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Browsing category: Uncategorized

  • March 24, 2009

    Standing on my own two feet

    I’ll admit I often go on about having received no parental help (financially) in my adult life. I started out with a guitar and amp, my clothes, and $2000 – which may sound like a decent amount, but consider the costs of securing somewhere to live and the bare essentials  for someone starting from scratch – then made my own way from there. It’s both a point of pride and a point of bitterness, I guess. No money, no car, etc, apart from small birthday gifts.

    But at the same time I owe them nothing.  I can do what I want and live my own life completely my way. Whereas friends of mine have free accommodation, food, cars and sometimes more, but most of them (not all though) pay for it by having to live by the rules. There’s less freedom and a fair bit more living under the parental thumb.

    I think that I just like to be able to say that I’m self made, but accepting help means I won’t be able to say that anymore.

    Where is the line?

    I think I’ve already started down that slippery slope. First, accepting help with replacing my stolen stuff (half of the cost of my laptop/camera – they would’ve paid for it all but I just couldn’t do that). Now an offer of cash to start up a Rabo account to be eligible for a free $100 opening cash credit.

    So tempting. I don’t NEED the money. You know, it’s not money I would have to use towards rent or bills. But let’s be honest, it sure would help, especially given that I don’t have all that much saved. (Another thing I struggle with. Everyone I know either has WAY more saved than I do…think  tons more, like closer to 5 figures; or virtually nothing at all.)

    Maybe it’s my turn, maybe I deserve it, maybe they’re trying to even it up considering they are giving my brother so much. Maybe it’s a present for not dropping out of uni so far.

    Would they be offended if I refuse? Would they keep trying, under different guises? It’s the only way they can offer me any help realistically, aside from bringing over food occasionally or taking me out to dinner.

  • March 23, 2009

    According to BF’s first payslip, he is on slightly above the minimum wage.

    I told him to get in touch with the co. and find out what’s happening with holiday pay. As a “temp” he should be receiving 8% holiday pay and if not then accruing leave. Neither is showing on his payslip.

    Funny how debate over the minimum wage never concerned me until now. I was far above it. So was he. I guess it’s pretty easy to slip back down. We really need to work out a path for him. In the long term he really needs to get qualified, whether it’s in his last field or something completely new. That’s our best shot long term. Sure he could stay here and work his way up, but he’s starting from so low down, and they seem pretty dodge in wanting to keep all their fulltimers on temp contracts. And his skills would only be specific to this co. which is NOT a recipe for success.

    I was thinking, it’s hard to drop down $4 an hour – even more considering the short contract gig he had in between. But expenses should also be lower. Less gas. Less wear and tear. And less travelling time. Lunches are cheaper because of the area (lots more choice, cheaper, local lunch bars, dairies, other food outlets). And he is not paying for tools or other gear out of his paycheck. For most of his time at the old co. he was paying something or other off, reducing his takehome.

    I guess we’ll see, the budget is gonna have to be pretty fluid this year, considering the time I will have to take off work for my internship and other things.

  • March 23, 2009

    Is it too much to ask…

    that when a flatmate uses one of of YOUR pots, creates some disgusting concoction involving ingredients that should never, ever be combined, and stinks up the house to the point that you can smell it from outside as you’re coming home, said flatmate should RINSE the pot once finished??

    And then WASH the pot, instead of leaving it covered in remnants of disgusting concoction, to fester on the stove??!!!

    Preferably within a day, rather than ….oh, the THREE ENTIRE DAYS it has been to date???????!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

    I want to win Lotto. I want to buy a place of my own to live with BF, where we can do whatever the hell we want, live with whoever we want (ie, NOBODY), and know our dishes and food are safe from others.

    I can’t stand this.

  • March 23, 2009

    Caught the first ten minutes of a new TV show on Saturday morning before going out. It’s called Unanimous, and basically sticks a bunch of strangers together in an underground bunker. No windows, no daylight, no way out. They have to unanimously decide which one of them will get the $1.5 million – who deserves it most? The longer they take to decide, the more money is deducted from that amount, meaning the jackpot gets smaller and smaller as they dally about making the decision But obviously, that’s the kinda prize everyone wants for themselves.

    Anyone seen House of Seven? Kinda reminded me of that, but without the murders. In that movie, seven people are locked in a house that it’s impossible to escape from, and only when six of them have killed each other, the last one standing gets to leave with a million dollars.

  • March 21, 2009

    Financial snapshot

    We got hit with both water and power bills this week. Water is something I haven’t been budgeting for (along with irregulars like insurance. I am trying to put away some for BF’s car insurance in May but that hasn’t been possible yet. At least we have a little bit aside for the car registration which is due..next month?) Luckily I’m getting a tax refund from my overpaying on my overdue tax from last year…..so that will help.

    We also have a new flatmate who cleans, is tidy and fairly quiet and pays EVERYTHING on time.

    Unfortunately, HF is still here.

    Our power bills have also soared. I get the fact that prices have increased slightly, but not all that much. I get the fact that we now have people at home during the day, whereas last year nobody was home during the weekdays. But does that explain our bills almost DOUBLING? It’s really frustrating, as I know I’m barely home and am certainly not sucking up the electricity.

    Am considering changing providers, and according to Powerswitch we could save around $450 a year by changing. Something must be faulty though. I did the calculations myself…For example if we were with Mercury this month we woulda paid about $368. We are paying $381.. about $13 difference.

    It’s so hard to actually really compare providers! They say they take the various payment discounts into account, but maybe they don’t. Energy Online ahs a 20% prompt payment discount which is pretty generous, and is the only thing that stops me totally freaking out every month – we saved almost $100 this month.

