Everything Costs Money

Everything. I know people say there are fun things to do that are free, but let’s be real: that gets old after about an hour.

Even hanging out with your friends gets expensive.  I think I’m a little too old nowadays to have friends over to my parent’s house and I definitely shouldn’t be loitering around the corner 7-11.  But everything else is so expensive! And the media doesn’t help much either.

Any TV shows or movies about post-college life feature friends at bars and coffee shops and work.  Well, I would love to find the perfect job and click with my coworkers like magic, but I’ve only applied to 9128470856013851082364716935 jobs so far since graduating 2 months ago and I still haven’t heard back from any… so we’ll have to wait on the perfect coworkers post.

I grew up watching Rachel and Monica sip espresso and lattes with Joey, Chandler and Ross while listening to Phoebe’s horrible music.  But I don’t live in NYC.  I live in my parents basement.  And a plain cup of coffee costs me 12 minutes of work at Panera (Yea. I did the math. I make 15 cents a minute at Panera and a crappy cup of coffee costs about 2 bucks so that’s 12 minutes, almost a QUARTER of an hour of work).  And those of you that know me (which is probably everyone) know I can’t just drink one cup of coffee.

Nowadays I wonder how it’s possible that Lilly and Marshal can pay for drinks on a kindergarten teacher salary while going through law school and living in New York City (where rent is probably steeper than the apartments I’ve seen in the Boston area) if only I had friends that worked for huge corporation…

But, NO.  The media is wrong.  They LIE to us… Does that really surprise anyone?

You go to any bar or restaurant and a beer is minimum 4 bucks. That’s a solid half-hour by the way. And if you don’t like beer or wine, you’re screwed. 10 bucks.  That’s more than I make in an hour if you haven’t caught on.  And one drink leads to another. And then a plate of nachos, or buffalo wings or who knows what kind of delicious low calorie bar food (let a girl dream).  And before you know it you’re putting 50 bucks on the table, plus tip.  That’s more than my average 5-hour shift.

I must pause here to share what just happened.  While writing this post about the wonderful financial problems of the twenty-something years, my favorite (and only) out-of-work actor friend just called to vent about the past week: He recently lost his job at panera, only a few days before a bank/gym fiasco that left him 900 dollars in debt. With no job.

Point being, these years are expensive.  And a part time job in the food service industry just doesn’t cut it.  But I’m one of the lucky ones with a wonderful support system to help me out.  My parents are letting me and Jim (the boyfriend) live in their basement, and Grocery shopping is a cinch when your crappy part time job throws away all the food at the end of the night—who doesn’t like free bagels? And while I stow away half my paycheck into my savings account and pick up every nickel I see glimmering on the street, I’ll try to avoid counting down the days ‘til I have to start paying off my college loans.  Until then, I’ll continue to take joy in the cheaper things in life; like mooching off my parents’ cable and internet.