Archive for June 12th, 2008

Debt? Who has it?

June 12th, 2008 -- Posted in frugal living | 6 Comments »

Now, I have to say, I’m flabbergasted by our modern culture of “buy before you can afford it!!” I have never bought anything that I didn’t have the money for. Yes, I have a credit card, but it currently has, and has had, a $500 limit for the last ten years. I only got it because I wanted to buy something online, and that is pretty much all I use it for these days, too.

I was brought up to work hard and save for the things I wanted. When I needed a new car last year because my 1986 Ford Telstar finally died, I used a few thousand dollars of savings to buy a 1997 Ford Fiesta. The thought of getting a car loan terrified the heck out of me. Why would I want to get a loan to buy a new car that would lose tons of value as soon as I bought it - not to mention that I would end up paying craploads more for it than the ’sale’ price, once you calculated interest.

I have one debt in my life - my HECS. For those of you not in Aus, that is the interest-free loan the government gave me to pay for my university education. It gets automatically deducted out of my tax, and will be paid off one day - I don’t really consider this ‘real’ debt, and either way, it was a most important investment.

I know that I’m approaching the time when I’ll have to get a mortgage - the thought of which really terrifies me. But, unless I want to be stuck renting forever, it’s the only way Nick and I will be able to get our own home. And so, it is good debt.

Going into 20% credit card debt to buy a phone/clothes/shoes/furniture/entertainment is bad debt. If you can’t afford these things, you don’t need them. This advice is from a girl who slept on a 2-inch thick foam mattress on the floor for three years because I had it, and didn’t really need a bed.

Make do, save your money, and you’ll be much better off for it.

I have to give thanks to Rhonda-Jean over at Down to Earth for the inspiration behind this post. Check out her post Tightening your Belt.

My Host is Green!

June 12th, 2008 -- Posted in garden, web stuff | No Comments »

I was in the Web Panel of my hosting service, Dreamhost, today, and realised that they are a carbon neutral organisation. Now, I know I have discussed my scepticism regarding carbon offsetting in the past, but putting that aside, I think it’s pretty cool that they put the effort in to do this. And, it means that my site is green as well!

They are fantastic - I plan on staying with them indefinitely, not the least because they make things so easy, for example, they offer one-click installation of WordPress, among other things, (and if you, like me, installed it the hard way the first time, you will appreciate how fantastic that is!!).

Also, I have decided to join their affiliate program, which means I will get a payment whenever someone signs up from my site/recommendation. I want to be totally upfront with you all about this - yes, I will earn some dollars if you sign up with them, and I really believe they are an awesome web host. As I said, I use them myself.

So, if you want to check them out, click the link above - or check the link in my sidebar. I recommend the latter, as that one is currently linked to a promo code EPHFREEDOMAIN - i.e. if you sign up using that link and promo code, you’ll get to register one domain name for free, which will save you anywhere from $12 up.

So, if you’re looking for a host, check them out :)

In other news…

I am having an issue with my cherry tomatoes. Every time they ripen, they are splitting. It is getting rather annoying, but I don’t know, as yet, what is causing it. Has anyone else had this happen?