Monday, 15 January 2018

Monday Motivation || The art of visualization



Hey friends,

So for years now I have been doing #mid-weekmotivation this year however I have decided to change it up to keep in line with new routine I have created for myself. So for the foreseeable future all the motivational posts will be coming to you on a Monday! I kind of like that it will be on a Monday, like I've said before usually when I write these posts I start to feel motivated for life myself.I can't think of a better time for motivation than on a Monday!

Today I want to talk to you all about visualization. I firmly believe visualization is a powerful thing. I remember about this time last year life wasn't looking as that rosy for me & to be quite honest with you I was in a pretty bad place January 2017. I had lost a lot in a short space of time & it took a long time to recover. However one thing I do remember is that as I was feeling a bit better I started thinking about and picturing what I wanted life to look like. I started visualizing my future. It wasn't on purpose, it was daydreaming. However when I look back on it now I realize a lot of what I daydreamed came through. I imagined a beautiful apartment, my own little place, with a beautiful view. I imagined what way I wanted my life to be... job, friends, family & good relationship. The funny thing is that's exactly what I got. 

When I look back on 2017 it was a very divided year for me. The first couple of months were brutal but the latter half of the year was amazing. The thing about visualization it gives you a plan without really realising it. It gives you a clear view of where you want to be. That means when things come up you will naturally gravitate and work in the direction of what you want. Whether you are actively seeking it out or not you are subconsciously guiding yourself in the path of where you want to be in life.

Many people like to do vision boards and things like that. I have yet to venture into this activity but I'm 100% pro visualisation! Believe me you might just think you are daydreaming (like me) but when you start to see those dreams come to life its such an amazing feeling. You honestly look around and think "I am the luckiest person in the world". No word of a lie almost everyday I used to look around see my beautiful apartment, easy & relaxed lifestyle, my wonderful family & friends, my amazing boyfriend and think wow I am so lucky. This was something I was only dreaming about when times were tough and here I was! Literally living my day dream. 


The reason this whole topic came into my head is because I was sitting down looking out my window feeling a bit lost. I was thinking about the previous year, our apartment & the life we had. We decided to move back to the city in Sept for many reasons & I think we had a different idea of the way it would go. Although there are many reasons I'm glad I came back, as soon as my college course is over we are going to go back (well that's the plan at the moment). That's the thing you see, everything is messy, undecided, uncertain & me being and anxious person, it doesn't sit well with me. Anyway that reminded me of how I used too daydream & I realised most of it came true! So I have started doing it again (which is much harder in uncertain times) but I like to think "Where am I happiest?" "What life do I want?" "What do I want to do?" After a while you will start to get a clearer or picture of where you want to be & if you have a afternoon to get creative then why not create a vision board. You an include all your wants & desires for the future. If you need inspiration there are loads of videos of how to create them on Youtube.

Also I think if you can visualise it then you are more motivated if you are actively working towards it. For example with college I'm visualising graduating & I definitely makes me work harder & want it more. 

Anxiety & sometimes just general life can make you think of all the bad things but if change your focus to positive visualisation not only will you feeling better but it will put you in the right frame of mind for life. At the moment I try to visualise which direction I want my life to head in. It really makes me motivated to get out there and grab opportunities along the way.

Remember YOU GOT THIS. I was in one of the worst places of my life this time last year and it was only getting worse. A few months later my life had completely changed and I was living my daydream. Times may have changed again & they are a little uncertain but I'm going to keep daydreaming & follow the path to them once more. 

Chat soon x

Thank You for Reading
xox

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Friday, 12 January 2018

10 Areas I plan to cut my spending in 2018! || Financial Series




Hey Friends, 

As most you will know by now finances and minimalist ideas are featuring heavily in my goals for 2018.  There are many reasons for this and if you missed that post you can check it out here - Goals & Resolutions 2018. This year I plan on being more intentional with everything I bring into my life but also I want to stop spending stupid money to the point where it just slips through my fingers and I have no idea where it went. I think these goals work hand in hand and hopefully will come full circle to enrich my life as time goes on. 

I've had a look through my budgets I've created over the past few months & looked at the areas I spending the most money where its not necessary. I have also been decluttering for the past year as well (albeit alot more slowly than I would like #lifegettingintheway) so by taking both of these into account I have decided 10 areas that I am going cut my spending in the next year. If you are planning something similar please leave me a comment on what you're planning on cutting down or out completely. I would love to hear them & I'm always open to ideas.

