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Spiteski
Aug 27, 2013



As suggested after I posted about myself in the bad money stories thread, I'm going to post this in the hopes of salvaging my finances.

Note: all amounts are in NZ dollars, so allow for that before judging utilities and groceries seeming higher than they might for your currency.

I apologise if there are many typos or errors, on my mobile at work so can't preview the post. I will edit as I go through my days breaks.

To start with, here's some information that is relevant to the situation.

I am 24 years old, a school leaver since the age of 17.
I have a three year old child, and one due in less than 6 weeks, I had posted I had two kids already in the thread, felt it was easier to skip ahead than explain
My partner is a stay at home mum, who finished her study last year but is not going to be looking for work for the first while with second baby coming so soon. Due to previous complications with childbirth that are likely to repeat, we're planning on it being too much of a stretch to get her into a job very quickly.
I currently work full time as a warehouse storeperson/machine operator for an aluminium fabrication and milling company.
I earn roughly 33k per year before tax and compulsory student loan repayments, which amounts to 24.5% of my pay gone before takehome.
We also receive 150dollars per week in family tax credits from the government, and 120 per week in accommodation supplements, also from the government.



Now that that's covered our income, I'll list some of the expenses we have. This is about as far as I get with any budget, and then I shrug and hope that column A is more than column B. Just to note, the benefits come in weekly, though my pay comes in monthly.

Rent: $410 per week
Power: between $150-250 per month. Higher end months are when the weather gets us using heating/cooling.
Phone and internet: $190 per month which includes our mobile accounts and homephone/internet.
Travel/gas for work: $100 dollars per week. This is only work related travel, and doesn't include any other driving costs or maintenance on our two cars.
Shopping each week: 3 weeks out of the month we are around $50dollars, once a month we buy the more expensive long lasting supplies and reach around $150. This has been constant and seems to work.
We tend to go out once a month, both for a break, and due to monthly pay. This is at most $100, but tends to be more realistically around $50/60.
I spend around $40 dollars a month in gaming/movies that amounts to me and my partners entertainment at home during the weekends.
Health insurance and life insurance are $110 dollars per month combined.
Car and house insurance is thankfully maintained by my parents as a gratefully received helping hand.

Edit: I forgot to note a failed studying attempt when younger that ended up giving me close to 20k student loan debt. This is where the portion of my income goes to on top of tax. It's currently around 10k from compulsory payments over the last 6 years. This loan is interest free as long as I remain living in NZ.

Things I've done to reduce expenditures, I had been a smoker since I was 14, and quit two years ago both for money, and for my kid. It's rather major given if I were to still be smoking it would be costing me 60per week for what I used to smoke. I have quit social drinking at bars and pubs, with the exception of important family outings where I buy 1 beer. Gone are the days of expensive binge drinking.
I have sold my man child gaming consoles and extra computers, both to stop buying new games and to take in some much needed cash.
Basically our vice at the moment is spending our spare cash whenever we reach a surplus on poo poo food and extra outings, leaving us with zero savings, and a credit card that has sat maxed out at 1600 for a long while. Any payments we make we end up using and viewing as extra money. We also have an overdraft we used while my partner was studying that will be accruing interest now.

I'm sure there is more I'm missing, but that's all I can think of right now.

I figure I need a good asskicking and some pointers on how to get out of a rut. If any unforeseen emergencies come up, we're basically boned or relying on family to lend us/throw us a bone.

Spiteski fucked around with this message at 22:17 on Feb 11, 2014

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Juanito
Jan 20, 2004

I wasn't paying attention
to what you just said.

Can you repeat yourself
in a more interesting way?
Hell Gem
Why are you paying $1640 a month in rent?

Spiteski
Aug 27, 2013



Juanito posted:

Why are you paying $1640 a month in rent?

That's a relatively cheap rate in Auckland.

slap me silly
Nov 1, 2009
Grimey Drawer
Let's get the numbers a little clearer.

Income: $3900/mo gross

Loan payments and taxes: $700/mo
Rent: $1777/mo (not $1640!)
Utilities: $400/mo
Gas: $475/mo (taking a guess at $75/mo personal use)
Groceries: $300/mo
Insurance: $100/mo
Fun: $100/mo
Debt payment minimum: $50 (guessing here)

Total expenses: $3900
Plus family pays your auto and house insurance.

