How I Paid for $250K in School: Part 2

The minute I got to college I knew that I had to find a job. I talked to my new classmates about this---I thought it was standard. They didn't understand. This was the first time I encountered kids with money. Kids who didn't have to work. They had things like cell phones and laptops (in 1999) and other things that blew me away.

Those things were not mine, and I had to get a job. So I did. My first job was a work-study job in the library reshelving books for one month. It was boring and it only paid $8/hour. I knew I could do better than that.

There were several hospitals very close to my dorm. I went to three. I wrote up a resume. I wish I had a copy of that resume today. I listed all my pharmacy certifications and my academic credentials that got me into college. (Can you even imagine hiring based on that?!). It even had a mission statement!

The hospital pharmacies all gave me similar offers. The one I took was closest and offered me 2-3 night shifts a week plus more if I wanted it. This was roughly 10PM-4AM shift at $15/hour plus a 50% bonus for the night shift. $22.50/hour!!! SOLD!

I got the new state certifications soon after, and I worked in that hospital until I graduated, with a 2% raise every year. Sometimes it was really stressful and I literally ran around the whole time to different floors and different wings of the hospital. Lots of stairs, and I was exhausted. But usually it was quiet and I could study for over half of my shift. Nothing else to do. Best of all, that job showed me that a career in medicine was not for me. Who knows how much those pre-med classes would have cost...

That job was one of my best financial decisions. Today nothing could coax me back into a hospital pharmacy (or medicine), but it was really a great fit for my schedule and my skills and my situation in college.

How I paid for $250K in School: Part 1

How I Paid for $250K in School: Part 1

I have about $250K in undergrad and graduate education. I went to two very expensive private schools, one of them Ivy. I have paid it all off two years later. These posts explain how I did it. This post is about before I went to college.

I grew up in very rural Texas. My family is middle-class. I don't mean say you're middle-class because you shop at Wal-Mart; I mean three presents for Christmas middle class.

I worked two or three jobs since I was 15--I still do. In high school, in addition to tutoring and babysitting, I got a job in a retail pharmacy behind the counter. When I graduated, I took the test to become certified in the pharmacy. I counted pills, bagged orders, and called doctors' offices for $13.50/hour, a princely sum indeed.

I graduated at the top of my class in my rural Texas high school. I got into a private university across the country. I didn't know anyone who had gone to college outside the state. Heck, I didn't know that many people who went to college at all.

I didn't care how much it cost. I was going. Whatever it took for me to get out of that town, I was going. My parents were thrilled with the bragging rights, but really it was a very scary thought for them and the other small-town folk around.

In the package, the school gave me a half-tuition scholarship because of my financial need. I got a few thousand more added on because of couple national awards I won. (Today, college is very different, and I would get a full ride). I thought this was great! How bad could it be if they were giving me $30K a year? $30K a year! I would be dumb not to go!

I worked my three jobs until the day before I left. I had saved $10K. I thought I could live off of that for all of college (ha!). My parents gave me $5K, a mind-boggling gift. They said I would need it. They called the bank to make sure it had a branch near the college. So, in 1999, I flew away with two suitcases containing everything I owned. I didn't even have a computer or any sheets for my dorm bed. I didn't care what it took or what it cost, I was going.

How I Paid for 250K in School

I believe my undergrad and graduate schooling cost about $250K. That's right. My brain has the fine-tooling and ridiculous capital investment of a Ferrari.

Two years later, I have no school debt. Zero. I'm working on a multi-part series to explain exactly how I pulled that off. Stay tuned!

Strained and Pulled

The new business is really stressing me out. I can't talk to anyone in the real world about it, so I'll tell y'all in the blogosphere.

Here we are, two months into fiance's business, and it's still in the red. It knew the money wouldn't roll in right away. I knew there would be a few months lag and that the money would be made in a few large checks. I knew I would pay the bills for a little while. I knew that I would have to give fiance "spending money" because his accounts would be empty. I knew that he had to buy a bunch of stuff to run the business.