Here we go - 

1. Magazines & Hardcopy Books 

This was a weakness for such a long time. Just to give you an idea I was the girl that had all the magazines every month, like I would legit walk into a shop scan the magazine shelves and I would already have all the ones I wanted. This would happened regularly, to the point where I would double buy them as I would forget that I had already purchased it earlier that month. I'm also the type of person that can't walk into a book store without buy atleast 3 books.... whether I read them or not after was debatable most of the time I wouldn't have even finished one not to mind all 3 then off I would go again and buy 3 more. So I have decided there is really no need for this. I have so many books (I haven't decluttered them yet) so I will go through them all I will keep any I really want to read or have read and loved and get rid of the rest. I now have audible on my phone & although it's not the same thing in my opinion, its great for travelling whether I'm driving in my car or taking public transport. Will I cut out buying books forever? No but now I will only buy a book when I have put alot of thought into it & I have read all the other books in my collection. As for magazines this has already been a tough one to say no to but realistically I can get all this info online. I may get one or two throughout the year as a treat but other than that I am staying well away from the magazine isle from now on.




2. Takeaway Coffee

Ah my weak spot. Ok so didn't do too great with the whole not buying coffee thing for the holiday season. I mean daammn they are just too tempting. However fresh year, fresh start. I have bought yet another takeaway cup (€1.50 in Dealz) and I will be taking my coffee and tea to work and college with me. €2 - €5 a day is a lot of money when you add it up. Again I'm not cutting it out forever but I don't want to be buying it everyday for the sake of it. I have caramel syrup, coffee, milk, cream. What more could I want & when I get my new place I will use that extra money I have saved from not buying coffees to pick myself up a coffee machine! Win, win.

3. Jewellery

This is another one which to be honest I think I am almost going to cut out completely. I like my jewelry to have sentiment behind them. I have beautiful jewelry that has been gifted to me over the years and these I will keep and continue to wear. However I don't really see the point in costume jewelry anymore. They are fun at the time but they don't last long and don't have any sentimental value for me. They are usually quite cheap, break easily & half the time I don't even wear them I just end up buying them to store them and then declutter them a year later. I think this is a category that is going to get cut out completely.




4. Nail Varnish

Now this is an area that is going to be completely cut out in 2018 if not for a couple of years after. I have so much nail varnish & my collection is currently half of what it was last year. I do love them all but I have so many I have no need whatsoever to purchase anymore! On top of that I was gifted a collection of 20 mini varnishes by my mother as a stocking filler this Christmas time! So no there will be no nail varnish haul in 2018.

5. Clothes

Ok so I don't think I'm not going to buy any clothes in the next year but It's going to be cut down hugely. I know I'm going to be purchasing underwear and possible new work attire should I change jobs again but other than that I currently have no items I need to buy. Last year I went through my wardrobe and got rid of so many items. However I do believe I could even get rid of more and I will be going through everything again during my next move. I feel very blessed with the clothes I currently have & at this moment can't see a need for anymore items.




6. Home Decor

Again another weakness of mine, everytime I walk into a home store I re-design my home in my head. I want everything but I have so much stuff. I want to declutter the home decor items I currently have and refrain from buying knick-knacks for no reason that honestly just take up space. When we move into our new place there may be items that need to be purchased and I'm not saying I'm never going to purchase any home decor but I'm going to be completely intentional with my purchases. I'm going to ask myself questions like where, when & why before I pick anything up for my home.

7. Stationary

Ah Stationary....is there anything more enticing? I have so much stationary so I'm making a commitment to not bring anymore into my life just because its cute. I will now use up all the station I currently own or just simply get rid of it. Realistically as cute as it is, it's just taking up space in my life.

8. Single Item Treats

What I mean here is when you go to the shop and pick up one bar of chocolate for €1.20. I really don't see the point when you can buy 4 for €1.50. This also goes for spending €2 on a pastry when you can buy a pack of 6 individually packaged ones for about €1.80. Another example is bottles for €.80 - €1 a bottle when you can buy a 24 pack for about €2.80. Yesterday I found a four pack of sparkling flavoured water (my new addiction) for €1.89 and they are usually €1.70 in the shop, sold singly. Now they are off brand but does that really matter when you are basically getting 4 for the price of one! It just doesn't make sense for me anymore to buy things individually at a shop anymore.With a little more time and planning so much money can be saved!!

