As a graduating college student, I am financially stressed pretty much all the time. Between putting myself through school, $62,000 in student loans (before interest), an unpaid internship, gas, rent, utility bills, and WORST of all, my passion for shopping/spending, there's lots of room for stress. I do work two jobs to total almost 40 hours a week but it's barely enough with my spending habits. This blog is to mark my progress, full-disclosure, between now and becoming a non-broke (maybe even wealthy? I can dream) adult.
Since I started making my own money at age 15, I was never good at saving it. I would fulfill any craving I had for either clothes, food, entertainment etc. The idea of saving for college hardly crossed my mind, even though I knew my parents weren't paying for it nor even co-signing any loans I may need.
Even when I was offered a job to nanny in New Jersey full-time before starting college, in order to save some money (and gain life experience), I couldn't save for the life of me. I went on weekend trips to NY, DC, Maine or Boston (worth it), spent hundreds of dollars making a scrapbook (worth it), visited Barnes and Noble WAY too much, or bought way too much yarn to for my newly acquired skill of crocheting.
Regardless, I started school a year later with nothing in the bank and a very expensive apartment. I worked weekends but that money never seemed to stick around long and after a mishap with SallieMae, I took out way more loans than I needed. I even opened a CD to gain interest on the extra money and "make it last" but I was back to broke before I knew it. I got a job on campus, which kept me busy but somehow still broke. I've moved to a cheaper house every year and every year I get a little bit smarter with my money but it's still out of hand. As graduation nears this May and no million dollar job offer (or any job for that matter) coming my way, this calls for drastic measures.
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