April was first month where I tracked my expenditure down to the cent...

14 out of 30 days were No Spend - really happy with this as a first attempt... hope I can keep it up !!

A pair of trousers and money spent on Nights out were my biggest discretionary expenses in April.... I really don't buy clothes very often so I'm ok with buying the trousers but there is definitely room to further improve on the Nights out spending.....

Bank Holiday next weekend.... and is also my birthday next Friday... so decided to spend a night somewhere new....

Have told myself I will visit Achill Island on the West Coast of Ireland for a few months now... so next weekend it is....

I am generally careful when shopping around for hotels etc... and they always nearly double their prices on Bank Holiday weekends.

However booked a bed in a hostel on Achill Island for €17 !! Great Value...

Will drive to Achill next Sunday morning... spend the day walking/ sightseeing, get changed, out for dinner, to the pub for the night and come what may, out for breakfast the next morning, 3/4 hours walking again, then home.

Can't wait. It is supposed to be great craic down there.

Also got €40 today for a CD player I had in my old car !!

Got paid last night and paid €300 off CC. Was only intending to pay €150 off but I reckon I entered an instruction to pay €150 twice in error on my Internet Banking.

Ah well... better spent there than elsewhere... :-)

Sent letter to my Savings Account Provider today to close my Regular Savings Account on its 1st anniversary (3rd May). I'll be putting all that money (approx €1900) towards my CC.

Soooo... should have CC paid off by this time next month !!

My best friens's GF was away in England for the weekend so I headed up to Dublin yesterday to hit the town with my buddy... havn't seen him since Xmas

Had a great nite... We met up with another friend of ours, my buddy's brother and his brother's GF.

The whole trip to Dublin cost me about €110 broken down as follows:

Haircut €10 (havn't had one of these in about 9 months... bought my own electric clippers for €29 last year and have been trimming it myself... saves me €9.50 a month) however decided yesterday to have it cut professionally as I wanted a more sylish look.... as opposed to the number 3 all round I can manage to give myself )

Road Tolls : €5.40
Takeaway at friends house: €15
Taxi: €10
Alcohol: €70

There were only 3 of us in the round.... My best friend always pays his way... in fact I have a job sometimes getting him to let me pay for things (I've always been fiercely independent). For example, I parked in the city centre while we went into town...me for a haircut and him to buy suits... as soon as I put the parking ticket into the payment machine, he had put money in to pay the €6 before my hand had got to my pocket.... this is such a change from the lesser "friends" I sometimes ferry about who disappear or go silent and stare at their feet at payment machines :-) As I said, I'm fiercely independent and am generous with my friends, but don't want to be seen as a soft touch either.... I guess one of the ways you can tell who u're real friends are is by how readily they part with their readies !! :-)

I really enjoyed the trip... 1. I got to catch up with my best friend. 2. I had a good night out surrounded by other young party-goers. :-)

Got chatting to 4/5 women... including two Americans !! one from New York and one from California... Met two wonderful Irish girls from Dublin. One of them was really nice.... a cute red-head -early 20s... when her friend robbed my drink (as Irish girls like to do... in a playful way but knowing that the man will usually let them keep it anyway... he is usally too embarrassed/ chivalrous to ask for it back)... she made some remark to her and took it from her and handed it back to me .... also when her friend started talking to another group of men, she had to accompany her (girl power !!)... however, she came back over to me and explained that her friend was chatting to the other guys and she had to follow.... SO NICE.... I told her she didn't have to explain herself, she could do as she wanted and that she was a lovely girl ... Was kicking myself today that I didn't get her number... had quite a lot to drink last nite... my buddy and I always do when we go out together ( met in college)... If I was sober, I'm sure I would have got her no.

So lessons learned:

1. GET OUT MORE.
I've been living like a monk for too long now. Up until now, I've kinda fell into the frugal-means-denial of pleasures-means-no fun. While I have cut my spending drasically (started a spending diary on April 1st and record every cent), I also want to make the most of every healthy day I am blessed to receive. I am young, free and single. I want to live life to the absolute max.

