Wise Financial Decisions in College

I was randomly surfing the internet when I came across a post on wise financial decisions in college by I've paid for this twice already. The two smart decisions she says she made included not using credit cards and only getting student loans to pay for tuition. I started to think about what smart moves I've done financially while in university.

1. Avoiding leases like the plague.
I only signed a lease once during my university stint, and that was on purpose in order to learn about the tenant/landlord minefield. Apart from that one time, I never signed a lease. Leases generally carry a minimum duration of 12 months, and I was never at school for the whole year. Instead, I scoured rent ads for people who wanted lease takeovers and subletters. That way, I negotiated the duration of the lease to only be for the length of time I needed, and sometimes I would also bargain to have internet included in the monthly rent. (I think a lot of people go about this unethically, but I tried to be as fair as possible and not a bully).

2. Working full-time jobs in between classes.
Whenever I wasn't a full time student I was employed full time (except for one summer where I went to a few developing countries to do volunteer work). The money that I made from each of these jobs went first to my tuition, then to paying off student loans. After that I used my money to pay for fun stuff.

3. Setting financial goals.
I never, ever would have been able to tackle my finances if I had never started university with the goal of paying for it myself and walking away without debt. Yes, I still have debt now, but it's my choice (because I opted not to use my money to pay off my loans just yet). That's incredible freedom that I have.

Maybe in a few years I will look back and add a few other things I think were smart decisions.

On Receiving Hate Mail

I've been cleaning out my room lately, picking out things that I can either sell or donate. There is a bulletin board at work where people post things they want to sell, and I posted my old toys and books on there for cheap, hoping that I could at least make some money off of it and keep myself afloat.

While I've gotten quite a number of people inquiring about my things and actually buying stuff off of me, there are also a few people who have gone out of their way to email me to tease and berate me for selling things they deem useless at cheap prices--even though most people have given me positive responses.

One of the things that the 'hate mail' has made me think about is the fact that people very easily look down on other people who they consider are being cheap. The people who have been teasing me make six figure sums annually. On the other hand, I'm making less than a tenth of that, yet I'm being teased for being cheap because I'm selling my old toys and books in order to pay for school and generally make ends meet without my parents' help so they can have one less thing to worry about. It's incredibly rude that people will go out of their way to berate you, behind the guise of an email address, because you're watching dollars.

I feel so incredibly upset that my parents have poor health and make minimum wage but treat people with respect, whereas some chump making a six figure salary will take time out of his day to insult me. It's probably childish for me to rant that life isn't fair, but there is nothing I want more than for my parents to have their health and not have to worry about finances. I carry a heavy heart everyday about it, and I don't appreciate it when people take that for granted and judge me instead.

I've taken up the issue with Human Resources and hope that this will go somewhere because it's not right for people to talk to me in an unprofessional and disrespectful manner. I hope this experience makes me a stronger person as well and teaches me how to stand up for myself against other people.

Taking a Class

I just paid about $350 for a three day workshop that is being held at a local college. When I suggested it to my boss, he said that he had heard good things about it and thought it would be a good idea.

I'm not getting reimbursed for it from work (I wish!), because I'm working on a student contract--one of the lowest of the lows, down there under part-time, contract, and temporary work. I don't get benefits or anything remotely close to that. But that's ok, because this $350 is an investment in myself.

I talked to him about taking more regular classes at a local college (non-transferable credits to my university, unfortunately) and he suggested that I not do that. He said I should focus on my job here, and that I'll learn a lot. Sometimes it's better to just take it easy and not get exhausted. Ironically, a lot of people have said that same thing to me. Should I take that as a sign?

A lot of people at work think I am 17 years old. I don't know where they got this idea from, because I sure didn't tell them that! I don't know what it is about me--is it the way I look? The way I talk? My acne coming to haunt me again? I am unsure. What worries me is that they'll think I'm more young and inexperienced than I actually am and they'll hold back from seeing me as an actual employee and just see me as some kid. That's scary because I would love to work at my current job full-time after graduating and wouldn't want them to think I'm not capable.

Archilles Heel

I came across an article on barriers to success that features Chris Garnder from the Pursuit of Happyness. I can totally relate to this article because I absolutely hate answering messages and phone calls. This started sometime in my final year of high school, right around the time I became depressed and my mom got cancer. I just couldn't deal with school properly, so I skipped classes, and would get phone calls home. That was four years ago, and I still cringe when I see that I have messages to answer. It's something I have to make sure I work on for my personal development. I loved reading this article because it reminds me that I just have to deal with my flaws head on.