Both a borrower and a lender

It's probably best to avoid borrowing money from or lending money to people you know. It can create some awkward situations, and even if the other person involved with the transaction is totally fine with it, you may still end up feeling weird. I'm currently both borrowing and owed money, and, although I have full confidence that nobody will be hurt by either of these actions, I'm still eager to get everything squared up and over with.

I owe my parents money. When I bought this new laptop, I didn't have $350 cash sitting around, and I wasn't sure whether my brother's friend would be eager to take a personal check from someone she'd never met. If I'd known in advance that I'd have the chance to buy it that night, I would have swung by the bank that afternoon, but I ended up borrowing some cash from my parents. They suggested I just skip repaying them and consider it a gift, but I'm adamantly opposed. If I thought I could pay them back by check, I would have done so that night, but the last time I borrowed from my mother, she tore up the check I wrote to repay her.

So the first order of business Monday morning is to get cash to clear my debt with my folks and to deposit my latest stipend check from the research grant and a couple of checks from Pinecone Research surveys. Then, I really ought to register for some April Praxis tests so I can file for reimbursement for those and the $195 I already spent on yesterday's exciting morning of standardized tests as soon as spring break is over.

I rather hope that my friends don't forget about paying me back for the supplies I bought for their wedding reception. They overestimated how many people would be there so we had far more cream, sugar, vanilla, and liquid nitrogen then we actually needed and I spent $68 on the food. (The department donated the nitrogen.) If they don't bring it up next week when they get back from their honeymoon, I guess I'll have to remind them.