Reena Page of Chicago, IL, is looking back with nostalgia on the time just last year when she had just over three thousand dollars in her bank account.
“It feels like a dream now,” she says. “I remember thinking I could pay my bills and buy myself some clothes and fancy food and there would still be money left over. I thought, if this keeps up, I could even start saving money.”
But it was not to last. The fluke of Reena’s net worth, spurred by the confluence of a tax return, and a freelance check coming in at the same time, was quickly dashed.
“Turns out three thousand dollars can get eaten up really quickly by regular expenses,” Reena says. “I had to put down a deposit o
n a new apartment and buy a new car battery and that was pretty much that.”
Reena didn’t even get to buy new clothes before she was back to teetering on the edge of being broke.
“Well, just that one top that was on sale.”
But she’ll always have the memory of that day when her bank balance tipped three thousand.
“It was really glorious. I remember just staring at my banking app, basking in the glow. I felt like I could do anything. It all seems so far away now.”
