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I wouldn’t make such a big deal about money if I had it and felt comfortable and didn’t spend my nights grinding away at my mouth guard stressing about it. Though, in recent months the situation has gotten slightly better and I’m slowly finding myself a little bit more stable and less like I’m going to vomit every time I buy groceries. I mean really, why was I not informed that cantaloupe is very expensive?
Upon my graduation, my mother gave me two books: one a signed copy of Donna Brazile’s memoir ‘Cooking with Grease’ and the other ‘The Money Book for the Young, Fabulous and Broke’ by Suze Orman. The former is one of my very favorite people and the latter is my mother’s personal finance guru; their relationship involves a lot of my mother watching her intently and nodding in agreement. Being given these books meant that my mother assumed that I would diligently read both and take copious notes to recite back to her verbatim. And while there was perusal I was easily distracted by shiny things like Laguna Beach and a new wine to test out.
Being given these books also meant that from that point forward, every time I mentioned my state of brokenness; my mother’s Pavlovian reaction was to say “Well, you know Donna Brazile didn’t have any money when she was your age and the only way she could eat was at receptions where there was free food. Did you read her book? Heather, you should read her book†etc. etc. It also means that every time I mention getting a venti non-fat chai latte (black tea please); she automatically comes back with “Suze wouldn’t like that. Suze would tell you to make coffee at home. Did you read Suze’s book?†I’m convinced there’s a quota she must meet each month as to the number of times she must advertise these books lest she won’t get the advertising fee as promised by the fine people at Harper Collins.
I do read and have read and am trying to implement things as I see fit. As they work for me. ME! Which means that I really can’t get to the part about how to save adequately until I execute Suze’s ways to pay off a credit card: pay off the card with the highest interest first with the minimum payment plus and additional $50, at the very least. See? Reading comprehension.
My mother would also love to know about my addiction to Liz Pulliam Weston of MSN, specifically this interview she did for CNBC in which she said that people in their 20’s should act like a broke college student for as long as possible. To which I say: HA! What if I never was a broke college student? What if I never once worried about money and had as many Coach bags as I wanted? What if this is all new to me and I’m still learning about how to be broke because I’ve never been broke? Huh?
The above states the roots of my current problems which I am surely but ever so slowly overcoming. Next up on my list of fun budgeting things to try is something I read on the Naked Ledger (Oh yeah, I’m a Clubmom fan, that’s how I roll) per the suggestion of Mir (yes, Mir, that Mir) which is to put money in separate envelopes and go from there. Which is brilliant! And so very time consuming and yet will teach me that a certain amount of money for gas each month does not mean that one should go over because she feels like driving up and down the I-95 corridor.
Of course now would be an excellent time to mention that any other fun little budgeting ideas that anyone has would be of great use and would keep me from ruining my pearly whites by way of incessant grinding. Please and thank you.
