Austerity Measures

"Money's a real pain in the ass." -David Nath, circa 2010

///

I was pretty lucky to not have to worry about money growing up.  Even in college, when tuition was ridiculous and everyone was talking about work-study and FAFSA forms, I got off scott-free. I still feel a little embarrassed that it was relatively easy for me, and I remember silently telling some of my friends who asked me about how to fill out student loan forms that, "erm....I'm actually...not on financial aid."

Well, as many things do in life, it caught up to me.

When I moved to New York in 2008, I don't think I ever had a grasp of how expensive things can be. Especially in Manhattan, where the average rent is now hovering around 3,200 dollars per month. Only hedgefund managers or celebrities can afford certain neighborhoods in Tribeca these days. And the food? As great as it is, a lesser person would faint at the sight of a normal lunch bill in Midtown.

So, like many other New Yorkers, I learned my lesson and moved to an outer borough. I was done living in a shoebox and hyperventilating whenever the check came. I needed a sudden jolt of reality. And more space. Oh, yeah, and Dave. :)

But...I was still running into some major financial issues, and living essentially paycheck to paycheck. It seemed to me as if it happened "all of a sudden," but once I crunched the numbers, I realized just how lean my wallet had become. More embarrassingly, the reason my situation didn't seem as dire in Manhattan was because I was still charging many of my purchases on my parents' joint American Express card. Clothes, yoga classes, cabs and other "luxuries" went on it, and at the time I wasn't too ashamed about it. But eventually, in an attempt to legitimize myself as an actual, self-sufficient twenty-something, I let my card expire and have now been living completely unassisted for about a year and a half. All the same stuff, all on my own dime. Add in rent, plus evenings out, plus clothes, plus yoga and S Factor .. and something had to give.

Ok, ok, I know what you're thinking: "I totally don't feel sorry for you! You had it really great for such a long time and shouldn't be complaining! You're almost as bad as the rest of those privileged 20-somethings you criticize all the time!"

And you know what? You're absolutely right.

This is something that's been long overdue for me for a number of reasons: one, I'm not that organized, two, sometimes I deny the existence of my problems and think they'll just "go away" on their own, and three, I was educated badly with regards to finances.

Did anyone who wasn't an Economics or Finance major in college ever take an entry-level course that actually made sense? Of course not. Chances are, you took Macroeconomics and studied the supply and demand of some made-up widget company, then applied those principles to the GDP of Europe...or the US...or China .. or... whatever. There was no class on "how to balance your checkbook" or, "how you piss away money every month if you have credit card debt." Since my parents are also not the most organized people in the world (runs in the family...except for my brother, who's so organized he must be an adopted mutant), they never really taught me much about it until I opened up my own checking account at the West Hartford Bank of America in 2006. And even then, I'm sorry to say, I didn't know much about credit cards and debt. The only thing I knew was to keep my "credit score" low. But even that was an abstract hypothetical I pledged would never happen to me.

So now, with the help of two VERY organized people, I have this thing called a "budget." And, supposedly, if I stick to it, I can obliterate my credit card debt in several months. But I got to stick to it.

That's right, fellow 20-somethings. This is a really, really important point for all of us: we gotta stick to it. If we want to reach our 30s with any shred of integrity or self-control, in finances, careers, or just...life.. we can't give up or give in. If we keep at it, we'll be better equipped to handle the real big-ticket items, like marriage and kids and buying property and all that. Those privileged 20-somethings living on trust funds, rent-free in the same outer borough I call home? It'll catch up to them eventually. 

Just as long as I keep crunching the numbers, they should add up.