lmsmith

You know, when I first heard of this, I though it was a ridiculous idea. The more I think about it, the more it makes sense. I think it doesn't appeal to us from a moral standpoint, but I'm sure some people initially thought that about chickens/pigs/sheep etc, and no one can say that doesn't work. I think it would be at risk of exploitation, but I also think that those people will get out of the circle pretty quickly when they realize that the quick buck they thought it was just simply isn't there. I'd like to see more about it in the media. I'm sure the majority of people could be convinced.

Because of where we live. It's not viable to leave because we have a fixed term contract so would have to pay to get out of it as well as pay moving costs/cleaning costs and deal with the bond etc. We would also be living out of the area so would need to drive more (to get to my parents/work). Yes, our place is expensive, but 175/week each isn't that expensive in Wellington, which is the most expensive centre to live in.

Thanks Cookie, we've switched his phone over to prepay because he doesn't use it so much. I spoke to the phone company this morning, and they're happy with us paying what we can when we can as long as we're all up to date by the end of Aug, so that was a big relief. I feel this is a better option than cancelling it because we really do need internet at home right now because my partner is looking for jobs, lots of the jobs now have online tests and things to do, he can't really do that at WINZ or wherever. Also a lot of my uni stuff I do at home at nights, so internet is important there. I'm going to talk to the power company today, we're up to date on our bill at the moment and have another month before the next one, but I'll tell them our situation and see if it'll be okay to pay the next one a week or two late depending on our situation then. I'm keeping my phone contract because I have to pay $360 to cancel it.

Aw, I really wish I wasn't scared of flying things. I really love birds, but I don't think I could ever have one without freaking out every time it moved. Pepper is very cute, and you're lucky he likes people. From what I understand, lots of birds are very shy around people when they're small.

I'm borrowing the Wii Fit from a friend for a couple of weeks to see if it works. We bought the Wii second hand months ago, and wont be selling it because we'd get about $100 from it, and would replace it when we had the money too. All of the financial help that we've got so far has told us that we should be very careful about the things we sell and only sell what we will get near market price for or will not be replacing unless we have to. This makes sense, if we sell things we don't have to that we're going to purchase again, then we're wasting a whole lot of money. If it comes down to it, of course we will sell these things, if that what it takes to live. However, if there's a benefit out there that we're able to get, I'd much rather do that than destroy my entire life. I think a lot of you are being very practical and forgetting about the realities of this. As far as I can see, my entire life, everything that I've worked for for the last 10 years has been destroyed. I'm not looking for sympathy, but I am asking for a little bit of empathy. How would you feel if you asked if anyone had any information about what other benefits might be available and they told you to suck it up and sell everything you own? Don't you think I've thought of all of this already? Caryl, in relation to your eating out point, I was referring to the amount we used to eat out before we moved here compared to how much we did when we moved into a house with the pool. Of course we don't eat out anymore, that was the first thing to go. Also, we already have a vege garden (I started it a few months ago, and am finally getting food I can eat, which is really exciting) and eat at my parents about 5 nights a week. P44, we've used our overdraft already to get out of as many plans/contracts etc that we can to reduce our costs. Hopefully we'll get the $1000 course related costs in the next week or so, just waiting for the university to confirm that he's studying. I won't be able to get mine until uni starts because I was an eager beaver last year and bought my books a couple of weeks before uni. Rugz - No bank would give us a credit card because we have no income, even if that was a good idea. Reef - if he could get a job at all, we wouldn't be in this mess. This issue is he can't GET a job - because of the reference his previous employer is giving him, he's unemployable. Unfortunately, we only found out on Friday that the employer was giving a crap reference. He has been taken off as a reference for all applications done since then, so we're hoping that that will help. suphew - we've already accepted that moving is not financially viable, selling things that we will buy again is a last resort, we only drive to where we have to (like if 1 person goes to uni, we will catch the train, but if the two of us go, we drive because even considering petrol and parking, it's cheaper than 2 train tickets - this is part of the reason why moving doesn't make sense, I live walking distance from work and from my parents), we don't eat out, we pay nothing to play underwater hockey because we are the organisers, my hobbies have completely stopped (except the one tank that I pay power for). Don't think that we haven't thought of all of these things, we have. As I've said already, neither of our parents are in a situation to take us in.

