Anonymous asked: Hello, I'm the anon who's freaking out about being thrown into adulthood, and thank you for your previous help. 1.) How do I mamage/budget a minimum wage salary? 2.) I've never been great with any sort of organization, but would you mind teaching me about home organization and important paper organization?
Okay, so this post will be about budgeting on minimum wage, and later in the day I will also post about paper organization. Enjoy!
Budgeting on Minimum Wage
Overview
The average minimum wage in the US is $7.25/hr. Even working full time at 40 hours a week, that’s only a profit of $290 before taxes. This is not a fair living wage! You are worth way more than this amount! I strongly encourage you to start looking for another job that pays better, look for something around the $10-$15 range.
While $7.25 is atrocious, thousands of people around the world support families on much less. If they can do it while supporting children, so can you! To live off a minimum wage budget you need to declare yourself independent. If your parents are still claiming you as a dependent YOU WILL NOT BE ABLE TO DO THIS. I also recommend that you have the highest amount possible taken out of your taxes so that you get money back from your state at the end of the year, instead of being in debt to them.
What I’ve done is come up with a budgeting plan based off some made up factors and my own personal experience.
Housing
1. City life. Forget about the city! Apartments located in cities can be three times as expensive as apartments in small towns or villages. On top of the extra expense, they’re much smaller and have less amenities included. I’d much rather live in a one bedroom apartment with a dishwasher and a conveniently located Laundromat, than a literal closet with no windows on a fifth floor walkup. Look for apartments twenty minutes to a half hour outside of your closest city. Now you have the close conveniences of a city, with none of those pesky city prices that your budget can’t handle.
2. College towns. Shop around and look at apartments by local colleges. Large colleges with have apartment complexes within walking distance of the school grounds. Landlords know that college students have less money (you might even be a college student yourself) and adjust their prices accordingly. Even apartments next to ivy league schools are priced this way, so don’t be discouraged by the institution’s “prestige”.
3. Locale. Your safety is more important than your bank account. It doesn’t matter if you live in Section 8 housing or in an affluent suburb. Some apartment complexes and neighborhoods are just safer than others. I live in a heavily populated and upper middle class suburb, and the first year I moved in, a drunk woman tried to throw a beer bottle at my car. Thankfully this is the only time this happened to me, but it made me feel unsafe in my environment. Before signing a lease, walk or drive around your prospective home’s neighborhood at night. Take in the atmosphere, and make sure it’s one where you could comfortably run to the local supermarket at 10:30pm and pick up toilet paper.
4. Roommates. Living on minimum wage requires that you find one or two roommates to help split the rent. The more the better! Get together with your more responsible friends, so at least you’re living with people whose company you enjoy. There are lots of “roommate wanted” forums and message boards for you to browse on the internet, but always bring a responsible adult with you before meeting a stranger. Please. Bring your mom if you have too.
Food
1. Low-spoon food. I created this post a few months ago which offers lots of suggestions about cooking and shopping on a budget.
2. Online recipes. Here are some of my favorite online Tumblr cookbook resources.
1. Gas. Shop around and find the cheapest gas in your area. Avoid gas stations next to colleges, highways, and in touristy areas. Look into getting as gas rewards card from your favorite supermarket. I get 10 cents off a gallon with Stop & Shop every time I do a big shop.
2. Dollar store. Get to know your local dollar and bargain stores. You can buy everything from pots and pans to bed sheets there. These stores often sell bulk ramen for $1 and large cans of crushed tomatoes for 75 cents. That’s enough food for you to live off of for several days. When shopping, I make three grocery store stops to ensure that I spend the least amount possible on my pantry needs. I go Dollar Store, Stop and Shop, and then to my local organic grocery store. I’m going to make a list of things that I buy at Dollar Stores and things that I don’t buy at Dollar Stores soon!
3. Cable. We are living in the digital age- you don’t need cable television. Use Netflix or Hulu or whatever. It will save you tons of $$.
4. Internet. As far as internet speed goes, if you’re living with roommates you will probably need a higher speed. Living by yourself, choose a lower one. Most internet companies offer large discounts to new subscribers. These typically only last a year, but will save you serious money. Make sure to take note of when this discount expires, and contact the company before it does. If you don’t, they’ll begin charging you the full amount without notice.
