Frugal Friday

It is nice to be living in a time where there is so much more focus on living cheaper and saving money, I think I prefer it to the excess consumerism of a few years ago in actual fact. I’m still not convinced, though that things here are all that different for most people yet economically, but articles like this one are appearing which discuss how much money we could save by simply not comparing ourselves with others and basically bending to the pressure of what we think we should be doing. A trend towards living within our means – how novel!

I was thinking about this over the weekend, how my parents were so great at living on a budget when we were younger. They used to often say that other people’s parents had nice cars, lifestyles etc because they were in debt and putting it on the credit card. I’m sure I though, why don’t we too and didn’tI really understand their philosophy until I became an adult myself actually and even more recently I’ve come to respect my parent’s budgeting decisions and forgive them for inflicting the 1971 Cortina on me in the 90s.

Driving an older car, turning down social invitations, not having the latest fashions and buying in a less desirable area or renting all show that perhaps you’re not all that well off or struggling. But so many people I know are totally over-committed financially. Yes they have the nice house they’re renovating and an SUV, but they can’t afford groceries to feed their kids. That’s no life!

My parents were really lucky that they had extremely cheap rent for 28 years at the house I grew up in – $50 a week to live on a farm and have a pretty large amount of land to use is a gift and it was in a central location so my dad actually didn’t have to move for work at all (he was in construction). But they always had investments and owned other property that was rented out. This is very, very un-kiwi as owning property is totally part of the middle class dream here, something I didn’t realise until I was well into my twenties. But you know? They managed to budget through the tough economic times in the early 90s when there was no work in construction, and when their income increased again within a few years they went from driving old bomb cars and struggling to pay bills to paying cash for newer cars and buying a holiday house at the beach (freehold). I’m now only starting to realise actually how cool that is.

I think that my teen years and then subsequent poor student years did effect my attitude to money, something I’m only realising as I type this post. When I did start earning a good income for the first time in my life I went a little crazy and didn’t budget as well as I could have. Or at all. Ouch, I’m being honest here.

I know I got a bit caught up in appearances, spending too much on clothing, my hair and living the good(ish) life with other young professionals. Probably for the first time in my life I didn’t have people feeling sorry for me or looking down on me for my clothes or car or whatever. Interesting huh? It’s amazing how your teenage years and being mocked for falling apart shoes, naff clothing  and being picked up in the embarrassing 70s car (which is now a classic, funny that) can scar you for so long.

So for now I’m going to keep my fingers crossed that my cheap, old car I drive will stay road worthy and continue to be slightly out of fashion with my clothing for a while (who says you can’t dress with flair anyway) and try to pay cash for things, rather than take the credit route. And I just don’t care what other people think about my decisions either, well except for the bank manager.

It’s actually quite humbling to have to be open and transperant about your financial situation. Hard, but probably good for you.

Gidday from Sydney

Things are great here in Sydney – the weather had been wonderful for winter – 19 degrees and sunny and clear. You can’t complain about that really. I had a lovely flight over on the A380 – it is definitely a great experience on Emirates – very spacious, good food, fabulous service and even the toilets are lovely and have wood panelling in them! I will take photos on the way back I promise. I was totally exhausted on Monday and I’ve been struggling a bit with energy levels since then, which is frustrating. Do nothing and feel good, or push myself and get very tired.

On arrival  in Sydney, I was met by my friend’s husband who works at the airport and he had just been having coffee there with a friend from work. The ‘friend’ was a guy, in his twenties who in hindsight tried to impress me by talking about some of the charity work that he’s involved in. Darren then admitted in the car that the ‘friend’ had seen me in their wedding video and wondered who the cute blonde was… so Darren offered that he could meet me. I was ever so embarassed as it was a fairly late night, I didn’t have much makeup on and amd 5 years older and a wee bit fatter than in that video. Oh and my lovely friend’s thought I was only 29 and not 32, so I’m actually four years older than the person they were trying to set me up with. Hopefully I didn’t scare him too much.

