Hello Everybody! Welcome!

I want to start a series on finances.  I’ve learned a lot in the past year of my life.  Moving out of your parents house at a young age while only working a part-time job kind of forces you to learn a LOT.  Let me tell you how I got to be so wise…

Let’s go back to Jan 1 of 2018.  I was over living at home – not because I was a bad kid – but because I wanted the independence that came with living on my own.  I was tired of being questioned every time I even reached for my keys.  “Where are you going? What are you doing? Who are you doing it with?”  I was TIRED of it!!

So I did something reckless. Something irrational.  Something that’s totally not like me.

I texted one of my co-workers, whom I had known of/about since high school (I worked with her mom at my previous job so I knew all the dirt).  I knew she wasn’t the greatest human being, but I was desperate.  I asked her if she wanted to get an apartment together.

Fast forward like two weeks and we were living together in a dinky 2 bedroom apartment that just so happened to be across the street from my parents (thank the good Lord).  Things were going well.  We painted and bought furniture; it was becoming a home.  HOWEVER, things quickly fell apart.

First of all, I was working about 20 hours a week.  How could I possibly afford about $400/month in apartment bills ON TOP of my $120 phone bill AND still have money for food? I have NO idea.  I literally made $10.50/hr.  I was bringing home about $675/month.  Okay, so I probably could do it.  Money would just be very tight.  I was fine with that.  I finally had my own place.

Here’s where shit gets real. Fast forward about two months.  It was a few days before my 20^thbirthday.  I was living on my own and almost out of my teens (shout-out to me for beating teen pregnancy).  The world was my oyster! I could do anything! So what did I do?  I decided I needed a new car.  I had been driving my parents ’97 Plymouth Neon since I got my license when I turned 17.  It literally sat on the ground, the seats were this ugly multi-colored speckled fabric (featuring a red crayon stain brought to you by my little sister circa 2004, there was absolutely no A/C (ever experienced an Indiana summer with no car a/c?), the fabric “roof” was coming apart at the seams, and the dash was coming apart.  It was a MESS and I was OVER IT.  I could most definitely not go through another humid Indiana summer with no a/c in my car.  So my roommate and I decided to take a peek at the pre-owned Hubler car lot.

I left that night with a car.

A 2014 Ford Focus to be exact.

WHAT was I thinking??? I could hardly afford my apartment! Let alone a freaking car! Plus, insurance! My oh my I don’t know what was going on in my head.

Anyway, so I walked away with my first big-girl purchase.  I now owed the bank $180/month for the car, and Allstate a little over $200/month for insurance.  I could now no longer officially afford my life.  What did I do?

Honestly don’t even ask.

Okay I’ll tell you.

But first let me backtrack.

So, I used $1,000 I was supposed to use to pay for the last bit of my trip to Europe (see that post here) as part of a down payment on my car.  Then the middle of March came, and I needed to make that final payment, otherwise I couldn’t go!  Iwent to my mom’s mom and my dad’s parents and they were all gracious enough to let my borrow the money I needed so I could go on this trip of a lifetime.

There’s mistake #1.

 

ANYWAY

This is really embarrassing but uh when it came to car payments I just didn’t make any.  I literally didn’t make any payments for the first maybe four to six months of having my car.  I just couldn’t’ afford it. Cue in the Godsends I call Grandma and Grandpa (AGAIN).  They bailed me out and paid all of my car payments that I missed so I wouldn’t get my car taken away.  So, there’s that.

 

Now you’re probably wondering how the hell I dealt with insurance.

 

Backtrack to back when I got the car… for whatever reason my roommate and I decided to get insurance together in case something happened to the other’s car and we needed to borrow a car. BIG MISTAKE.  She got a car too, but hers was a 2016 so insurance was more expensive, which is why mine was so much because we just split the cost down the middle.

ANYWAY, I was somehow making the payments for a few months, but I knew it wouldn’t last long. Eventually I knew I wasn’t going to make the payment, so I told my roommate she needed to get her own insurance and I didn’t pay the last bill.  So that’s almost $500 that I’m in debt in (don’t forget about the money I owe my grandparents too!).

So now I’m literally like $1,500 in debt.  On top of the money I owe the three credit cards I have.

My financial life is a literal hot mess, but I’m figuring it out. I plan on taking you guys through my financial journey so y’all don’t make the same mistakes that I have.

I’m young.  I’m learning.  I’m growing.  I’m figuring out how to do the adult thing while I am living completely on my own.

Tell me about a time you made an awful financial mistake.

Much Love,

MCC