17-minute interview about credit unions, money, and the economic crisis

October 20 17 Comments latest by Mike

Last week, I recorded an interview about credit unions, money, and the economic crisis with George Hofheimer at the Filene Research Institute, which studies consumer finance and credit unions. George and I met when I spoke to credit union executives a couple of years ago.

Here’s the interview in streaming MP3 form, plus a transcript below.

RSS readers: Can’t see the MP3? Click here to listen to the interview.

George Hofheimer: Hello, this is George Hofheimer, Chief Research Officer at the Filene Research Institute and welcome to our podcast series entitled ‘Ideas Grow Here’. Today, we will be having a conversation with Ramit Sethi, Founder of the Personal advice site, iwillteachyoutoberich.com. He is also the author of an upcoming book by the same name. Ramit, a 26-year-old Stanford graduate will furnish a young adult’s perspective on what role credit unions can play for today’s stressed out consumers. We hope you enjoy today’s show.

Today, I want to welcome our guest. His name is Ramit Sethi and he is the founder of the website iwillteachyoutoberich.com, and Ramit, I was wondering if you could tell our audience, today, a little bit about yourself, your background, and a little bit about your business. It’s kind of unique.

Ramit Sethi: Sure, I am 26-years-old. I started, ‘I Will Teach You to Be Rich’ when I was a student at Stanford and I actually started it for reasons before that because when I was applying to colleges, I had to get a bunch of scholarships to be able to afford it. The first scholarship I got was $2,000. I turned around and invested that in the stock market and I lost half my money. So when I got to Stanford I decided that I probably should learn about money. I then started teaching it to my friends and, of course, they never attended my classes, they said it sounded great, but they never came.

So finally I started a blog and that blog iwillteachyoutoberich.com really took off; the blog posts about 180,000 readers per month and it’s been featured in the New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, on TV, etcetera. What I try to do with this site is talk about personal finance and personal entrepreneurship as if you and I are sitting around the table just chatting about money. So it’s not the same old browbeating about stopping your spending on lattes because frankly, that hasn’t worked. It’s more punchy points about things that we care about and how to try and achieve those goals, whether it’s negotiating with your bank, negotiating with your credit union, saving up for a vacation, or even getting a second job or doing some kind of entrepreneurial thing on the site.

George Hofheimer: So how can you teach me to be rich?

Ramit Sethi: Well I think the first thing is that rich is not just about money. A lot of people say, “Well, do you have a million dollars?” and the question is, “Well doesn’t it depend, if you have a million dollars, is that rich? What about if you live in Manhattan, or what about if you are 26 versus 65?” Rich is not just about money, so it’s really important to understand what rich means to you. And for many people it means being able to take an international trip once-a-year or being able to help your parents out with their retirement. The first thing you do is understand what it means to you.

The second thing to set some modest goals. And I think most people have pretty modest dreams that are actually very achievable. If you do want to go to China next June, no problem. I can help you plan for that and help you save up the money to do that. If you want to invest your money so that at a certain point in the future you are earning more from your investments than from your savings I can help you do that. The key is, it’s not about being the fanciest, smartest person in the room and knowing P/E Ratios. The hardest part is really just getting started.

George Hofheimer: Well that’s good news for me, because I am never the smartest person in the room, but, kind of, considering the advice that you are giving consumers and some of the ideas that you are throwing out there what could credit unions be doing more effectively?

Ramit Sethi: Well, I think it’s a great time to reach out to consumers. I read a report yesterday that said 8 out of 10 Americans are stressed out about their personal financing. I found that astonishing and I think there are a couple things that credit unions can be doing and I know this has been well debated among your organization. I have read your blog and some of your reports CUNA, CUES, etcetera; but I think first is reassurance.

Right now, as a typical consumer, I hear nothing but bad news and I think the financial companies like banks have really fallen short in reassuring customers. The second thing is guidance. How to save, how do you preserve your money. What should you be doing? They should be saying “Hey! Here’s what’s going on. Here’s why we’re going to be around.” Instead, they are just leaving a vacuum of information.

I think credit unions really do well at this on the community level because they have got such great and deep roots with the communities. They’re going out there and helping to not only educate their own base but also giving their base the tools to spread the word and I can talk about that a little bit later too.

(00:04:52)

George Hofheimer: So delving into that a little bit further, and I am a reader of your blog. A lot of the advice that you do give to consumers is really common sensical stuff. So why do you think people, number one, are so stressed out about it. Number two, why do they have such a hard time dealing with their finances?

