Mayhem-Online

Archive for June, 2008

At the moment I’m completely stressed out. It was only just over 6 months ago that I added onto my current home loan in order to get a new kitchen. The reason was not just to have a new one but because the one that existed was crap. The cupboards were okay the benchtop was so-so but the stove was useless and we had no overhead cupboards and the sink was too big for such a small kitchen. So I managed to get quite a bit of money in order to put a new kitchen in, get rid of the crappy carpet (in most parts of the house) and put down fake timber flooring, put in a screendoor on the back of the house and various other things to fix things up.

Now my gas hotwater heater has given out. In order for the house to be so ‘cheap’ the builders and developers only get the cheapest materials. Hence why the door handles are falling off, the painting done outside is poorly done and the gas hotwater system only lasts for four years. We’ve been in the house for six.

By the time I got home last night I was feeling ill, tired and pretty miserable. The plumber had been and although he didn’t charge us for looking at the problem, we knew money would have to be paid when he said the system was shot (figure of speech meaning its broken). Rang up the gas company that we pay our gas bills to, but they don’t have a gas shop so to speak, they just get money from us and give us discounts. I’m regretting moving from Origin. Origin had their own Origin Energy Shop where you could buy heaters, hot water systems, gas stoves etc but at the time we were offered to go over to this new company, we never actually thought we’d needed something like that until now. I guess when you’re renting most of your life, you don’t really realise how much maintenance you’ve got to pay for until its actually broken. So we contacted the GasWorks company and they were happy to do a payment thing where we get it installed and then make payments until its completely paid off – however they wanted a substantial downpayment and they also wanted to look at my bank account. Not something I trust them with though I’m guessing its to see whether or not we can actually make the repayments. The other negative against them is that they’re charging more for their unit than the plumber/gas fitter was. He was good too, however he will only take cash for his job.

So I’m off to the bank this morning to see if I can beg and plead for them to loan me the money for a new system. After which I intend to spend no money on anything other than necessary items (food, toiletries, bills, clothes on occasion) for at least the next six months. If I can do that, stick to it and get used to it then I can probably extend it for a lot longer in order to get some money in behind me for such emergency situations.

At the moment we’re not doing the water-savings-efficiency thing – boiling water to create a rather shallow bath to wash in, then boiling more water to wash our hair in the sink and then again to do the dishes, but its (hopefully) only going to be for a short period of time until I can secure some money.. I am really hoping the bank will be favourable…

Oh and yes I changed the look of the site once again. The previous one was cool but I didn’t really like it that much (its coolness wore off lol). And I’m reading again as you can see from the book links in the sidebar. I’m a fan of David Gemmell (too bad he is no longer around to write more great books), though only after reading “Echoes of a Great Song”. Loved his style. Not sure that I’m that keen on Sara Douglass but the book is growing on me slowly.