Life Lessons Courtesy of College - 7

Money Matters

When leaving for college, the first thing you think of is the fact that you are now a full-blown “adult” regardless of how untrue that really is. A hard lesson learned when I became an independent adult was the true value of budgeting. In high school, the money I earned didn’t go into a savings account but rather straight to whatever outfit I wanted or activity I wanted to attend. I never learned the true value of saving my money for a rainy day because I never envisioned that rainy day to ever actually happen.

My parents have always instilled a sense of responsibility to my siblings and me, especially when it came to paying for things that were not priorities. Thus, when I made the decision to join a sorority it became my financial responsibility to pay for the hefty dues that came along with it. Sadly, after frivolously spending my money in high school I had close to no money in the bank. I quickly came to understand what it felt to actually be a poor college student and I frequently had less than $10 in my bank account. Weekends and holidays were spent going home to work in order to earn money that would quickly disappear for monthly dues. While at the time I blamed my parents for my financial stress for making me pay for my sorority myself I came to realize that there was no one to blame but myself. After a rough and stressful freshman year where I missed out on many extracurricular activities due to my lack of money, I came out a better person than I began.


Fast forward to my final year of college and I still live paycheck to paycheck, however I have a much stronger grasp on what budgeting truly is and how to prioritize certain things over others. Meals are mainly cooked at my apartment as opposed to out at restaurants and I buy one new shirt or dress every now and then for special occasions. I saved enough money over the past 3 years to finally have been able to buy my first car entirely by myself and continue to raise my credit through paying my bills on time. Adulting hit hard and fast yet I wouldn’t change my experiences one bit as they made me that much better and mature of a person than the girl that left for college 4 years ago.

Comments

  1. UnknownOctober 18, 2017 at 11:52 AM

    Thank you so much for writing about this. I can personally relate to have to deal with financial burdens when it comes to wanting to have a social life while also being able to pay for things that are necessity. I think the important thing is to learn from it and grow as financially independent people.

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