Making Cents

Update January 1, 2012

Sorry to everybody about the lack of posts. Thanks Sarah for the comment; it was the motivation I needed to get typing. I’m sorry to have worried you. Things have indeed gotten worse lately with the recent round of shakes. My house has further damage, but there’s nothing much I can do about that now except wait for the assessors to get to me. The first lot completely missed the huge crack through my foundations, which I have recently discovered does indeed go through the entire house, and the ceiling seems to be buckling in one place.

But the major disruption in my life right now is the damage to my workplace, which has caused further stress to everyone, and we have all been moved to temporary office space with the future uncertain. I can’t go into the details without possibly revealing where I work (and I’m not ready for that!). I’m just glad to still have a job.

My finances have stagnated over Christmas. I’ve spent the past couple of weeks doing a bit of DIY and updating – things that either won’t be affected by Fletcher’s repairs (unless the house is unrepairable of course) or that can be taken with me – decor stuff mainly. I removed the moldy, disgusting PVC shower door, replaced the silicone and put up a shower curtain. While I was at it, I also bought a can of white paint to repaint the wooden frame of the shower and used the rest to paint the inside of my wardrobe (I hated looking at it) and my kitchen cupboards. I put up a roller blind on my high bedroom window (60% off!), and I’m now saving for a pair of curtains to go on the main window (my current curtains don’t block out the light and it is difficult to get to sleep at night). I also bought a bedside table (usually $200, down to $80 with $40 worth of vouchers = $40 out of pocket. Score!), a duvet cover (my sister gave me new bedding for Christmas) and a few gardening supplies in the boxing day sales. As you can imagine, this all cost a fair whack of money, especially when you add in all the little things like wall fixings, paint brushes, drop cloth etc etc. Luckily I received cash for Christmas! I hate that I spent so much and wasn’t able to save it, however I don’t regret any of my purchases.

I have my dolphin swim next week, and I’m really looking forward to it. As I’ve already paid for it, I only need to cover gas and lunch while we’re there. I’ll be able to start saving in earnest again. I really want my EF up and have set a goal for $5000 within six months. I also want to get my home loan down to $180,000 and save for a new fence and replacement of the second lot of gutters (first lot due to be replaced on Tuesday).

Oh, and today I received a cheque for $67 for doing surveys. Nice

So I hope everyone had a great Christmas and New Year, and I’ll definitely be getting back on the blogging bandwagon. Promise!