IN EXTREME SAVINGS MODE

Been there, done that! And now I’m at it again! It’s so frustrating. Sometimes it’s so frustrating! Prices are rising everywhere and sometimes I don’t know where else I can save a few Euros. Remember the time when my car court suit was hanging above my head like a sword as I didn’t know how much everything would cost just to receive my right and punish the evil car dealer? Now I’m kind of feeling similar. Just without the depressive episodes, thankfully. But knowing how much the move back to Austria will cost me (the move itself, security deposit for the new apartment, importing my car and paying an extra tax that only exists in Austria, some new furniture and all the other small stuff piling up …) it’s especially frustrating with costs climbing higher and higher for everyday life. Not knowing whether the worst is still to come in the winter months.

How do I do it? Well, I can’t change the fixed costs, of course. But I try to live cheaply when it comes to everything else. Like barely going grocery shopping, checking offers, barely going out – once a month dinner with a friend, once a month getting take-out – and trying to reduce my Amazon book orders. But well, this really is my biggest vice and considering that others have kids with monthly expenses of sports training, musical lessons and whatever costs there are with kids around … I’m getting off cheaply with my picky cat and my book (especially used book) orders. 

Which doesn’t change the fact, that saving money is always on my mind and top priority. Sometimes it seems as if the past ten years were nothing but me in extreme savings mode. Trying to build up an emergency fund, the car issue, vacations, the move-in together move, the move back to where I started move (which cost me a big bundle of what I had saved on costs by living together with someone), recouping my losses and now my even bigger venture just to get back to Austria. It’s a dilemma, really. Sell most of my furniture and buy new in Austria? Bite the bullet by taking as much as possible and paying the additional transport costs? After all, even though Ikea furniture can be sold quite well, I’m lucky to receive half of what I paid for it. I’m trying to find a compromise by selling some and keeping the rest. For now. Until I know the layout of my new apartment and what I can actually take. And until everything is settled in ways of a new job and new apartment, I’ll keep putting away as much as possible into my savings account so that I won’t have to use up all of my emergency funds or take out a loan just to get back home.

Happy savings and better economic times for all of you!

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