Phone savings

If you’re like me, one thing you do well is talk. On the phone, for long periods of time. However, I don’t like paying a lot for talking on the phone, and for that reason I have a land line with internet at home (although I could probably get VOIP, I use Skype a lot instead) and I have three mobile phones.

Why three mobile phones?

One is a work mobile phone. I didn’t actually want to have a work phone, but was told that everyone else was getting one, so I should too. It’s a smart phone, but I don’t like using it a lot, as only the first $10 is free for me, then I have to pay work for the extra.

I have a prepaid NZ phone with 2 degrees. It’s extraordinarily cheap for sending text messages, which is what I use it for mainly. If I need to make calls to mobiles I will either do it from work, or from home using a calling card. Much cheaper that way.

My third mobile phone is an Australian mobile phone. When I moved to New Zealand I didn’t want to lose my mobile phone number, as I was only meant to be gone 10 months. It’s 3.5 years later and I’m still living in New Zealand, but I do travel back to Australia quite regularly.

So I still have my Australian mobile, but I use a company could Planet ISP, which has just become Think Mobile. The great thing about this company is I pay as I go. It’s not even prepaid, so I don’t have to buy more than I’d use. I just get a bill each month for my calls and texts, which is often zero, because I don’t really use it when I’m in New Zealand. But in Australia I use it to text people and have them call me. I’m lucky, I can use a landline to call out on when I’m in Australia.

My old Nokia mobile phone which I still use when I’m in Australia

As you can see, I just use an old Nokia in Australia, all the letters have rubbed off, and it doesn’t hold its charge like it used to, but it still works well, and it’s really all I need.

Car pooling

One easy way to save petrol money is to car pool. Usually it’s me doing the driving in my car, but yesterday I got a lift with my parents to their holiday house which is 1.5 hours north of Sydney. I’ll get a lift back with my sister in a couple of days time. Perfect.

With petrol rising at least 10 cents a litre around Christmas and New Years, I saved by not having to fill my tank. Car pooling is also good for the environment, and I get to spend extra time with parents and sister which I like (and hopefully they like too!)

The perfect gift…something you already have

It was my Mum’s birthday in October. Unlike my Dad, she doesn’t get too worked up about birthdays, so I just sent her a card. I wanted to give her something nice though, because she’s really been there for me this year.

I was going through my wardrobe and came across a Max leather jacket I bought when I first arrived in Wellington. I hadn’t worn it in over three years, so I was going to try and sell it when I remembered how much my Mum loved it when I showed it to her when she’d visited Wellington. She loves grey leather things, and they’re very rarely available. It was also three quarter length sleeves which suits both of us,  because we are both short with little arms!

I bought the jacket on sale, and being three years ago I can’t remember exactly how much it was, but it was probably about $100.

Perfect! Rather than buy her something she may or may not like, I decided to bring the jacket to Sydney as a belated birthday present. I’m happy to say, she loved it. She reminded me that she’d even tried to buy one for herself when she was in Wellington but the shop had sold out. Happy belated birthday Mum!

The leather jacket I gave to my Mum as a belated birthday present. She loved it!

Airport coffee

I’ve already posted about vouchers for half price coffee and coffee cards for saving money on my daily caffeine fix, here’s another way I save on my morning cappuccino.

Mojo cafes are located all around Wellington and they have a free VIP club — if you join you get 10% off any hot beverage. You just join up on their website, and soon after a card arrives in the mail.

Mojo ave two outlets at Wellington airport, one in the main terminal hall and another in the international departure lounge.

So at 5.30am this morning, I ate my date scone which I bought at work yesterday using the honesty box. Then instead of paying $4, I only paid $3.60 for a coffee. The bonus was getting to sit at a window seat and watch the planes. A nice way to spend the time waiting for my plane.

My early morning cappuccino and the Mojo VIP card which gives a 10% discount. I love their green cups and saucers!

Honesty boxes

Tomorrow at stupid o’clock (ie I have to be up at 4am) I’m on a flight to Sydney. Yay, for holidays!

I’ll be gone for a few weeks, so I’ve been depleting the perishables in my fridge. Today, I only have some carrots, a tomato, a cob of corn, some cheese and an egg left in the fridge.

Not much for dinner really. But I didn’t want to buy anymore food because it would just be wasted.

At the bottom of the building where I work the cafe often puts out food at the end of the day that hasn’t sold with a bowl saying “$2 please”. I’ve never used it before, but today I was lucky to get the last salad. It had heaps of broccoli, a little bit of cheese, and even some capers. A healthy dinner, so I bought it.

Yummy salad bought for $2 using the honesty box

I ate my last piece of fruit, a banana, yesterday so I was wondering what to take with me to the airport to eat for breakfast. I’ve chosen the cheapest plane ticket, so I’ll be getting no food on the plane. At 4am I won’t be hungry, but at 6.40am when the plane leaves I’ll probably want breakfast. So the honesty box at work came to the rescue. For $1.30 (which is the usual price at the cafe at work – I have debated whether it’s OK to put in less because it’s old food) I bought a leftover date scone. I’ve put it in a plastic bag ready for eating tomorrow.

