When I returned from France and started back waitressing, my next thought was how soon I could go back to the tent and the (intermittent) sunshine. The reason for me coming home to Dublin however was to work to save money for my next year of college. So what money could I decide was expendable on my itchy feet?
The reason I started waitressing was because as a waitress you get tipped, and that amounted to more money at the end of a shift. And as I sat outside during my break one of my first nights back (trying to rub some of the stiffness from my out-of-practice feet), I decided that the money that was given to me by my customers was in a sense "free money", or money that wasn't exactly mine. So when I got home, I took an empty Nutella jar (because everyone has those lying around), and superglued the lid shut. I pushed the notes and coins through the ill-cut hole in the top, and felt excited. Deciding to go all out, I Selotaped a scrap of paper to the front and wrote "France Fund".
In the money went, and I was lucky enough that my boyfriend Carl (who was living in France), actually came home twice; once as an almost surprise for my birthday, and again a week ago, to move some of his stuff back to Dublin. So the France Fund just continued to grow.
I didn't know it at the time, but putting this label on the jar and seeing it every night when I came home is what made me put all the money in, and not decide that keeping a bit to spend on chocolate or film or whatever was the best course of action. Over the past two weeks I have known that Carl is planning on moving back to Ireland, so I decided to use the money to pay my months rent. However since then, I have been unable to keep the money in the Jar. I was half thinking all the time, how seeing as I wasn't going to get back to France in the immediate future, that I might as well use just a tenner to go get some more milk, or use the coins as bus change. It was only yesterday that I realised all I had to do was change the label. I find, when I am not aiming for something, and have it firmly stuck in my head, I just flutter around and don't really make any progress anywhere. This is the same for my photography. I will sit and look at my camera more than I will shoot with it unless I have an idea of what I want to do, or feel motivated or inspired.
I don't know if any of this will help any of you, but if you feel like it, put some labels on jars and see where it takes you.
