on, cooking them, and then just taking ’em off to eat again. Seriously?

  • October 11, 2010

    September roundup

    Clothing – two skirts, two tops, two pairs of sneakers, running shoes. Handbag!

     

    New purse love: How gorgeous is that?

     

    Debt –Trucking along with repaying me; should be done by the end of the year.

    Dining and bars – Higher than usual, we’ve had some good meals out this month. Japanese. Malaysian. And some good ol fashioned takeaways.

    Entertainment – Xbox, movies (at the cinema).

    Groceries – There’s no getting round it, this is high. Prices are going up, and we’re eating better and more interesting/varied meals. We did stock up in the last week, so going into October slightly lower. But still. Dairy has already leaped up since the GST increase, and no doubt so have other things if I pay closer attention…perhaps $130 / week isn’t so realistic anymore?

    Gifts – included my purchasing of our anniversary present ($95). Did not include T’s mum’s birthday present (more later).

    Holidays – Our weekend away (accommodation plus food). Also includes $141.30 on his birthday: $52.30 on food plus $89 games. But he repaid $50 of that.

    Medical – Mainly my contacts. Ouch.

    Savings – As always, doesn’t reflect the whole picture, just “extra” savings, and T’s. I usually aim for $1k (which is more than 20 per cent) , but have no idea if I made it this month. Repentant, I will not let anything slip by me in October.

    T fun – Stuff purchased online through the credit card, paid back by him. He also randomly bought one lunch out of this account.

    Utilities – Right on target…

    Vehicle – This month saw something like $65 go toward maintenance/repairs, $72 on my bus fares and the rest gas. He uses a tank a week – between $50 and $70. The commute is not all that long given he doesn’t have to deal with peak hours, but he does tons of other driving around to see friends etc. I’m starting to think he should handle gas entirely; it might get him to be more conscious of that.

    Uncoded – an extra $112 for his mum’s birthday gift and the rest for new cellphone.

    Also, this money thing is doing my head in. T used his own card for some car repairs/maintenance. So we ended up making some of HIS purchases from the main account to balance it out. So here I was, categorising food purchases as “vehicle”. He also spent some more on work gear out of his own pocket, which isn’t reflected here.

    Extra income: Totalled $1172.61 this month.
    $467.11 lump sum as negotiated by my union (mostly saved, just over a quarter spent on, er, contacts, pillows and running shoes);
    $140 for one of my Metallica tickets (spent on T’s mum’s present/new phone)  $85 from a focus group (spent on clothes and beauty);
    $15.50 for our old washing machine (gave to T to spend);
    $465 from my side job (split between T’s birthday, our anniversary present – an early purchase – and my travel fund).

    I really do spend a ridiculous amount of time managing our money. It’s lucky I’m a nerd.

    Carnivalistic fun

    Thanks to Canadian Finance Blog for my inclusion in this week’s Carnival of Personal Finance!

    A peek into my psyche

    Me in Millions interviewed me for her resurrected Monday Morning Inspiration series this week. Check it out!

  • October 10, 2010

    50 questions that will free your mind, part 8

    (Previous installments can be found here.)

    36. Is it possible to know, without a doubt, what is good and what is evil?
    I’m a firm believer in shades of grey. That being said, there are things that are never acceptable for whatever reason. Pedophilia. Lynching. Rape. You know the kinds of things I mean.

    37. If you just won a million dollars, would you quit your job?
    No, not at this stage. I would use to it to travel and buy a house. And obviously save/invest some.

    38. Would you rather have less work to do, or more work you actually enjoy doing?
    I think the latter. I often find myself wishing I had more to do during the day and trying to make work for myself.

    39. Do you feel like you’ve lived this day a hundred times before?
    Yeah. I like my routine though: I like to have the time to come home, cook, put my feet up, read and generally keep things in running order.

    40.When was the last time you marched into the dark with only the soft glow of an idea you strongly believed in?
    ….I can’t think of any. My spontaneity only extends as far as unplanned weekend trips or walks to the park. What can I say? I’m a planner.

  • October 9, 2010

    Link love (Powered by nachos and simple human decency)

    * I would quite like a life fairy to take me in hand. Take over my life. Take charge of everything, make it over, figure out how I can achieve all my goals this lifetime, set me a game plan and hand back the reins in a few months. That being said, listening to this podcast – an interview with full-time nomad, professional writer/traveler Nora Dunn has helped reassure me that I will get to see at least some of the places I want to visit this lifetime.

    * I recently removed my 20SB badge from my sidebar (although I highly doubt anyone noticed). It was messing with my template, and while I love the idea of the whole 20SB community, I wasn’t really getting anything out of it. I can only think of one blog offhand I discovered through it, and their forums are clogged with newbies whining about how after a whole month of blogging, nobody reads them, and what can they do to get more followers? NEWSFLASH: It takes work. And just who are you writing for anyway? Might pay to check those priorities.

    * October challenge fail so far. Slept till usual on Wed after staying up til 1pm doing banking and blogging. Got up early Thursday, did laundry, dishes and fitted in a run, but couldn’t drag myself away from my warm bed yesterday.

    Now, to the biz…

    FOOD

    Milk Miracle on how to get the most out of an Indian buffet (If anyone knows of any such places in Auckland, I beg of you: Holler!)

    Living Well on Less asks for ideas on good meals to freeze for later.

    At Eating Rules, a bunch of bloggers are taking part in October Unprocessed, a month of eating more naturally.

    Lacey of Perks of Being a Jap tests out a fingerlickingood Rachael Ray cupcake recipe.

    At Dinner: A Love Story, Jenny presents a week of super simple meals derived from just a handful of pantry staples.

    And I’m dying to try this easy-peasy mushroom lasagne from Smitten Kitchen.

    MONEY

    Lindy at Minting Nickels blogs about number crunching and motivation.

    Leslie at 27 and Frugal writes about balancing frugality and consumerism.

    Fabulously Broke asks: What do you consider rich?

    Financial Samurai reckons anyone can make six figures at any age.

    Little House asks if art can be a good investment.

    Frugal Confessions interviews a gardening pro and shares some tips on getting the most of growing your own.

    WORK / CAREER

    Living Shallow, Living Well on why she’ll never be CEO.

    Fabulously Broke argues that being your own boss is not automatically the right solution for everyone.

    Jane recounts her experiences with unemployment in the unstable creative industries.

    Finding Serenity explains the case for reconsidering a teaching career.

    Ms Career Girl suggests some ideas for stay-home mothers to earn income.

    Working Girl gets some fresh blood, including….an Editing WG!!

    LIFE

    At Writing to Reach You, Ashley blogs about the introverts’ dilemma.

    Jess of Accidentally Graceful rethinks her stance on love, logic and marriage.

    Emily Jane explains why she’ll never go niche on her personal blog.

    Dana at Pushing Thirtyy on that that most sacred female domain: the purse.

    Little House on the Prairie asks: Whatever happened to hobbies?

    Neurotic Workaholic blogs about anonymity and putting your name to your writing.

    Sunshine on My Shoulder voices some thoughts on appreciating her LDR.

    Ironic Mom blogs on children, swearing and rude gestures. I curse a lot, so a whole other reason to delay childbearing.

    At So Caroline Says, some poignant thoughts on the end of a relationship.

    The pregnant and fabulous Penny Frugalista has baby names on the brain.

    Marian has always considered herself adventurous, but she’s starting to reconsider just what that means.

    And finally, a wedding planner offers a little insight into her job and the whole wedding industry. Whaddya reckon – is it worth using a planner? Why or why not?

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