I followed a car to work this morning with a bumper sticker that read “I owe, I owe, so it’s off to work I go.” My first assessment was, “That’s about how it goes.” Then I started to think it was a grim way to look at the productive portion of our lives that require us to go somewhere to gain a paycheck in order to pay for the things we want. I may complain about my student loan company screwing me (which they did but that’s a-whole-nother topic), I may complain that my credit card bill is high, I may even complain about wedding expenses, but it’s not the payment’s fault. Besides I told myself and my readers I was going to try to complain less this year.
I’m the one who got into the mess in order to finish school and have a wedding. I was a stupid late teen and early twenties person who thought she was making all the right choices in life in order to fulfill her dreams. I admit I got carried away with buying groceries and books then forgetting about the payment at the end of the month. I admit I should have trusted the government more and went through them for all my student loans instead of going through a third party. However I’m the one, unfortunately with the help of my fiancé, who needs to buckle down, manage my finances better, and get myself out of debt.
The owner of car in front of me either made some bad financial decision or some company or one screwed him through a stupid mistake of his own more than likely. I will say some people are blindsided and can't help some of the situations their in, but for the most part it can be traced back to the person who owes.
Then I saw him toss an almost full cigarette out the window. I was upset that he had so little respect for the environment despite the wet and cold it was displaying. After a brief moment, I wondered how much money it would save him if he 1) finished that whole cigarette, got his money’s worth, and deposited it in an ashtray outside work like all the buildings have around here and 2) if he didn’t smoke at all.
In the state of Colorado an average pack of cigarettes costs around $5.96. Now, I'm no math wiz but if he smokes five a day that’s a pack and three thirds a week. We're up to $10.43. For an entire year of him smoking at an even pace (there are some weeks that are more stressful and therefore he’s going to smoke more but let’s keep the math simpler) he has to spend $542.36 to get his fill. And that’s only if he smokes the entire cigarette every time. If, like my sis-in-law who quit before going to California, he smokes only half per time that’s half the cost ($271.18) but not if he’s tossing the other half out the window! Don’t get me started on his health bills.
If he were to give up that nasty habit he would save himself around two (on average) car payments or a little more than a mortgage payment per year, maybe more depending on that credit score. I wanted to stop and pick up that cigarette and follow him directly to his work place and say, “Hey, mister you dropped something!” But alas I didn’t. I myself was running behind. I am ashamed for not making a direct point. I’m not sure he would have absorbed the message in the first place. He didn’t even know where to turn for his workplace (it was another mile after he first put his turn signal on).
If you’re going to complain for all the world to see about having to go to work simply because you owe someone or some company don’t go around throwing money away. It looks bad.
