Celebrating Positives (offset of the Gripes Thread)

[red750]

Check your typos again Spacey. That would be a bit hard to knit.

[spacesailor]

I must be expecting, that ' Mr A I ' to tell me .

" I'm wrong again " . LoL

(  but how to get 'd' from 'LL' ) .

spacesailor

 

[willedoo]

Life is good when you have a big green and red shed nearby. I bought a couple of these Gorilla brand bow shackles today. Good quality, rated at two tonnes, built to Australian standard, pin size of 13mm and only $4.95 each.

 

[nomadpete]

9 hours ago, willedoo said:

Life is good when you have a big green and red shed nearby. I bought a couple of these Gorilla brand bow shackles today. Good quality, rated at two tonnes, built to Australian standard, pin size of 13mm and only $4.95 each.

 

You really don't want that tarp to blow off the Harley, do ya?

[old man emu]

I'm feeling good so far today. I've just finished sealing down the joint between the two lengths of vinyl on the boot room floor. (More reno stuff in the other thread tonight.) I was really apprehensive about doing that job as one mistake and the appearance is ruined, and I don't have any more vinyl to do the job over. But it's come out spot on.

 

Considering that two years ago I knew three parts of nine tenths of F-all about all the little jobs involved in a reno, I just had to say to myself, "FIGJAM", and myself said to me, 'Yeah, but ... You haven't finished yet. There's many a slip twixt cup and lip". So I told myself to get stuffed. I reckon "I" deserves to pat "I" on the back sometimes.

[nomadpete]

Careful, old mate.

'Tis most unwise to get a swelled head before the job is complete.....

 

 

That said, now you know the supreme satisfaction of creating your own living space!

[willedoo]

Today I got one of those letters with the window that are obviously from the government. Whenever I see them in the letterbox my first thought is usually 'this can't be good', but as it turns out it was. It was a letter from the Queensland Revenue Office letting me know they'd granted me an exemption to paying annual land tax. The new unimproved property valuations had pushed most people into the land tax bracket. Normally you would have to apply for an exemption, but with an election this month, they are giving automatic exemptions to people who live on their properties and don't rent out part of it or conduct a business on the property.

 

Once you have the exemption they will automatically grant it every financial year unless your circumstances change. The tax would have cost me $2,600 per year based on the current valuation.

[old man emu]

3 hours ago, willedoo said:

The tax would have cost me $2,600 per year based on the current valuation.

Well. Now we know what your vote is worth. 

[facthunter]

He appreciates consideration and Poor(er) people can't bribe Governments.   Nev

[old man emu]

When I moved from Sydney, I just threw all my household goods into boxes and they have been sitting unsorted since then. Today I decided to make an all out attack on what were the contents of the linen cupboard. I've got more bath towels and bed sheets than Conrad Hilton. So into a heavy duty plastic bag went the first lot, mainly tea towels and orphan pillow cases. I'll need to get some more bags for the rest of the bath towels and doona cover sets. I also went through all my shirts as well as hoodies and such and pulled out the ones that were either too big for me now or that I just didn't like.

 

On Monday I'll cart it all to the local OP Shop and give my sister something to do puting it on the shelves. Amongst everything else she does in the community, she volunteers at the OP Shop. Can't stop the girl, and she is my elder sister.

[willedoo]

It's hard to stop those sisters. Mine is heading toward 76 and she still teaches dance classes.

[willedoo]

On the subject of positives, I've been in salvager's heaven this last week. I just have to make sure I use all the gear so it doesn't turn into a hoarder's nightmare. I answered an ad on Facebook Marketplace for some secondhand bricks. They were solids, from the old local brickworks when they were operating. Solids are like hen's teeth now; brickworks that still make them often only do it to order and they are very expensive.

 

I rolled up at the renovation site and picked them up, about 200 of them. The people doing the renovation are a nice young couple and it turns out they are house flippers. They usually end up with heaps of building demolition material that goes in the bin skip and would prefer it if someone could use it instead of throwing good material away. As it is, they found the right bloke for that. I went back in today for a couple of loads. I ended up with 100+ split face retaining blocks (retail $6 each) and a pile of good fill for the driveway holes and a few sheets of non structural ply. The second trip was more driveway fill plus a couple of 3 metre long 6x3" hardwood beams that had been used as lintels and a whole bunch of hardwood 3x2" short studs. They're only 2 metres long but will be ok for jack studs and the like.

 

Tomorrow I'm going back for another short 6x3" beam, some more ply, a hardwood bench, some treated pine posts and there's heaps of pallets there if I want them. It might be ongoing as they do two or three houses per year. It's mutually beneficial; I get good recycled building material for free and they get the site cleaned up.

[spacesailor]

I met a guy who pays for your ' full garage ' .

He sells , as much as the tip fee's he had  to pay . 

I took a load of his rubbish,  paid for my item, then had a couple boxes of items given to me .

It didn't seem a good paying job, with all his running 

Around the Sydney area .

spacesailor

[red750]

I've mentioned before how I budget for bills by making invremental payments each pension day of amounts I have from the previos pension. so I don't get bill shock.Here is an example of why I do this - I like bills like this.

 

 

I do this for Gas, Electricity and Water.

 

Because I have a smart meter for my electricity, my online account gives me a constant record of how I am going. When I get ahead like this, I can go a pension or two without making a payment. Unfortunately, gas and water don't have this progressive status.

 

[willedoo]

The only one I do it with is rates via a weekly direct debit arrangement with council. It's great not getting a big bill twice a year. Vehicle registration in Queensland can be paid in 1,3,6, or 12 month periods. I think you pay a little bit more doing the shorter periods.

