Hello there, I am Chimezie. I am a registered nurse and certified surgical technologist. Everyone calls me Chimé (Chi-meh), because my first name gets butchered a lot whenever people attempt to say it. You tried to pronounce my first name now, didn’t you?
Hahaha… Do call me Chimé please, my good reader.
My story started as a young working class American adult who was trying to build his parents a house on a Janitor’s salary as a 24 years old working night shifts. This is while taking classes during the day at a community college, two years after arriving in the United States. I had a heavy accent and barely understood how American banking worked.
How did I do it?
Luck. Nay- I am joking. I did it doing the most depressing job I ever had. That was cleaning restrooms at a convention center downtown San Antonio in Texas. By Spring 2016, the house was finished.
That is not a flex. It is proof personal finance works, regardless of your job title is. But boy, did I hate that cleaning job?!
I know society expects young working class adults to relish in whatever job we do, but this job made my life miserable. You see, my boss was a 4ft 5in Hispanic woman who would go in after I am done cleaning toilets to see whether I did it well.
She would brush her two fingers on the toilet and call me closer to see the slime on them. Then, smiled to say there was still dirt on the toilet seat. Being the naive young African, I would scrub the toilet over and over again before she was satisfied.
This is because I needed the money. Also, I did not know any better. I mean about labor rights, the power of HR department or lawyers.
It got to a point, where I would threw up before going in to work because I could not believe this was all there is to life. Prior to this job, I had a similar janitorial job during my first year in the States cleaning toilets and restrooms in an Immigrant camp at Lackland Air Force Base.
It was during Obama era, when South American immigrants were housed on the Base. Then, I did a housekeeping job at Hotel before I got the convention janitorial job which made me realize I was meant for more.
How Did It All Change For Me?
At that janitorial job with the bad supervisor, I dreaded coming in daily. So, I would threw up many times before coming to work. This is because I hated that job so much I cursed the day I was born.
This was because I knew I was born for more. Have you ever felt this way before, my dear reader?
Well, your body wants to do the job but your soul and mind could not stand you doing something you knew you could be better than. That was me every day I came in to work. It got to a point, where I stood outside of work throwing up before I went in because the job made me felt I was wasting my potential.
So, what did I do?
I went in one day and gave up my badge. I never went back again. The relief that day was enormous, although I was afraid of how I was going to make bills.
The backbone I grew that day, was what changed it all for me. I swore from that day henceforth to outwork, outlived and outthought the system meant to keep young working class adults like me chasing for crumbs. This is while having their dignity and sanity slowly stripped from them by miserable bosses intoxicated with the little power.
It started a shift in mentality and my approach to acquiring money in order to set myself for financial stability and success. A mentality which had helped me put myself in a position, where I am protected financially.
What You Need To Know About Me?
I am the founder of WeeklyBagel personal finance platform. Also, I am a Certified Surgical Technologist and a Registered Nurse. These two are high-earning licenses and academic trainings I had to get to make sure I do not put myself in a position where I would be a Janitor again.
Additionally, I have graduated college three times with no student debts. This is because I had always worked to pay my way through school. I had to, after learning during my first year that some of my fellow young working class American adults graduate with tens of thousands of dollars in student debts.
I mentioned this on How I Graduated College Debt-Free.
Furthermore, I could not fathom why most of my peers with debts did not want to work and cut living expenses so they can pay their way through college. It was hard for me to understand why young working class adults go straight to the universities which tend to triple these student debts. Instead of doing two years of community college where it is cheap, then transferring to a university to finish.
These were strategies I used to empower myself without the consequences of owing anyone a single cent. They were not easy, but they were possible. And, I did it to get where I am currently.
More importantly, I know what it feels like to work hard and be financially behind due to debts. I had been there earlier in life. Also, I had made mistakes and course-corrected. I wanted to be different, after watching other young working class American adults struggle through it.
Hence, why I have been writing and talking about it through the WeeklyBagel platform since 2020. This is so you do not learn about these things the hard way.
Interesting Things About Yours Truly
I taught myself to swim, when I was 16 years old. The city I grew up did not have swimming pool, so I used to trek about 8 miles to a leech-infested river to try new styles I saw on my father’s hunch-back television.
It is amazing how I did not drown, although I came close to it a few times. Maybe, it is because I am a Pisces. Who knows!
Anyways, the mentality of improving myself did not start today. In my free time, I lift heavy weights. Also, I do Muay Thai fights. I love sparring with people in my weight class or a few pounds of weight higher. It is a self improvement thing I started in 2022.
