The other day I reconciled our accounts like I do every week. One line stood out, the same one that’s annoyed me since we set up our mortgage. Part of our home loan sits in an offset account. Our savings offset what we owe, and we only pay interest on the difference.

Power companies put their prices up on April 1. I read about it on RNZ, which also mentioned a Government comparison tool I hadn’t heard of before. That was enough to check it out even though I haven’t even been with my current power provider for a year.

“I’ll never be able to afford to buy a house in Auckland.”

That’s what I kept telling people five or six years ago whenever real estate came up. I had given up on the idea and made peace with renting for as long as I stayed in Auckland. Moving somewhere cheaper was an option but I preferred renting in a place I loved over owning a home in an area I didn’t want.