Eating in vs eating out

Debt Hater and Fabulously Broke recently blogged about the costs of cooking at home versus eating out every meal. Honestly, I think eating out every day would be bliss – but it’s a luxury FB says gets old, fast, and sometimes you just want a simple basic meal instead of heavy, restaurant fare. Something I can totally understand.

We spend around $120 a week on groceries for the two of us. Sometimes it’s more, especially when we get lots of fruit and veg. (This also usually includes bits and bobs like cleaning products and toilet paper). I have to admit, we’re usually out of food by the Saturday and eat breakfast and lunch out. But the $120, by and large, covers most of all our basic meals.

If we were to eat out three times a day, it would cost us $294. That’s cutting it really low, too – I’m talking a pie or roll from the bakery for breakfast, and an average food court/fast food meal for lunch and dinner. It would probably also be enough for sushi, a salad or something similar at that price.

Breakfasts – 14 x $3  ($42)
Lunches – 14 x $9 ($126)
Dinners – 14 x $9 ($126)

Ouch! Dinners alone would be the equivalent of our weekly shop. I’ve thought about this topic a lot, but never actually sat down to crunch the numbers. Looks like it’s definitely worth it for us to cook and eat at home.

(Just as a side thought: why are all the quintessentially NZ foods so greasy and fatty? Fish and chips, pies, sausage rolls…)

Photo / midorisyuof

New goals

My goals for the rest of the year:

• Learn to drive our car (it’s a manual).
• Pick up my guitar again.

I am LOVING the fact that my after hours time is now my own. No more staying up late reading. No more studying. No more spending all hours working on assignments. Plus, it’s coming up to summer, so the days are even longer! The possibilities are endless.

Weekly spending

An extraordinarily spendy week…

$9 – Saturday and Sunday breakfast
$34.30 – eating out over the rest of the weekend
$26 – two shirts, two singlets for T
$11 – five pairs of socks for me
$68 contacts (3 mo)
$9.50 car battery terminals (overtightened and broke when BF was doing stuff with the sound system)
$90 for groceries (woohoo! We went to the crazy expensive new New World in New Lynn as we were in the area, but shopped all the specials, and made out pretty well. The service is bordering on stalkerish- the trolley boy followed us from the door, across the carpark, and to the car. And they pack your bags for you. It’s great that it creates much-needed jobs, but I suppose that’s what jacks the prices up.)

I also tweeted last week  about this phone that I was thinking of buying. It’s a very very basic one, with a touch screen, but it has a much better camera than mine and is a huge upgrade from my 4 year old Sharp GX17!

T was also in need of a new phone – he’s been begging and borrowing other people’s castoffs for a few months now. And at half price, we figured this was a pretty good deal – ignoring the weirdness of us having the same model of phone.

The time has never seemed right for me to get a new phone, but this felt as good a time as any.

T already has his: I’m off to buy mine today. JB Hi-Fi was advertising it for cheaper than Vodafone itself (bless their hearts), so I’ll get it for $133 and hopefully sell the sim card pack for about $30. His phone cost $149, which he will pay back over the next few weeks. (He sold the sim card pack that came with it for $30, so that brings it down to $120).

Also, I took part in my first carnival! It’s now up: check out the Carnival of Personal Finance #230 at Canadian Finance blog.

The cost of living

After posts from Well Heeled on drugstore foundation and Carrie on the cost of living, I was seriously jealous! $6 for a foundation? $5 for a weekday movie ticket? Kiwis, we’re being ripped off!

I mean, Loreal and Almay foundations cost at least double in New Zealand, from what I can see. Movie tickets are $15.50 (except for Tuesdays), a round of bowling costs about the same. A beer at a bar is around $8. I’ve already covered food prices in a previous post. A fixed home phone costs at least $40 a month and in terms of broadband, I think the most you can get for another $40 is 5GB.

I haven’t taken the exchange rate into account, but as far as I know, wages and salaries aren’t hugely different here. In fact, people often say the rates companies pay here is on the low side.

I guess being a small country that’s REALLY far away from everywhere else, good are bound to cost more – to ship, etc. And at least we don’t have to tip when we go out!

Should I or shouldn’t I?

I’m thinking about signing up to Fatso. I’ve signed up with them before (had 2 free two-week trials) but always cancelled my membership before the grace period ended. I guess I just never rented enough movies/TV series to warrant it.

But now my evenings and weekends are mine, all mine, and I have soooo many movies to catch up on – hopefully I can remember them all – as well as more Buffy, Mad Men (only seen two episodes), True Blood (none) Dexter (a couple) and maybe at some point when I’m REALLY bored, Gilmore Girls, because I definitely missed a lot of episodes towards the end.

One of the things I hate most about borrowing DVDs  is late fees. We’re usually pretty good with returning DVDs (although, I wish video rentals were more like libraries – you can return books to any branch library, not just the one where you checked out the book!).

But among T’s family, passing around movies is like a sacred tradition. He’ll get a DVD out, watch it, gush about it, and share it with his mother, sister, brother, whoever. And when money’s at stake, you just can’t rely on others.