But I am suprised me how much this burdens me. I spent my entire mid-month check on our bills. There was enough, but I hated it. I brought fiance $75 in cash allowance. I felt like his mother.

I slogged off to work, and he spent $500 on a gadget. I know it's for the business. But it's hard to stomach $500 when he's not bringing in any money. I slogged to work again, and he went to a $30 lunch, alone. He works from home, where we had plenty of food. And hasn't made any money yet. I blew my top. I yelled at him. I felt like his mother.

Then I felt really bad and apologized. I know the business is going to break even, maybe even make money, this month. I know that he is doing a good job getting customers and getting his name out in his very niche market. He might even make more money than me in a bit of time. I'm so very proud--SO PROUD--of his business intellectually, but emotionally it's really hard for me right now.

I think I just got a taste of the stress of being the breadwinner. It's not a pretty feeling. Not a pretty reaction. It's not that I resent supporting him, it's that it's hard to be the only one. It's hard to pay all his bills when I feel like he's out blowing money. I feel like I have the "right" to tell him what to do and what to buy and what to eat if it's my money. Not pretty.

This is not good for my well-being or for our relationship. I need a couple checks to roll into his business, and this post will be a memory.

Are Gas Prices Up? Didn't Even Notice.

We bought the new car on April 4. On March 15, or 39 days later, I filled it up for the first time since that day. It was $65 for super premium, at $3.96. In those 39 days, we have driven 870 miles between the two cars, or an average of 22 miles a day for both of us. That includes one trip to the burbs to show off the car, and another for business. So, 22 miles a day, or 11 miles a day each.

That's quite an anomaly in Texas, where many people commute alone over 60 miles to work every day. In an SUV. Those people, not me, are the ones complaining about gas prices.

Life is choices. We made the choice to live in a (relatively) small 1,300 square foot urban condo. We have a shared wall and shared yard. My work is .8 miles away. We can and do walk to dozens of local restaurants and bars as well as many friends' houses and apartments. We can walk our dog to the park, or to the tennis courts, or to one of the many restaurants with a patio. Anywhere we need to drive is within five, maybe ten, miles.

I don't feel a lot of sympathy for people who have high gas budgets around here. Almost always that means they have some McMansion in the burbs. I don't judge that choice, I don't really care. But if you made that choice, you can either live with it or change it. Don't complain about it to me; sell it. Real estate is doing great around here.

I'm just sick of this "poor me" whining mentality that it's someone else's fault and not yours because of your choices. Surely you didn't think gas was going to get cheaper? Did you think your house would get closer? I have made choices in my life that reduced my commute and my fuel consumption, but that's not common, at least in Texas.

Amazon, Get Out of Texas!

Whoa there pardner! What in tarnation is this? Texas is investigating Amazon for not paying income taxes because they have a facility in Texas?! WHAT?!

I am a proud Amazon Prime user. Amazon is my first choice for whatever I want to buy. My last three purchases on Amazon were dog toys, lightbulbs, and toothpaste. I order everything. A printer, a water bottle, a video game, a pepper grinder, a vacuum. I rely heavily on Amazon's reviews and competitive prices. Why? BECAUSE AMAZON CHARGES NO TEXAS SALES TAX!

I hate taxes. I already pay enough taxes in my life up here in the 33% bracket. If I can avoid my ridiculous over 8% local sales tax, I will! So, whose brilliant idea was it at Amazon to set up a facility in Texas??? I don't even know what that facility does. I order a lot from Amazon, and I have stuff shipped out of Kentucky, Nevada, and Oklahoma. I've never seen Texas, and I was grateful to Amazon for that because I didn't have to pay taxes because they didn't have a facility in Texas (so I thought).

So, Amazon, if this is true, move those Texans to Oklahoma or Nevada or wherever else it is you can employ people. Close that facility!

I Have Found the Weakest Link

We've been better on our spending. I haven't bought any clothes, we're done on furniture and junk for the dog. But we have an obvoius weak spot.