Ramit Sethi: Well, why do you think people can’t lose weight? There are no secrets to losing weight just as there are no secrets to getting rich. If you want to lose weight, you eat less and exercise more. It’s very simple, but instead we get caught up in these ideas of, “Well I better eat carbs before I go to sleep, and then I should eat fiber right after I go running, and I should buy this pedometer.” You know what, if you do those two big things, exercise more and eat less, chances are you are going to lose weight, and the same is true with personal finance.

I think it’s very sensible, but there’s a lot of blame. We love to assign blame to everybody. There’s a lot of blame to go around as to why we are not succeeding as consumers at managing our money.

First of all, we are not trained. We didn’t learn this stuff in school. Most of my friends, even those who graduated and made great amounts of money, still don’t know how to manage their money.

We have bad examples. Our parents taught us about money. Chances are they didn’t know what they were doing. We see what’s on TV; you see these shows where people are changing their stock picks everyday, that’s crazy. Wall Street, they have a profit motive and our friends, they are not actually encouraging us to have a life of frugality; instead we try to see who can one up each other. Finally though, I think most importantly it comes back to us.

Personal finance is shrouded in a sense of mystery and I mentioned that 8 out of 10 people are stressed about their personal financing. How many of those people do you think have ever read one book on personal finance? There can be all the tools in the world, but if we are stepping up to learn them and the rest of it is disappointment.

George Hofheimer: So it’s kind of getting to the old-fashioned notion of thrift. Is that going to be hip again? Do you truly think we are entering a new era of how people consider their finances and know that the era we are leaving is one where asset prices go up? You can trade stocks on a daily basis and you will become rich easily. Is thrift an old-fashioned term that is going to be hip again?

Ramit Sethi: I think in some ways, yes. When I add things on my blog I write things like how to negotiate like an Indian. I have taught people how to call up their banks, their credit card companies, or any financial institution or and negotiate fees. I literally write the script of words they can use to negotiate specifically and people love that. So that is something that is really, really effective. I don’t think savings are sexy yet. It’s not quite so attractive to say, “How do you get that amazing quote.”

“I calmly put aside $25-a-week in an automatic withdrawal and after six months, I was able to afford it.” That doesn’t sound great, but when people asked, “How did you buy that new car?” I said, “I used the service called Fighting Chance and I was able to get about $5,000 off the asking price of the car, $2,000 under invoice because I had some information that other people didn’t, people’s ears will perk up.

So I think the take-away there is that thrift can be hip, it can be cool, if the vision is big enough. Saving $5 here and there is not a big vision, but being able to say, “Hey, I saved $50,000 on my mortgage because I knew something that you didn’t,” that is really, really alluring.

George Hofheimer: Yes, absolutely. Now, we operate in the credit union space and anytime people from the same industry get together, there is a lot of navel-gazing and conventional wisdom. And the conventional wisdom in credit unions, one of them is that we offer a better deal for the consumer and we are the best-kept secret. As I have become accustomed to your website, I notice that you talk about the types of accounts that you have and I notice that you don’t have a credit union account, I’m curious as to why?

Ramit Sethi: Yes. George, I am on thin ice because I spoke at CUES, the Credit Union Executive Society last year in Hawaii and I got in big trouble because I didn’t have a Credit Union Account. So, I am going to go into this knowing full well that I am treading water here. This is what I would say. You are right, I don’t have a Credit Union Account. I think credit unions are fundamentally about change and I think it’s very similar to a political issue we have got going on right now.

Because most Americans have bank accounts, not credit union accounts, credit unions require consumers to make a change. And to be frank, I am lazy and so are most people. We are cognitive misers; we have enough going on in our life and we don’t want to worry or even pay attention to our financing. Even me, and I have read about personal finances every day.

(00:09:52)

To be a little less glib, I have evaluated a lot of credit union accounts and bank accounts and I guess the question is, is there enough activation energy for me to change to a credit union or even for me to go to a website and open up an account. I think, “Why would I?” And, I think, fundamentally, it’s certainly not because credit unions are member-owned. To be completely honest, none of my friends care about that or even know about that. “Do I get extra services?” I paid, I think, $50 for a Costco account because I could clearly measure my ROI. I am not so sure that it’s easy to do that with a credit union. Even though I love the services and when I go to buy a house, I will absolutely go and see if there are competitive rates there. I have heard about credit unions from a trusted source.

