Cost of living generally
May 4th 2007, 7:28 am
#16
Banned
Joined: Feb 2003
Posts: 3,467
Re: Cost of living generally
$7.50 a jug where we drink which is about a pint and three quarters the hubby is telling me.
Good tip about not replacing the pound for the dollar sign
Good tip about not replacing the pound for the dollar sign
May 4th 2007, 9:30 am
#17
Banned
Joined: Apr 2007
Posts: 155
Re: Cost of living generally
You can make booze by the buckeful. Here's the generic recipe:
Take a pound of anything with natural starches and sugars and mix it
with one gallon of water and one pound of refined sugar. Sprinkle in a
little yeast (baking yeast will work) and let the mess ferment for about
10-14 days. Strain off and you'll have a drinkable primitive beer, a
common product in US prison systoms, referred to as "potato water."
Bottle, when bubbling nearly stops, and cap and you will have home-brew
if all the bottles don't explode. If they do, you have a mess under the
kitchen sink.
For wine, take your strained potato water and place in a gallon jug with
a ballon (or condom) fitted over the top to form an air lock. Let
ferment for 60-90 days, or until clear (still). Bottle into smaller
bottles and cork tightly. Set for about 12 months to age. You will now
have a dry wine (10%) alcohol. With the right yeast at the start you can
boost this to about 12-15% (sweet wine) by using a little more sugar.
You can legally do all this in the US for personal use up to 200 gallons
per year.
When you distill a wine made from fruit, you have a brandy. When you
distill a wine made from grain (rye) you have a whiskey. When you
distill a wine made form a vegetable (potatoes) you have a vodka. The
simple way to make some brandy, legally, is go and buy some PGA and
doctor the wine up (fortify it). Everclear is a product readily
available for this purpose, but can be deadly if drank undiluted. (98%
PGA)
Bourbon is a regional whiskey made from corn mash and aged (cleared) in
charred oak barrels. Kentucky Bourbon is a whiskey that has simply been
stored in a bonded warehouse in Kentucky. Saki is a Japanese wine. Rye
whiskey is a distilled wine from rye grain. Its all just plain alcohol
distilled from some kind of mash. For instance, American Vodka is dilute
PGA, American Gin is dilute PGA with flavor added, as is Teqilla and a
bunch of other stuff you can pick up at the liquor store. They are all
CNS depressants and can get you in big trouble if you drink and drive,
or are the one in ten people in the US who tend toward alcoholism.
Even owning a spirit still is illegal in the US. Get caught with one, or
using one, and you are in big trouble with the government and you get to
go to a nice Federal Prison for a long vacation.
Now if you want to make small amounts of whiskey, there is a
questionable legal way. Simply take your wine and freeze it! The water
will turn to mushy ice that can be spooned off and what is left is a
liquid containing concentrated alcohol. But believe me, you will work
pretty hard for a shot glass of whiskey, hardly making it worth while.
When you do any of this and sell the product in anyway, you are known as
a "bootlegger" a nice name for a crumb that does not obey the laws in
his community. There is a real danger in drinking any bootleg product,
simply because you don't know how the stuff was made. I speak
knowledgably about this, and the info above, because I come from a long
line of bootleggers.
One time, some fellows down the holler made a still from an old auto
radiator and turned out some booze that they sold in the next country. A
couple of people died, and about a half-dozen went blind because the
stuff contained lead from the solder in the radiator and they got lead
poisioning (the internal kind). One of the kin from the other country
came over and gave one of the fellows down the holler a case of lead
poisioning in return (the external kind).
By the way, all the information here is available at your local library.
They have some good books on the hobby of brewing and wine making.
Lovely - imagine what a bit of kiwi ingenuity will do with above? 42 Below? How about 75% proof?
Last edited by AlbieLittle; May 4th 2007 at 9:34 am.
May 4th 2007, 9:44 am
#18
Account Closed
Joined: Oct 2006
Posts: 1,585
Re: Cost of living generally
if your really hard up for the ol booze. Just pretend your living in max security (not a stretch somedays) and read on :
You can make booze by the buckeful. Here's the generic recipe:
Take a pound of anything with natural starches and sugars and mix it
with one gallon of water and one pound of refined sugar. Sprinkle in a
little yeast (baking yeast will work) and let the mess ferment for about
10-14 days. Strain off and you'll have a drinkable primitive beer, a
common product in US prison systoms, referred to as "potato water."
Bottle, when bubbling nearly stops, and cap and you will have home-brew
if all the bottles don't explode. If they do, you have a mess under the
kitchen sink.