I went down to Cronulla yesterday which is a seaside suburb, south of Sydney and had a wander around the shops and walk along the beach. I could definitely enjoy living in a place like that. Today I ventured on the train (which ended up being a long trip, even though driving it wouldn’t take that long) over to an area called Cabramatta which is basically like another Hanoi. I felt like a big blonde giant there as pretty much everyone else is Vietnamese and of the shorter persuasion there. It was bustling at 9.30am when I got there with everyone stocking up on fruit, veg, seafood etc etc. I love the Pho restaurants full of people slurping up their noodles and all the other amazing food available. At 10am I thought I felt like food and since it was lunchtime in NZ I indulged in some lovely beef noodle soup, with bean sprout, basil, lemon and chilli to add in for flavour. Mmm. Perfect on a crisp winter morning!

I stocked up on some lovely Vietnamese treats and remembered more of what I loved about living in Sydney and then made my way back on the train where a teenage boy managed to get our whole train carriage to sing happy birthday to him. Truly! I was quite surprised that everyone went along with his request, reserved Kiwis defnitely wouldn’t do that.

This afternoon after a brief nap I caught up with a dear friend and her little 8 month old girl, who is absolutely georgous, it was so nice to see them and wander around the shops here with them.

It feels like 7pm to my body right now though it’s only 5 and I feel ready for bed… my friends aren’t home from work yet so I guess I need to stay awake for a bit more. I’m off to the city tomorrow, the hotel has turned out to be a stroke of genius as I’m finding the train trips rather tiring, even though the trains are absolutely brilliant here.

I seem to have having a lovely busy time at the moment, which probably explains why right now I’m still in bed in my PJs at 10am on a Monday morning. I fly out to Sydney tonight so I really need to go finish packing and check that I’m not too fat for the clothes I’ve thrown in there as well as make sure I have suitable attire for the weather. I just checked the weather forecast and I think it’s basically a few degrees warmer than here and sunny so some lighter clothing and a jacket for night should be fine I hope. I actually moved to Sydney in the first week of August and I can’t remember being cold at all, but also have no idea what I actually wore.

Anyway,  so I had a lovely weekend with a friend from Wellington. She took me to Dralion on Friday night which was my second Cirque show, but equally as enjoyable. I came away feeling very encouraged that we are all created for different roles in life. Mine is definitely not to be a dancer, acrobat or gymnast and I’m ok with that.

I wasn’t when I was eight struggling trough PE clases, but I’ve made my peace with it now.

Then on Saturday we drove over to Thames on the way through to the beach house and bought the world’s biggest garlic salami that was pretty much pure beef. It was very tasty for lunch later that day, but probably it was good it was just the two of us and we didn’t have to share a room with anyone.

We had a lovely walk on the beach, enormous fun playing on swings and flying foxes, some great Chilean red wine and our evening entertainment consisted of dissing the plot of Pretty Woman which was on TV. Seriously, it’s a bit a strange story when you think about it . Do the morally wrong thing and get the rich dude who does a cosmetic makeover on you and then you’re suddenly acceptable? Yeah, we did think about it way too much.

Sunday morning I was a wee bit tired, but somehow I convinced myself that as it was such a stunning day we needed to walk up the massive hill at the end of the beach. Seen here in this photo I took from the top of another massive hill:

It’s a great walk if you want to improve your fitness – I don’t think there is a flat spot on it at all, you just keep climbing….. and climbing…. but you get up in about 50 minutes. And the view is great.

Sorry I didn’t take my camera so no shots of it.

After we hurtled down (which was almost harder on our dodgy 30-something knees) we had a huge lunch of leftovers and I had a  nana nap before the clean up and drive home.

Oh, but then I lost my car keys.

Yes, when we had to get back for a flight in Auckland, I could not for the life of me find my car keys. We pulled apart my handbag, the house (which was already locked up and the way we hide the spare key is like a treasure hunt so it was very annoying), pulled apart the car looking under seats and in crevices etc etc etc. I started to get a teeny bit stressed and then I shook the plastic bag that had a towel and sheets in and heard a jingle.

Music to my ears – the stupid blinkin key had fallen in a towel fold!

Luckily we were leaving with plenty of time to spare and we still managed the lovely scenic drive home all a coast with migratory birds at sunset.

So now I feel like a bus has hit me and I really need to get moving and pack and buy toilet paper for the flatmates so they can do their thing while I’m away.

Hopefully I can have a good sleep tonight and feel a bit better tomorrow, and not get woken but loud Australian birds at the crack of dawn tomorrow.

