Ruminating on Plans Gone Awry – Money, Moving, VTAC Offers
This is a post about being a good sister (*cough*martyr*cough) and not getting your own way.
I’ve been living with my boyfriend for the past six months in a lovely mansion – a heritage listed one, no less – that he rents with 4 other friends. Rent has been very cheap for me and my holidays have been lovely, all curled up in bed (or spread-eagled, weather depending) reading many many many good books. It’s been wonderful. Calm before the storm, perhaps?
My sister, let’s call her L, is someone whom I’m very close to. I’d consider her my best friend, and easily the favourite of my immediate family. We tend to finish each other’s sentences, she was easily the most tolerant of my, uh, feminist enlightenment (and even got on board), we tend to hold random 2-person dance parties to the disgust of our parents, and have very similar taste in everything (except she likes jelly and eggs and I think they’re both horrible FUNFACT!). So my mother rang and said she was finding a place for L and her friend, did I want to live with them?
Well, I mean, maybe –
My mother cut in, It’s just that it’s very hard for the two of them to afford a place and neither are particularly talented at dealing with people
I know, but –
She says, you don’t have to!
Fine. I will.
I was never that keen given how happy and how relatively well off I am living with my boyfriend. I didn’t think ahead at this point, hadn’t realised the folly in letting my mother sort things out. I told her it would be silly for us to be paying more than $120 each for rent, as Centrelink budgets are extremely difficult to live off. She initially found us a place from a rather dubious source. She sent me a link:
Mum: Well it’s $150 a week and bills are included –
Me: Mum… Did you see this place?! It says it’s going to be demolished within the year!
Mum: Yeah well the man I spoke to was willing to let you all rent it without any documentation!
Me: WHAT. Ugh even if this was a more reputable dump, we can’t afford $150 each for rent unless we like living off $40 a week.
Mum: Weeell when I was your age –
Me: [*thinking, only* YOU WERE PREGNANT WITH ME AND LIVING WITH MY GRANDMA FOR NOTHING — ] Uh, how about I find us a place.
Mum: Sure, but I don’t think you’ll have any success!!!
*5 MINS LATER*
Me: here are ten properties, these are my top two.
We got my top priority by some miracle (I wasn’t able to inspect the property, as I was at the doctors. I came in with a wart, I walked out with purple-black frostbite. Thanks.), however the master bedroom had an ensuite which I didn’t feel was fair for one of us to have without paying slightly more than the other renters, so now I’m paying $150 a week.
$150 a week!!!
I mean, I know that doesn’t look like a lot to most people but it means I’ll be living off $40 a week for food and random expenses. I wont be able to afford much of the things that make studying bearable: coffee, chai, random sandwiches from shops at uni, self-pity shopping, probably wont be able to afford to even do random opshop adventures 🙁
It’s going to be a hard year. At least I have an ensuite AND a room to myself! Shame that wont put food (and preferably coffee) on my table. At least I’ll be able to dance in kitchens. At least I’ll live near lots of my favourite shops! Window shopping isn’t all bad, after all.
Ah, and the other issue. I decided last year that I’d change into Arts if I could – I’m currently, technically, a Science student – but it turns out you had to apply through VTAC to do that. No biggie. Except for the $80 it cost me, that was kinda a biggie. Very upsetting, actually. Thank god for concerned significant others…
But I just found out I didn’t make the first round offers. I’ve applied through SEAS and I’m nearly 10 ATAR points over the special consideration ATAR score; I’m only 0.2 points under the clearly in, maybe it was wishful thinking on my part that I should get in?
It was stupid of me that I never put down another preference.
All I can hope for now is that I get a second round offer. Why didn’t I make any safety nets for this? Argh!
Perhaps I will spend the year working. Maybe I’ll save up for how poor I will be, living on Youth Allowance when I do go back to University. Maybe I’ll go on a small holiday, I haven’t been on one for about a decade. It’s concerning: I haven’t had a job before, and I’m worried that I wont be able to find a job if I do need one.
*facepalm*
Disastrous.