Anna Turner - Money Money Money | Canterbury Opinion | Local Voices from Canterbury, New Zealand

A friend of mine recently told me she's managed to save five grand in her first year out of journalism school. She's been putting a bit aside each week and is now free to spend her earnings as she wishes.  

Eeek! I thought, I'm a bit behind. 

My budget is a bit more haphazard; a bit goes to rent, a bit goes to food, the rest just seems to disappear.   

The result - most weeks my pay cheque is finished faster than Kim Kardashian's marriage and my bank account is more barren than Jennifer Aniston. 

  I blame our cashless society.  

It is so much easier to fritter away money when swiping away your Eftpos card, than if we had to hand over actual cash for our purchases.   

I also blame all the gorgeous things in the shop just waiting for me to buy them.   

I'm an impulse buyer. I see something, I want it, I have it.   

It's okay though, I can justify all my purchases. I'm just helping out Christchurch's economy. You can't take you money with you (but you can be buried in your new swimsuit.) That expensive new make-up had SPF 30 in it, skin cancer is deadly you know.   

Okay, that last one's a bit tenuous.  

But lately, my boyfriend and I have been saying we need to start saving for a few upcoming expenses - bond for the new flat, car repairs - basically all that boring stuff.  

Instead of stopping my addiction, I've become a pro at secret shopping. He finishes work about two hours later than me, plenty of time to head to the mall, indulge in some purchases, tuck them away at the back of the closet and remove all tags.  

When you finally bring them out - about a week later to be safe - the line "Oh this old thing, I've had it for years, haven't you noticed it before? Don't you pay any attention to me?" usually kills all further questions.  

However, last month, I have to say, I made one of my stupidest purchases yet.

It was sales night at a popular shoe store. You know the kind, they give you some wine to butter you up before they let you loose on the shoes. I brought home two pairs and was caught out by my other half.  

"They look exactly the same! You bought two pairs of identical shoes!" he declared. I huffed and put it down to male ignorance - there were clear differences between the two.   

But the next weekend we went away and, as we were going out to dinner, I went to pull my shoes out of my bag.  

To my horror, I'd brought one shoe from each pair - both for the right foot. He was right, they really were nearly identical.  

As much as I hate being wrong, I've decided my spending could do with slightly more organisation. I'm going to keep a diary of where my money actually goes, and try to put more into savings each week.   

I promise there will only be room in the budget for just one pair of beige wedges.