(no subject)
Firstly, I apologise if anyone feels like I'm ignoring them at the moment. I'm back to my sleeping five hours a night thing, plus I've got loads of work on, so when I get to LJ I'm really not very lucid. Anything requiring more than a few seconds' thought along the lines of David Tennant=pretty is...a bit beyond me at present. So I'm not ignoring you or your fic. Fic that I can't deal with is going into a to read file for when I'm less braindead.
Secondly, my month of minimal consumerism ended yesterday. I fell off the wagon rather in the third week; I was feeling a bit down and so ended up eating out a few times, rather than just having the odd cup of tea that I'd initially limited myself to. That probably sounds weird - it is weird, but basically I ate out because then my boyfriend wouldn't see me eating. See, I told you it was weird.
Last week was much better, however - perhaps partly because work has had me glued to my desk. I did end up spending AUD 14 on something toiletries-wise that was arguably unnecessary, in that I could have lived without it for a few weeks. But I'd have ended up needing it eventually.
The really good thing to have come out of the past month is that I now have some idea of how much money I need to spend (and a growing list of things I'd like to spend money on). I now have a budget to stick to, and a work quota that I need to meet each week in order to add to my sadly depleted savings.
It's also made me consider the things that are important to me (as supposed to being basic survival necessities). For example, I won't compromise on food, particularly fruit and vegetables. But because of that, I "forgot" to consider whether related items, such as tea and coffee, were necessities. Then there was the boyfriend, who wasn't doing the experiment with me. Should I refuse to do things that he wanted us to do together, thereby imposing my spending limits on him? The answer was generally no, I shouldn't refuse, although I did try and suggest free alternatives. I've begun to re-evaluate my behaviour in social situations, and to think about ways of obtaining free entertainment for myself and my friends, instead of just meeting up in a bar to catch up. Pleasurable as that is...
Herein ends the introspection :). I have some additional thoughts regarding needs and wants, and the fact that I "need" some things that really aren't strictly necessary - that even make me miserable. But that requires a separate post.
Secondly, my month of minimal consumerism ended yesterday. I fell off the wagon rather in the third week; I was feeling a bit down and so ended up eating out a few times, rather than just having the odd cup of tea that I'd initially limited myself to. That probably sounds weird - it is weird, but basically I ate out because then my boyfriend wouldn't see me eating. See, I told you it was weird.
Last week was much better, however - perhaps partly because work has had me glued to my desk. I did end up spending AUD 14 on something toiletries-wise that was arguably unnecessary, in that I could have lived without it for a few weeks. But I'd have ended up needing it eventually.
The really good thing to have come out of the past month is that I now have some idea of how much money I need to spend (and a growing list of things I'd like to spend money on). I now have a budget to stick to, and a work quota that I need to meet each week in order to add to my sadly depleted savings.
It's also made me consider the things that are important to me (as supposed to being basic survival necessities). For example, I won't compromise on food, particularly fruit and vegetables. But because of that, I "forgot" to consider whether related items, such as tea and coffee, were necessities. Then there was the boyfriend, who wasn't doing the experiment with me. Should I refuse to do things that he wanted us to do together, thereby imposing my spending limits on him? The answer was generally no, I shouldn't refuse, although I did try and suggest free alternatives. I've begun to re-evaluate my behaviour in social situations, and to think about ways of obtaining free entertainment for myself and my friends, instead of just meeting up in a bar to catch up. Pleasurable as that is...
Herein ends the introspection :). I have some additional thoughts regarding needs and wants, and the fact that I "need" some things that really aren't strictly necessary - that even make me miserable. But that requires a separate post.