Money Money Money

Now that I am financially independent, it impacts almost everything I do.

I didn’t realize how true that was until yesterday at work, when I was sick as a dog. (I literally felt like a fat man was sitting on my lungs.) Under normal circumstances I would have dropped everything to drive to the nearest urgent care center. Instead, I signed online to my insurance to figure the cost and decide whether or not a doctor’s visit was worth it.

Because of my hypochondriac tendencies the fact that I pondered price versus doctor visit for an entire hour when I could hardly breathe speaks volumes. For the record, I did end up going. And it ended up only being a $20 copay.

Which brings me to the next part of my rant.
Copay. HMOs. 401k. PPOs. Claims. Point-of-Service Plans.
What the heck.
Is this an insurance website or a vocabulary quiz? I feel like I need to take a class. No wonder it took me that long to figure out how much a doctor visit would cost.

Needless to say, being financially independent can be very empowering but very daunting at the same time. Not only do I have trouble wrapping my mind around insurance, 401k, savings accounts, ect. but I’ve noticed I think about money more now than I have in my entire life.

Here are some examples. Enjoy!

You know you think about money a lot when…

-You’ll bear the cold ride home instead of turning on the car heater. Heat=gas.
-You spend 15 minutes peering into the Bluebell, Edy’s and Breyer’s ice cream freezer doors and trying to figure out the lowest price at which you can get the largest volume of ice cream.
-It feels like Christmas when coupons come in the mail.
-You’ll make sure the only lights on in your apartment are those of the room you’re currently in. -You feel like you’ve accomplished something by spending the weekend at your family’s because you ate for free, didn’t go out, and didn’t drive anywhere.
-You start judging other peoples’ spending habits. That man just spend $14 on a salad!?
-You call shops to make sure they’re having sales before you allow yourself to even look.
-You acquire an uncanny ability to recall every single dollar each one of your friends still owes you.
-You hoard the month’s receipts and double check every single one to the credit card statement you get in the mail. (I would actually recommend this; they mess up and overcharge you a lot.)
-You feel excessively happy when you have a relatively cheap grocery trip.
-You get irrationally angry when somebody steals some of your food. Especially restaurant leftovers.
-You second guess every single bill you get. Did we really use that much water this month?
-You start thinking about what to put on your Christmas and Birthday lists 7 months before either one is happening.
-You think about entering your cat in a photo contest to make some extra money. And you think I'm kidding.
-Your math skills improve. Example: If I make this meal, it is more expensive, but in the end it’s overall less money than this Lean Cuisine because it will make 4 meals instead of one.

.... And to think I used to agonize over deciding between the expensive Express jeans or the half priced Kohl's ones. What I would do to go back to those days!!

Thus goes the transition of going from having Mom and Dad as backup to being completely kicked out of the nest, so to speak. I imagine it would be the same reaction whether I were to make $500 per year or $100,000. Rich or poor, being on your own truly forces you to appreciate the value of a dollar.

So I thought I'd share! I'm sure some of you can relate : -)