7 Unfortunate Financial Realities That Come With Being An Adult

1. You figure out how many hours of work things cost – I’m so not kidding. I can’t even tell you how many times I’ve stood in a store looking at something while mentally calculating how many hours I’ll have to work to pay for it. This is one of the quickest ways I’ve found to talk myself down.

2. You realize that everything doesn’t have to be new – When you’re buying everything for yourself, you very quickly realize that if you can buy something used, it’ll cost you a whole lot less. When you finally wrap your head around the true cost of things like furniture, you decide there’s no harm in taking all the donations that you can get.

3. You decide that convenience isn’t necessarily worth the cost – Eating out is quicker, but more expensive. Frozen pizzas are great, but making your own is a lot cheaper. Starbucks? You may as well just buy a coffee maker.

4. You’ll pay off your credit card each and every month – In full, because the thought of spending your hard-earned money on interest just doesn’t float your boat. That’s money that’s better spent elsewhere – on things that you actually want and not financing last month’s purchases.

5. You learn that brand names cost you a whole lot more – I remember being in my early 20’s and dropping quite a chunk of change at places like Hollister. Needless to say, that didn’t last long. There comes a day when you realize that you don’t always need to have the biggest and the best. You reach a point where you’ll settle for something along the lines of the best value.

6. You finally grasp the concept of a 401k – In other words, you realize that you’d really rather retire as early as possible so you begrudgingly, but faithfully, make your maximum contribution each and every pay period.

7. You learn the difference between wants and needs – You know, because in the grand scheme of things, there are a whole lot more things that you want than things that you truly need. Eventually, you learn to distinguish between the two and therefore learn to say no.

Have you stumbled across a few unfortunate financial realities that come with being an adult? Leave a comment and add to my list.