By Jae-Ha Kim
Chicago Sun-Times
December 23, 2003
It’s two days until Christmas, and the question I’d like to ask is this: How many weeks (or months) will it take to pay off your holiday shopping debt?
What amazes me is the number of people I know who are in debt. I’m not talking about mortgages, student loans or medical bills, but rather IOUs to Visa, Mastercard and American Express for vacations they just had to go on or rent for apartments that almost equal their take-home pay.
These aren’t bad people. But we live in a society where more is more, and we feel entitled to things we haven’t earned.
Growing up with immigrant parents, I learned early on how difficult it was not only to save money, but also to make it. When the only summer job I could get after my freshman year in college was on a factory assembly line, I was positive my parents wouldn’t allow it. After all, they wouldn’t want their daughter working with heavy machinery, right?
Wrong.
After having a conversation with me about how this wouldn’t have happened had I started to look for a summer job earlier, they encouraged me to take any shift available. I took the day shift and can honestly say that my views on money changed drastically after those three months. It was a monotonous job. My hands were constantly dirty. I barely made minimum wage.
And if I ever have children, I will encourage them to work at least one summer in a similar job. Preaching about how difficult it is to earn money is one thing. Actually putting yourself in the situation to experience it is another.
When I took home my weekly paycheck that summer, the realization sunk in that it would’ve taken me at least two days to pay for the designer boots and jeans I had begged my parents for.
Aside from a mortgage and student loans, I have never been in debt. And it’s not because I’m so good with finances (I’m not) or that I earn such a great living (I don’t — I’m a print reporter, remember?).
It’s because I don’t spend what I don’t have, and I hope you won’t this holiday season, either.