In short, you spend too much money. You can't make progress on the debt, never mind accumulate savings. Your rent is almost half your gross income, which is pretty high. Your utilities are also high. My suggestions are to move somewhere with cheaper rent and utility bills, and cut back on your phone and internet which are also out of proportion to your income. You can't get your feet under you financially without making some changes like this.

An alternative would be to get aggressive about earning more money - either a move, or a promotion where you work now.

Or work for your wife. You all are kind of stable right now because you're not really spending past your income. However, you don't have any resources if poo poo hits the fan. If you have family to rely on for money and kid emergencies, you could consider waiting 6 months until birth-related stuff settles down, then your wife pursues work. This means you'd need help with the kids though.

Spiteski
Aug 27, 2013





slap me silly posted:

Let's get the numbers a little clearer.

Income: $3900/mo gross

Loan payments and taxes: $700/mo
Rent: $1777/mo (not $1640!)
Utilities: $400/mo
Gas: $475/mo (taking a guess at $75/mo personal use)
Groceries: $300/mo
Insurance: $100/mo
Fun: $100/mo
Debt payment minimum: $50 (guessing here)

Total expenses: $3900
Plus family pays your auto and house insurance.

In short, you spend too much money. You can't make progress on the debt, never mind accumulate savings. Your rent is almost half your gross income, which is pretty high. Your utilities are also high. My suggestions are to move somewhere with cheaper rent and utility bills, and cut back on your phone and internet which are also out of proportion to your income. You can't get your feet under you financially without making some changes like this.

An alternative would be to get aggressive about earning more money - either a move, or a promotion where you work now.

Or work for your wife. You all are kind of stable right now because you're not really spending past your income. However, you don't have any resources if poo poo hits the fan. If you have family to rely on for money and kid emergencies, you could consider waiting 6 months until birth-related stuff settles down, then your wife pursues work. This means you'd need help with the kids though.

Basically hit the nail on the head.
While rent and utilities seem high, this is in nz dollars, we are paying power and phone line at pretty much the lowest prices we can find. Living costs are relatively high in this country compared to average (and my own) income. Our only options for moving somewhere cheaper would mean drastically increasing a commute. There isn't the luxury of smaller towns with lower prices having a lot of jobs available.
My home town was a perfect example of this. Major cities (Auckland, Wellington, Hamilton etc) are pretty much the only places you can seriously expect to pick a job up easily without prior qualifications.
With those cities you are stuck either commuting, taking non existent public transport (Wellington is the exception to this) or paying 500-700 in rent for a 2-3 bedroom house.

The plan ultimately is to have my partner working once the baby is settled, NZ does have great support in terms of getting kids into child care. So that wouldn't be a problem her getting even part time work.

As for cutting down on spending, that's were the real issue is. I acknowledge that I am lacking too much forethought in terms of "oh there's fifty bucks in the account, let's splash out on dinner and a movie" and then regretting it later.

Edit: Fixing terrible mistakes made on my phone.

Spiteski fucked around with this message at 06:16 on Feb 12, 2014

slap me silly
Nov 1, 2009
Grimey Drawer

Spiteski posted:

As for cutting down on spending, that's were the real issue is. I acknowledge that I am lacking too much forethought in terms of "oh there's fifty bucks in the account, let's splash out on dinner and a movie" and then regretting it later.

Actually $100-150/mo on fun stuff is pretty reasonable for your income, if that's really what you're spending. Forethought helps less when you can't actually change your biggest expenses. How seriously have you checked into the housing question? I totally support paying more to avoid a longer commute and higher gas costs. But if you can get a $500-700 2-3 bedroom near where you are, why aren't you doing it? Though maybe I misunderstood you there. What is your current place like?

Honestly, if you can lean on your family if a bad situation happens, you might just forge ahead status quo for six months until your wife can get part time work. It wouldn't be the end of the world. New baby time is a hell of a time to try make major financial or habit changes.

Cicero
Dec 17, 2003

Jumpjet, melta, jumpjet. Repeat for ten minutes or until victory is assured.
500-700 per week.

Spiteski
Aug 27, 2013



slap me silly posted:

Actually $100-150/mo on fun stuff is pretty reasonable for your income, if that's really what you're spending. Forethought helps less when you can't actually change your biggest expenses. How seriously have you checked into the housing question? I totally support paying more to avoid a longer commute and higher gas costs. But if you can get a $500-700 2-3 bedroom near where you are, why aren't you doing it? Though maybe I misunderstood you there. What is your current place like?

