Nov19

Start Saving with These

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Start Saving with These

Last week, we talked about some activities or things that you can evaluate closely to see if they are unnecessary expenses that you can stop spending on. Let’s take a look at the same ones from last week to see what we can do to save money.

Eating out
One of the money leaks I discussed last week is eating out. There are a couple of items that you can invest in to help you save more money in the long run.

● Meal prep containers – packing your own lunch can save you at least $50 per week, and you only spend a fraction of what it cost to eat out. Plus, you’re sure about what goes into your food. It’s a chance to eat healthier and save money as well. Get one that has partitions so you can see portion sizes and pack different kinds of food.
● Lunchbox – get a thermal one that keeps cold food cold.
● Thermos – soups and sandwiches are a great lunch combo. Make sure your soups remain hot by putting it in a small thermos.
● Insulated coffee mug – making your own coffee is cheap and easy. Buy a big bag of beans that you can grind and brew yourself. You can customize it with cinnamon, flavored syrups, chocolate powder, or vanilla to copy those expensive designer coffees.
● Reusable water bottle – Please get yourself a water bottle. Not only is it good for the environment, but it also helps you save money on an unnecessary purchase. You can refill it from the office water cooler anytime and take it anywhere just like that expensive bottled water.
● Brita pitcher – I get it. You’re not confident about the water from the tap. An easy fix is getting yourself a filtration device for the house. If that’s not an option, get a Brita filter or some other filter that’s within your budget. Pitcher filters are easy, just refill from the tap and stick it in the fridge for cold filtered water anytime.

Subscriptions and memberships

● Antenna – do you still have a cable subscription? What do you need that for if you already have streaming subscriptions? Get a tv antenna so that you can access your local channels. While you’re at it, cut your streaming subscriptions to one, max!

Prepared food

● Slow cooker – for all of you ho have a meal subscription or a diet/meal plan app, cancel your subscription now. Pinterest has a lot of recipes that you can copy. Choose a recipe and make your own food! I found hundreds of slow cooker recipes on the internet that takes minimal prep and zero cooking skills. Most of them are chop and throw in kind fo recipes. All you have to do is peel, chop, and throw everything into the slow cooker, turn it on and go to sleep. You’ll wake up with food ready the next morning. Take it to work and impress your co-workers with your newfound cooking prowess!

What other items do you think should be on this list? Share them with us in the comments. Stay humble, hustle hard.

 

Written by Jaie O. The Help

Nov12

Stop Spending on These

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Stop Spending on These

When we’re this close to the holidays, we have to be mindful of where we spend our money because every cent counts. Holidays are expensive events. We have to think about gifts, decorations, travel, food, and don’t forget incidental expenses that we incur along the way.

It’s no fun putting yourself on a financial diet and being a scrooge doesn’t make you a favorite person to be around either. So strike a careful balance about where you’re spending and which things are ok to spend a little on. Here are a few things that you can take a closer look at to see if you can stop needless spending on them.

Eating out
For people who are trying to save money, the first thing they cut off is their expensive designer coffee habit. Foregoing a daily trip to your favorite coffee shop can save you some major bucks at the end of the month.

Eating out is a good way to socialize at work or catch up with friends. Celebrating an occasion is also one of the main reasons why we eat out. There is nothing wrong with that, but when you’re eating out 5 times a week every day for lunch and then 5 times a week every day to hang out with friends for dinner, you’re leaking money. Try bringing your own lunch or making your own coffee and see how much you can save in a month.

Subscriptions and memberships
Got a gym membership that you signed up for in January but have visited exactly 4 times? Do you have subscriptions to 3 different streaming services? Are you paying for a diet coach app that you rarely use? Take a good hard look at the things you have signed up for that automatically renews each month. I’m pretty sure you’ll find a few apps or services, or memberships here and there that you rarely use. Get rid of those and see how much you can save in a month.

Prepared food
Ok, I’m guilty of this. I like buying cheese slices and pre-made burgers. I like salad kits and juice boxes. They’re easy, convenient…and a whole lot more expensive. But then I discovered that I could make a dozen burgers with the same amount of money it costs to buy 4 perfectly formed pre-made patties. Get a killer recipe off the internet and try making your own food. It’s so easy to take an extra step to slice, dice, and it takes very minimal effort but extra huge savings. Pre-cut food costs 50% more. So cut AND MAKE your own food and see how much you can save in a month.

