Thursday, February 24, 2011

Negative numbers are no fun

They say that one of the top reasons why most marriages end in divorce is because of money.

After yesterday, I gotta agree with that statement.

Yesterday was stressful at work, but I stayed late to finish everything. While I was waiting to approve something, I logged into my bank account online. Now, being that it's the end of the month, I knew I'd be a little low on funds. This is because the majority of my bills are due at the end of the month--i.e. rent, student loan, and storage.

But I can tell you this. I did not expect to see -$700.54 as my balance.

I immediately tried to comprehend what the hell I could've spent that much money on. I sure as hell knew I didn't just go out on some shopping spree. But I think I was too panicked to really do the math. So I called my mom.

36 minutes later, we basically figured out I had made two mistakes. #1 was thinking I could transfer a substantial amount of money from checking to my other savings account without really checking to see if I had money in there. That basically messed up alot of it. And, I paid off my Discover credit card on which I had charged my new tires on. So that was a hefty payment--normally I'd have that extra $357 in my account. #2 It actually hurt me to have my automatic savings transaction this pay period. Had I canceled that, I would've had enough funds to cover all my bills.


When I got home from work, I got into bed and cried in the dark. I cried because I felt like a failure. I mean, I'm 26 years old, I should know how to manage money. Right? RIGHT. I was also angry because I WORK HARD for my money. How unfair is it that I work and yet I have none?

At one point when I was on the phone with my mom, she said, "You know if you had a mortgage payment right now, they could take away your loan because you don't have money in your account." This really made me upset because if I can't buy my own place--where the hell am I supposed to live? I can't live with my parents the rest of my life. And renting is just like throwing money out the window.

During my hysterical crying fit, I actually had the thought that since I didn't have a cent to my name (which obviously isn't true--I have more than enough in savings, but I don't want to borrow from savings because I'm afraid I'll never pay myself back) I would have to go to the food bank for groceries. And then I thought of next month when I'd have money to spend again and how everytime I'd go to the grocery store, I would set aside $12 or so for items to donate to the food bank so that I could help someone else.

Obviously, I can be (sorta) melodramatic. But I haven't overdrafted my account like that EVER. So you can imagine why it was such a big deal to me. Thank god I have overdraft protection. Plus, my parents owed me some money. So basically, all I owe the bank will be the amount my automatic savings withdrawal took earlier this month, which I have already scheduled to transfer tomorrow.

So everything will be okay.


Have you ever cried over money? How do you deal with the stress of it all and still maintain your sanity?

Tuesday, February 15, 2011

On the radio

Last night on my way home, I was listening to the radio.

This guy had apparently given the radio station all these hints about a lucky lady who he wanted to propose to...some of the hints where what city she lived in and what restaurant they shared their first date at.

Well, the lucky lady called in because she had been getting tons of phone calls and texts from her friends who had been listening--they all thought it was her.

She called in and the djs asked her to confirm all the answers to the hints that they had given out throughout the day. She got them all right...and then her boyfriend got on the phone.

I had just pulled into my driveway when I got to this part, which always seems to happen. But I waited and listened to see what she was gonna say.

Well, she completely flipped out. And not in a good way. She said she never likes making a public spectacle of herself, so why would he call and propose to her ON NATIONAL RADIO? But the real kicker was when she said, "I can't marry someone who doesn't know me." And then she hung up.

What a disaster! That poor guy.

Today was telling my friend this story, and we both agreed that a radio proposal wouldn't be our choices. I mean, you can't even see his facial expression. I could see this working out if it was a long distance thing, but if you're in the same state/city, it makes no sense to me.

How do you want to be proposed to? In public? In private? 
For those who are already engaged or married--how did he/she propose?

Tuesday, February 1, 2011

My Strange Addiction

Oh my gosh...has anyone seen the show on TLC called My Strange Addiction? It's like crazy.

A few weekends ago I hunkered down and watched a bunch of episodes. One featured a girl who ate laundry detergent and soap, another girl ate chalk, one had a shopping addiction, and another was a ventriloquist who took her puppets everywhere with her. Oh, and I can't forget about the (now single) mom who uses a hair dryer to go to bed. Not only did her addiction ruin her marriage, it also caused her physical harm. She had multiple scars on her arms from getting burnt by the hair dryer. 



Another episode featured a mother who was addicted to eating Comet cleaning powder for more than 35 years. It showed her when she went to the dentist and took x-rays of her mouth. All of her teeth were rotten. Lucky for her, the dentist said she would replace her entire mouth with fake teeth for free. In return, she had to seek therapy and rid herself of her addiction.

It's definitely crazy to watch all these people having such strange addictions, but the bottom line is, they all really have psychological problems, which is sad.

Have you seen this show?

Drum Roll...

Remember the giveaway I did last month? Well, my dog and I finally settled on a winner....TELLIE!