I want your money!

NOTE: This is an archive post from LiveJournal which has been logged here for posterity.

Wow, so the whole dentist thing has kicked me up the ass in so many ways.

First off, the whole money thing. It's costing me a packet-load to do the dentist thing, but at the same time by doing it, I've combined my debts into "one easy to manage loan". This means Victoria, my Visa has died a death dredded by all visa cards, but that said - she only bought me stress. So my debt repayments have decreased now, therefore there is more money in my pocket, and do you know what I'm doing with it? Well, granted, I've bought about a gazillion pairs of underware in the last couple of weeks (I have a thing for undies at the moment) but I've also started doing something I don't do - saving. Yup, me - saving. It may seem like a very small thing to most people but to me, this is huge!

On top of the saving I've given up The-Dread-Evil-Coke. Again, this is a miracle. I love Coke, and there's none of that wussy Coke-Zero or Diet-Coke for me, I love the high-sugar, really-bad-for-you Coke. The stuff that'll disolve a T-Bone steak, that's the shit - I've given it up. In the four weeks since my first appointment I have had one 600ml bottle. That was last week and I promptly brushed my teeth. One bottle in a month is amazing!! The withdrawls are all-but-gone (had trouble sleeping, not to mention waking up!! A few mood swings as well) and by not drinking Coke? Saving around $18 a week, which goes, you guessed it - into the savings account.

In giving up the coke, I've taken to drinking water. Not only have I given up Coke, I am now drinking at least a litre of water a day - that's more water now then I used to have of Coke! I've got 3 water bottles on constant rotation in my fridge, and I hate going anywhere without one...

Having taken up the water I've also started to realise how much junk I consume. So I'm making an effort to curb that. I live in a hostel and I hate the kitchen so I've been having sushi instead of Maccas. I've been having whole-grain bread instead of white, hell I'm even having breakfast with healthy yoghurt! (The Acodopholus or however you spell it stuff).

This one thing, the routine of my weekly dentist appointments - of knowing that a day or so after that appointment I will feel that weebit better about myself because one or two of my teeth are back to normal, it's making me a better, healthier, more independant person, one tooth at a time.

Sure it's costing me a bomb, but it's much more then my teeth - it's my whole life. If I keep going the way I am I'll be well on track to getting out of this hostel by August. I'll also have to buy myself a new wardrobe because at some point my body is going to realise I'm not feeding it so much junk and I'm not giving it a ton of sugar each day and I'm going to lose weight. Not so much that I'm a skinny stick, but enough that when I go clothes shopping I can find some that fit and look good. I'll be able to shimmy around my room to Lady Marmalade in my sexy underware knowing I am sexy dammit.

And that feeling? You can't put a price on that, but if you did, and that price was $2763? Worth every penny.