ERROL PARKER | Editor-at-large | Contact
A local man feels he’s in finance purgatory today after deciding against seeing his mates at the pub because he can’t really afford to do that and then pay the mortgage on his flat in two weeks’ time.
It’s a tricky dance, says Kasey Edwardson, who doesn’t remember the last time he caught up with his friends for a few schooners of neck oil and a simple chat.
“Some of them have been reaching out, asking what the go is,” he said.
“You can’t say, ‘Hey mate, I can’t afford to blow a hundred bucks at the pub this week so I’m just going to go home and eat pre-packaged ravioli and jar sauce then scroll through Instagram for four hours,’ because I have good mates who will shout me all night no questions asked if I was doing it tough,”
“But the thing is, I’m not. I don’t know what I’m doing wrong. I saved and saved to buy an apartment in the French Quarter. Mum and Dad even let me move home and live for free just to top it up. I bought the place last year and yeah, everything was going fine until they put the interest rates up. After today, I’ll have to stop doing almost everything. Turn off all my subscriptions. Stop using the car as much. Stop using electricity. Stop using gas,”
“What kind of life is this? I’ve done everything right. My mates think I must be kicking goals because I’ve got my own place and a newish car. I want to go and see the boys, it’s not like I want to live this way,”
“It’s just that cunt at the Reserve Bank lied to me.”
Our reporter asked Kasey if he’d tried asking his boss for a pay rise.
“Yeah, I did but he reckons he’s out on his arse, too. He just got back from Italy [laughs] Nah, he reckons maybe next year when things pick up,” he said.
“So until then, I guess this is the status quo.”
More to come.