For example, his sister racked up a $42 fine on our tab (an overnight movie, returned a WEEK later), his uncle another $24 or so, and once a friend of his “forgot” that he had a game they hired  from Video Ezy – bam, $30 fine.

So…I still have a bit of a fear of commitment, but it’s not like a contract; I can cancel at any time. So that just leaves me with the question: which plan?

I don’t know how much I’m actually going to watch. I’m looking at four choices:

• 2 DVDs a month for $9.95 (one at a time),
• 4 DVDs a month for $15.95 (two at a time),
• 6 DVDs a month for $21.95 (three at a time)
• or unlimited for $27.95 (two at a time).

There are two more unlimited packages which let you borrow even more at a time, but I KNOW that’s way overkill.

Thoughts?

From spender to scrooge: breaking down my habits

Most of us struggle with frugality on a day to day basis. I know I’m no different. I may not have a “latte factor” that’s dragging me down, but one of my big weaknesses is food! I could easily eat out every meal, but my budget doesn’t stretch quite that far. Luckily, I think I more than balance out my spending on food with my more frugal habits.

SPLURGES

Food – I love to eat out, whether it’s greasy takeaways or restaurant meals!
Travel – I rarely go on holidays, but don’t get me wrong – I wish I could. We usually manage a couple of days down at the snow every year, and the odd weekend road trip away. This year we also staycationed in hotels in the city twice (overnight), and I want to kickstart a travel fund so T and I can have a midwinter escape next year to a sunny Pacific island. (Tonga? Samoa? Whichever is the best deal at the time)
Hair – I wash and condition every single day. I have limp, greasy lifeless hair – this is not optional.

FRUGAL

I don’t buy tupperware – I wash and reuse plastic takeaway containers
I don’t dye my hair, get manicures, or go to spas
I bring lunch almost every single day. That’s nothing to scoff at, either – I eat a lot!
I never buy clothing at full price. And I often shop secondhand.
I don’t drink coffee.
I’m a voracious reader, but I always use the library
I have a prepaid cell phone, which costs me a mere $20 a month.
I don’t tend to go to concerts or events (barring Cirque du Soleil earlier this year)

SUPER STINGY
Confession: I sometimes water down our milk – after all, it’s almost 10 per cent of our total grocery budget and T goes through it like a baby on steroids.

What about you? Or do you think some of my frugal ways are just plain scroogey?

Photo / milki.c

Oh come on – no one owes you a job!

According to columnist Bill McClellan, it’s not just secretaries and labourers who are suffering in the downturn. Law students are graduating with crippling loans and joining the ranks of the unemployed, with their illusions of six-figure salaries at big name firms well and truly shattered.

Who. Wait a minute. Did I miss something here? No one owes you anything in life – not a job, not a partner, not a house. You didn’t sign a contract guaranteeing you a nice job with perks at the end of your degree (if you did, please point me in the right direction) – you chose to study law, and accept the massive amount of debt it would take.

(Or we hope so. Even graduates sometimes like to duck responsibility – claiming they made uninformed decisions, or that the careers department told them there was no way they wouldn’t get a job, blah, blah blah.)

You do that because on the whole, odds are that you’ll make it all back – plus a lot more – in the long run. It’s a gamble, yes, and those graduating about now are losing. And it sucks; don’t get me wrong, I have sympathy for any new grad who’s struggling. Just don’t tell me that society forced you to take out massive loans and owes you a job.

Wordless Wednesday

It was a beautiful Sunday. Had friends over, cooked up a feast of a brunch, and headed over to Whatipu beach. White sand is beautiful (one day I want to go to the Whitsundays) but the west coast’s black sand is pretty awesome too; it’s black but still sparkles in the sun. Worth the drive over the hills and the last 10km over nothing but gravel.

Nobody likes a Mr Sniffles

Sorry – was watching How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days the other day… But seriously, my hayfever calmed right down after we moved into our new place.

And then the weather changed.

ARGH! It’s unseasonably cold and the winds never die down. Maybe that’s partly because we live by the sea now (not golden sandy beaches, more like rugged, unswimmable water – might take pics some time).

I need some heavy duty meds, ’cause I’m sick of constantly trying to stem the runny nose. And it’s not a good look at work – I’m building up a name as the one who’s always sneezing and always has tissues all over her desk. I also hear primrose oil helps; not that I have any idea how that might work.

Any recommendations, fellow snifflers?

Photo / mcfarlandmo

Major WTF

Huge, massive WTF, in fact.

T’s been coaching for two months now. He was paid once, middle of last month. Then the franchise was taken over by new people. A payment showed up this week in his account with no reference details, but it was about the right amount for what he was owed from them.

He called today to give notice (all their coaches are employed as contractors) as he and our other flatmate have some work lined up for the summer. Even if it’s not full time, it beats the three hours a week of coaching. And apparently the new owners were pretty upset and have had a few other coaches quit on them.

Then that money disappeared from his account. No trace, no record of a deposit or withdrawal/retraction. Really, really odd. (So basically, no proof except for my memory of seeing the deposit earlier this week). I don’t know if the  angry bosses recalled that payment (Can they do that?) Or was it just a bank glitch that has been resolved? (In which case he’s still owed for a couple of weeks’ work…)