[red750]

Yes, my rates are paid in monthly instalments by direct debit. Fixed amount on the last day of the month. Fits in with pension days. I pay my rego 3-monthly. This might not be for everyone, but works for me. With this method, I've got to the position where with two more payments, my credit cards will both be paid off, and I will be totally debt free.

[old man emu]

I just reviewed my budget this morning. I have a credit union account with three sub accounts. I had my daughter create an Excel spreadsheet so I could enter the various amounts that I need to put aside for future bills. I have a sub account for monthly bills like Telstra and vehicle insurance; one for vehicle registration and CTP, and another for savings. Any payments come out of the main account and I simply top that up from the sub accounts as required, when I remember, but the money is always there when it's needed. 

 

While this method makes financial management convenient, what I find is that it has done is given me a growing nest egg. I am squirrelling away more money that I ever have, and that is despite the money I spend on materials for the renovation. Nowadays I don't worry about getting work done on my car because I know the money is there to pay for it. In fact I really like to receive the bill from my mechanic and be able to sit down at the computer as soon as I get home and pay it. Having worked in aircraft maintenance where owners a notoriously slow payers, I feel that paying immediately gives you kudos with people. Sometimes I even get my mechanic to obtain parts and I pay for them before the car even before I drop off the car. I don't see why a small business should be required to carry my debt. 

 

 

[spacesailor]

I have tried the ' rates instalments ' but was charged extra dollar per instalment bill .

Many years ago I had my ' mortgage ' paid automatically 

Then 18 months later it doubled. & when I tried to stop the extra deduction, the westpack bank told me ,

" I didn't sign for it, so I cannot stop it " .

I transferred all my money to a different account .

Then the bank sent a letter for insufficient funds & demanded  I put more money to a fraudulent account. 

Threats of police involvement made them talk to me .

So quickly.  No automatic payments from me, as too hard

To cancel, if the bank is not interested .

spacesailor

 

 

[Marty_d]

I wandered around our property after dinner this evening with a glass of wine, enjoying the mild spring weather.

Peaceful, beautiful, even the purple flowers growing in the septic overflow look happy.

Our dogs ran happily around, trying to catch turbo chooks (fat chance!) and it made me think how lucky I am to live here.

[spacesailor]

We should be ' thankful ' to live here in Australia. 

spacesailor

[red750]

On 13/10/2024 at 12:33 PM, red750 said:

With this method, I've got to the position where with two more payments, my credit cards will both be paid off, and I will be totally debt free.

Well, I didn't have to wait. Due to an unexpected direct transfer from the ATO, I had enough to transfer to my credit card sufficient to put it into credit by a couple of dollars. When the transfer is processed tomorrow, I will be debt free.

[willedoo]

It's been an interesting time the last few days getting a heap of demolition building materials from the house flippers I met. At a rough estimate I've brought home around $1,500 worth of hardwood, bricks, pavers, plywood and steel. Today I picked up some lengths of structural angle steel in 150x90x8 and 100x100x6 sizes. The 150x90mm angle is 3.7 metres long, the others 2 and 2.4 lengths. I was fairly close with my guess of new price for the angle. I had no idea of the price but with the cost of steel these days I guessed around $500 worth. I just priced it and it's worth $556, so not bad for free. All up I've used half a tank of fuel running into town to get the stuff and given the body a bit of a workout.

 

They don't own a regular house and live in the houses they renovate, so they don't have storage for any excess materials between jobs, so it usually gets dumped. It's fairly late in the renovation so I won't get much more from this job. I was talking to the bloke yesterday and he said if I'd met him earlier in the renovation I almost could have built a house from the gear he threw out, about four bin skips worth. There was quite a bit of hardwood thrown away. They do high end stuff, so a lot of the houses are completely gutted to make way for an entirely new floor plan. In older houses, that can mean hardwood internal wall frames thrown out.

[old man emu]

2 hours ago, willedoo said:

hardwood internal wall frames thrown out

It's good to get your hands on that old hardwood, but it was hardwood when it initially was used, now, years later, its bloody hard wood. Be prepared to be sharpening cutting tools very often.

[old man emu]

After finishing the boot room, I've been being lazier than normal. Today I decided to treat myself by dong little jobs that didn't relate to the reno, or we reno jobs that we not high on the TTD list, but doing them was satisfying.

 

The major job - reno related - was cutting the timber to make the external window casing for the window in the wall that I painted. I have been having trouble with my drop saw not cutting fully across a board. In fact I was thinking of buying an old radial arm saw the Men's Shed is selling. Anyway, I was messing around with it the other day, and I don't know what I did, but now that problem is gone. So I was able to cut the timber to size with 445 degree angles at the ends. I tested the fit and it was spot on. Then I got a bout of laziness and gave up the idea of painting on a coat of undercoat. There's always tomorrow.

 

The next job was to cut and fit plugs into the holes where the coach screws hold the 4 x 2 hardwood timber to the frame of my carpenter's workbench. (Now you know how I know about the toughness of old hardwood since those 4 x 2s are the real thing out of a demolished old house). I had a length of dowel. so I set up my bandsaw and cut a heap of 15 mm long plugs from it. Then I bashed them in with a wooden mallet and flush trimmed them and sanded them level with the bench top. It was one of those jobs that was more cosmetic than practical, but it's been on my mind for a while. Now it's done and it made me happy.

 

I even got the shop vacuum out and vacuumed the floor of my car. Too many bindii seeds and bits of grass. I even cleaned the brick dust out of the vacuum's filter.

 

Amongst all that I managed to take a run into town and go to the library to get the fourth story in the Thursday Murder Club series to finish off the series. So it's off to bed now to start reading it.

[onetrack]

We have identified a professional hoarder in our midst!! 😄