I'm just going to say it. We eat out way, way, way too much. It's an incredibly expensive (and enjoyable!) hobby.

These are our credit card charges in the last 1.5 weeks:
$42 forever stamps
$130 power bill
$61 bar tab
$17 toilet paper & paper towels
$62 groceries
$45 shoes (his)
$76 sushi dinner
$15 book
$52 cajun dinner
$22 thai lunch
$19 underwear, 3 pair
$70 sunglasses (mine, stepped on old ones)
$40 haircut (his)
$26 hostess gift
$116 tapas dinner
$42 bar tab
$45 video game
$12 car wash

This snapshot of spending shows that we're not that bad except for the glaring eating out or food and bar expenses. Well over $300 in the last 1.5 weeks. Some of these were "gifts" to spend time with friends. Some were just expensive--I have a bad sushi habit. Without all the eating out, we really spent very little in the last 1.5 weeks.

Finally Got An Accountant

Fiance's business has been too much to handle for us for a while, but we wanted to wait until after tax season to find an accountant. We asked everyone we could think of until we found someone THRILLED with their accountant.

She's a former auditor for a big accounting shop, but she quit last year to have a baby. Her husband does some kind of day-job still. So, she takes care of her baby and works at home. She does small business taxes and bookkeeping at home. You just email her what she needs, maybe talk on the phone a little, and there you go! That's a pro-woman, low-overhead business model I support!

Fiance and I spent four hours organizing statements and scanning receipts. We were a mess. There was business stuff mixed in the personal accounts (thankfully nothing personal in the business accounts!).

A week later, she put it all in Quickbooks and turned around a report of profit/loss (obviously loss this quarter), fixed the messes, and she billed $50 a hour for only five hours! A bargain indeed for a whole quarter.

I don't understand why schools don't pitch accounting as a female-friendly industry. This kind of low-volume bookkeeping sounds like the perfect job for a woman who needs flexibility (and can send her kids to Grandma's at tax time). I'm so proud of my accountant for just making it work. It's not easy out there for moms sometimes.

Goal!

I just finished a huge project at work. I got it from a guy who had been doing my job for years longer than me, so it was often an uphill battle. I asked for help a lot from anyone who would talk to me about it.

Though my boss technically "did" the project and gets all the credit for the project, he rewarded me as well. I got a 5K bonus (well, more like 3K after taxes). He hand-delivered the check to me and said, "Dog, you know, I wasn't sure you could do [the project]. But you did a really good job. I'm going to make sure this goes in your reports."

I'm not sure what is worth more to me: the respect of my boss, the 5K, or the good review. Now, off to celebrate! I'm taking Friday off!

Fat Cats at ADP

Over a month after I cashed out my ADP-run 401(k) from my old job, I finally got a statement from those jokers. They charged me $50 for closing the account.

Nice. Those fat cats charged me $50 to cut a check to Vanguard (the wrong corporate Vanguard entity, even), which they sent to me, and I had to send to Vanguard. Nice. Now that I'm a more educated consumer of financial products, I don't tolerate nonsense like that.

That ADP 401(k) was the lousiest I have seen. The expense ratios were all above average, and there weren't that many funds to choose from. I'm just glad to be done with them. I'm grateful to the Bogleheads book and to the PF blogosphere for showing me how pathetic those choices were. Back then I didn't think anything of expenses and just picked the one with the highest recent returns.

Paying Off Credit Cards = Higher Credit!

I paid off my credit cards back in March. I mean mid-statement, not-a-penny-outstanding, paid them off.

I didn't post about it at the time because I didn't think it was that big of a deal. It was just nice--relief--to pay off all the vacations and furniture and bar tabs I couldn't afford.

I had no idea it would bump my credit score up this much! 70 points!

This picture is the Experian FICO tracker from my Washington Mutual card. I don't use this card anymore because of a lousy customer service experience, but it's nice to easily see my FICO free. I wouldn't recommend this card, but the FICO scores are a nice feature if you already have it.