频繁参加婚礼 英国一女子快把自己整破产!
"We're engaged!" The phrase can cause excitement … or fear. Once the joy wears off after hearing your pals are getting hitched, you realize your bank balance is about to take a massive hit. Georgina Childs, 30, has had enough of forking out as a result of being a wedding guest… The PR account manager from Essex, England, got herself into 2,000 pounds of debt and had to move back in with her parents after attending 20 weddings and 12 hen dos (bachelorette parties) in four years. Since the summer of 2014, Georgina has spent $9,250 on weddings and $3,980 on hen dos -- for a grand total of $13,200. She says: "I used to love going to weddings. It was all new and exciting and although it cost a lot, I could budget ahead of time." "But from 2014, invites started arriving thick and fast. My calendar was getting booked up and money was pouring out. I started to panic. It felt like all the other guests could afford things like staying in a nice hotel or chipping in for the joint gift and I couldn't. By 2016, the only way to do that was to put hotel costs and drinks on a credit card." Childs has also been a bridesmaid seven times. She says: "The trouble with being a bridesmaid is the cost shoots up. I also had to take two days off work. Most of the weddings I've been to have been on Fridays, so I have used up 12 days of annual leave." As well as the ceremonies, Childs has been on 12 hen dos, five in London, two in Spain and the rest around the UK. She says: "I think hen dos have become too much. It's never just one night. It's always a weekend somewhere with endless, expensive activities. Over Easter, I went to one in Spain for three days and it cost $860. That's what I was paying in rent each month." It's little wonder, then, Childs has taken the drastic step of moving out of her London home and back in with her parents to save money. |