Rhonda Bracey: At Random

… is SO much cheaper! I never thought so when we first moved out of the city as we had a lot of expenses getting the house set up (painting, plastering, electrical, plumbing etc. – nothing cosmetic like a kitchen makeover [I wish!], just making the house livable). And the price of groceries, newspapers, etc. is more.

However, after being here for nearly 3 months I can say that our daily living expenses have dropped considerably. I haven’t done an analysis using MYOB yet, but I can see it in my purse. For example, I took out $150 cash from the bank a month ago – and I still have over $50 left! That amount would last me two weeks when I lived in Perth – maybe.

We pay for lots of things on our credit card – but we always did, so that hasn’t changed. But the little things like using cash to buy lunch when you forget to make it to take to work really add up. Of course, working 3 steps from the kitchen means that ‘buying lunch’ is now a thing of the past, as are regular fuel bills. Assuming I don’t go to Perth, a tank of fuel is lasting me a month or more, instead of 2 weeks. And my husband’s gas usage is even less than that. Town is literally 2 minutes drive away – we could walk it easily, except for the enormous hills!

Some other unexpected things about country living:

• No junk mail in the letterbox or the PO box either! Ever.
• Wood smoke. I think EVERYBODY here has a wood-fuelled fire for heating, and they all have them going all day… So some days the smell of wood smoke is a little overpowering, and, even if the weather is fine, we have to have the doors and windows closed (not good for me as I’m a fresh air fiend who must have a window open at all times). The smell is not unpleasant (burning eucalyptus is quite nice, actually), but just not in the quantity we’re getting. Thank goodness we’re not asthmatic.
• Fog. I didn’t realise how foggy it gets down here – even at the top of the hill where we’re living. I expected lots of fog over winter in the valley, but not up this far. Some mornings lately we’ve had some real ‘pea soupers’. Fortunately, they haven’t been days I’ve been driving to Perth.