I've become a consumer again

Well, I was always one I suppose but my consumption habits, in comparison to most of the people I know were fairly non-existant. Of course, having to furnish the apartment meant that I've been buying stuff on a fairly regular basis since I arrived here. In addition to actual furniture there were a lot of little things that always already seemed to be in the places I've lived the last number of years. Like a chopping board. Dustpan and brush. Better pans than the one crappy one I had. For the most part, I am happy with the way I have been spending though. Apart from a few items the first weekend I arrived (couch/bed, single bed for my bedroom, wardrobe from Ikea, sink + cupboard from Toom and washing machine + fridge from Quelle) all of the furniture I have gotten has been second-hand. But, at some stage, enough is enough and although it is tempting to keep going to see what bargains are to be had I really don't need anything further.

And then I discovered eBay. Oh my. It seems to also be a kind of a reaction to the news that so many people I know are being made redundant I think because I've been really fighting the urge to spend, spend, spend the last few days. So, I have bought far more than I originally planned to this month but am nonetheless pleased that I have not gone too wild on eBay as I can understand how easily it can be done (I bid on a pressure cooker today but after one bid dropped out and just saw that it finally went for 42 euro - I can't believe it would have cost that even brand new!). I have treated myself to a couple of DVDs (of films I have already seen a few times and will watch again) but otherwise bought things which I have had somewhere on a list of 'someday when I have money'. It just seems like time is running out to do the consumerist thing and I want to stock up on some things which should, hopefully, help me in my long term goal to being somewhat more self-reliant. Or maybe that's all just a pile of excuses for having had fun spending money I know I shouldn't (to a certain extent) have spent. I am glad to be living in Germany though as the whole credit lifestyle just really isn't the norm here and I don't really have any sources of credit readily available to me (unlike in Ireland where a credit card or overdraft increase were always just a phonecall and 24 hours approval away).

So, in order to put everything down in black and white I am listing everything I've bought on eBay. This lot gathered itself together astoundingly quickly and although I didn't pay a high price for any one thing, once the shipping costs are added and the whole lot together it very quickly has used up all my spare cash for this month (which, given that I'm about to go home for a week is not good but such is life).

Joghurt maker - 2
DVDs (x3) - 3 each
Material squares for quilting - 9
2m material - 6.55
Tupperware mini rice forms - 3
Tupperware butter dish - 2.60
Tupperware jug - 1.75
Butter dish to match my pottery - 11.52
iPod - 35.51
Water bath canner - 2.75
Water bath canner - 2.50
Pressure cooker - 8.05

Some of the silly things I did but luckily got away with:

Bid on two copies of the same film. Silly me. Luckily someone outbid me on one of them five minutes before the auction was due to end and the one I did end up buying was two euro less.

The iPod. You see, late last night it ocurred to me that looking into iPods and mp3 players was something I'd been meaning to do for a long time (based on the idea that it's probably better tan buying CDs) and I thought I'd have a quick look to see if there were any on offer. Of cousre, I don't have any idea how much something like that is supposed to cost other than having had a vague 'expensive' thought in my head so when I saw one for 25 euro I thought it would be worth breaking my 20 euro rule for. Put a max offer of 35 on it and it actually went all the way up to that but then I did win it. But in the meantime I had checked one of the big electronics shops here online and they have them on offer for 45 euro. So, a small saving and a big lesson learned. I need to sit down and really make sure I know what the things are that I still need and find out how much they normally cost.

Must go and pack. At least I know where my passport is. What bliss to have a place for everything. Everything isn't quite in its place but I'm getting there and at least the passport was where it's supposed to be.

Singing

First of two performances of Mendelssohn's St. Paul was this evening. Am exhausted but in a good way. It was horribly hot in the church though and I nearly fainted just coming into the last section and had to sit down. Oh well, at least I was able to get up again for the last two pages (although suddenly pouring sweat and apparently a much whiter shade of pale than normal). The church we sing in tomorrow is likely to have the opposite problem and we've been told to dress warmly.

