Ever find yourself penniless close to the end of the month – or worse, around the middle of the month? And then do you find that you have to rely on handouts from parents or, far worse, from unsympathetic friends who will most definitely not let you forget it? Well, maybe you'll recognise yourself in this video featuring a young working woman who just cannot seem to save any money.
When the salary is deposited in the account at the beginning of the month, there is an illusory – and misguided feeling of being rich and able to afford the most unwise of indulgences. One feels rich enough to party and even magnanimously fund the partying of friends. Bad idea.
There is the idea that cooking at home is good for the monthly budget and for health. Obviously it is a wiser choice than ordering takeaway all the time. The only problem is, when the grocery choices are full of unhealthy ready-to-eat packaged food and exotic extras, this defeats both purposes of economising and maintaining good health.
Those indulgences that are meant to make one feel better? Well. they don’t. An expensive coffee will not make a shitty morning better. Ice cream will not change the minds of all the auto-divers who refused to go where they were asked. Shopping for new makeup will not make heartbreak feel any better.
“Trains are crowded”. “It is raining”. “I have my laptop with me”. “The cab is cheaper today because there is no surge pricing”. The excuses to eschew public transport and avoid walking a bit are many. None of them are cheap.
Yes soap is necessary. But maybe the 50 other things on sale that got added to the cart along with that are not? And then there is the myth of window shopping. It starts with “I’ll just browse” and ends with a cart full of products that are either discounted and therefore irresistible, or bought because they will get used at some point (not). Oh! The perils of online shopping (and that pesky lack of self-control) and the way they make you buy more because avoiding shipping is so important.
So there are always reasons for being impulsive and irresponsible and living beyond one's means. And then it is down to making that humiliating call for help --- because the paycheque that seemed so attractive at the beginning of the month? It starts to just seem woefully inadequate by about the middle --- because we can resist everything but temptation.
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