I used to be able to rely on unemployment. It helps a lot that I still live with my folks, but I could actually save up money while on the dole. Well, I blew some of it on strippers, but I figure that if I have enough money, why can't I do that? I mean, it's money I earned and had taken away by the government while I was actually working, right?
Well, what I'm allowed to get now isn't sustaining me, not with all the other expenses I have. I have been on the dole for two or three weeks now, and since I started I have had to cut back on my budget. Yet after I go through what I spent, every week I'm giving out more money than I'm taking in.
I have cut back (well, tried to cut back) on driving everywhere, and even though I'm not putting in as much money for gas as before, it's still a lot. I have cut back (well, tried to cut back) on going to stripclubs, but that still feels like an expense I could completely cut out, if only for a little while. I actually made good on my promise to not visit My Favorite Stripclub (Non-Cover Version) for a month because the waitress was pissed at me for not paying for coffee, but I couldn't stay away forever. I now go weekly, and I do pay for a dance on occasion. And that has meant that I spend more than I "make" each week.
Having time off has meant that I spend some money on fast food, but to counteract that I have asked Mother to make lunch for me, under the perception that I was going to eat at work. Yet I still find myself eating through my wallet. Got to try those new food items, you know.
And then there are the ancillary charges, those expenses that crop up that you just can't escape from. They are both necessary and frivolous, stuff that I needed to get done and couldn't resist enjoying. But they usually are big, and right now it looks like I can't stop accruing them:
- I wanted to give my parents' car a buffing during My Disastrous Day In St. Paul, which ended up being a big more expensive than I thought. Oh yeah, I also took advantage of eating at a fancy-schmancy restaurant there.
- Lately My Father has received a series of large boxes from a friend or associate. They are not supposed to be sent here, so he has opened them, shoved them into lesser boxes, and asked me to send them to Las Vegas. It costs a lot of money to ship, and even though he always is good in paying me back, I shudder to see what this month's credit card bill, one I expected to be less than the one before because of the timing belt change I got in late-May, is going to look like. If it's the same amount, I think I will die.
- And speaking of car repairs ... due to a combination of tardiness (as in it's way overdue) and making sure my car is in tip-top shape when my sister and brother-in-law come home for a month, I am taking it in for fluid flushes. I hope it's not too expensive. Moreover, I hope there are no surprises.
- And speaking of my sister and brother-in-law ... the main reason they're here is to attend the wedding of our cousin. I have not bought them a gift. Man, should I just buy a cheap one in the hopes they'll understand I'm kind of broke now? I haven't talked to that guy a lot since high school, but before then he would come over all the time. Would I be considered too penurious of I bought him and his beautiful fiancee a jar or something?
- Oh, and while they're here I just promised them I'd take them to see The Dark Knight Rises. In IMAX.
No comments:
Post a Comment