5. Verizon. I just want to take a moment to talk about how much I love Verizon because they have literally saved me so much money in the three years I’ve been with them. After you sign a contract with a new internet company, they charge you a bunch of ridiculous fees like “activation fees” and “installation fees”. I called Verizon and was like “I’m a poor college student, I can’t afford this” and they were like “don’t worry, we’ll waive the fee”. I signed a two year contract with them that saved me $80 on a high-speed internet bill per month (my price being only 50.99 a month). After the contract expired I call them and they put me on a month to month, keeping the price absolutely the same. TLDR- get Verizon if you can.
6. Utility. Get on a monthly budget with whatever utility company services your new apartment. Although it may seem like the cheaper option, paying the actual amount of electricity you spend per month is the more expensive. It’s also unpredictable, and a minimum wage budget won’t allow for it. See this for more info.
7. Amazon. I buy a lot of my beauty, cleaning, and cat products online. Amazon offers Prime shipping free for a year with a student email address, and then offers it at a greatly reduced price after the year. If you are a student, snap up that free deal ASAP. If it’s in your budget, I’d greatly recommend investing in Amazon Prime.
8. Saving money. It’s so important to attempt to break way from the “paycheck to paycheck” vicious cycle. Living this way does not allow for emergency expense money, and trust me, sometime soon you will need emergency expense money. Your cat might get sick or your car may die, whatever it is, it’s always smart to have at least $500 squirreled away. I’m gonna level with you, things have been tight for my budget and I haven’t been able to save anything for the past three months. But this month I will!
Example Budgets
Full Time
Working with the $7.25/hr and 40hr/week model, here’s an example budget for living on minimum wage. That’s $1,160 a month without taxes.
Housing: Let’s say you’re sharing an apartment with two close friends, the rent being $1,500 without any amenities. That rent split three ways is $500 each.
Gas I commute twenty minutes every day, and I drop about $20-$25 a week on gas. That’s $100 on gas a month.
Food: I do one big shopping a month with my boyfriend. We drop around $180 and that’s including toiletries and soap and stuff. So maybe you’ll spend about $100 a month on all your shopping needs.
Cable/internet: Hopefully you took my advice and skipped cable. Let’s say you’re paying around $50 per month for internet. Split three ways that’s $17 each.
Laundry: Hopefully you’re not like me and are only spending around $20 on laundry per month.
Random expenses: Because there always are some. Let’s just tack on another $100.
With everything added up, you still have around $290 left before taxes! That money can go into a savings account, and after several months, you’ll have that $500 worth of emergency money saved.
Part Time
Working with the $7.25/hr and 25hr/week model, here’s an example budget for living on minimum wage. That’s $725 without taxes.
Housing: In this case, you need to look for apartments in the $800-900 range. In my area, one bedroom apartments go for around $1000, so you may need to get creative with your roommate (I don’t think you could have more than one roommate in this situation). Buy dividers to split the bedroom or studio in half! Let’s say your rent is $850 with nothing included, that’s $425 each.
Gas You’re still looking at a large gas bill per month, so it may be more inexpensive to ride a bike or use public transportation. Let’s say you use public transportation, and spend around $50 a month on that. Or maybe you and your roommate can split gas expenses and share a car?
Food: Pinch those pennies! Use some of those budget cookbooks I linked above to help you cook healthy and delicious meals for under $4 each. See if you can only spend $80 a month on groceries.
Cable/internet: Hopefully you took my advice and skipped cable. Let’s say you’re paying around $50 per month for internet. Split two ways is $25 each.
Laundry: Hopefully you’re not like me and are only spending around $20 on laundry per month.
Random expenses: Because there always are some. Let’s just tack on another $100.
That leaves you $25 to put in your bank account, if that. This is a paycheck to paycheck situation, and you will probably need to get another source of income to feel secure. But you can still do it!
I’m so sick of reading all these “how to save money” articles that only tell you to stop buying a morning coffee that you don’t buy anyway because you can’t afford it in the fucking first place.
ANYWAY, as a person who never seems to have any money, and nothing to show for my lack of money, here are my tips for people in similar situations so that you don’t die.