Honestly, if you can lean on your family if a bad situation happens, you might just forge ahead status quo for six months until your wife can get part time work. It wouldn't be the end of the world. New baby time is a hell of a time to try make major financial or habit changes.

Yea, I am currently paying 410 per week in rent, the 500-700 would be per week as well. While it technically would make sense to move somewhere $100 more expensive with no commute, we would spend more visiting friends and family who live where we are currently. It would be a net loss.
Not to mention having a young child and one more coming means we would be wanting to be close to family even more so.
On the opposite end we could look at moving back into my home town to save around $50 on rent but add $30-40 in gas and another 30 minutes to my commute each way. Not a pleasing prospect for $10 saved. Not to mention costs of moving would take a long time to break even, let alone make a saving.

Spiteski fucked around with this message at 04:51 on Feb 12, 2014

Rudager
Apr 29, 2008

Cicero posted:

500-700 per week.

Yeah, I don't live there, but from what I understand New Zealand being 2 pretty small islands full of hills makes buildable land pretty scarce and expensive.

$500NZD/week would be something like $1700/month USD.

Saros
Dec 29, 2009

Its almost like we're a Bureaucracy, in space!

I set sail for the Planet of Lab Requisitions!!

Just FYI guys leave his rent alone 410/w is bloody loving marvellous for a 2/3? Bed place in auckland.

Fair enough, Auckland is horrifically expensive compared to anywhere else in the country. However (obviously) depending on his job etc his statement about work elsewhere is manifestly untrue and if I may say so a typical JAFA attitude (sorry Op.) I also have to throw in Wlg/Ham/Chch/Dun are LOT cheaper to live than you seem to think. Wlg is the second most expensive city by a long way and 700 pw is going to get you a pretty drat good house 10 mins drive from the central city, the south island and the Tron are also significantly cheaper.

That said your phone/net bill is high. Go to a cheaper net plan and look at prepaid phones, if you arent already you shouldnt be paying more than $15-19/mo for each phone plus 50-60 for naked DSL.

To further inform the thread: 1 NZ$ = 0.83 Us$, this is extremely high compared to historical values. Also his student loan payment is 12% of his gross income over about $17,000 per annum. No interest, no min payment it just goes from his wages before they are paid.

As for Op have another look at your working for families and any other tax credits/benefits you are entitled to, the total amount seems kinda low. Plus... Life/health Insurance, why? Its not cheap and we actually have a good public health system. Unless one of you has a recurrent disorder which requires regular sppecialist consults or surgery every few years its not worth the money you are sinking into it.

[edit] do you work for one of the boat Aluminium/Part fabrication companies in Auckland? If so yeah I can see that being hard to pick up elsewhere. Oh and the overdraft? You should have a year interest free on it with any major bank as part of the 'graduate packs' they offer so look into that.

Saros fucked around with this message at 05:38 on Feb 12, 2014

Spiteski
Aug 27, 2013



Saros posted:

Just FYI guys leave his rent alone 410/w is bloody loving marvellous for a 2/3? Bed place in auckland.

Fair enough, Auckland is horrifically expensive compared to anywhere else in the country. However (obviously) depending on his job etc his statement about work elsewhere is manifestly untrue and if I may say so a typical JAFA attitude (sorry Op.) I also have to throw in Wlg/Ham/Chch/Dun are LOT cheaper to live than you seem to think. Wlg is the second most expensive city by a long way and 700 pw is going to get you a pretty drat good house 10 mins drive from the central city, the south island and the Tron are also significantly cheaper.
Fair enough, I am speaking from a pretty uninformed point of view in regards to living in other cities. I was more basing the work on the area I have spent most of my life in. If you are familiar with the Franklin area, Waiuku in particular, it's the kind of place where the only jobs in-town are the fish and chips shop and the gas station. Anything else involved a commute.
I will concede I am probably unfairly imposing that onto the rest of NZ.
However, to this point I also note our hesitance to move drastically across the country while our kids are still young and we are still partially financially dependent on our family.
Not to mention help raising the kids.
It would have to be a particularly bar raising job on offer in another area to consider it. And given my lack of qualifications I don't foresee many of those on offer.