On Monday I fly home for a week. Could do with two weeks holiday but thought one week would be enough when I booked it. I'll be staying with various friends and family while I'm there and am looking forward to it. It'll be strange to go into my old work after last week's announcement but I'm glad I'll be there and at least be able to say goodbye to some of the people I know who are being made redundant. Everyone one over there is still pretty shaken up about it by all accounts and something my boss said the other day really brought home to me what the difference is in the working environment here and in Ireland. He had been speaking to one of the Irish partners (who I had also spoken to that day and who really sounded cut up about the whole situation) and afterwards came in to my office and was wondering why he had sounded so depressed or something. At first I thought he was joking but actually he was really serious and couldn't understand why he might be affected by having to have spent a day telling people they were going to be made redundant. And then cue a bit of a holding forth on his part about how sensitive the Irish are and how they really have a tendency to be melancholic (having spent two weeks in Cork years ago he is of course an expert on all things Irish). Or, as my brother said, basically being a teutonic ass. It's funny that in my personal life I find Germans to be just as warm as any other people but in work it becomes much easier to understand where the stereotype of a cold, stern people comes from. I know I have to stay put for the time being but I think mid-term I will need to look for another job and this time try and find a company or organisation that I can really believe in. I wonder if Slow Food Germany are in need of a good secretary.....

It's all hitting a bit closer to home now

Found out today that the company I worked for in Ireland are making 10% of their staff redundant (at least two secretaries from the department I worked in are among that 10%) and introducing paycuts for everyone else. I'm fairly certain that the German company is looking at this kind of thing as well although they did introduce a voluntary scheme a few months ago where you could choose to reduce your hours (with a corresponding pay cut obviously) and I had hoped that would be enough to see them through the next while. Feeling pretty awful about the whole thing at the moment. On the one hand I know friends and colleagues of mine are going to have to start signing on soon (27,600 people joined the live register in Ireland in January alone - that's not going to make finding a new job any easier) and when I think about some of the individuals involved and their lives and families it's heartbreaking. On the other hand I'm torn between a slight feeling of having gotten out just in time and the fear that actually by moving I've just put everything off for a while. Because although the situation here doesn't seem to be as grim as Ireland yet, it does seem to be getting there and although I am technically working for the same company it is actually a completely separate entity and so instead of being a long-serving employee I've only seven months of service to show. And in the back of my head is a constant refrain of please don't collapse Economy, please don't collapse for at least another three years. I'm sure I've said it before, I know it was my own fault for getting into debt and taking so long to get it under control but I just want to be able to clear that debt and still live my life (which includes being able to do things like buy a yoghurt maker on eBay). Aaaahhh, I know I will just have to roll with the punches as they come and I know there are many millions of people in far worse straits than I am. It really is starting to feel like time is running out though.

My first eBay purchase

I registered for eBay a couple of years ago but to be completely honest found it all a bit overwhelming so never really got into it or bought anything. Today I needed to make a payment through PayPal which turned into a big pain in the neck as my account was in Ireland and you can't change your address to another country, you have to open a new account in the new country. But, since I've changed my address with the credit card company to my German address I definitely couldn't use my Irish account as the details would no longer match. So, after faffing around getting the German paypal account set up I thought I would just have a quick look at eBay. That was when I realised I couldn't remember my log-in for eBay so I decided to go ahead and create one straight away.

After all that 'admin' work I decided to see if the pottery set I have was up there. I have more than enough dishes but one thing I am missing is a butter dish. I've been meaning to buy a butter dish for a couple of years but wanted to take my time choosing a really nice one rather than just a generic one from the kitchen reject shop or somewhere like that. So I've been checking charity shops and the like for something a bit special and thought if I could find one from the set I have it would be perfect. There is one posted but it's up as a rare collector's item so I'm not sure I'll even bother bidding on it - will wait till closer to the end of the auction to see if the price has gone mental or stayed reasonable. It's really nice too - I like the shape of it.

While I was there I decided to see if I could find a dehydrator as that is something on my list of things to get someday. And in my search for that I came across a yoghurt machine, almost brand new and with the auction about to end in seven minutes. So, I am now the new owner of a yoghurt machine (something else I've almost bought several times in the past but thought I shouldn't as it's so easy to make without any special equipment - the only problem being I've never been quite able to make it work!). For the very reasonable price of 2 euro I have to add and even adding the 6.90 for shipping it is a bargain I think.

