Blogging about personal growth in financial independence, health, and happiness
When I was a sophomore in college, I got hit by a truck. And this isn’t the beginning of a joke, or a metaphor for feeling shitty (on a tangent, any time I hear people say, “I feel like I’ve been hit by a truck/bus,” I laugh because trust me, that’s definitely not how you feel). Continue reading “Mental Health, Part 1: The Dangerous Fallacy of Invincibility”
Lately, during my phone conversations with my little sister, I have this overwhelming urge to bombard her with financial advice. All of the things that I wish I had known before I racked up credit card debt and bought a new office wardrobe. Before I spent some of my first real money on a classy pair of “big-girl” diamond earrings. Before I got my first apartment and spent absurd amounts of money on takeout. You get the drift…
But usually our phone calls are short because she’s busy studying or going between commitments on campus. Plus, she’s 20 and thinks she has all the answers. So I thought I’d compile my thoughts here in the spirit of encouraging student financial health in others, and maybe in the hope that having a written response will be helpful to her. So here we go!
Continue reading “10 Pieces of Financial Advice for My 20 Year Old Sister”
Senior year of college, I became the proud owner of a secondhand Keurig coffee maker (courtesy of my mother, who decided to upgrade). It was red and shiny and glorious. I was convinced that it would earn me eternal goodwill from my five roommates, which was something I definitely needed since I was always experimenting with cooking weird things in the kitchen and, if we’re being honest, cut corners when it was my turn to vacuum. But I barely used the coffee maker. Sure, I made the occasional cup, but when I really needed a caffeine boost, I much preferred an espresso drink at the college coffee shop (frugality wasn’t fully on my radar at that point…). I also typically needed that caffeine boost halfway through the day when I was on campus between classes, and I definitely didn’t have my shit together enough to make coffee that morning for later in the afternoon—I was lucky if I had a clean mug in the kitchen at all. So the Keurig sat under-utilized all year. When I graduated, I moved it with me, convinced that as a real-life adult, I’d need to up my coffee intake. I even bought a cute drawer to put underneath it and store the K-cups. But again, I barely used it. I didn’t particularly like the coffee when I did make it (I’ve never been a huge coffee drinker), and the machine had a habit of leaking water and under-filling my cup. So when I moved to a new apartment, I decided to get rid of the machine, and I gave the K-cup drawer to my mom. But in my new apartment, with the Keurig gone, a funny thing happened… Continue reading “Simple Rituals and Throwing Out my Keurig”
One of my goals that I’m talking about in this blog is Financial Independence. This one means a lot to me. When I graduated college, I spent money a little too freely. I needed a new wardrobe for my new life as a professional, I needed new furniture, I needed fun things and dinners out and travel. I needed to adopt not one, but TWO new animals (for a total of 3). And now, three years later, I’m stepping back and asking myself how I can be more strategic about getting to my financial goals because I’ve taken the time to figure out exactly what those goals are.