I’ve always been a worker. To this day, I don’t recall a time in nearly two decades when I haven’t been juggling multiple jobs. Looking back on my employment history, I remember a plethora of odd, random experiences that always helped to boost my bottom line.
In order to fully understand the magnitude of my love of work, one needs only to rewind a mere 19 years. I was eleven years old, and I managed to land my first paycheck-bearing position in addition to my standing babysitting appointments: I was hired to pick strawberries at a local farm. Despite the state mandate that farm help must be at least 12 years old, my mother was able to convince the farmer that he should hire me (thanks, Mom!) because ‘I was a worker and he wouldn’t be let down.’ And so it began.
Every morning at 5:30AM, seven days a week, one of my parents would schlep me over to the farm and drop me off. I would spring from the car and immediately ask the farmer which rows we’d be picking that morning. As soon as I grabbed my trays and empty quarts, I was off to find the “perfect” row. No matter the slugs, bugs, rain, and straw rashes on my legs, I was a strawberry-picking machine. I found great satisfaction in knowing that the faster I worked, the more money I made (I also seriously enjoyed competing with the boys and seeing their faces when they found out I had picked more than them at the end of the day).
Each week I received a “paycheck” that reflected my $0.25 per quart salary (it was a personal check written by the farmer). Being too young to have a bank account, my mother would cash the checks for me and subsequently deposit them into a separate savings account. I had my first savings account “passport” at the age of eleven, and I carried that damn thing around like it was my personal Bible. Watching the balance grow in that book was as liberating as I currently feel while watching my Net Worth grow.
I held this job for 6 consecutive summers, and I firmly believe that this experience was the catalyst for a life of hard work and dedication to my finances. While I’ve had some struggles and mishaps along the way (to be shared in future posts), I know that my dedication to maintaining a healthy financial life is literally rooted in the farm…
This post is part of my Confessions of a PF Blogger series. Other posts include:
- Confessions of a PF Blogger: The Series
- Confessions of a PF Blogger: No Happy Meal for You
- Confessions of a PF Blogger: $0.25 per Quart
- Confessions of a PF Blogger: 16 Candles
- Confessions of a PF Blogger: $5,500 in Cash
- Confessions of a PF Blogger: A Slow Slide into Credit Card Debt Hell
- Confessions of a PF Blogger: $1 to My Name
- Confessions of a PF Blogger: Homeless
- Confessions of a PF Blogger: Powerless
- Confessions of a PF Blogger: A Second Chance
