2 months, 2 days, 2 hours

I didn't mean to do this post that way, but that is actually the exact amount of time I've been here in London. One would think from the title that I am counting down the time, but that is far from the case. All I can think about lately is how fast these two years are going to go by. Too fast I think. Although, I just figured out that in the three rent payments I have made since moving here, I have already spent more on rent than in an entire year in Dallas...how's that for some perspective!

I just tried to analyze my last months bank statement to see if I was anywhere near the "budget" I blindly planned for myself before moving out here. I exported it all into excel, color coded each line depending on which category they fell into and made a little pie chart (Dad, aren't you proud! Even though I know what you're thinking...Microsoft Money will do all of that for me, but there is something I like about doing it myself...maybe it is the color coding!) I was actually quite shocked at how well I did, even though there was a lot more money than I had planned for on groceries, but way less than I had budgeted for going out to eat. So it all evens out in the end. The second largest pie in my chart, albeit a fraction of the largest piece of pie (bills), is cash...this is the dark abyss. I don't know how to categorize this, because I have no idea where I spent it! This was never a problem for me in Dallas when I was trying to analyze my expenses because cash was a thing of the past, I used my debit card for everything...even a 85 cent pack of gum. But here I have stepped right back into the past where cash is preferred to plastic. I'm assuming it falls into the grocery, food, entertainment category. Yes, I had an entertainment category. Although it only had 15 pounds in it so I'm assuming that is where most of my cash went! Here's my pie...but not the pe-CAN kind I prefer....