Anti-Independence Job
It's only the second week of January and I am already feeling the pain of being broke. Getting paid once a month is too hard to deal with. I'm a student and it's the beginning of the semester. I need to buy books and paper and highlighters and all of those kind of things, but I can't because I don't get paid till the last work-day of the month (January 31st). Come then, I will obviously have had to purchase everything I need for classes on my credit card, where it will sit and collect interest that I can't pay.
Seeing as I can only work about 14 hours a week this semester, I'm not going to be making a ton of money. I still need money for other things like organization dues, grocery shopping, and prescriptions. By the time I take care of those things (that I need now), I can't pay off my whole credit card bill. I rarely go out with my friends anymore - to the movies or the bar or to dinner - just because I can't pay. I don't know what I'm going to do next year when I live off-campus and have to pay monthly rent (right now I live in a university owned apartment building).
How do they expect people to survive like this? I'm almost certain that faculty and staff members get paid bi-weekly, which is fair. But students? We get once a month at the end of the month. It's impossible. I have about $26.00 to my name right now and in two weeks I have to pay the rest of my security deposit ($375.00). It's impossible. So what does that mean for me? That means I have to ask my parents for money, which is something that I don't like to do. I've had one job or another since I was 15. I have been paying for my own things since then. I don't like asking for money; I hate owing people. I know that my parents wouldn't make me pay them back, but this is something that I wanted to do on my own. I try very hard to be financially independent, but sometimes, I guess, my best efforts just don't cut it. Sometimes it's beyond my control.
Till then... e.
Having to pay your own bills when you are a student on a limited income is difficult. One thing you can change, though is your attitude about that limited monthly income. Treat it like a limited bi-weekly income. That means, have a two week budget for half your net monthly income. It most probably also means cutting out any frills and finding cost-cutting possiblities for all your necessities. I would say, write them down, trim them down, and stick to the budget.