1) Start a budget book. I bought mine about 3 years ago for £3 from WHSmith. When you get paid, write down how much money came into your account, then immediately deduct every single bill you have to pay from that amount. Now you know exactly how much money you have to spend for the rest of the month until the next pay day. Write down every single thing you buy and exactly how much it cost, including cash withdrawals. Yes it’s boring, but holy shit it will save your ass so many times knowing that you’ve already accounted for all your bills.
2) Stop shopping in Tesco/Sainsburys/Asda/Waitrose/etc etc. Just stop. Holy shit just stop it. Tesco sucks the life out of me just walking in there I swear to god. Switch to Aldi and/or Lidl. They’re cheap because they give you ONE option of each thing. One type of tinned chopped tomatoes. One type of washing up liquid. One type of ketchup etc etc you get the idea. Their toothpaste, shower gel and baby wipes are pretty damn good and cost about 50p. Like, for fuck sake stop paying £1 for one damn cabbage. YOU DONT NEED TO SPEND A WHOLE QUID ON A FUCKING CABBAGE.
3) Aldi and Lidl post what their offers are going to be for that week on their websites. Read them before you go shopping then decide what you’re going to be eating for that week based around what’s on offer. Deals on diced chicken and microwave rice? BOOM you’ve got yourself a cheap ass curry to last you at least 2 meals.
4) Pinterest is your friend. You can look up anything in the world. From budget meals to how to make your own washing powder (if you really wana risk that…I wouldn’t personally but you do you).
5) Join a Facebook selling site. Find one that’s based where you live and turn on the notifications. You’d be shocked to know how many people give away free sofas and washing machines. Fucking LOADS. You never know what people might be chucking.
6) If you drive, stop driving like an asshole. A happy car means less petrol usage and less repairs (I HAVE LEARNED THIS THE HARD WAY, TRUST ME THIS IS VALUABLE INFORMATION).
7) Turn your lights off when you’re not in a room. Turn your heating down and put on a jumper. Candles are effective ways of combating both of these things. Candles are your friends. Go to the poundshop and buy candles. You’d be surprised how quickly a small room heats up with a couple of lit candles.
8) Stop going out. You can’t afford to go out. If you keep going out and then complaining that you’re skint, get off this list. This list is not for you. You’re a jerk. If you must drink some alcohol, buy a cheapo bottle of wine (Aldi does a banging white for £3.89 a bottle wayoooo) and roll around on the floor of your own house.
9) Sell all your stuff. I’m almost 100% sure that if you have a job, and you at one point lived with your parents, you will have stuff in your home now that you don’t need. I have a pair of Urbanears headphones 2 feet away from me right now that I got as a gift and I know I won’t use. No one watches DVDs anymore, so Music Magpie those dinosaurs. Don’t forget about that stuff. Sell it. Sell the shit out of it.
10) I know I’m going back to the whole food shopping thing, but I think most of the time this is the only thing in our lives that we can really control how much we spend. Gonna get it all out of my system now, ready? Make a list of what you’re going to buy a stick to it. Try to buy ingredients that can be used across multiple meals. Take tinned soup to work for lunch instead of spending £8 a day on disappointing sandwiches in Pret. Cut out meat as much as you can. SLOW COOKERS ARE YOUR FRIENDS! I know we’re trying to save money here, not spend it, but buy ‘A Girl Called Jack’ by Jack Monroe and it will show you how to eat on fuck all money without eating supernoodles for 3 meals a day. I recommend the mixed bean goulash, it will give you the farts but it tastes awesome. If you do find yourself in Tesco in an emergency, take a stroll past the reduced isle. Best reduced stuff to get is always meat (put it in the freezer) and cheese. I have at least 2 loaves of bread from the reduced section in my freezer right now that cost me 6p each. FROZEN FOOD IS GOOD, ESPECIALLY VEGETABLES.
11) Change all your suppliers. Electricity. Gas. Internet. Whatever. Go to uswitch and do it. It’s really not that hard. Okay, internet is a fucking faff but gas and electric are not. You might already have the best deal but you wont know until you look so go look.