2. STOP DRINKING WHEN YOU ARE OUT.

A. To be honest, drinking does nothing for me. In fact, when I drink too much I lose the ability to speak !! haha. I am a much better conversationalist when sober/just lightly oiled. Isn't it so hard to know when to stop drinking when out in a bar !! A famous Irish playwright, John B Keane (who was also a publican), said "you've only had enough alcohol when you've had a little too much" !!

B. I know everyone gets hangovers after a night of drinking but I think I am particurly susceptible to a sort-of minor depressive/lethargic episode lasting for 2 days after... alcohol definitely has a depressant effect on me. Hangovers also mean sugar-cravings, mean chocolate, mean bad day for toning up body !!

C. With hindsight, I can see that I used alcohol to self-medicate my social anxiety/ shyness when in college. I am over that now. I don't need it now.

D. It is an expensive habit. I have a receipt here showing a Jack Daniels and Coke.... guess how much.... €7.90... rip-off.

E. The fundamental essence of why I, as a young single man, go out is to meet and talk with girls I find attractive. I can do this better without drink on board. I want to bask in and savour my anxiety when approaching a cute girl... I want to feel a whirlwind of butterflies in my stomach when I see her eyes light up while talking to me... I DON'T WANT TO DEADEN THESE FEELINGS WITH ALCOHOL. These feelings of nervousness, excitement "oh God, I think she likes me" are pearls of life. I'm going to focus on spending only what I need to get talking to cute girls... decent clothes, tidy personal grooming, a few cheap soft-drinks/juices... thats it. The rest is free. As are all the best things in life :-)

Sorry for writing such a long post... but I am only coming out of my hangover now...(have been drinking water all day and urinating like a racehorse !! lol) and hangover = slow, drawn out actions :-)

How much money have you spent on buying drink for ladies that you have just met in a bar or nightclub ???

In my case, over the last say 10 years, I say I could go on a very nice 2 week all-expenses trip to the Seychelles with that money !! lol

Anyways, us Irishmen have it drilled into us that it is courteous/ gentlemanly to buy drink for the women in your company. I think it grew out of the fact that my mother's generation were expected to give up work ( in fact they were forced to resign from Government job) when they got married. Therefore, they were financially dependent on men for a social life.

However, Irish women today are liberated, employed and kicking the men's asses in the education stakes. They are happy to take the place of men in every area of life apart from ordering drinks at the bar !! lol

This is no joke - many women I know will go out on a Saturday nite with €10 in their purse - the price of 2 beers or 1 cocktail - and chat to strange men who will buy them drink after drink - with no intention of dancing with or God forbid, the forward so-and-so, "I can't believe he just asked me to kiss him" kissing him.

Men of the world unite. Put your hand in your pockets and leave them there !!

I have observed that the more a man defers to a woman... one example of which is buying her drink.. another is acting like a gentlemanly guard dog who has been neutered... the less chance he has of making out with her that nite.

The guys who actually pay the women the least attention.... who make the woman feel as if she is lucky to be talking to him and not vice versa... these are the guys who you will see dancing the George Michael Smoochie sets. :-)

Anyway, this isn't a dating advice site - apologies if I have gone on too long.

The point is 2 weeks ago... I started chatting up 2 girls,called over my friend and they actually bought us drinks !!! A First !!!

First of many I hope :-)

To give a short background to the financial side of a night out on the town for a 20-something in my home town in Ireland - if you leave the house with €120 in your pocket and the next morning you find €5 you are doing very well !! haha

Our social life tends to revolve around drink. However, the major damage is done by a seemingly harmless system of replenishment called the Round i.e. you buy a drink for everyone and everyone buys a drink for you - you take turns. To not fulfill your duties and buy your round is probably the very very worst thing an Irish man could do - seriously :-)

To cut a long story short, I'm extracted myself from the round system and will only buy drinks for very close friends and relatives... who I can bet my life on are as eager to buy for me as I am for them. In a weird way, I think people respect you more when you bestow your good will upon a selected few rather than all and Sundry.

Anyway had a great week this week € speaking. A colleague left my place of work last Friday so we had going away nites Thurday AND Friday :-) see how bad us Irish are. Thursday nite bought a beer for the person leaving and only had one coke myself - damage €6.50. Friday nite - out for about 4 hours and spent €17.20. I am so proud of myself for cutting my spending so drastically.

