Wednesday, March 26, 2014

Freaked out by debt - but is that a bad thing?

I thought when payday came around this month I'd be heaving a big sigh of relief. The last two months have seen quite a few biggish expenses so I haven't been able to send very much to clearing the overdraft on my Irish bank account. That meant I was eagerly anticipating being able to knock a big chunk off it this month, as I have no large anticipated expenses in April. Got paid today, transferred a very big chunk of change and, thanks to the new SEPA (single European payment area) systems that finally seem to be working properly, it even hit my Irish bank account by the end of the afternoon.

But you know what? Even though I am pleased to see the total on that overdraft coming down, I am not feeling at all relaxed about it. I'm very close to clearing my overdraft, with this payment I'm well away from the 2,000 mark, even if I haven't quite managed to break the 1,000 yet. And I feel just as freaked out as I did last week. So although I know it's getting there and I'd kind of like to be feeling a bit more comfortable at the moment, I actually think it may be a good thing that I'm not. I feel like I've finally gotten to that stage when any debt is just unacceptable.  Long may the feeling last because it might be the only thing that stops be ever doing it again!

Being patient is difficult but I just have to try and have another month of keeping my head down and just getting on with things. It'll be easter towards the end of April, which means a nice four-day weekend. I have a couple of social things planned but none of them are particularly expensive. There'll be a meal for book club but I'll do what I did last time and not have any alcohol to drink and try and order something cheap from the menu - not every single meal out has to be a three-course extravaganza. Myself and a friend finally made it to the table quiz in the Irish pub last Sunday evening, which was a lot of fun. We plan on going again in a couple of weeks but at 10 euro per team plus whatever you drink, that can be a very cheap night out, too. And I plan to start making full use of the ArtCard that I bought. It cost 54 euro and gives me entrance to just about all of the museums and art galleries in town for a whole year. Along with the lengthening of the days, I should have plenty to keep me occupied. I shouldn't be wishing my life away but I just really want to get to the end of April as quickly as possible so that I can finally see my debt dip into the hundreds. But best of all at the moment for me is the fact that I've booked a Tupperware party at the end of May. I am ridiculously excited about that - it has been so long since I've had one, I'd say at least 7 or 8 years. Oh how I do love my Tupperware. Sigh.

3 comments:

Ron said...

I don't think it's a bad thing to be freaked out by debt at all.

The only way I see it being reasonable to NOT be freaked out by debt is to assume that the world is a stable place and will continue to be... and that just isn't borne out by history.

Personally... I'd just rather live a blander life than to have debt... because that millstone about my neck prevents me from fully enjoying things. Internal peace is worth a fortune to me.

Fiona said...

That's awesome that you paid off a large chunk from your pay today! It won't take long till that debt is just an image in the rear-view mirror :D

Unknown said...

I hate wishing time away too, but it's hard not to when you are looking forward to something (or waiting the end of something).