Self-sufficient

I've decided that I'm sick of hearing that I don't do enough.

That I go out too much.

During the month of July, I went out 2x on a "school night," not counting trivia on Thursdays.

I hardly think that's excessive.

I work my regular, full-time 40+ hour/week job. I show up, I work, I go home.

On top of that, I regularly babysit for 3 families (others are in the rotation, but I've got three regulars). There are weeks that I'll be at the office five days and babysit five nights, including the weekend.

I don't have time to breathe, let alone party.

It's not fair for people with combined household incomes far exceeding mine to tell me what I can and cannot do with my money. I work damn hard. Most Friday and Saturday nights, I'm more than happy to sleep rather than going out. Why? Because I am either exhausted or poor or both.

So if I want to go to Chicago, then I will. Trust me, I make up for the financial cut in other ways.

For example, when I was in Chicago earlier this month, we went to the grocery store and got food/beer for the weekend. I made no meal outside of the home. I bought no beer at a bar.

I manage to pay all of my bills on time. I'm more self-sufficient than a lot of people I know. And it's not like I expect anything to come easy, but I would just to wake up one day and not have to juggle fifteen different schedules. It'd be nice to have a free afternoon, just saying.

I'd one day like to have a job where I don't have to work like a madman outside of work to make ends meet.

I'd like to not have to keep pushing out starting my IRA.

I'd like to be able to save a little bit each month.

I'd like to have a "just in case" fund for when I need new brakes.

I'm sick of worrying about it constantly and I'm even sicker of hearing about it from other people. I'm doing what I have to do, thank you very much. I realize that part of being 23 is about being poor and making sacrifices, but this isn't healthy.

It's time for a change.