Tightening the Belt
May. 4th, 2009 01:38 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
rebeccmeisterYesterday morning I took a few extra minutes to update my monthly financial records and assess my funding situation for the summer (since I finally got information about what I would be paid). In that whole process, I discovered to my dismay that across those pay periods I will be earning only 3/4 of the amount I usually earn during the school year. Goodbye, easy life. After scrutinizing my spending records, though, I think things will be okay in the long run.
On occasions like this, I always like to think back to the summer before my junior year of college, when I had only $10 to my name for about a month before I was finally paid for my summer internship at the Joslin Diabetes Center. Now *that* was stressful--my first time living in an apartment, managing all of my expenses. This time, I should at least be able to afford rent, groceries, utilities, and cat ownership. The real issue will be my plans to go to Australia for the World Masters Games in October. I will still be able to afford that trip, provided I am more careful about my spending habits between now and then. If all else fails, I have been diligent enough about setting aside money for savings and undergraduate student loan repayment that I can borrow from myself in the short-term. But I'd rather not.
Instead, it will be time to get creative, and to practice even more fungality, as the Scrabble Society calls it--the art of enjoying oneself without spending money. Sadly, that is going to mean fewer visits to coffeeshops, no new garden gadgets, and probably cutting back on fancy foods. But I'll survive, and am still bound and determined to keep paying off those undergraduate loans. In the long run, I think I will enjoy the trip to Australia even more if I go with the knowledge that I had to do absolutely everything in my power to earn the trip.
Having less money always means that one must be more conscious and conscientious about where one's resources are spent. That's not always a bad thing. And that concludes this personal pep talk. Back to science.
On occasions like this, I always like to think back to the summer before my junior year of college, when I had only $10 to my name for about a month before I was finally paid for my summer internship at the Joslin Diabetes Center. Now *that* was stressful--my first time living in an apartment, managing all of my expenses. This time, I should at least be able to afford rent, groceries, utilities, and cat ownership. The real issue will be my plans to go to Australia for the World Masters Games in October. I will still be able to afford that trip, provided I am more careful about my spending habits between now and then. If all else fails, I have been diligent enough about setting aside money for savings and undergraduate student loan repayment that I can borrow from myself in the short-term. But I'd rather not.
Instead, it will be time to get creative, and to practice even more fungality, as the Scrabble Society calls it--the art of enjoying oneself without spending money. Sadly, that is going to mean fewer visits to coffeeshops, no new garden gadgets, and probably cutting back on fancy foods. But I'll survive, and am still bound and determined to keep paying off those undergraduate loans. In the long run, I think I will enjoy the trip to Australia even more if I go with the knowledge that I had to do absolutely everything in my power to earn the trip.
Having less money always means that one must be more conscious and conscientious about where one's resources are spent. That's not always a bad thing. And that concludes this personal pep talk. Back to science.
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no subject
Date: 2009-05-05 02:48 pm (UTC)Nice to know we've left undergrad levels of poverty behind us, isn't it?
And I didn't know you were going to Australia! That's very cool.
no subject
Date: 2009-05-05 04:09 pm (UTC)Yeah, I keep thinking about your adventures in Amsterdam relative to my upcoming adventures in Australia. I've never taken a vacation that's this long-distance before--all of the other times I've traveled so far, it has been in the name of science. I might squeeze in a wee bit of science while I'm there, but for the most part, I think I'm going to enjoy myself immensely.