How my first 'grown-up job' ruined my finances

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last updated 11 January 2015

I've been working since I was 14. Flipping burgers at McDonald's, hostessing at restaurants, shelving books at the library — I've done tons of odd jobs because having money is important to me. Sure, I could be frivolous at times; I like to buy clothes, travel to new places, and go out to eat with my friends. But when I was living with my parents, my basic needs were covered. I attended college on a scholarship and worked then, too, so the combination of spare cash and low expenses meant it was always easy for me to stick to a budget.

I began to lose a handle on money when I started law school in 2009. Even though I had student loans to cover all of the major costs (like books, housing, and tuition), unexpected expenses popped up regularly — for example, I needed to buy a nice business suit to wear to interviews and mock trials, and had to travel out of town for job fairs on my own dime — and the paltry amount I was making as a part-time research assistant wasn't enough to cover everything. Still, if I was short on cash at the end of the semester (before my next loan payment went through), my grandmother would usually help me out with whatever I needed, so I didn't put any debt on the only credit card I had.

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When I graduated from law school in 2012 and landed an entry-level law job, my expenses really skyrocketed. I moved from Indiana to Dayton, Ohio, where I'd accepted a position as general counsel at a great firm where I'd interned between my second and third year of law school. I liked the company, and they offered me a salary just under six figures — significantly more money than I'd ever made. I was excited to start my "adult life," but I felt almost guilty getting that first paycheck, because I just wasn't used to being compensated for my work that way.

The money didn't last long: Though my mom helped me move to Dayton, which kept the move itself relatively cheap, I'd never owned furniture (it was always included in the rentals I had during college), so I spent more than $5,000 furnishing my new apartment from scratch, including $2,000 on a bed and mattress and $1,000 on a sofa. I needed a car to get around, and though I put down $5,000 (earned during my summer internship), and my parents and grandparents contributed another $5,000, I still had to take out a $12,000 loan.

One of my biggest post-grad-school expenses was clothing. Even as a junior lawyer, I had to look professional — I knew from interacting with lawyers during my internships that cheap shoes and suits wouldn't cut it if I wanted to get ahead. Though I didn't keep a close tally, I'd estimate that I spent $7,000 or so on my initial wardrobe. Some of my suits were from Banana Republic and J.Crew, and cost several hundred dollars each, but I bought a few thousand-dollar department store suits too, and splurged on an Alexander Wang purse that set me back about $600.

To try to keep a balance, I purchased some pants at thrift stores, and scoured T.J. Maxx for collared shirts and shoes. I also bought nicer casual items — sweaters, pants, and shirts — to wear outside of work, too, because if I run into a colleague on the weekend, I don't want to be wearing cheap or worn-out outfits. I'll admit: Nice clothes make me feel better about myself, and reinforce the idea that I'm not a college student anymore, so in that respect, it's worth it to me.

Plus, I've learned a ton since getting my first "grown-up job" a year ago. For example, I initially found myself gravitating toward the very nicest clothing — think suits and dresses at Nordstrom and Bergdorf Goodman. But I soon realized there was a disparity between what I wanted to wear and what I could afford to wear (and that there were many nice middle-range options available to me too — for example, J.Crew suits).

I also changed the way I think about my salary and savings. Though I earn several thousand dollars each month, I now know that I don't get to automatically spend it all, like I would have when I was in my teens or early 20s and had no debt or living expenses. My new strategy is to pay my bills, including my credit cards; save at least several hundred dollars; then give myself several hundred for expendables.

Now that I've been a working professional for a year, I've set new goals for myself. I put aside $900 a month for savings, with the understanding that I can use that money in the event of an emergency, but not for, say, a new outfit. I also upped the amount that I'm paying on my student loans, chipping in a few hundred more than the minimum. My current goal is to pay down my credit card debt by the end of the year, so I'm in a place where I'm only paying recurring bills like rent and utilities; with what I'm earning, I should be able to do this by the end of 2013, or at the very beginning of 2014.

I know that having a healthy savings account will help me achieve my career goals faster. To be honest, I don't know exactly what I want to do five to ten years from now, but I'm pretty sure I'd like to live in a bigger city, which will inevitably cost more money than living in Dayton. Plus, I'd like the ability to take a job outside a big firm — for example, an in-house counsel position or a position in the real estate industry, which has always interested me. No matter what I decide, it'll take money. Not because I'll be able to afford the snappy Donna Karan suit I've been eyeing — but because I'll have the financial freedom to make the choices that mean the most to me.

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