Layout:
Home > Back from Vacation

Back from Vacation

May 23rd, 2010 at 05:15 pm

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

4 Responses to “Back from Vacation”

  1. Analise Says:
    1274635121

    Glad you had a nice vacation, and at least you did not spend $$ you did not have.

  2. Apprentice Bliss Hunter Says:
    1274635522

    Thanks Analise... yep.. still debt-free ! :-)

    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.

  3. ceejay74 Says:
    1274710887

    I realized the same regarding alcohol. When the first bit of buzz feels so good, it makes me want to keep going, but I've learned over the years that the subsequent stages aren't nearly as nice--better to drink slowly and not very much, and maintain that nice buzz level during a social gathering. AS and I hardly ever fight, but sometimes we'd have terrible screaming matches if we were both drunk. Now we rarely if ever get drunk, and voila! no fighting.

  4. Apprentice Bliss Hunter Says:
    1274719006

    Ceejay I'm going to follow you down that slow n eazy path !! I think Aristotle put it right when he said everything in moderation.

    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 !

Leave a Reply

(Note: If you were logged in, we could automatically fill in these fields for you.)
*
Will not be published.
   

* Please spell out the number 4.  [ Why? ]

vB Code: You can use these tags: [b] [i] [u] [url] [email]