“Money, Money, Money…must be funny in a rich mans world”
– ABBA, 1986
“Money, Money, Money…must be meagre in a students/graduates world”
– Brendon Yiu, 2019
There you go. The 2 quotes essentially sum up finance and the mob of UNSW Outdoor Club members headed for New Zealand in year of 2019 for mountaineering. What is it? What is with these sheets of plastic, useless metal, fancy paper statements (or cheques) which can either be joyful or joyless? Well, to me I like the colours and pictures on the notes…or should I say the quality gear obtained.
Gear: about 1/3 of all costs. The shiny, smooth and sleek Black Diamond No 0.3 to 4 Cams – the first ‘big’ cost. The colour coding is so perfect, the springs fresh from the factory floor…pleasant to hold, squeeze and admire would be an understatement. $756.46 – Exactly on 16th August 2019.
With further ‘investigation’ (i.e. purchasing), it seemed like everything was made of Gold for the trip and not because of colour.
The next item: infamous mountaineering boots. Now gentlemen – if you think women buy expensive shoes, it appears both genders do (as long as they are mountaineers). Looking online they were TONNES of reviews on all sorts of models, brands, colours and all that shit. When the $ or £ sign came into sight my wallet shrank and my pair was an aching $701.96…
For the purposes of mental health, this was paid using Debit Card not using my beloved colourful cash so at least I could visually ignore the payment. If I had used cash (about 14 × $50 or 7 × $100 notes!), I think I would need a week of ‘R U OK?’ days (and sausage sizzles) to be anywhere near ‘OK’.
As I am known for being an Excel King and a prudent Engineer, I did see (most) costs waaaaaaaay ahead of time so there were no surprises. The military adage guided me: the 7 Ps.
Prior
Preparation and
Planning
Prevents
Piss
Poor
Performance
With my wizardry, some of the Cost Breakdown Structure I made can be seen below:
There, about 4.5 payslips of mine: a Budget of $8898.82 as of the 29th November 2019, this was even more 2 months ago!
Back in May, Maria said, “this trip would be only $5000 or so” and Jeffery even claimed “I think you could get under $3000”. Keep in mind Jeffery has spent something like $4000 on gear alone!
Fortunately, I’ve worked full time since June this year otherwise I’d be burning over half of my then Savings! But then again, is it not said that spending money on an experience is my worthy than on goods? (Let’s just assume the experience costs involve the goods for that, i.e. gear).
Another not-really-expected high cost was flights; I think I’m paying 1985 fares as they are unbelievably expensive. Since I’m flying during Christmas time (leaving 14th December and returning 30th December) – the airlines are on ecstasy regarding prices, a one way, economy, direct flight is about $400!
Now before I break my bank account further, the following lessons:
- Don’t trust Maria’s and Jeffery’s estimates
- Don’t fly during the Christmas period
- Don’t work full time so you can avoid flying during the Christmas period
- Work full time to earn tonnes of money
- Be excellent at Excel
- Follow the 7 Ps.