Come 25th of every month and you will find me cribbing and crying over the money I spent. The absence of money in my account makes me take my most financially sound decisions ever. Like last month I invested in a fixed deposit. What’s all the more depressing about the end of month period is that I get most of my bills during this time – the phone, internet and the most dreaded one- credit card bill. Now I am a credit card apprentice, it only been like a month or two. I still haven’t got a hang of using it. I flick it out at any opportunity only if it is just to pay for my overpriced coffee.
With the multiple digit bill playing a havoc on my mind and no money left to invest or shop. I am left with no other option other than to write about it.
The tragedy is that all my interests and hobbies are somehow associated with spending money. The guy who said “best things in life are free” was probably kidding himself. Or like Blair Waldorf once said, the person who said “Money can’t buy happiness didn’t know where to shop”. I am obsessed with shopping. Clothes, shoes, accessories, groceries you name it and I will buy it. Plus eating out is another activity I love. Trying out new cuisines at expensive restaurants on weekends seems like a perfectly harmless expense after a tiring week at office. My new found love affair with gourmet cooking means more shopping for expensive ingredients. And don’t get me started on the online shopping websites. While browsing Facebook the ads on the right hand side somehow force me to click on them. The harmless browsing somehow results in love for a fabulous piece of clothing. Your resolve for not buying it and closing the window doesn’t help because after this the ad think you loved will magically start popping up in every website you visit. The only available solution is to buy that shit and get it over with.
Book shopping for my Kindle is another pinch to the pocket. Now any sane person would know that reading a book takes on an average around 2 to 3 weeks of time (considering the fact that you only get to read a few chapters every night before sleep). So ordering them one by one every month sounds a good decision rather than buying all 5 together. Well, who will make me understand that! Knowing all this I will probably repeat the same thing next time as well. All these expenses however come back later to bite me in the arse later.
Trust me to also turn a simple activity like writing into a money spending spree. I suffer from a condition where by I just cannot write in the four walls of my home. My creatively is at peak in some nice café with soft music and strong coffee (Yes, the overpriced one). So most of my writings and posts are written from the air conditioned premises of this pretty little café I have managed to nail down in my vicinity. I take about 4 to 5 hours for a fully accomplishes piece of writing together with research/pictures and stuff. In order to keep the waiter away from forcing the menu card and giving me askance glances, I have to keep ordering coffee and appetizer tit-bits. So on an average lets day I write about say 8 articles per month, you do the math of how much this writing jig costs me!
Though a bit on an over spender scale none of the guilty pleasures described above are in any way illegal or overtly crazy. What I mean is that it’s not like I am indulging in gambling or investing in risky dealings. Still my spending and expenditure kicks the arse of my earnings. The major blame for this undoubtedly has to be the mind boggling inflation. From vegetables to apparels the rates sometimes give my head a spin. Simple things like a chewing gum which used to cost 50 paise during my childhood days is now for Rs 5. The cute little girl from utterly butterly delicious Amul has not changed but the price sure has hiked from Rs 14 to Rs 36. Alphonso mango is sold at Rs 50 per piece, I repeat PER PIECE here in Mumbai. Starting cost of simplest of the clothes on an average is Rs 1000. The cost of a cup of coffee is Starbucks or barista is enough for an entire month of coffee supply for your home. The rent you have to pay every month burns a huge hole in your pocket. Unless you take home a very fat cheque the chances are you are as disturbed as me.
Sometimes I feel one job is definitely not enough for survival. And I am strictly talking about survival not a lavish lifestyle. For lavish lifestyle you either have to find one of those fat pay-cheque jobs or doing multiple jobs or if you have a strong luck then maybe try for a lottery.
Love
Sepo
With the multiple digit bill playing a havoc on my mind and no money left to invest or shop. I am left with no other option other than to write about it.
The tragedy is that all my interests and hobbies are somehow associated with spending money. The guy who said “best things in life are free” was probably kidding himself. Or like Blair Waldorf once said, the person who said “Money can’t buy happiness didn’t know where to shop”. I am obsessed with shopping. Clothes, shoes, accessories, groceries you name it and I will buy it. Plus eating out is another activity I love. Trying out new cuisines at expensive restaurants on weekends seems like a perfectly harmless expense after a tiring week at office. My new found love affair with gourmet cooking means more shopping for expensive ingredients. And don’t get me started on the online shopping websites. While browsing Facebook the ads on the right hand side somehow force me to click on them. The harmless browsing somehow results in love for a fabulous piece of clothing. Your resolve for not buying it and closing the window doesn’t help because after this the ad think you loved will magically start popping up in every website you visit. The only available solution is to buy that shit and get it over with.
Book shopping for my Kindle is another pinch to the pocket. Now any sane person would know that reading a book takes on an average around 2 to 3 weeks of time (considering the fact that you only get to read a few chapters every night before sleep). So ordering them one by one every month sounds a good decision rather than buying all 5 together. Well, who will make me understand that! Knowing all this I will probably repeat the same thing next time as well. All these expenses however come back later to bite me in the arse later.
Trust me to also turn a simple activity like writing into a money spending spree. I suffer from a condition where by I just cannot write in the four walls of my home. My creatively is at peak in some nice café with soft music and strong coffee (Yes, the overpriced one). So most of my writings and posts are written from the air conditioned premises of this pretty little café I have managed to nail down in my vicinity. I take about 4 to 5 hours for a fully accomplishes piece of writing together with research/pictures and stuff. In order to keep the waiter away from forcing the menu card and giving me askance glances, I have to keep ordering coffee and appetizer tit-bits. So on an average lets day I write about say 8 articles per month, you do the math of how much this writing jig costs me!
Though a bit on an over spender scale none of the guilty pleasures described above are in any way illegal or overtly crazy. What I mean is that it’s not like I am indulging in gambling or investing in risky dealings. Still my spending and expenditure kicks the arse of my earnings. The major blame for this undoubtedly has to be the mind boggling inflation. From vegetables to apparels the rates sometimes give my head a spin. Simple things like a chewing gum which used to cost 50 paise during my childhood days is now for Rs 5. The cute little girl from utterly butterly delicious Amul has not changed but the price sure has hiked from Rs 14 to Rs 36. Alphonso mango is sold at Rs 50 per piece, I repeat PER PIECE here in Mumbai. Starting cost of simplest of the clothes on an average is Rs 1000. The cost of a cup of coffee is Starbucks or barista is enough for an entire month of coffee supply for your home. The rent you have to pay every month burns a huge hole in your pocket. Unless you take home a very fat cheque the chances are you are as disturbed as me.
Sometimes I feel one job is definitely not enough for survival. And I am strictly talking about survival not a lavish lifestyle. For lavish lifestyle you either have to find one of those fat pay-cheque jobs or doing multiple jobs or if you have a strong luck then maybe try for a lottery.
Love
Sepo
