Somebody up there loves me!

No, not Heaven. No one up there likes me, that's why I'm still here instead of up there! No no, the "up there" I'm talking about is high on the political ladder; The government!

You see, I filed for my taxes waaay before the deadline of April 15th... Except they rejected it and I didn't realize at first. So after I found out I needed my AGI [Adjusted Gross Income] from last year, I called the IRS [there's something no one ever wants to do] and they gave it to me [after about 50 questions and maybe 30 minutes of hold time] Well, that was the 13th... You'd think I'd have it by now. Except I don't. I finally went onto IRS.gov and found out that they're shipping it on the 8th and I'll have it on the 11th... WITH AN EXTRA $300! Whoa! And they say it's because they found errors on my report... Damn. I love when the government screws up!

So, if you remember a post from last month, I was gonna get about $640 from the government, $260 from my cleaning check and another $300 from an extra pay-period this month, giving me about $1200 total. Now, with the extra $300, I'm getting $1500 EXTRA this month! Plus my typical paychecks, which I typically have a bit left over from. Holy crap. For the first time in awhile, I'll have some money to my name!

It's kind of sad, though. When I first started working, my first job was as a telemarketer [if you ever get asked/offered to be one, decline. It's not worth it. Starve first.] I had, at some point, saved up $2000 in my bank account. Going through jobs and not working for periods at a time, I basically used that all up. I haven't really had much in the terms of "savings" ever since then... I wish I could have saved up more, but I guess at first, I was too fixed on having money to buy stuff. Games, music, movies... Whatever was my fix at the time, I had the freedom to do what I wanted. Kinda like that freedom most kids get when they start driving.

And then, I finally start getting smarter with my money and while working a job that didn't cover the cost, I moved out of home at 19. I didn't even have the money to really cover rent, let alone car payments, insurance or any kind of food. My sister paid for the house food, my parents accepted the fact that I couldn't pay my car insurance or car payments to them and decided to postpone the payments til I had a better job. Eventually, I landed my current job at my warehouse and making almost twice as much, I could finally afford... You know, living.

It's really humbling, to be honest. Never having money and knowing that even while you don't have money because you're paying everything you can and you're actually NOT paying everything you need to pay... Not only that, but BECAUSE you're not paying everything, everyone around you is helping you out... You kinda learn to take things less for granted. You learn to count your pennies and keep your money in your wallet [or bank account] a bit more often than handing it out.

In the end, you realize that money doesn't grow on trees. Well, except for the fact that it's printed on paper. So, in fact... It does grow on trees.

Think on that philosophy. If you can afford it.