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My birthday has come and gone and I couldn't ask for better friends and family who love and support me. I had a blast this weekend and worked yesterday. Today I had the day off and was able to take care of some things, including my credit card!

As I was reading a health magazine today, I came across some interesting financial things, too. It not only inspired me, but allowed me to research some more about paying off credit card debt. I'm a girl who loves a quick fix and thinks that paying off X amount should take no time at all. Ha.

Turns out my giant credit card bill could take longer than I'd anticipated. But, given my research, this is nothing to be discouraged by. I think I needed the reality check to understand that this is actually a bigger undertaking than I thought. Kind of like eating horribly and not exercising means it takes no time to gain weight, spending ridiculously adds up really quickly. The catch is that you can't just drop the pounds immediately and the same goes for your bills. Just because you spend more doesn't mean you magically start making more.

So today marks the beginning of a new journey: responsible spending. This is a new concept for me. I've always felt that if I want something, I'm entitled to have it and should therefore purchase it for myself. My expensive taste has led to purchases I love, but it's time to get real. What can I actually afford?

With budget in hand (aka, easily accessible on my computer for frequent reference), I am ready to go into the world and find affordable things to buy and do. Some ideas I have already:

1. Work. I get a discount and can afford to buy one (maybe two depending on the price) item a month and still have money left to have fun with. I don't really need to buy clothes every week, so this should be reasonable.
2. Target. Great for basics, especially summer clothes that I'll wear for three months and then put away again. No need to feel like I need designer stuff that I can't even wear all the time!
3. Outlets, TJMaxx, Nordstrom Rack, etc. For the designer love in me, these places all offer great items at affordable prices. It may take some rummaging (which I've loathed in the past), but getting a good deal that I can pay cash for comfortably is well worth it.

I can still have a fashion-forward summer wardrobe, I just don't need to into debt to have things I'll wear for three months. A few basic tops, basic dresses, a new pair of sandals and I'm good to go. Of course, after May 31st. (I grounded myself from shopping the rest of the month, remember?)

As I go, I'll probably post my purchases on here to keep myself accountable for what I'm buying. By writing it down for you to see, it will force me to be aware of what I'm spending.

I'm excited to make some real progress!

The Year of the Tiger

Those who know me well know I have a birthday coming up. It's my golden birthday (the date is the same as the year I'm turning) and I've always looked forward to my golden birthday. When I was in grade school, I always imagined what I would be like when my golden birthday came. The hope was that I'd be a fabulous adult living in an awesome place downtown with an awesome job, driving a really nice car with life totally figured out. Guess again!

Mind you, I'm happy where I am and enjoy my wheels, but the whole figuring-out-life thing is definitely a life-long process you don't realize when you're in grade school. One thing I still have yet to figure out, and this a biggie: money.

Remember a couple posts ago when I was asking how much is enough? Well according to my budget, I have plenty to live. Living expenses, car expenses, and even some money is thrown into my budget. And guess what else needs to stay in my budget right now? My credit card bill.

My store credits are paid in-full with every bill I get, which is why I rarely put things on store credit. But my major credit card, that's a different story. And it's a sad one at that.

I have a plan. In my budget, I allot for credit card bills. Great! That's a step in the right direction - that means I can pay it off, right? Ideally, yes. For me, probably not.

So here's my birthday gift to myself, to celebrate my golden year: No using the credit card until it's paid off. My living expenses are good and I still have fun money. There's virtually no actual reason to use my credit card. It's time to buckle-down and save like normal people for things. I always like to think I'll pay back my credit card right away, but it's so much easier to forget about it and just pay the minimum payment when it comes. So this year's the year.

Disclaimer - I'm giving myself until my actual birthday to start this challenge for myself. But to be safe, I've grounded myself from shopping for the rest of the month.

Ask and you shall Receive...

Today I felt like myself again. After months of soul-searching, moving, waiting, and not shopping, I felt rejuvenated.

