Every month, just after the rent for my University shared accomodation goes out, I check my account on Internet Banking. From my balance, I work out a budget for the month, calculating how much cash I can spend every day (at most).

Each month this can vary between £10 and anywhere up to £30. This month was a high month, I don't remember exactly how much my daily budget was, but I was quite happy, since I've been spending two weeks in Hitchin and I've been able to spend without worrying how much cash I have.

But I fucked up, quite badly. For some reason, my rent cheque cleared late this month and I did my calculations on £190 (reduced Summer rent) more than I should have. So I now have about £9.40 in my account for the rest of the month.

I shall just hack even futher into my student overdraft! But when it dawned on me, I got a real sense of financial stress, for one of the first times. I'd hate to be in huge debt all the time, I think I'd go mad! But anyway, it'll all be sorted next month, since I pre-paid my October rent months ago!

Yay. Go me!