Money, Money, Money

This week I have started rummaging through the house and selecting things that I’d like to remove out of our home. Eventually, we will have a tidy, semi-minimalist household…I’m sure of it! So I’ve been putting lots of stuff on Craigslist and things have been sold nicely. This week I earned around  €150.

Our government has also decided to skip the 4 billion euro budget cuts that would have meant I wouldn’t get any extra salary. See, official’s salaries have been frozen for almost four years now. It seems that I am now going to get some extra dough there as well. Yeah!

Our Prime Minister wants us to start spending more and that’s why the government decided to not go through with the budget cuts. Well…I’ll let other people do the spending for me. We’re going to make another extra mortgage payment this month. HA!

Seems like I am going to work extra hours during the upcoming ten weeks. The Big Boss asked me to do so and I am willing to do that if he’s going to pay me handsomely which he will. Mo’ money, me like! However, I am not planning on doing that shit on a regular basis. I want to be FREE, right?

Is money flowing your way as well? ‘T feels good! Is that because of my changed, positive attitude towards the stuff?

Love,

Mrs EconoWiser

New Strategy For Failed Orders

I noticed that sometimes payments don’t come through when people try to order things in my webshop. I just left these unfinished orders and hoped my customers would come back.

That’s a lazy-ass thing to do, isn’t it? And rather moronic as well. So, I decided to type out a nice general text in which I tell the customer I saw the unfinished order in my administration interface and ask the customer whether they need some sort of assistance.

This decision was golden since customers really appreciate this, come back and finish the order!

You learn something new everyday being a (side business) entrepreneur.

Love,

Mrs EconoWiser

Dutch Behind On Their Mortgage Payments

Today I read a newspaper article about the fact that some of my fellow Dutch(wo)men are behind on their monthly mortgage payments. Right now, about 77.000 cheese lovers are behind.

I have never been behind paying rent or mortgage. This must be an extremely stressful situation. I mean, the thing you pay first is the house you live in, isn’t it?

At one point in my life I did rent out rooms to students for about a year. I lived in this big (cheap!) house alone and I was a student. One of the two girls was always late with her payments. It just annoyed me so much. I couldn’t get around her behaviour. She would go shopping, but would always be at least a week late with her payments.

This experience hasn’t thrown out my dream of being a landlord in the future, by the way.

Have you ever been late with your payments? Would you like to become a landlord?

Love,

Mrs EconoWiser

Our Fourth Recession Since 2007

Holland just hit its fourth recession since 2007. I just watched the news and the statistics are:

• Unemployment rate is at 7.5% (it hasn’t been this high since the 80s)
• House prices have dropped 10% in the last year
• Consumer trust hasn’t been this low since the 80s

The husband and I have steady jobs and extra income, so we haven’t “felt” any of these recessions ourselves. I certainly hope (and expect) we can get through this one the same way as the other ones.

What about you and your country?

Love,

Mrs EconoWiser

The Dutch Are Blowing Their January Salaries…

Today I read an article about the fact that Dutch consumers (gosh, I hate that word) are blowing their January salaries like mad men. Sales have gone up, up and up in Dutch retail businesses.

I have to admit I noticed an increase in sales with my side business as well. So on the one hand I find myself thinking: people, don’t spend all your cash! On the other hand I am thinking: yay, thanks for the extra mortgage payment, peeps!

Oh well, we can’t all be Mustachians, now can we?

Love,

Mrs EconoWiser

And Another Business Investment: An Iphone

The husband spent €700 today on a brand-new Iphone. I already told you we are working on an app which we hope will generate cash in the near future. We bought the Apple computer but you can’t really test these things if you haven’t got an Iphone, right?

Do you want to know a funny fact? My husband is sooooooo NOT into Apple! He’s rooting for the Android team! However, we found out that android users hardly every buy apps whereas Iphone users buy shitloads of them. Sounds like a sensible business investment now, doesn’t it?

And now we need to stop spending and start cashing in!

Love,

Mrs EconoWiser

P.s. By the way, it’s not some shitty useless app were are designing. It will actually benefit mankind, trust me. There’s even the odd chance Mr. Money Mustache might approve of it.

Sorry For Not Blogging For A Whole Week, I Was Busy Making Money

Phew, what a week! It’s been crazy around here. I already told you I own a side business. I sell certain items online and these items make great gifts for the holidays. I have been very busy this week. It sure feels good being a part-time entrepreneur in December!

During the upcoming two weeks we’ll be working on the website together, my husband and I. We think it needs an update. We also have a couple of ideas for apps which we’ll be working on as well.  Even though this is our holiday, working on your own side business doesn’t really feel like working. We’re having fun and we’re a great team.

Happy holidays!

Love,

Mrs EconoWiser

P.s. I promise to blog a whole lot more during the upcoming weeks.

America And Their Wealthy

http://www.uitzendinggemist.nl/afleveringen/1309143

Needless to add anything…

Love,

Mrs EconoWiser

I Made €150 With One 3-minute Phone Call!

Yes, I sure did!

Right now is the time to switch energy suppliers here in The Netherlands. We are with a company called GreenChoice which supplies us with sustainable energy. Currently we are paying a variable tariff. My husband did some research and found out that new customers will get a nice discount when signing up with them through a dealer. The deal was even better than what was offered on their website.

With those details in hand I phoned them. The deal wasn’t on offer for existing customers, but the guy would make an exception this one time. Now we are paying the discounted tariff during the upcoming year. This will save us about €150!

I am sure going to phone again next year!

Have you ever saved money this way?

Love,

Mrs EconoWiser

Bits ‘n Pieces

Yesterday my internet connection broke down so I was unable to write a blog post. Today I’ll just write about a few bits and pieces.

Clutter
Things are on a roll in the declutter department. Yesterday I had ample time to declutter since I wasn’t stuck behind my computer watching funny YouTube clips. I forgot to make before and after pictures again,duhuh. Sunday I had been watching YouTube clips about organizing your home. Fun! This lovely lady is extremely precise when it comes to decluttering. She’s a professional organizer:

Selling
Slowly but surely I keep on selling the things that haven’t made it on the “keep” pile while decluttering. I did find that my Craigslist advertisements were more popular by the end of the month. Obviously this is because people have their salaries in the bank then. So I’ll post new advertisements by the end of this month again.

Mortgage
Still haven’t heard from our mortgage advisor. We’re waiting for her to get some documents ready for her to sign so that we can add 5 months worth of average expenses into the savings bit of our mortgage account. I really want her to get things ready before the new year. Otherwise we need to pay capital levy tax on a part of our savings.

Side business
Towards “the season” I am getting even busier with the side business. The things I sell are ideal presents for Santa to give. Yay!

Government plans
Our local government changed its plans. They’re not going to make the higher incomes pay ridiculous amounts for their healthcare insurance. Instead, they’ll raise taxes. However, it’s less bad than before. Probably our purchasing power will drop by 4%, instead of the 8% we calculated in before. It’s still a bit of a relief.

Personal
Still not pregnant…

Love,

Mrs EconoWiser