Edit To Add: Thought of two more. Make that twelve things.
Don’t get me wrong. Don’t imagine that I am, by any stretch of the imagination, rich (except in my new wonderful job that I love, and my family that I love, and my 2007 Corolla that I love…). But yeah. Monetarily? Not rich. My hourly rate X 80 hours X 26 pay periods doesn’t break $30K. That said, it’s better than it was, and a damn sight better than a lot of people are managing.
And even better, tthere are things I can do now, that I couldn’t do before, and I am happy about these things. In no particular order really:
- Late fees have become much less frequent. I’m not perfect, so they still happen. But if they do, it’s because I goofed, not because the money just wasn’t there. Which…more money for me!
- Insufficient Funds fees. Same thing. All my accounts are linked so if I have money it goes where it’s needed to keep me from these fees–but if there’s no money to be had, that doesn’t help.
- I’ve bought furniture. Actual furniture. Bought new. From a furniture store. It’s pretty. And I like it.
- I’m taking two classes this semester. Whether that was a good choice time-wise is another question, but because I am making more money, I am able to take two classes at once despite the fact that financial aid continues to be a twit about my foolishness twenty years ago.
- Both cats have now had vet visits. Please don’t lecture me about responsible pet ownership. My cats have always had vet visits when I could see they needed to go. Regular check-ups, though? They got those about as often as I did. Now they’re at more often than I do, since I don’t have insurance yet.
- Established an emergency fund that doesn’t get wiped out every other month. Emergency vet visits don’t zero it out anymore. Emergency dr visits/co-pays won’t wipe it out. If I need to go to the dentist, I will (most likely) be able to reach into my stash, get money and go.
- Saving for a getaway. Once the bills are paid and the emergency money is stashed, I get what’s left in cash. I buy groceries and gas and cat litter, and what’s left I either spend foolishly, or stuff away for a runaway weekend. Currently my friend and I are plotting a weekend in San Diego during NaNo. San Diego is six hours away and I haven’t been there in more than twenty years.
- I’m maintaining my car. The last car was 25 years old when I finally moved on, and the windows didn’t work. Neither did the heater, the AC, the radio…I had to flip a switch to turn on the radiator fan. My trunk was tied shut. The paint was coming off in layers. When I got the car, all this stuff worked–but over the years as things broke or went funky, I didn’t have the money to do anything about them. As long as it ran, we were good. I even mastered coasting from the left turn where she liked to die on cold mornings, through a right turn and then another left into my parking space at work. (though if anyone was in the way and I had to use my brakes, then I had a struggle to get her started again to get into my spot.) I kept the oil changed, because to not do that is flat out stupid, but I lived without the rest. Windows are a luxury, really. Even though it’s been an unusually heavy monsoon, and driving with the window down in the rain is a good way to be unable to see where you’re going.
- Got the hell off prepaid cell service. Omg, that was such a pain in the ass! No one cares about your problems once they’ve got your money. If you were a customer they really wanted, you’d be like normal people, post-paid.
- Finally I have a smartphone. It’s a lifesaver in situations like the one on Tuesday, where I and the kid sat in the hospital waiting for most of the day. Luckily free wifi kept her from driving me to my own episode. Also I have the Kindle app on it (books!) and a couple apps for keeping track of my kitchen as I try to learn to cook what’s in the house, and bring into the house things I can cook, and stuff like that.
- New underwear. Holy cats, I hadn’t noticed how shabby I was getting. But new underwear, and one cheap but new set of sheets…
- Paying down my debts. It feels so good to pay twice or more the monthly payment.
So yeah. It’s been nice. You’ll notice that aside from stashing an emergency fund (which I’d been attempting to do before) most of the incoming money is being spent. Consumers are the real job creators, and when you give someone who doesn’t have much money a little bit more, they will happily stimulate the economy.