Making Money, Spending Money

As I mentioned last time, I’ve started working again: I’m officially a substitute teacher for the local school district. I’ve only been registered for two weeks and I’ve already had three days of work, along with plenty of additional calls that I’ve turned down (for various reasons). That means come March 10th, I’ll have an extra $300 sitting in my bank account. In addition, I filed my taxes this weekend and I am very pleased with the refund I’ll be getting. I won’t tell you the amount, but needless to say it’s more than what I made working in February.

I feels like almost overnight I’ve gone from teetering on the edge of flat broke to having my coffers flush with moolah. It’s very exciting, even if I don’t technically have any of it yet.

The hardest part though? Stopping myself from mentally spending this money before it’s even mine. Certainly I’ll be glad to rid myself of the modest credit card debt I’ve accumulated since December, but I’d also like to enjoy myself a bit. You have to understand: since I left my old job in August, I haven’t had much in the way of disposable income. Most of the money I had saved has gone to supporting my dancing habit (primarily in the form of gas for my car), leaving very little left for things like music, videogames, books, clothes, or even trips with friends. Not all of these are purely wants either.

My unemployment, though relaxing, was pretty ill-timed. I realized fairly quickly that some of my possessions were starting to show their age. My iPod’s battery is getting worse by the day, forcing me to recharge it at least twice a day now. My laptop has a multitude of problems, including a broken hinge, troublesome power cord, and ever-dwindling hard drive space. Finally, most of my jeans no longer fit my new slimmer frame, and I need new dress pants and shirts for work / dancing.

Of course, I have some wants too (like a DSi XL), but mostly I’d just like to reach a point where I don’t feel like all my stuff is old and/or falling apart. I don’t know when exactly that may be, but perhaps with a couple more months of substitute teaching (or maybe even a full-time job *fingers-crossed*) I can come a little closer.