Resession beating tips

OK, I want to expand some of the ideas here:http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10579265


Just a couple of things that need to be expanded on.

28. Put all items on your credit card and get rewards points.
Do this ONLY if you can pay the card off every month without fail and try to keep a money back stop so you can switch back to using cash if you start to struggle.

15. Save on electricity – use extra blankets.
And/or hotties, or bed socks, an obliging cat can be of help here too. A length of polar fleece makes a good lightweight blanket, check out shops like Ike's Emporium for cheap fabric. Sometimes a couple of metres of 150cm polar fleece can be bought for only $20-$30. It doesn't fray.

20. Stay warm.
Warm places that cost you nix are malls (leave the money at home) and libraries.

32. Stop buying Lotto tickets.
Seriously $6/week = $312/year. When was the last time you won that much on lotto?
If you want a flutter by a ticket or two in one draw a month. Two tickets in the same drawn is better odds that one ticket in two draws.
Don't bother buying power ball. The odds of winning any prize are the same as a normal ticket and the odds of winning a power ball prize are 8 times poorer. The odds of winning a prize in a big prize draw or jackpot are not better than normal either.

21. Carpool or bus.
Do the sums on this one. If you are going to carpool you will save money so long as you or your passengers chip in a share of the petrol money.
If you are going to sell/get rid of the car yes, this will save money.
Travelling by bus won't necessarily save money if you keep the car so compare only the running costs. If you are paying for parking going by bus is cheaper otherwise possibly not. Consider driving part way then getting on a bus for the last stage to save money on parking in the city.

26. Repair your clothes instead of buying new ones.
You don't even need a sewing machine although it is quicker if you have one and know how to use it. Even getting a broken zip replaced professionally can be cheaper than a new pair of trousers. A stitch in time still saves nine so don't procrastinate over sewing jobs and do them before washing the item.

Some tips of my own
If you have to pay separately for rubbish collection like we do here, reduce what you throw out with the weekly rubbish. Remember you can put some rubbish on the fire. Put that polystyrene packing under the house for the inorganic collection.

Compost heaps are free, you don't need a bin to contain it if you don't mind the site of a heap and the cat will take care of any rats (yum :P).
Cheaper than buying $5 bags of compost to grow veggies in.

Keep an eye on those op shops.
Not just for clothing either. All sort from things from jigsaw puzzles to old pots and knitting needles and patterns and plants can be got for less than $5. Sometimes less that $1. The ancient pressure cooker we have was bought for $2 and cooks a packet of kidney beans in 45 minutes. Much cheaper than tinned beans. Great for soup as well.
Just chuck the bones in my direction for serious licking when you are done.

I am being lazy

That is why I have been silent for over a fortnight.

Nice work when you can get it.

Half the family, the two legged females, took off for a weekend involving back packs, sleeping bags, raincoats, food and three bottles of kerosene to somewhere without power, fire place, or running water reachable only by a boat plus hiking.

They came back towing an empty gas bottle on a handcart and muttering about not enough kerosene. It seems that both the kerosene for the heater and the gas ran out at the same time so no hot water bottle or hot water and they forgot to pack the coffee.

A whole weekend without coffee.

Thank goodness the one of the neighbouring baches had some to share.

I had to spend the whole weekend cooped up with a posse of 8 year old boys so I don't know what those wussy two legged females were complaining about.

Next time take me and tell DOC I am rodent eradication. Far more eco friendly than whatever they had to disconnect the water tanks and close the islands to drop.

Does National want to win Mt Albert?

Given some of their candidates comments I have to wonder.

The new motorway is a hot topic in Mt Albert, feelings on the subject are running high and the NIMBYs are frothing in force so I guess Melissa Lee could be forgiven for saying she was all for the tunnel option.

Pity her party had other ideas.

The residents of Mt Albert are less than happy about the prospect of their suburb being cut in half so in the heat of a community meeting and obviously trying to find a positive side to the big road in a trench Ms Lee makes the comment that the new motorway will help stop the criminals from South Auckland from running rampant in Mt Albert.

Pity about the RNZ journo who got it on tape.

While all the frothing is going on I can't help noting a few points.

1. A glance at the local paper seems to show that the worst crimes locally do seem to be committed by low lives from South Auckland, either that or they are the ones that get caught.
2. I don't think the motorway with stop these criminals. I think it is more likely to aid them. That quartet that did the Dukes of Hazard off Beach Haven wharf proved that not only do they have just enough IQ to use an off ramp, even when being blocked by Police but when off the motorway their ability to navigate is highly suspect hence the their escape south being stopped by the Waitemata Harbour.
3. The motorway my benefit the Auckland region as a whole but it is of little benefit and great inconvenience to Mt Albert.

OK, Mt Albert, thanks to former local MP Helen Clark, was a Labour safe seat.

National could have had a good shot at winning it given how blue Auckland turned last election.

Instead National have just handed it back to Labour on a platter.

Are the banks now playing chicken?

Ok, the OCR was lowered again last week. It is now down to 2.5%.

The banks have ...

...done nothing.

Not even the floating rates have dropped.

Now either the banks are playing some sort of game or the Reserve Bank has lost its ability to affect interest rates.

One of those prospects could be very worrying.

I wouldn't like to be in Bill English's shoes right now. Maybe that is why Trevor Mallard is now on the Government's front bench.

It is duck season after all.

Perhaps National is hoping to distract Labour into building a maimai on the opposition benches instead of aiming their guns at the Budget due out in just over 3 weeks.

Caption Please

The kids thought this was hilarious. They get told off for lying in the armchairs like this.
I think it is a classic reason not to leave the camera lying around at 4am in the morning.

I was asleep, OK?

How green is your Kiwifruit again?

I was puzzled by this item here about a study into carbon footprints published in 2006.

"The study estimated that flying 1kg of kiwifruit from New Zealand to Europe causes 5kg of carbon to be discharged into the atmosphere.
But Zespri, which exports 60 per cent of its overseas kiwifruit produce to Europe, challenged the veracity of the study because its fruit all goes to Britain by ship."

On the face of it that seems laughable except that the British took it seriously.

What an opportunity to come up with some correct figures - for advertising purposes of course.
So they did:

"Yesterday, it released the results of its own research - commissioned in 2007 - assessing its carbon footprint across each part of the supply chain.
The study, undertaken by Landcare Research and funded by the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry, showed shipping accounted for the most carbon emissions for all European exports at 41 per cent.

Consumer consumption and disposal made up 22 per cent, orchard operations were 17 per cent, packhouse and coolstore processes account for 11 per cent of total emissions and repacking and retailer were 9 per cent."

Nice!
Hang on - so what were those total carbon emissions per kilo again?

For whom it may concern: How about comparing apples, sorry, Kiwifruit with Kiwifruit.

It's just the 'flu

Some people are really getting their knickers in a twist about this.

It is just a new strain of flu - that is all.

If you are healthy the flu doesn't kill. The deaths are caused by secondary infections like Pneumonia.

The media seems to be having a real beat up over this. I guess they desperately needed something new to obsess about.

The credit crunch is getting pretty boring after several months in the spotlight.