Moving out of the area isn't an option because then I'd spend more than I'd save travellingto my parents house to help them out. I'd also have to pay to get out of my contract, as well as finding the money to move, money for new bond and getting the carpets professionally cleaned in the place we're in now. It's simply not practical to get into debt to move - the financial advisor we've gone to see agrees that it should be an absolute last resort because it isn't financially viable. I've sold all but 2 of my tanks which I'd rather not sell if I can because one is my new marine tank that I'd never get close to what I paid for for it, the other one is at my parents place, so it's not costing me anything, and is proving my dad lots of enjoyment. I've sold most of my fish already, except 3 marine fish and the guppies and BN that are hard to get rid of. All of the ones that are worth anything are gone, unless someone's in the market for some brown BN? We're trying to be smart about what we sell, there's no point in selling something if we're not going to get close to what it's worth and will be buying another one in a couple of months anyway. Barrie, I agree that benefits should be handups. This is exactly what I'm asking for, something to bridge the gap between now and 1 March when uni starts again.

If you look at the very top of the blue spiral, it looks green. Well, I guess because it IS green.

After Barries comment, I just want people to be aware that we're not trying to get something we're not entitled to. We are willing to pay back the money once we're on our feet again. Before my partner got fired, we were earning about $1300/week, more than enough to pay our bills, our rent and have left over to save. It's not like we were living on the bones of our a** before. We did think long and hard before we took the house with the pool, and I don't regret it at all because in the long run, it's actually been cheaper for us (people come to our place instead of going out, we swim in it instead of going to the gym/pool, we eat in a lot more now than we did before). I estimate that we've saved about $2500 from having a pool (including the extra cost of the pool) because we've cancelled our gym and pool memberships and eat at home much more often. Please don't think that we're stupid kids who don't know what we're doing; we do, we did think about it, we did get financial advice before we moved in. We knew what we were doing, we simply couldn't plan for the un-plan-able. While I don't mind all of the advice in this thread, please keep in mind I started it for the purposes of asking if anyone had any advice on other things we might not have thought of or other benefits that might be available. I'm happy to answer/debate in this thread, and you're not going to hurt my feelings any more than anyone else has. However, before you judge me, please know all the facts, and take a moment to think if you would have done the same thing in my situation.

We've looked into this, and it wont help. I have 2 years to go at uni, he has 6 months. I can't just do a 1/2 year because one of my papers is a full year paper and because of prereqs, it would mean I would have to spend another full year at uni. Also, I doubt I'd be able to find a full time job - it would mean leaving my job because they can't give me more hours, and I would have to reduce the pay I'm on. He only has 6 months left then has a job to go to, so it makes no sense to put his off either.

My partner was working full time and studying. I was studying full time and working part time. He was going to continue working full time and studying, I was going to continue working full time and studying. When he was working full time, he was earning about $900/week, and I was earning about $350. Now he's earning nothing, and they've cut my hours because they're so behind budget. We had no way to know they would fire him or cut my hours, and we had enough saved so that we had 2 months to find more income. The problem is he hasn't been able to find another job because he can't lie when they ask why he left his last job. Employers want to talk to the person who fired him, and that person is generally being a **** on the phone. The decision to take our house didn't take into account that my partner would be fired unfairly from his job. His employer has agreed that the dismissal was unfair, but it will be a while before we see any money. It's not like we simply didn't look ahead and forgot that we were going to study, our entire life was planned out and because he was dismissed unfairly, we're now in this mess. As soon as he can get another job, or the payout, we'll be okay again. He has a job for when he's finished uni, but that's 6 months away. Moving now will simply make our money problems worse because we're in a short term problem, adding debt in the short term will not help. The house is about $20/week more expensive than other, like houses in the area with no pool. So in real terms, paying $1040 a year for a pool isn't bad for us, otherwise we'd both be going daily to the public pools anyway to do our underwater hockey training, so it works out cheaper than not having one. Making a budget will also not help (I already have one). We're very good at budgeting, that's how we had 2 months worth of money saved up to live on for this time. Our problem is that no budget in the world will help us feed ourselves and pay our bills for the $10 we have left over a week. You see, this is the other problem. In order to move, we would have to take out a loan. We can't get a loan, because we don't own anything to put up as collateral. We can't get a credit card to pay for carpet cleaning etc because we don't have an income. Trust me, we've thought long and hard about this and we're smart people. We didn't do this to ourselves (except maybe we were not pessimistic enough, we didn't plan for him to lose his job and not be able to find another one because his employer is badmouthing him to everyone), we are hardworking people who work hard for our money. We have fallen into a gap in the system where WINZ/Studylink can't help. All we need is some sort of benefit for 4 weeks until uni starts and to give us some breathing room to sort out the grievance, but apparently nothing exists. I've written to Paula Bennett in hope that someone can sort out some sort of emergency benefit that we can actually qualify for. Barrie, the benefits are paid from MY taxes too - I've been paying taxes for the last 7 years, so has my partner, and to say that someone shouldn't get a benefit simply because they were smart with their money and COULD afford things is ridiculous. Don't worry, the people at WINZ suggested stopping studying and go on the benefit full time or having kids.

