The dumbest thing l've ever done with my money - by Jacqueline Kenny

Jacqueline Kenny, a student at St. Mary's College, has won a $1,000 scholarship in a national essay contest sponsored by Credit Education Week Canada and the Bank of Montreal.

Kenny received her award yesterday at at a lunch-and-learn session at the Sault Ste. Marie Public Library's main branch,

The event was hosted by Credit Counselling Service of Sault Ste. Marie and District, a not-for profit accredited credit counselling agency whose mandate is to educate and counsel the community on issues surrounding money and credit management. 

For more information about credit counselling services in Sault Ste. Marie, please contact Credit Counselling Services of Sault Ste. Marie & District, 298 Queen Street East, Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario, P6A 1Y7,  visit their website at www.creditcounsellingssm.ca, follow them on Twitter @CC_SSM, or LIKE them on Facebook.

The following, posted here with the author's permission, is the full text of Kenny's award-winning essay.

The dumbest thing l've ever done with my money was not the least bit funny when it first occurred.

However, when I reflect back on it now, I can't help but bust a gut at my own stupidity and misfortune.

It all began back in March, most specífically the March break.

I could feel the excitement building up asI boarded the plane that would take me to a land of sunshine and shopping, otherwise known as Toronto.

I was like a child on Christmas Eve with sugar plums dancing in my dreams.

Visions of clothing racks, shoe stores and aisles of premium makeup to cake my overly expressive face with, danced in my head as I sat beside a complete stranger who unfortunately for me, did not know the meaning of personal space.

However, this trip was not like any other I had embarked on before.

No, no, no. This trip was special, one might even say extraordinary, for one seemingly perfect reason.

That being, that l díd not step onto the streets of Toronto as a young and naive 17-year-old girl.

I stepped on them as a woman, a mature and sophisticated woman with gold in my hand.

Most specifically, my síster's gold Vísa.

This was my first taste of true financial freedom, responsibility, and adulthood.

With my apparent "adulthood" came a budget.

You know, that awful cap you or your bank account, if we're being honest here, put on your happiness that happens to come in the form of Macy's department stores.

I went down there with a budget, I honest to God did.

However, I have a wandering eye that happens to make my entire body wander ínto store after store, not to mention daily Starbuck's stops along the way.

Needless to say, I blew that budget out of the water.

"Not to worry," I told myself. "You have a job; you can pay your sister back in no time."

Little did I know, when I said "no time," it really meant no time, never, not going to happen.

Sorry to say, but I got trapped in the hole that many other young adults (and full-blown adults) fall into when ít comes to credít cards and the big bad debt monster.

Now that l've gotten my own stupídity out of the way, the great misfortune of this event can come into place.

lt was the last day of school, my last exam before summer break.

I had a great full-time job lined up to get me through those long and hot days, and of course enable me to pay back every penny owed on that shiny gold card.

However, a camouflaged-by-grass dugout beside the sidewalk had another idea for my perfect summer.

Down I go, crack goes my foot.

Twenty minutes into my summer and I found myself in the emergency room with a bulky and not so fashionable cast on my foot.

So much for those new high heels l just purchased.

Not only would I have a hideous tan line on my lower right leg, (This was a serious concern of mine at the tíme), I was not able to work the twelve-hour days at my new job, which meant I could not pay back that now seemingly evil card.

Now I had no job, no income and one angry and quite delusional and unfair sister on my hands.

Now l'm clearly not an expert on credit cards, however, I do know that 20 percent interest is applied annually, not monthly.

You can ask anyone off the street or anyone who took a Grade 10 math class if  20 percent monthly is an actual amount, and they will most likely give you the correct answer to thís question.

However, that's what Cruella DeVille, ergo my sister seemed to deem true in her mind.

This unrealistic rate of ínterest only dragged me deeper and deeper into debt.

So deep you would think I was Frodo lost in the depths of Mordor.

Now what l've learned from this whole escapade is that debt really sucks.

ln all seriousness though, I learned that I should not spend or borrow money before having it.

With the exception of university of course, because in my opinion schooling is one debt I am willing to have in order to further myself in life.

This whole sÍtuation has created a great deal of stress and conflict between my sister and me, and has taught me to take a look at the bigger picture and the consequences that may entail, before purchasing a 50-dollar makeup brush I really do not need.

Seeing as I have learned from this whole situation, I plan to go into my future with more knowledge and experience when it comes to making life decisions both financially and socially.

Do I need a new phone, or do I need a good education?

l think this question answers itself.

There are more important things in life than having the latest line of jeans, or the newest pair of shoes.

I am excited to walk ínto my future as a post-secondary student with wide eyes when it comes to debt, budgets and savings.

My foolish and juvenile actions have prepared me for whatever the future may hold with regards to financial wellbeing when ít comes time for me to step onto the streets of the real world, as an actual mature and sophisticated woman, not a 17-year-old girl who thinks she has the world in the palm of her credit-card holding hands.

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