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Browsing tag: money

  • December 20, 2012

    Reflections on a year of no shopping

    a year of no shopping

    <image via jostel on flickr>

    It’s official: I don’t give two shits about fashion.

    Of course I wish I was more hip, thanks to the infinitely more stylish ladies in my office. (Still has nothing on the time I worked in the office of a fashion magazine.) But the thing about maturity (ha) is you come to realise what your real priorities are – and clothing and accessories are not among mine.

    I set myself a no shopping challenge this year, and I can’t say I’ve missed it. I don’t miss malls. I had no idea what ‘peplum’ meant when one of my best friends dropped it into a conversation, and I didn’t care (I’m googling it now).

    Basically, I was only allowed to replace things I actually needed. And my trip to Sydney in July proved the perfect time to do so, where I picked up two pairs of flats, a bag, and a wallet (the latter not strictly being essential at the time, but everything else was definitely a need).

    The canvas shoes (Ked-style ripoffs) that I put through their paces walking all over the city got waterlogged on the first (or was it second?) day, and while I could handle the squelching, I could not deal when the sole actually cracked – it literally split across the middle. So off I headed to a cheapie shoe place – I forget the name; we don’t have it here in NZ – and bought two pairs of ballet flats for $30. Expensive flats have never worked out for me, so I stick to the low end. Boots, on the other hand, are a different story. (That reminds me – I got my one pair of black leather boots resoled this winter, but they’re not going to last another season. Sigh.)

    Elsewhere, I’ve been lucky in that I scored free moisturisers and makeup through work, and the goodie bag at Semi-Permanent included a full-size tub of my holy grail: Trilogy Everything Balm. It almost made up for the fact that lunch wasn’t provided on either day, forcing me to go out and buy food.

    The one thing that’s still on my wishlist? A killer leather jacket. Unfortunately, I have neither the budget nor inclination to find the perfect one, unless it falls out of the sky. Cloudy with a chance of leather jackets? Yes please.

    What’s your shopping philosophy? Any standout purchases this year? What’s on your wishlist?

  • December 19, 2012

    The many must lose in order that the few may win

    I’ve never been much of a gambler. After turning 20, I went to the casino to see what it was like (and got torn apart by a commenter for spending $20 on the slots, which I thought was quite ridiculous, seeing as I would have spent that much on a couple of drinks if I was a drinker, and nobody would judge me for THAT).

    What I really found fascinating there was the people-watching potential. I can happily sit quietly and listen to group conversation for hours without contributing much, if anything, and watch people go about their business for just as long. At the casino, there’s the people who plant themselves at the tables and blow thousands in minutes; the people hanging out for one more hand, hedging their bets on roulette; the people who methodically, robotically scroll through the slots without ever seeming to see anything else around them (okay, they’re not so interesting to observe).

    The lure, of course, is the promise of hitting the jackpot. “$160,000!” (or whatever) the screens proclaim in lurid digits. That promise of a pot of gold is all the more accessible online through sites like Pokerstars.net (T has taken up casually playing there).

    After all, there are people who genuinely make money through gambling. Ever seen 21? Fascinating true tale about a bunch of mega-smart MIT students who basically used maths to hack blackjack and hit Vegas on weekends for millions. On a smaller scale, plenty of more average (but equally as dedicated) pros play cards for a living. A blog post I came across recently, The Hustler’s MBA, actually suggests learning poker as the first of nine steps in an alternate route to your typical university education (I can’t say I agree, but to his credit, later steps include travelling, learning to code, and starting a business).

    Here’s a sample of his argument:

    Poker will cost you money at first. Let’s say $5000 in the first year. After that you’ll be able to make between $45-60 per hour for the rest of your life. That’s about $85,000 per year, which adjusts for inflation because as money is inflated, the stakes to keep the game interesting will go up. You will also receive “raises” because you’ll always improve as a player and be able to play better stakes. If you’re dedicated to poker, getting this good is virtually guaranteed. I’ve been through the process and it’s not particularly hard. Can school guarantee you a job that pays this well?