quote:

That said your phone/net bill is high. Go to a cheaper net plan and look at prepaid phones, if you arent already you shouldnt be paying more than $15-19/mo for each phone plus 50-60 for naked DSL.
That bill broken down includes my contract I am still locked into for 1 year at $45+gst, $20 per month for my partners prepaid mobile, and 115 for home phone (which we require) and internet included. I've looked into reducing that to a lower priced homephone/internet, but the only option we could get short of 5GB per month with Vodafone was all $95 and upwards. We mostly acquire our entertainment through the month by streaming movies and games, so to us it is worth a marginally higher bill. Up side is, if we do decide that downgrading is essential, we are no longer in the 12month contract term and can end it at any point.

quote:

As for Op have another look at your working for families and any other tax credits/benefits you are entitled to, the total amount seems kinda low. Plus... Life/health Insurance, why? Its not cheap and we actually have a good public health system. Unless one of you has a recurrent disorder which requires regular sppecialist consults or surgery every few years its not worth the money you are sinking into it.
Unfortunately we are at the maximum we are entitled to.
$75 in in work tax credit, and $77 Working For Families tax credit.
We each get $75 accommodation supplement for a total of $150. $15 of mine goes towards repaying an advance for our bond to our house.
In terms of life and health insurance; life insurance is because I have kids, its currently $10 a fortnight for $380k coverage, something I am definitely wanting to keep.
Health insurance is definitely worth it, we have regular doctors visits, as we are all asthma sufferers. My partner and son have both are currently going through medical treatments that will require surgeries. My son's is time-sensitive, so cutting down on the average of 9 month turnaround to 1 month makes it worth it. And I personally have a medical history that would make any doctor cringe.

quote:

[edit] do you work for one of the boat Aluminium/Part fabrication companies in Auckland? If so yeah I can see that being hard to pick up elsewhere. Oh and the overdraft? You should have a year interest free on it with any major bank as part of the 'graduate packs' they offer so look into that.
I work for the company that supplies those companies. I mainly program and operate a CNC router that cuts the sheets for most of NZs boat makers and engineering companies. Almost all of my work experience has been warehousing work/forklift operating. It's not a hard industry to GET a job, but its an industry where the average and median wage are exactly what I am on, and short of a major promotion it is unlikely to increase.

Vox Nihili
May 28, 2008
Are there not regular raises for seniority or such at that sort of outfit?

Spiteski
Aug 27, 2013



Vox Nihili posted:

Are there not regular raises for seniority or such at that sort of outfit?

I've been there one year, had a 36cent payrise. A guy that's been there 5 years has received 40-50cents per year.

Chadzok
Apr 25, 2002

Are you cycling distance from work?
When you say public transport is 'non-existent', are you being sarcastic or literal?
Do you or your wife have any skills or interests that could potentially generate extra income?
Can you tell us about your 'failed' education attempt?
Are there other potential careers you could pursue that could be better for you and your family?
Do you or your children appear in any of The Lord of the Rings movies?

Spiteski
Aug 27, 2013



Chadzok posted:

Are you cycling distance from work?
When you say public transport is 'non-existent', are you being sarcastic or literal?
Do you or your wife have any skills or interests that could potentially generate extra income?
Can you tell us about your 'failed' education attempt?
Are there other potential careers you could pursue that could be better for you and your family?
Do you or your children appear in any of The Lord of the Rings movies?

I am 1hours travel by motorway from my work, there are no cycle lanes between here and there. As for public transport, my work day starts at 7.00am. I believe I can catch a train and then two connecting buses to somewhere within a half hours walk to my work.
I'm not exaggerating, any aucklander that knows about working in or around the Highbrook area would be familiar with the lack of eastern bound public transport from South Auckland. Even if it was viable from a timing perspective, that amount of travel wouldn't amount to much cheaper then the twenty dollars a day in petrol I spend.

My failed course was a carpenters course I went into after leaving college (high school) at MIT. I attended for one week and then stopped showing up. I continued to claim the 150per week in student loan allowance. Which you have to pay back as part of the student loan. An exercise in stupidity if ever there was one.

I could return to school to study something I have been interested in, however until my partner is ready to work I am stuck being the sole earner of our household. Our five year plan includes me returning to school as soon as we can manage it.

