A few weeks ago, I wrote and published a post on here, that was basically about my ideas on personal fiance as a 19-year-old.
I laugh and cry simultaneously thinking about it now. I still 1000% stand behind everything I said in that post, but my bank account balance completely discredits any sort of authority I might have on the topic.
How did this happen you may ask? How did I let this happen you may ask?
The main culprit would be that fact I had to buy textbooks for classes this semester. I am big believer in used textbooks, my profs seem to be big believers in hybrid- learning. Which means they support having both in-class group learning as well as independent digital learning aspects to their classes. This sounds great until you realize there is no such thing as an used digital code, or a cheap one apparently.
And yes, some this is due to me being a human being that enjoys fun things. I bought concert tickets, and pre-ordered albums, and paid for Lyft rides, none of which helped my financial situation. But whatever.
I love when my over account balance has a comma, and I work, and have worked really hard to get it to have that. But you can lose that little squiggle so easily. I opted in to having my bank text me if my checking account ever went below specific figure, I thought I would never get one. The moment I read the text my heart sank.
But I am slowly getting over it. I, like a lot of people, have a lot of emotions tangled up in money. Something about not staying within these preset boundaries just felt like irresponsibility to me. Which is dumb, when the main culprit behind this, was me purchasing books to help further my education.
And it should also be noted, I didn’t dip into my savings! I pulled from the account that I put money into, partially to pay for text books. I pulled the initial amount I thought I would be paying for used books, from that account. The overage was pulled directly from my checking, as well as any and all fun stuff I mentioned earlier.
I am sharing this to say, “Yeah it sucks”. But it doesn’t mean your irresponsible, it doesn’t mean your bad person, it doesn’t mean your lazy or dumb. Sometimes things happen, that are out of our control. They don’t define us, how we react to them does.
All of this forced me to really sit down and come up with a sort of budget. It may really be more of a savings plan, but either way sitting down and really seeing that I be working towards all the finical goals I want achieve at the same time (without working all the time) was possible. That when you set up automatic savings account withdrawals, do not stop them. I have learned that spending money on fun things is something I want to be able to do without guilt, and I am willing to work for that to happen.
In the end I know its all going to work out and be fine. I still clearly have a lot to learn. But I am glad I experienced this, because it means I have a little less.