9. Back-ups

Now this is something I'm definitely guilty of. I'm the type of person that likes to know I won't "run out". I now know this is silly. Theres not much we can't live a day or two with out or that we can't just run to the store and pick up should we run out. Also if we know we are going to run out then we can just pop it on the next shopping list. So the plan this year - No More Back-ups!

10. Duplicates

Another thing I'm guilty of. To be honest if you really think about it the reason we have duplicates is due to laziness more than anything else. We either forget we have it, can't find and can't be bothered to look for it. We'd rather pay more money than find, look for or even clean the item we need. While on my decluttering splurge I'm going to look for all duplicates and get rid of them. If we don't need more than one, we don't need to store it.

 So these are all the areas I'm planning on cutting my spending on 2018. I'm sure I'll be adding to the list as time goes on. If this happens I will be sharing it all with you too! Please leave me a comment below if you have areas in your life where you are going to cut spending in the next year as I'm always looking for ways to improve and also minimalism & the path to financial freedom looks different for everyone so id be interested to see what it looks like for you.

Chat soon x

Thank You for Reading

 xox

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Wednesday, 10 January 2018

Beauty La Linda ~ Lifestyle || Blogging Goals for 2018




Hey Friends,

In my last post I talked all about my personal goals & resolutions for 2018. You can check it out here - Goals & Resolutions 2018! . However I thought I would create a separate post for all my goals that related to blogging. That way I be more focused for the coming year.


Be more organised

This will be one of my main priorities in 2018. I'm generally one of those annoyingly organised people when it comes to my own life almost to my own detriment where I don't allow any time for spontaneity. This is because my anxious personality wants me to plan my life weeks in advance. I don't like surprises, I like to know when and where I need to be and how. However I have left this slide alot in my blogging life. So I'm putting some measures in place to get my blog organisation back on track and generally making it more efficient.

  • Blogging bullet Journal this way I can plan and track posts, stats and progress
  • Creating a solid routine for both time to blog, promote and all that good stuff but also a routine for scheduling posts. Consistency is so important but it's something my little blog has been lacking
  • Creating goals for stats and posts
  • Figuring out what you guys want by looking at my most popular posts and trying to tailor more to what you guys want to see from me
  • Learning how to monitor process through Google Analytics 
  • Learning more about SEO


Re-Vamp

I have decided it is time to either re-vamp or even re-launch my blog. It has been something I have been thinking about for a while. Although I love my little blog I also think I am not doing it justice sometimes. I have barely made changes to it in the last 4 years and I really think its high time to I did a little sussing up to it. I like the idea of combining my beauty & lifestyle blogs and streamlining the whole thing but I'm not exactly sure how to do it so a little more research is going to have to take place if I am to do this. Maybe I create a whole new blog and start from scratch but keep the other ones live so people have the freedom to go back and read the posts from the past four years if they wish and I can also link onto them too, or maybe create a new web page entirely and transfer them all over. I really don't know at this point but I do want to make a change. Please leave me a comment below if you have any experience in this, clearly I need all the help I can get.


Social Media

I need sometime off from social media every now and then. It overwhelms me and doesn't help with my anxiety. That doesn't mean to say I don't love it, it's just every now and then for my own peace of mind I need to take a break. However I want to be more focused with it, apart from chat groups (which I really enjoy & want to do more of) maybe I'll just keep social media to business days/hours and keep weekends free from them. I also want to be more present on Instagram and Snapchat this year. I love these so much but don't feel like I make the most of them like I should.


Photography &  Editing

These are things I really want to work on this year. I feel like has naturally improved over the years but I'm still not where I would like to be with either of them.  


Working with brands

I always see people working with brands and although I have been lucky enough to work with a couple myself I have realized I need to be bolder when it comes to my blog and the direction I want it to go in. I have always loved my blog as my hobby but now I feel like I would like to take into the direction of becoming more of a job. I love the idea of it but its just not viable at the moment. 

