My boyfriend and I are in the midst of renovating his 1960's, 1800 sq ft apartment, and it's been an eye opener for me. For instance, the cost of tiling can be more than the cost of the tile itself - and the quality of the work depends on the installer.

Our scope of work is pretty extensive, but since it's an apartment, we don't need to consider outdoor stuff, such as garden landscaping, gates, external painting, roofs. The major part of the cost lies in the windows (all need to be replaced), the flooring and the repartitioning of walls.

We debated on whether to have brick walls or drywall. We decided in favour of drywall due to the ease of installation. My boyfriend was particular enamoured of drywall because it meant the wires and lines could be incorporated into the walls, giving a much neater look.

The windows would be, I think, the most attractive part of the apartment. In the master bedroom, we extended the room right into the balcony and glassed it up entirely. In other words, the entire wall of the bedroom would be glass. I'm SO looking forward to seeing it when it's done. It would really bring the light in.

The flooring were a pain at first. We weren't sure of whether to have laminated wood flooring or tiles. Tiles would be water-resistant, laminated less so. But if we were to move one day, we could take the laminates with us. Tiles were more expensive. And plus, we'd heard that white tiles were susceptible to staining. So now, we're just tiling the kitchen & the bathroom.

We're still within our budget. Fingers crossed.

Two days ago, I turned on my PC and found...nothing. No sound of it powering up, the screen didn't come to life. The thing is, this could have been avoided. The switch light had been flickering for quite some time and I should have sent it for repair or at least, maintenance. It was living on a promise, as it were.

Anyway, it died on me. A new power supply, according to the technician, cost $180. A new CPU would cost $1300 (dirt cheap). I was nearly tempted to get a new CPU because the specs were far, far better than that of my 5 year old PC. But I knew that there was no immediate need for a new PC, and prices were on the way down anyway. And I should buy only when there is a need. So I forked over the $180 and my computer lived again.

Not sure whether anyone here has tried it. But acetone in the gas tank is a pretty hot topic in many car (and personal finance!) forums. There's a whole Wiki page on it (http://www.peswiki.com/index.php/Directory:Acetone) and I felt convinced enough to give it a go. Basically, you need to buy laboratory grade acetone for best results, but I've read that the Sally Beauty stuff works well too. As for concentration, that takes a bit of experiment. Basically, you put in between 1 - 4 oz per 10 gallons of fuel - treat it like an additive.

For the record, I drive a Nissan Sentra B13. I've tried a 3 oz concentration - mileage got worse. I then went down to 2.5 oz, 2 oz and 1.5 oz concentrations - didn't work. I'm down to 1 oz and am starting to notice a slight improvement. Will post updates on this later.

My testing is not entirely scientific, and the higher concentrations were applied when my oxygen sensor wasn't working too well, so that could have been a factor. But I've since changed the sensor, so maybe I should retry a higher concentration.

If anyone has tried this first hand, I'd welcome any comments.

"Imagine the fear and guilt as part of you. Truly experience it. Then take a step back and see the fear as a separate thing. You can touch it, but you can retract your fingers. You still remain as you, whole."

I had been experiencing these feelings at work. It all stemmed from the "slave mentality" - the one who does the most work feels the least guilt. And I had just rejected an extra assignment (for valid reasons). But feelings of guilt remained. And fear. What would "they" think of me? Do they see me as a non-team player? Never mind that I've worked hard on extra assignments in previous years. Never mind that I find it hard to say "no".

So BF was trying to be my voice of reason.

I said,"I find this exercise hard to do. The concept is too abstract."

BF said,"Try viewing fear as a pencil. You touch it, twirl it round your fingers. You grab it, it's part of you. But you can put it down."

Me: Still abstract. Surely it's easier to give it all to the Lord & say,"I can't, Lord, but You can?"

BF: Sure. Roll it on the Lord's back. There. It's gone.

And this worked for me.

My boyfriend and I are counting down to D-day, which is probably about a year or more from now. We've gotten to the stage where we work through questions to ask each other before getting engaged. I got some questions off www.oprah.com.

Question 1: Will we have a joint account, or do we go for separate bank accounts?

Me: Joint account for household expenses. Separate accounts for own funds. (Otherwise known as "screw you" funds, but I prudently left that part out.) Or do you want to earmark items that each of us would contribute to?

Him: Joint account, but we both contribute to it based on percentage of income. And if there's a kid, then he/she becomes part of "household expenses" too.

Me: Sounds good.

I've just discovered something small, but nifty. I work as a lecturer, and many students text me. I guess that's the culture in my university and it's somehow encouraged. However texting back and forth with students, plural, is gonna cost. I discovered a few days ago that my cell phone provider has a website that allows me to text people, who are using the same service provider, for free! There is a limit of 3 text messages per day, however. That's $0.15 saved per day.

In my country, we have a saying: a little soil at a time makes a hill one day.