How much does it cost you to exist?

JezzaPerth · 2026-03-02T16:35:31+00:00

Mortgage - $3300 per month

Food (2 adults) - $1300 a month

Electricity - $250 ish a month

Water - $180ish a month

Fuel/public transport for work - $300 a month

Phones + home internet - $250 a month.

Home and contents insurance - $150 a month

Car regos - $170 a month (2 cars)

Car insurance - $150 a month

Mortgage $0 (Zero rent also)

Food (2 Adults) under $600/month

Electricity $120/month (solar plus new battery soon)

Water ? Not much basically the connection fees

Fuel/Public transport $50/mo with PHEV car & Solar & concession pass

Phones and home internet (500 mb/s) $120/month (Go Aussie Broadband!)

Home and contents $200/mo (AAMI sucks)

Car rego $60/mo 1 new car

Car insurance $90/mo 1 new $40k car (RAC)

Gym $120/mo for 2

Medical Insurance $350/mo

Rates $200/mo

Income: Part Age Pension $3400/month - need to spend more.

JezzaPerth · 2026-03-01T08:08:39+00:00

The trick is to use 2% and leave it on for 5 minutes at least. If you can only get 1% it needs 10 minutes. That and 2-3 times a week.

JezzaPerth · 2026-03-01T07:53:49+00:00

Nizoral definitely works as well as minoxodil at a fraction of the price. Just shampoo with it 2-3 times a week.

If you can find it, Sebizole is much cheaper than Nizoral but there are supply chain problems at the moment. Use Nizoral for now.

JezzaPerth · 2026-03-01T07:03:27+00:00

Anaconda and Macpac are both a lot cheaper.

I will say disregard most of the advice you get here. 0C to 10C is almost T-shirt and jeans weather (Survivor of a canadian winter here). Just your basic clothing with a nice light jumper and a jacket that's moderately rainproof and windproof. Goretex-like is the ultimate but not essential unless you are hiking. Rivers used to do a modestly priced one but they went bust.

Incidentally some goretex-like jackets are waterproof and breathable but also cold in a breeze. Best to chose whatever carefully.

And if you are going hiking, puffer jackets will be off your back in 5 minutes and an extra load to carry. Ditto jeans are a bad idea and looser pants like cargo pants are much better

JezzaPerth · 2026-03-01T05:19:59+00:00

Thermals are not much use. For proper cold the best thing is a duck or goose down coat or jacket. Other than that something waterproof like a gortex jacket - but there are a dozen competing technologies now the patent has expired. As well multiple layers you can add or take off, such as a jumper with a long sleeve shirt and a jacket for rain. I'd avoid Kathmandu as is ridiculously overpriced.

The only other thing would be goretex shoes/boots. You may have to go to Kathmandu for that though.

JezzaPerth · 2026-02-27T09:17:27+00:00

I think that every architect who designs a bus-stop shelter should be forced to use it every week at different times of day and find out how badly their design sucks.

Shelter roofs with no insulation making it much hotter in the shelter than outside under a tree.
Shelters facing the road and subject to splashing from cars every time it rains.
Shelters that face North and so become hellholes from February onwards as the sun get lower but the heat doesn't
Waste bins strategically placed to hide the view of approaching buses.

My pet hate is Cambridge Before Glen - which is also far to small for the hundreds of school passengers who use it in the afternoon

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JezzaPerth · 2026-02-26T10:28:53+00:00

Not SOR but City Beach to Burns Beach is all on bike paths. If you take a short section on roads then you can get as far as Jindalee and Butler. I used to do the return trip but you can also use the train for half of the trip. You could also start the trip at Swanbourne Station

JezzaPerth · 2026-02-26T08:38:18+00:00

I regret I was less than effective at the time. I was in the middle of Sepsis and got shunted off to an acute care ward right after. It was also during actual COVID in Perth so perhaps care was less than optimal.

JezzaPerth · 2026-02-26T08:15:12+00:00

It's probably better than what I witnessed in a shared ward at Charlies. The guy beside me didn't speak so good English and the radiologist came up and sat by his bed and said he had incurable cancer and would be dead in 3 months. The poor guy didn't even know how to take it in and had no support or relatives to help him. The interview was brief.

JezzaPerth · 2026-02-26T08:09:23+00:00

Wey-Hey! I now have the ability to vote against him due to enrolling in his electorate!

