Grand Opening

“How did you do that?”

I’m always asked this question whenever I tell someone about a sweet deal that I’ve received. It could be two months of interest payments refunded on my credit card, an extra month or two to pay a bill without fees, or being a 30-something year old flower girl in a friend’s wedding. The answer is almost always as simple as, “I asked.”

I know that it sounds a little ridiculous. People don’t just get things because they asked. However, in my experience the biggest reason why people don’t get what they want in life (big and small) is because they don’t ask for it. They either believe that it’s more noble to do everything themselves, they’re too scared to hear no, they don’t want to offend anyone, or they just didn’t think to say anything. But as the song “Lean on Me” says, “No one can know/those of your needs/that you won’t let show.” Personally, I live by the mantra a closed mouth don’t get fed. There is nothing I like more than being fed so I stay like

And I do so without shame. My best friend says that I lack the ability to be embarrassed. My former boss said that I operate unencumbered by what should be. My mother says that I never believed the word “no” applied to me. They’re all correct on some level. I have always hated the feeling of missing out on anything so I tend to ask for everything, whether it be extra ketchup for my french fries or an additional $30K in salary.

Brazenness has served me well thus far and I’ll need it now more than ever. You see, today was the first day that I no longer have a job. Late last Monday night my former manager put a high priority 1:1 meeting on my calendar for the next day. I had a sinking feeling nothing positive would be discussed on the call, but I knew I was in for the shits when an unknown (to me at least) third party showed up on the Skype bridge. When I heard the words, “position is eliminated effective today,” my heart dropped. I have never been laid off in my life (although I tried very hard to be 2012). My first thought was, “This is problematic because I don’t think these bills are going away with this job.”

Now that I will be living off of savings as I figure out my next career move I have to open my mouth wider than ever. I’m trying to make every penny stretch as far as possible since I don’t know when I will have income again. I started this blog to share this journey as I realize that I’m not alone in this life phase. I’m going to do my darndest to stick to a mix of personal finance and career exploration all through the lens of finding and maximizing the people and resources around me. Hopefully, you’ll take a liking to my musings, stick around to share your own, and we’ll both get nourished.

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