*breathes a sigh of relief*

I'm crap with money.  Really.  I spent many years spending more money than I had, because I was completely incapable of not buying little things here and there.

I got myself mostly in order about 6 months ago - consolidated my various debts into one, and started paying it off with a large chunk of my income, with the idea being that it would take about 18 months and then I'd be debt free (and suddenly have about £400 a month more to live in than I'd been used to).

I still wasn't managing to live terribly well within my means though.  Take-out and reading material always seemed like fairly small things to pick up, especially when I was tired.  But this time last month I got so fed up with the situation (especially having overspent on things like WorldCon) that I decided I had to just not spend any money on anything frivolous at all.  Any books I saw would have to go onto the Wish List.  I'd have to live without instant food.  I wouldn't go out anywhere.

I wasn't entirely successful, but I was hoping that I'd done ok.  I was terrified to look at my bank balance until today- when it turned out that I _had_ managed to cut a few pounds off my living expenses, and despite a couple of chinese meals, I've at least managed to break even for the month.  Which wouldn't be good enough (I need to _save_ money, not just break even), but seeing as I'm also paying off this debt for the next year, I think breaking even will do me, until I've got that paid off.

Quote of the Day

Identities are great for building communities, but also great for building prejudices.

From discussion here (friendslocked, I'm afraid)

Lies, damn lies...

I was terribly amused to see a headline in The Metro this morning reading (something like) "Metro Readers Horrified by ID Cards".

I wasn't amused by the headline itself though, I was amused when I read down the rest of the article to see that, when asked to choose between (paraphrasing):
"I am horrified by the thought of ID Cards", "ID Cards are a good idea, but I'm not 100% convinced our incompetent government will implement them well" and "ID Cards - everyone should have one stapled to them at birth" 34% of people had said they were horrified at the idea, 35% were fine with them and 28% were in favour (leaving the usual few who know nothing)

Now, technically speaking, the headline was accurate - there were metro readers horrified by ID cards. But equally accurate would have been "2/3 of Metro readers are absolutely fine with ID cards."

Still, they got a nice headline out of it.

Oh - The Metro is owned by the same people as The Daily Mail - which is probably the most horridly right wing paper in the UK mainstream.