Pinching Pennies

So far, I haven't felt the sting of living on a teacher's salary. There are several reasons for this:

1. I am single and don't have any children. I don't have to support a family.
2. My Grandparents paid for my college. I don't have loans or debt.
3. I don't own a home. I don't have to pay a mortgage yet.

For the first time since I started teaching, money is really tight this month. There are several reasons for this.

1. The tuition on my graduate school went up. I just had to pay a 2,000 dollar bill for my Fall classes.
2. We had a week that we weren't paid at all this year because of calendar changes. This makes my summer budget even tighter.
3. I bought to much random stuff for my own classroom this year. It seemed like a good idea because I am in a new grade, but in retrospect maybe it wasn't such a good idea.

My point is:

1. It is really hard to live on a limited budget. Because of state budget issues, I am still making the exact same salary I was when they hired me three years ago (as a first year teacher).
2. It is kind of hard to be motivated to pay for graduate school when my degree will amount to approximately 1,000 more dollars a year. With graduate school costing 6,000 dollars per year, it will take twelve years for this degree to pay for itself. I guess I'm not doing that for the money either.

I also get really annoyed when people tell me, "Well, you're not in it for the money."

Of course I'm not in it for the money.

That doesn't mean I don't have financial needs.

That doesn't mean financial compensation wouldn't be nice sometimes.