I have set myself an eBay limit of 20 euro (including shipping) and a commitment to only look for things that are on my list of to-buy anyway. If I ever have a big purchase to make I can reconsider this but as a general rule it should stop me getting in trouble. One of my sisters developed a bit of a bad habit of buying stuff left, right and centre and often paying more than she would have in a shop, often for stuff she didn't need at all. I have more than enough money issues without going down that route. But, for today, I am pleased with my purchase and will in future try to emulate one of my other sisters, who just uses eBay to keep an eye out for stuff she needs, presents for the kids etc and so is able to get some very good bargains and put stuff away for when it is needed. I think the important thing is being able to let stuff go. The butter dish will be a good test for me. 20 euro would be a bit expensive for a butter dish but if I were to buy a new hand-painted one (which I had contemplated for a while) I would more than likely pay more than that. We shall see.

In other news I used my Mooncup for the first time today. Will post about that later in the week but fair warning now to anyone who may be a bit squeamish and prefer not to read about that kind of thing - I make sure to put mooncup in the post title so you can avoid it if you prefer.

Evenings getting brighter

I love when the evenings start getting brighter. Haven't noticed it particularly until this weekend as I work until at least 6 and usually a bit later so it's mostly still dark when I go home. This weekend I was away for a choir weekend. We have two concerts (performing Mendelssohn's St. Paul) next weekend so this weekend the whole choir headed off to Kloster Steinfeld again for some intensive rehearsing. The time flies by although it really is very intensive and exhausting. We had rehearsal on Friday evening for three hours then yesterday three three hours sessions. We were due to go for dinner at 6 so during the second rehearsal I kept looking out the window waiting for it to get dark so I'd know it was nearly time for a break. And then all of a sudden it was time for dinner. But it was still bright out! How fantastic.

Same today, it is half-six now and starting to get dark. I'm not long back from choir and should turn the light on inside now but actually I'm going to go out and walk for half-an-hour before the light is completely gone. It does tend to get dark very quickly here so it'll probably be fully dark by the time I get back. Happy days though, in Germany spring is considered to be March, April and May (in Ireland it's February, March and April) and today has been a gorgeous day, still cold but blue sky and sunny. Welcome Spring!

Welcome to my kitchen

Thought some might like to see my new kitchen. Here's a before picture of one side - bear in mind that in Germany you quite literally need to move everything including the kitchen sink (and tap come to that). I took this picture on the day I moved in.

This is how it all looks now - I have, of course, not gone with the traditional fitted kitchen style but rather cobbled together what I could for as little as possible.

The fridge and washing machine are both new but not big-brand names - I wanted to get the highest efficiency rated possible for the limited budget I had. I have had the tallboy for a long time. It used to be in my dad's bedroom and then mine and has travelled with me since and served so many different purposes. The nice dresser is one of my second-hand bargains (40 euro).


This is my cooking corner:



I bought one of the butcher block type units from Ikea and the second from the second-hand Ikea stuff website, from a couple round the corner from me and 10 euro cheaper than the new one. The oven was donated from my sister's cellar - I went to visit her in France in December and brought it back on the train with me, worked well as a conversation starter I can tell you. Until I have enough saved for a proper cooker the two ring hotplate and oven do very nicely although I miss having a gas cooker.

And here's my new sink. Built the whole thing myself (from flatpack - special offer from the local big DIY place and never again. Didn't realise before I would become so opinionated about sinks!). I did get a plumber in to hook it up though which was just as well as I didn't realise that when he told me to "get any standard tap" he meant "get any standard tap that fits the pipes coming out of your wall" and I had bought entirely the wrong shape one. So he ended up having to go out and buy one for me which cost twice what the sink and cupboard did. Lesson learned and at least I'd feel a bit more comfortable having a go at hooking up a sink and washing machine myself next time. I think. Maybe.


And, the last corner with my second-hand table and chairs (60 euro) and a lamp donated by a friend. Will get around to getting the electrician in to fit lights to the ceiling one of these days. One of those things I would have just done myself in Ireland but the wiring here looks completely different and I want to get it done properly the first time.


