Povo Mode

I started a new job today. I've also started a major economy drive - or what I call "Povo" mode.

One of the great things about being a contractor is that you get to move about - and I appear to have found a   wonderful new, challenging job that will once again let me step up again.

There is one problem, however. Every new consultancy you go to has different pay cycles. In my last job I was paid weekly, two weeks in arrears. Another job paid me fortnightly the week after the timesheet was signed off.

This consultancy, staffed with some of the nicest people I've met in a long time, pay monthly - a month in arrears.

Which means I don't get anything in my bank account until middle-late June.

Okay, there are good things about this - like when you finish up you're in far better stead, but still - I have no income for nearly two months. Which means I'm in "povo" mode.

This is not as bad as it sounds. All my bills are paid up. I do have money in the bank. I've got lots of movie vouchers on hand to use up. I'll be bringing my lunch into work most days and not buying coffees. My trip to the Gold Coast this weekend is already paid for (along with lunch at the Qantas Business Lounge on the way up - yes!) So it's not that I'm on the bones of my bum - it's just that I have to have a couple of leaner months to ensure that I don't go too far into the red.

This is a good thing.

I've just signed up for an eight week challenge at the gym - more to get my health and fitness back on track. Being on an economy drive will help the diet as I'll be restricted in my eating out times. I've also enlisted a new trainer for the journey - thankfully at the same price as Pinochet used to be. I've only had one session with the new guy, taking a double slot with Jay.

I've called him Slap. It's not his real name, but he's egg bald and you want to hit him, so Slap it is. He put both of us through the wringer the other night - and it was fantastic.

But for the moment, it's home made salad lunches and plunger coffee in the office (which is good, as they only have Nescafe Gold in the kitchen - one up from International Roast, but not that far up), enjoying the plays I paid for a few months ago and lots of exercise.

Nice and lean in more ways than one.