    I’m inclined to agree with Tynan that it helps hone your logic and maths chops. As T always tells me, it’s all about reading your opponents and anticipating what they’ve got. (The one time I played with the guys, I played emotionally, and while I knew it, that never stopped me from forging on nonetheless rather than cutting my losses.) Some of his friends take it pretty seriously, getting together multiple times a week, and yes, making casino trips, which they often make a profit on.

    I’ve read my fair share of polemics making the case against university, although this one is definitely the first to advocate poker as a key income source.  And I’m sure he’d agree the advice is not for everyone. Making a legit $85k a year through poker = the exception, rather than the norm. I’ll stick to the role of observer, for one.

  • December 7, 2012

    Then and now: frugality through the years

    My last post saw me reflect on the life lessons I’d learned since graduation.

    Today, I’m turning the lens on my spending habits. Am I still super frugal? Has lifestyle creep stealthily draped its cloak around my shoulders?

    Well, yes, in a few ways.

    We pay more in rent, which was a deliberate choice I’m happy with.

    In 2007, my first year of university, we were paying $260 a week for a one-bedroom apartment. We actually paid less – $195 – for the next couple of years in a shared house. I think our next place was about the same, or slightly more, and then we moved to a studio for $250 after I graduated. It wasn’t till more than a year later that we moved to our current house.

    We now have Sky TV. 

    At our first shared flat, the flatmate from hell had Sky in his room and the boys would all crowd in to watch wrestling on Sunday nights. At the second, the executive decision was made to get Sky for the house. And from then on, there was no turning back. We moved out on our own, and now we foot the entire bill ourselves. Plus all our other essential utility bills have increased. Yay, inflation.

    While our food budget has remained the same (woot!), occasionally we splurge a little on a fancier place to eat out, or on more gourmet ingredients (meats, cheeses, etc).

    Weekly supermarket trips used to be a thing we did together. Now that I’m a more confident parker, and have actually learned to kind of like the process of picking out the best, freshest produce and finding bargains among the specials, I’ve taken over grocery shopping alone for the most part. It helps that now we’re only a couple of minutes away from both Pak n Save as well as an awesome Asian shop – T is a bit wary of the Asian place, but I have no qualms, so I head there almost every week and save buttloads on fresh food in the process. Our eating out budget is also the same.

    I still don’t pay for books (that’s what the library is for!) and I don’t pay for music.

    Given that I almost always have access to wi-fi, streaming songs is where it’s at these days.

    I spend less on beauty care.

    I used to obsess about my skin, and while skincare and makeup was never a huge part of my budget, I did make sure to pay for quality stuff. Nowadays I can get freebies in my line of work or through mystery shopping – but I don’t need them. I hardly ever wear foundation, I wash my face with water only (which wouldn’t work if you wear makeup, or have a different skin type – I tried the water only method when I was younger, oilier and pimplier, and it was a flop) and generally operate on the ‘less is more’ mantra. I put as little on my face as possible, and my uber-sensitive skin is all the better for it.

    I still buy clothes secondhand or on sale.

    And this year I haven’t bought any, except for two pairs of flats when my old shoes fell apart. Frugal living FTW.

    I’m happy to live a reasonably ascetic daily life, in order to direct my money toward travelling and seeing new places.

    Have your spending habits changed over the past few years?

  • November 22, 2012

    Work lunches: bring your own, save money

    Bring lunch to work and save moneyYou might have noticed a distinct lack of monthly spending recaps on this ole blog of late. I’ll admit, I’ve been less than upfront about our spending recently.

    Things have been out of whack, with our holiday (which I did recap financially in this post) putting money into T’s bike, and as I mentioned yesterday, a month of lost income.

    That doesn’t mean I’ve been entirely ignoring our financials. Reviewing the last couple of months made it clear we’d been paying for convenience too often, and that T had been nickel and diming us to death with purchases here and there (aside from his regular fun money, which is $80-100 a week, about half of which goes on lunches, $20 on poker night twice a week, and the rest of random snacks/golf/the rare night out, etc. To a tightwad like me, who hardly spends anything in a normal week, it’s insanely extravagant – but I can also see how fast that can go given how much things actually cost).

    We’re trying out a reduced allowance for him, in tandem with him starting to bring his own lunches to work. I used to make his lunches, but eventually I gave up as half the time he didn’t eat them and in all honesty, it’s enough of a grind organising my own. Now it’s all on him.

