5 money lessons from “One of Them Days.”

As regular readers know, I can find personal finance lessons anywhere: action flicks, opera, monster movies, Westerns, sled-dog races, zombie shows, you name it. Today’s example is from the hit comedy “One of Them Days,” which gets bonus PF points from having payday loans as a major plot point.

Before I go any further, a warning: The film has salty language and a frank physical reveal involving male pulchritude. If modern urban speech and forthright discussions of sex wouldn’t sit well with you, avoid this movie.

But if you like buddy comedies – especially those with strong, intelligent women as the buddies – then this might be the film for you. Keke Palmer (“Nope,” “Akeelah and the Bee”) and singer-songwriter SZA play roommates and best friends who struggle to pay the rent while holding on to their dreams.

Like some of you, probably.

 

The two broke friends live in “the Jungle,” a neighborhood full of neglected apartment buildings and broken promises. It’s the kind of place where many folks can’t live live paycheck to paycheck without tacking on a side hustle like styling hair, selling T-shirts or running a mini-mart out of their apartment.

Also like some of you, probably. The Washington Post reports that 5.3 percent of U.S. workers had more than one job in 2024. That’s the highest level since the Great Recession. In some states, the number of multi-job workers is 10 percent.

I laughed myself silly over “One of Them Days.” Yet I also want to acknowledge the serious financial life lessons it contains. 

1. Beware of freeloaders.

Alyssa’s boyfriend moved in “just for a couple weeks,” until he got on his feet after losing a place to live. Six months later, he’s still there. His stuff is all over the place, he doesn’t pay rent and he has the audacity to lecture night-shift worker Dreux about needing to relax. There’s a portmanteau for young men who live this way: “hobosexual.”

If you’re lucky, you’ll never have a freeloader in your life. Keep in mind that not all moochers are this obvious about their mooching. Do your friends and/or acquaintances ask to borrow $5 and never pay it back? Are you always the person who gives rides but doesn’t get even the offer of gas money? Got pals who always want to hang at your place and who feel free to eat their way through your snack stash without ever bringing along so much as a bag of microwaveable popcorn?

I love giving stuff away, and I love doing favors. But if I did favor after favor for someone who never, ever reciprocated, I would need to set boundaries. Friends don’t let friends go broke.

2. Watch your money.

Alyssa gives the rent money to her boyfriend to give to the landlord. Bad idea. That’s why the two young women have to hustle to make the money back before they get evicted.

Never. Do. That.

In fact, I’d go much further and say, “Never pay the rent in cash!” Writing a check may be super old-fashioned, but it leaves a paper trail. When I lived in Seattle, a disorganized apartment management company posted a “pay or vacate” notice on my door. The company claimed I hadn’t paid the rent in months. My canceled checks showed otherwise.

Guarding your cash can apply in other ways, too. Sometimes that’s literal: Leaving money lying around is asking for theft, especially if your roommate has visitors you don’t know. One homeowner I know left their bag on a table when they had a handyman give an estimate; later that day, their wallet was missing.

“Watch your money” can also be figurative. For example, if it’s known you have an emergency fund then some folks figure they can use you as an ATM instead of detangling their own financial messes. Once I interviewed a well-paid guy whose friends referred to him as “the bank.” He admitted it sometimes ticked him off seeing social media pix of his pals with new fashions or electronics that they bought instead of paying him back on time.

Keep an eye on your finances, and keep other people’s hands off them.

3. Educate yourself.

At one point the women are chided, “You guys are way too old not to understand how credit works.” To some extent that’s unfair, since we don’t know what we don’t know. What we see growing up (bounced checks, payday loans, wild spending sprees) is the way we figure everyone lives.

When bad money behavior hurts us enough, then it’s time to do something about it. Sites like the National Foundation for Credit Counseling and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau offer the basics for free. The NFCC can also hook you up with a certified credit counselor in your area who will accept payment on a sliding scale basis – and they won’t refuse anyone based on inability to pay.

Don’t keep throwing good money after bad. At some point we have to stop making excuses and start fixing our faults.

4. Know your rights.

The landlord vows to kick them to the curb at 6 p.m. if they don’t come up with the money. That’s illegal. In real life, a landlord needs to wait anywhere from seven to 30 days, or maybe longer, before evicting a problem tenant.

Dreux and Alyssa apparently don’t know this. Or maybe they’ve seen so many evictions that they just accept this is how it’s done in the Jungle. If they’d known their rights, they could have told the landlord that they needed written notification and up to X days to get their things out.

Of course, then we wouldn’t have had the movie.

In real life, do not let a bill collector, landlord or boss push you around. Yes, you need to know whether you’re working in an “at-will employment” company before you make a big noisy fuss about being fired. You need to know that so-called “zombie debt” might not legally collectible; in fact, it might not even be yours.

