#I applied to grad school on a whim - I was gonna wait a year and then 1 month from the deadline was like fuck it I’ll do it now

[natugood]

How do people know what they want in life? I wake up every day with barely any idea for what I’m gonna do with myself that day, most of the time I’m too busy living in the moment to conceive of future moments impacted by big decisions

[dollfairy]

my mom says I'm "credit-averse"...I mean, who likes paying interest needlessly? and sure, I can't relate to people who use credit on a whim (or think the solution to "all my credit is maxed out, I refinanced my mortgage, but I reeeeally wanna do expensive renovations" isn't to put them off and save up, but rather to apply for a huge loan when their income barely covers their current debt) but I wouldn't say that makes me "averse", just "prudent"

There ARE times when using credit makes sense

(personal finance stuff under the cut -- sorry fellow mobile users)

The big example of wise credit use is a mortgage on a house -- the interest you're paying will almost always be lower than the value of growth in the equity in the house

Mortgages aside though, here's my particular situation: I'm gonna be taking a 33% pay cut for 3-4 years for grad school, in order to probably make double my current salary within 10-15 years (and make at least 10k/year more just on graduation). It's a wise trade off, 100%....but also not without its complications.

See, I wanna start having kids in 5ish years, and before I do that, I want to have a wedding, at least one trip to Europe, another trip to Japan, maybe travel at least once with friends -- am I going to wait until my income is higher to do all that? gonna live like a monk because my savings capacity will be almost nil (especially after contributing at source on my pay to max out employer match)? am I gonna try to squeeze all that into the 1-2 years between graduating from my masters and trying for a kid??

enter prudent credit use.

with my staff discount, the rate of interest I pay is like 3.50$ per 1000$ balance on my credit line. let's say, to pay my part of the wedding and take a couple trips, I take out 20000$ from there. That's 70$/month interest, 840$/year. Let's say the wedding and trips are in 2022-23, and I keep the 20k balance for 2 years. I still only pay 1680$ in interest, and I've gotten to travel and get married.

the kicker though? I know of an incentive program that will give me a statement credit that will cover that amount of interest and then some. and, once I have my higher income, I'll be able to pay down the debt at an even faster rate than my current 1000$ per 2 months.

like I definitely don't condone overuse of credit, or using it frivolously for discretionary and impulse purchases -- but to me, not having to put my life experiences completely on hold is worth the amount I'll be paying (and may get reimbursed for, anyway)

[ivyandink]

Just filled out the FAFSA again and it felt like suuuuch a throwback lol.

I kind of did it on a whim, because the priority deadline is Jan 1, and it’s free, so why not? I’d rather be over prepared than under.

I’m just soo concerned about figuring out how to PAY for grad school lol. For the 5 semester program I’m looking at, it’s gonna be like $30k and that’s before books, parking pass, etc. 😬And I do NOT want to take out more loans than I have no, especially not UNsubsidized, and at that high af interest rate. I stg America does not want our asses going to grad school lollll.

My school program has quite a bit of opportunities for grants and schloarships though, so if I could manage to get a few smaller ones, that’d be tight af and be a huge help. But if I don’t get enough, it might mean waiting until 2021 😓 But I guess I’d rather do that than be severely in debt lol. 

I’m thinking I might tell me boss about how I wanna go back to school for an MSW when we do our reviews in January. I feel like she’d be sad but supportive? And obviously, it might not even happen for two whole years, so lol. That’s a scary thought too tho-- telling her!! Eeeeek. One of her best friends is a LCSW, and he works with the LGBTQ community a lot, and he’s super nice so I wonder if she’d be willing to like connect us and I could talk to him about stuff. 

So many tentative possibilities. Sooooo much can change between now and August. That is eight whole months. Hopefully in 8 months I’ve got a good enough income going in my side hustle that I can just do that for work while I’m back in school. lakjflskd BACK IN SCHOOL. The wildest and most exciting thing I have typed all damn day. I can’t wait to be a student again lol. Sigh. And I can’t wait to be a LCSW one day, and be a counselor and help people. I have sooo many ideas for ways I could help people. 😭 Just reading about licensure and the exams and the hours I have to do to get those damn four letters next to my name makes me so happy I want to cry (altho that could be bc I started my period today hahaha). It just feels so right.

If anyone has any experience applying/paying for grad school, hit ya girl up 😭 

I feel like I’m sooo overwhelmed by it all lol but also so excited at the same time. Sigh. Also, this has clearly become my diary lol.

[hazel2468]

Oh, if I could tell little 15 year old Becca one thing;

Yeah, high school isn’t even the start. It’s like. The shitty foreword written by a totally different author. College? Gonna be even better. Grad school? EVEN better. Post graduation? HELL YEAH you will be having a blast (and that’s even taking the fucking world-changing pandemic into account).

When I was a teenager, I couldn’t do SHIT for myself. Everything depended on the whims of my parents. When I had a bad day, I had to take whatever shit they gave me in the way of “help” (which was usually telling me I wasn’t applying myself). Now? I have awful cramps today, and I had to run an errand... So I got myself some chocolates while I was out. I have work tomorrow, and I’m going to be SO busy... But once I’m done? No homework. No projects. No essays. I get to spend my time doing what I like, without pressure or some grown up looking over my shoulder, because I AM the grown up.

Kids. High school isn’t even the fucking start of it. College isn’t even the start of it. Fuck, your early 20s aren’t even the start of it. If you’re wondering when the hell your life is going to start like everyone told you it would in high school? It will, on your time. Those people were feeding you BS- life gets better and better the more it goes. Take it from me- I didn’t think I would make it past 18, and now? I’m turning 27, and I can’t WAIT to see what the next year holds.

thinking about how all the adults were absolutely bullshitting when they said that school days are the best days of your life???? like whatever issues i have going on now, i can buy myself little treats like a book or food whenever i want. i feel like im stagnating in my current job so im looking for a new one. imagine if i was bored of school, no one would let me go to a new one. I don’t have to hang out with anyone I don’t want to. being an adult is fuckjng amazing and i was so right to feel trapped as a kid