Grown Up Problems: A Whopping Two Digit Bank Statement
Sometimes I want to smack my college self. To my college self, big problems were whether or not the cute upperclassman from my Spanish class was going to sit with me in the dining hall. Big problems were getting the dean to sign off on extra credits. Big problems were lobbying for an exemption from freshman comp and finishing all of my end-of-the-semester essays on time.
And how I toiled over these problems. The angst. The sleepless nights. The endless planning and re-planning of outfits.
It never occurred to me that life could get any worse.
(By the same token, it never occurred to me that life could get any better either, but that’s a subject for another day.)
As such, when I woke up this morning, checked my email and saw that the funds in my checking account were down to two digits, I flipped out.
The funds in my checking account have never been down to two digits. Ever. Except that one time in college before I had my overdraft protection set up (and before I regularly checked my bank statements) and I managed to incur six separate insufficient funds fees over one weekend of outlet mall shopping with my fellow summer interns.
I learned my lesson. And it never happened again. In fact, I graduated, began paying off my student loans, set up a retirement account and bought a house.
And even though I’ve avoided all of the rookie mistakes (ordering brand new furniture that’s beyond my budget, remodeling the entire house at once instead of just the rooms I can afford, etc.) there’s my latest bank statement, in all of its two digit glory.
It’s not the end of the world. And I do have money coming in, but the winter months are always tough. Classes get snowed out and my college courses don’t start paying until mid-February so it’s all a bit feast-or-famine.
I know, of course, that I am hardly the first person in the world to find myself in this situation. Also, I know that it won’t be the last time. And I’m quite certain that once I finish the renovations and get everything straightened out in my house, the water heater will go or the roof will start to leak and we’ll be back at square one.
I know all of this.
But that doesn’t make it any easier.
Which is why, looking back, I want to smack my college self and say, “You moron. You had it easy. You knew nothing of real problems, of grown up problems.”
And I don’t even have kids yet.
Anyway, here are a few pictures:
This is what was hiding beneath the drop ceiling…
Thank God for sheetrock!
Lights, and a bit of color.
Fieldwork in Stilettos 
2 Responses to “Grown Up Problems: A Whopping Two Digit Bank Statement”
Ah! This post reminded me that I have no idea what my income source will be after college, unless I am awarded funding for grad school. There is one fully-funded place available. I haven’t applied to grad school just to get the funding: I want to do a Master’s and a PhD because I love my subject (linguistics) and my career goal is to become a researcher/academic. But the financial aid would be very helpful! If not, I guess I’ll have to find some way of funding it myself, teaching English to second language learners maybe.
I hope your bank statement recovers soon!
When we got married, I had $17 in my checking account 😉 Of course the account recovered after the wedding, moving & buying a house were completed, and I found a job in my new home town, but as a homeowner/parent/lover of travel it recovers only enough for you to dip into it yet again for the next major expense. Welcome to the world of economic ups and downs, enjoy the ride 😉