It’s best to be proactive rather than reactive. Know your rights, if only to make the best out of a bad situation.

5. Know your worth.

“They can’t control you if you know your worth,” Alyssa tells her friend before a crucial job interview. And that’s gospel. Knowing your worth keeps you from settling for less.

That could mean passing up a poorly paid job, because you know you deserve better. It could also mean focusing on self-improvement, e.g., “If I learn X skill, I can transition to a better job in the company I love.”

And, of course, knowing your worth might help you shine on a smooth-talking guy or an eye-batting gal who wants you to go broke paying their way through life.

An essential part of knowing your worth is taking charge of your finances. You can’t pass up a poorly paid job without having an emergency fund. Having a financial plan, e.g., “I want to buy a home/create a business/start a family by age 35” can keep you too focused to fall for a player who just wants to use you. Knowing your worth can lead to growing your worth.

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18 thoughts on “5 money lessons from “One of Them Days.””

  1. I’ve been curious about this movie, thanks for writing about it. Also, thanks for the financial lessons. Even if you already know these things, sometimes you need a reminder!

    Reply
    • The video makes it look kinda dumb in spots. But I laughed a lot — and wonder of wonders, DF asked to go with me after seeing the trailer and he liked it, too. Normally he goes only to Metropolitan Opera broadcasts and certain independent films. We’re still giggling over the payday loan parts.

      A couple films we saw together that I would recommend are “Touch” (Icelandic and Japanese main characters, a film about regret and acceptance and oh yeah, love) and “A Real Pain” (Jesse Eisenberg and Kieran Culkin as cousins taking a trip to Poland to learn more about the Holocaust and find the home their grandmother lived in). If you can stream or borrow either one, do.

      Reply
  2. I had a friend who let a down on her luck friend since childhood move in. She brought two dogs. After day one, it was apparent the dogs were not house trained.

    Friend made no effort to find a job. Then started hanging out with other friends and leaving the dogs in the house. She would be gone several days.

    Friend complained to me all the time. I kept telling her tell her she has to leave.

    About the time she finally got up the courage to tell her to move, housemate is diagnosed for cancer. She couldn’t kick her out while she was in and out of the hospital.

    So another year went by. No job so no rent. Once she was recovered, she finally told her she had to get out. Housemate went berserk. We have known each other since grade school. We have been roommates before.

    She finally had an eviction notice served on housemate and got her out. She was there about 3 years.

    I am so happy I never did that.

    Reply
    • Hobosexuals — love that term. But freeloaders aren’t always lovers, that’s for sure. Except for the dogs and the cancer, Linda’s friend’s story could’ve been written by me. I had my best friend from 2nd- 5th grades contact me via social media, acting like she’d just arrived in town. (Later found out she’d been living here for a couple of years). Later, her mom died, I saw it in the paper and went to the funeral bc I thought poor X, she doesn’t have any friends here anymore, they’ve all moved away. (Actually, she ran everyone off, including her own children.) She then tells me that her apt. complex is being converted into a home for disabled veterans. I fell for it hook, line and sinker and said “you can live with me.” Long story short: the apt. was not being converted but was kicking her out for her nasty housekeeping (or lack thereof); she didn’t spray her stuff for roaches and within 5 min of their moving her stuff here, my house was overrun with 1000s of cockroaches — they even crawled out of her piano; she wanted to raise marijuana (still illegal in our state) under the guise of growing little-old-lady African violets and take over an entire bedroom as the indoor greenhouse and claimed she’d previously done this and fooled the cops by showing them her prize-winning violets and thus convincing them not to let the drug-sniffing dog inside her house (I said no to the flowers and pot– and it’s the only thing that she didn’t do anyway); and I could go on and on. She’d pay a portion of the rent, promise more…and this set back the clock on the waiting period for eviction. (I suspect she must’ve pulled this stunt before when living in other states). Then the pandemic hit and you couldn’t evict anyone. She wouldn’t budge from the house and I couldn’t kick her out….but finally she had a mini-stroke, was taken away by an ambulance, and during the time she was in a rehab center, the clock ran out on her and I was able to evict her. Makes me sound heartless, but I had to do it. Her kids offered me $5 grand to take her back and I told them no. (If you knew how badly I needed the money, you’d know how bad the situation was!) She’s currently in a state-operated nursing home for paupers and some social worker is her guardian. Her family would not step in to help her (other than try to pawn her off on me again) and the kids went back to their new hometowns clear across the country. Meanwhile, it’s been over 2 years and I’m still saving up for all the repairs I need to make bc of all the things she ruined. Had to buy another refrigerator bc she broke mine (how do you manage to ruin a refrigerator, for God’s sake?) and board up a broken bathroom window (luckily, it’s in the back so no one can see it from the street). But at least I got all the roaches exterminated and my domicile is once again bug-free. By this summer, I’ll have new flooring (she poured syrup –I think it was molasses — on the carpet in a fit of anger) and will be able to use “her” room again.

