Low budget week

Whoops, looks like I've ran out of money.

Last year I managed with roughly HKD 2,000 - 3,000 a month, and now even 10,000 doesn't seem to be enough. What has changed?

Well first of all, I lived in Central, which means I saved around HKD 1,000 just by not using MTR every day to work - I walked and it took 5 minutes. Second, I didn't go out much to drink which now takes away a nifty share of my monthly income. Third, I either make more proper food at home or go out to eat, so none of that cheap student-crap I used to eat last year. Four, larger investments that I skipped last year. This year I have been setting up a home and that means a lot of things to purchase (plasma-tv, dvd player, speaker system, laptop, and a large set of other household appliances).

And finally .. *drumroll* .. unexpected expenses!

I mentioned earlier that my apartment's main aircon is broken, so I got a repairman coming. So, finally yesterday a few guys from the manufacturer's customer service dropped by to have a look. The problem: aircon doesn't cool the air. After a while they have it sorted and they tell that it's ran out of coolant liquid. So, they put in a new set of that. All's fine, except they realize there is a leakage somewhere and that is actually the origin of the problem (why the coolant had depleted so quickly on such a new device). They can't fix it however so they just leave after putting the new coolant in, saying it'll last either a few weeks, or a few months. Great. The whole operation cost HKD 600, and I think to myself how fun it will be to repeat this expense every two weeks/months.

So, I have one of my chinese-speaking colleagues to check with them (they didn't speak good English) what should be done about it. Clearly we can't leave it like that, leaking and depleting so quickly.

The answer: we will get a quotation later, but estimate cost for finding the leak and fixing it will be around HKD 5,000.

Shit.

I really, really hope it is also a custom here to have the landlord pay for such repairwork because I certainly can't afford it. Yet, a summer without the aircon unit will be a bitch to survive.

On current money issues, thanks to that extra cost of HKD 500 (Markus covered the extra 100), I'm finally drained of money.

Next payday is still over a week from now, and I'm now running a HKD 30 budget. That will be enough for me to have lunch today, or take an MTR home after work. I don't know which to choose: to eat, or to go home. I suppose I need some kind of a plan.

"I've got a plan so cunning you could stick a tail on it and call it weasel!" - Black Adder