16 Jan 2017

Right now most of your friends are overseas gallivanting through the Greek Islands on boats, gramming crystal waters in Thailand and snapping raging parties in Barcelona. Anyone else who is still in Australia is just about to leave or at least planning to.

But you?

You’re scrolling through the vibrant feeds of your mates in bed at 11am on a Saturday morning depressed as heck because flying to another country is not financially possible for you right now. In fact, you have to be out the door in 15 minutes because your sh*tty part time job is calling- the one you devote 20-something hours to only to pour the funds back into your lifestyle- eating out, clubbing, buying socks, eating chicken nuggets…

It’s hard not to feel depressed, jealous and spiteful towards the friends and acquaintances who are having the time of their lives in countries you have never seen. You hold back giving them insta likes, especially when they upload straight after your #grandmafridaynight bed selfie. WAY TO SHOW ME HOW BORING MY LIFE IS PEOPLE.

Halfway through first year Uni I hit a wall. My friends were overseas enjoying their gap years and I was still caught in the study slump. My bank balance never hit higher than $100, except on payday, which only lasted a day or two. I decided that I wasn’t going to let my FOMO and jealousy get the better of me. If I wanted to go overseas and have an adventure of my own THAT badly, I was actually going to do something about it.

The first thing I did was sign into my online banking and print out my last few months of statements. I grabbed three highlighters and went for it. In pink I highlighted every time I purchased food. In blue I highlighted necessities: rent, phone bill, electricity, transport. In orange I highlighted things I really didn’t need: the 5th tequila shot, the exercise book that had a pretty printed cover, the dress I bought for that party and barely wore again. I added all the numbers and jotted them down. I stared blankly at the final calculations on the piece of paper.

Almost HALF OF MY MONEY WAS GOING TO FOOD. WTF.

This was all the wakeup I needed. I was eating out often and on so many occasions when I really didn’t need to, it was drastically affecting my ability to save. I started to assess how and why I was spending my money where I was. I realised I had to start make some genuine and noticeable changes.

I also had to come to terms with the fact that saving would take me longer than those working full time, that there was no ‘quick fix’ to the strong desire to wander all over the world.

Sometimes when we can’t get what we want in the immediate moment, we forget to step back and take a look at the benefits of waiting: patience, deeper friendships, furthering a degree, managing adult responsibilities, maybe even navigating the ranks in the working world. There is a reason you are doing the things you are, but you need to recognise that to get to where you want to be in your life you need to work for it and be able to see that some things are worth sacrificing in the present, for an infinitely richer future.