12) Loyalty points are the bomb. Get a card for every god damn shop you’ve ever been in. It doesn’t cost you anything, so start saving up those bad boy points now. When I first moved into my flat, I bought all my home essentials (milk, clingfilm, washing up liquid etc etc) all on my Nectar points and what would have been a £70 shop was fucking FREEEE.
13) Lastly, before you buy anything, stop and ask yourself, “do I actually need this thing?” You already know the answer. You know it. You already know it. No. You fucking don’t. You don’t need that thing. I was in Wilkinsons like 2 weeks ago and I almost bought a new roasting dish because the one I already had was “too big”. How the fuck can a roasting dish be too big? So your food is a bit more spread out, big fucking deal. There, you see? I just saved myself £6 for a piece of shit I didn’t need. You don’t need those shoes. You don’t need a limited edition bluray copy of Blade Runner with director’s cut . You don’t need a new ironing board cover with Batman on it. You. Don’t. Fucking. Need. It.
of Anime where the animation and storytelling just send your head reeling in and explode at the bursts of color and just sends your mind boggling at what you see:
01: Do you have a good relationship with your parents?
02: Who did you last say “I love you” to?
03: Do you regret anything?
04: Are you insecure?
05: What is your relationship status?
06: How do you want to die?
07: What did you last eat?
08: Played any sports?
09: Do you bite your nails?
10: When was your last physical fight?
11: Do you like someone?
12: Have you ever stayed up 48 hours?
13: Do you hate anyone at the moment?
14: Do you miss someone?
15: Have any pets?
16: How exactly are you feeling at the moment?
17: Ever made out in the bathroom?
18: Are you scared of spiders?
19: Would you go back in time if you were given the chance?
20: Where was the last place you snogged someone?
21: What are your plans for this weekend?
22: Do you want to have kids? How many?
23: Do you have piercings? How many?
24: What is/are/were your best subject(s)?
25: Do you miss anyone from your past?
26: What are you craving right now?
27: Have you ever broken someone’s heart?
28: Have you ever been cheated on?
29: Have you made a boyfriend/girlfriend cry?
30: What’s irritating you right now?
31: Does somebody love you?
32: What is your favourite color?
33: Do you have trust issues?
34: Who/what was your last dream about?
35: Who was the last person you cried in front of?
36: Do you give out second chances too easily?
37: Is it easier to forgive or forget?
38: Is this year the best year of your life?
39: How old were you when you had your first kiss?
40: Have you ever walked outside completely naked?
51: Favourite food?
52: Do you believe everything happens for a reason?
53: What is the last thing you did before you went to bed last night?
54: Is cheating ever okay?
55: Are you mean?
56: How many people have you fist fought?
57: Do you believe in true love?
58: Favourite weather?
59: Do you like the snow?
60: Do you wanna get married?
61: Is it cute when a boy/girl calls you baby?
62: What makes you happy?
63: Would you change your name?
64: Would it be hard to kiss the last person you kissed?
65: Your best friend of the opposite sex likes you, what do you do?
66: Do you have a friend of the opposite sex who you can act your complete self around?
67: Who was the last person of the opposite sex you talked to?
68: Who’s the last person you had a deep conversation with?
69: Do you believe in soulmates?
70: Is there anyone you would die for?
Use toilet paper tubes as biodegradable containers for spells. Just crimp them at the bottom, fill them up, and crimp the top. Good for the earth, good for the sea, good for the me.
I want to teach you all how I make my fabric poppets, and how you can make your own too. Here is my post detailing all of what I do to make my adorable plush fabric poppets.
I also sell them if making them yourself is too much fuss for any reason. Here are details.
——Supplies——
- Fabric of your choice- My fabric of choice is fleece. The fabric should be a color you can match with your intent, personality, etc.
- Person-shaped pattern to trace- You can use a gingerbread man cookie cutter to make your paper pattern, free hand, or if you like you can use mine which I will gladly sell you a copy of- message me for details.
- Needle and thread- You can use different thread colors for different intentions.
- Stuffing and any extras- herbs, objects, etc.
- A marker of a similar but darker color than the fabric
- Scissors
-Step 1-
Lay out your fabric. Lay down the poppet pattern on the fabric. I prefer to weight them down with rocks so they don’t shift. (You can of course choose rocks that match your intent.)