    The first week he managed to forget to bring his lunch one day, and on another I volunteered to make it because he was feeling sick in the evening. My gut feeling is this probably isn’t going to last all that long, and not for 5 days a week, every week. (I usually batch my lunches in two lots, cutting down prep time, but he’s more into sandwiches made daily.) The thing is, this is an area with definite potential for savings, and he really doesn’t make enough to justify buying food every day – I just don’t know if he’s cut out to put in the effort on this count.

    How does your household manage work lunches?

  • November 21, 2012

    A month of reduced income (and the risk that comes with trading time for money)

    The risks of trading time for money

    While I’m usually all for writing about what’s going on in my life, for some reason I didn’t really want to write about what happened last month while it was going on.

    A couple of days before we headed off on our two-week campervan trip, T strained his arm at work and got sent home. If you’ve got an elephantine memory, you might recall he sustained some nerve damage in a mosh pit over New Year’s. This was a flareup of the same thing.

    He had to have all sorts of scans, which obviously had to wait until our return. (Thanks to public healthcare, we only had to pay $37 for one of the tests.) It took a few weeks to get all those appointments done and dusted, only to return with no conclusive results.

    A month of no income

    When all was said and done, he’d been off work for a solid month; they wouldn’t take him back till he was cleared as his job involves heavy lifting. I covered all our expenses, meaning no savings for October. (Embarrassingly, even though keeping an eye on our money was more important than ever at the time, I avoided it as much as possible. My slacking off led to a slide into overdraft at one point – and yes, the sting of accompanying fees.)

    In the end, the doctors’ findings were inconclusive. And while ACC is meant to cover your lost income, up to 80%, as we found out, ACC won’t fork out without a defined cause.

    Back at work, T’s boss was MIA to start with, due to his own health concerns. It took a few weeks, but eventually HR got up to speed with the situation. At this stage, the gist of it is: the company won’t pay him for the time off. (And in terms of both legislated sick leave and annual leave, T is currently running on empty anyway.) They will back him up against ACC, however, and will go in to bat for him. Fighting ACC is not something I could be bothered with, quite honestly (if you’re in New Zealand, you’ve probably lost track of all the awful ACC stories that’ve been in the news this year), but if the company is going to spearhead it, we’ll go along for the ride.

    So at this stage, will we see any money for October? Quite possibly not. I’m not counting on anything. Always be prepared for the worst case.

    And while we’re on that note, the IRD owes him $500 odd as a tax refund. We got the notice a couple of months ago, but no cash has eventuated (and two online queries have gone unanswered). Anybody else still waiting on their tax refund for the 2011-2012 year?

    Protecting your income

    That got me thinking: even for the well-insured, severe or chronic health problems can really impede you, especially taking a longer-term view. (Funnily enough, T’s bank called him up, concerned about the distinct lack of money coming into his account. They also tried to pitch him on their income insurance policy, which apparently offered 50%.)

    For example, another friend (our heinous ex flatmate) recently had knee surgery and basically can’t work for a year. It’s not just you who’s affected. Your family, spouse, kids are all impacted if you’re off work for some time, both financially and in terms of other kinds of support that you might need. Your skills can stagnate and time out means missing out on retirement savings and puts you on the back foot for future pay rises.

    T’s job is somewhat physical, but by the same stroke, he’d hate to have a desk job. He’s a big guy but his body is way older than it should be. A 24-year-old should not have so many aches and pains, but I suppose years of sports take their toll.

    As much as the trades are necessary and even lucrative industries, there’s so much risk involved. You’d really need good income protection insurance to feel secure.

    If I sprained my ankle or broke my leg, I could still work. Maybe not so much if I broke my arm (I’d be very much slowed down, if not more or less out of action) but as a desk jockey/knowledge worker I am not automatically excluded from work until I fully recover.

    The thing about trading time for money, as most of us do, is that if you can’t work, you can’t earn money.

  • November 13, 2012

    How I’m saving money this Christmas

    How I'm saving money this Christmas

    It sucked growing up and not getting birthday or Christmas presents.

    But now that I’m an adult, I’m really glad my family plays it that way.

