A bad financial move

Well it finally sunk in, with full force. This career change is a really bad financial move. When I'm finished school and working as a Respiratory Therapist, I will probably be making about 40% of what I was making when I was working as a full time IT Professional.

Unfortunately, I'm not at all interested in continuing on as a full time IT Professional. Financial reality has left me open, grudgingly, to the possibility of being a part time IT Professional for an indefinite period of time. I've already started telling people that, "I'm going to go back to school, so that I can get a more stressful and lower paying job". I usually think that line's pretty funny, sometimes I don't.

I spent most of today, and a couple of hours last week, shopping for furniture for my condo. I've already thrown out most of my crappy old furniture. While shopping I decided that I would get good furniture, that I like, and wouldn't get caught up on how expensive everything is. I'm 36 years old and I'm tired of living with crappy furniture, that lasts about as long as a decent pair of socks!

The end result is that I spent $10,811.17 on new furniture. I'm probably going to end up spending about $15, 000.00 when I'm finished getting all of the furniture that I want and need. Next year, I'm going to make about $38,000.00, if I'm lucky. When I'm finished buying my furniture, I'll have spent 40% of next years income on furniture!

What did I get for $10,811.17?

• A bed: $2,265.02
• A dresser and night stand for the bedroom: $2,125.42
• A sofa and chair for the living room: $3,338.38
• A dining room table and 4 chairs: $2,956.96
• A floor lamp for the living room: $125.39

All of the above, except the floor lamp, was on sale. I saved about $1,500.00, because everything was on sale. I suspect that expensive furniture is always "on sale" so that people feel less depressed about how much money they spend on it.

What do I still need to get?

• A headboard for my bend. I have this odd fear about getting my head stuck between my bed and the wall that the bed's up against. I'm hoping that a headboard will prevent me from getting my head stuck between a wall and my bed.
• 3 big book cases (I've decided to get cheap ones, for a total of about $500).
• A microwave.
• A table for the dining room.
• A couple of end tables for the dining room.
• A TV and TV stand.
• A vacuum cleaner.
• A lamp for the night stand.
• A desk for my computer.
• A bunch of plants, to put in the empty spaces that I can't afford to put furniture in.

Things that i won't be getting:

• A new laptop.
• A new computer.
• A phone. I'm just going to have a cell phone.
• Cable TV. I have access to the Internet and know how to use it.