-Step 1.5-
I then trace the patter with a maker that is of a similar color to the fabric, but off enough that I can see it. Don’t worry about being super clean with your lines because they will be hidden in the inside seams.
-Step 2-
Next, to sew the pieces together. Place them together so that the side with the marker line faces out.
Then, grab your needle and thread. Thread your needle.
Be sure to have a piece of thread to work with that is about as long as your arm. This should be enough for the whole poppet, but make sure to have more on hand just in case.
-Step 3-
Start your sewing in the place where the opening will end later. I typically choose the “armpit” of the poppet because then the opening gives me great access to all of its insides for later.
I use a kind of slip stitch for sewing. Really any stitch will do, but I will show you mine. I put the needle all the way through both pieces of fabric to make a loop, and before tightening I stick the needle through the loop, then tighten. This makes a kind of knot that is durable and nice looking. Here’s a picture:
Aside- Why I hand sew- I find the process of hand sewing to be not only relaxing but also more magical. I can focus on my intentions while I sew, and with each stitch I’m fastening my energy into it. This is by no means the only way you can sew them together, but it is my personal preferred way.
Continue sewing around to join the two pieces of fabric. **Remember to leave a 1.5in opening! Also leave your thread attached!** This is the only way to turn it inside out and hide the seams.
- Step 4-
Turn it inside-out. Reach inside and grab the top of the poppet’s head and pull it through the hole like shown. You may need to poke around a bit to make sure everything is fully turned right-side-out.
-Step 5- Once right-side-out, your poppet is ready for stuffing. Start with the appendages first, that way you can make sure they are well-fluffed. After that, if you want add in balls of stuffing in the places of major organs to make it more human. (A ball for a brain, a ball for a stomach, that kind of thing)
If you like, add in herbs or objects for your intent, or keys to link the poppet with the person that you’re targeting. Consider positions of the objects and herbs inside the poppet and the significance. I added rose petals in the head and heart of this one, and mint and rosemary in the stomach. That gives it some symbolism, and what witch doesn’t enjoy symbolism?
-Step 6- When it is stuffed to satisfaction, sew up the opening with the same stitch we sewed with before flipping it. This leaves a rough edge, and I actually like it that way. It makes it easier to cut open the stitching if you ever wanted to for any reason. I can’t be the only person that’s wanted to rip someone’s stuffing out (there’s a curse idea) so I hope you find it useful too.
Do a couple more stitches to assure your thread isn’t going anywhere and then cut it off.
Ta-da! A perfect poppet for all of your witchcraft needs.
Oneiromancy comes from the greek word for dreams and is a form of divination based on dream interpretation.
The goal of oneiromancy is to analyze the symbolism and happenings in your’s or another’s dreams to give insight to the past, present, or future, or to understand a message that an outside force (gods, spirits, your higher self) is sending you. It is a very personalized form of divination, as everyone makes different connections and associations in their own mind.
Steps to Take:
1) Keep a dream journal.
Take any old journal you have that you can write in and keep it by your bedside along with a pen or pencil. Every morning, or even during the middle of the night if you wake up, write your dreams into the journal.
Even if you don’t remember your dreams, write something every morning, such as “I don’t remember” just to keep in the habit of writing.
Alternatively, you can keep a voice recorder near you and talk about your dreams instead of writing. This can actually be much easier for some people.
Read over your dreams every week to find patterns and recurring themes.
2) Avoid “dream dictionaries”.
These are books with alphabetized lists of symbols found in dreams and their potential meanings. These books are overgeneralized and very likely to undermine your own intuition.
3) Practice meditation.
It’s important in dream interpretation to be comfortable in your mind, since you are reading your own unconscious. Morning or bedtime meditations will help you with both dream recall and getting yourself in a state to receive or understand information.
Taking some time every day to simply enjoy the weather or “stopping to smell the roses” will help you with receiving clearer messages from the universe.
Practicing mindful meditation will help you in focusing your intent on what you want to dream about. It will help you learn to observe thoughts without analyzing, which can lead to clouded perceptions.
4) Try things like dream tea, bath magic, or making a dream pillow.
