soleil-crows-tune:

adventurecore ideas

• pack a lunch of fruit, granola, small snacks, toast, etc!! and don’t forget a water bottle!!
• bring a flashlight and gloves wherever you go
• mark your path with something eco friendly, like stones or sticks!!
• geocaching…
• have a picnic with some friends!! hiking trips!!
• have food to feed birds or geese if you’re near a pond… make sure it’s peas, corn, seeds, etc, and not bread
• get crafty!! handmade maps, notebooks, sundials, bags, a lot of things!!
• keep a journal of interesting information handy!!
• draw or press some plants you find (be careful though!!)

kagetsukai:

yournewapartment:

thesnadger:

Since once in a blue moon I actually discover a decent rule for adulting, and since I know I have followers a few years younger than me who are just entering the workforce, I want to tell you about a very important phrase. 

“I won’t be available.”

Imagine you’re at work and your boss asks you to come in on Saturday. Saturday is usually your day off–coming in Saturdays is not an obligation to keep your job. Maybe you were going to watch a movie with a friend, or maybe you were just going to lie in bed and eat ice cream for eight hours, but either way you really, really don’t want to give up your day off.

If you consider yourself a millennial you’ve probably been raised to believe you need to justify not being constantly at work. And if you’re a gen-Z kid you’re likely getting the same toxic messages that we did. So in a situation like that, you might be inclined to do one of three things:

1. Tell your boss you’d rather not give up your day off. Cave when they pressure you to come in anyway, since you’re not doing anything important.
   
2. Tell your boss you’d rather not give up your day off. Over-apologize and worry that you looked bad/unprofessional.
   
3. Lie and say you’ve got a doctor’s appointment or some other activity that feels like an adequate justification for not working.
   

The fact is, it doesn’t matter to your boss whether you’re having open heart surgery or watching anime in your underwear on Saturday. The only thing that affects them is the fact that you won’t be at work. So telling them why you won’t be at work only gives them reason to try and pressure you to come in anyway.

If you say “I won’t be available,” giving no further information, you’d be surprised how often that’s enough. Be polite and sympathetic in your tone, maybe even say “sorry, but I won’t be available.” But don’t make an excuse. If your boss is a professional individual, they’ll accept that as a ‘no’ and try to find someone else. 

But bosses aren’t always professional. Sometimes they’re whiny little tyrants. So, what if they pressure you further? The answer is–politely and sympathetically give them no further information.

“Are you sure you’re not available?” “Sorry, but yes.”

“Why won’t you be available?” “I have a prior commitment.” (Which you do, even if it’s only to yourself.)

“What’s your prior commitment?” “Sorry, but that’s kind of personal.”

“Can you reschedule it?” “I’m afraid not. Maybe someone else can come in?”

If you don’t give them anything to work with, they can’t pressure you into going beyond your obligations as an employee. And when they realize that, they’ll also realize they have to find someone else to come in and move on.

IMPORTANT!! PLEASE READ!!

Just like with many other parts of life, learn to say ‘no’ to people. You are important. Don’t kill yourself for another person, esp. if they are your boss.

biconic-rosa-diaz:

Had a revelation recently and thought it might help other people too.

There is absolutely NO shame in having a ton of projects on the go and switching between or even dropping them on a whim.

Hobbies are meant to be FUN.

You can have 20 writing projects, or knitting, or whatever your thing is, and putting them down for a bit or abandoning them is a-okay.

I personally would never think that someone who started playing a video game and then decided to play another before it was finished was a quitter, so why am I so judgemental towards myself?

Doing your hobbies in a way that brings you joy isn’t selfish or weak, it’s…literally the whole point of them. Go nuts!

How is it that i can read more than 150,000 words worth of fanfic in a day, yet i cant read a single chapter of my textbook in a day for my test the day after

Budgeting as a College Student: Comparing My Undergrad vs Graduate Spending Habits + Tips

My budgeting as an undergraduate and as a graduate student is very different.