So those are my goals for my little blog this. Let me know in the comments what any of your goals are for 2018, also leave a comment if you have any tips or tricks that will help me along the way I would be ever so grateful!

Chat soon x

Thank You for Reading
xox

Previous Posts -
Goals & Resolutions 2018!

Have you checked out my Beauty Blog!? - Beauty La Linda - MUA
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Monday, 8 January 2018

Beauty La Linda ~ Lifestyle || Goals & Resolutions 2018




Hey Friends,

New year, new start with all those new goals and resolutions. I have been thinking quite carefully about these. I have decided to do a separate post on all my blogging goals and resolutions for 2018 and just focusing on life ones for this post.

If you missed my last post where I re-capped on how my goals & resolutions for 2017, you can check it out here - Review of goals & resolutions 2017!

My goals this year are going to be inter- connected and be more focused. They are going to be focused around 3 main areas, minimalism / home life, finances & travelling.

Home life

In 2017 I discovered the Life-Changing Magic of Tidying up - Marie Kondo Book Review & the whole concept of minimalism. The thought of only keeping things in your life that you truly love and adds value to your life is one that really appeals to me. I intend on doing more of this in 2018. Really taking stock of all my possessions and everything else that has a place in my life and only keeping things that bring joy or have a purpose. With moving so much this has not been really possible yet. Unfortunately myself and my partner are part of the high statistic of 20-35 year olds that have had to move in with the parents due to the housing crisis. This is due to change in up-coming months as we are focused and committed to finding a place of our own again but until that happens unfortunately it will be hard to design the living space I desire. We are eternally grateful for all the support and love we have received from my parents but theres nothing quite  like your own home, is there.

When we move again in a few months I am going to take it as an opportunity to go through everything I own and figure out what to get rid of (by "get rid" I mean throw away anything broken, and donate or sell anything in good condition that might be of some use or joy to somebody else). That way we can start our lives in our new home completely fresh. 

I also want to be more intentionally with what I bring into both my home and my life. Hopefully no more mindless shopping, which might hurt my haul posts a little bit but hopefully you will enjoy my posts about this journey just as much. 


Finances

This is continued on from 2017. I am nowhere near paying off all my debt but I am not giving up. In 2017 I learned a lot about budgeting and handling finances from financial gurus like Dave Ramsey and financial Youtubers too. (I might do a post soon on my favourite Budget Youtubers and Bloggers. I wasn't successful every month on my budget and I made a lot of mistakes but I also learned from those mistakes and thats the most important thing. Sometimes it's not easy, life gets in the way but if you have faith & power through it will all come right in the end. I am very lucky as I have a very supportive partner that I feel comfortable discussing our finances with. This is extreamly important if trying stick to a budget when you are in a committed relationship. You need to be a team. This year I have spent time creating saving goals and debt repayment goals to hopefully be in a much better position by this time next year.



Travelling

My partner and I have set travel goals as well for this year. Although we are not completely clear on where we will be both jobwise and location wise in the next couple of months we have set out a plan from where we are now. If our circumstances change our plans will have to change too to accommodate this but as of now we do have plans to see more of the world in 2018. My family have been really sweet too. My sister surprised me with a little travel diary book so I can record my adventures and my brother gifted my the Instax Mini camera so I can document them. When I see these they make me more motivated to get my ass up and have a wander around the world.





So these are my main personal goals for 2018 and to be honest I'm quite excited about using the year to create a happy, exciting and more stable life for myself and the people around me. Don't worry I will of course be taking all you guys with me on the journey so you will get to see exactly how we are getting on & of course be a part of it too.  Please let me know in the comments any of your goals or resolutions for the new year as I would love to hear them. I would also be very interested if you guys have any tips of tricks that might help me to achieve mine this year!!

Chat soon x


Thank You for Reading
xox

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Sunday, 7 January 2018

Beauty La Linda - Lifestyle || Review of my Goals and Resolutions 2017




Hey Friends, 

First of all HAPPY NEW YEAR!!! I hope it is an exciting, safe and prosperous new year for you all! In keeping with tradition I here is my review of all my goals and resolutions of 2017! If you would like to check it out for yourself you can click on the link here - My Goals & Resolutions 2017. So how did I get on?