      Reply
      • Oh, wow! I truly feel for you. I took in a hard-luck case once, but she cleaned hard to get things like chandeliers, outdoor windows, cupboards, etc. that I could not get. I was so very lucky, and when she moved out, I missed her.
        I am, however, leery of taking in anyone else after hearing stories like yours.

        Reply
      • Oh Lisa! Reading this was like watching a horror movie unfold. I’m so sorry you went through this. I wouldn’t wish any kind of stroke on anyone, but I believe it had a silver lining for you anyway and maybe for her. It speaks volumes that her own children would not take her in.

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  3. Thanks for the movie tip…I may have to see it. All I can say in these crazy days is we must look out for the future. We have several friends split (mid 50’s) recently and all are struggling as they were not prepared for their new lives. It is so important to know the simple things you mentioned. A bad credit score makes such an impact on everything these days.
    Happy New year to you and all your fans, may it be kind to us all.

    Reply
  4. I happily follow all of the rules listed above, happily!!
    I recently divested myself of a “friend” who lost his car because he bought a piece of junk, could not afford the upkeep (oil changes, insurance) and sold it for junk when it wouldn’t start. He lived about 30 miles away, so I offered to drive there to take him to do laundry and go grocery shopping for a month, thinking he’d be on his own by then. The month stretched out into a year, and I finally had to call it quits. BTW he never said thank you, and I wound up springing for lunch every now and then. We had been so close at one time, but I had to wake up to the fact he was not the man I knew. I did it gradually and found out he was doing fine without me. There were other suckers out there who bought his sad sad story.
    The moral of the story is people like that will always find other suckers like me that, thinking we are being kind, are really perpetrating their leeching.

    Reply
  5. This is one of the best pieces you have written. I am amazed at how many lessons you got out of this movie. All the advice you have given is so true. We have a family member who thinks it is our privilege to drive him around and pay for coffee/pizza/lunch. And never an offer to pay for gas or anything else. Always expects us to watch the house when he is away and get his mail. Like others have stated, never a thank you. We need to rethink this relationship.
    I read the article in the Post about side hustles. I am retired, age 72 and sometimes I think I should do the same. Especially in this time of uncertainty.
    I have always loved your motto of “save what you can so you can spend where you want”. (Probably paraphrased) Thank you for more great writing.

    Reply
    • Nope, that was exactly correct. Not a paraphrase at all.

      Maybe you should let family member know that you’ve been advised to start a side hustle and that house-sitting is the best fit. From now on you’ll be charging X amount of dollars, but he’ll get 10% off as the friends and family rate.

      To determine how much you should charge, put out a notice on NextDoor or a neighborhood Facebook group and ask how much people are getting for this type of service. People will pay seriously good money to make sure their stuff is looked after.

      Another possible gig is being a waiter. Not the kind who brings you food, but the kind who will wait at your home while you’re at work and a package is expected to be delivered. Obviously friends and family are the initial clients, but you can use their recommendations to branch out to friends of friends and family. Note: This works only if you have something you like to do that you can do while you wait, such as reading, puzzles or handcrafts. But in this era of porch pirates, knowing that your item won’t be stolen might be worth paying someone to wait for it. That’s especially true if the item(s) being delivered cost a lot of money.

      Thanks for your kind words, and for reading my site.

      Reply
  6. Great advice, Donna, and an interesting movie recommendation. I’ll have to see whether I can get my hands on it.
    One of my mottos has always been, “Never buy anything you can’t afford.” I’ve recently updated it to, “Never buy anything you can’t afford to maintain.” It’s no good being able to make the payments on a car or house if you can’t also keep it in usable condition. I suppose that fits under the “Educate yourself” category, though in this case it’s bitter experience rather than educational sources doing the educating.

    Reply
  7. Thanks so much for the reminder there are lessons, especially financial ones, in so many places.
    We had an adult family member who was splitting with his wife and moving back home after many years. We took him in. The room and bathroom we let him use quickly turned into a filthy mess. We charged him a minimal amount to stay with us, basically to cover food and increased electricity and oil consumption. He was a big guy and ate a lot. He took half hour hot showers. I never asked him to do a thing but keep his room and bathroom clean, but it never happened. Along this time, he lost his seasonal job and couldn’t get unemployment pay because he hadn’t lived in our state long enough. So no more rent for us. The last straw was after many, many big snowstorms, he never helped me shovel. He stood out on the front porch one day smoking his cigarette and told me “Nice job” as I finished shoveling a three-car driveway by hand. Deep snow. He met a girl and moved in with her, finally. He burned bridges with us and other relatives. He broke up with another girl and was evicted from her house and asked if he could move in again. Nope. Lesson learned. Wish I saw the movie first.

    Reply

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