9th blog posting

I am still reading Confessions of a Shopaholic and it just keeps getting better. Becky makes a final attempt at saving money by trying to cook up her own Indian cuisine. She buys all the ingredients and supplies necessary to make a delicious curry and she gets cooking. It takes her quite a while to complete the recipe but she finally finishes and she sits down to enjoy a good meal with her roommate. Her roommate is very appreciative, but when Becky tastes the over spiced curry for herself, she realizes that her friend is just trying to be nice. Becky becomes very frustrated with this cheap lifestyle that she is trying to live and she realizes that it is just not for her. With the help of her friend she decides that rather than trying to save money, she must simply make more money. She attempts to do this by networking with people at a business meeting but she is then pulled away by a friend who wants to discuss her new career over lunch. While sitting in the café Becky notices a hiring sign in a shop window. She realizes that working Saturdays at a retail store is her key to success. She will have extra money AND get discounts on all the fabulous clothing! She quickly applies and is offered the job. What more could she ask for!
Becky is really desperate for money and nothing seems to be going her way…but finally things have! She continues to get calls from the bank and she spits out an excuse for why she hasn’t paid, every time they call. Things are getting desperate so hopefully this Saturday job will help her out. There are still quite a few pages left in the book though, so I highly doubt that this will be the answer to all her prayers. Will Becky ever pay off her debt?

To Save or Not To Save...

I am continuing to read Confessions of a Shopaholic and I thoroughly love it! In this week’s reading, Becky experiences a lot. She is so concerned by all her bills that she decides to take a stab at winning the lottery in order to pay off what she owes. She gets very wrapped up in thinking that she will win the lottery and she plots out in her head how she plans to spend the 10 million dollars that she is suspecting to win that afternoon. She visits her parents that evening and they enjoy a casual dinner. After dinner they watch the lottery on TV and much to Becky’s dismay, she does not win. After this downfall, she decides that she must do something about her money problems, so she goes to the local bookstore and buys a book on how to be frugal. The book instructs that on the first day of their new savings regimen the person should spend money just as if it was a normal day and keep track of all purchases in a notebook. Becky completes this task and discovers that she spent 177.96 pounds in one day! She is taken aback by this number and she decides to really crunch down on her new way of living so for the next few days she brings her own lunches to work and she refrains from shopping much. That weekend she goes out to dinner with friends, but she justifies this spending because it is for the good cause of “breaking bread with friends”. The next day she goes to a museum suspecting it will be free but she quickly discovers that there is a 5 pound entrance fee. There is also a 15 pound season pass so she buys this, planning to come weekly and save lots of money. She also discovers a museum gift shop and buys a large assortment of items, claiming that she is simply doing early Christmas shopping, even though it is March. Becky is struggling to stick to her regimen and she is finding many excuses to purchase things. I wonder if she will ever start saving?

new outside reading book!

The outside reading book that I picked for quarter 2 is called Confessions of a Shopaholic by Sophie Kinsella. I have read three of her other books and I really enjoyed them so I decided to choose another one of her books. This book is the first book of a series about a woman named Becky Bloomwood and her experiences in life. She is a trendy, young woman who lives in London and she has a passion for shopping. This book is about her troubles with her shopping addiction because she can’t afford everything she buys. The book starts out with letters addressed to Ms. Rebecca Bloomwood, which are mailed from her bank. They are stating her need to pay a bill that she has been putting off for awhile. Becky works at a boring job for a financial magazine. She finds her job as a financial journalist very uninteresting but she needs to pay off her Prada shoes somehow so she has learned to deal with it. In the first chapter, Becky receives her credit card bill and is ghastly astonished to see that she has spent a lot more money than expected. Even though her money is tight, she just can’t resist the sale sign that she sees in a shop window on her way to a business meeting, so she picks up an expensive scarf that she simply must have. She has a few awkward encounters at her business meeting and then goes home to her flat where she is gladly greeted by her roommate. They share a moment of excitement when she shows off her fabulous, new scarf. This is where I stopped reading, and I can’t wait to continue!