For wine, take your strained potato water and place in a gallon jug with
a ballon (or condom) fitted over the top to form an air lock. Let
ferment for 60-90 days, or until clear (still). Bottle into smaller
bottles and cork tightly. Set for about 12 months to age. You will now
have a dry wine (10%) alcohol. With the right yeast at the start you can
boost this to about 12-15% (sweet wine) by using a little more sugar.
You can legally do all this in the US for personal use up to 200 gallons
per year.
When you distill a wine made from fruit, you have a brandy. When you
distill a wine made from grain (rye) you have a whiskey. When you
distill a wine made form a vegetable (potatoes) you have a vodka. The
simple way to make some brandy, legally, is go and buy some PGA and
doctor the wine up (fortify it). Everclear is a product readily
available for this purpose, but can be deadly if drank undiluted. (98%
PGA)
Bourbon is a regional whiskey made from corn mash and aged (cleared) in
charred oak barrels. Kentucky Bourbon is a whiskey that has simply been
stored in a bonded warehouse in Kentucky. Saki is a Japanese wine. Rye
whiskey is a distilled wine from rye grain. Its all just plain alcohol
distilled from some kind of mash. For instance, American Vodka is dilute
PGA, American Gin is dilute PGA with flavor added, as is Teqilla and a
bunch of other stuff you can pick up at the liquor store. They are all
CNS depressants and can get you in big trouble if you drink and drive,
or are the one in ten people in the US who tend toward alcoholism.
Even owning a spirit still is illegal in the US. Get caught with one, or
using one, and you are in big trouble with the government and you get to
go to a nice Federal Prison for a long vacation.
Now if you want to make small amounts of whiskey, there is a
questionable legal way. Simply take your wine and freeze it! The water
will turn to mushy ice that can be spooned off and what is left is a
liquid containing concentrated alcohol. But believe me, you will work
pretty hard for a shot glass of whiskey, hardly making it worth while.
When you do any of this and sell the product in anyway, you are known as
a "bootlegger" a nice name for a crumb that does not obey the laws in
his community. There is a real danger in drinking any bootleg product,
simply because you don't know how the stuff was made. I speak
knowledgably about this, and the info above, because I come from a long
line of bootleggers.
One time, some fellows down the holler made a still from an old auto
radiator and turned out some booze that they sold in the next country. A
couple of people died, and about a half-dozen went blind because the
stuff contained lead from the solder in the radiator and they got lead
poisioning (the internal kind). One of the kin from the other country
came over and gave one of the fellows down the holler a case of lead
poisioning in return (the external kind).
By the way, all the information here is available at your local library.
They have some good books on the hobby of brewing and wine making.
Lovely - imagine what a bit of kiwi ingenuity will do with above? 42 Below? How about 75% proof?
You can make booze by the buckeful. Here's the generic recipe:
Take a pound of anything with natural starches and sugars and mix it
with one gallon of water and one pound of refined sugar. Sprinkle in a
little yeast (baking yeast will work) and let the mess ferment for about
10-14 days. Strain off and you'll have a drinkable primitive beer, a
common product in US prison systoms, referred to as "potato water."
Bottle, when bubbling nearly stops, and cap and you will have home-brew
if all the bottles don't explode. If they do, you have a mess under the
kitchen sink.
For wine, take your strained potato water and place in a gallon jug with
a ballon (or condom) fitted over the top to form an air lock. Let
ferment for 60-90 days, or until clear (still). Bottle into smaller
bottles and cork tightly. Set for about 12 months to age. You will now
have a dry wine (10%) alcohol. With the right yeast at the start you can
boost this to about 12-15% (sweet wine) by using a little more sugar.
You can legally do all this in the US for personal use up to 200 gallons
per year.
When you distill a wine made from fruit, you have a brandy. When you
distill a wine made from grain (rye) you have a whiskey. When you
distill a wine made form a vegetable (potatoes) you have a vodka. The
simple way to make some brandy, legally, is go and buy some PGA and
doctor the wine up (fortify it). Everclear is a product readily
available for this purpose, but can be deadly if drank undiluted. (98%
PGA)
Bourbon is a regional whiskey made from corn mash and aged (cleared) in
charred oak barrels. Kentucky Bourbon is a whiskey that has simply been
stored in a bonded warehouse in Kentucky. Saki is a Japanese wine. Rye
whiskey is a distilled wine from rye grain. Its all just plain alcohol
distilled from some kind of mash. For instance, American Vodka is dilute
PGA, American Gin is dilute PGA with flavor added, as is Teqilla and a
bunch of other stuff you can pick up at the liquor store. They are all
CNS depressants and can get you in big trouble if you drink and drive,
or are the one in ten people in the US who tend toward alcoholism.
