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positivety has me broke

  • 01-04-2007 04:43PM
    #1
    Closed Accounts Posts: 8 eh...juslookinl


    Ok I have a major problem....I am absouletely skint and its all my own doing.I have all these sayings about you only live once and the usual cliches and i think thats were the problem lies because I do actually believe in these sayings and I try to make the most of everyday but doing that in ireland is a very expensive thing. For example im after going out every night since thursday and spending all my wages...but when I do try to stay in I do feel it is such a waste of what valuable little precious time we have on earth.I have a good full time job but i have nothing practical to show for it, I dont drive I still live at home(im 25!)and am in debt..... So does anybody have any advice as in how to be able to learn how to control what Im doing.Im a very positive person and tht could also b part of my problem but I want to keep it that way....and i dont want to combat that with negativity.Hope use understand and could possibly help.thanks


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Comments

  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 10,240 ✭✭✭✭Fanny Cradock


    Subscribe Eddy Hobbse's new magazine :D

    Why not write down what you spend in a week so as to give yourself an idea of where you are throwing your money down away. It will probably be an eye-opener.


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 2,922 ✭✭✭Dave


    When you say going out, do you mean getting blind drunk with your mates, or do you mean, going out to the cinema, theatre, dinner, or non getting pissed activities?


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 2,754 ✭✭✭oleras


    get a job that pays you more, enjoy life by all means but dont live beyond those means...........


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 7,794 ✭✭✭JC 2K3


    money != happiness


  • Posts: 81,310 CMod ✭✭✭✭ Colten Eager Sinus


    Ok I have a major problem....I am absouletely skint and its all my own doing.I have all these sayings about you only live once and the usual cliches and i think thats were the problem lies because I do actually believe in these sayings and I try to make the most of everyday but doing that in ireland is a very expensive thing. For example im after going out every night since thursday and spending all my wages...but when I do try to stay in I do feel it is such a waste of what valuable little precious time we have on earth.I have a good full time job but i have nothing practical to show for it, I dont drive I still live at home(im 25!)and am in debt..... So does anybody have any advice as in how to be able to learn how to control what Im doing.Im a very positive person and tht could also b part of my problem but I want to keep it that way....and i dont want to combat that with negativity.Hope use understand and could possibly help.thanks
    What does going out every night mean? Getting blind drunk in a pub? Because that's not "making the most" of your life, it's getting stupidly drunk and throwing your money away.
    If going out doesnt mean getting drunk, what is it you do?


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  • Closed Accounts Posts: 132 ✭✭Plastic Scouser


    1. I'd second the idea about writing down where all your money is going.

    This will help you to decide whether you really want to spend that amount of money on each activity i.e. if after writing it down you can see that you spend 30% of your income on drinking/new shoes/books whatever, then from that educated position you can decide if you want to carry on this way, or reduce your spending in this area.

    2. Come up with a budget....and stick to it!

    Decide you're only going to spend [€X] on [activity] tomorrow/Friday/this week, and stick to it. Take the money with you to the shop/pub and don't be tempted to spend any more than you've budgeted.

    3. Use Cash - Not Cards!!!

    You realise just how much you're spending when you have to hand over real-life hard-earned dosh!

    4. Stating the obvious here but... spending less doesn't have to mean staying home every night!

    Find cheaper ways of socialising. Go to cheaper bars etc. Have your mates around to your place (or one of theirs) instead of going out. Pick cheap hobbies.

    Just because something costs less doesn't mean you're not 'living life to the full'!

    5. Set some goals.

    For example, paying off your debts in 6 months, or saving for a car/computer/holiday - it might help you to have something to work towards.

    6. And finally.....

    Saving money/reigning in your spending, is not something that everyone will find easy. It might take a bit of planning, a bit of sacrifice on your part, and a lot of willpower....but if you plan to do it, and stick to your guns, there's no reason why you shouldn't be able to change things.



