A few word of advice to anyone who hasn’t been in debt:
It is the devil and must be avoided at all costs.
In fact, to paraphrase the late Doctor Hunter S. Thompson, I’d say I feel the same way about debt as I do about herpes; it’s a disaster to be avoided at all… costs.
Having no concept of financial responsibility at the age of 18, until now I’ve never had a full paycheck’s funds in the bank for more than a few days. Days before payday were days of wondering if there would be enough gas/bus money to make it to work to collect that paycheck. For some reason, it took two years to figure out that I have a habit of spending too much money on trivial and unnecessary things. While those days are over, there was still the matter of paying off credit cards, dentists and insurance companies.
Enter an accounting error. 18 months ago, I was informed that my position did not earn overtime pay; a simple reading of the Department of Labor’s rules seemed to confirm this. Fast forward to 3 weeks ago, when my boss is complaining about all the overtime a co-worker of mine is working. Enter a feeling of slight injustice followed by conversations with HR and payroll, summing up in a large, long-overdue sum direct-deposited into my account yesterday morning.
As of noon today, I live debt free with enough money left over to take care of the car before winter and…
Oh, there’s that Mac Mini that I really want to replace this aging, damaged PowerBook. It will have to wait a few weeks.
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