Today, I am putting myself on a budget. I've been off a budget since the 13th of December or something and almost feel as though I've bought at least one new item a day since.
Oh Amazon. Oh Ebay.
Considering I am unemployed and need to save £3.5k for my magazine journalism course once I graduate I really need to sort this out. I will be taking a year old first - So I've given myself a £100 a week budget (not inc. my travel which is £118 a month! London is ridiculous). Though it just occured to me I have to pay my phone bill - damn it! So I will need to recalculate that.
Because I did a bit of online shopping today and spend £50 I am only allowed to spend a maximum of £6 a day for the rest of the week - I probably spend more than that on food normally. Though that bloody phone bill is going to mess that up!
I just paid my phone bill - which has gone up thanks to VAT going up - I now have £4 to last until Sunday. I also just bought the Hope For Haiti soundtrack which helped, and yeah I know I'm sat here in the mist of talking about how broke I am and then I go and buy an album, but they need that money more than I do, right?
And before you start saying to yourself 'what the hell, where does all this money come from if she's unemployed??' - I'm a student. Over in England student's get student loans, and if they're parents don't earn much they get some free money too. So that's what I live off, borrowed money.
And with this borrowed money I buy books and dvds, mostly. Sometimes clothes. Sometimes food. No, food all the time - I am a bit of a fatty... I should work on that. I spent £20 on a philosophy book just a few days ago! Books should not cost £20, I'm sorry. To be fair, it is a good book and will probably help me write my essay - which I should be working on rather than this right now...
Any of you lot know anything about the pre-Socratics? I'm doing a Parmenides essay 'cause I think he's pretty cool. Plus he wrote in verse which I quite enjoy. What is is and what isn't isn't - expand.
Ha! All non philosophers just read that and thought, 'well yeah Pennie, what the fuck?' And to you I bid you to delve into this and spend some of your evenings exploring what it all means and understand how frustrating paradoxes are. But as frustrating as it is when I don't understand, those moments that I feel like I do make it all worth it.
So now that I'm back on a budget let's see what cheap ways around a life in London I can come across. Perhaps if I just drink more coffee I wont be hungry during the day and can just eat when I get home. In first year I just had a hot chocolate for lunch everyday and then made dinner when I got home. I was skinnier back then. I need to make sure to be drinking the 50p coffee from uni instead of spending £3 on it in Starbucks! I actually think this is going to be my plan... I'll start from tomorrow. I will think about leaving my card at home to avoid temptation - can't spend what I don't have... only, what happens if I need money and have none?
Please share any ideas you might have - I know as a 3rd year I should be used to this student living stuff by now but I'm clearly not... But when my lush new winter boots come through the post I'm sure they will have been worth it.
This was a pretty lame entry - Guess I should get back to doing real work!
I should put myself on both a budget and a diet, definitely.
ReplyDeleteI'm not the best person to share ideas because I'm kind of a shopaholic here. I buy books and DVDs mostly, just like you, and now and then mom says I'll soon have to leave the house because there won't be enough space for the books and me.
I like pre-socratics a lot. It's fun to study the birth of philosophy. Good luck on your Parmenides essay. =)
I'll write my Master's dissertation on the Philosophy teaching methodology to elementary school children. I should be working on that, too, instead of blogging. =P
Pennie, dear, take care and make sure to eat well, we don't want you to get sick.
Kiss your cheeks! I love coming here.
PS.: love your new banner. =)
ReplyDeleteAbout your comment in my blog:
ReplyDeleteThanks for taking your time out to read my blog. I apologise for my late response since I never expected a comment. It's kind of frustrating sometimes that no one seems to care about what I wrote. You weren't able to find it there because it is in another blog. If you are interested, here it is: http://www.libertines.hk
I am only one of the contributors, so most of the articles were not written by me. I don't think they will interest you either since it's like a local Hong Kong blog. And the blog is spammed with pictures! Anyway, I posted up some of my recent posts in that blog on 'Philosophia' which I think may interest you.
I don't think the snap shot culture is just happening in Hong Kong. Having lived in the States for 4 years (as I am currently studying over there), it seems this culture is drowning out photography here as well. I am not sure whether this is the case in London though, but I suppose it's becoming a more global thing.
I agree with you that our perception of beauty is not entirely subjective since we are often attracted to the same woman or man.
Unfortunately, I don't have much to say about this entry and I don't know much about the Pre-Socratics either. But I find some of your posts quite interesting such as 'Perceptible Experiences'. It seems you are quite interested in philosophy as well. I watched some of your videos on youtube and I really admire your talent. I used to write poems too but I guess I have to admit the fact that I have no talent at all! Anyway,keep up with your good work. I don't always update my blog but I surely will. So come by and check it out when you have time.