I want to give you an example. You read my blog and know that I talk about my ING Savings Account a great deal. I love it and the reason is two-part. One is that they have a really beautiful simple service that pays me a decent rate and they do not send me a bunch of stuff in the mail. They just leave me alone and I can do what I need to do. The second thing and this is the key, they have given me the tools to spread the word to other people and I have referred thousands of customers to ING.

I think that goes back to a huge part of the community outreach that credit unions do but can do better. It is like you have members that are passionate about credit unions. In fact, I would take a guess that the average credit union member is much more of an evangelist than say a Wells Fargo Bank Account holder. But, as a credit union member, are you giving your members the tools to spread the word?

I would argue, George, that referral should be a strategic metric that’s held up at the executive level every month. How many referrals did we get and programs should be put into place to help members refer other people. I think that is the way that young people hear about financial services. And when I am having conversations with friends about different tools, credit unions just aren’t in those conversations.

George Hofheimer: Interesting. And actually those thoughts that you just had were confirmed by a study that we did. We went into credit union member’s homes several years ago and asked them why they chose the credit union. One of the questions we asked them is “what are you a member of?”, and remember that they knew that they were part of a study examining why they joined a credit union, and the majority of folks did not mention that they were members of credit unions. So it’s the whole notion of having a tangible benefit and something to talk about, I think is a pretty compelling argument as well?

Ramit Sethi: That’s very interesting.

George Hofheimer: And so not to be tone-deaf to what’s going on outside the four walls of everyone’s lives and that’s the economy. The general consensus is that we are entering a pretty deep recession and it’s going to impact consumers tremendously. What can credit unions do, in your opinion, to help consumers through this recessionary time?

Ramit Sethi: That’s a good question. That’s a tough one. I am sure there are much smarter people in the credit union field that are thinking about this, but I will give it a shot as a consumer. I think the first thing is reach out to consumers. We are looking for leaders and we are looking for leadership to be honest with us. Just last night, after watching a presidential debate, I was furious and I wrote up a post on my blog saying, “Here is what Obama and McCain didn’t tell you about your money. They didn’t tell you x, y, z because it’s political suicide to do so.”

We are looking for leadership and it’s not coming from Washington as to what’s going on with the economy. Are we really expecting things to get better by the end of the year? I don’t think so, but nobody is going to tell you that. You can take a top-down and bottom-up approach. Top-down, you have got CUNA, you have got CUES, you have got other national organizations evangelizing credit union as a whole. Then from the bottom-up, at the community level you reach out to the local community and evangelize credit union, again, as change. It’s different than the same old banks you have had.

Locally, credit unions have resources that banks can’t beat. I have seen credit unions come and speak at high schools and universities that banks are too busy minting money to go to. This is a tactical piece of advice. When you go out to the community I would strongly recommend you attend events where people are forced to attend. That sounds somewhat counterintuitive. We always like to think if people care they will come. But I bet anybody listening to this knows that if you are hosting an event where you talk about credit unions or financial planning, your attendance rate is going to dismal.

(00:14:49)

So I prefer to go to places where people are forced to attend. If you are going to go speak at a classroom, make sure the professor require students to attend. If you are going to speak at a company, make sure the manager forces his or her direct reports to attend. And when you are there speaking to people, give them tools right there on the spot to sign up. Coming back to what credit unions can do in this economy, I think it’s time to think of revolution, and not evolution.

I have spoken to a lot of credit unions over the last couple of years and I still hear conversations about which paperweight should we offer to get people to sign up for our service or should we increase our yield rate 1%. You know that doesn’t fly anymore, increasing it 1% doesn’t make me pay attention to the computer screen and go sign up for an account.

We are talking about huge different ways of getting people to change. Offer us a system that will take us through our 20s and 30s. Don’t just say, “The services are available if you want it;” say, “We are going to make you a deal. We will give you better rates. We are going to work with you in a detailed basis and build a system for finances that will come through in your 20s and 30s.”

And finally, finally, finally and most importantly use your existing base of members to spread the word. If you don’t do that you just can’t compete with the deep pockets of banks but I will tell you this, having 10 people come to me and say, “Ramit, I got this amazing deal at this credit union, you should check it out,” that is more influential than any amount of advertising I could see on TV.

George Hofheimer: Well that’s great, Ramit. I think all of these are great points and coming from a generation where credit unions are struggling to effectively serve in the young adult market. I think the advice is sages and hopefully folks will take action in these tough times to help consumers out.

