Money troubles
For the first time since I effectively left home at 16, I've had to borrow money from my parents to pay a bill. It's to pay my VISA bill, and I could have just carried the part I couldn't afford over to my next pay and paid some interest, but I've not paid interest on my VISA in over 10 years of having one and I know my parents would throw their hands up in despair at me if I'd paid interest on it rather than borrow $350 from them to cover it, which I'll be able to pay back in a fortnight (next pay).
So how did this happen? Well, it's a combination of a number of factors - firstly, I came back from Europe dead broke (as expected) and so didn't have my usual savings to dip into in those months where all the bills hit at once. Then I borrowed money to buy a car, which I'm paying off at $500 a fortnight so that it will be completely paid out in a month's time. Of course, with buying a car, I also had to pay for a $200 service, $600 rego fees, and $500 in insurance all in the space of 2 months, which also put a strain on my finances (but I was still able to pay for my VISA bills up until now). I also had to pay $250 in household insurance a couple of months ago and $315 for a practising certificate last month. So it's been a lot of expenses in a fairly short period of time.
However, that would have probably all been okay if I also hadn't let my spending get a bit out of control. I recently lent $200 to a friend who was travelling in Australia becuase she'd run out of money and I knew how I would feel if that happened to me in a foreign country. I've spent about $200 on work clothes in the last couple of months - that was necessary though because I've lost so much weight that the trousers I wore last winter barely stay over my hips, and everything I had in Europe looks so ratty - not the way to win the confidence of clients/bosses in a new job! Somehow I managed to spend over $500 in groceries this month - I think that was mostly cleaning stuff that my flatmate didn't have - this seems to happen whenever I move in with boys! But I really have no excuse for all of the gig tickets and CDs I've bought. Or the $120 backpack I bought (but I do use it every day when I walk to and from work). Or the $87 in framing my Paris oil and lamination of my posters from overseas - I was always going to get it done eventually, but I could have put it off for longer.
All in all, it added up to an over $1500 VISA bill. Considering my usual monthly VISA bill is less than 1/2 that, it's a bit of a worry. And my flight to Melbourne and Belle and Sebastian tickets haven't hit yet, so my next VISA bill is likely to be sizeable as well.
But I thought that the spending I was doing would be well and truly covered out of my wage now that I'm earning more. But I think I'm also spending a lot more in cash because of all of the dating. So I might have to pull my head in there a bit as well... Damn! Or maybe I could just try and do things that won't cost me anything... Hmmm
So anyway, I've decided that I'm going to have to pull my head in with my spending. As it is, I have $80 in the bank and maybe $15 in my wallet to last me a fortnight. This could be interesting...
But I've decided that I'm going to start bringing my lunch to work every day rather than buying it, I'll stop drinking for the next fortnight (well, at least at pubs, I still have a sizeable collection of wine at home that I'll happily polish off) and I'm not allowed to buy any CDs at gigs. If I really want it, I'll just have to get it at Skinnys later (thereby making myself think about whether I -really- have to get it).
And I'll start transferring the bulk of my wage to my Bank of Queensland account each pay so that I have limited cash available in my ANZ account (my everyday account) to be able to withdraw and this way, should keep better track of what I'm spending, and will also have the money immediately available to pay my VISA (which is also with Bank of Queensland).
Hopefully, this way, I'll be back on track in no time.
And will get over the embarrassment of being independant of my parents for nearly 15 years, then having to borrow money from them because of an overactive VISA card. Dad was cool about it though - I went into how I felt guilty borrowing from them (when I know they're not that financial themselves at the moment), even if it is only for a fortnight, because I can't really say it was for essentials. Just me spending money to have fun. But he said that you work to live, not live to work - and he didn't begrudge me any of my spending as long as I was having fun (he also offered to lend me more and I pay it back later when my savings are more healthy so that I can continue to have fun at the same rate as I have been, but I didn't take him up on it. I would feel bad to keep on spending when I know I owe someone else money). And he said that after all, it's not like I borrow money off them every day.
