So in my last post I examined where I learned my bad habits concerning health and finances, because these are learned behaviors that can be modified. Everyone learns these things from someone. Usually it's our parents. In my situation, it was a combination of my parents and my aunt.
My aunt was one of the greatest people ever. She made a lot of money and she spent a lot of money and she wanted the same lifestyle for me. I was very grateful for every thing she did for me. Unfortunately, she and my mother both are now deceased, and I'm left with a small amount of money and no tools to use it properly. For now, I'm saving, paying my debts, working, going to school, and earning some extra on the side re-selling things on eBay. Why am I doing all this???? Because I really got myself into a money mess!
How did I do this? Well, in part one I discussed where these bad habits came from, now it's time to tell my personal money-mess story.
So this is where my aunt comes into play. She had the best aspirations for me! She wanted me to attend her very prestigious (see prestigious, read: expensive) Alma mater. I couldn't really afford this school but there was always student loans. She got me a job at her firm and an apartment near school. I paid my bills. Well, sort of. I paid at them, anyway.
The job... was awful and didn't pay squat. I hated every moment of it. The school was a nightmare, the expenses were stifling, the teachers condescending, the students pretentious, the entire atmosphere stressed me out. I made good grades but I hated every second of it. I gained 15 pounds, 20 pounds, 30 pounds.... the next thing I knew, I'd gained 35 pounds!!! My weight was at an all time high!
In the meantime, I was working 40 hours a week and bringing it, what seemed to me, an amazing amount of money (looking back it was peanuts) it paid my bills and allowed me a little for shopping. I shopped til' I dropped! My new apartment was in a fancy gated community and I felt obligated to dress and appear as nice as the people in my neighborhood and the girls at work. I couldn't afford all the designer bags and shoes, so I got credit cards and student loans! Oh my gosh... bad idea. Now I'm over weight AND in debt.
The debt didn't all happen at once, a night out with the girls... a new coach bag.... a really expensive semester at school... computer crashed? Credit card. I had no incentive to save. I was impulsively buying things to try and make myself feel better about how unhappy I was at work and at school!
The next thing I knew I owed Sallie Mae, the US department of Education, Visa, Discover, MasterCard... you name it. I was making money, sure... but I was also spending more than I made and I wasn't focusing on building my savings or paying my debts. I called it, "Building my credit" What it meant was, "amassing lots of debts."
Can you believe they will extend over 15,000 in available credit to a 19 year old girl?? You better believe it. They can't legally do that anymore, thanks to credit reforms. Unfortunately for me, at my going rate it would have taken more than 19 years to ever pay it off!
So, every one has a wake-up call moment regarding health or money. Mine was quickly approaching.
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