My Bargain Betty article for the Herald on Sunday about the cost of computers has drawn some interesting feedback. It seems like plenty of readers share my experiences

Computers are expensive beasts, and every few years you need a new one because the old one doesn’t have enough grunt.

Most people make a beeline for the likes of The Warehouse, Harvey Norman or Dick Smith, assuming the deals on offer are cheap. More fool them, is Bargain Betty’s attitude.

My last three computers came from pokey, cluttered, dingy shops. Why? Because they offer more bang for your buck – in my case I saved $200 a pop. And before you ask, I can speak geek, thanks to a couple of years writing for PC Week magazine.

To read the rest of the article:

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/news/article.cfm?c_id=3&objectid=10657912

I’m flying Jetstar tomorrow. I learned my lesson last time. Don’t get on board without any food. The airline, bless its cotton socks, makes up for the low ticket prices by charging you for food. It costs an arm and a leg.  So tonight I’m going to cook up an extra large and extra special dinner and put some in a takeaway container.  That has to be a whole lot better than spending $10 on what amounts to a snack. I could buy some takeaways on the way to the airport. But to be honest it’s more hassle than it’s worth to stop.

My arm was twisted last Christmas to get a couple of guinea pigs.  Our furry friends and their hutch came free. But it soon became clear that these two could prove quite expensive.

Their former owners bought guinea pig food and you’d be amazed at how frequently the paper and sawdust needs changing in the hutch. The latter is much cheaper on Trade Me, but still cost money.

My solution?  Free range guinea pigs.  Every morning we take the guinea pigs out and put them on the lawn, where they munch for free all day long. Their diet is supplemented by our fruit and vegetable scraps.  On dry nights they stay out (I’ve rigged up a box shelter for them) so that they’re not wetting their sawdust, and on wet nights we put them in.

Sadly, however, our “free range” guinea pigs are yet to produce any eggs in the way my neighbour’s chickens do…..

I’ve had one of the cheapest weekends ever. I was parent help for a Girl Guide camp.  It cost $35 all up for my daughter and myself for food and all materials.  Considering we weren’t eating at home or heating the house for the weekend, most of that was simply taken up with the necessities of life.

Any other weekend we would have been bound to have spent other money, be it going out and being entertained, having a coffee at the soccer grounds, popping by the $2 shop for art materials, or simply doing a bit of shopping.

I must say, however, that this really is a once or twice a year sort of thing. Even I couldn’t do it every weekend. Trying to get 18 girls to go to sleep at 10pm isn’t easy.

Walk out your front door and it’s easy to start spending money like it’s confetti. I’ve developed a passion that inadvertently is a very cheap way to spend a day. Tramping.

A couple of years back I joined the North Shore Tramping Club in order to get out walking more often. The club has its own bus and joining a day tramp is as simple as turning up at 9am with your gear and jumping on board.

Today we did a five hour hike from the Dome Valley, North of Auckland towards Matakana. Here’s where the money saving happens:  It costs just $15 to go on this trip. That’s less than I’d spend on petrol driving my car to the Dome Valley. What a cheap day out.

Even better, because I’m out in the bush, it’s downright impossible to pop to the cafe for a coffee or other money frittering activity.  I’ve figured out I sometimes save money on a Sunday when I go tramping.

Oh. And. The tramping’s fun too.

Alcohol eats through people’s money far more than takeaways.  The average bottle of wine costs $15 and many families buy several a week.  I used Sorted.org.nz‘s calculator to see how that adds up.  Two bottles a week at $30  came to $17,000 over 10 years or $20,000 at a 3% interest rate. Add a glass of wine or pint or two every week at a bar and you’re looking at big bucks.

I mentioned this to friends yesterday, who told me they were saving money by buying wine by the case from a discount company.  They failed to realise just how much they were spending on their alcohol habit in total.

The cost of dentistry in this country is appalling. I blogged a while back for the Australian Women’s Weekly (NZ version) about the possibility of having dentistry work done in Thailand.  A dentist or two responded with the sort of scare stories that you’d expect. It was interesting to see readers had actually gone and done it and saved huge amounts of money.

I’m thinking of giving it a go myself if I have time to book before I next need some dentistry.  There’s a father at my kids school, who has just launched a business sending people to Thailand for medical/dental treatment. He says, as I thought, that there is some very good medical care available in Thailand.

