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Account balance: $97.
I cringe at the glaring two-digit number that is printed onto the U.S. Bank receipt, discreetly tucking it into the deepest pocket of my wallet. So I went a little crazy the first month of school — it’s the inevitable plight of a college girl on her own in the great shopping city of Chicago.
A few weeks ago my roommate had the same dilemma. At the time, the idea of spending $500 within a few weeks was ludicrous. So when my bank balance suddenly dropped (as it always seems to do), the devil on my left shoulder began to make excuses: I had to pay Club Tennis dues, I paid for the yacht formal, for the Kid Cudi concert, for “necessary” cultural and social events.
The next step in my money meltdown was a drastic withdrawal from any kind of spending. I began to gather scraps of cloth and settled down with my roommate’s sewing kit, hoping to stitch together a Halloween costume. One of my eco-friendly water bottles was recruited to steal milk from the dining halls, and my sister’s Christmas gift was drastically downgraded.
But now that I have come to terms with my bad spending habits, I am rehabilitating my wallet and reforming my attitude. For example, I returned a pair of unused tights and an unopened box of forks yesterday. The tags and receipts to everything I’ve bought in the last week litter the top drawer of my desk, and when I accompanied my friend (who had just gleefully ripped open her mail to find her new credit card) to a recycled clothing store the other day, I walked out empty-handed.
However, all my hard work has paid off. Just this morning, a $100 refund was transferred from my Northwestern billing account to my bank account. I’m going to celebrate tonight with a self-made ice cream sandwich, courtesy of the Allison dining hall.