Stop Holding Your Folding

Well, there's no doubt that we are all finding it a little more nerve wracking these days when it comes to paying the bills. I like most others cringe a little when I find that little envelope from the electricity/water/gas people in my letterbox. They are rarely sending me fond wishes sadly. But is it really something we should worry about?

Just recently, I received my quarterly strata levy notice. Being an apartment dweller, this is the contribution I make along with the other apartment owners in my building. Gasping for breath I read the invitation to deposit $752.20 into the strata account and had the usual post notice distress of the thought that I shall soon be minus dollars 752 plus some change. But consider these points and suddenly I realise that I need to be smacked in the back of the head, because my payment does this:

- Pays for the insurance on the building (in case some dumb shit burns it down)
- Pays for the electricity to light the common area's
- Pays for the upkeep of the pool
- Pays for maintenance of the building and the fairly extensive garden/shrubbery area
- Pays for the cleaning of the building hallways and lifts
- Pays for the upkeep of the security system
- Pays for 2 staff who take care of all the above and a mountain of paperwork
- Pays for things I don't even know about.
- Pays for me to not have to worry about any of the above.

I may not hand over the cash with gleeful enthusiasm, but sometimes we don't see just how good the value is of the things we have to pay for. Taxation is the other thing people squirm about when it is time to fork over the readies. Oh yes, I'm sure too much of it gets wasted on nonsense but a huge portion of it gets pumped into essential services such as police forces, education, infrastructure and other things we demand in our lives.

So my advice is this, pay your bills and enjoy the quality of life that results. Alternatively, have a whinge and don't pay your bills to discover just how difficult life can become.

Today's shout out goes to decent quality goods and service providers. Even when they are expensive, they are good value.

Today's shout down goes to penny pinchers. What a miserable way to live.

"Money can make you happy", by Dan the VespaMan.

I'm not a wealthy man
I don't have tastes of high class,
But I know a good deal when I see it
Which means I don't waste the brass.

It's true that life is pricey
Well, a good one is for sure,
But if that is what is needed
Then why not pay a little more?