money
Saturday, Nov. 02, 2002
There are three people that keep telling ME to leave THEM alone but from what I can see they are fascinated with my diary and my life and can�t seem to ever LEAVE me alone. Ya know its flattering to know that my writing is so interesting that some individuals can�t help themselves. Shelley�s nasty guestbook entry prompted me to talk about money.
I am often broke, but never without a dime. I can however always afford to buy a cup of coffee. And I don�t have to steal my food from Burger King to survive. My son eats 3 healthy meals a day and if someone goes without anything for a few days, it is me! I would think that if I could afford a nice Cinderella costume I wouldn�t have to worry about thieving from conglomerate fast food places. But I do think the crack whore mocha would be an exceptionally nice treat for a certain wife.
I have never gotten stranded because I ran out of gas, I just would rather have at least a half full tank. Most of the time if I say I�m driving on fumes, I am referring to the fact that for me the gas gage is not at a comfortable level. I do not get any assistance from the government and I AM making ends meet on my own. My son goes to a rather expensive tae kwon doe after school program where they teach him more than just how to sit in a straight line and be quiet like other places that are a lot cheaper.
As I rant and rave about this, this which pisses me off because there�s not a soul reading this that has been to my house, seen my son�s room, knows how I live, Bucky is asleep on the living room floor with his rollerblades still on his feet and he looks so cute that I am reminded that it really doesn�t matter what a stranger on the Internet thinks about me or my life, or anything else for that matter.
In the area that I live in, I can pick up 5 books I�ve already read from my bookshelves and go in and trade them out for 5 other books I haven�t read. I can do the same thing with my CD�s. Often when I want a new CD, I trade in 4 old ones and take the cash value and voila, I have the money to buy the new CD. I rarely buy myself anything that is not recycled in such a manner. Once a month I might buy a brand new shirt, or pair of pants or some such thing. Most of the time, those things are for my son who is growing rapidly. Thankfully his father is very involved in his life and also provides these things. I know how to spend $20 at the grocery store and eat for a week if necessary from that $20. I spend on average about $1.75 on my own lunches every day. Thank God there are $99 menu�s all over the area. And even if I don�t go that route, I buy one entr�e and because of my diet, I split it right down the middle and have lunch for two days. I am frugal beyond belief. Yes, I manage to have the things I want and yes when I get a bonus check or make some extra money on the side as I am now with www.moneyis4me.com I take my son and buy him a new toy, or we put some money in his bank account for college. I can always afford to go to Borders and pay $1.98 for a large coffee with free refills and I spend a few hours there reading magazines etc. So for $1.98 I get a few hours of entertainment, lots of coffee, and my son gets to read books and it�s all good.
The park is an amazing place because it�s free. The beach is free too, but you�ll need a few bucks for parking. But if you go at 3 in the afternoon, you�ll pay about $1.25 and then after 5:30 parking is free. If you�re broke or �driving on fumes� then you can put your $1.25 in your gas tank and park across the street and take a longer stroll to get to the sand. But hey if you�re in high frugal mode, you�ll still get to go to the beach.
Another thing that�s almost always free, festivals, some museums and outside events. Living in FL is nice because there�s always a pool to swim in, a park to go to, a beach to walk on. I can go to the mall and have a grand time on $10. $10 will get your kid a comic book, a happy meal and his choice of bubble gum from the big kick ass bubble gum machine section.
My car is paid for and I have no car payment so that contributes to part of the reason why I can manage to do certain things. It�s an older car, but there�s nothing wrong with it and it runs very good. And besides, it has those funky t-tops and rates high on the fun scale to my son.
Probably the biggest expense and the biggest financial drain on things right now is someone�s illness. The doctor�s bills, while there is medical insurance, run $15 every time he goes. Co-pays. Ugh. Even higher, the prescriptions. I can�t sit idly by and do nothing to assist him with these expenses. Regardless of our current status, he is very sick and in a great deal of pain 24 hours a day. I am not heartless and even though most of the time it seems like I�m wasting my time to try to have an amicable good relationship there, I cannot forget that once upon a time I said, �in sickness and in health�. I believe if the situation were reversed he would help me too. And regardless of anything else, he is the father of my child, and that child sees his father in pain. So, most of the time rather than buy a new book, I trade up. Rather than go out to dinner, we eat at home.
I am at work every single day. I am not one of those people that �on a whim� decide to take a day off. I�ve never been fired from a job, and I�ve never left on bad terms either. I know that I always get great references and I know that this is largely due to my reliability and of course my large capacity to multitask. And it doesn�t hurt that I never say �no� when asked to complete a task. I took a job where I was meant to run all bank and trades and determine the validity of a company�s credit worthiness. That was two years ago. Since I have learned to QC electronic components, inventory, and run 2 software programs, track purchase orders, deal with overseas companies, refurbish parts, and various other things. I am not a �one job� type of employee. I know that I make myself invaluable. Because in this day and age, if you aren�t then you will be let go easily.
Incidentally there are some great grocery stores out there that have their own brands of coffee and some of those are rather kickass for $2.99/lb. Flavored and all!
I have a lot of goals and plans for my future, none of which will ever include marketing because it appears that it really does make someone stupid. I am not stupid. I am living my life without family, without support and without expecting anyone else to provide for me.
If I had a college education I wouldn�t dump all the responsibility of earning income on my spouse. I know this for fact, because I�ve been working since I was 15 years old. Fluffing pillows, preparing meals, being a housewife, it is not an easy task. I know this because I do all of those things, after I go to work all day.
Now I�m gonna go read my $2.99 hardback copy of �Shampoo Planet� by Douglas Coupland. Then when Bucky wakes up we�ll have a late lunch and hit the park.
Did I mention that my internet service is $9.99 a month? That�s 34 cents a day. So skip telling me how that would make all the difference in the world. And besides Bucky loves www.nick.com and 34 cents a day is a small price to pay to make that kid happy.
-PoeticaL
