by Delayne Terra Buranek

Created on: March 16, 2009

I've always had this internal struggle with money. I blame my parents. My father was frugal, strict even. He grew up poor and had to work hard for everything he had. He wasn't about to let it go easily. My mother grew up well-to-do, especially when compared to my father. She had graduated early and started working early because she liked to spend money. Her parents were older, and she was quite the surprise gift when she came along. But that meant they were established and had very good retirement. She also had an older brother, often mistaken as her parent because of the age difference, who had done well himself. So I learned from both parents, I would get a cheaper item when I bought things, but I'd also buy things I didn't need on impulse. The true lesson of learning to live on less though didn't come until much later.

I had become a grad student. Graduate students are notorious for living on less. They are the experts. They know exactly how far a bulk pack of instant noodles can get you, and they know where the cheapest pack is. I however had more than my status as a graduate student to keep my funds low. My university was in a foreign country, a country in which the US dollar has always been weak against, and was only getting weaker.

I wasn't always the best with money but I had planned very carefully how much money would be required for me to live a year. Tuition and housing were the biggest expenses made more so because I was neither a United Kingdom resident nor a resident of a European Union country. I did not get the "in-state" tuition discount. So it required a rather large loan. I had even given myself extra room in the loan to make sure I'd have enough to enjoy myself. If you are going to be in debt for that much, what is the difference of a little bit more?

Only when I arrived with my check in hand, instead of it being worth close to three quarters the original amount, like the exchange rate was during the planning stages, it was practically chopped in half during the switch. Besides that set back, the extra amount I had requested considered also the amount of my federal student loans. Their total included everything which I hadn't realized at the time I wrote the application. I was working with a lot less that I thought I'd be.

It was fine at first. I had it all in the bank and it was a lot. But at the end of nine months I had to make my housing payment for the last quarter. Imagine the panic when I realized I did not have nearly enough. So much

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