| ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The $8.08 State What a strange, strange week�.what with deaths and sicknesses (mine and GB�s), money woes and concerts and time spent with friends and schoolwork and lots of sleep and warmer-than-normal days and colder-then-normal nights� I�m not going to bore you with a blow-by-blow account of the last week � in fact I�m not even going to run through the highs and lows�the thought just seems too tiring. I guess it�s suffice to say that I�ve barely been around a computer since last Wednesday (partially because I was out from work Thurs/Friday) and now, here on this sprawling Monday, I�m trying to figure out where to pick up the threads again. I will share with you, however, the most recent of my money woes. Just because I feel like depressing the hell out of you. I think it was Wednesday when I sat down and tried to figure out just exactly HOW much in debt I will be once I�m done with graduate school. A rough ballpark figure put it at (cough) somewhere around $50K. WTF?!? That didn�t seem right. So I started a frantic cycle of adding and re-adding and sorting and re-sorting. You see, at $50K, my monthly school loan payments would be more than $350 a month for 25 years. So, after much hand-wringing and head-shaking and calculator-pounding I got the number back down to $40K. That�s if I don�t get anymore scholarships and don�t save any money on my own. Still kind of high though � still around $300 I think. Which is way more than what I would ideally like to pay. So, I�ve set about this new regime�the all Shivers Saving Plan which will, if I am faithful, not only pay off all of my credit cards by the end of the year but will give me $5K in the bank by next August. If I save up $5K AND get a $5K scholarship � I will really be doing well. This money doesn�t include the $3508.08 check I will pick up on Wed. This check is the remainder of my financial aid monies (meaning I have to pay it back). I will use $3000 of it towards tuition for my Fall 2004 semester (so that I don�t have to apply for financial aid for that year). I will put $500 in my regular savings account for emergencies. I think I will blow the remaining $8.08 on cheap makeup or Hello Kitty tchotckes�I know, I know, very irresponsible of me � but call it my final cash blowout. Anyway, if I succeed in saving up at least $5000 then that should knock my monthly payments down quite a bit. I�m so sick of thinking about money but I really need to start watching all my impulse purchases and meals�.that�s what really gets me. If I could just exercise a little bit more self-control then I should be able to pay off my credit card balance AND save up mucho moola without any real problems. If, if, if� I�ve also decided to really clean out my CD collection. I have so much stuff that I NEVER listen to�stuff I like but don�t necessarily love. Stuff that�s just taking up a lot of space. Stuff I could get cold hard cash for if I traded it in. So I�ve been weeding through the racks and am hoping to make a trip to Amoeba soon. I�ll put the bulk of any cash I get into my savings account. Maybe I should set up one of those Internet donation things? It worked for Save Karyn � why not a Save Shivers? Just a thought. In the meantime I'm really going to enjoy spending that $8.08... 1:23 pm - 02.10.03
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money can't buy happiness but it does buy small pieces of of serenity - 15.07.12 - 4:29 pm sh)t's about to get real, y'all - 31.05.12 - 9:46 am why the hell not? - 29.04.12 - 8:38 pm Hear that lonesome whistle blow... - 02.04.12 - 5:18 pm a faith in something I can't see - 30.03.12 - 3:33 pm |
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