The date scone that I’ll eat for breakfast tomorrow

I read somewhere that a guy did some research on honesty boxes and found that people were more likely to be honest the day after pay day and more likely not to pay the day before pay day. I guess it makes sense. They used to have a chocolate box at work with an honesty system but they had to remove it because people were basically stealing the chocolate bars. I for one am a happy customer today!

Free! My favourite four letter word

Every year my workplace has a book sale. It’s fantastic, a large table filled with review copies or new releases that aren’t wanted. Unfortunately, I missed out this year – I was working elsewhere, but the one consolation was that by the time I did get there, everything was going for free. That’s right, books for free. So I spied this little bargain saving book, and felt like I was doing a favour by taking it. I have yet to read it, but even if I pick up one tip, I’ll be happy. Free definitely is my favourite four letter word.

Why Pay Retail? I didn’t pay retail, I didn’t pay anything for this book at all

It pays to visit op shops regularly

I love op shops. I love the anticipation. The real thrill of finding a bargain. Each time I visit the Salvation Army or St Vincent de Paul shop I wonder what I’m going to see.

About a month ago I stumbled across these:

The almost brand-new campers I found at the Salvation Army for $20

They were hiding on the bottom shelf in amongst the shoes. All I saw was the colour and the over-sized stitching. When I pulled them out, I realised they were practically brand-new, and they were Campers. I quickly looked at their size, and they were a 38. I’m usually a 39 but in Campers I generally take a 38. I looked at the price. Only $20? Could this be real?  I tried them on, and they fitted! I was ecstatic. I’ve worn them a bit and I thought I’d hate the ribbons, but I actually like them. Not sure how long the ribbons will last though, they already seem to be tearing a bit. But for $20, who cares! Score…

What would you change

I’ve been talking to my Mum on Skype. She lives in Sydney. Skype is the most wondrous thing. Instead of paying for a long distance call, we can chat for hours and all it does is use up some of my band width, so basically it’s free.

Today she told me about Gretel Packer, who is Kerry Packer’s daughter. According to someone working on her house in Bellevue Hill in Sydney, Gretel has a trust fund of $1 billion. Imagine that. You could live off the interest alone.

The next obvious question is – what would you do differently if you had $1 billion?

Would you quit your job? Would you live somewhere different? Would you buy some new things? Would you give some money to charity? Would you get a cleaner?

I would probably work part-time in the job I’m already in. I might move back to Sydney though, which would make that a bit tricky! Maybe I’d just travel back home more often to see family and friends. I might buy a new car, one that has airbags. I’d definitely give more money to charity. And yes, I’d get a cleaner!

Hand washing vs using the dishwasher

Most of the time I hand wash my dishes

One of the best things about moving into my own place is that it has a dishwasher. However, I rarely use it. If I have a dinner party or am feeling particularly lazy I will stack it up over a few days and turn it on occasionally. Most of the time I wash my dishes in the sink and let them dry in the dish rack.

Somehow I feel that I am saving water and electricity by hand-washing my dishes. I am not at all sure that this is true. I think I’ve been told that a dishwasher uses the same amount of water as washing dishes in the sink, but I really can’t believe it. A dishwasher must use more electricity though, surely?

My empty dishwasher

One thing about washing dishes by hand is that I feel virtuous when I have all the dishes stacked up and drying. A load in the dishwasher doesn’t give nearly the same sense of completion. And the fact that I live alone means that dishes sit in the dishwasher for ages before I have a full load, so it must be more hygienic to wash my dishes in the sink, right? When I was a kid in a family of six we couldn’t live without a dishwasher. When it broke down it caused all sorts of sibling angst. When it’s just me, it seems a bit decadent running a dishwasher.

So if washing up in the sink feels good, I’ll just continue, with the hope that I am saving a little bit of money, electricity and water by not turning the dishwasher on!

Local newspapers are awesome

One of the first things I did when I moved into my new place is put up a No Junk Mail sign. There was just far too many brochures in my letterbox every week, I couldn’t get through them all.

I was really pleased though that The Wellingtonian, one of the local newspapers that deliver in my area, ignored the sign and just kept delivering.

I really like local newspapers. They’re free and they often contain information you don’t get from any other source. I feel like I have my finger on the Wellington pulse. I’ve also won a few times in some of the competitions run by The Capital Times, which is ace.

Last week I even picked up Older and Bolder, a newspaper for 50+ and over. I’m definitely not in that demographic but I picked it up all the same, and read some interesting articles.

I’ve also been known to pick up the free student newspapers too – and if you walk through the University in the morning you can pick up a free Dominion Post. I don’t discriminate in my newspaper reading, other than it has to be free!

The three free local newspapers from this week