Recently, I came upon a very big milestone in my young adult life. I am now a senior in college, with only one semester remaining after the current one. Now, most people probably find this to be something worthy of celebration, but I had a different reaction. Once I realized that I was a senior, I became, almost instantaneously, plagued with fear and worry. Cycling thoughts of “I’m not ready” and “I need more time” remain constant in my brain.
When people ask me why I’m so worried, I feel quite baffled. Why wouldn’t I be worried about being thrust into a new face of life that I am completely unfamiliar with? Once you exit college, you become fully responsible for yourself. You are no longer a dependant of your parents, but a newly debuted functional member of society. Some people may get a taste of this while in college, but for others, all of this is largely uncharted territory.
As crazy as it may sound, I am one of the individuals who has had a glimpse of post-college life while in school. I grew up in a low income household, so a large portion of the burden of support for my life in college falls on me. I do have help here and there from a few family members, but for the most part, it’s all on me.
As true as that may be, I still feel disproportionately unprepared for post-college life, and the reason why is, in my opinion, all the reasoning I need. I am incredibly financially irresponsible. When I say irresponsible, I mean it in the most true sense of the word. Money will fly in and out of my pocket like birds fly in and out of the nest. The old folks had an expression for the phenomena: “Money burns my hand.”
Though I’d naively deny it when I was younger, they couldn’t have been more right. I have compulsive spending habits, specifically surrounding food and things I could utilize to “keep up with the times.” For example, if I received a check for $500 on a Monday, I can almost assure you that by Friday, my account would have roughly $150 in it, and most of the purchases would be food delivery or unnecessary online shopping purchases.
As far as savings go, I would put money in there, only to take it out once I got to a low amount in my checking account. Now, as a young adult with new bills such as rent, utilities and internet, it wouldn’t behoove me to have such spending practices. In fact, the way I see it, I am a danger to my future prosperity if I don’t become more financially responsible as soon as possible.
I’ve had many people over the past two weeks tell me that I’m being too hard on myself or I’m being completely irrational, but I can’t help but feel otherwise. As an adult, you need to be able to manage your money responsibly, and I can’t. However, as a part of my “New Year’s Resolutions”, I’ve decided that it’s time for me to create better habits for myself and start being ready for the next phase of my life.
One thing that I’ve begun to implement is being able to distinguish between wants and needs. I struggle with this because sometimes, at least for me, things feel a bit more necessary than they actually are. I have become self aware enough to know that this is a compulsory instinct, fueled by the knowledge that I have money accessible to me and available to spend. To correct that, I have created a list of things that are true needs.
I surveyed people close to me, as I can’t solely trust my own thoughts on the matter, and in establishing that list, I am able to identify things that I should be spending my money on. Now, this doesn’t mean that I don’t get to have anything that I want or that I am completely prohibited from spending money on treats for myself. This simply means that my needs are my top financial priority, as they would need to be when I’m out on my own.
Once I established this list, the next thing I began to implement is budgeting. This month, I received a refund from the school, so I took the amount I knew that I would be receiving and assessed how much I would be spending based on my needs, as well as any bills I had to pay. Once I was able to do that, I calculated the approximate amount of money I would have left to spend as I desired. I also allocated money to go into my savings account as well.
The last thing I’ve implemented is the “Is it something we can get later?” rule. When I want to make a purchase over $100, I ask myself if it’s something that I need immediately, or can it wait until I have a surplus of money. This just helps me keep my compulsive spending habits at bay.
As I continue my last year in college, I am constantly reminded that adulthood is an experience that, while rewarding and full of growth, is filled with challenges and complexities. Nonetheless, I’m sure that if I continue to strive to be better and grow, I will be just fine in the outside world.