Today I realised that I started this column over a year ago. I’m a little bit shattered to have missed my anniversary (belated gifts can be sent care of Onya Mag) but I thought I would take this chance to reflect on what we have learnt from the Girl Without a Platinum Card over the past 12 months, and how we can move forward.
We covered op shopping, dinner parties and selling your stuff on eBay. We went on holidays together, made Christmas presents and celebrated the New Year. Credit Card debt was talked about, our everyday lives and health were explored and I took you on a date. You were there on my birthday, at the birth of my niece and when I quit my job. We visited the theatre, the movies, the museum, the library, the show and the gallery. My childhood memories made great fodder for my column and I hope bought back some of your precious moments too.
It would indeed be interesting to hear how many of you have tried some of what was suggested here, or visited some of the places, but I think the ultimate goal of the column was to open your eyes to new things and to explore new ways of looking at what we take for granted. I hope you got out of the columns as much as I did.
Reading your comments over the year has also been eye opening for me. From those who felt taking young children to the galleries showed how naïve I was, to the many people who expressed their support when I took a leap of faith and quit my job without a job to go to – every comment is cherished and without the feedback it would make for a very boring column indeed.
So where to now? While there are endless ways to scrimp and save, I am more interested in hearing what you have to say. I’d love to hear your little ideas to cut costs so that I may compile the best Aussie money saving tips and tricks for the Onya print edition, to be released in 2011. What are the tried and tested – and often not widely known – hints you all have to save a buck? Where can I spend my Saturday for free? When my friends from London backpack around Australia on a shoestring budget, how can I show them what the Aussies are made of? What represents us – on the cheap?
If you follow my life via Onya, via my personal blog, or even via Twitter, you will know I left my full time job at the end of August, and that I had to make many sacrifices pertaining to where my money went. Whilst I started a new job yesterday, eight weeks without my full time job wage was a learning curve. Need and want became an integral part of my budgeting and provided me with plenty of experiences to share with you over the next twelve months.
While I still have plenty of ideas for my Girl Without a Platinum Card column, I also have ideas to pursue as Onya’s Fashion Editor, and a new series of columns, Local Love, for you to look forward to. Keep your ideas and feedback coming; Onya is all about you – the reader – so we would love to hear what you think and would like to read.
You can leave a comment for Sarah below, or email her on sarah@onyamagazine.com.
Image credit: Kathryn Sprigg
