I know it's a bit embarrassing to admit, but am I the only one who doesn't really "get" it?
Whenever this time of year comes around, when we see the Chancellor cheesily lifting up his battered red briefcase for the cameras, I always vow to take an interest and actually follow what's going on this time.
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But I usually end up giving up and waiting until the newspapers bring out a "your Budget at a glance" piece where you can see how much he's put on wine, spirits and petrol.
It all just seems a bit incidental - 2p on this, 4p on that. It doesn't seem like it would make that much of a difference.
Of course, it must make a difference, because what I do understand is that everyone I know seems to be feeling poorer than ever at the minute.
With petrol, utilities and food getting more expensive by the day, it's easy to fritter away a month's wages without so much as a glance in the window of New Look.
Whatever happened to the days of being able to actually buy things and treat yourself when you got paid? It's so boring having to spend all your hard-earned cash on just surviving, isn't it?
I look back fondly on the memory of being a teenager and having £25 a week pocket money. When all your food, clothes, petrol and most of your entertainment are already paid for, you can live like a king on that amount.
But, as I realised this week, I'm no longer a young person - I am officially an adult. I should have seen the signs - having to tick the box reading "25-30" rather than "18-24" when filling in surveys, and no longer being eligible for a young person's rail card.
But the realisation really hit home while walking through Blackburn bus station on my way home from work the other day, when a group of teenage boys blocked my path.
"Move out of the way for that woman," one of the lads said to his friends.
"Woman? Woman!" I felt like shouting. "I'm not a woman! I'm a girl! I still get ID'd in Morrisons for wine, you know!"
But to them I was an adult - an office worker in her smart coat and boring work clothes trudging home.
The first sign, of course, that you're no longer "down with the kids" is that you start to have no idea what they're going on about.
Adults think they know the words kids are using - like "chav" and "minger" - but the truth is, the kids left those behind years ago.
Now if something's cool it's "book" (it's the first option in predictive text when you try to type cool).
If someone's good-looking they're "lush" and if something's really good it's "sick", as in "those jeans are sick, man".
A new exciting place may be "off the hook" and if you're "owned" you've been made a fool of or beaten.
What with not feeling adult enough to understand the Budget but not young enough to get away with using the latest slang without feeling like David Brent from The Office, it's hard to know where to put yourself.
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