I can't think of any skills I have that I can monetize. As for my partner she does hairdressing work for friends and family for a bit of extra cash here and there. But not a lot and nothing particularly regular.

My dad was an extra in lord of the rings and Spartacus if that counts?

DrAlexanderTobacco
Jun 11, 2012

Help me find my true dharma
Forgive me if this is a little blunt or obvious, but stop having kids - It's of course lovely to have them but having a third will just up the strain on your finances.

There's an online moneymaking thread in BFC you might find interesting. Most of it is tailored towards "beer money" - i.e. spending money, but if you can get even a small amount in per month it would help. It might even be ideal for your wife as there are a lot of repetitive tasks (Questionnaires, polls) which are barely minimum wage, however as she's at home with plenty of downtime why not?

That to me seems like the main area of improvement. There's not really too much you can cut down on spending wise - But plenty can be done to up the income.

Eden
Jul 1, 2007
One hella classy dinosaur
What qualification did your partner qualify with? Naturally I understand not going straight to work while pregnant/right after having a baby, but my initial worry was that after some degree of absence from experience in the field, she would be very uncompetitive for employment. This worry is now magnified now that you say that your future hope is for her to be the sole income earner while you study.

I don't know how different the NZ job market is from the Australian market, and I admit that I am in a continually-evolving field (science), but this would be a big worry of mine if you're going to rely on her sole income in the future. If she got a university degree, that year(s) without experience could put her on the same wage level as what you currently earn, depending on degree.

Sephiroth_IRA
Mar 31, 2010
edit: oh New Zealand. For some reason I saw NM not NZ. Nevermind.

Little things that may have already been mentioned.

Do you really need the home-phone?

Is your cell phone plan expensive? If you have a data plan do you feel you really need it?

My wife and I spend about $160 a year (combined) on our phone plans and try to use gmail/google voice whenever we're at home. We call each-other on the office phones whenever we're at work. We spend about $55 on Internet every month and that's essentially our entertainment budget unless I decide to get Netflix soon.

Sephiroth_IRA fucked around with this message at 14:29 on Feb 12, 2014

Folly
May 26, 2010
Every plausible solution I can think of includes moving.

You said you're pay is not much above minimum wage. Which means that any job should be roughly as good as the job you have. Your commute costs and rent are so high, that you should come out way ahead if you can find a job and a home that are close together, even if that job pays minimum wage. Find such a job/house combination. Then consider going to your boss telling him you like working there, but it looks like you can't afford it. He may offer some alternative options or just tell you to go.

tuyop
Sep 15, 2006

Every second that we're not growing BASIL is a second wasted

Fun Shoe
How many kilometres is your commute?

You can easily cycle 40km round-trip and up to 80/day with a couple of months of training up to it and a shower on the work end. Bike lanes are irrelevant, cycle on the roads, cars will drive around you.

Also, can you specify per month or week when you give numbers? Most of us are North American and we default to monthly so it's kind of confusing.

Xguard86
Nov 22, 2004

"You don't understand his pain. Everywhere he goes he sees women working, wearing pants, speaking in gatherings, voting. Surely they will burn in the white hot flames of Hell"

DrAlexanderTobacco posted:

That to me seems like the main area of improvement. There's not really too much you can cut down on spending wise - But plenty can be done to up the income.

Non expert here and I never post in these but ya you don't seem like you're throwing away money, more that you have high CoL and low wages so you'll never get past treading water. Which really sucks because its way easier to fix when someone has dumb spending habits versus just their current situation being difficult overall.

Have you considered training for a tradeskill or similar? I don't know how NZ works with that but I think your best bet, longterm, is to increase your income through education of some kind. Plus you know quality of life and all that improves.

Saros
Dec 29, 2009

Its almost like we're a Bureaucracy, in space!

I set sail for the Planet of Lab Requisitions!!

Okay so it looks like cutting spending is difficult. Is your child in ECE taking advantage of the 20? (can't remember exactly how many) free hours the government provides and when would you be prepared to place your new kid in ECE?
This would free up your wife to work part time and WINZ provides several sorts of grants for graduates/mothers transitioning into work which would be a nice cash infusion. They are pretty reticent about most of these so you have to do your research.