Frugal Friday

Ok, this week it’s all abut cutting down on bills for me. And not getting charged silly fees that I shouldn’t be charged due to my dumb brain not working properly. I like to blame it on the MTBI, but it’s likely I’ve been dumb for a while. I just have a really good excuse now.

I recently switched over my electricity retailer, which should save a bit of money and I get a whole bunch of free Fly Buys points (points you earn spending money and can redeem for flights and stuff – I’ve flown for free twice with them so they’re worth it). I also have been a nazi about heating this winter and other than the brief cold spell in June haven’t really turned the heater on, my bedroom is luckily pretty warm and I like sitting under blankets anyway. Luckily July so far has been pretty balmy really, so that’s helped tremendously.

I’m looking into my spending on telecomunications as well now. Does anyone else stop and think about how much more we spend now, than say ten years ago on communication? I do… sometimes… I had a mobile ten years ago, but I only ever spent $30 a month on it then, now with data allowances, sms, peak calling etc etc you can be spending a fortune (well in NZ you can anyway), plus the broadband internet connection as well. There isn’t a huge amount of competition here and things are expensive but I’m definitely trying to figure out ways to cut back. I’m not quite at the point of getting rid of our landline, as I actually use it quite a lot now I’m at home, but I think I’ll do some maths when I get back from my holiday about switching broadband provider.

I am also keeping my slightly crappy phone I got just over a year ago for a bit longer yet as there is nothing wrong with it, it just isn’t that cool or user friendly. I really want and upgrade to a smart phone, but I know I will have to change to a much more expensive plan if I do, as well as buy a new phone. So, given that I’m not working and spend most of my day at home anyway (and sort of sick of mobiles in general), I’m going to keep what I have. I will definitely get a phone with a decent calendar function when my life gets more challenging though – it will be best to not rely on my brain so much then!

The issue I’m having with fees from my bank is a problem since my accident, so yesterday I reinstated my overdraft (which I’m now going to promptly forget I have so I don’t spend that money) and even though I’ll pay $5 a month for the honour of it, I think it’ll save me money until I’m off compensation payments. The trouble with my account is that it lets me keep spending when there is no money, but then charges me for it. Grr. I’d rather just get declined and transfer money over. It’s so annoying as with everything else my budgeting is going so well, I just forget that some of the automatic payments I used to have are set for how I used to get paid and now I’m paid weekly I get all messed up.  Stupid brain.

Oh and I’m going over to our beach house for the weekend with a friend who’s come up from Wellington and I have made granola/muesli bars, gluten free biscotti, have a casserole bubbling in the slow cooker as we speak and have organised a menu for the weekend and packed up the pantry. Food on weekends away can be one of those spending traps you fall into and since there aren’t really places to eat out over there, I’m super organised with some great food. Pretty much, I’m just using up food I already bought and just need to go pop out and buy some fruit and we’ll be set. With sharing petrol costs it will be a cheap weekend away.

This whole saving money game is sort of fun you know

Looks can be deceiving

Does anyone else read blogs, flick through facebook or browse the internet and fight of nagging feelings of inadequacey and try to squash down the green-eyed monster?

Or is it just me?

I think we mostly all try to post the best version of ourselves on the Internet, the weddings, baby photos, nights out where we had makeup on- those are the pictures we load up usually. Especially on Facebook where the guy you kissed when you were 18 might be reading (though I had a coffee with him last week and I hadn’t really glammed myself up so I don’t think I need worry about my photos in the future) or the girl from High School who always picked on you might see. You want them to know you’re thriving and doing well, right?

Blogging can be similar, though I think the blogs I enjoy the most are the ones that the blogger writes honestly about what is going on with them. Anne Jackson’s blog is one that I read regularly and she wrote this week about tasks she’s thrown herself into, how it’s a trap and it hasn’t been good for her. Meanwhile I’ve been sitting back for the last couple of months reading her posts and wishing I lived a fraction of her life.

I sometimes fight to stay happy for those planning weddings, having babies (though Andrea I don’t think I’m that jealous of you after your last post on the horrors joys of childbirth, good luck with that ) enjoying vacations in glamorous locations, having fun with their kids, etc etc. But I know I should know better, that I don’t see anything of the struggles that these people are going through.

