A look at my financial situation

Ok, it’s been a while since I took a look at my financial situation here on the blog.

The last time I did this was when I was just starting this blog back in July 2008 (last summer). But a lot has changed since then.

So here’s a recap/summary:

• I owe 33,000 ($6,600) to my dad. He helped me pay my rent for 3 months.
• I owe 20,520 ($4,104)  in student loans. I just took out my first loans in January 2009.
• So my debt total (so far) is 53,520 ($10,704).

And I say so far…

Because I had to quit my job back in the fall to study full-time. So until I finish my Master’s thesis at the university (estimated 6 months from now) I won’t have any earnings or income whatsoever. I’ll be living on and racking up some killer debt.

So that’s also the main reason why I haven’t really talked about my finances these past months on the blog. I’ve just been talking about saving, saving, saving (as opposed to in july when I was talking a lot about earning and job hunting and working - you can notice a striking difference in the posts). It’s because I myself (and of course my family) knew how bad it looked, but I didn’t want everyone else in cyberspace knowing how bad it looked.

But I guess blogging is about honesty, and sharing your life and struggles and putting it out there. Even when it goes bad. I think I’m still learning this hard circumstance about blogging.

But ultimately, I might sound a little down and out today, but the fact of the matter remains that I know (and remind myself) that this financial hole is merely temporary. And that when I’m finished with college I’ll be earning some money. I have to keep my sights on that. And normally I do. You just caught me on a bad day :)

So that’s how the money situation looks like today.

But just for the fun and humor in it, here’s a graph to show the inevitable downfall of my finances the next months.

Hopefully, I can look back on all this in half a year and smile and laugh a bit. You’ve got to “always look on the bright side of life”, as Monty Python would sing.

And heck, people all around the world have it much worse than me. I should be thankful I’ve got a roof over my head, food, heating(!), clean water and a great supportive family.

So I’m hopeful, confident and will be working damn hard to make it through the next 6 months.