Even owning a spirit still is illegal in the US. Get caught with one, or
using one, and you are in big trouble with the government and you get to
go to a nice Federal Prison for a long vacation.
Now if you want to make small amounts of whiskey, there is a
questionable legal way. Simply take your wine and freeze it! The water
will turn to mushy ice that can be spooned off and what is left is a
liquid containing concentrated alcohol. But believe me, you will work
pretty hard for a shot glass of whiskey, hardly making it worth while.
When you do any of this and sell the product in anyway, you are known as
a "bootlegger" a nice name for a crumb that does not obey the laws in
his community. There is a real danger in drinking any bootleg product,
simply because you don't know how the stuff was made. I speak
knowledgably about this, and the info above, because I come from a long
line of bootleggers.
One time, some fellows down the holler made a still from an old auto
radiator and turned out some booze that they sold in the next country. A
couple of people died, and about a half-dozen went blind because the
stuff contained lead from the solder in the radiator and they got lead
poisioning (the internal kind). One of the kin from the other country
came over and gave one of the fellows down the holler a case of lead
poisioning in return (the external kind).
By the way, all the information here is available at your local library.
They have some good books on the hobby of brewing and wine making.
Lovely - imagine what a bit of kiwi ingenuity will do with above? 42 Below? How about 75% proof?
Even if you did read it at the local library...
May 4th 2007, 9:49 am
#20
conquering the world!
Joined: Aug 2006
Location: Puatahanui, Porirua
Posts: 4,905
May 4th 2007, 2:52 pm
#22
Forum Regular
Thread Starter
Joined: Apr 2007
Location: Manchester
Posts: 40
Re: Cost of living generally
i have a four bed house, heated by a woodburner and soon a heat-transfer system, but only two (smallish) boys! but i'm happy to give you our monthly costs/budget:
Food - this is highly variable, we manage on $480 but i would allow $800 until you're used to NZ!
Electricity - $130
Phone - $75
Broadband (uncapped) - $54
Rates - $50 (it's actually about $56ish)
Insurances - I pay these yearly but save for them, house ins is $493 per year, contents ins $262.43 per year - so monthly that's $62
We buy wood and gas bottle re-fills (our hob is gas-fired and we have the obligatory barbie and a gas-heater that we use for early mornings when we're all going to be out all day and it's therefore not worth getting the fire going)
Wood is around $70 for a 'load' that fills our shed and keeps going for around 1.5 month (although we get given loads too, which is lucky). Each gas bottle refil is $18, and the hob needs filling 2-3 times a year, the others as and when really, but for arguments sake let's say another 4 times a year. Monthly cost = $33 (allows 4 loads of wood a year)
this gives a monthly total of: $884 (on our food budget), you should allow $1,204 with the higher food bill!
So then there's mortgage costs
boo! and we also have health insurance and childcare costs.
I hope that helps! obviously if you use different forms of heating you'll have other costs. Note that we don't have TV either, so that would be another cost (most people seem to have sky).
Good luck!
SF
ETA: petrol! i forgot petrol! We allow $400 per month for two cars, but we never use all that (and i frequently 'allocate' the rest to our beer/wine/lovely things fund! tee hee)
Food - this is highly variable, we manage on $480 but i would allow $800 until you're used to NZ!
Electricity - $130
Phone - $75
Broadband (uncapped) - $54
Rates - $50 (it's actually about $56ish)
Insurances - I pay these yearly but save for them, house ins is $493 per year, contents ins $262.43 per year - so monthly that's $62
We buy wood and gas bottle re-fills (our hob is gas-fired and we have the obligatory barbie and a gas-heater that we use for early mornings when we're all going to be out all day and it's therefore not worth getting the fire going)
Wood is around $70 for a 'load' that fills our shed and keeps going for around 1.5 month (although we get given loads too, which is lucky). Each gas bottle refil is $18, and the hob needs filling 2-3 times a year, the others as and when really, but for arguments sake let's say another 4 times a year. Monthly cost = $33 (allows 4 loads of wood a year)
this gives a monthly total of: $884 (on our food budget), you should allow $1,204 with the higher food bill!
So then there's mortgage costs
boo! and we also have health insurance and childcare costs.I hope that helps! obviously if you use different forms of heating you'll have other costs. Note that we don't have TV either, so that would be another cost (most people seem to have sky).
Good luck!