So once again, Ramit Sethi from iwillteachyoutoberich.com. If you haven’t checked out that website, I think it’s a great resource and a very keen consumer perspective on financial services and what you can do to help better serve today’s consumers. So Ramit, really, I appreciate your help today and your thoughts. So have a great day.

Ramit Sethi: Thank you.

Total Duration: 17 Minutes.

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The Truth: What Obama and McCain won’t tell you about your money

October 7 128 Comments latest by How to earn money

After watching the debate tonight, I figured I’d translate what both candidates were saying. Sorry I’m not as politically correct as them, but I hope this is informative.

Things will get a lot harder before they get better.
All the predictions about the recovery taking until “at least the end of the year” are horseshit. In truth, nobody knows, but it would be political suicide to admit that a recovery — whatever that means — will take a few more years. The truth is, nobody knows how long it will take. But if there’s one thing Americans love, it’s a leader pretending to know everything. And if there’s another, it’s that Americans love a quick fix…only to later complain about it not being done right.

Your questions about how “quickly” we can get out of this crisis are misguided.
Sometimes a forest needs to be cleaned out with fire before it can grow again. Again, an unpopular position. Since the government has virtually unlimited resources, it can certainly alleviate the pocketbook pain we’re feeling…but it will come back to bite us in the ass later.

Not all homeowners deserve to stay in their houses.
Renting is a perfectly reasonable alternative, but the idea of Americans “losing their houses” is politically untenable. Why? Because America perpetuates a mistaken culture of homeownership. Owning your own home is the kind of BS sacred cow that got us into this mess: Our parents tell us to buy a house. Our friends are impressed if we own a house in our twenties. The government literally encourages us to own a house by offering tax deductions. Homeownership is the American Dream!

The truth is, if you’re making the largest purchase of your life, you need more than a slogan — you need to take the responsibility to do some research. (And note that you can’t advocate for increased homeownership and also argue for Americans to keep their houses. By not reducing the prices, younger people cannot buy houses at these inflated prices.)

Yes, there was an exceptional amount of predatory lending.
For every blogger who argues loudly about personal responsibility, an angel dies and an Ogilvy executive lights a marshmallow in hell and eats a delicious snack. Wall Street and realtors are also to blame for this. But so are average Americans. It’s difficult to have a nuanced discussion about real estate on the campaign trail, so we resort to cartoonishly simplistic caricatures of things like Wall Street’s corruption. True — but also take a look in the mirror.

Homeowners are delusional about how much their houses are actually worth (see this, too).
As a wise commenter said, “I love the fact that it’s “acceptable/normal” for a home to increase its value by 100% during a five-year time frame, but it’s “unreasonable/impossible” for a home to decrease it’s value by 30-40% during a similar time frame.”

Taxes: Pandering to ordinary Americans instead of telling them to stop spending on stupid stuff
The reason Obama and McCain spent so much time talking about taxes is that most Americans are historically horrible at managing their spending. Since they make a fixed amount of money (revenue) and can control only one thing (costs), both politicans use tax breaks to pander to voters. Most people have never seriously thought about how to make more money. Fine. But what’s even more outrageous is Obama and McCain’s complete lack of honesty about what people really need to do to weather the economic crisis. Did you hear either one plainly say, “You’re going to need to buckle down and save more?” Of course not. You might as well walk into a Dave Ramsey seminar and argue that credit cards are a useful tool. It’s a suicidal suggestion. But it’s true.

Shut up about your money worries unless you’ve taken the time to read a book about how money really works
You need to read a couple of good books about money. Not read the screaming headlines of CNN.com. But a real book that explains how money works. If you don’t, do you really have the right to complain about how scared and nervous and worried you are about your money? (Note: If you want to get my favorite book recommendations, sign up for my free newsletter by Friday, 10/10/08. In fact, I’m giving away free personal-finance books in the upcoming weeks.)

Americans don’t know how to be frugal — yet
Things will get more expensive. Taxes will eventually go up. They have to. Costs of ordinary goods will go up. They always do. If you’re expecting it to get easier, you’re wrong. The key is to make more money and cut your costs. Sadly, Americans are poorly versed in being frugal. You think it makes sense to buy a new car every few years? You think it’s normal to eat out 5 times per week (lunch and dinner)? You feel good about yourself for ordering water when you go to a restaurant, but you blew $50,000 because you didn’t take the time to understand your mortgage? You’re not frugal. But a few more years of an economy like this and things just might change.