I was reminded of this when someone commented on my previous post about what I love, saying it looks like I have a great life. While, I’ll take it as a compliment that my exercise in positivity prompted such a response, it actually was sort of hard for me to write that list, but I’m desperately trying hard to be thankful for my life at the moment. It’s been almost a year since I finished at work and with no real light at the end of the tunnel at the moment, I know I need to be thankful for where God has me. Actually, I know God has challenged me to praise him, maybe my breakthrough will come through this. I’ll keep you posted.

I’m finding this quite often lately actually, that my acceptance and relative contentment with my situation in life means that others who are going through fairly minor issues compared to mine don’t even notice or realise how tough my life might just be. Maybe this is just my personality and I think could have been one of the reasons why I didn’t get any help from anyone last year when I really needed it. But I also know it’s been a real battle for me to be thankful, praise, rejoice and the even bigger battle is for me to have faith in the future.

This world we live in shows us so many options every day through the media, internet, television, movies. Too many options I think sometimes, for us to be content with our ‘lot’ in life. I know I struggle in this little country on the bottom of the world that many have never heard of. I think we need to be happy with where we are meant to be, yes we should set goals and have dreams. But we also need to understand our place in the world and what we are meant to do with our gifting, talent, resources and enjoy our journey. Not covet someone elses.

Next time you start to waste time on envy and feeling inadequate, stop and think. Do you really know what is going on in that person’s life, what a struggle it may have been for them to get where they are today.

And maybe, just maybe we all need to work on being more real. Maybe.

Random things I love

1. The world that opens up to my through the internet, I love reading people’s stories, finding out how to do random things that I might want to do, researching ingredients for cooking and feeling connected with the world generally from little ol’ NZ.
2. That I’m going to Sydney on Monday next week – and that I’ll get to see actual people I love! Like Mel…And Soph…
3. I love Sydney too…  I love flying in over the city and I love how beautiful the harbour is
4. I love that Auckland is so easy to get out of – that I can get into pure country within 25 minutes and ride my bike with cows, pigs and fields out in this area:
5. I love the time I’m getting to think and that God cares about me enough to give me this time to get well and grow. It’s also great that I’m looked after financially, though money is tight it’s not too bad really.
6. That there is a factory shop near my house and I can buy Paraben free shower gels and moisturisers really cheap. This was actually an answer to prayer believe it or not. And they are really nice products.
7. I love that I’ve been living in my house for almost two years now, which is the longest that I’ve lived anywhere. And while I can’t afford to live alone, I have a place I can call home.
8. I love that church has had some great speakers in the last couple of weeks, sometimes you need a bit of a spiritual kick up the butt in the middle of winter.
9. Finally I love that my neighbour has filled their Jacuzzi/Spa Pool and I can go and use it

Frugal Friday

This week I managed to get a great deal on a hotel in Sydney – $99 for two nights in a one bedroom apartment right near Hyde Park. The catch is I have to go to a presentation for a vacation club (who’ve tried to get me to go to their presentations before actually in NZ) but I figured it’s worth the sacrifice for two nights accommodation and free breakfasts each day. If I was being truly tight ass I would just stay with friends the whole time like I normally do, but I decided I wanted (and needed) some quiet time while I’m over there so I don’t come back completely exhausted and it will be great to have a base in the city, which will save me money on public transport anyway.

There are some great deals out there at the moment on hotels, I get emails from quite a few chains offering bargains on hotel rooms. I also signed up for alerts of the cheap flight deals as well, that’s how I got my special deal on Emirates. If you are going to take a break, it’s well worth keeping an eye on the deals around. Also, I figure that the travel and tourism industry is really struggling at the moment and we don’t want them to go out of business as competition is a good thing.

I also see a lot of good deals at restaurants at the moment, though I’m not taking them up myself. Many in Auckland are offering set meals, or name your price lunches and I hear the same thing is happening in Sydney. It’s a great way to get a fabulous meal for a great price and make sure your favourite restaurant survives the recession.

This week

Life hasn’t been too bad lately, I’ve had a nice routine and a good balance of people time with quiet time (more of the latter thankfully) and have managed to do yard work, mow lawns for the first time in my life, clean the garage and the dreaded cupboard under the stairs. Order and cleanliness are definitely good for a brain injury. I did crash on Tuesday morning after a really old friend called in for a visit and I’m not really sure why, but my brain just woudn’t focus and it was freezing so I figured I’d go to bed with the electric blanket on and watch movies.