To be sincere, I am a better man due to this intentional self improvement project. Yes- I call it a project because I think every young working class adult ought to be a personal project unto himself or herself. I mean if we are putting in 40 hours a week for someone else, we might as well put some of the hours into developing ourselves.
Anyways, the part where I built my parents a house in my second year in the United States as a college student working as a janitor?
Here is a picture of the house in my native city. It was completed in Spring 2016- a year before I graduated with my first degree from San Antonio College. This house is a result of a prudent budget and two years savings!
All it took to make these a reality is an understanding of personal finance, especially a conservative approach to saving, budgeting and debt avoidance. Also, improving your skill set every two to three years which directly improves your wage rate.
Who WeeklyBagel Is For?
Angry working class adults barely making it, because necessary expenses take more than 75% of your paychecks. This is especially when you are working so hard and still feel like everyone else got a financial manual you never got. WeeklyBagel is for working class adults who is trying to figure out their personal finance to avoid being drowned by a system which does not empower the young working class economically.
Oh yes.
I used to be one of those angry young working class adults. I say angry, because nothing used to piss me off than tolerating fake coworkers and a toxic workplace every week, only to have bills and taxes take a big chunk of my paycheck. The worst part of it for me was my tax record saying I made tens of thousands per year and I never had up to $2000 in savings.
Does this happen to you, my good reader?
Well, mine is getting better year by year though. This is compared to when I first moved to the United States. It is a result of being eager to do what it takes to stop living paycheck by paycheck.
WeeklyBagel is a personal finance platform dedicated to simplifying personal finance and the cost of adulting for young working class American adults. It is not for people who already have it figured it out. It is for newly independent adults, college students and any adult struggling to save amidst rising costs of living and monthly expenses. Just like I was sometime ago in the distant past.
What You Will Get Out Of WeeklyBagel
Just kidding.
It is a start though. A study by the MikenLife Institute, found the absence of personal finance knowledge and skills can severely impede the financial growth and prosperity of the young working class in America. This is a persistent problem across racial, gender and economic lines in the United States. It is an issue, which is severely neglected in most states’ educational boards.
The same MikenLife Institute study, found working class adults lacking financial literacy, spends 12 hours weekly dealing with their financial issues. Also, they work 6 hours compared to the 3 hours worked by their peers who are financially literate.
This is why the knowledge, skills, attitude and behaviors of financial literacy need to be taken seriously, if we ever want to successfully create our ideal success. Through the WeeklyBagel platform, we are going to achieve the following below:
- Banking Basics- getting instant cash and cash advances, knowing the right banks to stash your cash and simplifying banking products so you do not have to look like foolish at a bank. You know, like I did when I was in my twenties.
- Budget & Save Money- explore practical ways to cut our monthly expenses, so our saving accounts will not look disappointing to us every year.
- Credit & Debt Management- building credit the right ways through my good debt management system.
This was very hard for me as a young working class adult in his early twenties. As a newly independent young American with a heavy accent and little banking knowledge, my financial needs were not understood or met by my bank then.
Whether the big break comes or not in your life, I want WeeklyBagel to lay the personal finance foundation for you. That way, you will have financial stability until you figure it out. This is because a hungry and broke adult cannot think beyond survival.
What Makes Me Qualify To Talk To You?
I am a young working class adult like you. When I say I understand where you are coming from, I have been there. It is hell, especially the part where we dread losing a job position and being homeless. It is a constant irk.
As you can tell already, I am not a millionaire. You know the best part?
It is not a pre-requisite for me to be happy in life. I just want to change lives in my own unique way without dealing with bosses tripping on power. Or worse, a toxic work environment where coworkers subtly punish for others for either being different or not engaging in workplace drama.
So yes- I know where you are coming from. Actually, WeeklyBagel was created on June 2020 as a rebellious act of standing up against a system meant to subjugate the young working class into perpetual financial misery. Since then, it has morphed into a personal finance platform simplifying personal finance and early independence in a way which encourages financial stability using our working class jobs.
You and I will explore how best to do it through this platform. Hopefully, we grow finances and mindset year by year in this journey called life. This is why my hope as a fellow working class adult.
Want Personal Finance Tips that Actually Work On A Working Class Income?
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If you want to work with me, you can reach out to me at [email protected]. With that said, here is to our journey as young working class adults who are masters of their fate and captain of their souls!
Sincerely,
Chimé N.U (WeeklyBagel Founder, Author and Podcaster)