Spiteski
Aug 27, 2013



Saros posted:

Okay so it looks like cutting spending is difficult. Is your child in ECE taking advantage of the 20? (can't remember exactly how many) free hours the government provides and when would you be prepared to place your new kid in ECE?
This would free up your wife to work part time and WINZ provides several sorts of grants for graduates/mothers transitioning into work which would be a nice cash infusion. They are pretty reticent about most of these so you have to do your research.

Yup he's in a few hours of the 20 at either end of the week so my partner has a little time to herself, but the main problem for her finding work at the moment is the pregnancy. She's 32 weeks so finding somewhere willing to hire her, and somewhere she can actually perform the work heavily pregnant is a mission. As mentioned earlier once the new baby is settled we are definately planning on her getting into part/full time work.


Xguard86 posted:


Have you considered training for a tradeskill or similar?

I'm hoping eventually we can somehow manage to live while I study. Goal is to train to be a nurse, and potentially on to be a paramedic later on.


tuyop posted:

How many kilometres is your commute?

You can easily cycle 40km round-trip and up to 80/day with a couple of months of training up to it and a shower on the work end. Bike lanes are irrelevant, cycle on the roads, cars will drive around you.

Also, can you specify per month or week when you give numbers? Most of us are North American and we default to monthly so it's kind of confusing.

I will try to specify which numbers are which. I keep forgetting to put "per week" but I'll do my best.
As to the cycling lanes, it not so much a "not willing to cycle without lanes', but a "it's illegal to cycle on a motorway" kind of deal.


Folly posted:

Every plausible solution I can think of includes moving.

You said you're pay is not much above minimum wage. Which means that any job should be roughly as good as the job you have. Your commute costs and rent are so high, that you should come out way ahead if you can find a job and a home that are close together, even if that job pays minimum wage. Find such a job/house combination. Then consider going to your boss telling him you like working there, but it looks like you can't afford it. He may offer some alternative options or just tell you to go.

For the last couple months I have had CVs circling around places near here in my field of work that I am experienced in (warehousing/forklift operation) and there are some major companies that do have big sites out here, such as Fonterra. However those companies that are closer are pretty hard to crack into. I'm hoping to have more luck, or look at more menial jobs closer to actual minimum wage.
Moving as I mentioned is a bit of a null point, as we do so heavily rely on family for a number of reasons, it would just shift certain travelling from our potential new home, to where our family and friends are. That and we want to avoid it unless it becomes literally the only option.


DrAlexanderTobacco posted:

Forgive me if this is a little blunt or obvious, but stop having kids - It's of course lovely to have them but having a third will just up the strain on your finances.

There's an online moneymaking thread in BFC you might find interesting. Most of it is tailored towards "beer money" - i.e. spending money, but if you can get even a small amount in per month it would help. It might even be ideal for your wife as there are a lot of repetitive tasks (Questionnaires, polls) which are barely minimum wage, however as she's at home with plenty of downtime why not?


Don't worry, we arent planning on keeping up the baby train.
I was having a skim through that thread earlier this week. I definitely will put some more reading into it this weekend and see how much we could try, thanks for the suggestion.

Eden posted:

What qualification did your partner qualify with? Naturally I understand not going straight to work while pregnant/right after having a baby, but my initial worry was that after some degree of absence from experience in the field, she would be very uncompetitive for employment. This worry is now magnified now that you say that your future hope is for her to be the sole income earner while you study.

I don't know how different the NZ job market is from the Australian market, and I admit that I am in a continually-evolving field (science), but this would be a big worry of mine if you're going to rely on her sole income in the future. If she got a university degree, that year(s) without experience could put her on the same wage level as what you currently earn, depending on degree.

We are quite young, so her having 1 year off after finishing study to have a new kid is fairly easily explained. And we arent expecting her job to instantly make us affluent, but anything better than what I am on is an improvement.
If we can swing me studying with her just working (which is how we :airquote:managed:airquote: the two years she studied) then we will both be in a better position in a few years time.

Saros
Dec 29, 2009

Its almost like we're a Bureaucracy, in space!

I set sail for the Planet of Lab Requisitions!!

I honestly dunno what else you can do right now other than cut costs as much as possible and wait till your wife can work. Can you get student loan repayments deferred due to financial hardship? I am a bit unsure about that one as I never had to. You could also go on a kiwisaver contributions holiday but that is a pretty paltry amount of money so might not be worth it.