Bottled water
Ok, first of all, this is no longer a saving issue but an environmental issue. Those bottles could liter the streets, clog the sewers and would somehow end up in the ocean. So, please, be responsible and stop buying bottled water. If you’re not confident about the water coming from your tap, invest in a Brita filter or some sort of filtration system for your tap. Let me get back to the topic. So ok, bottled water is an unnecessary expense. Stop buying bottled water and see how much you can save in a month.

What other things can you stop spending on to save money? Share them with us in the comments. Stay humble, hustle hard!

 

Written by Jaie O. The Help

Nov5

3 Easy De-stress Rituals

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3 Easy De-stress Rituals

Taking care of your mental health is just as important as taking care of our physical health. We routinely take our vitamins, exercise religiously, and try to watch what we eat to make the best possible food choices in order to take care of our bodies. Shouldn’t we make the same meticulous effort to take care of our minds as well?

I get it. Life can be a hectic mess. We can be so caught up in the stresses of our everyday lives that we might forget to slow down and take care of ourselves. We slip into old habits that seem more convenient. We sometimes miss our vitamins, are too tired to sneak in a quick run, or grab a quick bite at a fast food joint instead of getting healthier meals.

Stress can creep up into our lives and make us feel crappy, tired, and anxious. It weakens our immune system and wreaks havoc on our digestion. It can make us feel cranky all the time and might even affect our relationships. But there are simple things you can do to get your life back on track and to “stress less.” After all, self-care is important!

Have a go-to self-care activity
Everyone’s self-care plan is different but one thing remains the same: The Objective. The objective of a self-care plan is to have a go-to activity that you enjoy doing that is guaranteed to calm you down and reduce your stress levels. Lighting scented candles, knitting, coloring, painting, playing a musical instrument, listening to soothing music, watching cartoons are all good examples of a self-care activity. Create a self-care plan for when you need to decompress. I’ve written about “How To Create A Self-care Plan And Why You Need One”, check it out to get some tips!

Declutter
Clutter adds to stress. Imagine coming home to a cluttered house at the end of a long and difficult day. Would you feel relaxed? Of course not. The visual chaos will absolutely add more stress to your already stressful day. And all you ever wanted was to come home to a warm bed and enjoy a quiet evening.

So take off all those clothes that are piled on to “the chair.” You know, the one we all have, the one we use as a catch-all for outfits we tried but didn’t put back in the closet, for bags that didn’t go with the outfit, for pajamas that we plan on re-wearing etc. Pick up everything that’s on the floor and put them back where they belong. Declutter your room and when you can finally see your bed, climb into it and enjoy the space.

Create a bedtime routine
Again, this might look different for everybody. Mine is reading or listening to a podcast right after cleaning up rituals and getting into my pajamas. I’m trying (so very hard) to limit screens to (at least) an hour before bedtime. If you succeed at doing this, please teach me how.

What are your de-stress rituals? Share them with us in the comments! Stay humble and hustle hard.

 

Written by Jaie O. The Help

Oct29

The Truth About Halloween…Candy

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The Truth About Halloween…Candy

A few days from now, streets are going to be flooded with monsters and characters demanding tribute, otherwise, they will wreak havoc on your yard. No, it’s not the apocalypse. It’s just a bunch of trick or treaters – kids dressed up as monsters or heroes shaking their candy bags or pumpkin pails in your face hoping to get some candy.

Ah, candy… who doesn’t love them? Even grown-ups don’t outgrow their love for candy. Halloween brings much joy with candies and costumes and scary movies. And the day after is even better, since all the candy is now on sale! Hurray for sweet tooths all over the world.

While it’s not a good idea to binge on Halloween candy, we can’t help but nick some from the Halloween loot pile. You could say that you’re helping your kids out of getting diabetes or tooth decay by eating half the calories and the sugar out of the trick or treat bucket. But if you’re trying to make healthier choices for you and your family, here are some tips of which to eat moderately and which Halloween treat to avoid.

