Scream 4: It WAS a scream.

Source: pretty-photography.tumblr.com

In regards to my latest financial upheaval, there have been some tough realities to swallow. I'll share the most painful one.

For Halloween, I wanted nothing more than to watch a scary movie with my friends. It's one of my favorite things to do during the holiday season. I'm a pansy and can't handle those really gory, supernatural thrillers that Hollywood seems to be shoveling out at a non-stop speed, but I can handle the Scream series, for it's the perfect combination of cheesy and suspense. But I digress...

So unaware of what financial upset was soon to happen with my bank account that week, I logged on to the RedBox site and decided to reserve a copy of Scream 4 at my local kiosk. I didn't read the fine detail, but I had to enter my credit card information to make the reservation. Nothing abnormal about that, so I did. When I went to Machine A to pick it up, swiped my card and waited, the machine told me no such reservation existed. It was then I realized I had my ditz moment for the day and went to the wrong Walgreen's. No big deal, I'll go ahead and get it and it won't cause a fuss. Movie rented and I had a blast with my friends watching it later that evening.

Here's where it gets really scary.

In all of my awesomeness, I forgot to return the movie for two extra nights, which at the time I didn't think was a big deal at all.

Wrong.

When I went to the bank last Friday and realized I was overdrawn, it occurred to me all of the charges that I'd been spending that week. $1 charges, $2 charges, $3 charges.My breathing got short and I realized what was about to happen. I would be charged a $35 fee for each charge that went through after I was in the negative, meaning all these small charges were going to cost me a ton of money.

There on my bank account online I watched as Scream 4 became the bane of my existence.

Reservation fee: $1.20...that I ended up not using=$35
Initial fee of one night charged when you first rent the movie: $1.20=$35
Separate fee charged when I didn't return it: $2.40=$35

Are you following along with me? I'm not great at Math either, but the numbers show that I just paid $105 in FEES alone for that one rental of Scream 4. Irony? Right after I rented it my friend texted me and told me that she had rented it too. So in theory, I never needed to rent it, and now I've paid almost $110 for that rental of a cheesy, horrible, scary movie.

That fact alone makes me want to SCREAM!

Have a great Friday and stay tuned for more horrific tales in financial worries to come!

Spend wisely, my friends.

Lesson learned: Don't put minimal charges on my Debit card, even when I think I have the money to cover it. Use CASH!