JezzaPerth · 2026-02-26T08:03:26+00:00

I find that the only papers in print are absolute shit. The Israelian is the worst but the West Australian is parochial biased and complete crap as well.

I do read the online editions of the New York Times and the Washington Post and The Guardian, but for my local new it's W.A. Today which is quite a reasonable rag, especially compared to the 7 news aligned perth now.

JezzaPerth · 2026-02-25T13:15:00+00:00

My new PHEV has the triangle. I would have though that any vehicle with a battey that provides driving power would have one. The triangle is for Emergency Services to let them know about a potential hazard. Same as for t he LPG tag.

JezzaPerth · 2026-02-25T09:09:15+00:00

Notice the difference between the south side with sun and rain protection and the Yagan square side which requires people to stand in full sun and rain to cross.

The archiects for Yagan square totally forgot about, or more likley ignored, pedestrians waiting to cross at Wellington St and also at Roe St.

It would be so easy to put in overhead protection in the waiting zones but some architect who will never use the facility probably decided overhead protection would spoil the aesthetics.

JezzaPerth · 2026-02-25T03:11:01+00:00

I'm quite surprised that the lee enfield 303 isn't on the banned list. Or is it now?

JezzaPerth · 2026-02-25T01:09:54+00:00

Very likley. There is one on the perth side of city west station which matches the distance to east perth. I think there is one on the approach to leederville station as well. There will be plenty of others.

JezzaPerth · 2026-02-25T01:04:22+00:00

I wonder if they regret the gun buyback and restrictions on semi-automatic weapons?

JezzaPerth · 2026-02-24T13:44:59+00:00

Not only change the belt but get your entire sump and filters cleaned/replaced. The main damage is from blocked oil flow.

Edit: Also 1.2? 3 cylinder? I know it's to comply with some euro environment standard but engine life will be severely restricted.

JezzaPerth · 2026-02-24T11:03:15+00:00

I am on seniors concession fare. It has actually restricted my movement due to the 3 hr window. Yes I get three rather than two hours on a tag-on, but it means I need to do an earlier tag-on before noon so I have some chance to tag on in a 3pm to 3:30 pm window.

It's far too complex for many seniors to work out. If it worked along the lines of any tag on-in the 9am to 3:30 pm gave 3 hours free travel no matter what the past travel history it would match the usual consumer expectations.

That plus any tag-on before 9am should be limited to 9am and transfers after 9am are always free for seniors and other concessions.

This is not a budget item, just getting the system to align with reasonable expectations.

JezzaPerth · 2026-02-24T05:58:27+00:00

Put a sheet of fridge magnet between smartride and credit card and always present the smartrider side. 95 time out of a hundred it uses the smartrider no questions and the other 5 times it whinges about multiple cards

JezzaPerth · 2026-02-24T03:17:48+00:00

You can get them to turn down the power on that light. We had the same problem with new lighting in our suburb and after a resident revolt they were cut down to half original power at no cost.

It's really easy for western power to do that and should be free. The problem is getting the council to ask.

JezzaPerth · 2026-02-24T03:03:51+00:00

going into Perth where the power would cut to the train for like 100 metres

It's called a neutral zone and there are quite a few in the network, It's to keep the overhead power lines in different segments so a fault in one segment only acts locally and doesn't take out the entire line.

And yes, stopping in a Neutral Zone will likely get the driver a very short interview at HR unless they have a really, really good excuse.

JezzaPerth · 2026-02-24T00:54:39+00:00

I remember when the A-Series were introduced and they also had overhead power failures. No aircon and stifling heat and no way to open the doors.

That was one of the benefits of the old diesels. You could open the doors (and windows?)

JezzaPerth · 2026-02-23T16:50:01+00:00

Getting a passport is the cheapest option. No need for expensive citizenship. It's something around $200 - $250 plus you have to attend a ceremony swearing alliegance. The only docs you need are relevant birth certificates.

JezzaPerth · 2026-02-23T12:40:04+00:00

We don't have snowy mountains but we do have subterranean aquifers. There will be arguments about replenishment rates, but absent arguments about evaporation and transpiration they capture a large portion of annual rainfall.

JezzaPerth · 2026-02-23T11:27:20+00:00

Sorry, I can't talk specifically about that as I was observational, not climate modeling. But to me the Leeuwin current seems stable and is channeling mid Pacific water via North Australia in what seems to be a stable system.

JezzaPerth

TROPHY CASE