Being a Brazen Barista doesn't pay quite as well as you may think. I've been stressing over money issues for years... there have been several times that I have had $4 in my bank account that I need to make last a week until I get paid again.
In April of 2009 my roommate and I moved into a 2 bedroom condo on Lake Shore Drive and Irving Park for the low low price of $950 a month. Split that 2 ways and it's cherry pie. It seemed like an amazing deal...15th floor, doorman, security, beautiful views of Lake Michigan (if you looked out of the window at an extreme angle...) Unfortunately after living there only 4 months I got a phone call while at work from our doorman....and a police officer who was there to serve us an eviction notice. Apparently the owner of our condo who (whom?) we were renting from had been in foreclosure since MARCH. March. We began renting mid-April. Shady, shady bitch. We had to move out.
Since my roommate hated her job at the Chicago Tribune and hadn't been able to find a job in her field since graduating a year prior, she decided to move back home to Iowa. :( Stubborn Susan (me) probably should've done the same. It would've been the financially responsible choice. I honestly can't afford to be living in Chicago alone. After moving from the dorms to a 3 bedroom apartment, I paid $500 and eventually $525 a month. At the condo I paid $475 a month. Now, living alone, I pay $650 monthly. It's a great studio apartment and I am able to make ends meet. Barely.
About a week ago I started to read The Total Money Makeover by Dave Ramsey. I'm frustrated with it. I don't feel like it applies to me... it talks about car payments and house payments and husbands and wives and kids and joint accounts and needless spending....I don't have a husband or kids or a car or anyone else's money and I already feel like my needless spending is extremely low. There are "inspiring stories" in the book about how a girl my age realized eating out 6 nights a week was costing her a ton of money. ........Duh! I think I've gone out to eat once in the last month. There are examples of families that downsized to a smaller house. This does not apply to me! I live in a studio apartment! I don't have internet, cable, or a fancy cell phone. I walk whenever possible as opposed to taking a bus or cab. I cut corners, I reuse. And now I'm irritated at Dave Ramsey. Baby step #1 in the makeover is putting aside an emergency $1,000. He says this shouldn't take more than a month or two, tops. Let me tell you something, Dave Ramsey. Even if I was a total hermit and put not a penny towards anything except rent and student loans, it would still take me 10 months to put aside a grand. No joke. Suck on that. Now I'm sweating. And I forgot the whole point of this post.
And so second-job hunting I go.....
