Vicky Biccy's Blog

End of the month

If my purse had strings, they would be tightening. As it is, I don’t have a purse, I have a masculine-looking wallet full of lots of old receipts. But it’s coming towards the end of the month, and like many people, I’ll be watching my bank balance until payday.

I think I’m pretty careful with money, but all it takes is a big social event, like the recent hen party, or a few weeks of neglecting to check the old online banking, and I’m dangerously close to the edge. Last night I was chatting about this with some friends, and it seems that I’m not alone.

One friend confided that in two years of earning a decent wage, she hasn’t saved a penny. We laughed about our old school friend who, as a student, booked a holiday and then couldn’t afford to pay her rent, so called her Dad to bail her out.

Apparently, most of us struggle to make ends meet as we come to the end of the pay packet. Regardless of how much we earn, whether we live alone or support other people financially, we tend to spend all the money we have, and sometimes a little bit more. I don’t know what it takes before we learn how to manage our money more effectively. Even friends who are paying back scary amounts of debt from overspending on credit cards are still pushing their finances to the limit.

Maybe we’re just silly, or maybe we have learnt that we can always rely on buffers, like the ‘bank of mum and dad’ or the overdraft on our credit cards. If anyone knows how to avoid that anxious end of the month feeling… please tell! 

Created on Wed 24th March 2010 16:13