I've have always been a shopper. I had my first job when I was 12 years old cleaning an elderly neighbors house every Saturday morning for $20. It was usually 3 - 4 hours of work. Back then $5 an hour or more was a sweet deal. Then we moved a few miles away but I still cleaned her home for another year.
In my new neighborhood my next door neighbor worked at the local newspaper stuffing advertisements into the papers. She asked me and a group of my friends if we'd like to do the same. So, to my next job I went! I made $3.18 an hour stuffing papers. Because it was the summertime, I worked 20 hours a week. I worked hard all summer and spent my hard earned cash on junk food and a few new clothes. What did you expect me to say? That at 12 I knew to save my money? My parents were always broke, due to my Dad's drinking and smoking. Plus my mother ate out for lunch during the week. We didn't have water, electric or gas, all at the same time most months. They never taught me how or what to do with my money. And an allowance was not a word I knew!
By the time I turned 15 years old, my mom and dad split up for the third time. We moved down the street to an apartment. This was high class for us. We had always lived in a "trailer" or mobile home. Whichever you want to call it; they were all gross, used and filled to the brim with roaches. So the apartment life was a lot of fun. My mom and little sis shared the master and me and my big sis shared the other room. six months later Dad was back and life was still hard.
During all this time, I maintained a job with the newspaper. I turned sixteen and started looking for another job. We also moved again but to a HOUSE! Things looked like they were getting better but really nothing changed but our address :( I decided to drop out of school and just work. I got a job at the local Burger King serving up hot fast food. I made $5.25 an hour and thought this was a step up. I missed my friends and going to school to socialize but not actually studying. (During the last part of living in the apartments, my big sis got pregnant and dropped out of high school.) However, I wasn't as happy as I thought I could be, so I asked my mother to see if she could get me an interview with her medical billing company.
A few weeks later, at 16, I was working as a Data Entry employee. I thought I was so classy! I made $6.50 an hour. Each time I got a new job, the pay would increase. So in my little brain I thought I was making a lot of money and moving up in the world. (ignorance is bliss!) But my story doesn't end here...
I realized after my mother kept asking me to help pay the rent, I wouldn't be able to ever leave the nest if I just worked minimum wage all my life. So, I decided to go back to high school and be the first to graduate. (My mom is a graduate and lil sis too. My big sis is working on a GED right now.) I quite my job and took a retail job with Big Lots to keep some money coming in for a car. I went back to school and found out I would have to put in another year before graduating.
My senior year of high school I took a second job with Taco Bell making $5.75 an hour. The shift was 10pm to 2am. I made enough money between the two jobs to make my monthly car payments. My mom took a loan out of her 401K to put a deposit of $700 on a GEO Spectrum. I loved this little cute white car. I made $124 monthly payments for 15 mths along with insurance each month. I slaved for that car and still graduated. I was never gonna be a high achiever in high school but I did finish.
The whole time I was growing up, no one showed me how to manage my finances. I learned, however to rob peter to pay paul. I learned to set priorities for wants, not needs. I never thought I could go to college. I didn't have the grades or the money or even the resources to. but that didn't keep me down! Oh no, I would prove to myself and others I could succeed!
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