    On the bright side, student loan on BF’s behalf is now done with! And more so. In fact, it’s been overpaid by $108. I’m wondering if we’ll get that $108 credit refunded? We should, technically.

    Gotta love the bureaucracy. The other day a statement arrived showing that $108 credit. Right below was “Overdue repayments from 2008, $200 something – please pay immediately”. Never mind the fact that the loan was actually now paid in full. Thankfully the next day a letter came confirming full payment and to stop repayments, yadda yadda yadda.

  • March 20, 2009

    Brilliant Your Views comment…

    “Anyway, what sort of stupidity gives tax cuts to the wealthy instead of the lower paid, then asks that people hand their tax cuts over to the needy? Why didn’t the government target the tax cuts towards those in need?”

    Thank you, couldn’t have phrased it better myself.

    Thumbs up also to editingtheherald– nice take on John Key’s comments…. I totally agree with everything said there, but I have to disagree with him and everyone else who’s bashing Americans. Yeah, their housing bubble imploded and consequently sent the rest of the world’s economies down the loo, etc, but looking at the PEOPLE (not govt. or the corporations),  the American way of giving should be commended (and actually does exist, contrary to popular belief).

    From what I’ve observed, everyday Americans are pretty charitable. so many people in the PF blogosphere give money to charity/church. So many come on the MSN Money boards and tithes are a line in their budget – and most of the time they WILL NOT budge on that for whatever reason. Yet, they are in debt or can barely feed or house themselves but for some ridiculous reason insist on donating money they don’t have. That’s commitment. Whether it’s for religious reasons or whatever, the fact remains is that people are committed to giving part of their income away. Hell, so many people on the boards make their kids tithe out of their POCKET MONEY. I’ve never heard of anyone doing that. Ever.

    If you didn’t already know, the next round of tax cuts take place from 1 April. Those under $40k won’t get anything (or will only get at most $10 they say). The tax cuts are aimed at everyone ABOVE that income level. I doubt I’ll be receiving anything. BF got an extra $11 a week when the first round took place last year, but then he got made redundant. Key suggested Kiwis should donate their tax cuts to charity if they could afford to, citing the “American style” culture of giving/donating.

  • March 19, 2009

    Overload

    LL assured me when he brought his mother/sister over that this was temporary and they would be finding a place of their own ASAP.

    Doesn’t look like that’s happening. They’ve settled in, taken over the grounds, show no signs of moving. He reckons he’s going to do all this stuff to the house, get a second washing line, etc. (Except that he, you know, lost his job).

    Rubbish is piling up. Cans and bottles and boxes are piling up. The grounds look like a rubbish tip. Our rubbish and recycling bin are just big enough to serve the four of us – it sure as hell can’t handle the output from an extra THREE people. You can’t put all the extra out cause the collectors won’t take it. They only take what fits in the bin. I am sure as hell not paying for a skip or to go to the recycling plant.

    This place is NOT big enough for seven people.

    Six months to go….

  • March 18, 2009

    Online Shopping (NZ)

    Hereby, a list of the best shopping sites for NZ (according to me and what I buy!)

    The Deal
    Awesome, awesome site. Gets heaps of random last minute/ends of lines, that kind of thing. The Deal should be your first stop for random browsing! Clothes, shoes, beauty, makeup, homewares, basically everything. Of course the range varies widely so it pays to check back often. You can be really lucky and score stuff up to 90% off, and they sometimes do free shipping too.

    Dump It

    Cheap looking site, but has some gems from time to time. It’s a discount store where suppliers dump stock they can’t move. Categories are a bit limited.

    Strawberry net

    The place to get makeup and skincare online! Big brands, at lower prices. They don’t have absolutely everything by everyone but the selection is pretty good. There’s a huge range; I’ve honestly never heard of some of the brands.

    Less for Specs

    Site is not the flashest, but the service is unbeatable. It’s really personal; they go the extra mile to help you. And cheap! Not so much the frames maybe (at least in my case) but certainly the lenses. Online is where it’s at!

    Lenses Online

    There are a bunch of contact lens sites but I like this one. Prices are super competitive. That’s really my only criteria for lenses, as long as they’re in stock! I had issues processing my payment, so I rung up and we did it over the phone. Seriously, if you’re still buying your contacts in store, STOP. You’re being ripped off.

    Price Spy

    Really hard to read and navigate, but it’s amazing how much is on here. Basically this is the place to compare prices and check out if something is a good deal or not.

    If you’re interested in starting your own ecom site, I highly recommend using Shopify as ecom platform. Its highly customizable, easy to learn and great to work with. You can sign up for shopify 60 and 90 day free trial as well.

  • March 17, 2009

    I get really torn between the two sides when it comes to welfare. On the one hand, I totally agree that people who don’t deserve it shouldn’t get it. People who show no sense of responsibility whatsoever. But 99% of the time there are kids involved. And why should the children suffer? There’s a whole other problem, the cycle of poverty. But then…that pretty much ensures the problem’s never fixed, and we continue to have the same issues generation after generation.

    What’s the solution?

  • March 16, 2009

    My eyes

    are bugging out from staring at my computer screen all day.

    But I’m really glad to be working on this story – it’s a really nice, local piece and I hope it gets printed. It’s nice to be able to help someone out. Someone humble and deserving.

    I wish I was that good of a person.

    Although sure, community news is sometimes dull and unimaginative, there’s also so much opportunity to dig down and get colourful local pieces who would otherwise never get heard.

    Definitely worth it.

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