I’ve been reading all these Personal Finance blogs lately. I started by reading a few twenty-somethings’ personal finance blogs (I’ve been shamelessly plugging Fabulously Broke because she’s bridging the gap between personal finance and style) and thinking about how to become more proactive regarding current and future finances. I’m going to start looking at what I’m spending, since it seems like I have a big chunk of change that I don’t have allocated from each check. It would be beneficial to consider where this is going, and what I can do increase my net worth. Most PF blogs tell you to pay everything off, so your savings margin is unencumbered. My goal is to hit that unencumbered mark by Spring ’09. It seems like many of the twenty-something PF crisis bloggers are kids of the Boomer generation, who’ve watched their parents acquire everything at a “now-now-now” pace, and haven’t really learned what it’s like to have to pay that off. The excess of the Boomer generation is like the excess of the pre-Depression era, where everything was bought on credit and nobody thought their “house of cards” (as it’s been called) could come crashing down so quickly.
In other news…
I read a post on coping with the Quarter-Life Crisis (QLC, from here out) here: Icing – Gala Darling
It’s amazing how many people go through this slump. My response to alleviating the QLC are:
Taking classes – sometimes learning something new helps get over that feeling of boredom – Coincides with the “stay curious” and “follow your passions” points in Gala’s article. I haven’t finished college, but here, I feel I’m at least on the right track towards my educational goals. It’s a worthy lifelong pursuit.
Being creative – Working on creative projects has helped me look at things in a different light. Sometimes all the brain needs is a kick-start into a new direction.
Practicing gratitude – Often, the reason I get caught in the slump is because I’m too busy looking forward and not realizing the power of now. There’s so much future to think of, that it sometimes weighs me down. It would be horrible, though, to look back from the future and realize I’d squandered this time, worrying about what’s coming next.
Being proactive – If there’s something I’m unhappy with, I feel I need to get out and be active about making it work. I find it helpful to chronicle what needs to be done and to use that as a starting point. A lot of my personal finance worries comes from reading all this news about consumer debt and economic slumps. My concern with where my cash is not going has become relevant in the wake of all this news. I’m glad I’ve started beign proactive and I’ve made strides already in being responsible about budgeting.
Getting out, getting moving – They say that exercise helps with anxiety and depression – it seems like a reasonable way to beat a slump. I went and jogged Ravenna yesterday and when I got home, I felt alert, energized and refreshed. This is a goal I need to stick with – getting out and getting moving. I slept better last night, and though I’m a little sore this morning, I can’t wait to get out and do it this afternoon.
I feel like the QLC involves a little style slump too. My goal in curing this sartorial malaise is re-discovering my own style. In the spirit of being proactive, I’ve been shopping my own closet and finding new ways to rework what’s inside. I’ve already had some great success and a few creative projects by just re-thinking what I own (hello cropping pants with cute buttons and cuffs, or darting jackets to fit better!).
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