Cleaning up my act

I think I made good headway with this. I have been really getting into this whole minimalism malarkey lately. I have been doing alot of reading about it from minimalistic bloggers and watching minimalism Youtubers. I have been changing my mindset in the past year and definitely think I have different outlook now when it comes to "stuff". I dont think all of minimalism is for me I think I like the idea more of only keeping things in your life that truly bring you joy and adds value to your life. I'm currently re-listening to The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying up - Marie Kondo on audible. If you would like to read my review of this wonderful book you and check it out by clicking on the link here - Book Review || Life-Changing Magic of Tidying up. 

Sorting out my Finances

Unfortunately I have not cleared all my debt yet, this is partly due to life circumstances beyond my control and partly due to my own fault as in hindsight I can see many little things I could have done differently that would have helped my situation along the way. However I did learn alot about budgeting and financing & I truely believe this will help me along the way to a more financially free 2018.




Get on a plane

In my mid year review I mentioned that I didn't think this was going to happen this year what with moving once again and I was correct however I have decided not put so much pressure on it. It wll happen when it happens. To be honest it might make me more anxious if I just keep making such a big deal about it. I will be very proud of myself when I finally do it but I'm not going to stress about it for now. It just wasn't meant to be this year.

Learning a new language

Again I explained this in my mid year review. The reason this resolution came about was because of my partner at the time. Now that is no longer and priority. It is still something I have always wanted to do but not a goal at the moment.

Building proper routines

This one I actually got really good with but unfortunately my routine has changed about three or four times this year & every time it takes a while to adjust but soon I will be moving again and hopefully this I'll be able to settle properly at least for a year or two as that it what I crave the most these days. 

Understanding Me!

This year was definitely a year of learning and I don't think thats going to stop anytime soon. I believe we should always be constant working on ourselves. I've an eventful / weird year but I've also learned alot which will I will carry with me into 2018.  

So thats it then, another year down. Did I reach all my goals? No but I'm really happy with the progress I have made & I learned alot this year from both mistakes I have made and things that have worked for me. Next year I will continue to strive to reach all the goals that are important to me. New year, fresh start and all that.

Stay tuned for my next post. All about my Goals and resolutions for 2018!!!

Chat soon x



Thank You for Reading
xox



Previous Posts

Have you checked out my Beauty Blog!? - Beauty La Linda - MUA
Previous Posts

TWITTER - @Beauty_La_Linda
INSTAGRAM - @beauty_la_linda
BLOGLOVIN' - Beauty  &  Lifestyle
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Tuesday, 10 October 2017

Slaying It 2017 || Cutting it in College (Part 2) || Financial Series



Hey Friends,

Today I am back with part 2 of cutting in college. Here I am sharing with you some of my tips and tricks for surviving college on a budget. It can be done my friends. Is it easy? Heck no but I guarantee it will be worth it. If you missed my first post you can check it here (Cutting it in College - Part 1) it will also be linked below!!

When anyone thinks of college, its the lifestyle that comes to mind first & even though I have been through it already even I glamourise it a little in my head. We think of always looking our best, having all our college work up to date & acing all our classes, having cute instagram worthy houses and rooms. Is that what college is actually like? Again heck no. That doesn't mean it can't worth it and a hell of alot of fun at the same time. However most companies know we have this little ideal vision in our head and that's what they market towards. College is hard enough and expensive enough without us adding pressure by wanting our lives to look like Instagram or a Pintrest board. 

I have for you here 6 more of my tips and tricks for saving the pennies during your college years!! Please leave a comment below if you have any of your own!! We all need to help each other out to make college the most enjoyable experience for everyone! 

Pack your shizz the night before

Forgetting is the enemy of saving!! Never forget that! I have actually been caught more than once already with this. I know we all have nights where we are too busy, too tired or simply just forget but if we can remember nine times out of ten to pack everything we need the night before then we will save so much money in the long run. The problem is unless you live very close to the college, if you forget anything then you are going to end up buying it again!! It such a waste. I mean you will probably end up using the new item anyway but there should be no need to buy double items unnecessarily.


Student Discounts

Make sure to take advantage of all student discounty goodness. Now don't use it as an excuse to shop! What I mean when I say this is if there is something you need and can get a student discount on it then don't let that go to waste! Be aware of student offers in your area and if there are any on items you particularly need. Use that card to your advantage! Make it work for you!! 