[E] holy poo poo you get like $14k in govt assistance per year plus the ECE hours. My tax dollars :arghfist: (no really I am happy we have the safety nets we do.)

Saros fucked around with this message at 18:22 on Feb 12, 2014

Spiteski
Aug 27, 2013



Saros posted:

I honestly dunno what else you can do right now other than cut costs as much as possible and wait till your wife can work. Can you get student loan repayments deferred due to financial hardship? I am a bit unsure about that one as I never had to. You could also go on a kiwisaver contributions holiday but that is a pretty paltry amount of money so might not be worth it.

[E] holy poo poo you get like $14k in govt assistance per year plus the ECE hours. My tax dollars :arghfist: (no really I am happy we have the safety nets we do.)

Those are actually very good ideas, I hadn't thought about getting those stopped/paused. I don't know how likely it is they'll go for it, but it's worth a shot at least. And yeah I am pretty grateful I live in this country. This could be a much worse situation without the help we're getting.
Ideally I'd love to have the credit card back at zero, and the overdraft closed.
Which reminds me, someone mentioned the overdraft should be interest free, and you are right; it's interest free until this year is over. Which means we can prioritise the credit card over it.
Does anyone have any idea whether you can organise a credit card to a lower limit, say 500. While it is still above that, and just pay it down? I don't want to do it then be hit with $30 per week in over limit fees.

root of all eval
Dec 28, 2002

Are there the equivalent of "community colleges" in NZ? In the states you can usually find small local colleges where you can get vocational training and certifications on a part time basis, taking classes nights and weekends. These are state and locally funded and you can often get a degree/certificate for between 3-10k depending on the program. This is if you pay cash and we have grants for low income students that can cover $5,550 a year. I'm sure the education system is different but I'd be curious to know if these affordable vocational schools and grants are offered there.

tuyop
Sep 15, 2006

Every second that we're not growing BASIL is a second wasted

Fun Shoe
Thread needs more charts.


slap me silly
Nov 1, 2009
Grimey Drawer
Missing Hot Wheels and BASIL, yo.

Haifisch
Nov 13, 2010

Objection! I object! That was... objectionable!



Taco Defender

Spiteski posted:

home phone (which we require)
Define 'require'. You both have cell phones, why do you need a home phone? Either dump the cell phones or dump the home phone(more likely the home phone, considering that this is 2014 and you can get prepaid plans cheap).

Xguard86
Nov 22, 2004

"You don't understand his pain. Everywhere he goes he sees women working, wearing pants, speaking in gatherings, voting. Surely they will burn in the white hot flames of Hell"
I believe (at least its like this in the US) a phone with a physical connection but not official live can still dial the emergency number for your area. If you are worried about not being able to get help in an emergency, which is a perfectly rational thing with kids.

tuyop
Sep 15, 2006

Every second that we're not growing BASIL is a second wasted

Fun Shoe

slap me silly posted:

Missing Hot Wheels and BASIL, yo.

Good point. Can you garden, OP?

Have you or your wife considered camwhoring on the side? Just get a luchador mask or something. People dig that.

And where's your grocery line item?

Spiteski
Aug 27, 2013



tuyop posted:

Good point. Can you garden, OP?

Have you or your wife considered camwhoring on the side? Just get a luchador mask or something. People dig that.

And where's your grocery line item?

I will update thread after experimenting selling my chunky man body on video tonight.

We have looked into gardening, going so far as to ask the landlord to convert a portion if the property to vegetable garden. We were told no, which sucks. But we are maintaining a lettuce garden in the hedge line with a tomato plant and strawberries. It's not much but fresh lettuce and tomato is pretty excellent.



In regards to the phone line deal, it's not drastically cheaper to have an internet connection without a phone line, and the calls to local landlines that we get at zero cost would soon add up on my partners prepaid mobile. My plan only has sixty minutes on it, so it's not viable to use that as the go-to for local calling.

tuyop
Sep 15, 2006

Every second that we're not growing BASIL is a second wasted

Fun Shoe

Spiteski posted:

I will update thread after experimenting selling my chunky man body on video tonight.

We have looked into gardening, going so far as to ask the landlord to convert a portion if the property to vegetable garden. We were told no, which sucks. But we are maintaining a lettuce garden in the hedge line with a tomato plant and strawberries. It's not much but fresh lettuce and tomato is pretty excellent.