Andrew of Tauranga had this to say about my AWW blog:

Having been quoted around $25,000NZ dollars to do some major work on my teeth, i ventured to Thailand Dentistry. I can not rave enough about the fantastic result. Third world country outside but inside so clean, so professional and so cheap. All up I had an implant, two extractions, 8 crowns, some major gum work and some other minor work. Cost less that $5000 NZ. Flight up about $1400 with Thai airways, $50 a night buys you a good hotel, including breakfast, swimming pool, and its as cheap as chips to eat and drink (out of Bangkok and tourist places that is). I went to the Phyathai Hospital, Sirrachi, about an hour out of Bangkok. The international contact their is a scotsman Gavin Waddell . Great Guy and sorts everything for you. Plenty accommodation a 30 min bus ride (about $2) a Pattaya. They do cosmetic surgerey, everything. I gather their are some bodgy places but go to the tried and true and you will be amazed. Sorry NZ dentists but you are ripping us off big time!!!!!

I make a point of never going to a cafe or restaurant that charges public holiday surcharges. As I said on MSN not long back:

My local cafes do a roaring trade on public holidays and I’m sure that extra turnover must make up for the additional staff charges. Surcharges are a rort in my opinion — and several of you agree, it would seem.

Usually I will walk up to the counter, check, and if there is a surcharge explain politely that I’m going elsewhere.
Yesterday (Queen’s Birthday) I made the mistake of popping into the Stone Oven for a takeaway coffee (a waste of money of course, but that’s another blog), and to my horror realised I was being surcharged. It was just 10 minutes before the Devonport Cubs Monster Hike began and I had no choice but to pay. Fortunately the member of staff gave me two clicks on my coffee card, which more or less wiped out the extra I’d paid for the coffee and made me feel a bit better.

This morning I had a real brainwave. I should keep my free coffees from my coffee cards and only use them on public holidays. That’s another way of getting around this surcharge.

Cafe owners hate my attitude I know. I’m the customer, however, and I choose to walk with my feet, which I do.

We waste a huge amount of money on presents in our society. How often have you received something and your heart dropped. It may have been expensive and you don’t want it. Or the giver simply didn’t understand you.

I was thinking about presents this week because I’d promised my daughter a “special treat” if she didn’t come last in the school cross country. Believe me. This is quite a feat for her. She kept hassling me to tell her what the treat was. The truth was I couldn’t decide.
She finished the run ahead of at least eight other children, which surpassed my hopes by a long way. I was so proud of the effort she had put in. Once she got her breath back she asked me what the treat was. I turned it around and asked what she wanted. The answer was a chocolate bar of her choice. This turned out to be a whole lot cheaper than what I had in mind and she’s over the moon.

It just shows that gift giving can be kept under control by simply asking what someone wants. Although there will be the occasional entitled individual who asks for something expensive.  My experience, however, is that people usually suggest something affordable that they’re going to use or cherish.

With friends and family I produce Christmas and birthday lists and ask for them in return. That way no-one can ever be disappointed or offended at what he or she receives.

I wrote this some while back in a NZ Herald article about Christmas:

Who really needs to spend $1000 on a flash toy for their husband, wife or partner? That sort of expense should be budgeted for during the year, not given as a gift. That’s just an excuse to overspend. If a child (or adult) really wants a super-expensive present, consider giving a voucher or note that offers to match what they save dollar for dollar. You could also do what the Americans do and “re-gift” last year’s unwanted presents. If this sounds too cheap, then consider giving away a valuable possession to a loved one.

Bargain Betty’s attitude is:

• Never buy new books
• Get them out of the library in the first instance
• Buy secondhand if you have to.

Betty accidentally broke her rule this morning and ordered the book You’re Broke Because You Want To Be from Amazon without first checking that it was available in the local library. It turns out it is.  That was silly. Fortunately Amazon has an option for canceling. So I did that and ordered the book through the library.

I’m only buying the book because I need to write an article about the concept of being broke because you want to be.  Apparently it’s a great in-your-face book.

Buying through Amazon got me thinking. I only buy books if I want to write about them and can’t get them from the library. My first port of call is Trade Me.  If this fails I then look at Amazon as it’s usually cheaper than going to Whitcoulls and has the types of obscure overseas books that I would be looking for anyway.

The only other time that I buy a book new is if I’ve had it out from the library and completely fallen in love with it. This only happens extremely rarely. But I am looking out for a copy of Hungry Planet What the World Eats, for exactly this reason.,

This time, before canceling the order, I decided to buy a second-hand copy at US$3.99 (plus heaps of postage). It seemed like a much better deal than buying it new……I do worry that obscure overseas sellers might not want to post to New Zealand and the book would never turn up. I’m probably letting my mind run away with itself on this one. Like Trade Me sellers, Amazon sellers probably don’t want to get a bad reputation.