I ventured downtown tonight to scope out the art district. It's galleried streets offer window art ready for you to take in, green tea frappucino in-hand. It was also home to a style event that showcased Chicago designers selling and talking about what they love: the living art of fashion.

It was wickedly hot inside, but the complementary cocktails and sushi helped. It also helped being surrounded by so much creativity. Jewelry, bags, dresses, jackets...you get the picture. I even ran into a designer who graduated from Purdue! I, of course, purchased a lovely dress for summer from her. I looked at it as my way of supporting local arts. It was a fantastic evening of food, new friends, and our love of fashion. Being able to talk to the people who worked so hard to present these pieces was awesome. It's like any other artist, really. They have these brilliant thoughts and things to say. They just don't verbalize their thoughts, they instead create them for the world to enjoy and interpret. It was nice to be able to compliment the person who fabricated the garment you'll wear this summer. Despite the drive into and out of the city (Chicago construction is awesome!), I'd do this every day if I could.

It's important to have these days sometimes, to remind us of what we truly enjoy. It refreshes you, keeps you on your toes. Or luckily, for me, motivates me even more to continue on the path that I'm on.

Speaking of which, the last time I posted I mentioned waiting for opportunities. My opportunity came the day after, and I interviewed and officially accepted a new position. Funny how things work out, huh?

What's Enough?

I left my full-time salary-with-benefits-job to pursue a career in the industry that truly interests me. This particular industry is a blast to work in; I have fun almost every day. The hours are all over the place. The clients are interesting. And I get to dress people in fabulous clothing and accessories - pretty sweet!

Since I moved back to the Midwest, money has been a huge concern for me. Living in FL, I was starting on the path of financial hope - hope that my bills could get paid, I could money in savings, and my debt would be finished. My job was steady, so it was completely feasible to accomplish all of these things. However, I love to shop, eat, go out for the occasional beer/cocktail, and travel. So saving real amounts of money was difficult for me. Then I moved home for 6 months with no living expenses, a car to pay for, and a credit card and apartment fees to pay on less than half my previous income. Totally capable of taking care of myself financially in the comfort of my parents' house, yet it still didn't happen. So, moving to a new, steadier job seemed like the logical thing to do next. Living at home with no living expenses wasn't deterring me from spending on silly things, so living on my own working my way up in a company made sense.

Now I'm here. And it still doesn't feel like enough. I work hard, things are progressing well. I tell myself weekly that financially, I should be good to go within a year. Once I'm making more money, my concerns for finance will cease. My credit card will be taken care of, I'll have money in savings, I'll even make enough to live in my own place again. But I can't shake the nagging feeling that I'm going to be poor forever. (Ok, that was dramatic, maybe not forever). When does this feeling go away? How much money does it take to not feel poor? Is it a specific number? Maybe when my credit card is paid off, will that mean I can relax a little? And will I really be able to do it in a year?

Perhaps it's time to make myself truly accountable by using the internet to budget for myself. By sharing my credit card progress, maybe I can keep motivating myself to keep up on my finances better instead of just paying bills because they're there. I try to tell myself that I don't need to go out all the time because I'm still paying off probably 2 years of fun on my credit card. Shouldn't that be enough motivation?

Maybe there's never enough. Enough money, time, motivation, energy...maybe it's all about doing the best you can with what you have. Maybe that's the question I should start asking myself: am I truly doing the best I can with what I have? If we ask ourselves this question regularly, I wonder what kind of answers (and excuses) we can come with...

Life-changing

New job. New place. New roommate. New diet?

I've been recently inspired to research more in-depth about natural and organic eating. I buy a lot of healthy food, but am a sucker for snacks that aren't so healthy and if there's ice cream in the freezer, forget about it. What would happen if I took the extra time and invested in buying and cooking all-natural, all the time?

Supposedly we can get all our nutrients from food, right? By researching "power foods", I'm finding that by incorporating nutrient-rich foods into your daily diet, your body can look and feel better. I'm all about exercise to do this too, but eating to look better? Who woulda thunk it?

