Monday, May 11, 2009

White heels, TP and Weddings

Lesson Five: Life in poverty has forced me to be resourceful.

Instead of just going to the store and buying the items that I need, I now have become resourceful and have found new ways to get items for free or at a discount. Instead of buying new shoes for my sister's wedding (which is this weekend) I was able to borrow some from a friend. I know that this seems like an obvious and easy option but it did take quite a bit of time to find a friend with the same size foot and the right color/type shoe. Likewise, I was able to find the makeup I needed and a memory card for my camera for the wedding by looking through a box of my roommates' unwanted items. I know that using another person's makeup and personal hygiene items isn't ideal but desperation has made be become resourceful and do things that i wouldn't otherwise do.

Speaking of things that I don't otherwise do, in my desperation, I did what I swore I absolutely would not do: I stole toilet paper from my roommate. Faced with using newspaper, I grabbed a roll out my roommate's closet and hid it in the bathroom. It was bad enough that I stole the roll but I also hoarded it in my bathroom drawer where no one else could use it. This may seem like a silly example but I when it came down to choosing between have an extra $2.00 for food or buying toilet paper, I chose the food.

Now that I am running a deficit in my budget (I blew a lot of my money on gas in the first week), I have to be careful how I spend the approximately four dollars a day I have left on all food, personal items and unexpected expenses. I don't like having people buy my meals for me or having them feel like they should share the food that they brought for their own lunch or dinner with me. Now, it's one thing to have your date buy your dinner but it's another thing when it is your boss, coworker, friend or roommate. I am doing my best to buy what I can and to swallow my pride and let people pay for me on occasion.

Tomorrow I am headed down to Arizona to my sister's wedding. Fortunately, my parents are going to drive me down and are not going to ask me to help pay for gas. In anticipation of both the wedding and this experience, I purchased most of everything I need for the wedding. I don't know how I could have afforded to purchase my new dress and gift for my sister or have paid to travel to the wedding if I really was living in poverty.

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