Who else thinks they're at this age where you feel like you should be 400 steps ahead in your career and then realize you had like 3 overdraft fees THIS MONTH.

Doessssn't exactly scream responsible. 

Money is a hard thing to have, ha! When I don't have it, I think of everything I desperately need to buy, like protein powder, and a new computer and how I STILL need to get coolant in my car. 

Then when I do have it, I think of everything that I THINK I need, like a haircut, a new dress because it's 50% off, and to redecorate my whole room with paint, plants and vogue posters from Etsy. 

(Let's just say I HATED accounting and my teacher looked like the bad guy in Spiderman so it was hard to concentrate. He was weirdly distracting, in kind of a scary, creepy way.)

My dad used to get on my ass about this stuff all the time and I remember I used to get so pissed because I would make up excuses like "I'm 17, I barely make any money what do you expect from me?!". 

But he made me realize (after years of trial and error), a couple things. 

 

1. If you owe someone money, you don't have money to spend. 

- Now when I was younger, like I said, that would drive me nuts! Mainly because I was horrible at it. But seriously, now how annoying is it when your friend says that they don't have any money so you buy them something with the understanding they "they'll pay you back", and then next thing you know "they still don't have money" but they just bought a whole new summer wardrobe.

- Now you're even more screwed than you were before because now you bought more stuff esentially spending money you don't have & you still have to pay your friend back. LOSING. 

2. PRIORITIZE

OMG I used to be the WORRRRRRRSSSSSSSSSSTTTTT AT THIS. I would get money and just BLOW it. Paycheck? Sweet. Say hi and BYE to the new shoes, 85 lunches, and trip to tahoe I'm about to trade you in for. See you again in 2 weeks. 

Like I said, while I didn't have money I would think of everything that I ever wanted. But back then, once I got the money, I would actually go buy all of those things. 

Then when my car would almost explode on the freeway with my 2 younger sisters in the car due to having LITERALLY no oil in it AND I had to call my dad for help (this actually happened), he shows up wanting to actually hit me with his truck and wonder how I managed ONCE AGAIN to not get the $40.00, 3,000 mile, must have, oil change that he always told me to get. 

See? Priorities. 

He told me, "If you're car is filled up with gas, up to date on all it's maintenance, you don't have any outstanding bills, you don't have any debt, you don't owe anybody and money, AND you put some away in savings, THEN, and ONLY then, do you find out if you have money left over for spending money. If the answer is no, then sucks to be you."

Haha, so in other words from ages like 17-23 it pretty much "sucked to be me" because I didn't have jack for spending.

(I'm not sure if that's what he said verbatim but, it makes me laugh to think that he did. Sounds like him ;) )

So, here's how I started to make more money, build up a couple grand in my savings, and get my shit together. 

1. Be Honest With Yourself.

I remember when I really looked at my finances and I was SCARED. Haha like legit felt like I needed some white wine and a xanax before I could begin. I remember opening up my journal and writing down all my monthly bills + what I  ACTUALLY needed for gas and food per month. My total came out to $1, 596. So I realized that the absolute minimum I needed to aim for per month was 2,000 (which is 500 a week). 

My checks at the time were coming out anywhere from $800.00 - $1,100.00 every two weeks so I was barely hangin on there for a while.

2. Grow a Pair And Switch Things Up.

So I decided to start looking for a new job. At the time I was a hostess getting shit for tips and I knew that I needed to be at least serving if I wanted to make more money BUT I was scared to apply anywhere because I didn't have any serving experience, and I'm the WORST lier on the planet. 

I already knew I wouldn't be able to be that person who could lie to all these different companies and say that I had been a server for years so what did I do? 

I started applying to 5 star hotels, bougie lounges and upscale restaurants to be a server. 

A lot of places would tell me that they couldn't hire me as a server but that they would be more than happy to have me work the front. 

NOPE, NEXT.

I started sitting down in interviews telling these people that "I'm fully aware that no where on my resume does it say that I'm a server but the only reason that girl is capable of doing this job is because you guys have taught her how, and not me,"

And to my surprise, three different high end restaurants wanted to hire me as a server, they were willing to give me a chance. Crazy right?! Then boom, I got a job making more than what I needed per month.

3. Know where your money is going, and put it there. 

It's like having a planner, or a schedule for the day. If you write down what you need to do and when it needs to get done, then you make it happen. If you don't, then you wake up everyday without an agenda and feel like you have nothing to do and thennnn, nothing gets done.

What I did first, (since I was now getting all my tips from cash rather than paychecks) was every night that I got home I would take 20% of my cash and put it in a paper clip with a piece of paper that said SAVINGS.

Then I would take half of what was left and put it in the clip that said BILLS.

Then whatever was left over would be mine to spend. Which was like 5-20 dollars haha. BUT if I didn't do this, say I just got home and was too tired and kept the money in my wallet, then I would go out for a few coffee's, make some stops at Marshalls, buy way too many things at Trader Joes and then next thing you know, that money is lonnnnng gone.

Once I had a good size stack of money in the BILLS clip, I would start to section it off even further by clipping together money and writing PHONE BILL, CAR PAYMENT + INSURANCE, etc. 

Then I would realize how much money I had for rent. If I'm stable then cool! This doesn't mean that I get to take some extra money out of there for spending. This means that I have some bills for next month ready to be taken care of. 

If I was lacking on money for rent, then that means that that 5-20 dollars in spending money at the end of the night, unfortunately needs to go towards my bills. 

Make sense?

Any comments or suggestions? Leave them below!