Learning to Budget

I just had the weirdest dream, in the last two hours while i was having more of a sleep in. It was so realistic and jumped all over the place...went from being serious and scary to just downright weird...and back again. It was so vivid, that it feels like it was real.

I'm still all cosy in bed. Gosh, I never used to be such a sleeper inner haha ...it's another new word day for me. I am def going for my walk today though. I bought new tennis shoes this week just for my walks and it has rained ever since. I am forcing myself to go ....rain or shine today or else i will feel like my new shoes were a waste of money. There is this really cheap shoe shop in Onehunga, on the main street. I forget what it is called but it is like Briscoes and always has a huge sale on and they have all the cool brands etc. Indians own it...i think...or Asians...or maybe a mixture of the two...god knows...but they have New Balance running shoes there for $50.00. Converse all stars for like $60...they have all the brands...every brand accept i couldn't find any Nike (my fav brand) but that is ok...they are only for my walks. I grabbed a cheap pair of New balance running shoes so now my walks will be much more pleasant, and not so hard on my feet.

I want an Ipod, for my walks now. Jorgia's Ipod was more user friendly and goes louder than my phone. That will have to wait though. I have a fridge to pay for.

It's funny. I was thinking about it this week. Every week now, i live off the same amount of money that we used to spend in two nights on booze, party pills, and smokes. After my rent is paid, i pay a portion of my phone and power, do a food shop, and put petrol in my car...and my treat is 25 dollars on those hideous rollie smokes, just to keep those nicotine withdrawals at bay. All my bills are paid and i don't really have any money worries now yet i live off the same amount that we would spend on that crap in two nights. I look back now and we had four times the amount of money every week that i have now...yet we always felt so broke.

I think it is just a matter of it being a fact that we just survive...some people would look at what i live on now and think they could never do it. We do what we have to do...and the more we earn the more we spend anyway. I don't feel like things are terribly difficult financially at the moment. I don't really care about it. As long as i am sleeping at night instead of worrying about bills not being paid then i am happy. I pay all my bills on Thursday or Friday and then i quite often will go from Saturday until the following Thursday with NO MONEY...and it does not bother me.

I have everything i need. Isn't that mental? I never used to be able to go a day without money...let alone 5 and be ok with that.

I have never been good with money and i think that finally learning how to budget, and pay all my bills first and then survive on what is left over is such a huge, valuable lesson and tool for me to be learning. I wish i had learned it years ago. I'm still young though and there is plenty of time to play catch up.

I know that once i am back at work, i will appreciate having more money and it will be used more wisely than it has been in the past. This is just another example of how i am going to come out of all of this, so much better off than i would be if i had never gone through any of what i have gone through over the past 2 and a half years.

On that note...shower time for me.