What Have You Done Sparingly That Backfired?
In the summer between sophomore and sophomore college, I did an internship at the Michigan State Senate in Lansing. Since the position was not paid at first (in the end, I convinced them that I needed money, well, to live), all summer I lived in my friends’ spare bedrooms, and for pocket money I got a second internship at a PR firm.
In general, it was a fun, educational summer, but there was little money. So when I got a toothache, I ignored it. It got so bad that I had migraines every day, but I knew I couldn’t afford the dental bill, so I took an aspirin, went to work and prayed that it would go away.
Until one morning I could not get out of bed because I had a severe headache. I texted my mom, who lives two hours from Lansing, and she pulled up, pulled me out of bed and took me to the ambulance. In short, I was an idiot and had to show a couple of hundred dollars in bills. When I experienced similar headaches and toothaches a few years later on a trip to Boston, I got scared and immediately went to the ER, where I was being treated, to issue new bills. It took me a year to pay them off, and during that time I got a new dentist.
Not going to the doctor (or the dentist, in my case) when something is wrong is not entirely “economical”, it was just stupid. But in my 20-year-old mind, I couldn’t imagine paying the $ 12 an hour bills I was earning, so I put aside taking care of myself. It didn’t seem that bad , right? It’s pretty common in the US: you don’t want to pay, so you wait, hoping the pain just goes away. I was lucky and learned my lesson. Your health and your teeth are not cheap. In the end, he will catch up with you. (This reminds me to schedule a dental check-up.)
Is there anything “lean” that you did that ultimately turned against you? Let me know in the comments or email alicia.adamczyk@lifehacker.com .