The reason goes back to that very first year I lived on my own.
I studied mostly, and I worked where I could, and my budget was incredibly tight. It looked something like this.
$165 living costs (rent and all inclusive bills)
$30 groceries
$20 for bus fare
I had about $20 left over every week. A bag of chips or a block of chocolate was a splurge. (Things like the time I slammed my hand in a door and had to go to the doctor in a rush threw everything off.)
I ate a crap ton of jam sandwiches. I packed them in brown paper bags. I had a sweet tooth, and figured there was fruit in the jam so it must be somewhat healthy.
(Yeah, I relate everything back to food, but what did you expect from me?)
As my budget eventually loosened up my lunches became more varied. I stopped eating jam outright. I’d overloaded to the max and I couldn’t stomach it any longer. Plus, it reminded me of my brokest days.
I don’t eat jam anymore, though the day may come when I buy it again. I might even try making it – I have an overachieving guava tree and more guavas than I know what to do with, though I don’t particularly like the fruit.
An assortment of random, workplace related thoughts:
Instead of getting caught up in jealousy and insecurity, I’ve been really trying to consciously focus on learning from other people at work.
The outcomes of something I worked on came in for some criticism the other week. A couple years ago I think I would have been devastated, but I took it in my stride. I’m confident enough in myself, my judgement and skills these days to stand by what I do, especially when a number of others came in to bat on my side.
Suddenly it seems a bunch of people I used to work with have snagged shiny new jobs as “Head of Something or Other”. I have zero desire to be head of anything, but I do get a small pang of professional envy…
This week’s links
Bored of all the jobs, don’t know what to do with myself (Two great points from Ask a Manager here, I think: Funding your ability to live life is the core of success; and why are some people expected to be okay with working for a paycheck while others are encouraged to settle for nothing less than their dreams?)
What keeps me in Auckland? Work. Loved ones. Malaysian food. The landscapes. 20 degree days in June.
Nip up Mt Eden and look out across the city at Rangitoto. How great is that view? Swing round and look back out at the Waitakeres. We live in a tree city set among volcanoes. It’s like Endor. Ewoks would be happy here. We have relaxing beaches on the North Shore and full-on ones out West. Jump on a ferry to Waiheke, have a sniff around Rodney. It’s bloody great around here.
I kill it every day at work, but outside of the office my middle name might as well be Snorlax.
I hate gyms with a passion
They are a strange and foreign environment. I spent a year in an apartment with a free building gym and spent about 10 minutes in it, total. I know better than to waste money on a membership I’ll never use. If I must exercise, I will run and hike outside.
I can’t be bothered with contact lenses anymore
In summer maybe, but even then, not full time. Between battling dry/sensitive eyes and the hassle of putting on makeup (a necessity to liven up my face sans the visual dominance of glasses) it’s too much work for the sake of vanity.
I procrastinate like it’s my actual job.
I haven’t had a haircut in six months and counting. Haven’t been to the optometrist or dentist for two years. The latter is definitely NOT good and I’m going to rectify that soon, I swear.
My contents insurance, which WAS around $1200 a year when I was renting, plunged to about $400 when I bought my house. Car insurance decreased by a few bucks too. Unexpected fringe benefits of home ownership! My jaw literally dropped when I heard the new figure and I had to ask the rep to repeat it back to me.
My house insurance is about $1250 a year. And since I got a $1200 cash gift from my new bank when I confirmed my mortgage, it’s basically free for the first year.
Council rates (the equivalent of property taxes in some of your countries) are pretty darn affordable. Mine are just under $1500 a year. This is typical for houses in this range; when house hunting I saw probably up to a $500 variation in annual rates between all the properties, based on their value.
And YES, before all you lovers of renting jump in, I’m prepared for the costs of maintenance – I will be referring back to my pre-purchase house inspection report plenty over the coming years, which was brimming with recommendations around everything from insulation to safety glass.
Replacing the deck and repainting the roof will probably be the priorities – but a new kitchen just might come first. There’s no rangehood, no splashback (both noted in the report as matters to remedy) and everything just generally needs an overhaul. Might even knock through a wall and make the whole living and kitchen area open-plan with an island.
How much am I paying?
My 30-year mortgage is structured in three parts. Here’s what it’s costing me per fortnight:
$77.83 ($30,000 floating loan @ 5.29% – was 5.44% at drawdown but rates dropped since)
$492.24 ($215,000 fixed loan for 2 years @ 4.35%)
$474.30 ($200,000 fixed loan for 3 years @ 4.65%)
So I’m paying the bank $1044.37 every fortnight, plus I’m also repaying my family at $200 on top of that: $1244.37 all up. Or, $2488.74 a month.
So, if any of that sounds weird, here’s a simple intro to mortgage options.
Or if you’re not much of a video person, let me try to run you through how things work here.
