I haven’t written much this year as my laptop hard drive finally died at the end of January. By the time I found a moment to drop my laptop off to get a new hard drive and pick it up again almost a month had gone past and I have got out of the habit of writing down the happenings in my life. My second hand laptop has only cost me in total $600 (original price I paid plus the new hard drive four years later) and the new hard drive is guaranteed for another two years. As a bonus if we ever get robbed I don’t think my laptop will get stolen as it definitely looks its age! When I went to pick up my laptop it was easily the oldest laptop in for repair at the computer shop. So my computer has a new life now and definitely feels a lot stronger. I could have got a second hand hard drive but risked paying the extra $60 for a new one as I get the guarantee with it – only time will tell if that was the correct decision. I get the feeling that my computer guy doesn’t have much faith in my old laptop surviving much longer but the two of us (me and my laptop) have been through a lot and I think it will be with me for quite a while yet. Sometimes we are too quick to throw out the old when a bit of new life is all that is needed.
Treasure in the garage challenge
My treasure in the garage challenge for August was slightly disrupted by my resignation but it has still been chugging along. I have changed the theme to ‘Shop in your house’ as I have found it is not just a matter of finding treasures in the garage – they are everywhere in your house once you start looking. Last week’s treasure was resurrected from my mother-in-laws garage – she had been storing our old records for us while we had been building our house. I then rearranged furniture in the house to get a bookcase to hold our records, dusted off the record player and hey presto had a new entertainment/library area. We are really enjoying listening to old memories – a lot of the records are from our teenage years, over 25 years ago, with some not so wise buying decisions along the way! My mum visiting yesterday commented on our new bookcase so I had to explain my shop in your house philosophy. It is a great way to get a new feel to your house without spending money.
Treasure in the garage challenge – Week 2
This second week of the challenge I resurrected three items from the garage. Item 1 – a very old TV remote control. It doesn’t belong to any of our TVs but noticing it was the same make as the TV in the bedroom I cleaned it up, found some rechargeable batteries and hey presto it worked (despite hubby’s protests that it wouldn’t). Now when hubby is watching TV while I am sleeping he can turn down the ads which are always louder than the actual programme. Item 2 – a surge protector which we had put away a few years ago into storage before the renovation. Another clean up and it is now in place in the lounge protecting our electronic devices. Item 3 – a new pair of earplugs for my MP3 player – I have absolutely no idea when I purchased these but it would easily be at least four years ago. All of this goes to show that I don’t need to go shopping to buy new things – I have more than enough items to resurrect and reuse right down the end of the corridor in the garage, my own personal shopping mall! I wonder what next week’s ‘shopping’ trip to the garage will uncover.
Treasure in the garage challenge – Week 1
Browsing through old magazines last week I came across an article which talked about the Buddhist philosophy of accepting what you have to work with in life. Inspired I went out to the garage and started to look through some of our items stored out there. First thing I came across was a long forgotten answer machine which died on us a few years back just before we began to renovate. Rather than throw it out I had put it away with everything that went into storage while we rebuilt our house. An hour on Sunday tinkering saw it come back to life and we now have a ‘new’ answer machine just in time for hubby and his business taking off. It has been lovely all week to come in after work and check for messages – you get the thrill of something new by reusing an item you haven’t seen in a long time. Of course there is also the bonus that every time I see it I am reminded that I was right to keep it and hubby was wrong when he wanted to throw it out years ago! So having started so well I have decided to set my own personal challenge this month – it is to uncover the treasures that may live in our garage and resurrect them. Why don’t you do the same – it doesn’t need to be a garage – it could be a spare room, even just one drawer!