Drink a calming tea 20 minutes before bed to prepare yourself for sleep. Look for teas with ingredients that relate to inducing sleep or dream states.
Ritual bathing can be very calming and relaxing, and with specially added essential oils, it can help to encourage dreams or make it easier to reach meditative states.
Dream pillows are sachets made with ingredients to help the flow of sleep and to encourage dreaming. Place one under your pillow before going to sleep.
The goal of all of these steps is to help dream recall so that you may look back on and analyze the symbolism in your dream and understand the messages you may be receiving. While not every dream may be a message from a deity or an insight into the future, these steps will help you better recognize when one is.
The last step is to look at the symbolism present in your dreams and find any outstanding connections they may have with the waking world. You may also incorporate other forms of divination, such as pendulum, tarot, or oracle, to better understand the message.
Making your own charm is as easy as baking a cake, with no baking.
First let’s explore what makes a charm a charm.
charm [CHärm] n.
a collection of materials placed into a color specific bag used to send and receive specific vibrations from the universe. A satellite dish if you will. Carrying these little bundles of magic with you everywhere you go is one of the easiest ways to communicate your wants and needs with the universe.
Step One: Figuring out your intentions
Every charm has a specific intent behind it. Without one, it’s just a bag of rocks and dirt. Figure out what you need the most in your life right now. This could be anything from romantic love to quick cash to even inner peace
Step Two: Understanding the skeleton
What in the world do skeletons have to do with charms? Well, the skeleton of a charm is essentially the building blocks you need. All of the really powerful charms I have made have come equipped with a leafy green, a flower, a base, a bag, and a mineral.
Leafy Green.
The leafy green is a plant material. This can be dried herbs or simple green foliage from a specific plant that gives off good vibrations through its leaves.
The Flower.
The flower is there to work with the other leafy green and encompass a specific property all in one bundle.
The Mineral
The mineral is there to push out the signal. Incorporating crystals and rocks add an antenna to your satellite dish.
The Bag.
The bag is a little string draw satchel that is a specific color depending on what your intentions are (green for money, pink for love, etc). Every little satchel is just a method for energy to be carried around. The longer you are with it, the more energy and intention you put into it.
The Base.
Now last but not least is the base. This is something that can absorb any negative energy but can also add a little substance to your charm bag. The base is tricky but very versatile. A majority of the time rice is a really good base but things like garden or graveyard dirt can be used.
Step Three: Research
I’ve found the easiest way to accomplish this step it to work backwards. Instead of looking for a specific material that you need for a charm, figure out what the materials you have already do and see if they apply. You’d be surprised how versatile a lot of materials are. A lot of good resources can be found on the internet if you look up “(Material name)’s magical properties”. Just those three words can give you a solid amount of websites to read. On top of that, you can check out the WiccanInk page. If you’re not on mobile, there are links at the top labeled “Herbs”, “Color Magic”, and “Stones” (conveniently hyperlinked here for you as well).
Step Four: Cleansing and charging
This is arguably one of the most important steps in this process. You can have the best material combination in the world but if your crystal isn’t charged, then it isn’t going to work. Take the time to purify and charge all materials before adding them to any magic work, let alone charm work. Here are some good cleansing methods and the best way to charge any item it to leave it out in the sun for a full day.
Step Five: Putting it all together
At this stageyou have gathered all your materials, cleansed everything, and charged it with your intent. You can now add the ingredients to the bag. The order I like to use is base, mineral, leafy green, then flower. You can do it anyway you like but I’ve found that this method just looks prettier. When you are adding all the ingredients be sure to visualize yourself succeeding in whatever part of your life you want to improve. Do this work in front of your altar and away from the rest of the world. Find a quiet spot in your head so you can really focus on your life needs.
Take your time. Work with your charm. After a little bit you will be able to feel the energy it is giving off and you will realize every charm has it’s own personality. At the end, tie three knots in the cord to tie up the bag and with each knot think about what you already have. For example if you’re working on a charm to improve your wealth, think about three instances where you are wealthy enough. Thank the universe for the instances and understand that you can still receive more.
Following these steps will hopefully lead you to successful charm work. Take your time and remember everything needs practice.
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