As an undergraduate, I didn’t really know much about budgeting, finance, credit cards, or anything. Quite honestly, I was just… broke. My parents did not give me a monthly allowance (they couldn’t afford to!) and I had a part-time work-study job that gave me some income, but I always limited myself on buying things. Truthfully, I didn’t really need to buy things: I had a meal plan for half my undergraduate time, and living in the college dorms meant that the university would fix my light bulbs and have vacuums for us, etc. During my junior and senior years (when I lived off-campus), that’s when I started to spend a bit more money: on groceries, eating out, and random things like batteries. Overall though, I look back and I’m grateful for how strict I was with my spending. I think I’d only spend $100-$300 a month maximum on my credit card.

As a graduate student, this is much different. Although, COVID is a big factor here as well: my first year of graduate school was 100% virtual so I stayed with my parents and did not need to pay rent. And at the height of the pandemic (AKA all of 2020), everyone, including myself, stayed inside and as a result, I hardly spent any $. I saved a SHIT TON of money during my first year of graduate school. My second year of graduate school is in-person but because of my scholarships/funding, I’m very humbled to admit that budgeting isn’t a super necessary thing for me.

But still, I compare my spending habits from undergrad to graduate, and I’m shocked at the differences. I know I’m older now, and there’s COVID, and etc. But I spend a LOT more as a graduate student. I think it may be because I used to work full-time for a couple years so I got used to a standard of living.

This post doesn’t really have much substance except to conclude with:

1. Make sure you keep track of your spending habits! At the bare minimum, I’d recommend using the Mint Mobile app for finances. I’ve used it since undergrad and it’s nice to have all of my accounts linked and for me to easily see where I stand.
2. Consider investing. I have another post here that talks more about financial tips. There are three rules to investing: start early, make regular contributions (literally could be $20 a month… better than nothing!), and don’t touch the money.
3. Spend wisely. Who cares about clothes, material possessions, etc when you can spend it on EXPERIENCES? That’s my recommendation. And if you DO buy clothes/etc, buy QUALITY items and shop during sales. Shop smartly.

That’s all for now!

If you’re in your 20s, here are some quick, basic financial tips!

I’m no expert at all so of course do your own due diligence. But here’s what I wish I would’ve known earlier:

1. Subscribe tor/personalfinance on reddit. This sub is FULL of extremely helpful information, including a literal step by step guide of how to handle $, as well as information of what to do when you’re at certain ages. This was my first resource when I became serious about my finances!
2. Make sure you have at least one credit card, so you can start building credit. The earlier, the better. Be responsible with how you use this card, obviously. There are great “starter” credit cards so look to see which one is the most appealing for you! A good age to get a credit card is the summer before college starts.
3. Create a high-yields savings account. A high-yields savings account has an extremely higher interest rate than a standard savings account. For example, Ally Bank is at 0.50% and Bank of America is at a measly 0.01%. Take time to review how you want your money organized and stored, but I’d highly recommend having a “standard” savings account and a high-yields savings account.
4. Open a traditional IRA or ROTH IRA account and contribute what you can. Do your research independently to see which account is best for you. And then start contributing whatever you can. Time is on your side, friends! Even if you can only contribute $50 a month (or a one-time payment), it’s better than nothing! The #1 tip for investing is to start early because of the compounding interest.
5. Open a brokerage account and contribute what you can. Similar advice as the point above. Personally, I would contribute the maximum limit for the IRA account (if I could), before contributing to my brokerage account.
6. Try to minimize your debts as much as possible! Apply to as many scholarships as you can. To help pay for college, consider working part-time while balancing your coursework: it’s pretty common but obviously know your limits! If you’re too stressed out, it’s likely not worth the juggle. Live frugally until you pay off your debts (and honestly, even after).

misfitreindeer:

phoenixcollective:

psa: if you’re learning a language on Duolingo you can use it for your resumé on Linkedin, it now gives you a certificate of fluency at different levels depending on how advanced you are in your lessons

please signal boost this, many people don’t realize how important being multilingual can be in regards to you getting a job

finnglas:

finnglas:

I’m going to give you the best piece of Adult Life Is Hard advice I’ve ever learned:

Talk to people when things go to shit.

