You can be bad all by yourself

As my wedding countdown continues I thought it would be nice to share some of my financial experiences living by myself .

Coming from on-campus with roommates to having an apartment by yourself was awesome-sauce ! That’s a post by itself. So anyhoo, I have this awesomesauce apt and a science-related job literally right after graduating from college. The pay at first didn’t seem bad but I didn’t know how to manage . I needed a lot of things for my apartment, a car, take care of bills and myself.

My family was very supportive but I knew I needed to be smarter with my money. Instead of buying everything at one time , I would buy things over time .  For example , before I was able to get an actual sturdy bed I got a cheap blow up bed so I could save my money. Before I was able to get a couch , my apt has a bar so I bought bar stools first. If you think about it its like looking at a painting’s minor detail before appreciating the masterpiece.

Next, I needed focus to be my best friend especially once I locked my apartment and would go shopping and out to eat. It’s like going to the grocery store hungry …Don’t DO IT! When I noticed my careless behavior I started writing out a “Things to Do” list. If the mall wasn’t on my list , I couldn’t go to the mall. I disciplined myself to only follow that list because I was now at a point where after I took care of my upcoming list of bills I could do other things if I needed to.

As far as my bills, the costs were pretty consistent even though my rent started increasing slightly. One of the bills I had control over was my electric. I knew I didn’t have money to pay crazy electric bills so since I worked at night I made sure not have my a/c on when I’m not home. During the day, I used natural light so I only use lights when I needed which was mostly in the nighttime. I spoke with a representative at the electric site and she mentioned when you keep your thermostat between the range of 60-65 , your bill remains about the same. Doing all of this consistently and paying on time allowed me to not pay my electric bill for over 6 mos!! Seriously! I had to call and ask why it said “-50.00” and the representative told me how I accumulated credit or something…also known as favor!

Groceries , I’m still working on being a coupon queen but besides that I like to look at the circular to see what’s on sale and kind of use that as my foundation of what I’m going to eat for the week.

I have lots to still learn but I wanted to share my experience and to let you know you can be bad all by yourself!

Diy wedding dress

Yayy!! I finally have my diy wedding dress!! Just so we’re on the same page this diy is not a do it yourself but dont intimidate yourself , lol. Let me tell ya weddings are /can be expensive and my vision in life isn’t on the cheap side either! So that being said , one of the exciting moments for a future Mrs is getting that special wedding dress.

I watched bridal shows , picked up on dress lingo and felt like I had it all in the bag except for one thing….money. I started going to different bridal shops and it was overwhelming with beautiful dresses. Even though I didn’t have the money to get the dress I really wanted I knew I couldn’t show that to the consultants , I needed faith and a poker face .

So when they asked for my wedding dress budget I gave a higher number so that I would have more options because I knew the discounted dresses were more of the same style . I also made sure to ask questions while I was in the dress so I could shop elsewhere. Questions like ” what size is this dress?” ” tulle or organza ?” Etc etc

I later found a dress that complemented my slender shape and everything! The consultant thought I was getting the dress . As she walked over with a poster and bell she asked ” so do you say yes to the dress?!” I smiled staring at myself and said “oh no no ” lmbo. I was frustrated because I needed money .

My wedding planner gave me the idea to look into online dresses but also said because my time is winding down it may be a risk. My options were few and I took that chance. I started researching and my grandma looked as well. We had to sift through the scam sites and find one that was reliable, that was when I found preownedweddingdresses.com .

This awesome site worked wonders for me. You can filter by size , silhouette, price , color , you name it and I’m sure they got it. After stalking the site for several days, my grandma found a Maggie sottero dress for $200! I contacted the seller and basically interviewed her for a couple of days ( I have to make sure lol ). I asked for more pictures of different angles, asked about the material of the dress , condition of the dress and everything. Luckily, the lady was patient with me because I knew I asked over a million questions. I finally paid through PayPal and received the dress about a week after . It’s just like the photo , needs a little bit of alteration but it’s beautiful!

So wherever you’re at in life, remember God’s got your back and when you don’t have a logical way to get from point A to point B use your faith .

        Don’t intimidate yourself