Hot (Broke) Messes: How to Have Your Latte and Drink It Too Book

So I picked up Hot (broke) Messes: How to Have Your Latte and Drink It Too by Nancy Trejos because it had a catchy title (and a pretty pink cover).  How can you not want to read it?  Open to the first page and see that it was also set in DC.  I put it in the bag and brought it home from the library.  It is a fun read that gives one woman's story (and a few friends) through her adjustment to living in the expensive city of DC in her 20's and 30's and her decline into debt because of the lifestyle.  It was a fun read that kept me interested from start to finish.  I think that it is a great read for anyone starting out in life (especially in an expensive city like DC) but since I am a little past that, I could only relate to what had already been in the past for me.  There were some things that rang true about going out to be with friends and how it is costly.  It is hard to adjust to life on your own and figuring out many mistakes by trial and error.

But there were more things that I couldn't sympathize with like going to a college where everyone has money so you use a credit card to make up the difference.  I was raised to pay off my credit card every month and only use it against money in the bank so I never used my credit card except to buy my books at the beginning of the semesters.  Not to quote the famous mom line, "Would you jump off the bridge if your friend did?" but it is what always pops into my head when this subject pops up.  I went to a school with a ton of "trust fund" kids but I searched for and found the friends that were more like me that related to the fact that I couldn't afford to go out to the bar and drink every weekend, I couldn't order pizza on a Friday night because I was hungry, and I couldn't afford to go sit at a coffee shop on a Saturday.  The author (and many other college students) find it a hardship to not keep up with others around them and the activities that they are doing.  I say, get better friends and work to make life work within your means.  Take that extra cup of cereal from the dining hall on the way out and you have a late night snack with no more money out of pocket.  Buy a package of muffin mix and cook it up in the dorm oven (or toaster oven in my room).  It doesn't mean that you can't hang out with friends who are buying pizza or drinking at bars but you can't afford to do it so don't put it on your credit card to try to keep up with them. Sorry for the rant but this is a touchy subject for me!!  The same holds true in your current life.  My girlfriends and I wanted to get together for lunches and we always ended up at a restaurant spending lots of money (and sadly holding a table too long for waitresses that probably wanted us gone) just to catch up.  The idea wasn't to spend a ton of money but it was the easy way to catch up with each other.  I suggested a pot luck meal once a month where we got together and caught up.  This meant that we could do it more often and it would be way cheaper for all of us with a big hearty meal with dessert and drinks and not cost anyone a fortune.  I couldn't afford the restaurant meal in my budget and my friends agreed to the pot luck... problem solved and I still have those same friends.  I am not saying it was that easy in college but if your friends don't like you for who you are, why are they your friends?  Like I always tell my cousin, the rating of a friend is when your car is dead on the side of the road, who is coming to get you (sorry Matt B, Amy/Tony, and Mr. Payne for actually ever having to test that one-does it sounds like I always need someone to help me??? The first was a flat tire after it was slashed and the other two or maybe three were batteries dead...who knew you had to replace that thing and turn off your interior lights? OOPS!).  If you can't list a friend as someone who is going to be there to come and get you, then they really aren't your friends so you really need to treat them more as who they are- acquaintances.  Don't put more effort into them then you should because they aren't going to be there when times are tough for you and relationships are supposed to go both ways. Of course, to each their own and people can chose to live and go into debt if they want to but then they don't have the right to complain about it :)

So after that long winded explanation, I would certainly recommend this for people starting out or people who want an entertaining read.  It doesn't provide a lot of concrete information (some listed in appendix for easy access) except to get a financial planner and cut down on expenses but the comical stories and real money discussed is interesting enough to make up for it.  I would highly recommend it just to hear about the authors life through breakups, job changes, travel adventures and working to get out of debt.  Who doesn't like to know that you aren't the only person out there that has made mistakes and the example of how someone got out of it and fixed their finances.  Please pick it up at your local library or bookstore.  Let me know what you think!!