This hasn't been a sudden change - have been working on it for a couple of years now

AND

I LOVE HAVING HANGOVERS THAT ARE LESS SEVERE AND FEW AND FAR BETWEEN... :-)

But the crucial thing that has made it work has been the seismic change in my attitude to buying drink for the ladies... in fact this is deserving of a post of its own :-)

give me a min

My cousin's daughter made her First Holy Communion last Saturday. Was a great day.

Her dad organised a whole day celebration - i.e whole day in the pub. Anyway was on camera duty when my camera's batteries died. Off I went to the nearest bargain store in town - €3.99 each. Yesterday happened to be passing the battery section in the major international "cheap" supermarket - same batteries - €10.39 each. Wow !! - how can this be justified ?? Or is the average consumer so ill-informed and/or lazy as accept €10.39 as the going price and throw them in the trolley ?

€10.50 to get photos developed - Film camera - I know I should get digital camera but I honestly don't use the camera that often so I'll wait until I have the spare cash if I really want one.

Going to give the negatives to a member of the family on the other side - to get reprints as required.... save me spending a small fortune getting copies for every one :-)

Little Man... I know you are in for a major trauma with the whole birth thing about to happen - your future Mama is beginning to question the whole "keep-it" decision while waiting for the epidural to kick in & your father cannot go for a few pints after watching the Irish national soccer team beat England 1-0 because he has to go to the hospital and pretend he'd rather be there waiting in the canteen.

But listen, let me save you a lot of heartache and distress by saying the following:

1. You are perfect at this moment.

2. The only 4 things you will absolutely need when you hand in your notice at your current abode are: air to breathe, food to eat, water to drink and a safe place to sleep.

3. Having feeling good inside as the status quo is a product of your outlook on life and cannot be bought.

4. Your current abode is in matters of size, decor, fashionability and function exactly the same as everyone elses was at your age. When you complete your life-journey, you will not care very much for your physical accomodation. Every abode you occupy in the meantime is a choice of varying degrees and NOT an indication of your worth as a human being.

5. One of the most important relationships in your life with be with a thing called "mooh hoho ney". "Mooh ho ho ney" is not your reason for living - nor is it a fellow human being. It is there to enable you to live your life in accordance with the social mores you find yourself in. You are it's master. Tame it before it bites you.

6. Mother Earth loves you. She breathes life into everything everyday. She's breathing life into you right now. She wants you to live a full and happy life. Please allow her to live a full and happy life also by taking her needs into account when you have the choice to. She loves non-wasteful people.

7. You are a complete individual human being. There are many many many others like you. You are no better nor no worse than any of them. Please don't seek the approval of those who withhold it for their own reasons. Please be generous with praise for those you admire - particularly those younger than you. Buying drinks for sullen relatives you hardly ever see, buying sports cars to impress female human "10s" and signing up for a mortgage to impress the Joneses all cost money. Saying "I hope you know I think you are a wonderful little girl" to your cousin's daughter is free and of infinitely more value.

8. The true price of anything is how much life you exchange for it. Anything you may possess/ desire outside the 4 necessities (now..at which point did I explain the 4 necessities to you ?? C'mon you know this... don't roll you eyes at me.. "2". Good Little Man. Well done). Anything outside these necessities is a luxury. You can hand back or sell luxuries when you have used and are tired of them. You cannot ask for a refund of the amount of life you exchanged for them.

9. Look around you... Please... go ahead.
Feel around... all warm and gooey isn't it. Well believe it or not Little Man... This place that jump-started that little heart of yours is most likely to break it in two. It is also a financial danger of nuclear ferocity. I know you won't understand this now buddy......it won't cost you anything to take off from the runway lined by your mother's legs but, My God.... listen boy...don't say you weren't warned.....

be careful what you do to enable yourself to make a landing at another airport.... is all... nod nod.. wink wink...

More of that later buddy.

10. This advice is free. Until you reach 21 years of age, remember that free advice - with no strings attached - is the only advice worth listening too.

Best of Luck Little Man :-)