Why on earth am I spending regular time at my local posh, ‘used for photo shoots by major publications’ garden centre, I'm supposed to be saving money right?
The main reason is I just love it there. Living in an apartment, I have limited outdoor space and this centre is huge. Half of the place is the nursery where you can buy all manner of plants and pots etc, but it’s also got a huge display garden with different styles of gardens to wander round and enjoy, everything from ultra modern rock gardens to an organic vegetable garden, complete with chooks! (Chooks = chickens for the non Aussies)
Second, they have an art gallery, and a cafe that does great coffee and food. Sitting out on the terrace with a latte and my buddy looking over the gardens is a very pleasant way to spend a Saturday morning. Often her almost two year old joins us to ‘play ladies’, and the sight of her hooking into her baby-cino with such gusto never ceases to make me laugh.
Third, that coffee we have? It’s FREE! The centre has a club you can join (also FREE) which entitles you to a complimentary coffee each month – nice huh? The art gallery is also free, as are the gardens to wander around in at your leisure.
Last but not least is the newest and now most powerful attraction I discovered on my last visit. They have an allotment garden for the local community! They have 6 spaces available to members to put their names down for and when it’s your turn you get 3 months to grow things in your plot. I have of course put my name on the list to get my own plot, it’s very exciting!
There was a lovely old man watering his plot last time we were there and he was telling us he and his wife had recently downsized to an apartment after always living in a house, so this was an ideal solution for him to continue to enjoy gardening without having too much to manage on his own.
Yes it’s only 3 months when I eventually get one (unless no one else has their name down for the next session), but I still think with the right research and careful plant selection I should be able to produce some great veg, and enjoy every minute of getting my hands dirty.
Tuesday, 29 July 2008
I Love My Posh Garden Centre
Tuesday, 22 July 2008
Work Perks – Free Food And Entertainment
We often joke in my team at work that you can eat for free at Monday to Friday if you play your cards right, and this week seems to be no exception.
There are over 300 people on my floor so there seems to be a birthday at least once a week or so, sometime more, so that equals free birthday cake. There are 3 scheduled this week alone. One of the perks of having Marketing and Sales on the same floor, I've no doubt; there’s always money for cake!
If there’s a launch of a new plan or product that equals a launch party so there’s at least cake, but the last couple of launches provided not only cake but hot food as well! If it's a bigger launch we'll usually get free chocolate bars or cupcakes as well.
Yesterday we had our monthly treat delivered to our desks, which were small packets of biscuits (cookies for the non-Aussies). In previous months it’s been instant soups, nuts and raisins, and fancy instant coffees (yuck, I don’t do instant).
There’s always free Twinings tea available in the kitchens on every floor, both Irish Breakfast (the CEO is Irish - coincidence?) and Green varieties.
I've got a team lunch today as our product was just voted the best in Australia (yay us), so the big boss is taking us all out for lunch at a local steak house, so free lunch (steak at that!) today.
Tomorrow I've off to a free screening of the new Batman movie The Dark Knight, at the cinema that’s right across the road from where I live, which also includes free choc tops, popcorn and drinks, a huge saving from an entertainment perspective.
I won a bet with my boss about how well a campaign would perform, so that’s another free lunch tomorrow for me – hurrah!
On Friday we've got a team off site that’s fully catered, so that’s a total of three free lunches this week, and better ones than I’d have packed for myself, so I've got to be happy with that.
Last week we had the top four dancers from So You Think You Can Dance come to the campus and put on a show ahead of their tour around Australia.
Who says there’s no such thing as a free lunch!
Friday, 2 May 2008
Survey Site That Actually Pays
There are a lot of us in the PF blogosphere using surveys to generate some extra money to pay down their debts. You have to find your snowflakes where you can right?
I signed myself up for a whole batch of survey sites a few months ago, and from my perspective Pure Profile seems to be the only one I generate any real money from.
I seem to be ineligible for a lot of surveys unfortunately, maybe it’s because I’m single with no kids, or it could be that as an Aussie there aren't the same volume of survey opportunities as my US and UK colleagues enjoy.
Pure Profile pay out in cash (to your PayPal account) at $25 and it hasn't taken me that long to get there compared to other sites.
It may be worth trying out Pure Profile yourself?
There are some other great posts out there to locate the best survey sites available, here are my favourites:
Paid Twice: Surveys For Fun And Pocket Change
Money Blog Site: Survey Sites
Dead Set Free Stuff: Australian Survey Sites That Pay!
Do you use online survey sites to generate extra money? I’d love to hear if they work for you or if there’s something else I should be trying?
Have you got a post about surveys? I’d like to add it to my list here, so leave me the details in a comment!
Friday, 4 April 2008
Washer + My Personal MacGyver = Car Fixed
My car is all fixed! Car Guy came over the other night, took one look at it and said he would be able to fix it himself.
We were in need of a washer to bolt the bumper bar back onto the front of the car, and of course being a girl/renter I didn't have one in the garage. If only you could fix a car with cases of red wine, I'd be all set!
He then spied an ingenious and frugal solution. I had an old lamp with a broken shade stored in the back of the garage. Its shade was glass and had smashed during my move in January, and I wasn't able to get a replacement one. It happened to have a washer type bit on the bottom near the cord. To get to it we had to cut the power cord though so the lamp itself is toast.
I also thought the bulb had gone on the Speedometer, but he suspected I'd just turned the dimmer down accidentally (my car has a dimmer, who knew?) and sure enough that was the problem.
So rather than my expected smash repair expenses, I have a fully functional car again and it only cost me a tall cold glass of Coke Zero and a nice catch up chat with my personal MacGyver afterwards. Bargain!
I don't know what I'd do without my very own MacGyver, spend hundreds of dollars unnecessarily no doubt…
Note: wine was purchased before my debt diet commenced.
Tuesday, 22 January 2008
How I Received $678.14 With One Phone Call
As I was unpacking yet another box last night, I found a couple of old holding statements for shares in the company I work for. These were very old, 7 years in fact and to be honest I couldn't even remember if I’d sold the shares or not.
So I called Computershare this morning and found that I actually still have 1280 shares in my company and they've tripled in value since then – sweet! That’s not the only good bit, as I’ll hang on to them for now with the share market being as all over the place as it is.
The really good bit is I’d moved twice since these were issued and I hadn't received any dividend cheques during that time, so I’m having them reissued for the entire time I've held the shares, which translates to a cheque for $678.14! Which will of course go straight towards paying off debt.
It demonstrates yet again just how clueless I was about my money before I chose to become conscious of my financial position and do something about it. I've now updated my mailing address and should see future dividends come through (assuming the company does well), so I can also put them straight into debt reduction.
The move is unearthing all manner of goodies!
Have you been through your papers lately? Are you sitting on a potential windfall? It’s worth having a look just to be sure!
Monday, 3 December 2007
Free Ikea! – Well For Me Anyway
Had a great score at work this morning.
The group that sits next to mine had a delivery of about 40 of these Benjamin stools from Ikea. Turns out they thought the PR company they use had hired them for a recent event, but in fact they’d bought them, then sent them to the office after the event.
So they decided to offer them to anyone who wanted to take them. I’d actually been eyeing these off in the catalogue for ages but had never got around to buying them, They would make great casual side tables, plus extra seating for visitors if you’re having a party or BBQ.
So I snaffled 4 of them. Then, one of the girls in my team who took 2 for herself decided she didn't want them after all, so I now have 6, in exactly the colour I would have bought anyway, and saved myself $174!
Bargain.
