It’s humbling to watch that beautiful new paycheck containing your brand new salary as it suddenly dwindles down to nothing.

I’m not trying to say that I was foolhardy with my paycheck. No… In fact, I started out being pretty wise about how my newfound wealth was to be spent and/or saved.

See, I’ve gone from working for a church to working for a for profit business. As you can imagine, this significantly increased my expected salary. Please, don’t think that by saying that I wasn’t appreciative of the job I had with the church or the pay I earned in my two years working there. I loved every moment of my job with the church. It’s just not a job that paid a great deal. No one gets rich working for a church.

I can’t back that up. I’m sure there are a bunch of examples of people who got rich doing “the Lord’s work.” But I have a funny feeling that most of those examples boil down to corrupt individuals.

That’s a topic for another time that I will probably never, ever come back around to.

Anyway, like I say, I started a new job and I finally got my first paycheck. And I was slightly blown away. Not really… it was about what I expected it to be. But it was more than what I was getting in my previous position. And after trying to make my final paycheck from the church stretch about two weeks beyond what it normally would have had to cover, suddenly having a little extra money in my account was a welcome change.

I was excited to finally be able to start rebuilding my savings account. I was excited to be able to pay my bills like a responsible adult. I was excited to have enough left over to get some needed work done to my car.

You know how it is. There are just certain things that need to be regularly done to the old automobile. Oil change… tire rotation and balance… state inspection…

That last one is what’s tripped me up. The dreaded state inspection. Now, I don’t know about you, but this annual requirement is kind of a pain in the butt. Because you can be driving your car along, not knowing that there’s anything wrong with it, and suddenly the inspectors come along and tell you that there are all these little things that need to be done for the car to pass inspection.

Last year, I needed four new tires to pass the inspection. That’s not cheap.

This year… well, the tires are just fine. But there are a handful of other things that need to be done. And those other things add up. And what I was expecting to pay for this little trip to the shop is suddenly more than tripled.

Remember that bit of extra money I decided I’d use to start rebuilding my savings account? Yeah, it’s gone now. The gift card I bought that I’d earmarked for groceries for the next couple weeks? Gotta use that, too.

Thankfully, I have some cash in my wallet that I can use for groceries instead. And I have a jar full of change on my desk that I can exchange for paper money. Not sure how much it is, but you can bet I’ll be counting it. Good chance I’m gonna need it between now and my next payday.

On the plus side, my car’s in good shape and I won’t need another inspection until next November.

And on an unrelated note, if you’re interested in investing in Peck Industries, you know how to contact me.