Clothes

Clothes is probably the place where we feel like we want to spend the most money! Sometimes college can feel like a fashion show. We spend the entire day surrounded by so many people with so many different styles. Atleast ten times a day we are going to think to ourselves "ooh thats cute!!" or "I love her shoes, bag, jacket ect..." My advice is to have a closet that works for you. By this I mean have wardrobe where all/most of the pieces are interchangeable. That way you will always have different looks and outfits. Be aware of seasons for example have atleast one good coat to get you through winter, Have 2 or 3 scarves & gloves. Same when it comes to shoes have a good pair of boots, runners and / or pumps. If you have a few key good quality pieces that will carry you through a semester then you won't feel the need to run to your local Pennys / Primark atleast once a week. I think it is also important to keep a little money in the budget (not every month mind you) but if you keep a little "blow" money so to speak, even just €20 so you can buy a little treat every now and then to make you feel like your not constricted. As long as you have your main staple wardrobe then you can add a couple of accessories and completely change the overall look without going on a €200 shopping spree. Don't forget, Like with everything else, take the best care of your clothes that you can. That in itself will save you soon much money as it will extend the life span of all your pieces. The best advice I can give you is to sit down and really think about your wardrobe as a whole. Spend an afternoon with your wardrobe and by the end of it, you will know everything in it, all the outfits you have at the ready and anything you need to make it complete. Once you have a complete wardrobe of key, interchangeable items you will no longer feel the need to buy items on the spur of the moment which could end in buyers remorse. I will be doing a whole post soon on putting a wardrobe together that works for you. So stay tuned for that.     



Get the most out of your course

This might seem like a simple one but think about it. You have decided to make this commitment and whether you fully realised it at the time or not but that is a huge commitment that impacts all areas of your life. The only way to make it all worth it is by trying your best and getting the absolute most out of your college and course. Get you college work done and submitted on time. Put the effort in and get those grades, make all this sacrificing with your money worth it. Make the time and effort you're putting into this work for you. Get the degree out of it and in the future you will thank yourself as you will know have the knowledge and the opportunities you may not have gotten prior to doing the course in the first place! 

  

Emergency kit

Again this is another one that I am going to do a full post on soon!! Like I said earlier forgetting is the enemy & to be honest I have already been caught more than once! My advice is to create a little personal emergency kit. In this include little things that you might need so you are not caught off guard unexpectedly. In this kit I include items like feminine products, plasters, deodorant, hand wipes... ect.. by doing this you can really save money. Like food and water you can buy these items relatively inexpensively in bulk at places like Aldi, Lidl or Euro Stores / Dealz / Poundland. This means if you have forgotten something as simple as deodorant then you won't have to buy it for 4 times the price in the nearest convenience store. It also saves you from embarrassing TMI moments if "Aunt Irma" catches you unawares. 

   

Cut it down/out

Lastly and maybe the most important tip of them all is you need to take a good look at your budget and figure out what are your weaknesses are and figure out a way to either cut them down or cut them out completely. Thats probably where your going to save the most money. Mine used to be coffee, water and snacks but now with a bit more preparation I can enjoy all my goodies without breaking the bank balance. There are ways and means to everything you just have be a little more self aware and self disciplined. You can do it! I believe in you!!



There you have it!! All my little tips and tricks for sticking to a budget while also trying to put yourself through college too. Like most things in life its not going to be easy but it will be worth it!! 

Please if you have any tips and tricks of your own, then leave us a little comment at the bottom and share them with us. I'd love to hear them. I'm always looking for ways and means of saving a euro or two.

Chat soon x


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Monday, 2 October 2017

Slaying 2017 || Cutting it in College (Part 1) || Financial Series





Hey friends,

I'm back with another post that will hopefully give you some inspiration when it comes to money matters. If you missed my last post you can check it out right here - (Slaying it 2017 || Money, Money, Money || Financial Series) I will also have links below. 

Today I want to talk about college. Oh that college lifestyle...... How fun it was. No money but somehow didn't end up homeless and also seemed to be able to drink our body weight, dance like there was no tomorrow while amazingly still being able to keep up with the latest trends!! How did we do it?? I'll tell you.... Debt! Thats how we did it!! Debt from the banks (including bank of mom & dad!.... Does that really count?? Yes it counts!) I, like many others worked part-time through college & also got a grant but still somehow this wasn't enough! I needed a loan from the bank & a sizable overdraft to see me through. Otherwise how could I keep up with the cool kids. Damn them Jones with their perfect hair, clothes & lifestyle.  