Fixed vs floating: There are fixed mortgage rates and floating (variable) mortgage rates. Fixed rates are typically lower.
The minimum term you can fix for here is generally 6 months and the maximum 5 years. Lots of people (like me) split up their mortgage into a few separate loans, some floating, some fixed. Floating allows you to focus on repaying the loan without penalties, while fixed gives you some certainty around rates (but with less repayment flexibility). And thus, a combo can offer the best of both. Its is not as easy to get a loan in NZ as in some countries like Sweden where you can get a loan via sms or as they call in sweden sms lån.
Then there are a few more types of mortgage accounts available with floating rates:
Revolving credit loans are basically a giant overdraft, with one account acting as your loan, chequeing and saving account all in one. All your pay goes straight into the account and the idea is to leave the money sitting there as long as possible (eg putting your expenses on a credit card and paying them off at the end of the month). By keeping the account balance (and thus, loan balance) as low as possible at any time, you save on interest because the bank calculates interest daily.
Obviously this requires discipline and organisation, though you may be able to set it up so that your credit limit reduces over time, making it easier to stay on top of things and ensure you’re making progress. When it comes to refinance/rollover time I imagine I’ll choose revolving credit for part of my mortgage.
Similar but different, an offset mortgage is linked to your other accounts with the bank. Your mortgage interest is offset by the amount you have in your other accounts. For example, if your mortgage balance was $500,000 and you had $20,000 between your savings and chequing accounts, you would only be paying interest on $480,000. But compared to revolving credit, offsetting is not offered by as many banks.
Our chickens have probably grown about 50%. They are huge compared to when we first brought them home! They still aren’t laying yet. Not exactly sure how old they are but their combs haven’t turned red yet (they are in the beginning stages)
We started off feeding them pellets, which the dog used to try and steal. Now we feed them mash, which she doesn’t really seem interested in.
The dog tends to follow them around curiously but I’m pretty sure we’ve drilled into her that they are friends, not foes.
But she will try to chase birds. In fact, she actually managed to catch one the other, unbelieveably. It eventually died 🙁
She is me in dog form – seriously food motivated, and prefers drinking warm water to cold #asianforlife.
This has been a sad week for humanity. But let’s remember the vast majority of us are good folk and let’s do our bit to preserve that. Here are 2 pieces from Captain Awkward and Ask Polly that made me cry while on the train to work.
I have a penchant for good food and travel, but by happy accident, there are lots of ways in which I manage to save money with zero effort. Accidentally frugal, that’s me. Here’s how I save money without even trying.
I don’t really drink … anything
Alcohol, coffee and soft drinks don’t really agree with my digestive system. I don’t know how much NOT buying any of these on the regular saves me but I bet it’s a reasonable amount. Plus I’m a lightweight so if I do drink one is always enough.
I’m unfashionable
I have no sense of fashion nor interest in it. Every so often I go through a spurt of wanting to be stylish and plan to start accessorising and planning outfits more carefully – which never lasts very long before I revert to my lazy ways. There’s no point trying to fight my inner nature.
I’m kind of antisocial
I have friends, I swear, but I’m hardly swamped with invitations out every week. (Years ago I figured I needed to start making new adult friends and swore to start going to Meetups: then I realised I find it hard enough to keep up with my small circle and if I can’t even maintain my current friendships I shouldn’t add anymore.) My social calendar is sparse and I like it that way. More time to cuddle up with the dog and a book at my cosy place.
I love carbs
Seriously, I could basically live off potatoes, pasta, bread and rice.
I hate driving. And parking
Having a car is a necessity here but it’s also expensive! There’s no reason for us to have two vehicles and being a one car household definitely saves money. It’s occasionally inconvenient but those instances are rare.
The most refreshing thing about How to Worry Less About Money is the author’s unflinching observation of how money affects relationships. In this book, John Armstrong relates this back to his own marriage.
“My own experience is that money worries can cause terrible conflicts in relationships. I fear I have damaged Helen’s life by not making more money. And there are stylistic clashes: I like being lavish; she’s much more restrained. For instance, I like the idea of going to fancy restaurants; she prefers the modest family-run place round the corner, or chicken soup at home. (And this is all the harder to deal with because our earnings point in the opposite directions to these personal tastes).”
Well, I’m the Helen in my life, and I can vouch for the fact that I have felt resentful many a time. I wish that weren’t true, but I am human, and perhaps not always a very good one. This is us, down to a T, especially the incongruence between tastes and earnings. I would be curious to hear Helen’s viewpoint.
Money and marriage
Armstrong points out that in the world of Jane Austen, having enough money is taken very seriously (and rightly so!) as a necessary condition of happy marriage. Money reduces the fragility of a relationship, and makes people more relaxed. Money buys luxury, privacy and stimulation. Money is for some people an aphrodisiac.