    Good luck.


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 9,314 ✭✭✭Talliesin


    I have all these sayings about you only live once and the usual cliches and i think thats were the problem lies because I do actually believe in these sayings and I try to make the most of everyday but doing that in ireland is a very expensive thing.
    Find something worthwhile to do instead of going out every night.

    You only live once. Think about what that really means. Is going out every night something you could look back on with a sense of pride when you're 80?


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 1,312 ✭✭✭rediguana


    I'm kind of the same as the OP. Except for "nights out" substitute "trips abroad". I haven't lived at home since I was seventeen though. Maybe I should've - I would've been some E43,000 (approximate monies paid in rent) richer by now if I had.


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 6,414 ✭✭✭kraggy


    Set up a savings account that you can't touch for a specified minimum period.

    Have the money come out on pay day so you don't see it.

    The bank will be glad to facilitate you.

    K.


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 2,021 ✭✭✭ChRoMe


    I've never understood the amount of people who seem to have such difficulty understanding money.

    Anyway I find system of not spending more than I earn and allways make sure that rent and food are taken care of.

    Or dont have champgane tastes on a lemonade income.


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  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 420 ✭✭Clarehobo


    kraggy wrote:
    Set up a savings account that you can't touch for a specified minimum period.

    Have the money come out on pay day so you don't see it.

    The bank will be glad to facilitate you.

    K.

    Sound advice there.

    Either put it into a credit union account where it's too much hassle to access it or put it into a savings account that you don't have a card for.
    Then when you get paid set yourself a weekly budget, move everything into your savings except your money for week. If you don't have it, you won't spend it.

    Am extremely in the red due to just getting back from travelling but a good wage helps me chip away at it bit by bit. Still enjoy myself, but have limited the amount of jagerbombs I'm allowed in a weekend;)

    p.s. cut up any credit cards, they are the work of the devil I tell you! Mine's going after this month...
    :rolleyes:


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 6,395 ✭✭✭Marksie


    Maybe I am reading this wrong, but you equate positivity with going out and spending all the time and negativity with sitting in and "wasting" time.

    I would say that that is not positivity but a requirement to have constant activity and a low boredom threshold.

    Positivity is about outlook and opening to different experiences, some of which cost nothing at all!

    However, if you merely want to look at a way to make the money go furher, then have a lok at some of the really high interest accounts that allow you to save money on a monthly basis, be aware that most banks give interest rates belowe inflation.


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 6,300 ✭✭✭CiaranC


    An excellent piece on the matter from Hunter S Thompson:

    http://www.ram.org/contrib/security.html

    Better broke & happy than rich & solitary I say.


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 147 ✭✭Cancer-chick


    CiaranC's post made me cry .. V profound and i would think it would make sense to most ..

    At the end of the day you need money to live and live well.. and from personal experience , some savings in the bank for an emergency are always handy ..
    But money will never make you happy .. rich yes, happy no.
    Ideally we would all be rich, and have secured personal happiness by following our own dreams .. Unfortunately life can get in the way of that !

    Start saving, maybe take a trip somewhere .. As mod said .. When you 80 will you really regard being out every night as 'living' .. I wouldnt


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 9,314 ✭✭✭Talliesin


    CiaranC wrote:
    An excellent piece on the matter from Hunter S Thompson:

    http://www.ram.org/contrib/security.html
    Yes, but the OPs problem is that he thinks he's seizing the day, when he's really just doing the same old thing, and then blaming the fact that his same old thing is expensive on his seizing the day!


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 7,562 ✭✭✭leeroybrown


    I agree with marksuttonie. The OP appears to have a problem where they equate going out spending loads of money on alcohol with having a positive attitude towards life, and worse still thinking that anything that doesn't involve spending money on alcohol as being negative.