Saving $50 a week July Challenge (Week 2)
Yesterday we did our shopping at Pak n Save getting a 21 c a litre voucher for fuel, saving – at least $10. Today our godson had his 1st birthday – we bought his present last year on sale and kept below our gift budget limit – saving $12. Not buying any wrapping paper for his gift (did up a cardboard box with wrapping paper we recycled) – saving $6 (price of the roll I had in my hand at Pak n Save but didn’t buy thanks to the power of our shopping list). Making a big plate of meringues for the party from ingredients already in the house instead of buying food for a plate – saving $11. At the store today I resisted buying a turquoise plastic container that I wanted for holding my niece’s colouring felts. Instead I went home, found an ice cream container, turquoise card and pictures of Thomas the Tank Engine and created a container – saving $5.25. Took a 2 min detour to the Mad Butcher – bought schnitzel there for $9.95/ kg instead of at the supermarket – saving $6. Hubby picked up second hand kitchen cupboards free from a kitchen renovation job he was doing and set them up in the garage today for shelving – saving $100 plus. So far a good week of reducing expenses.
The No Gift Wrapping Update
Well the december gift wrapping challenge of buying no wrapping paper went well. We now have made a new tradition for Xmas presents with our in-laws and their children with our santa sack. It was just as much fun for them to pull their presents out of the santa sack as it was to unwrap presents. The sack came home with us and is now in the cupboard ready for next year. It went so well I am thinking of making a sack for every family member for next year.
Renting vs Buying
Renting instead of buying is not a new idea. However the British Waste & Resources Action Programme (Wrap) believe that renting could be the secret weapon in fighting climate change and is calling for a fifth of all household spending to be converted to renting by 2020. In Britain it is predicted this change would result in a reduction of 13 million tonnes of CO2 a year. (Source Dom Post: 6/11/2009). In our household we tend to keep items for a long time and buy a lot of items second hand so we wouldn’t be great candidates for renting but I think lending is also a good way of reducing waste and saving money. Often family members live close together and each own the same item – it would be easy to lend items and just one household purchase the item. For instance we were given lots of glasses for our wedding years ago. When family members need extra glasses for special events they borrow ours rather than purchase glasses. We own a slow cooker which my mother borrows rather than buy her own as we both don’t use it full time. Items such as big cake tins for cooking the Xmas cake are often used only once a year, very easy to share around families. Two families in our family unit share a cat cage – it is an item used very few times in a year. It doesn’t work for everything as some items wear down with frequent use and other items require people to use them very carefully but it may be worth looking at for your family. Of course some families have people who don’t look after items or forget to give items back!
Buying Second Hand
Every time I sit down to write my blog I am reminded of the value of second hand goods – I bought my laptop for $400 a few years back and it is still going strong, giving much pleasure. Our house is furnished with second hand furniture – dining room table, king size bed, wardrobe, bedroom mirror, hall table. Second hand clothes hang in my wardrobe. A new nephew is due to arrive in two months time – last week I picked up some lovely second hand toys for his arrival. We have never bought a first hand car in our lives. Although the last few years have definitely had an impact on my buying second hand I think that even when things ease a little I will as much as possible make it my first option over brand new. Ten things you should never buy new – Money Expert – Diana Clement – Financial Planning, Career, Investing, Economy, Property – MSN NZ. Sites such as Trade Me have made buying second hand a lot easier, a smaller site is Zillion http://www.zillion.co.nz/. You can also give away/get things for free – The Freecycle Network – about the Wellington Group is for those things that you can’t be bothered selling, but really don’t want to chuck away – I just joined up today. Come to think of it I even have second hand cats, compliments of the Cat Protection League!
Yo-Yo Recycling (3)
We watched in amusement last week as our neighbours came up with the easiest way to deal with our city’s alternating recycling weeks. When their paper didn’t get picked up because it was can/plastic/glass week they simply left their recycling out all week until paper day came around once more! Now why didn’t I think of that?
Rag Day
Today is rag day in our house. It’s the day that the rag bucket gets emptied and all the rags are washed and put out in the sun to dry. It can look a little weird – last time we had rag day we had visitors and had to explain why we had strange looking bits of ripped/torn clothing hanging on the clothes horse. It makes the cleaning a lot cheaper than using store bought cloths or paper towels and is a good way to reuse clothes that are too old to be worn by anyone else. It also means you have lots of clean cloths for places like the kitchen and bathroom which is more hygienic than having the same Kleenex cloth day after day.