Our Frugal Lifestyle

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Passionate about eco-frugality. I used to party hard, clubbing my way from pay-packet to pay-packet. Never getting ahead, just getting by. Then came our much wanted baby with no savings in the bank - only an old car. Changes were made to our lifestyle and we didn't turn back. In the past 6yrs we purchased a flat, found employment, lived below our means, built an emergency fund, purchased a reliable car and saw the financial benefits of our frugal lifestyle. Our only debt is our mortgage. Our aim is to manage our cash flow wisely, pay off our home quickly and eventually work for pleasure, not necessity. Join us on our journey, share insights, tips and tricks to help us and others to get ahead while having a good time.

Monday, November 22, 2010

It's Been A Busy Week

I've had a stressful busy time in the past week.

We were very close to flooding as the tropical rains came down and the drainage in our area is not adequate. The excessive building of apartment blocks, the removal of lawns for cement and the lack of new drains has caused us to be the receivers of the neighbourhoods water flow. This time last year we were flooded with dirty muddy water ankle deep in our flat. Fortunately we didn't have much and most of our furniture has steel legs so nothing was overly damaged except (expensive) university text books.

But in the space of a year we have accumulated way too much stuff and I was worried and frantic. As the rain poured I was at work making call after call. I organised my partner to go home and prepare our home, notified my neighbour Mr T who raced home to prepare his home, spoke with a home-maintenace/garden shop for sandbag solutions, got my mum to purchase, pick up and deliver sand bags and called the local city council for them to do something about it NOW. The stress brought me to frustrated tears.
The drain is near the 1st tree - instead of taking in water it expels excess water.
The water rose over our garden area... but the rain stopped and the water went down quickly. We were lucky this time. The council rep rang me soon after (from my street)... and told me the workers started working on building new drains half an hour after my call. A promise they had made 1 year earlier and was only actioned as we flat owners were at breaking point and threatened to take them to court for their broken promises and misleading information. The council also told me they had sandbags for our building's use. So being frugal as I am, I took my sandbags and docket back to the shop and was refunded my $89 without hassle or query.

I hope the new drains further up the street will stop the problem once and for all. Concrete jungles are on the increase and sadly lovely green lawns are becoming a thing of the past in my neighbourhood. This gives little chance for water to be soaked up by the soil.

The cyclone season is upon us and this year is predicted to be a strong cyclone season. We are updating our cyclone kit and cleaning up our home and yard.

What kind of challenging times does your region have due to weather at this time of year?

Do you prepare yourself, pets and home?

1 comment:

  1. Oh what a traumatic time you're having lately, I'm not surprised you're shedding tears in frustration! Fingers crossed the new drains work better in future. Flooding is a terrible problem globally.

    The U.K. has a seemingly annual flood, strangely seems to be located in a different area each year. Last week in was the south-west of England in Cornwall, almost a year to the day since Cockermouth, a town in the Lake District (well-named) in the north-west suffered terribly. In previous years Northumbria and the Tewkesbury in the Midlands have been badly hit. Of course the big worry is London, and it's thought to be just a matter of time although they do have a barrage in place across the Thames.

    We've had quite a few downpours during the last month and today I was drenched waiting for buses :( and cold too, about 7degrees C. We're lucky not to live in areas prone to floods, however our cellar has been under-water for two years - one of the reasons we're moving!
    pamela x
    p.s. glad you got a refund on the sandbags!!!

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