    I was out on Thursday night, had a few drinks on Friday evening and went back to some friends place on Friday night and spent Saturday and Sunday watching some sport, getting some exercise, fresh air, food, and relaxing with friends. I thought that that was a very positive way to spend my weekend and it didn't cost me the earth.


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 6,300 ✭✭✭CiaranC


    Talliesin wrote:
    Yes, but the OPs problem is that he thinks he's seizing the day, when he's really just doing the same old thing, and then blaming the fact that his same old thing is expensive on his seizing the day!
    'Mid barroom & tavern I find hope among the souls who gather - Craig Finn

    Theres nothing wrong with spending lots of time with people who stimulate & interest you on the social scene in one of the worlds liveliest towns. The guy is twenty five years old! When did enjoying the pub culture turn into a social faux pas? This new puritanicalism sweeping the nation is getting old fast.

    Give me debauchery & depravity and hang the expense I say.


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 1,724 ✭✭✭BoozyBabe


    Are you trying to say that going on the p!ss from Thur is living life to the full???

    I'd have thought of that as being the very opposite!!!!
    But, each to their own I guess.

    I thought when I started to read the thread that you were going to say you spend all you money parachute jumping, hang gliding, flying a plane, swimming with dolphins, mountain climbing, white water rafting etc, not sitting for hours on end in a pub!!!!!


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 2,479 ✭✭✭Kell


    and i dont want to combat that with negativity.

    *You dont have to. Think of things you used to do that didnt cost you a fortune and you really enjoyed immersing yourself in and start doing them again.

    I presume you are the sort who also always buys the first round and will more than likely buy a few rounds of shots because you are having a great time? Cut that shít out. Believe me.

    You will also probably find that unless your friends are as fiscally balanced as you are, no one buys the same amount of rounds and you will find yourself at the bar more than anyone else. Cut that shít out too. If you find that you are indeed buying more rounds than anyone else, let people buy their own or stick with buying your own drinks and anyone that cant afford to keep up with you buying rounds, let them fend for themselves. If you stick to buying your own drinks, you can have quite a happy night on about €30.00 as opposed to €120.00 and still be as thrashed as you would be spending €120.00.

    Enjoy.

    K-

    *The singular grain of wisdom that my dad has ever spoken to me


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 6,300 ✭✭✭CiaranC


    BoozyBabe wrote:
    Are you trying to say that going on the p!ss from Thur is living life to the full???

    I'd have thought of that as being the very opposite!!!!
    But, each to their own I guess.

    I thought when I started to read the thread that you were going to say you spend all you money parachute jumping, hang gliding...
    I tried hang gliding, but I kept spilling my pint


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  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 21,611 ✭✭✭✭Sam Vimes


    Subscribe Eddy Hobbse's new magazine :D

    Why not write down what you spend in a week so as to give yourself an idea of where you are throwing your money down away. It will probably be an eye-opener.
    probably easier to just hang onto receipts


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 21,611 ✭✭✭✭Sam Vimes


    JC 2K3 wrote:
    money != happiness
    but at least you can be miserable in comfort


  • Posts: 81,310 CMod ✭✭✭✭ Colten Eager Sinus


    CiaranC wrote:
    'Mid barroom & tavern I find hope among the souls who gather - Craig Finn

    Theres nothing wrong with spending lots of time with people who stimulate & interest you on the social scene in one of the worlds liveliest towns. The guy is twenty five years old! When did enjoying the pub culture turn into a social faux pas? This new puritanicalism sweeping the nation is getting old fast.

    Give me debauchery & depravity and hang the expense I say.
    That's fine for you but since he's making a thread saying the expense is too much, that kind of attitude isn't helpful.
    "Social scene" and "enjoying the pub culture"? Please :rolleyes:
    You can try and dress it up, but lets face it, if he's going out every single night and spending so much that he's completely broke despite living at home, there is a problem.


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 6,395 ✭✭✭Marksie


    CiaranC's post made me cry ..

    it made me cry too, but not for those reasons.

