Positive: Had a Great Time.
Negative: Spent more (a good bit more) than I had planned. Drank too much on one or two occasions. Acted like a jerk once.
Positive: Learned (again - but hey I'm Irish !!) that a lot of alcohol does nothing good for me - a little bit or nothing is best for me. My overspending may not hit my Cash Savings.
Basically I have 3 forms of Cash Savings:
1. 500 euro in my Checking account that I keep as sort of a personal overdraft to myself.
2. A Slush Fund - this is money that is destined to be spent at some stage - upcoming vacations, computer stuff, anything and everything really.
3. Long-Term Cash Savings. These are not to be touched and are for the long-haul. Except for buying assets - like a house - after I have "enough" cash in the Bank to feel safe.
My current situation (after vacation) is that my Slush Fund is gone but I may still have that 500 euro in my checking account. What I do is at the end of the month, I look back through the month's online bank statement and see if the balance dipped beneath 500 at any point. If it did, then I need to top up the checking account from the other 2 Cash Savings account.
Good News is that I don't think I'll need to touch the 600 Euro in my Long-Term Cash account - the buffer might still be there - just a luck thing with the days my pay-days fall on - and a bank error being refunded to my account.
Oh and yeah, I've realized I can be a jerk given a certain amount of alcohol which is knowledge I hope to integrate into my behavour in the future.
But yeah... Vacations are cool !! At the moment, am watching Michael Moore's Sicko - the French get 5 paid vacation weeks a year !! As well as Free Healthcare, Free Nannies and many other goodies... Ah.. maybe I need to brush up on my language skills !! lol
Back from Vacation
May 23rd, 2010 at 05:15 pm
May 23rd, 2010 at 06:18 pm 1274635121
May 23rd, 2010 at 06:25 pm 1274635522
I opened a new Checking Account 2 weeks ago with a New Bank (my current Bank is leaving Ireland) and declined an accompanying Credit Card. I guess the only way I can go back into Debt at the moment is to go overdrawn on my Checking Account - which I don't think will happen with my 500 buffer in there.
May 24th, 2010 at 03:21 pm 1274710887
May 24th, 2010 at 05:36 pm 1274719006
I'm all for having a good time and I don't see myself giving up alcohol completely - as I believe in enjoying all the fruits of this great life.
But "enjoying" is the key - not turning into a not-nice/nasty person along the way. I am going to work on SLOWING down my intake (when I do drink which is not often - but at some situations like work/family dos it is almost unavoidable) and making a 2/3 pints last all night instead of drinking like 7/8 in 4 hours.
It's amazing how stupid I can be sometimes - to drink loads in a short space of time and be surprised when it has an effect on me - like duh !! I guess old habits die hard !