Temperantia #1 – Dealing with Severance Pay

An honest starting point

I’ll be honest: I’m very bad with money. That’s nothing new to people who know me. Quite the opposite. But I actually managed to handle a sum that was very significant for me in a mostly reasonable way.

I won’t state the amount here. It doesn’t belong here. And in the end, the money is gone anyway. Oh—and the post won’t be particularly long.

The reality of the severance pay

I didn’t have to wait long for the severance pay to hit my account. And in the end, it was lower than expected. Unfortunately. So I had to restructure.

Originally, I wanted to pay off a large portion of my debts and use a small part for other things. But the actual amount—and another rather negative “surprise”—blew that plan apart. So: what now?

Taking responsibility

I considered involving my little bear right away, or my brother-in-spirit. In the end, though, I wanted to make the decision myself. Based on the question: “Am I capable of making a decision that’s reasonable?”

Because of the new, unpleasant circumstances, I couldn’t pay off everything I had originally planned. But I did get rid of the two biggest monthly financial burdens.

The inner conflict

I still had a tiny buffer left. And I wrestled with myself for a long time. You need to know this about me: I wear clothes until they’re basically hanging off me in threads. Clothing usually has very low priority for me. I prefer to spend money on entertainment.

This time, I managed to convince myself that this would be the wrong decision. So the last available money went into clothing: new shoes—which were urgently needed—and a few other items.

Long-term consequences

What does that do to me? Nothing it hasn’t done my whole life. I’m trying to come to terms with the fact—and will have to keep coming to terms with it—that I can’t just say: “I’ll buy this now.”

Even when I think about buying something in installments, I calculate for hours whether I could really afford it. Right now, that’s out of the question anyway. In the past, unreasonableness usually won.

Not this time

I have new clothes. New shoes. I got rid of two monthly financial burdens. I would’ve liked to get rid of one more, but it wasn’t meant to be. Maybe that will still happen.

What are your experiences with “handling money responsibly”?

Gerry