I recently had a business trip to Wellington during which time my well-honed budgetary instincts went on a temporary absence and I found myself awash with unnecessary expenses that pertained to nothing other than feeding my belly, hyper-caffeinating and socialising.
OK – so this is probably not a ‘washout’ by anyone else’s standards. But it depressed me to realise how quickly the habits of anti-spending that I had built up in my life in Kapiti dissipated as soon as I arrived in Wellington for business.
As soon as I got to Wellington, I reverted to my old habits and started spending money left, right and centre. I went out for coffee in the morning AND THEN went out for lunch at a cafe as well. Money trickled through me through me like stock through a sieve leading to embarrassing stains on my clothing.
Although at heart I know that this is really a problem of ‘my own shit’ and lack of preparedness when travelling to Wellington, I like to pretend that the problem is intrinsically linked to being in a (relatively) big metropolitan centre as compared to my humble little homestead in Kapiti. And indeed, there are certain ways in which my lifestyle in Kapiti provides an exceptional quality of life for very little money, which shall be the focus of this article.
Organic produce 4 cheap
I have recently joined an organic food co-op that sources produce directly from local farmers and gardeners. Each week I pick up a box of fruit and veggies that I pre-order through the internet over the weekend. While organic produce is not always super-cheap, the idea of supporting local farmers and eating risk free food is one that I am happy to pay a very modest premium for. And once you have tasted one of their apples or baked one of their kumara or potatoes… you too will be a convert.
Kapiti, with its unique micro climate, is awash with high quality produce. Even if I didn’t want to be a part of the co-op, there are unlimited numbers of low cost roadside market gardens for me to source from.
Ebikeability
Kapiti has a mostly flat terrain and is therefore very easy to traverse on an ebike. I have made it my regular habit to ebike to work at least 3 days per week and as a result have shed about 75% of my petrol expense bringing it down to less than $10 per week, even despite prices having gone crazy-monkey recently.
Home cooking
The greater availability of high quality produce often leads me down the road of doing a lot more home cooking than I would do otherwise in the city. In fact, slow cookers have become something of an obsession for me lately as they fit neatly around my super-chill chuck a few things in the pot and then head off to work lifestyle.
On Sundays I regularly set aside 1-2 hours to cook not only for the household, but to make pre-prepped food for lunch during the week. An example would be last week, where I slow cooked a “Texas Pork Recipe” and then brought it to work on Monday along with some coriander and tomatoes. Because there’s an excellent bakery around the corner from work, each day I was able to step out, buy a couple of buns for a dollar or two, go back to the office and make myself a couple of slow cooked pork burgers.
Not much shit to do
This is probably the main selling point of the city. In the city there is always something going on, something you can pay for, something you need to buy alcohol for. Out in Kapiti it can be a bit more boring. But Kapiti events are burgeoning. As new people move out here with new dollars to spend, an events market starts to build up that may help give you your social kicks. And if all else fails, there’s always blogging.
Lower rent price inflation
Although the cost of renting is still higher than I would like, the price of rentals tends to go up less over the long term, and good quality tenants with a few decent references can generally expect an easy market which gives you first pick just about any property you want. This translates to additional bargaining power as a tenant. If the property you are in chooses to try and run up the rent on you, you can just move out, as there are many other options available.
Better chance to save
What does this all trickle down to? Better opportunities to convert a greater percentage of your paycheck into savings. Instead of running up expenses on needless work lunches you end up running closer to the bone and living a humble, absorbing life full of good local stuff.
But what about employment?
You would think that employment would be a problem, but for the fact that there are currently at the time of writing 201 jobs listed in the Porirua and Kapiti Coast region listed on the Seek website alone.
Now I can’t promise that every job you apply for would have the same earning potential as Wellington or another major city. But the dearth of quality applicants generally means that businesses are very happy to find people who would make for a good fit with the company.
While a large number of jobs on offer doesn’t guarantee employment, or a great wage, it does in my view translate to better opportunity. Fewer applicants across such a large number of jobs means that you have more chance to sculpt your career, and the promise of future infrastructural development in Kapiti looms large in the background as something that could lift Kapiti into a real boom region.
