My new computer arrived on Friday and with all the re-arranging going on in the office it ended up being a big 'ole purge. Every so often (but not nearly often enough), I get into these moods where massive quantities of things are thrown out.
This time I ventured into the office closet and opened boxes that the insides had not seen the light of day since we moved into this house about 6.5 years ago! It was a look into my past - lots of old tax-related stuff but also things like old apartment leases, student loan statements, oil change receipts for cars long gone, etc.
A lot of things I simply could not throw straight into the trash - it's amazing how many things have account numbers, social security numbers, etc... so I pretty tried my best to split things into two piles: trash or shred. There was so much to shred that I even overheated the shredder at one point! I wonder if Fawn Hall had such problems -- and if you have to ask me who that is -- well, just don't you whippersnapper you!
I pretty much jumped straight from undergrad to grad school... and grad school entailed a "start a whole new life, 4000 miles from home." I only worked as a teaching assistant in grad school (i.e., not much money) and it took me nearly 9 months to find a job when I did graduate... and then it certainly wasn't at grad school/MBA salary. I well remember digging out of deep hole of student loan and credit card debt... and certainly thank my parents for helping me out with the student loans until I started making some money... but after all these years, your brain plays funny tricks on you... and I had seriously forgot (or repressed) how deep a hole I was in!
I found an old checkbook - where I had taped a quote from some French guy from the 1500s which read:
"I owe much; I have nothing; the rest I leave to the poor."
It was nice to know, that even then, I had a sense of humor... but while I recall the dire financial straits I was in for awhile, I have forgot/repressed the extent of it. Among the insane amount of paperwork I did keep, I stumbled on credit card statement with a balance of $4,500 on it ... and I well know that was just one of them... but the most shocking thing was to stumbling across old checking account statements.
This checking account statement from March 1994 (over a year into my job), was just crazy:
Beginning Balance: $89.51
Deposits/Credits: $1,907.53
Checks/Debits: $1,965.30
Service Charge: $5.95
Ending Balance: $25.79
Holy crap! I know this is a reality today for many folks... but I had honestly forgot that things got that low and I had been living paycheck to paycheck for that long. I would have thought it at one point, but not one year into my new job. And, there were several instances on the statement that showed that overdraft protection had kicked in!
I am guessing a lot of the outgoing $$$ was to the credit cards. I remember creating a spreadsheet where I paid the minimum on most of them, but systematically put the most I could afford into the one with the highest interest rate. And this explains why today I can't remember the last time I kept a balance on a credit card or why I laugh out loud when a store wants to offer me a credit card (even if it will get me 10% of "today's purchase").
As a nearly 41-year old, I have a hard time remembering what that 27-year old must have been thinking. I am sure he knew he would one day get out of that financial hole, but I dare say he could not have imagined how it has all turned out... though it a bit of risk and a lot of hard work and discipline... which traditionally have not been three of my strongest strong points... but anyhow...
The oddest things sometimes produce a moment... when I went into "purge," it was simply getting to a long overdue chore likely punctuated by "ughs" and "oys" (and there were those!)... but I certainly didn't anticipate the odd mix of moments: reflection, gratitude, shock, and pride... and who knew it was just sitting there... just a few feet away, tucked quietly away all this time.
When we moved from the East Coast, I shredded what seemed like tons of my old credit-card statements and receipts, which made for a trip down memory lane of financial folly. It took some time, but I sure am happy to be in the black!
Posted by: Jeff | Tuesday, September 16, 2008 at 05:52 PM