I’m looking forward to my appointment next month with the Occupational Physician, but I’m also trying not to get my hopes up that things will move quickly after that. I found out the Occupational Doctor (which is a different thing apparently) I met with in December has been dragging the chain seriously and my Case Manager and a higher up person are meeting him on Friday to try to get things sorted. It really does seem like every crack there is to fall into, I fall since my accident. I can only hope and have faith that God is in control.

Funnily enough, I am getting to the point that I was told I’d get to, where I see the accident as a good thing and how it will cause me to make some big changes in my life. I’ve decided I probably won’t put too much pressure on myself to work fulltime again if I can help it. I think I like the extra time for myself and actually if I could work from home I think I’d like that too. I’m trying to have faith and not limit myself too much, but regardless of how much better I get I know I don’t want to go back to my old life. I was told I’d change my thinking a year ago, but I never thought I actually would, this extra time off has definitely helped.

I’ve also been on a strange Korean and Japanse food kick this week. A post of Bento is going to follow I feel as well. Does anyone else get like this? Go through a patch of cooking the same sort of food for a while and then move onto another cuisine? I even had Korean for dinner last night in town before a movie which was a yummy treat.

Sydney is looming too, I have quite a busy time of it coming up so I really need to make sure I take next week easy. The trip is making me a little anxious at times – I’m trying to cool some of my expectations and make sure I don’t get too busy there. But it does seem like a God thing also as I got a really cheap deal on a hotel (I have to go to a presentation on joining their vacation club, but for $99 for two nights I can live with that) and I found out last night via Facebook that a friend is coming from Singapore at exactly the same time as I’ll be there. We haven’t seen each other for six years so I’m really excited.  Quite frankly as well the Auckland weather starts to get a bit dreary right about now so hopefully Sydney will be that little bit better.

I also committed a sin this morning that I need to confess, I went to McDonalds with my coffee group. It was a McCafe and I ordered a Soy Chai, that was really large and really good actually. But I broke my run of not giving the evil empire any money. Sigh. School holidays and coffee groups with a bunch of mums will do that to you.

Biking has been great lately, I have been easily doing 22km bike rides to a little town out from my parent’s place so I think I need to challenge myself and go for 30kms next. I also went half way up One Tree Hill on Monday before I just about passed out from a stroke, so looks like I have another goal to get up that hill!

That’s my life for the week, pretty mundane but it will be the last quite week for a little while so I’ve enjoyed it.

Winter…. yes those are Magnolias

I spotted these flowers starting to peak out at the park today.

Yeah, I know I’m spoilt to have such mild winters.

Frugal Friday

I love giving presents, but I find it to be so expensive and often birthdays come at a time that you can least afford to buy something. Lately I’ve been trying to stock up on gifts in advance when I see cool things and keep them away in the cupboard for birthdays. My big secret is factory shops – there is a fantastic one about ten minutes drive from my place that sells lovely body products, candles and the like. Mostly paraben free and they have beautiful packaging. They even have some lovely NZ themed products so I must make a trip there soon before I head off to Australia for some gifts. It is also just up the road from an outlet mall, while not as good as the US, you can still get some great deals as well.

I also try to stock up once a year or so on greeting cards when there is a 50% off sale at one of the bookshops. I personally think greeting cards are a big waste of money so I prefer to buy funky ones all at once and pop them away in a drawer. I think this probably saves a lot of money over time also. Some of the discount, $2 type stores also do reasonable cards as well at a push. But I prefer to get nicer ones on sale as they usually have nicer messages or better design.

I haven’t yet figured out a viable alternative for wedding gifts, without looking really cheap! Most of the weddings I’ve been to lately have asked for a contribution towards the honeymoon or house deposit fund, so it’s plainly obvious how much you’ve spent then! I absolutely don’t mind when I have cash to spare, but lately the cost of actually attending the wedding sometimes means that I don’t have much leftover for the gift as well. I could console myself that I’ll get it all back when I get married, but that probably won’t be in the near future and I really don’t want a big wedding so it’s not likely I will. Oh well!