Save Karyn

Okay, I'm just going to put this out there:  this book ticked me off.  All I knew before I read it was that it is the story of a young woman who lived in New York, ran up some credit card bills, and got very creative to pay them off.   I thought at worst, it would be an entertaining story.  At best, maybe I could learn some tricks to help me in my quest for fiscal fitness.

Not so much.

The book itself is okay.  It's not the greatest writing, but then, I wasn't expecting it to be.  But Karyn....she's something else.  She has a way of justifying every ridiculous purchase - $400 a month on haircuts and color. $900 for ten sessions with a personal trainer - four times.  $778 on lingerie, so she could hook a man  (it didn't work).  If you can afford those things, more power to you.  But Karyn could not afford those things, even though she kept buying them.  And a whole lot more.

But that's not the part that made me mad.  It turns out young Karyn had once blown all the money her parents gave her for college tuition on crap.  That made me mad.  Not only that she had been so irresponsible - she was a kid, after all - but that she had not learned her lesson.  Her mom sent her another check for her tuition, so I guess there was no lesson to learn there, except maybe that if you screw up royally mommy will fix it.  Which is probably why, when she found herself $20K in debt and unable to pay, she started a website asking people to send her money.  And they did.  And even though I recognize that what other people do with their money is their business, I feel disappointed that instead of donating to a worthy charity, some folks sent donations to Karyn, a girl who clearly needed a reality check.   She has an amazing sense of entitlement.

At one point, Karyn writes that she did not have money for food.  So she stole an apple from a co worker.  She thought it would be okay since the apple had been on his desk for a couple days.  So why didn't she just tell him she didn't bring her lunch and hey, could she please have that apple?  Nope, she stole it.  When she wrote about it on her website and people called her out, she confessed to her coworker and gave him another apple.  But guess what - after a couple days, the apple was still on his desk, so she stole that one, too.  That made me mad as well.  Not about the apple itself, but the idea that hey, I want it, so I'm just going to take it. And she clearly doesn't see anything wrong with it.

I think it's that attitude that got her into trouble in the first place.  The whole idea that she deserved things because she wanted them, and who cares if she could not pay?  Someone would pay, whether it was mommy, her website readers, or someone she hadn't thought to hit up yet.  It just would not be Karyn.

The upside of this whole insipid book is that the spirit of generosity is alive and well.  Karyn's readers bailed her out of debt.  How she's doing now is anyone's guess.  I did check her website, looking for updates.  There aren't many.  Her last post was weeks ago.  She has joined a gym again and she has adopted a couple of those tiny designer dogs that she dresses up in little outfits.  All I can say is, I hope she paid cash, and I hope she has a savings account now, cause vet bills are not cheap.