And finally, a shot of my new dishes. Well, new to me anyway. I saw this set in the second-hand shop when I first went in and bought the table and chairs and thought it looked really nice. But, I had enough plates and bowls and mugs to do me and more important things to spend my money on. Told myself I’d go back at the end of the month and get it if it was still there. In the end I couldn’t afford it then either so didn’t even bother going back and then at the end of the second month wandered in to see if they had any more decent furniture in and yer woman recognised me and said she still had the pottery I liked but had put it away in the back as it wasn’t selling and if I wanted it she’d give me a good price. Couldn’t really argue with 60 euro for the whole set! There are 70 or 80 pieces altogether so it’s less than one euro a piece. The picture doesn’t do the red colour any justice at all though. It looks a bit pink here but it’s really a vivid, vibrant shade of red. I did some checking on the internet to see where it was made and it's from a ceramic works in the Black Forest (which might explain why it appealed to me so much as most of the time I lived in Germany before it was in the Black Forest) which closed in 1989 so I know it has to be at least 20 years old. That's practically antique!

A foodie triumph

Well, to everyone else it's probably just normal eating but to me having a not great day at work, feeling like you really want to stop and buy something greasy on the way home for dinner (even though you know you have food at home that needs to be eaten before it goes off)and even giving in and buying a bar of chocolate and some peanuts on the way home and even after arriving home and looking at the food you have still thinking that it's not what you want but then.....then deciding to at least have a slice of toast and while that's cooking deciding you might as well throw that soup into the pot to heat up and so while waiting for the soup to heat up the first slice of toast gets the last of the cheese and a bit of chutney put on it and becomes a starter, then having a brainwave and adding the mettwurst that also needed to be used soon into the soup to heat and eat with it and putting the yoghurt and stewed apple into a bowl just in time for the soup to be ready and all of a sudden you have a three-course meal waiting for you of healthy, almost all homemade food, well, that to me is a triumph. A TRIUMPH! And in fact, another reminder that I don't really need to eat that much if I eat properly because I realise I'm full when I'm full and not half-an-hour later when I've eaten twice as much as I need. I need to buy in some more easy starter type foods again as having a little something to munch on while cooking the dinner really does help me not to overeat (for those who didn't know it takes about 20 minutes for your stomach to register food and so, if you've gone straight to a main course and shovelled it in because you're really hungry and think you need seconds because you're still hungry, it might just actually be that your body hasn't caught up on itself yet).

Actually, my starter and main course have filled me very well so I'm waiting for a while to have my desert. If I decide not to bother it'll do for breakfast tomorrow morning. This is another thing I struggled with for years and still do - it is okay to leave food on your plate if the alternative is overeating. The part to work on is getting the portion control right in the first place so that you don't have too much food on your plate.

The problem with having food that really needed to be used was that I visited a friend for the weekend. He is a chef but one of those who has no interest in cooking at home and just tells me to go to the restaurant to eat. I'm happy to go and get my dinner there but he wouldn't exactly be much of a one for the whole three regular meals a day life and forgets that most people do need to eat more than once a day (he tends to graze all day in work and drink beer at home so doesn't eat a huge amount of actual meals - how someone with so little interest in eating can be such a good chef escapes me but I know he's not the only one) so when I visit I usually end up going to the supermarket on the way or, like this weekend, realising I'll arrive too late to do that and so bringing food with me from home (which also meant I could use up those last few veg in the fridge to make soup rather than leave them there for another week when they might even have been beyond redemption by soup). As it turned out I didn't finish all the soup or all of the yoghurt and stewed apple I had brought with me. This was due to a number of delays on the way home and a somewhat disturbing decision to try a McDonalds and see if I was missing anything (had a burger and small chips, gone in about ten seconds but at least I only had mild indigestion later) and a ham and cheese brezel yoke (also something I haven't had for years and it undoubtedly contributed to the indigestion) which meant that I wasn't hungry enough to go to the trouble of taking anything out of my bag on a very packed train to eat later. But with all the delays I was so wrecked by the time I got home I just dropped my bags when I came in and went straight to bed. Then this morning I was going to be late for work and didn't give them a second thought either. So, given that the soup and yoghurt and stewed apple had been out of the fridge for a day and a half by the time I got home this evening they really did need to be used or dumped. I am very happy that I didn't waste them.