Tag: schedule

It’s ALL for Instagram

It’s EASY for us to get sucked into the world that social media creates. Sometimes we think that in order for us to be “satisfied” with our lives, we have to live it up lavishly like everyone else. I can speak for myself, I think we have all scrolled on Instagram and pondered on, “How on earth is this person THAT successful?” 

NEWS FLASH- Sometimes it’s JUST for the media! 

We all have our daily struggles, and one that I have a difficult time with is maintaining my study schedule. Alice (my 4 month old) doesn’t typically like me to have a set schedule so she takes it upon herself to switch up her sleep times which throws off all my studying. And on that note, some of us will struggle with finances and how to manage them. My first real experience of how to manage my finances was when I leased an apartment at the age of 16. (Yes, this was completely illegal at the time, but quite grateful for the man that gave me a chance because he saw my potential). Rent was 400 a month (for an efficiency years ago people) plus utilities, and groceries of course. All I did was go to school, and work at Sonic at the time ( I don’t want to recall those Sonic times).

What helped me stay on budget and keep track of all my bills at that age?

I KEPT A LIST!

SO HERE WE GO:

  1. Write a list of all your bills.
  2. Write down the amount of income you bring in every month (excluding anything that you are not sure you’re going to get such as child support).
  3. Review the list of your bills and see what is a NECESSITY and what is a WANT. Can you do without the want and save about 150 or so a month for it? -Cool then eliminate it off of your list of bills. 
  4. Think about it like this, if you eliminate ONE bills (for example the $150) you could potentially put in your savings about $1,800 in just 1 year! Now tell me we all don’t need savings for those emergency situations?! Before Alice was born we had an unexpected accident which caused us to dig into our savings and give a $1,000 deductible to the car collision center. GRRRR, I was so upset, but grateful that we had the money available rather than having to pull out a credit card.
  5. Besides, who REALLY needs cable when we have Netflix, Hulu, Funimation (that my husband loves), SLING TV, and etc. because I know the list goes on and on. You’re easily spending about $12/month which is definitely a better bargain when you KNOW you hardly get to watch TV since you’re out and about all day!

Continuing to build on your savings and setting aside for other activities you would like to do such as a vacation, is preparing you for a mindset of saving for your future HOME! My husband and I have decided that once things get on track as I know they will because God is good that way, we will begin saving again for our home. Our goal is to have a good percentage saved to get that dream home we desire. 

My point is, it’s okay to not live that “lavish” lifestyle for now, so you can save NOW for the lifestyle you want in your future, with a HOME and savings in your bank. Re-evaluate what you spend your money on, what you can tweak, and begin SAVING!

Do you have any other tips on how to save money? I would love to know! Weigh in and drop your thoughts for me. Until Next Time! 

Need Encouragement? 8 tips to reach your potential!

It’s Not Whether You Get Knocked Down, It’s Whether You Get Up.” – V. Lombardi

Do you ever feel like you have hit a plateau in your life? What ever it is that you may be pursuing in life? Man, I feel like I HIT THAT this past week! No matter how hard I attempted to pull myself out of it, I was absolutely UNSUCCESSFUL!

Funny how drastic things typically have to occur in order for you to realign your priorities (again), get that fire under your ass and keep going, huh? As you all know, my grandfather recently passed away. To be honest, out of my father’s side of the family he was the only one truly interested in my future and my career plans. Anytime I spoke with him about my goals, he would reply, “Well you need to get your Master’s degree Bianca.” Here I am little ole’ me just thinking small like, “Yeah, i’ll get my bachelors degree and work and see how things go from there.” He was such a well-rounded man. He never had his own house he desired with a backyard that had a garden he could take care of, but if he were at any friend or relatives home, he would get out there and trim some roses and just stimulate your  mind with some badass knowledge. 

So how do we get back up after being knocked down? I mean, it HAS to be easy, right? –WRONG! Oh man, the struggle is real sometimes.

Here are some helpful tips:

  1. Take a step back and evaluate what you have been doing the past week; what have you been spending your time on?
  2. Is it related to what you need to do in order for you to achieve your maximum potential in the future?
  3. If not, then go ahead and eliminate that off your “to-do” list, whether that being hanging out with friends, or scrolling through social media for hours.
  4. Start from scratch and create a NEW schedule.
  5. Make sure you make use of every HOUR of your day.(I really believe that people don’t recognize how much one can really get accomplished in a day if they just learn how to manage their time wisely.) 
  6. Dedicate a couple of hours a day to your work! -I say a couple of hours a day because I’m a mother of 3, so sometimes it’s hard to pull away for an extended amount of time without the house falling apart rather quickly. 
  7. Once you are done with that PLANNEDout schedule for your week, do a test run and see if there are any changes you think you need to implement. 
  8. LASTLY, keep in mind that it takes TIMEto adjust to new schedules, just like a sleep schedule takes a minimum of two weeks for your body to adjust to those set times you have placed. 

 

 

After getting back from my grandfather’s funeral and discovering that I have a good amount of family members in the medical field, my desires to achieve that maximum potential in my life have SKYROCKETED!–You can catch me studying, while trying to blog, and be a good mom all at once. Let’s see how well I can manage.

I hope this helps you some! Weigh in and add what you think should be on this list of tips as well. Can’t wait to hear from you all!