
“Hey, please could you send me that money for the cinema?” I sheepishly asked my friend whose ticket I’d bought the previous week. She replied immediately with a screenshot, informing me that she had sent the money the day I’d bought the ticket. I was embarrassed. “Sorry, I should have checked my account before asking. Thank you so much,” I quickly replied without further explanation. Mostly because I’d had the exact same conversation with another friend just a week earlier, having chased her for money she’d already sent me.
Yes, this is a pattern of behaviour. And it’s not a good one. You see, I do not like to look at my bank account. In fact, it’s my least favourite thing to do, alongside going to the dentist. So I seldom do it. Trust me, this is not because I have nothing to worry about. On the contrary, after an expensive summer and a surprisingly large tax bill to sort out by January, I have quite a lot to be worried about. And yet, I can’t bring myself to do much about it, except to try to spend as little as possible in an effort to delay the inevitable moment when my card is declined.