Sensible investors don’t change strategies very much — even in a market like today’s
With the market cratering hundreds of points every day — then climbing a similar amount the very next day — billions have been pulled out of the market. Yet long-term investors have the discipline to stay steady. Panicked spouses and overconfident investors think they know better by trying to time the market, but they’re wrong. In fact, here’s an excerpt from my upcoming book:

Recently, a group called Dimensional Funds studied the performance of the S&P 500 from January 1970 to December 2006, during which time the annualized return of the market was 11.1%. They also noted something amazing: Of those 36 years from 1970 to 1986, if you missed the 25 days when the stock market performed the best, your return would have dropped from 11.1% to 7.6%, a crippling difference.

Now, if only we could know the best investing days ahead of time.

Of course, we can’t. That’s why I continue to dollar-cost-average money into the market, slowly. Will it go down in the short-term? Almost certainly. But as my funds get cheaper and cheaper, I’ll pick up more and more shares. And eventually — over a 10, 20, or even 50-year time horizon, I’ll make a significant amount.

But encouraging people to continue investing during times like this wouldn’t be received well. More often than not, politicians need to seem to be doing something — ANYTHING!! — in order to keep you happy. Frankly, with a balanced portfolio, there’s really not much to change. But that’s not sexy enough to tell most people. (Plus, they have no idea what a balanced portfolio is.)

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Sorry if I was too harsh. I’m usually not political, but I’m tired of the bullshit around our money. Every single one of us knows co-workers, family, or friends who are worried about their money. It’s time to get honest about what’s going on. (Want to read more? Check out my popular articles, personal-finance links, and my forum.)

More to come in future posts.

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The Money Diaries: The 20-something who doesn’t make enough to cover her shopping habit

September 21 59 Comments latest by Misty

Today is the second post in the Money Diaries series, which is based off New York Magazine’s Sex Diaries. We’ve collected stories from real people about their spending habits over seven days, anonymized them, and posted them here.

Today’s post is from a 25-year old woman who’s struggling between paying her bills and the irresistible urge to spend.

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DAY ONE

9am: At work… Stressing because this check has to pay both my rent AND car payment, as I was completely irresponsible with my money in July. Plus my best friend is getting married and I’m trying to foot the bill for a bridal shower. Ouch. I will not spend any money. I will not spend any money. I will not spend any money.
10am: I have Gmail chat with my other best friend. She’s incredibly financially responsible. She’s telling me about her Excel spreadsheet that she uses to track her budget. She makes me a mock-up copy and talks about how watching every cent go in and out makes it like a game - how much can I save this month? I’m developing this odd excitement and new-found resolve to get my finances in order. I’m going to fix this. I’m sick to death of being broke all the time and having no idea where my money went.
1pm: I spent money. Some coworkers asked me if I’d like to join them for lunch. Why, of course I would! I spent $10.60 at the Mexican place. I was too lazy to make lunch last night, so I figure I was going to spend some money anyway. I still feel guilty.
3pm: I check my bank account online. My paycheck (due tomorrow) has already come through. $1,268.22 total. This has to cover my rent ($975), my car payment ($300) and my cable bill that’s due this weekend (about $60). This isn’t enough. I have to ask my mom for money. SHIT.
6pm: I went Bridal Shower shopping. I had $25 cash in my pocket from hawking my old crap on Craigslist, and had to stay under that amount. I go to K-mart to get a few things for a craft project. I get to the register and they ring up more expensive than the display said. I can’t believe I’m standing in K-mart haggling over $6 with a cashier who barely speaks English. He gives after some persuasion and I’m off to a craft store with $6 remaining. I end up spending $8.48 and running my debit card after I told myself I wasn’t going to. I have no self control. So I reward myself with a $2.10 cheeseburger from In-n-Out on the way home. After all I can’t spend money once I’m home, right?
8:30pm: Wrong! $6.99 is shelled out to buy print-from-home Bridal Shower Bingo cards. I need to go to bed.

DAY TWO

11am: I get an email from Amazon. One of my books sold! I’m dorkily excited as this is the first time I’ve tried this. The upside is that I just made about $32. The downside is that because it’s my first time selling, they have to wait 14 days to deposit the funds. Damn. Plus I have to figure out how I’m going to get the money to ship the thing.
2pm: I just got off the phone with my mom. She’s agreed to LEND me $150 which will pay my cable bill and put gas in my car. This can work. I’ll pay her back in September. She’s not happy, but sometimes I have to shut up and listen to a lecture to see any money, and I RARELY ask.
5pm: I’m supposed to go out with friends tonight….I’ve already informed them of my little “situation” so we’ll be pre-drinking and then I’ll most likely con some sucker at the bar to buy me drinks once we’re out. I can avoid a cab (who has $7?) by sleeping on a friend’s couch. I have a feeling this can end up in financial disaster for me, so I’ve already decided not to take my debit card out with me, so that I can’t cave and start swiping it without abandon. Wish me luck!

