money
Money.
Money is annoying. Tough to make, too easy to spend.
I really miss the days of having everything provided gratis at the hand of mom and dad. When it didn't matter how cold it got overnight, because I wasn't paying for the gas. When I could have as many friends over as I wanted, because Mom would put out food and I wouldn't have to worry about not eating for the next week. When I could get any new book I wanted because Dad would cover it. Ahh - those were the good ole days.
The trouble with budgeting is that you have to stick to it. I actually love making up budgets; I think it's a carryover from the days of counting, recounting, sorting and resorting my $12.53 worth of coins. But I have never kept a budget yet - I don't think I've ever even made the attempt. I just keep drawing up plans.
But now it's come down to the line. My OU account was sent to Collections and I have three options: 1. pay in full immediately (umm, impossible). 2. pay within 60 days (very tough). 3. pay in monthly installments (which sounds great, but it involves going through a judge and court/lawyer fees totaling $500 - plus, there's a hold on my transcripts until paid in full and I really need access to those pretty quick). I've figured out that if I stick to this budget, I can manage to pay off the whole amount in two months, with only a bit of help from mom and dad in April (taxes didn't come out in my favor this year). It means being super serious about keeping the budget, and living really meagerly. It means denying myself lots of fun. It means giving up Saturdays.
It's also only for three months (March-May). After that, I'm free. And I think freedom is worth three months of strict discipline. And I think that it will be great for me to really learn how to keep to a budget. I'm going to use the envelope method, because I spend plastic really easily and can't seem to ever get any of my purchases written down. Plus, I've heard good things about this method.
Money is annoying. Tough to make, too easy to spend.
I really miss the days of having everything provided gratis at the hand of mom and dad. When it didn't matter how cold it got overnight, because I wasn't paying for the gas. When I could have as many friends over as I wanted, because Mom would put out food and I wouldn't have to worry about not eating for the next week. When I could get any new book I wanted because Dad would cover it. Ahh - those were the good ole days.
The trouble with budgeting is that you have to stick to it. I actually love making up budgets; I think it's a carryover from the days of counting, recounting, sorting and resorting my $12.53 worth of coins. But I have never kept a budget yet - I don't think I've ever even made the attempt. I just keep drawing up plans.
But now it's come down to the line. My OU account was sent to Collections and I have three options: 1. pay in full immediately (umm, impossible). 2. pay within 60 days (very tough). 3. pay in monthly installments (which sounds great, but it involves going through a judge and court/lawyer fees totaling $500 - plus, there's a hold on my transcripts until paid in full and I really need access to those pretty quick). I've figured out that if I stick to this budget, I can manage to pay off the whole amount in two months, with only a bit of help from mom and dad in April (taxes didn't come out in my favor this year). It means being super serious about keeping the budget, and living really meagerly. It means denying myself lots of fun. It means giving up Saturdays.
It's also only for three months (March-May). After that, I'm free. And I think freedom is worth three months of strict discipline. And I think that it will be great for me to really learn how to keep to a budget. I'm going to use the envelope method, because I spend plastic really easily and can't seem to ever get any of my purchases written down. Plus, I've heard good things about this method.
posted by Annie @ 5:17 PM
2 comments
