Has the tide turned?

It’s still early days, but the tide might have turned on our personal circumstances.  Readers you may recall we purchased very cheap airfares for our return, around £300 each.  When we arrived in the UK back in 2011 Jan picked up a very useful tip from Sue of nb No Problem and joined Quidco.  During our time in the UK she collected approximately £160 in discount rebates, and they continue to flow in.  When we arrived in Australia Jan checked on Quidco and was advised she was to receive a £32 refund on our airfares..

I hadn’t been doing so well in the car front.  After three visits to the nearest dealer he wasn’t offering any form of inducement to finalize a deal.  Perhaps I was being optimistic as I wanted the latest model which has only just been released.  However June is the end of the business financial year which I thought might make them keen.  Isuzu are offering an introductory discounted price as a promotion on the new model for $46,990 plus $450 for metallic paint.  Jan had selected Titanium Silver metallic as the colour and I had resigned myself to paying $47,440.  I’d been informed during an earlier visit that the vehicle was in Perth.  The salesman took me to the manager who looked at his computer an told me the vehicle would be available in late August.  That was a shock and when I queried him I was told Isuzu had delayed the arrival of the new model in order to clear the old stock.  He then informed me the price was $48,990 plus $450 for metallic paint.  When I informed him the price was $2000 less he told me that was the price of the old model.  There wasn’t any point in getting angry and I just walked away. 

On reaching home I phoned a second dealer who told me the price was $46,990 and the vehicle was in Perth.  Back into the rental car to visit the dealer.  Once there I confirmed the price, colour and availability before asking “What can you do for me?”  The end result was he included the metallic paint in the base price of $46,990, agreed to filling the fuel tank along with rubber floor mats.  Well that was a second positive.

Today we received an email from Pickfords UK advising our unaccompanied boxes will arrive towards the end of July.  That’s about a month earlier than anticipated. 

Jan has been searching online for a chest freezer.  Of course she wants a bargain and today she found one at AOL (Appliances On Line)  The order was placed using a discount voucher for $20 off and delivery will occur early in July.

The final outstanding item is my application for a credit card.  We don’t particularly need one, but it’s very hard to hire a rental car without a card.  I think I must have now told the bank everything about myself, including my inside trouser leg measurement!

I managed to go for a local walk this afternoon and decided to walk around the ‘Summer Lakes’ part of the sub-division.  We used to live in this area back in the early 90’s.

Most of Perth is built on sand and land developers have utilized the low areas to create or enhance existing lakes and ponds as storm water soak pits.

It has always bemused me that in a vast land the cost of a house is usually a third of the price of the land it sits on.  The houses above are some of the more expensive in our suburb.  I’ll take photos of the more ‘average’ homes on another walk.