I really love my Dad.
Listening to: FourPlay - Catgut Ya Tongue
So how did this happen? Well, it's a combination of a number of factors - firstly, I came back from Europe dead broke (as expected) and so didn't have my usual savings to dip into in those months where all the bills hit at once. Then I borrowed money to buy a car, which I'm paying off at $500 a fortnight so that it will be completely paid out in a month's time. Of course, with buying a car, I also had to pay for a $200 service, $600 rego fees, and $500 in insurance all in the space of 2 months, which also put a strain on my finances (but I was still able to pay for my VISA bills up until now). I also had to pay $250 in household insurance a couple of months ago and $315 for a practising certificate last month. So it's been a lot of expenses in a fairly short period of time.
However, that would have probably all been okay if I also hadn't let my spending get a bit out of control. I recently lent $200 to a friend who was travelling in Australia becuase she'd run out of money and I knew how I would feel if that happened to me in a foreign country. I've spent about $200 on work clothes in the last couple of months - that was necessary though because I've lost so much weight that the trousers I wore last winter barely stay over my hips, and everything I had in Europe looks so ratty - not the way to win the confidence of clients/bosses in a new job! Somehow I managed to spend over $500 in groceries this month - I think that was mostly cleaning stuff that my flatmate didn't have - this seems to happen whenever I move in with boys! But I really have no excuse for all of the gig tickets and CDs I've bought. Or the $120 backpack I bought (but I do use it every day when I walk to and from work). Or the $87 in framing my Paris oil and lamination of my posters from overseas - I was always going to get it done eventually, but I could have put it off for longer.
All in all, it added up to an over $1500 VISA bill. Considering my usual monthly VISA bill is less than 1/2 that, it's a bit of a worry. And my flight to Melbourne and Belle and Sebastian tickets haven't hit yet, so my next VISA bill is likely to be sizeable as well.
But I thought that the spending I was doing would be well and truly covered out of my wage now that I'm earning more. But I think I'm also spending a lot more in cash because of all of the dating. So I might have to pull my head in there a bit as well... Damn! Or maybe I could just try and do things that won't cost me anything... Hmmm
So anyway, I've decided that I'm going to have to pull my head in with my spending. As it is, I have $80 in the bank and maybe $15 in my wallet to last me a fortnight. This could be interesting...
But I've decided that I'm going to start bringing my lunch to work every day rather than buying it, I'll stop drinking for the next fortnight (well, at least at pubs, I still have a sizeable collection of wine at home that I'll happily polish off) and I'm not allowed to buy any CDs at gigs. If I really want it, I'll just have to get it at Skinnys later (thereby making myself think about whether I -really- have to get it).
And I'll start transferring the bulk of my wage to my Bank of Queensland account each pay so that I have limited cash available in my ANZ account (my everyday account) to be able to withdraw and this way, should keep better track of what I'm spending, and will also have the money immediately available to pay my VISA (which is also with Bank of Queensland).
Hopefully, this way, I'll be back on track in no time.
And will get over the embarrassment of being independant of my parents for nearly 15 years, then having to borrow money from them because of an overactive VISA card. Dad was cool about it though - I went into how I felt guilty borrowing from them (when I know they're not that financial themselves at the moment), even if it is only for a fortnight, because I can't really say it was for essentials. Just me spending money to have fun. But he said that you work to live, not live to work - and he didn't begrudge me any of my spending as long as I was having fun (he also offered to lend me more and I pay it back later when my savings are more healthy so that I can continue to have fun at the same rate as I have been, but I didn't take him up on it. I would feel bad to keep on spending when I know I owe someone else money). And he said that after all, it's not like I borrow money off them every day.
I really love my Dad.
Listening to: FourPlay - Catgut Ya Tongue
posted by OLS |
Thursday, June 24, 2004 | 9:17 am
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