In regards to the phone line deal, it's not drastically cheaper to have an internet connection without a phone line, and the calls to local landlines that we get at zero cost would soon add up on my partners prepaid mobile. My plan only has sixty minutes on it, so it's not viable to use that as the go-to for local calling.

Pff just grow pounds of cooking herbs (parsley, oregano... BASIL) in a spare room using an aquaponic setup. Sell the herbs to local fancy restaurants marketed as the awesome crazy agricultural revolution stuff they are. Eat the fish. Feed all waste to worms in a vermiculite bin under your sink. Feed worms to fish. Feed fish poop to plants. Feed herbs to chefs. Et cetera.

There is 100% no possible way for this scheme to fail.

HelloIAmYourHeart
Dec 29, 2008
Fallen Rib
Can I grow herbs on top of my aquarium? Semi-serious question.

Anyway, how do people in New Zealand even LIVE with the rent that high? Like, people who have even less money than the OP, do they have the projects or Section 8 housing or council estates or whatever the Kiwi equivalent is?

FrozenVent
May 1, 2009

The Boeing 737-200QC is the undisputed workhorse of the skies.

HelloIAmYourHeart posted:

Can I grow herbs on top of my aquarium? Semi-serious question.

Oh God no. You've done it now. You've summoned him.

tuyop
Sep 15, 2006

Every second that we're not growing BASIL is a second wasted

Fun Shoe

HelloIAmYourHeart posted:

Can I grow herbs on top of my aquarium? Semi-serious question.

Anyway, how do people in New Zealand even LIVE with the rent that high? Like, people who have even less money than the OP, do they have the projects or Section 8 housing or council estates or whatever the Kiwi equivalent is?

Oh man.

The answer is yes, but you need to do a couple of things first.

Basically you need to pump the fish water up to plant roots, and allow the water to return to the fish. You just have to make sure that your water has the correct bacteria to turn ammonia into nitrites and then nitrites into nitrates. All that stuff is toxic to fish so you have to filter it through plants in a system before gravity returns the cleaned water back to the fish.

In practice, everything will die because it's a pretty hard system to start up. Once it's done, though, you end up with a pretty resilient system and you can farm tilapia or trout with a large enough tank.

Spiteski
Aug 27, 2013



HelloIAmYourHeart posted:

Can I grow herbs on top of my aquarium? Semi-serious question.

Anyway, how do people in New Zealand even LIVE with the rent that high? Like, people who have even less money than the OP, do they have the projects or Section 8 housing or council estates or whatever the Kiwi equivalent is?

NZ does have state housing, but it's currently going through an overhaul as to how to become eligible for it.
People I've met have made ends meet by doing things like "splitting" up with their partner, having their partner take their kids and claim Domestic Purposes Benefit (sole parents benefit) while they work full time. Gives them roughly 300-450 per week on top of everything else.
Others just work under the table.
A lot just sell weed.

tuyop
Sep 15, 2006

Every second that we're not growing BASIL is a second wasted

Fun Shoe

Spiteski posted:

NZ does have state housing, but it's currently going through an overhaul as to how to become eligible for it.
People I've met have made ends meet by doing things like "splitting" up with their partner, having their partner take their kids and claim Domestic Purposes Benefit (sole parents benefit) while they work full time. Gives them roughly 300-450 per week on top of everything else.
Others just work under the table.
A lot just sell weed.

What about getting a roommate? Those charts make it kind of obvious where you should cut spending.

Spiteski
Aug 27, 2013



tuyop posted:

What about getting a roommate? Those charts make it kind of obvious where you should cut spending.

While a roommate isnt a bad idea, I'd be hard pressed to convince the missus (and I'm not too keen myself) on getting a random stranger sharing a house with my 3yrold and a newborn.

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Vox Nihili
May 28, 2008

Spiteski posted:

In regards to the phone line deal, it's not drastically cheaper to have an internet connection without a phone line, and the calls to local landlines that we get at zero cost would soon add up on my partners prepaid mobile. My plan only has sixty minutes on it, so it's not viable to use that as the go-to for local calling.

That sounds more like "I've decided this way is better" than "it's required." Exactly how much does the land line run? It might be worth paying for a few more minutes to save $20 net/month or something.

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