SF
ETA: petrol! i forgot petrol! We allow $400 per month for two cars, but we never use all that (and i frequently 'allocate' the rest to our beer/wine/lovely things fund! tee hee)
May 4th 2007, 5:24 pm
#23
BE Forum Addict
Joined: Nov 2006
Location: Whitby Wellington
Posts: 2,440
Re: Cost of living generally
i have a four bed house, heated by a woodburner and soon a heat-transfer system, but only two (smallish) boys! but i'm happy to give you our monthly costs/budget:
Food - this is highly variable, we manage on $480 but i would allow $800 until you're used to NZ!
Electricity - $130
Phone - $75
Broadband (uncapped) - $54
Rates - $50 (it's actually about $56ish)
Insurances - I pay these yearly but save for them, house ins is $493 per year, contents ins $262.43 per year - so monthly that's $62
We buy wood and gas bottle re-fills (our hob is gas-fired and we have the obligatory barbie and a gas-heater that we use for early mornings when we're all going to be out all day and it's therefore not worth getting the fire going)
Wood is around $70 for a 'load' that fills our shed and keeps going for around 1.5 month (although we get given loads too, which is lucky). Each gas bottle refil is $18, and the hob needs filling 2-3 times a year, the others as and when really, but for arguments sake let's say another 4 times a year. Monthly cost = $33 (allows 4 loads of wood a year)
this gives a monthly total of: $884 (on our food budget), you should allow $1,204 with the higher food bill!
So then there's mortgage costs boo! and we also have health insurance and childcare costs.
I hope that helps! obviously if you use different forms of heating you'll have other costs. Note that we don't have TV either, so that would be another cost (most people seem to have sky).
Good luck!
SF
ETA: petrol! i forgot petrol! We allow $400 per month for two cars, but we never use all that (and i frequently 'allocate' the rest to our beer/wine/lovely things fund! tee hee)
Food - this is highly variable, we manage on $480 but i would allow $800 until you're used to NZ!
Electricity - $130
Phone - $75
Broadband (uncapped) - $54
Rates - $50 (it's actually about $56ish)
Insurances - I pay these yearly but save for them, house ins is $493 per year, contents ins $262.43 per year - so monthly that's $62
We buy wood and gas bottle re-fills (our hob is gas-fired and we have the obligatory barbie and a gas-heater that we use for early mornings when we're all going to be out all day and it's therefore not worth getting the fire going)
Wood is around $70 for a 'load' that fills our shed and keeps going for around 1.5 month (although we get given loads too, which is lucky). Each gas bottle refil is $18, and the hob needs filling 2-3 times a year, the others as and when really, but for arguments sake let's say another 4 times a year. Monthly cost = $33 (allows 4 loads of wood a year)
this gives a monthly total of: $884 (on our food budget), you should allow $1,204 with the higher food bill!
So then there's mortgage costs
boo! and we also have health insurance and childcare costs.I hope that helps! obviously if you use different forms of heating you'll have other costs. Note that we don't have TV either, so that would be another cost (most people seem to have sky).
Good luck!
SF
ETA: petrol! i forgot petrol! We allow $400 per month for two cars, but we never use all that (and i frequently 'allocate' the rest to our beer/wine/lovely things fund! tee hee)
May 4th 2007, 7:44 pm
#24
Forum Regular
Joined: Oct 2006
Location: Northland
Posts: 194
Re: Cost of living generally
Hiya
'Road tax' is covered by your 'rego' which from memory is $183 per year (or it is for our cars!).
And we're asked for $100 at the start of each school year (although keep all receipts cause you can claim tax back on donations (which is what these school fees are classed as) and childcare, and, bizarrely, housekeepers!)
SF
'Road tax' is covered by your 'rego' which from memory is $183 per year (or it is for our cars!).
And we're asked for $100 at the start of each school year (although keep all receipts cause you can claim tax back on donations (which is what these school fees are classed as) and childcare, and, bizarrely, housekeepers!)
SF
May 5th 2007, 7:40 am
#25
Banned
Joined: Feb 2003
Posts: 3,467
Re: Cost of living generally
It depends on the school decile, the lower the decile the more goverment funding they get ... the higher the decile the more parents are expected to contribute to the school.
May 5th 2007, 12:56 pm
#26
BE Forum Addict
Joined: Oct 2006
Location: NZ
Posts: 3,366
Re: Cost of living generally
It varies greatly school to school. My girls are at a school thats a decile 8 but we only contribute $32 each. However we have a paper levy of $2.50 perterm per child and then pay $25 per term for tech lessons ( they travel to a bigger intermediate school for this). Another expat I know pays $200 per year also for a decile 8.
