Investing in my domestic future...

Or: why I am not renewing my CILIP membership...

There's a simple answer to this one: money. Going from the student rate to the top rate of subscription represents a jump that I just cannot make, and I *know* it's only £18 or something a month, but that might mean going without a week's groceries in a few weeks' time for me and I can't commit to that. Just because someone earns more than £17,500 a year does not mean they can afford to shell out nearly £200 for membership of this organisation, so I am making the decision before it becomes an issue rather than in a few months time.

It's all about priorities. At the moment I live somewhere which has become unbearable for various reasons and my only option has become to move away. The increased expense of rent (buying is out of the question; it would, I have calculated, take me about 15 years to save up for a deposit) plus bills and travel will reduce my disposable income to a much smaller amount than I currently have, but weighing this up against the improved quality of life I will also have is what has convinced me to make the leap. 

I currently live in a pleasant little middle-class ghetto in the leafy bit of Oxford, in a bedsit with a shared bathroom. In the seven years since I moved in I have gradually grown out of the space, to the point where it is now unliveable: I have no dining table because there's a computer on it; the kitchen sink is surrounded by stuff better housed in a bathroom, but since that has no mirror I tend to keep things in my room. If I open one of  the cupboard doors too widely the shower gel falls off the fridge. I can't even leave loo roll by the toilet without it vanishing. My room, which has French windows on to the garden, (and a lovely view of six wheelie bins) is below the kitchen of the flat upstairs, so I get awoken from Saturday afternoon naps by the spin-cycle on their washing machine, not to mention the late-night parties and the times the fire alarm goes off when one of them burns the toast.

I have never been one of those people who can have lots of balls in the air at once. When I was finishing my Masters that was all I could think about. At the moment moving has taken the place of that, and once I have moved I hope to throw myself into an extensive flatpacking regime until I have acquired more bookshelves and a bed. Much as membership of a professional body is probably beneficial, I cannot justify the expense of the subs, and until such a time as my home life has settled down I would not be able to concentrate on involvement in the profession anyway. I will probably come back, but for the time being I would rather be able to afford food.