I have avoided talking about this for a while, but I finally decided I needed to share this bit of news.
I am in serious financial trouble.
Thanks to a budgeting exercise my sister in law helped my mom and I with, we discovered that we are in the hole for $ 600 a month.
Six ... hundred ... dollars ... short ... every ... month.
obviously, that's not sustainable.
So we're trying to find a cheaper place to live, and working where we can to get this under control.
But the biggest disappointment is that I can not justify spending a couple of hundred dollars for a passport so I could go to Arizona for a consult regarding SRS.
Which means that I am stuck as I am, probably for life.
I don't even have words how much that hurts.
Ah, well. Life sucks.
Comments
The details are in what you pay for.
Rent is a large expense. But, not the only one. Also, what food do you buy, and where. What services do you use. Such a TV, internet, etc. What are your monthly fuel and travel expenses. You would be surprised, once you budget everything on a list, how much you can save by being more discriminate in what you pay for.
Oh, pish tosh. Of course you can justify it.
Dot, stop treating your SRS like it's something that's cosmetic or optional, because it's obvious from your attitude that it isn't.
That passport? The consult? They're necessary medical expenses, and should be treated as such.
600 dollars in the hole a month? That's... really, really rough. REALLY rough. Though that's Canadian, right? So only about 20 bucks US? (I'm sorry, outdated joke is outdated.) But that isn't insurmountable, especially since you're working to correct it.
Don't give up, Dot. Not on your situation, not on yourself. You're a beautiful, wonderful person, and you deserve to be happy. Don't deny yourself that over a little money.
Yeah, you're right. Life sucks. But it doesn't have to suck forever, especially not if you keep pushing to make sure it doesn't.
(Also: why so much for the passport? I don't know if Canada offers it, but the US does a passport card that is good for US/Canada/Mexico for about half the price of a normal passport. Have you looked into the Canadian equivalent of that?)
Melanie E.
passport card
Passport card is only good for ground transport.
If you want travel by air you still need a passport.
Financial drain experience
In my own personal experience I found that home-cooking from scratch has been a mayor saving on my financial drain. I have also found that eating out was detrimental for my physical health.
Any food bought either in a "restaurant" or the supermarket just does not taste the same as when I cook it myself to my own taste preferences!
On talking with profesional coleages in my own town who routinely eat out at least two meals a day, I find that my food budget is only about 25-35% of theirs. And that is even considering that many food ingredients that I have to buy because of allergies are often priced 200-400% that of "normal" ingredients. And to boot, my food satisfaction is deffinetly higher.
When I have to travel, it requires more planning and preparation. But when I take my own meals from home, I save a ton of money and unpleasant health consequences.
Another thing I am is to cook a big pot of whatever I make. Then I freeze the result in portion sizes that I can quickly reheat for nice meal on demand. Living alone, the temptation to just go for a quick burger or take-out is very high, since time and hassle to cook a single portion is rather excessive. Preparing 10-15 portions takes only just about 10-20% more time than a single portion. And this way I know exactly what is in my meal.
Jessica