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Browsing category: Uncategorized

  • September 12, 2016

    How homeownership saves me money

    The surprising ways home ownership saves me money

    Over the past decade I’ve wasted thousands of dollars renting (not even counting rent payments – those would be in the tens of thousands and at least I got shelter in exchange for those).

    There are costs that come with home ownership – some unavoidable, some totally up to you – but those are covered extensively elsewhere on the internet and I’m not getting into those today.

    No, what I’m talking about are the surprising ways home ownership has saved me money here and there.

    Power

    A poorly insulated house is less efficient to heat. We’ve lived in iceboxes half the size of this house that cost the same in power bills as this one. And in the case where we’ve lived with flatmates, well, other people often don’t care about saving power the way you do.

    Related: I’m probably saving a small fortune on tissues. I no longer have a constantly blocked or runny nose – it’s the exception rather than the norm now.  Rental standards in NZ are pathetic (and here’s even more skin-crawling stuff).

    Now don’t get me wrong. This is still an older house and we’ll need to add more insulation to the roof, which will be in the realm of $1500-2000 if we DIY and more if we get in the pros to install it. On the very coldest nights this winter the roof has gotten down to single digit temperatures overnight, with the rest of the house plunging to low double digits, which isn’t ideal. But it’s noticeably drier and warmer than the many rentals I’ve endured.

    I’m sure winters are getting colder (either that or I just feel it more with age) and T agrees. We experienced some record low temperatures this year and last, so I don’t think it’s entirely my imagination.

    Insurance

    My content insurance dropped to a third of its former cost once I became a homeowner. I’m deadly serious. Car insurance also decreased by a tiny bit. Just another way renters get ripped off.

    Going out

    Home is a haven now. Not a cramped, damp place to escape. Not a place with flatmates who grate on your nerves. I love my house so much, warts and all. I’ve always been a homebody and at last, after so many years, I have somewhere I can honestly nest and settle in for real. I feel an unbridled sense of joy and serenity every time I  step out onto my  sunny deck or sit down in my dining nook.

    As you can probably guess, I have had zero regrets about buying a house. Home ownership has been everything I dreamed of and more.

    brokeGIRLrich
  • September 9, 2016

    PSA: Check your credit!

    Credit check

    Credit check

    It’s that time again: time to check up on my credit report!

    As a commenter wisely pointed out, my recent drama with collections (over $50, of all things) means I should definitely check and make sure that it has been fully withdrawn and isn’t on my credit record. If it is, I’m seriously going to go ballistic.

    If you’re not sure how to check your credit report in NZ, here’s how. There are 3 reporting agencies. Below are the current links to request your free credit record:

    You can do it all online – just enter your details and request a copy to be emailed or posted to you. They ask for your name/s, address history, and employment info. You will need the details of your ID (eg driver’s licence info) and may need to upload a scanned copy as well.

    NZ credit reports include your personal details, a list of credit enquiries, any default, judgement or insolvency details, and repayment history. The repayment history isn’t exhaustive – not all credit is reported. For example, my 2015 report included my credit card history but did not include my car loan history at all.

    Although I was able to obtain my credit score for free back in 2010 when they were first introduced, it seems you can no longer see your credit score unless you pay for it. Not like in the US – where you can easily get your free credit scores in a jiffy.  I have no idea what mine is now!

  • September 6, 2016

    Unpopular opinion: Money CAN buy health

    When money CAN buy health
    “Go spend some money,” a nurse once told me when I sought out advice.

    Thinking about that incident still pisses me off, even though I’m a long way from being that broke student. But to be fair, she wasn’t wrong.

    Lack of money has caused many physical problems for me over the years, and money has in turn also fixed them. Full circle.

    On the skin front

    Know what disappeared once I solved my money problems? My intense eczema. It was a horrendous cycle – financial stress led to eczema that required expensive cream that didn’t exactly help the financial strain and made everything worse until the core money issue was dealt to. My stress eczema got so bad I couldn’t even wear a bra for some time. Now I just have to deal with the scars, and rosehip oil (again, thank you money) is helping with that.

