I didn't go back to work after my surgery. I was always sick when I worked at that place. And I think it was the extreme stress that sent me into surgery in the first place. So, I decided to focus on completing my Master's degree and looking for an easy part-time job to make some extra money.
I applied to several places close by my apartment so that I wouldn't have to take much time commuting. That way, I could still focus primarily on my studies.
NO ONE HIRED ME!
I guess I wasn't really bothered. I was okay with staying at home. I was surviving off of financial aid. My bills were paid, I was comfortable, I was eating... I had no immediate worries.
That is, until September of 2018.
Money got a little strange that month. I received my regular financial aid refund very late. That delay caused a chain of misfortune that I still haven't quite recovered from.
The payment was so late in September that I could not pay my rent that month, nor could I buy anything else that I needed.
Wait... Let me go back...
In July, a good friend of mine passed away. I spend money I couldn't exactly afford to spend to travel to Chicago to her funeral. I made no complaints. I was happy to go. I wanted to be there to pay my respects. And I didn't feel the effects of the trip right away.
In August, I still had SOME of the money I needed to pay my rent, but not all of it. So, to ensure my rent was paid, I wrote a check and counted on my overdraft protection to cover it.
That was a very stupid and irresponsible idea!
But, I figured that I would be getting a check during the first week of September and I could pay it back. But it didn't happen that way...
The check I was supposed to receive around September 6th didn't arrive until September 25th. Nearly a whole month had passed without my rent getting paid! Luckily, I had never paid my rent late, so the landlord was patient with me.
In the meantime, I withdrew more money from my empty bank account to buy food and monthly necessities, which put me more into debt.
By the time September 25th came around, my bank was demanding payment on the overdraft or my account would be suspended.
I was freaking out! I had no idea when the financial aid refund would finally arrive.
When it did, it was received via direct deposit, and the bank immediately took the money that I owed them. I was, again, left with only a portion of the rent.
I didn't have anyone I could call on to ask for the remainder of the money... and I felt it was too much to ask of someone anyways. And my landlord had run out of patience. He could not take partial payment and let me pay the rest later.
The problem was, September was the last month on my lease and since it was so late in the month, I would have had to pay October's rent as well to renew the lease if I wanted to stay. Needless to say, I couldn't afford both months, so I had to find someplace else to go.
My aunt was gracious enough to allow me to stay with her for a while. Who knew how long "a while" would be?
No comments:
Post a Comment
Read anything you liked (or disliked)? Leave me a comment. I would love to hear from you!! -Erika!
If you are having trouble posting your comment here, please email it to me at experiencelifewitherika@gmail.com. I will respond and ensure it is posted. I apologize for any inconvenience and I THANK YOU for your support!