Like I said in my previous post. I have learned from my ways & I am steadily righting my wrongs money-wise. Its a learning curve. No-one is born with the ability to handle money because money is not a natural thing (contrary to popular belief it does not actually grow on trees. Money is man-made and all the laws around it are man-made too which means no human in the history of the world can be born with money sense. It is something we learn but again this is not something they bother teaching in school (not from a personal finance point of view) so how are we to know. Unfortunately most money making companies and money handlers are counting on this.... that's how they make their money.... Banks, Insurance companies, Car financing companies.... just to name a few. Now don't get me wrong I am not saying that theses companies are out to trick the consumer or doing anything out-right illegal, but lets be real it does work out in thier best interest if you know absolutely nothing about how these companies work & are just will to pay out premiums out of ignorance.

If you follow me on Twitter then you will have seen me tweet about college. This is because I have recently decided to go back at the ripe old age of 27 to change my career path. This time however there will be no loans, no hand-outs from mammy & daddy. I have decided to do this so I will be paying for it by myself. However considering I have decided to do this while also on a debt-kicking, sorting out my finances buzz it means I will be cutting costs where ever I can to make sure that I can continue to try and rid my life of the money woes that weigh me down. I will be working part-time now instead of full-time but the company I work for are more than happy to give any over-time available hours that will fit into my college schedule.


Cost Cutting Measures

Invest in a Lunch Box

This year I will be packing my own lunches for college. It's not exactly Kyle Jenner vibes but I honestly can't justify buying lunches everyday when for less that half the price I can just pop into Aldi and have lunches provided for the whole week! While the cool kids are spending €5-€10 a day on lunch I will be munching on my own little lunch knowing that all that money I will be saving will benefiting my future. I will also be buying quick breakfast goodies too. Instead of picking up a breakfast bar with my coffee or a pastry I will be picking them up in Aldi. You can by them in bulk which means the cost of each is cut down dramatically. One bar in the shop or a pastry can set you back anywhere from €1-€2 whereas you can buy a pack of 6 (which will last an entire week) for about €1.50!! And thats just good sense.   

Caffeine & Hydration 

I needs my coffee & water. These are probably what I would spend the most money on a week consistently. There are a few ways to solve this problem. 

First lets tackle coffee. Need your cup o' joe in the morning? Me too. Generally I will stick to decafe but whether its a placebo effect of not I need it to wake up. So I have invested in a travel mug. Penny's do really nice pretty one's at the moment if you are sticking to the budgetting plan (also Dealz / Poundland & most grocery stores) but if you are a girl/guy who loves your brands then there are plenty of options at TK Maxx & most coffee brand chains will even sell their own e.g. Starbucks, Costa, Gloria Jeans. There are so many options to fit all your coffee needs. Also if you (like me) need your flavoured coffees they also sell the flavourings. You can get them in specific coffee stores for about €12 for a very large bottle (not sure exact quantity forgive me) but I have found them for €3 a bottle (half the size of the €12 counterpart. Lasts me about a month) in Lidl. So if you are willing to put a little bit of work in yourself in the morning then you can enjoy that coffee buzz for a fraction of the price.

Water is something I drink quite alot of. Which is good but can get quite expensive. Here are my cost saving tips. Purchase a good sturdy water bottle that you can refill from your tap. It's a one time investment. You can even buy infusion bottles where you can add fruit for a bit of flavour and some added nutrients. If like me you only drink bottled water because either you can't drink the tap water or don't like the taste of tap water then you can do what I do which is buy bottled water in bulk in Aldi or Lidl. Its costs me €2.49 for a 12 pack of 500ml bottles of water in Aldi where as it cost me atleast a €1 per bottle individually in town or in college. (So if I do the math quickly thats a saving of  €9.51 each 12 bottles) Alternatively you could buy the large 5/10 litre bottles of water in Aldi for around the same price and pour it into your infusion reusable bottle & still get that fruity flavour.  


Travel

Now this one will be different for each and every student. Some of you will be living on campus, student accommodation and so on. Others like me will be living further out so you will have to figure out your travel arrangements. Here are a couple of tips.