The he is my partner, sorry, this was part of the letter I've written to Paula Bennett so it doesn't make sense so much now the names are taken out. I'll get him to have another look into allied, but last week they had nothing. He's done the dogwalking etc, but there's not really much out there in our area. Neither of us can move home as our parents don't have room for us.

Tried that. He's done some one off jobs through student job search, but no more than 1 job a week. Our rent is pretty high, but we have a swimming pool and the rent was fine when he was working. It's not like we're in this situation because we've been living outside our means. We made a conscious decision to pay more for rent because we love the house and love the pool. Our place is 2 b/rms, but we can't rent it out (clause in contract that we agreed to, and we use it as a study area) We can't move because we don't have enough money to pay new bond/pay for carpet cleaning etc. Also, there isn't a lot out there which is close to work/my parents place. We have to be pretty close as my dad often needs extra help at the moment. We're pretty good with power as it is, we spend about $130/month on power which isn't bad considering the pool pump and tank. Can't change internet plan without paying an early resign fee, same with our phones. It really sucks because we had all this money saved up to buy a house and it's taken us years to save, now we're back worse than what we started. We've only been living out of home for 6 months, and I can't risk being caught lying on a WINZ application because I want to be a lawyer, any dishonesty charges and my whole career goes out the window.

Has anyone had any dealings with them or know the ins and outs of the benefits? I'm in a bit of a situation, and they've said they're not able to help at all. Basically here's our situation: • I earn $200 a week working part time. I am studying also, so I get my course fees paid through a student loan, and also get living costs paid though my student loan ($160.00/week). • I do not qualify for a student allowance because my parents earn over $78,000/year. Because I do not qualify for student allowance, and am under 24, I do not qualify for accommodation supplement. • I do not qualify for any other benefits or supplements through WINZ because I am studying, do not have children, and because my parents earn too much money. • My parents are not in a position to help us financially as they chose to send both my brother and I to private schools (my brother is still at school) and my dad is recovering from a heart attack and bypass operation, so they have significant costs of their own. • He is going back to study on the 1 March 2010. He cannot get the living costs part of his student loan as he is not currently studying. • He cannot get an unemployment benefit through WINZ because he is not looking for full time work; he cannot work full time because he is studying. • He cannot get a student hardship unemployment benefit through Studylink because he does not qualify for a student allowance. • He does not qualify for a student allowance or accommodation supplement because his parents earn over $78,000/year. • His parents are not in a position to help us, because his mum is currently unemployed after her contract ended, and while they are earning over $78,000/year, they are on a single income. • We do not qualify for any hardship or emergency benefits through WINZ because we are students. • We do not qualify for any hardship or emergency benefits thorough Studylink because of our age and our parents income, and because we do not have children. • Our rent is $350 a week, and we are unable to sublet/have boarders. We also have other bills, including electricity, phone and internet, all which we were able to pay comfortably while saving when he was working. • We have sold almost everything that we can in order to have enough money to survive. I feel like we've exhausted all options, and I'm looking for another take on it.

she recommended it for the yoga. I have really bad insomina due to stress, and she thinks that yoga might help. She knows I already have a wii, and said it might be good for that and I can use it for other games too.

Nope, but it does include all of the short term positions he's applied for/done through student job search.

Wow congrats, I know the job market out there is really tough right now - my partner applied for his 300th job last week Hope you love your new job, when do you start?

Well, I did a work out last night (about an hour), and I've done about 1/2 hr this morning. Usually after about 20 minutes of working our or playing a game, I loose interest. I'm really loving the Wii Fit Plus because I have goals I can work towards. Today, my aim is a bag of crisps. Actually, all I want to do is spend an hour a day on it - I like that I can do that in 3 minute lots (read - in the ad breaks!)

Has anyone here used a Wii Fit? My doctor recommended I get one, and I played on it for about an hour today and really enjoyed it. Just wondering if anyone's used one and kept it up.

Love it? Hate it? Think it will be useful? Will you be getting one? Why/why not?

haha, you raise a valid point. Kudos to you for picking up that late night blunder!

Try not to pick them up in nets; they should never be immersed as they can draw air into their tummies (like puffing) and not be able to expel it. Try to catch them in containers. Much less stressful for them, too.

Just me, or does the eye in that first pic look a bit cloudy?

When 4 neighbours knock on your door asking what the glow is in your house :-?

yup it's all coral rock, just from different parts of the world. I need to get some more rock, it's looking a bit bare. I've also added a blue tang, he's doubled in size in the last month, and eats so much!! He gets along well with everything in the tank, so I'm happy with that.

The tank was $550 including overflow and holes and lids. I thought that was pretty good, he worked with me to design the bracing so I was happy with it.