Living on Our Own

Hi readers!

This week’s topic is about “Living on Your Own”.

What do you think about the topic, readers? For me, I think it’s a very interesting topic. Why? Because I want to start living on my own as soon as I graduate from college. The problem is that I need not only to be emotionally ready, but also to be financially independent. Well, I need that because I don’t want to find myself moving back home – or worse, falling into debt when things don’t work out for me because my plan to move out is premature. This makes me even more realize that preparing to live on one’s own before moving out is essential.

In my English class, I am reminded about types of living expenses or we can call it as moving-in costs. Moving-in costs can include more than rent/mortgage payment. Cleaning deposit, security deposit, utilities deposit, and telephone deposit are also moving-in expenses we may not immediately think of. But that is all theory.

Here is the real thing we need to plan:

If you want to live on your own like me after graduating from college, we can start it by setting up a budget that would allow us to rent an unfurnished apartment (oh yes, an unfurnished apartment). So basically, we need to calculate our future income, our fixed expenses, and our flexible expenses. Future income includes our future job, side job(s) (optional), and other (optional). Fixed expenses can include rent/mortgage, car insurance, and car payment. Flexible expenses are savings, food, utilities (gas, electric, water), transportation, bus fare, gas and oil, parking and tolls, repairs, clothing, entertainment, household items, and personal items.

After that, the formula goes like this: Future income – (Fixed expenses + Flexible expenses)

Note:
*All variables are per each month (future income each month, fixed expenses each month, and flexible expense each month.)
*The result of the formula determines whether it is possible for us to live on our own or it is not.
**If the result is plus, it means there are still some money left per month. Congrats-!
**If the result is minus, it could mean that our future income is not enough, our living expenses are too  much, and so on. Anyway, we need to do something about it by any means, so that living on our own becomes more realistic and attainable (y).

Well, a little motivation for readers who may experience the feeling of biting off more than you can chew while setting up the budget for living expenses:

Learning how to make a budget isn't the most exciting thing I do too when I first thinking about living on my own, but I am taught that it can make the difference between just getting by and making the most of my money so I can enjoy my independence to the fullest.

Best of Luck for Us!

Learn How To Create Your Own Art of Budgeting

Hi readers!

This second post is talking about The Art of Budgeting.

Before that the writer wants to say…:

I am sorry for disappointing you with the last post. To be honest, I barely make the posting 2 minutes before the deadline (Actually I am writing for my English assignment.)! And so my writing is bad and unorganized at all (sigh). But now that I’ve got everything under control, I am a bit confident that my writing is better than the late post. So, please forgive me? Tehehehehehee….. (OK, this feels awkward). Last but not least, please enjoy your reading. Thank you!

WHAT is the art of budgeting?

The art of budgeting, by my definition, is the way you estimate your future expense(s) over a specified period of time. Art of budgeting is related to one’s life goals. To find your own art of budgeting means that you have to know your own goals. Your goals are the determining factor in defining your art of budgeting.

First of all, you need to know your educational, social, financial, family, health/physical, and recreational goals. Second, you need to work with your goals by asking yourself, “What goals are the most important to me?” Write it and identify each goal as short term (1-4 weeks), medium term (2-12 months), and long term (1 year or longer). Finally, you need to list and prioritize six of your most important goals. After each goal, identify what you could be doing now to work toward the goal, and what resources (if any) you need to achieve each goal.

Here is the example: My educational goal is I want to finish my undergraduate program. My social goal is I want to join Accountant Student Community as a main member. My financial goal is to open up a course for elementary student. My family goal are to pay for remaking my family’s kitchen and to take care my aging parents. My health/physical goal is to keep training my shaolin kung fu. My recreational goal is to go to Maldives Island.

The most important goals to me are to finish my undergraduate (long-term), pay my monthly health insurance’s fee (short-term), pay for taking a kung fu shaolin test (medium-term), save money for caring my aging parents (long-term), and to open a course for elementary students (long-term). Now, what I can be doing now to work toward each important goal: study regularly, avoid buying unimportant things, keep working as private elementary part-time teacher, save my pocket money and just buy things I really need, and exercise my kung fu at home. The resources I need to achieve my goals are money (obviously), books, knowledge about how-to-achieve-things, strong willingness, self-control, patience, and definitely, actions. That’s it. Thanks for reading. 

Best of luck readers!

How To Make Money

There are many ways to make money.

One of it, is to work for a company.

To work for a company, you need to prepare a lot of things first in order to increase the possibility that you're going to be accepted. And here are some practical things to do before you apply for employment position!

First, you need to find a job that is suited to your educational background. It is important to know in which field you are most skilled at because you already have some experiences or training in that field.

Second, let people know what you looking for. "If you’re only looking for jobs online, you’re missing out. Forty-one percent of people surveyed by staffing company Manpower reported that networking was the key to landing their latest job, as reported in Forbes. Many open positions are never posted online."

Third, clean up your social media.There’s a good chance your potential employer is checking out your social media profiles. So before that happens, you need to do some clean-ups and leaving only proper things to be looked at. 

After that, you can confidently apply to a company.

Eitts, don’t forget, if you are invited to be interviewed, try to think about question that might appear on the interview. You don’t want to be looked stupid when you are asked about what you know about the company you applied, right?

Best of luck.