Money, Money, Money

I was joking with Angus the other day about how two things use up all of your money .. cars and kids. He wasn't too impressed that I mentioned it. I had no idea that I was actually predicting what things would be like so quickly. You see, silly me, thinking that now I have a new car it would be easy, relatively cheap and fast to get it on the road. Oh boy was I so wrong.

I had no idea how much things would cost. Today I needed to purchase new headlights. Thankfully Mark found some on ebay for a good price, for around $115 including postage. Okay that's not so bad I suppose. However, Mark phoned up to get an idea on how much a roadworthy check costs (roadies are compulsory here in Victoria before a newly purchased car can be registered) and how much it will cost to get the gas tank checked. My jaw dropped when I realised that I needed to find at least $400. That's even before I can get the thing registered.

Mark has also found some scratches in the windscreen. He's going to try and buff them out or it will cost at least $300 for a new one. Otherwise the car definitely wont pass the roadie.

I know Mark wants me to have a safe and reliable car but if I realised that it was going to cost this much extra I wouldn't have bothered to buy privately. I would have gone through a car yard. That way I wouldn't have all this extra worry. As if I don't worry enough as it is.

Optometrist Visit

I took Angus to the optometrist this morning. His glasses were looking a bit old and tatty. He's had them for a few years now and I thought it was time that we got him some new ones. He needed his eyes tested, as you do when you go to get new glasses, just in case the prescription had changed.

There was some good news, his eyes have improved enough that Angus no longer needs to have bifocals. Woohoo! Happy dance time for that. There was a time a few years ago that we were worried that his eyes would not even improve enough for him to get a drivers license. Hmm, I forgot to ask about that. Not that it matters right now he will have his eyes checked again before he goes for his learners permit. But YAY no more bifocals!

More good news, we were able to find some frames that Angus liked that are in my price range. I'm pretty pleased about that AND he looks spunky in them too. Although he wasn't too thrilled about the colours. They've ordered some frames in for us to have a look at that are in the same style & in colours he likes. They should arrive either Monday or Tuesday so we can go have a look.

Now for the not so good news. The lenses *sigh* they are going to cost me an arm & a leg and possibly my first-born grandchild! Well maybe not the grandchild. They were able to get me the cheapest lenses available for his prescription but that with the frames it puts the total cost over $420. I know it may not sound a lot but when you are on a Carer's Allowance $420 is a lot of money. Thank goodness they allow you to pay them off. I guess its not too bad if I think about it. I didn't have to buy new glasses for Angus last time we went to have his eyes checked.

I just wish that whomever stole the money from my money tin that I kept buy the phone (for when neighbours come over to use the phone) hadn't done it. I would have had a decent amount of money in it to put towards Angus's glasses. Not only did they steal from me but they stole from him. I went to check the tin the other day, right after I made the appointment for Angus, but the tin felt awfully light. That's when I noticed the slot where you put the money in had been tampered with. It was obvious that someone had made the slot bigger and emptied what they could out of it.

I felt violated. How could someone steal from me and in turn from my kids? I wondered if it was because the back door didn't get locked and someone helped themselves. Then I thought hang on a minute. If someone from outside our home was going to steal money from the tin wouldn't they just take the WHOLE thing? Why would they even bother trying to take money out and leave the tin behind? It leads me to the thought that someone in my OWN home was stealing? Why on earth would they do that? I don't understand it and probably never will. Either way I am bitterly disappointed that someone would take something that didn't belong to them. If it was someone that we know, that I know, how am I going to know who I can trust. Its kind of sad if you think about it. One small act can cause a ripple effect and change your whole outlook on things.