    Now that I don’t work public holidays, and will therefore be seeing them on Christmas day, I’ll bring something along – but it won’t be anything major. Baking. Books, maybe – we’ll see what freebies come my way at work within the next month (!!!).

    For T’s side, I’m planning to redeem a bunch of online survey points for various vouchers. I know a lot of people are vehemently opposed to vouchers, or worse, cash, but I’m a big fan of letting people spend as they wish, and I don’t think they will mind.

    As for T himself? I’m still not sure. He hates that I never want anything (seriously, the best gift anyone could ever give me is cash, which I would save), but honestly, he doesn’t make a whole lot anyway. My Scrooginess does not extend to him, so I hope he won’t want anything too extravagant or outrageous. I’m pretty sure I bought him a new release Xbox game last Christmas. My Scrooginess, however, does extend to a preference that we go shopping for our presents on Boxing Day when the sales are on, if we’re doing gifts.

    Have you started your Christmas shopping? Do you save or splurge when it comes to presents?

  • November 6, 2012

    Online shopping: a New Zealand perspective

    Since I got my first and only credit card back in 2007 (I still have the same one, although obviously not the exact same physical card as I’ve been through a couple of expiry dates, but the same account nonetheless) I’ve made many big purchases online. Mostly things like hotel reservations, flights, concert tickets.

    When it comes to buying physical goods online, I stick to smaller items. Guitar strings and contact lenses are SO much cheaper online than in shops. I bought my voice recorder and phone recording adapter online. I’ve bought a handful of clothes online, which is okay when you stick to a label you know and where you’re familiar with their sizing. I even played it risky and bought a bass amp online once (a trusted brand, of course).

    My Pretty Pennies recently had a bad experience buying clothes online, which actually inspired this post. See, I recently made my biggest ever purchase of physical goods online. T bought aftermarket full fairings for his bike (which he’s been working on), which cost not far off $1000. They arrived safely, are the right colour, shape and fit, and allowed for an all-round sigh of relief (although for some reason they packaged and sent one lot of bolts separately. Bizarre).

    To date, my only real damp squib remains picking up a genuine leather jacket off TradeMe that was never, ever going to fit me.

    We suffer from high prices and lack of choice here (on a related note, see Vanessa’s guest post on the headache that is shopping in Canada) though NZ Post has a new service, YouShop, that lets NZ shoppers buy items from US online stores to be delivered to a US address, and then on to their NZ address (circumventing policies that exclude NZ delivery, or impose high shipping charges). So it’s no surprise that online shopping is serious biz.

    That said, I’m definitely cautious about buying things off the internet, a fear that rises in proportion with the amount at stake.
    Here’s what I take into consideration.

    Is it a commodity? If so, it’s probably cheaper online. Books, CDs, etc.

    Can I check it out in person first, somehow? I bought my glasses online, but only after I was able to try the exact same pair on in a retail shop. That  was uber important to me because I have a ridiculously wide head and flat nose/face, which means very few frames fit properly. After that, by all means buy the exact same item online at a major discount.

    What about shipping? Shipping costs can kill a bargain. Apparently everyone loves Asos thanks to its free freight around the world. I’m keeping that in mind for the future (when I’m off my shopping ban), but not knowing anything about their sizing, I’d be wary.

    What do you buy online?

  • November 5, 2012

    How I’m dealing with the rising cost of necessities

    You’ve probably felt the pinch of the price of basics going up … and up … and up.

    The cost of living can only ever really go one way (and unfortunately cost of living raises don’t always follow).

    But I’ll admit that I don’t go too far out of my way, as a rule, to save here and there.

    Lately, though, I’ve been rethinking that and upping my efforts a little.

    Burning Money is Financial Crime and Waste in ...

    (Photo credit: epSos.de)

    Saving money on utilities/bills

    There’s not a whole lot we can do to conserve water, really, but I’ve become a stickler for turning things off at the wall. Power prices just keep on rising, and there’s no sign of them abating. It looks like this summer prices per kilowatt are going to be close to 30 cents. Ouch. As for internet, we have a pretty good deal that was possible with a credit repair company called New Day Credit. It could be better, in that we could get more for what we currently pay (or even slightly less money) but at the moment I’m not willing to commit to a 12-month contract with a new company.

