shopcasting

My online world is all aflutter at the moment … I’m twittering, I’m tumbrling, and of course, facebooking … then today I started plurking!  I know, I know, I have an addictive personality and I am totally Web 2.0verloading.

But, thanks to a link over at Sandie Law‘s geeked off!, I have found what could possibly be the bestest, greatest online social networking site yet.

It combines my three favourite things in the world: writing, messing around online, and (drumroll) shopping!!!

It’s perfect for me. Utterly perfect.

So.

Introducing (drumroll again) ThisNext.

It’s a site where you can:

Explore great product recomendations

Get personalised shopping suggestions

Rave about products you like

Their tagline?

Your product pluse impluse … because all income is disposable.

OMFG. I FRICKING LOVE THIS SHIT!

I can also make a wishlist which collects all the items I am lusting after from all over the web.  Which could be handy for, say, my birthday coming up in a couple of months! *nudgenudgewinkwink*

OK, it’s in August. I’m probably getting a little too excited.

I know I’m trying to save money and and not be too consumerist and stuff, but hey, there’s link to eco shopping and stuff.

Oh, so also, I have decided that for my recommendations, I’m going to rate things out of 5 xo’s. Because that is suitably appropos since they have a link to Gossip Girl fashion from the main menu.

Anyway. I hope all you gals reading this via Facebook sign up and add me as a friend, so we can be all gaggly and silly together. My profile is here.

Mwah 😉

health insurance number crunching

There’s quite a bit of debate re the Rudd/Swan/Gillard plan to change the thresholds for the Medicare Levy in tomorrow’s budget.

I had a bit of a blue with my mother yesterday (yes, I know, Mother’s Day, I should’ve kept my mouth shut) when I announced how happy I was that I can bail on my $41.05 a fortnight private health insurance from July 1.

OMG she says (essentially), you’ll have to pay so much when you have to go to hospital for elective surgery!

For what, a boob job? Because I sure ain’t electing to have scalpels hovering over me for any other non-emergency reason, and I really don’t mind going to a public hospital. I spent 3 days in a hospital in Sri Lanka. RPH is heaven in comparison.

Health insurance is a crock of shit. If Howard needed to tax people to force them to sign up with his cronies, something was seriously wrong with the product. What exactly is the sense in the Government penalising people for not paying for a private service? Ask Johnny, ’cause it makes no sense to me.

The ruckus over the droves of people who may be quitting private health insurance if the tax changes come in should ring the alarm bells for health insurance companies. Why don’t people want to purchase (or keep) their products? Could it possible be because… shock, horror… because it’s not value for money??

Gasp.

But guess what? The health insurance companies knew that already! That’s why they got Johnny and Co (Pillagers, Inc) to force people to sign up!

At the moment I am contracted to pay over a grand to my health insurance company. For what? For $120 back on a $300 pair of glasses. For $100 back on dental (that’d be, what, three teeth cleaned)? I actually can’t afford physio, chiro, any of that other stuff, so I don’t see why I need to be paying through my nose just to get some minuscule rebate. Maybe if I wasn’t paying so much for health insurance, I could do a proper pilates class once a fortnight to fix my bloody sore back!!

Say this year I bought a pair of glasses for $300 (transitions! how good is not haing to carry a separate pair of sunnies?!) and went to the dentist for an annual clean and check-up, liberal estimate of $200.

With health insurance I will pay:

$1080 (Insurance)
$300 (Glasses)
$200 (Dentist)
-$220 (Rebate)
$1360 annual total.

That’s right, $1360 for $500 worth of products/services.

I was never any good at Maths (I prefer shopping), but even I can see how shit that is.

At the moment, if I didn’t have health insurance, I’d be smacked with the “Medicare Levy” for being a naughty girl who should really pay for shit I don’t need.

I know I may occasionally get my debit card out to pay for something I don’t really need, but guess what, I want it, and it’s my money so I will damn well spend it on stuff I want. Isn’t that what “liberal market economics” are all about, Johnny?

So from 1 July, I should theoretically* be able to get a pair of organic-cotton jeans and that HOT gossip girl dress, with enough change to order some more merrican apparel gear, and have my glasses and clean teeth too. I like those numbers much better.

* I say theoretically because I will not actually buy those jeans and that dress… ’cause kids are starving in Burma. But it is my prerogative to decide how I want to spend my money. Which may mean donating it to charity or saving for a home-loan deposit. Not paying it to some health insurance goon.