All of these things resonate so hard (perhaps not exactly the last one, but financial stress is a huge turn off and therefore lack of money is definitely a turn off).
Alas, there are no true solutions offered up, despite the practical promise offered in the title. This is a philosophical read about how we think about money, relate to it, the space it occupies in our minds and lives.
It’s a book about money worries, as opposed to money troubles.
Money troubles vs money worries
Money troubles, Armstrong contends, are urgent. They call for direct action and can only be resolved in one of two ways: either you gain access to more money or you go without something else.
Money worries, conversely, are about imagination and motions, not just what is happening now. Money worries often say more about the worrier than the world. They’re about what’s going on in your head not just in your bank account.
The meaning of money
When you strip money right back to the fundamentals, it is just a resource – a means of exchange.
“In other words money is an instrument … Ultimately the task in life is to translate efforts and activities that are inherently worthwhile into possessions and experiences that are themselves of lasting and true value.
“That is the ideal money cycle. Our relationship with money becomes unhealthy when we remove it from this cycle. That happens when we stop seeing money as potential possessions and experiences – but rather see possessions and experiences as potential money.”
We’re all bombarded these days with the reminder to DO WHAT YOU LOVE. Armstrong acknowledges that we need to make enough money to meet our needs and we also need to do things that help us make sense of who we are and contribute to collective good.
“You can escape by not caring about meaning. And you can escape by not caring about having much money. But a lot of people care about both.”
* * *
If you know roughly what to expect going in, this is a great read. I related to so much of it, I was constantly nodding along and found myself bookmarking what seemed like every other page.
I’ve been reading a lot lately. Books about money, even! While it’s wildly idealistic and rather fluffy in parts, there were 5 particular passages in The Soul of Money that stood out to me.
“I have seen the powerful grip that money has on our lives, the wounds and hardship that it can impose on us, and the immense healing power of even the smallest amount of money when we used it to express our humanity – our highest ideals and our most soulful commitments and values.”
“We all have an identifiable, though largely unconscious and unexamined, relationship with money that shapes our experience of life and our deepest feelings about ourselves and others. Whether you count your change in dollars, yen, rupees, or drachmas, money is one of the central, linchpin issues in all our lives. It is in mine, and it is a central issue for everyone I’ve ever met, no matter how much or how little money they have.”
“We are born into a culture defined by money, and our initial relationship with money is the product of that culture, whether it is one based primarily in poverty, in a country like Mozambique or Bangladesh, or a culture of affluence and wealth in a country like the US or Japan. From our earliest experiences, we learn money’s place and power in our families, our communities and in our own lives.”
“No matter where we are in the political, economic, or financial resource spectrum, the myths and mindset of scarcity create an underlying fear that we, and the people we love or care about, won’t have enough of what’s needed to have a satisfying, happy, productive, or even survivable life.”
“No matter how much or how little money you have flowing through your life, when you direct that flow with soulful purpose, you feel wealthy. You feel vibrant and alive when you use your money in a way that represents you, not just as a response to the market economy, but also as an expression of who you are.”
Lots of personal finance bloggers, especially after becoming debt-free, say saving is boring.
I don’t get it.
I love watching my money grow and the numbers tick up. There’s nothing better – except cheesecake, maybe.
I’m a bit of a hoarder in real life, so maybe it’s not surprising that I also like to hoard money (real or otherwise – sometimes I think wistfully of all the Neopoints I had banked back in the day).
I was so resentful of my consumer debt, basically because I didn’t actually get anything out of it. It was all incurred while supporting an unemployed partner – less consumer debt and more keeping up with bills, really.
But now that I have a mortgage, I just might be changing my tune. It’s a different story as I deliberately took on this debt, plus the payoff is so much bigger.
I don’t mind my mortgage as I wouldn’t have a home without it, but I’d like to minimise the massive effect of compounding interest working against me.
The $3,000 in extra lump sum payments I’ve made? Apparently saves over $9,000 in interest over the long run.
Who would’ve thought that the latest Captain America movie could spawn such wisdom?
To live in this world is to compromise. And to be in a relationship is to compromise.
I kept reaching my limit … or so I thought.
And then I would push through. Just a little longer, I would think. Surely things will change. This can’t continue indefinitely.
For better and for worse, right?
But when something or someone is the sole source of your stress and there is no sign of it changing – it’s time to reevaluate. Be kind to yourself, first and foremost.
You may not know where your true limits lie. I know I didn’t. And that epiphany may wind up coming from elsewhere.
In my case, I was physically falling apart – in rather obvious ways. That’s when I knew I had to draw a line. That was something I could not compromise on.
Listen to your body, because it doesn’t lie.
I may have had to learn the hard way, but now I know where I can and cannot compromise.
An assortment of random, workplace related thoughts:
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