Money, money, money!

Don't we wish that we all had one of these? Via

 

Money. Something that we rarely discuss openly with people but something we all struggle with from time to time.

I've got something to admit...

I am scared to open my mail box. Not the actual piece of wood on a stand that it is, I'm just afraid of its contents inside. Yup, those pieces of paper that seem to come around far too frequently with ridiculous rental charges and dollar signs. Bills. For some odd reason I feel as though if I avoid the mail box, it will somehow turn into an atm with a never ending supply of finances and will pay our bills.

Please.

This growing old thing and becoming a responsible adult sucks. Things were much easier when mum and dad paid the bills and we just got to mooch off of them.

Now, all it seems like all we do on pay day is log into the internet, click a couple of buttons and BAM...pay cheque disappears down to $20 until next payday. Talk about disheartening.

Don't get me wrong. I am incredibly grateful for the roof over my head, clothes on my body and Home Brand pasta in my belly but jingo it sucks having to constantly think of things in terms of dollars and cents and justifying everything ALL of the time.

Via

Take for example doing the grocery shopping. A task that is meant to be fairly mundane.

Have you ever experienced that awkward, blood flowing to your cheeks moment when you miscalculate the contents in your trolley when you get to the check out?

That moment when you shuffle your feet and stare at the total amount and start to sweat when you realise you have $100 to spend and the grand total is at $93 with 10 items left in your trolley. Then you have to awkwardly giggle and make some lame joke about being pov and you tell the attendant to stop swiping when the total gets to $100 as you start working out what's left in your trolley that's a necessity and what must, ashamedly be taken back?

I have.

Or when you swipe your best friend aka your plastic card and start sweating as the stupid bloody machine that seems to take forever processes your payment and you stress that that magical word approved won't come up?

I have.

You see, I've come to realise that we're always scrimping and saving for something. Whether that be paying the electricity bill or making your mortgage or saving for a holiday or wedding, there's always something.

I never wanted to fight about money, after all, its just paper and metal..right? But the fact is, this year, my partner and I have had times when we do get frustrated and grumpy over money. When all we want is a carton of beer or to buy those super cute jeans in the Target window but we can't afford to, it sucks. There's been times when I have thrown a little tanty over working full time and still HAVING NO MONEY to do anything. God damn it.

Have you ever gotten to that point? Where you just think - what's the point? I earn it and I burn it and I still can't afford to buy a coffee everyday. Yes, I have to be the lame one in my office who makes a pot of coffee because I can't afford (or justify) spending $3 on a coffee a day.

We've had to cut out a lot of extras this year.

Yes, that means that Mick has had to cut back to one carton of beer a month, and I've had to become a massive repeat offender with my clothes. We also pretty much both turned vegetarian for about a month, and trust me, for two country kids who pretty much grew up chomping on a cow, that was tough because meat is SO expensive. Yes, we've gone months with nothing but tomato sauce and butter in the fridge and with nothing but tinned tuna, corn, Home Brand tomato paste and pasta in the cupboard. We can also turn sausages into anything elaborate and we were starting to look like chickens from the amount of thighs we've eaten.

Via

I guess one of the most difficult things about being on a tight budget is having to say no to doing fun things with friends. It's often difficult as you start to get older and you are on a different page and have different amounts of expendable cash to splurge. It really does suck having to be the ones to say, actually, can we watch the footy at our house instead of going to the pub or I'm sorry that I can't afford to go the movies, how about a girls night in? Sometimes you feel guilty about not having any money.

But you know what, owning a house, renovating and travelling is all worth scrimping and saving.

I'm sure you don't regret any of the things that you have purchased or have created or are working towards too.

Money.

It sucks, but unfortunately it's a part of life, whether we want to accept that or not.

Money, money, money! Via

I must admit that not having loads of cash left over after each pay day has made me so much more apprecitive for when we can lash out and go out for tea. It's made me appreciate the date nights with candles and a home cooked meal over bursting our budget to go out. It's made appreciate the weeks that I can sneak a block of chocolate into the shopping. But mostly, it's made me appreciate that you don't have to have loads of cash to be happy and to have fun.

I'd prefer having friends over for a BBQ and drinks in our backyard under the outside area that we've worked our asses off to build over going out for tea.

And I'd prefer a night in snuggling on our couch watching a movie on our TV over the movies.

So hello being POV, if it means that we can work towards our future goals.

I'm happy eating Home Brand pasta for a while longer yet.

Money. How do you make it stretch? Do you ever get down about money? How did you stay positive about it?

Look after yourself and those around you,

Kirsty xxx