“Finances?” Uh…

Inexplicably, Day 36 is about financial responsibility. Ok, well… There’s a bit of an explanation, which is: Sometimes, in relationships, you depend on people – even if they’re no good for you – because they help you pay your bills.

In the real world, these financial backers are known as “sugar daddies (or mamas).”

While I have never been lucky enough to have such a person who eats, breathes, and dreams money, I’d have to imagine that, yeah – if that relationship sucks, it’s a pretty tough situation to be in. At the same time, if you apply it to a larger concept – let’s say you hate your job, but it pays your bills – then, yeah, also a tough situation to be in.

It makes me wonder about those people who were gazillionaires and gave it all up because having all this wealth and power wasn’t worth it. To them, I say, didn’t they ever have to pay back student loans?

Student loans are my nemesis. Four years of college and one year of grad school hasn’t really treated me kindly. But I wasn’t really smart about it either. I just knew I needed money, so I took what was offered to me without really thinking about it. In that way, private banks and the government are my sugar daddies, but really they’re more like evil pimps.

I used to be super goodly about credit cards too; rarely having a balance, etc. Oh, my, how times have changed. And though I make my payments every month, it’s disappointing to see how Amanda-the-never-having-a-balance-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha has fallen.

One of my friends suggested I go to mint.com and try to budget that way.  Of course, I haven’t done that yet, because apparently I don’t believe in making my life easier. It kind of makes me wish that I could go back in time and become one of those thrifty kids; you know, the ones who got $20 allowance each week and so by the time they were 3 and a half had like $2000 in savings?

That also reminds me that I never had allowance. I was paid in hard work and life lessons. Apparently, one of those life lessons was not learning how to be ultimately wise when it came to handling financial matters.

So, this is where I guess I’d ask the powers that be to take over as my sugar daddies (or mamas) and help me figure all these things out (of course, without the negative side effects of power and ownership). And while they’re at it, solve world hunger, eliminate most reality TV, and help me clean my apartment.

Have a great Superbowl, if you choose to watch it. I will not be watching it, but I arbitrarily bet someone $20 that the Patriots would win. If I win, maybe that means I have a future in arbitrary gambling? (Sometimes, I wonder if there’s hope for me.)