  • Look for bundle offers such as a weekly, monthly or even semesterly bus/train tickets. These will save you more in the long run as long as by doing the math you can figure out whether the price of the ticket is cheaper than paying for each trip individually. You can do this by figuring out how often you will need the bus, adding up the face value cost price and see how it compares to the bundle ticket.
  • If you are driving, plan out your route so you can budget your fuel costs. Find out where the cheapest (while good quality) fuel is and see if you can map it into your route to or from college. Also try and only fill up once a week. It means you are less likely to be tempted by all those convenience goodies. Lots of stations also have offers or loyalty cards. If you are going to be using their services and products anyway then you may as well reap any benefits they have to offer.  Find your parking area and whether thats going to cost you or not. Again look into whether there are any parking facilities or offers for students attending that college. If you have toll roads on route then look into getting one of those electronic tag thingys. Again depending how often you use the road it might save you money in the long run. Also don't forget car pooling. Save on fuel costs while also saving the environment - win win.
  • Use your student card if you can. Most colleges have offers to students to help with travel costs. Look into it maybe your college offers more than you know. 

Gym Bunnies 

Many of us want to try and incorporate so form of physical activity into our weeks if possible. Unfortunately gyms can be super expensive. This is probably the one area where students win compare to the general public. There are so many different societies & clubs in college from football to horse riding, spinning classes to zumba. If you want to be apart of it take advantage. Most colleges either have their own gym or are partnered with a near by gym which means either free or cheaper classes. Run Free little bunnies, Go wild!!

Printing & College Equipment 

Ok as many of you will have started college already by the time you read this but college books, stationary and all that jazz can get quite expensive especially since stationary has gotten very "trendy" in the last couple of years what with all the Erin Condren planners floating about (Great, like we needed a new area of our life where we have to feel like we have to keep up with those jones again!!) Anyhoo here is my advice on the subject. 
First of all, don't buy your stationary in bulk - unless it actually works out cheaper. By this I mean don't get all stationary happy in the store and pick up 100 notebooks, refill pads, folders and 4000 types of pens just because its cute and you think "ah, it will come  in useful somewhere". Chances are it probably won't and you've just spent €10 on a notebook that you will completely forget about a month in. Instead really think about your course. Will you be using a laptop alot? How many modules/classes do you have? What do they entail? Do you need a calculator? Do you need a Notebook for each class? Will materials be provided by the college, like computers, college diary? My advice would be get one or 2 notebooks for the first couple of days then when you really know what you need you can get shopping then. Also don't worry about the jones, a notebook is a notebook at the end of the day whether it has a cute picture or slogan on the front or not. Spend what fits your budget and you feel is appropriate. Make sure they are good enough quailty to last you the college year but remember if you don't need it and won't use it then its just a waste of money and takes up space in your home and life. 
When it comes to printing, very few of us can avoid it. Now in college they will have the facilities available but sometimes by hunting around you can actually find it cheaper in other stores or your local library so if you feel that the college are charging a little too much and you know that you are going to have a lot of printing throughout the year then hunt around and you might get lucky. The other alternative is to buy a cheap printer. Again do the math to work out whether this will actually work out cheaper for you. But if it does then look into places like Argos even Tesco, Lidl & Aldi. Alternatively you can check out second-hand options online on sites like Done Deal, Ebay & Amazon. I won't be looking into this option because it doesn't make sense for me but if it does for you give it a go!!


Tech Savvy

Many of us will either already have or will invest in some technology to help us on our path to becoming knowledgeable beings. However this can be very expensive. Here are a few of my tips. If you need anything from a laptop to a flash drive do your research, shop around, compare like with like especially prices!! If you don't mind buying second hand you might get a really good product for a fraction of the price!! remember knowledge is power. If you are going to invest put the work in and you'll end up with a better quality product for the best price!! Finally when you have everything you need be sure to put all the necessary measures in place to protect them. Keep them safe and you will get the most out of them!! 


  
That's all my tips for now folks!!!

I hope you enjoyed this post and stay tuned for part 2. 

 Do you have any tips of your own to share with us? I would love to here them as I am always looking for new money saving tips and techniques!!

 Chat soon x
Thank You For Reading
xox


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