Just when I was doing soooo good!
Find a Conversation
| Tue, 08-23-2005 - 10:26pm |
I can't believe I did this. I was doing soooo good with my finances, and then I did such a silly thing. I put three receipts in early August into my jeans pocket during the day, and at night, I didn't check my pockets and washed the jeans. I saw some paper bits caught in the lint trap of the dryer, but I didn't give them another thought, and I didnt think about the possibility that they might be important (like receipts that needed to be recorded in my checkbook). So I received a message from my bank on the 18th, saying that $100 was taken from my overdraft account and placed into my checking account on the 10th to cover a negative balance. So, thankfully, yes, I did have overdraft protection set up. Whew. I immediately went to the bank and paid the $100 back to my overdraft account, and I just accepted the $10 transfer fee for my own forgetfulness, and vowed to check my bank accounts online every day since.
So now everything is back to normal....overdraft account balance is back to where it should be, finances are back to normal, and I've been scared enough to know that I need to check my pockets and my online accounts every single day (actually have a reminder in my PDA to remind me daily now!), but I am still having trouble getting over the fact that I let this happen! Such a simple mistake, but I am always so hard on myself when I do things wrong. If it were anyone else, I'd just say, "Hey, everything's back to normal now, and you've learned a valuable lesson, so it's time to move on and let it go", but I'm my own worst critic, I guess.
It didn't make it any easier when I went to the customer service counter at my bank branch, and while I was preparing to make things "right" and pay back the $100 to my overdraft account, the lady working at the counter said, "It looks like you were charged a $10 transfer fee, but that doesn't seem right. I thought it was always $5.00 for an overdraft transfer", so rather than just make a call to find out, she YELLS across the entire crowded bank, with all those people waiting in line in the little zig-zag roped area, to the line of bank tellers at the counters, and said, "Hey! Do any of you know if the overdraft transfer fees went up from $5.00 to $10.00??" They didn't know. She called someone higher up than herself, found out that the rates had, indeed, gone up to $10, and then she yelled over, again, to the bank tellers to let them know that the rates had gone up for overdrafts. I could have crawled under the nearest chair at that point. It's bad enough to make a mistake, but it's worse to have it announced across a crowded bank!!
I guess I just need to learn to forgive myself. Does anyone else have trouble with self-forgiveness?
Thanks,
Pat

Definitely, those little things where I just know I could have done better or can't believe I was so foolish...it will take a long, long time before I get over having driven my car into a carport with a bike in the bike rack (that little mistake was about $750) or putting my purse on top of the car and driving off ($50) not to mention not finding the Wiggles CD case last week and having .60 in library fines....problem is I don't mind spending money on things that have value to me but these things that do nothing for me I can really be my worst critic on.
Taleyna
I can be the same way. But if you feel better, think of it only as a ten dollar mistake, not a $110 mistake. Surely you can find a way to sacrifice ten dollars to make it even with yourself somehow?
Last November, I bought a washer and dryer, which had a $50 rebate on it. I lost the receipt, and went back to the store two days too late to get a reprint. I remember it, I have learned from it, etc. So there. Don't be so hard on yourself! if we didn't make mistakes, we wouldn't be human. Heather
HUGS Pat!!!
I'm with ya on the self-forgiveness issues! So many things just Stick in my head, like, "How could I have BEEN so stupid?" Little things that I know if it was anyone else I would be the first to say "It's no big deal, no one else noticed / cared"
Like....THink of how many people in that bank have also been overdrawn?
I know I have been.
the thing I try to do is remind myself....No one in that line went home and told their family over dinner "Oh my gosh, honey. . . this woman at the bank today had to find out what the overdraft fee! Can you Imagine?!? We might need to get a new bank...I dont want the kids in a place where people Overdraft!"
;)
Unlike the time I was 12 years old and, ahem, burped, so loudly in a Denny's that a group of college-age guys sitting near by looked over at the table of me, my father, and my 18yr old brother and said "No, the LITTLE ONE did it!" and bust out laughing. :S
So rather than beating yourself up..think of EVERYTHING you did right!
You had Overdraft protection in place.
You had the money to immediately repay your overdraft fee. ~~ thats a biggie! You didnt spend money you didnt have, didnt purposely go into a Emergency fund for a non-emergency. You simply forgot to transfer some cash.
You have taken good corrective steps to make sure it doesnt happen again.
I'm with the others. Think of it as a lil waste of $10. Pretend you ordered in a pizza on a night you ate at home...and give yourself a nice big pat on the back for everything you've done right!
~ Teresa
Teresa
http://www.affordingpickles.blogspot.com
Pat,
Just after I finished university/college I took 6-months off to take care of my Grandparents. I had to differ my student loans and racked up almost $5000 in cc debt. I went from looking after my Grandparents to looking after my Mom. I was barely working because I just didn’t have the time.
So, my financial situation wasn’t that great. I got paid every Friday and went right to the bank. Well, one morning I over-heard several of the bank employees discussing me. They were talking about how said it was that I was living with my parents, how I wasn’t worth much, I was obviously lazy.
I couldn’t believe that anyone would say horrible things like that about me without really even knowing me. I wrote a really nasty letter to the bank manager. This wasn’t the first problem I had with this bank so I choose to switch to a new one. I got a card and flowers as an apology but haven’t gone back since then. My parents still bank there and my Dad noticed that they were super nice to him after that.
I say write the bank manager a letter or go to see him/her personally.
Lynne
Lara
"Does anyone else have trouble with self-forgiveness?"
Pat - of course! :)
All my best,
Danni