DAY THREE

11 am: Last night was a success in that I didn’t spend a penny. It sucked not having money for a cab home, and I was in a very unpleasant mood at the end of the night. It’s a really shitty feeling to not be able to sport $7 for a cab. Lucky for me a friend picked me up. I find out my mom deposited $200. I’m so SICK of being in this rut! It feels like it’s never going to end, and I’m constantly going to be fighting to keep my head above water. I’m pretty sure I went to college to avoid be some broke-ass loser.
3pm: A girlfriend picks me up and we were supposed to go to a BBQ, but it ends up being a wash. We’re both starving and go to the market and get sushi and soup. I spend $13.60, which I told myself I wasn’t going to do, but I’m hungry and cranky.
9pm: I also paid for the cab home and chalk the $10 up to being a lot better than a DUI.

DAY FOUR

3pm: So I actually MADE a little money today! I sold a few old things from my school days to a current student. $180! She made out because I just saved her over $250 and I made out because that’s $180 I didn’t have this morning. I owe my credit card company $123 for going over my limit. It’s due by the 12th, but I don’t get paid until the 15th and they were NOT budging on that, despite my charming persuasion. At least this way I can bring it current and try to get a lower interest rate.
7pm: I’m staring into my desolate refrigerator and feeling a little depressed. I have a little leftover pasta (boooooring) and not much else. Usually my trusty freezer holds all kinds of forgotten treasures and even that is failing me now. I may have to allot $40 from my sale money today for a Trader Joe’s trip. My smarter option would be Ralph’s with it’s plethora of cheap and easy food, but I tend to shy away from over-processed crap. But sometimes broke and desperate means eating as cheap as possible. I bake cookies instead.

DAY FIVE

1:30am: I’m currently going through a serious conscience battle with the cash from yesterday. There’s a little angel and a devil on my shoulders screaming obscenities at each other. I can go wild and buy a few more things for both the Bridal Shower and Bachelorette party (can we spell “new dress”?!) but I’ve vowed to not continue to screw with my credit cards. I need (and I do mean, NEED) to do the responsible thing and pay them. It’s just so hard to part with $125 and get “nothing” in return! But that’s what got me in this little debt to begin with. I need to view this as being blessed that I have this money and can now pay my cards without completely bankrupting my next paycheck. It’s a good thing that angel is a witty little bitch!
6pm: I put some expensive drinkware on my Macy’s credit card for the Bridal Shower. I fully intend to pull a fast one and return it next week. I know that’s sneaky and dishonest, but I don’t really have a slew of other options. I don’t want my best friend drinking from plastic red party cups at her Bridal Shower! So I’m taking a chance and hoping nothing gets broken. I’ll wash and return it and no one will be the wiser!

DAY SIX

1pm: I have a voicemail from a guy trying to buy more CL stuff. I haven’t spoken to him yet, but if he buys this stuff and the woman I’m meeting with tonight buys that, that’s an additional $45. I’d be setting the money aside to pay for a spa day that’s planned for right before the wedding. Fingers crossed!
7pm: One of the buyers flaked, but I did walk away with $25. I’m setting it aside. I also went grocery shopping and ended up spending around $33. It’ll get me through at least next week. I’m gone all weekend, and that means I’ll be fed elsewhere!

DAY SEVEN

2pm: I’m thinking about my next paycheck (already!) and it’s giving me stress. I have to set aside my rent money so I don’t have a repeat of this month, and pay for SO much wedding related activities/appointments. I’m getting my hair done, going with the bride for pedicures, AND going to Vegas. Man. Plus I have to pay bills AND a $212 car insurance installment. I’m so ready for this wedding to be over.
5pm: I just realized that in the whirlwind that has been this week, I haven’t touched the budget my friend made me. I feel terribly guilty and can’t even explain why, as the only person I’m letting down is myself. I still have resolve and hopefully I’ll have some time this weekend while I’m visiting my mom.

In sum: $1530 made, $1410 spent… over $100 of that being just food, one loan from my mom, 7 days of making-my-face-break-out stress, $0 in Credit Card debt paid off, and one dishonest department store scam. Whew.

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