I don’t just mean get it off your chest, although that’s good. I mean: Something’s wrong with your paycheck/you lost your job/you had unexpected emergency car repairs and now you’re broke so your credit card payment is late. Like, not just 15 days late. We’re talking, shit got crazy and now you’re 90 days late with compounded interest and late fees and the Minimum Payment Due is, like, $390, and you’ve got about $3.90 in your bank account. Call the credit card company. 

I know it’s scary. I know you feel like you’re going to get in trouble, like you’re gong to get yelled at or scolded for not having your life together. But the credit card company isn’t your parents; they’re just interested in getting money from you. And you can’t squeeze blood from a stone or money from someone who doesn’t have any. So what you do is you call them. You explain you’re experiencing temporary financial hardships, and you’re currently unable to bring your account up to date, but you don’t want to just let it get worse. Can you maybe talk to someone about a payment plan so you can work something out? Nine times out of ten you’ll be able to negotiate something so that at least it’s not just taking a constant, giant shit on your credit score.

- Can’t pay your power bill? Call the power company.

- Can’t pay your full rent? Talk to your landlord.

- Had to go to the hospital without insurance and have giant medical bills looming in your place? Call the hospital and ask if they have someone who helps people with financial hardships. Many do.

- Got super sick and missed half a semester of class because flu/pneumonia/auto-immune problems/depressive episode? Talk to your professor. If that doesn’t help, talk to your advisor.

You may not be able to fix everything, but you’ll likely be able to make improvements. At the very least, it’s possible that they have a list of people you can contact to help you with things. (Also, don’t be afraid to google things like, “I can’t pay my power bill [state you live in]” because you’d be surprised at what turns up on Google!) But the thing is, people in these positions gain nothing if you fail. There’s no emotional satisfaction for them if your attempts at having your life together completely bite the dust. In fact, they stand to benefit if things work out for you! And chances are, they’ll be completely happy to take $20 a month from you over getting $0 a month from you, your account will be considered current because you’ve talked to them and made an agreement, you won’t get reported to a collections agency, and your credit score won’t completely tank.

Here’s some helpful tips to keep in mind:

1. Be polite. Don’t demand things; request them. Let me tell you about how customer service people hold your life in their hands and how many extra miles they’ll go for someone who is nice to them.

2. Stick to the facts, and keep them minimal unless asked for them. Chances are they’re not really interested in the details. “We had several family emergencies in a row, and now I’m having trouble making the payments” is better than “Well, two months ago my husband wrecked his bike, and then he had a reaction to the muscle relaxer they gave him, and then our dog swallowed a shoestring and we had to take him to the emergency clinic, and just last week MY car broke down, and now my account’s in the negatives and I don’t know how I’m gonna get it back out.” The person you’re talking to is aware shit happens to everyone; they don’t need the details to prove you’re somehow “worthy” of being helped. They may ask you for details at a certain point if they have to fill out any kind of request form, but let them do that.

3. Ask questions. “Is there anything we can do about X?” “Would it be possible to move my payment date to Y day instead so it’s not coming out of the same paycheck as my rent?” The answer may be “no.” That’s not a failure on your part. But a good customer service person may have an alternate solution. 

Anyway! I hope that helps! Don’t just assume the answer is “no” before you’ve even begun. There is more help out there than you ever imagined.

Hey guys, this is an old post, but it’s still relevant, and I thought I’d re-up it for living in COVID times when a lot of people are losing income. Don’t be afraid to toss that in when you call to ask for help! “I’ve experienced a loss of income due to COVID-19″ is gonna be all you need to say for most places, because wow let me tell you how much this is the case. A lot of places are setting up COVID-19 specific relief policies, so this may be even easier than normal. 

Good luck, stay safe, stay inside if you can, and wash your hands. <3