Part of my difficulty in adjusting to NZ has been a switch from Monthly thinking to Weekly thinking. I was completely unaware of the psychological repercussions until a recent conversation.
In the US, billing cycles are monthly. We pay rent and car payments etc 12 times a year. In NZ, you pay weekly (or 13 months per year).
Pay periods in the US vary greatly (weekly, bi weekly or monthly with bi weekly being most common) but as a teacher, for example, I got paid monthly.
Since moving here, I have had to adapt to the weekly way of doing things--which makes me feel like I am ALWAYS paying someone (I am!!) and makes me feel rushed for time as I now mentally operate on 7 days instead of 30. Psychologically, I think it feels like we pay more because we pay more frequently. And make less money because the weekly pay is pretty depressing.
For a long time, I changed the "weekly" into "monthly" but I have stopped doing this now since I am usually comparing prices "NZ weekly to NZ weekly" these days.
I feel a great sense of relief to realize that this is (at least partially) the reason I am always feeling so stressed with time.
I am not sure I articulated the issue very well.
Anybody else having similar issues?