    Know what else disappeared and reappeared accordingly? My period. Not that I missed it from a practical perspective, but I knew its absence was a bad sign.

    On the respiratory front

    I quite like breathing. Unfortunately it can be a struggle sometimes. Years of living in cold damp New Zealand rentals will do that to you. Buying a house is the only thing that’s made a real difference in this area.

    On the intimacy front

    Okay, maybe a bit of a cheat here. A good sex life isn’t a requirement for health and wellbeing but it’s nice to have. Post-dinner bloat is a mood killer. A dirty house is a mood killer. But for me, money stress is the biggest turnoff of all.

    Disease Called Debt
  • September 3, 2016

    Link love (the spring-has-sprung edition)

    NZMuse - Link love roundup with awesome reads from the week

    Anyone else heard of/used Buxfer? It’s the first budgeting/spend tracking tool I’ve come across that actually plugs into all the NZ banks. (No, we don’t have our own equivalent of Mint, etc…)

    Also, hallelujah! Winter is officially over!

    This week’s links

    On dating men with ‘potential’

    The problem with ‘simple livlng’

    Tolerating ugly stuff

    The gender wage gap explained

    Bookish confessions

    Finding wisdom in your bedroom 

  • September 1, 2016

    Here’s the SINGLE best thing about owning a house

    The best thing about owning a house

    I can breathe easier. Not just metaphorically knowing that we have security of tenure here, but literally.  It might seem like small stuff, breathing freely, but it’s priceless.

    You might remember I first mentioned that I was having occasional trouble breathing back in 2010. So, I never actually got it checked out. I pretty much knew it was down to living in cold, damp places, and there wasn’t much to be done about that until I could buy a house of my own.

    I’m pleased to report that owning a house has made a huge difference on that front. Breathing has not come this naturally to me in years. Even on brisk walks outside in the thick of winter. Even overnight.

    Sometimes (not always, I grant you, especially through the colder months – but still much more regularly than never) I wake up in the morning and find myself breathing comfortably through my nose, rather than sucking cold air desperately through my mouth.

    It used to be that the only time I didn’t struggle to breathe overnight was in nice hotels, or overseas in warmer climates. But otherwise, I was never able to breathe solely through my nose at night; I just couldn’t get enough air that way.

    I haven’t had the flu this year – and I always get the flu each winter, which usually knocks me out for a few days.

    It’s hard if not impossible to quantify good health. How much damage has 10 years of renting already done? Renting for life might not have actually killed me, but it would’ve taken its toll.

  • August 30, 2016

    When sanity > principles

    Money or sanity? When mental health overrides principles

    I have a strong sense of fairness and justice (which sometimes makes it hard to exist in this world). But I’m also quite pragmatic and getting more ruthlessly so over time.

    Which is why I’ve made the conscious choice to write off certain sums of money over the past few years. To move on and look forward. Let go of the expended stress and energy, and devote that time and headspace into productively making that money back even quicker. And of course, to not get into the same situation again.

    Let it goooo

    Heinous flatmate (approx $1000)

    Blood from a stone. He was a terrible person to live with and is terrible with money/being employed/adulting in general. I’ve written off the money he owes for bills and damage and moved on.

    Tax refund

    Can’t really remember the amount – maybe $500? Anyway, T was due a tax refund a few years back that went into limbo somewhere between the IRD and his bank account. Endless back and forth never resolved it and we’ve moved on. (Subsequent refunds have made it through fine.)

    Work expenses

    Again, the exact amount has faded from memory and I’m certainly not going to check and dredge it up, but a couple hundy? Suffice to say toxic boss #2 in this post was a nightmare from start to finish. T chatted to someone from the labour department but ultimately, not enough proof of the context and it being a work expense. Live and learn.

    Unpaid freelance invoices (approx $1000)

    Loved the work. Hated the chasing of payment. I did a series of features and was paid for about half. Struggling magazine, new editors, tardy accounts … just one big clusterfuck.