    Saving money on groceries

    Somewhere in the past couple of years, we’ve gone from shopping together to me doing most of it. (Part of that is that I’m more confident in driving now, though breaking a wing mirror on a rubbish bin that was on the road rather than the pavement threw me a bit this month.) That means less of T throwing snacks into the trolley (I am bad at saying no) and more of me taking the time to shop for fresh meat and produce at the local Asian supermarket as well. That alone has really helped us keep the grocery bill in check (static, rather than increasing in line with food prices as a whole) because items can sometimes literally be as much as half the price compared to Pak n Save.

    Saving money on petrol

    We only have one car, and T drives it to work. He also drives around a LOT in his spare time. But he’s been cutting that down lately, with one friend in particular exiting his life, and doing a bit more carpooling/sharing of the driving burden rather than always being the one driving. It helps immensely. Seriously, the difference at the end of one week where T had come home every day straight after work and not left the house was half a tank’s worth.

    Are you feeling the pinch of rising costs? What, if anything, are you doing about it?

  • October 26, 2012

    Dichotomies and contradictions: Putting your money where your mouth is

    Now that I don’t work in the CBD, and don’t walk down Queen St every day, I can’t get used to not seeing the iconic Borders bookshop below the cinemas.

    “I can’t wrap my head around the fact that it’s just not there anymore!” I lamented to T on Diwali weekend as we passed the dark, hollow building, plastered with ‘For Lease’ signs.

    “You know why they had to close? Because of people like you, who go in there and read for hours without buying anything,” he replied without missing a beat.

    Ouch.

    While that’s not the whole truth – the book and CD industry is in near terminal decline – people like me didn’t exactly help stem the demise.

    In fact, when it comes to putting my money where my mouth is, I fall so far short it’s not funny.

    I love books, but I’ve never been a book buyer. I’ve had a library card ever since I can remember.

    I love good writing, full stop, but I don’t pay for it. Given that this is how I earn a crust … yikes. I don’t have any magazine subscriptions, and I’ve never donated to, say, Longreads, though I adore what they’re doing. In short, I grew up in the age of free content, and wound up in the heart of that industry. I’m part of the problem.

    I love music, but hate to pay for it.  I spent most of my childhood first taping songs off the radio, then pirating music in my teens. Now I pay to attend concerts, but we’re now well and truly into the age of streaming music, which costs nothing as long as I’m connected to the web.

    I love good food, but am loath to pay for good ingredients. We do from time to time – good cheese, good meat, good ice cream, good olive oil… but eating quality is not cheap. In fact, I love food but don’t enjoy cooking. (I’m mired in a MAJOR food rut at the moment. A spot of Food TV revived a bit of interest the other night, but not nearly enough.)

    Do you walk the talk when it comes to your dollars and cents?

  • October 15, 2012

    Hybrid cars: a week in the electric lane

    T and I have just spent a week driving around a new Honda hybrid, all in the name of journalism (he also recently enjoyed some Xbox 360 review games; long may that continue. Gaming is not a cheap hobby).

    General observations about modern cars, from the three new vehicles I’ve had cause to be in over the past couple of months: all the bells and whistles, buttons and levers, that they now slap on steering wheels, are kind of distracting. However, I definitely like the move to put the speedo up top above the rest of the dashboard – it’s incredibly hard to miss that way, and hopefully will help if you’re prone to careless speeding.

    We did nearly 400km on $50 of petrol (!!!) though most of that can probably be attributed to the difference between our 15-year-old car and a new model vehicle rather than electric-specific savings. With fuel prices the way they are (and only going up), having to return the Honda IMA definitely stung.

    Hybrids are still new enough that they’re not even on our budget radar, but when we’re older and wealthier, then WHY to THE HELL NOT? It does remain to be seen, though, just how well the technology ages – a more complex system is more prone to things going wrong.

    Of course, the pipe dream would be for a real full-electric option. HaloIPT is one neat Auckland company spun out of the university (which has since sold to a UK firm) working on inductive power transfer technology that would overcome some of the barriers around charging car batteries. Now, if only industry would stop dragging its heels on mainstream electric cars …

    Would you buy a hybrid? Why or why not?

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