    I am a big believer in fulfilling ones self potential, being in the now and connecting with who one is.

    I am also a realist.

    Sentiments on security are fine written down in books where the author is making a nice little royalty check, on cards and on pretty little posters. They may be something to aspire too.

    But not everyone is Reginald Perrin.

    It is all about balance and focus. If you see a need in yourself, find out what it is, what you need to do to get there and how to maintain the balance between providing for those needs and meeting those needs.


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 6,395 ✭✭✭Marksie


    CiaranC wrote:
    Theres nothing wrong with spending lots of time with people who stimulate & interest you on the social scene in one of the worlds liveliest towns. .

    Thank you for the bord failte advertisement.
    But what variety is there in the same scene? and as the OP has already found out it is expensive.

    CiaranC wrote:
    The guy is twenty five years old! When did enjoying the pub culture turn into a social faux pas? This new puritanicalism sweeping the nation is getting old fast..

    Wrong crowd to be calling puritanical. This is beyond enjoying the pub culture, but someone seeing the need to go out thurs-sun in the aforesaid scene as being a positive trait.
    CiaranC wrote:
    Give me debauchery & depravity and hang the expense I say.

    Uh-Huh... .


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 2,774 ✭✭✭Minder


    Avoid credit card debt like the plague. Any variable interest rate debt will crucify you. Compare creditcard rates with loan rates. Borrow low rate loans to clear cc debts and don't use them again.

    A simple spreadsheet of earnings vs costs/spending will clearly show where you are haemorrhaging money. Take control of your money - the banks love a sucker.


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 884 ✭✭✭NutJob


    Sentiments on security are fine written down in books where the author is making a nice little royalty check, on cards and on pretty little posters. They may be something to aspire too.

    Dr. Thompson lived what he preached. One of his favourite pass times was shooting at the postman. :D


    You seem to already know where your moneys going either change your lifestyle or stay where you are it is exactly that simple.

    As one poster suggested start with a spending diary and work from there.


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 9,314 ✭✭✭Talliesin


    CiaranC wrote:
    The guy is twenty five years old! When did enjoying the pub culture turn into a social faux pas? This new puritanicalism sweeping the nation is getting old fast.
    This is someone who, by his own words, is trying to live life to the full. And yet he's doing the same damn thing every other night.
    CiaranC wrote:
    Give me debauchery & depravity and hang the expense I say.
    Sorry, where are these pubs where I can eat bloc de foie gras avec morceaux of a naked person's body?

    Pubs are hardly seedbeds of debauchery and depravity. Even when you find a club with an easy-going proprietor laws around nudity in a licensed premises and the club's concern about it's carpets mean you can't do much.

    And really. Even that's hardly living it up, is it? I'm going to be in a 4-star hotel enjoying 5-course meals and wine that's actually drinkable this weekend. The OP will probably be down the pub with a pint of what they call beer in Irish pubs. He apparently has a lot of disposable income. He should be living it up much more than me.

    And that's just when it comes to entertainment. Really living life to the full covers much more than that.


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 6,300 ✭✭✭CiaranC


    So whats your point exactly? You are going to a 4 star hotel. Great.

    If the OP enjoys what he is doing, then he shouldnt worry about the costs involved. Short of avoiding serious debt, you shouldnt let mere economics hold you back from having fun.

    Plenty of time for chasing after money like seems to be the done thing these days.


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  • Closed Accounts Posts: 9,314 ✭✭✭Talliesin


    CiaranC wrote:
    If the OP enjoys what he is doing, then he shouldnt worry about the costs involved.
    If that's what he wants, then sure.

    We're talking about the OP here, who said "I do actually believe in these sayings and I try to make the most of everyday".

    He's failing desperately at doing that, so it's a problem. If he'd said "I don't want much out of life, I'm happy with a comfortable routine", then he'd just have a bit of a financial problem, but that's not what he's said he wants.


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