Money Money Money

My dad’s family was not rich, but certainly comfortable. He is largely indifferent to money, he doesn’t resent spending it but he doesn’t really care about it.

My mum grew up poor. And when I say ‘poor’, I really do mean, ‘poor’. One of 7 children, underwear was handed down in her family for gods sake and it tends to explain my mothers attitude to money…. (Not to put too fine a point on it) she’s a tightarse.

This, knowing my passive aggressive stance on rebellion against my mother and everything she stands for, tends to explain my attitude towards money… I’m… umm… not a tightarse…

I remember when I was in grade 3, mum & dad had some function on and dad told her to go buy a new dress for it, so we went to the dress shop (she took me with her, even in grade 3, my taste was far more trustworthy then hers) and she must have tried on every god damn dress in the place. In the end, she couldn’t decide between 6 outfits.

So we left with none. (Can you picture my head exploding already?)

We got back to the office and my dad asked her what she’d bought, she explained the problem so my dad immediately walked out of the office, down to the store and asked the saleslady, which were the outfits that mum couldn’t decide between and then bought the whole bloody lot of them. My mother, predictably, had a heart attack at the cost but my father simply pointed out the stupidity of having so much money sitting in the bank when they could be getting some enjoyment out of it. Years later, she still doesn’t get it.

To my knowledge, no one has ever given my mother a gold star and said 'Congratulations - you went without'.


Needless to say, that’s not a problem I have. Mine is the exact opposite.

When I was 19, I walked into the house in a brand new pair of black knee high boots and my mum flipped – she asked how much and I told her (well, I lied, I dropped $100 off the price) (lucky, eh?) and she told me that if I ever got married I was going to have to marry someone good with money and then let him have complete control of the finances – I just looked at her like she was crazy and said she was a bit behind – I’d worked that one out when I was about 16!

I always worked on the theory that I could die tomorrow (and given the way I drive, thats always been a possibility) (no, I'm not bad - just agressive) and dying young with no money in the bank and lots of life experiences wasn't going to be any better then dying with all that money sitting in the bank and no life experiences, but my way sure would make for some interesting stories at the wake.

Anyway, the other day, I was on the phone to my sister and she accused me of getting a credit card over here (she thought that was why I wanted to stay – so I could pay it off) and we had an argument about it - I was rather offended that she would think I would be that stupid, as if i need 3 for fucks sake. Then straight afterwards, I was talking to my parents and they too wanted to know why I wanted to stay, so I admitted to my parents the exact amount of debt I have.

It’s increased substantially since the last time we had that conversation.

I could almost hear my father going white, over the phone.

Poor dad, I really am a trial to him sometimes. He took a deep breath and then asked me how long it was going to take me to sort out. (Lucky for me, most of the time my dad is so laid back he’s almost comatose). He took it very calmly.

Mum, predictably, flipped out and asked me how on earth I could be so stupid and how the hell I had managed to get myself in so much debt… not exactly the kind of phrasing that’s ever going to get a reasoned response out of me, it actually drew a very bright and enthusiastic response of ‘Actually, it was really easy.. and so much fun!!!!’

I really am going to go to hell for what I do to her, I’m sure of it, but I just couldn’t resist.


On the plus side my parents are now very supportive of my staying here until I have paid of my cards (seeing as it’s effectively 2 ½ times with the current exchange rate). My sister, God love her, offered to pull some more money out of her husband’s trust fund in order to pay them off for me (yes, my brother in law was fine with it) so I could come home – she was stunned and oddly proud of me for saying no, I didn’t want her to do that.

Now, so long as I can stand this job, I’ll be fine… 3 mths and 1/3 of my debt will be gone… 6mths and I will have it down to a level I feel happy with.

Fingers crossed for me – I’m about to learn how to….……. BUDGET! Ack!