Numbers really aren’t that threatening, are they? They’re just numbers after all… If I was to say 5 or 3248392 or 18 or 1040000 to you, you wouldn’t even blink (unless you were a bit freaked out by the crazy person rambling numbers for no apparent reason), BUT when I told you that 5 was the number of years it has taken me to accrue $32,483.92 debt, to gain some 18 kilos or to spend an insane $10,400.00 on cigarettes you might blink, or if you’re my mum, you might even cry. However, there is another number, 27, and this is the number of countries I have travelled to in those five years that have allowed me to gain the debt and the backpacker bulge. So I can’t be too upset about it all. And then the last number, 16, this is the amount of months I am giving myself to lose the J-LO booty, pay off the debt and save enough money to go on another trip oversea’s. This time wandering the earth with my backpack and laptop for a year… that’s the goal. This blog is where I will be recording the victories and the probable defeats in my war against numbers. Things are bound to get messy, hilarious, exhausting and down right emotional... I hope you’ll stay for the ride, I might need a cheer squad.
ON MY RETURN TO AUSTRALIA FROM MY LAST JAUNT OVERSEA'S, I CAME HOME TO NO JOB, NO HOUSE, NO CAR AND NO BOYFRIEND... THIS IS A SUMMERY OF WHAT HAPPENED NEXT.
I moved in with my very gracious and 'world's best' uncle, who allowed me to go rent free until I was "on my feet". This uncle of mine also fixed my car! I then did some number crunching, discovered the amount of debt I had and then quickly began looking for work, while spending my precious $29 a month phone credit whinging about my situation to a very supportive ex boyfriend.
Then this...
"I have $41.00 in my bank account, cost-cutting is about to get serious. So I was thinking about what I can save my pennies on and the answer was easy. Cigarettes. Not only will they kill me but they will also leave me bin-diving for my supper if they cost me my last dime. So they are out, easier said than done, I know. I can usually abstain from smoking for a few days at a time, especially if I’m sick, but it's when I drink that my lungs face their most severe punishment. It’s like corn chips, they’re good on their own but they are better with salsa… alcohol is better with a cigarette. When I have a beer in my hand I feel the desperate need to have a cigarette hanging limply between my fingers. Unfortunately for the publicans of my home town I can't afford my much loved trips to the pub, in fact in the coming months I predict that my social life will be nothing but a pile of dust on the stool I used to park my derriére each Friday afternoon. So beer and cigarettes are out, and for the time being so is fresh food! But, I have canned food, canned EVERYTHING! and a few frozen food items to boot, so that will have to be breakfast, lunch and dinner until I secure an income. And as for income, I have been shooting off emails and attending interviews and had a few call backs but nothing that seems to really fit exactly what I am looking for, but with $41.00 left to my name and a looming debt cloud building above my head I might need to take the next offer that comes my way".
Then this happened...
"Cigarettes are steadily on the way out and drinking only occurs on Impromptu-Trashy-Pink-Champagne-and-Bollywood-Movie-Night.
I also now have a job, It isn’t my dream job but it does pay and is only 2km from my home, which will be quiet perfect when my little car inevitably gives in to it’s many, many problems. Finding myself night and weekend jobs are next.
Things are slowly shifting in to gear".
And now I've started this here blog, a very public attempt to be held accountable for the choices I will make in the coming 16 months... Stay tuned!
Ash x
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