Almond M&M’s over Plain ones:
Almonds are filled with antioxidants, Vit. E, and fiber. The almonds in M&Ms displace the sugar and carbs in plain M&Ms which are more sugar and carb dense since they’re pure milk chocolate coated in a colored sugar shell.

Anything Dark Chocolate:
Dark chocolate contains more antioxidants and heart-healthy compound than regular milk chocolate. The darker it is, the better it is for your health. Look for dark chocolate with almonds to amp the nutritional value.

Hard candies:
I’m sure your kids will sort through them anyway, but hard candies are better for you than toffee, caramels, or eclairs. They last longer and contain less sugar than their chewy counterparts.

Fun sized candy vs full sized ones:
This is a no-brainer, fun-sized bars have fewer calories and sugar because they’re smaller. It’s hard to gauge serving size with a full sized bar – you’d have to look at the back to see exactly how many blocks or squares constitute for a single serving. It’s easy to scarf down the whole thing. Fun size bars are most likely to be portioned into single serving sizes. You could even eat 2 and still be within serving size.

Real fruit instead of fruit rolls or dried fruit:
The drying process or the process of turning it into rolls can take out some of the fruits volatile nutrients like Vit. C. Dried fruit also has a higher concentration of sugar and so has a higher glycemic index. There’s also a higher chance you could overeat since these fruit rolls or dried fruit are more compact and no one ever stops at just one right? You’re better off eating fresh fruit to get all the nutrients and for better portion control.

What’s your favorite Halloween candy? Why? Share them with us in the comments. Stay humble, hustle hard!

 

Written by Jaie O. The Help

Oct22

Do you need a break?

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Do you need a break?

How long ago have you taken a break? And I don’t mean for lunch or coffee. I mean a mental break where you relax and decompress without your work laptop present or your phone on call. I get it, you’re busy, you’re important, you’re indispensable at work. People rely on you. You can’t stop now. You’re a trooper.

Stress can slowly creep up on you if you’re not careful. I can cause you to age faster, remember less, get sick more often, and be less focused.

“But I feel fine”, you say. “I’m doing great”, you say. Do you recognize the signs of being stressed? And it’s not only a feeling, stress has physical signs as well. Ask yourself these questions to know if you need a break.

Do I have too much on my plate?
Are you one of the people who try to do too much? Do you find yourself saying ‘yes” a lot? Does work, friends, family, social obligations, errands, and classes have your schedule maxed out? Learn to say no and to prioritize. Stop trying to achieve work-life balance. It is a myth. Create a life that is yours to live and don’t get swayed by other people’s standards of what a balanced life looks like. Do 5 minutes of meditation, instead of 30. Buy the cupcakes for that PTA event, instead of baking them yourself. Make one night takeout night, instead of spending all night, every night cooking dinner. Don’t say yes to every co-worker’s request…for help on a project, for drinks after work, for their kid’s birthday party… Get your groceries delivered instead of risking a toddler meltdown at aisle 5. You get the idea…

Do I look ok?
First things first. You’re beautiful. You’re handsome. You’re all that. Don’t let anyone tell you otherwise. I’m not talking about looks for the sake of vanity. I’m asking if you’re showing physical signs of stress. Things like:

● Do you have bags under your eyes?
● Is your skin blotchy or prone to breakouts?
● How’s your hair? All there or losing some (or a lot)?
● Are you prone to colds and other seasonal illnesses?
● Do you have trouble focusing or remembering things?
● Are you losing/gaining weight?

Stress can cause sleep deficiency, weight fluctuations, and a lower immunity. Look long and hard in the mirror.

Do I get to go out?
You know you need a night out, right? By yourself or with friends. You need it if your only form of “socialization” is getting on social media. You need a night out if the only “catch-up” you’re doing with friends is browsing and commenting on their Instagram pictures. You need it if your only friends right now are your cats and dogs. You need a night out if you’re done watching seven seasons of five different series and are thinking of starting 5 more. Make plans, right now!

How do you know when you need a break? Share your stress ‘tells’ with us in the comments. Stay humble, hustle hard.