    Unrefunded bond (approx $700)

    Our last tenancy was a nightmare. Anything to put that memory behind me.

    I know lots of you mentioned in the comments on this post that you’d written off small amounts in the past – what about bigger ones?

    Disease Called Debt
  • August 25, 2016

    5 things I’ve learned from surviving a marriage crisis

    The best relationship advice I can give

    After more than 10 years in a generally happy union, I recently realised that – like Jon Snow – I knew nothing.

    Nothing at all.

    I once read that good marriages begin after the first gigantic crisis. When you begin again, in spite of everything, and work to make it through the anger and fear and sadness.

    Separately, the wise and inimitable Alain de Botton has said that pessimism offers a solution to a lot of the pressures around relationships. Romanticism is unhelpful, and makes a lot of what we go through in marriage seem exceptional and appalling.

    Depressing as those two paragraphs may sound, I think they ring with truth.

    There are five main things this crisis taught me. Here is what I’ve learned.

    Love is a verb

    Don’t just tell me you love me; show me through your actions.

    So many of our habits and behaviours towards our partners are manipulative

    Whether we realise it or not. Awareness is the first step.

    Do not tolerate sustained unhappiness in a relationship

    Don’t put up with it now, hoping that it will improve eventually, if you have no inkling at all for when that might be. Think about how long you could stick it out if nothing changed – a month? Six months? A year?

    Never set yourself on fire to keep someone else warm

    There is no glory in martyrdom. This isn’t a social movement; this is your life. Your happiness is what’s at stake.

    We are flawed

    All of us. So very deeply. This is something we must accept if we are to move forward.

    There it is – the best relationship advice I have to give. Have you been through a relationship crisis, and has it taught you anything new?

  • August 23, 2016

    Call me mercenary, but…

    More money, more options

    There’s no nobility in poverty.

    No romance in being broke.

    No joy in struggle.

    I really really really like being able to afford to:

    • Heat my home
    • Visit the dentist
    • Eat dinner out
    • Wear real leather
    • Buy 3-ply TP
    • Donate to charity

    Call me mercenary, but in my life, money has directly correlated to quality of life and happiness without exception.

    Literally every area of my life has improved thanks to money. Not saying I’m on a never-ending chase for more above everything else (especially since I hit the so-called ideal salary for happiness) but earning more is certainly a goal. As long as I can grow my income while maintaining enjoyment in what I do, why wouldn’t I?

    Fewer dollars = fewer options. Life has only gotten easier as my income increased.

    I eat better. I am healthier (because I live in a house that isn’t damp and cold). I have a reliable vehicle. Pets. I’m a hell of a lot less stressed and feel less vulnerable to the bottom falling out of my life.

    When you’re going through a period of life that’s defined by scarcity, it’s incredibly stressful. You’re panicked and constantly worried, living on the edge. You make poorer decisions because you’re just not in the best frame of mind and/or have fewer choices available to you. You simply don’t think about the long term future because you have to focus on getting through today, tomorrow and maybe next week. How can you possibly think about retirement when you lack decent housing today?

    Whatever the reasons for money being tight (and they can be oh-so-complex – acute, chronic, unfortunate, deliberate) the outcome is the same. And in the moment, that’s all that matters.

    Money stress has a way of keeping you up at night, not to mention tainting your waking hours with its sneaky way of spilling into every moment. 

    The first day in 2016 that I felt truly free from financial stress – for the first time in, oh, just about a full year – was amazing. There are no words for the lightness that brings.

    I’ve spent far too much time in misery for lack of money. On the other hand, I’ve never been miserable with money.

    I cannot relate to the ‘broke but happy’ brigade. YMMV.

    I’ve lived through times where I’ve had enough, and times without enough – and I’d take the money every single time.

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  • August 20, 2016

    Link love (the fees-will-get-you-every-time edition)

    NZ Muse link love roundup

    Indulge me, if you will!

    I remember the first time I learned that banks could charge you for the privilege of holding your money, when my ex’s mother spoke about the $10 monthly fee on her day-to-day account.