So now I'm doing an experiment, and it's basically starting right now. I'm going to load up on greens (not just romaine), whole grain everything, fruits, and legumes. I'll start cooking them the way our bodies are meant to absorb them. Then see what the results are. Benefits I read about include maintaining a healthy weight, better skin, improved digestive tract, and just overall healthy glow. Well, I wanna glow too.

I labeled this post Life-changing because it's one of my favorite phrases when describing food. For example, life-changing coconut shrimp, key lime pie, and other assorted cholesterol-unfriendly items. In an effort to help my cholesterol and overall well-being, I plan to make healthy food life-changing because it really can be. I expect some slip ups along the way, but I'll try to keep remembering this phrase adapted from a friend: "There is no food that tastes as good as healthy feels."

See for yoursE.L.F.!

I remember hearing about Eyes Lips Face on Oprah in 2004. It claimed to have makeup for the masses at unbeatable prices. Now that I'm making less money, it's time to get frugal. E.L.F. is one way to be beautiful without paying an arm and a leg.

My recent purchase consisted of 2 mascaras and 2 eyeliners. With shipping, my total was $11. And the majority of that was the shipping price. Each item was $1.00. Yep, it's the dollar menu for beauty buffs!

I decided to get black and brown, since those are what I primarily use in my color palette. However, there was blue, violet, and green available at the time. For those of you who are more adventurous than I, you too can appreciate paying $1.00 for your eyeliner!

Now was it worth it? I'd say yes overall, but here are a couple disclaimers. This is after weeks of use, too:

1. The eyeliner is an eyeliner pen, which I love. However, my brown color came dry. It was like a marker that ran out of ink. When I put it under water, the color flows once again, but the next day it's dried up. Obviously, I'm not using it, as I feel that's too much effort to put forth, especially when you feel like it's going to start running down your face due to the extra moisture. The black eyeliner has been nothing but perfection.

2. The mascara is...worth the dollar you pay for it. It's not the best mascara I've ever used, but for $1.00, it does what I need it to do - make my lashes look like they're there (mine get lighter in color on the ends). The mascara I purchased is a double mascara - waterproof on one end, regular on the other. A nice feature, but I'd say the quality is about the same on either side.

Disclaimer for these disclaimers: All products purchased were $1.00. If this is the worst it gets, then they've made an E.L.F. fan out of me.

Life Reminders

A recent article assignment led me to meet some Lafayette-enthusiasts. On this particular day, it was a dreary morning and my lovely cup of coffee just wasn't doing the trick. All I could think was, 'if I was in Florida right now, I would be waking up to sunshine and way happier about it.' Lucky for me, I was on my way out the door to chat with a few women who promote Lafayette to the masses.

It was a Monday morning, which is typical to find people less-than-chipper. But when I walked into this particular establishment, I felt nothing but excitement for the week ahead. Every one of the ladies I talked to (5 in total) was happy to talk to me and gush about our little corner of the world. They reminded me of the quaint, yet busy, downtown that's booming with activities every weekend. They reminded me of the outdoor recreation we have thanks to parks, trails, and festivals. They reminded me that the university provides decent sporting events at the right price. All in all, it was a great reminder of why I moved home.

I've wanted to live in downtown Chicago since I can remember, and that dream hasn't gone away. But that doesn't mean that I shouldn't buck-up and appreciate where I live and the fact that I have great friends and family nearby. And the beauty of living closer to family and friends means I can spend my future vacations visiting those warmer places instead of coming home.

Would it have been fun to go to Indy or Chicago to go out with friends? Sure. But instead, I spent this weekend taking my dogs to one of the parks and strolling around the outdoor Pre-Thanksgiving Market. And after 5 days of rain, it was the perfect way to enjoy a gorgeous November weekend.

Isn't funny how life sends you friendly reminders about why you're where you are?