Simply Help

Nathan Anderson is buying a new car on Monday. Watching him do business has really made me realize I should probably take a better look at my financial state (especially after hearing him criticize himself for, quote, "spending money like a college student would"). Hmm. So, I've just been playing around on Excel for the past hour, raising both eyebrows every time a shocking number arises.

With my measly $8/hr wage (which is actually the highest base wage I've ever earned), I bring in about $585/month. My rent alone is $577, excluding all bills. Then there's water, electricity, cable/internet service (which you have to have these days for school), and speaking of school, there's school. Did I mention school? Yeah.

So, not even counting tuition/books (although let's go ahead and put that at about $9,000 a semester), I need almost $600 more than what I make each month (and that's only if I stop eating fast food, which is almost impossible for a busy college student, and limit myself to $80 of "fun" money each month). I've been floating on an extra loan I took out this semester, but I calculated that out and determined that if I keep the current budget I have, the $2,000 I have in savings will be gone within four and a half months, if that. Conclusion? I need to be making twice as much per hour as I currently am. And I need someone to pay for my tuition. (ha!)

I have a class this semester that is titled "Understanding Poverty". We have spent the better part of this semester researching the effects of having a living wage; mainly, we have focused on the Labor Union's fight against Vanderbilt University for a living wage to its employees. In Nashville, the EPI estimates a living wage (how much money the average person needs to cover basic needs including rent, bills, and food, without asking for government assistance) at about $10.13 an hour.

Funny how students, who have more to pay for than many other categories of people, somehow always get paid between $5.15/hr and $8/hr. It's so disheartening...It makes me wonder if I'll ever break even, much less be able to save for things that are important to me, like a wedding, a family, or paying off the school loans that I was forced to take (and that still aren't enough).

I find it interesting that most students are considered below the poverty line, and yet we mostly all look "middle class" ish. We are poor, and yet we live as if money were no concern. It is as though we are stuck in between two worlds, financially. We are often stuck that way emotionally and spiritually as well, anxiously waiting for 'real' lives to begin. Even our prayers seem contradict themselves.

Father, help me to untangle the mess in my thoughts. Help me to be content with today, and not worry so much about the future. Yet, help me to plan for it as much as I can. Help me to not worry about graduating, and yet help me to do well in my classes. Help me not to worry about when/where/how I begin my life with my husband, and yet remind me to pray for him every day. Help me not to sweat the small stuff, and yet help me to give thanks for every moment. Father, help me. Simply help.