    More recently, I got to hear about some of the stuff that regulators are involved in within the consumer protection space. Changes to the law last year put a much bigger onus on lenders to disclose, disclose, disclose – to be upfront about fees and costs associated with credit contracts, as well as be more responsible and ethical about how and who to lend to. Noncompliance can apparently result in borrowers not being liable for fees/interest if lenders don’t play by the rules. And one finance company has been caught out charging excessive and irrelevant fees – eg high loan establishment fees due to building in overheads beyond the scope of any work involved with actually setting up a loan. The view is that lenders shouldn’t be making huge profits off these kinds of fees, to which I say amen.

    Another much more mainstream topic of late has been KiwiSaver fees. On average KiwiSaver fees are 1.3% per annum and now that the scheme has been going for a few years, balances are getting higher and thus providers are getting an ever-bigger cut each year. There’s a new provider, Simplicity KiwiSaver, launching soon that will be totally passive – the international part will be handled through Vanguard. Given that I might be paying up to $40k in KiwiSaver fees over my lifetime, I’ll be keeping an eye on this to see if it’s worth switching. Maybe other KiwiSaver providers will up their game and sharpen up.

    This week’s links

    Still not quite sure how to answer this: What are you proud of?

    The best financial advice

    What’s harder: saving or repaying debt?

    8 financial commandments

    Finally, I’m feeling this post on first home ownership so hard right now.

  • August 18, 2016

    Should you quit your job to travel?

    Should you quit your job and travel_

    I’ve been there. Wanderlust eating you alive, from the inside out. Digital nomads and travel bloggers all over the internet urging you to up and go this very instant.

    So, should you quit your job to travel? Before you make that leap, there are a few factors to consider first.

    Your employment

    How career driven are you? How much do you enjoy your job? Could you work remotely?

    If you quit your job to travel, would you get rusty being out of the game? How could you stay sharp or pick up new skills? How might a resume gap look (in some industries nobody will even blink, in others it could be a big deal)?

    What will you do when you get back? Be honest: how employable are you really?

    In my case I had learned a lot from my job and was prepared to quit outright if I had to. I was confident my resume was strong enough that I wouldn’t be out of work for too long.

    But I was also a valuable team member and was able to negotiate an extended leave, meaning I had the security of a good job to come back to. I wasn’t miserable by any means; but my itch to travel was no longer containable.

    Also see: How to Take A Career Break to Travel, by Alexis Grant

    Your housing situation

    Say you do decide to quit your job and travel. What will you do about your home? Rent it out/sublet it? (And what if something goes wrong while you’re away?) Give up your lease? Sell it?

    Where will you stay when you get back? How hard will it be to find a new place then?

    For me it was an easy choice. Our rental was a typical NZ rental – damp, freezing and unhealthy. I wasn’t going to miss it.

    Your current obligations

    Do you have pets? Dependants? Family members who rely on you? Any other commitments tying you down? If so how might you manage these from afar?

    Your finances

    Put simply, can you afford it? How much will you need for your trip? (It all depends on your destinations and travel style.) Will you need it all upfront or do you have a plan to earn money while travelling? Do you have debt repayments, etc to keep up with while away? Are there bills and subscriptions that you can suspend or cancel? How much will you need when you get back – to settle in, cover you while job hunting, secure a home, etc?

    Also see: How we travelled the world without going into debt

    Enjoying the ride

    Will you actually like travelling continuously? A long term trip is not like a brief holiday. Extended travel has very little in common with your typical getaway of a few days or weeks. (There’s a reason lots of big name travel bloggers have now set up a home base somewhere!) Be sure to plan to leave some rest days in your itinerary – even perpetual travellers need weekends 😉 Just take a look at all the places to visit in Texas

    Finally…

    What if you realise you can’t tolerate going back to your old life?

    You don’t necessarily need an answer to that now. It may or may not happen. But I’m a big believer in plans. So give it some thought along the way – just in case you fall in love with a new city or country, or decide you want to be a self employed free spirit.

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