Back to myself well a better version of myself...WORD?!

Life is either a daring adventure or nothing at all...right?! ha! Well I have made a ton of new choice in the past few months. Been hit with some ups and downs, mostly ups ;), regardless, I have come out on top and a better me than ever. Let's start with my relationship with my money...

I have finally started to save my green. I must say it is not an easy feat to accomplish, given sudden emergencies that may arise. I was hit with one recently and it caught me totally off guard but it had to be attended to or risk further reprecautions later down the road. So there was a good chunck out of what I had saved. I did not let it get me down!! I repeat...I did not let that get me down! I dont know how much I could stress that. Life has its curveballs and they can bring a person down sooo fast there is no way to come back up for air. You just have to learn to not sweat the small stuff. I know what your thinking. Money is not a small thing, but if you compare it to your kids or your own life, well, it is!  Dont get me wrong, its what makes the world go round, but if you arent happy with yourself and your life then getting your money relationship on track is never going to be "small stuff". I also got hit by Uncle Sam and taxes...I HATE TAXES!! Seriously, I work my ass off for a HUGE chunk to be given to people who are too lazy to get off their ass and get a JOB!! But thats a whole new blog on my conservative side. Anyway,my money is starting to grow and its great to see. I feel like I am growing into a more responsible version of myself. I tranferred my 401K into mutual funds and saw growth instantly! That makes me excited and yes, I do know that I could lose it within a matter of minutes.  Its a risk and without risk, well what kind of life is that?!? Now my relationship with myself:

I have changed alot. Not only in regards to my finances but also with the type of people I surround myself with. I got rid of my facebook account. I didnt need that in my life. Honestly, it was taking up a majority of my time. I was checking it at least every 20 minutes when I could have spent my time in more useful ways. It also brought me down. You other singles out there can understand where I am coming from. Every damn time I would get on there someone is flaunting how happy they are with their boyfriend or how they are shopping for a wedding dress and who could miss the ones that said "Its a Girl!!" Screw yall!! I dont need to see that, I mean I am happy for them and I would write the obligitory, Congratulations to them and what not. But seriously...I mean come on! Anyhoo, I deleted it and the people that actualy matter do keep in touch with me by this thing called a PHONE. You see we humans use this to CALL other humans. Yea, we dont use it to POST a status update on facebook. Pssh, I do have twitter though, so I know thats contradicting but I would rather talk to people I dont know and probably will never meet my over than people I have met and wish I hadn't ( love that saying)! Anyhoo, its great not knowing whose getting hitched and whose knocked up from my past. I got rid of the luxeries in my life too, no more Sirius Satellite Radio or Cable for me. Sadness, but it had to be done so that I could increase my contribution rate for my 401K in order to get matched when I leave the agency I work for. I am working out twice a day, still up at 5 AM and working less on getting good time and more on form. After work, I do P90X but I also alternate it with TurboJam. I can see a difference in my energy level and its great to not feel like I am old, even though I am not :) I eat better and take care of myself overall. No sodas, well except on Sundays; Coffee only on Saturdays; Water ALL THE TIME!!

I guess, overall, La vita e Bella and so I leave you all with this:

"We tend to forget that Happiness doesnt come as a result of getting something we dont have but rather from recognizing and appreciating what we do have"

Will I be Pretty??

As I was Stumbling, I stumbled upon a really cool poetry slam video. Its about being "pretty" and I think it would have been cool if I would have seen it when I was feeling insecure as a child. I know now that I am not just pretty I am much more that pretty...I am PRETTY AMAZING, PRETTY INTELLIGENT, PRETTY CREATIVE, and that 5 letter word is unworthy of defining me!!

Finding financial freedom

Being young means alot of different things to alot of different people. I should be going out Friday nights with "friends" or seeing the world. I hear all the time from people that I need to enjoy my youth and stop worrying about my future. Let me tell you that I need to worry about my future. I need to make sure that my finances and myself are taken care of. I know that I do not have any children, but I do have extended family. I have been told that I am the "staple" for young people. I was flattered but I am not that at all. If anything I am making sure that God Forbid, if anything happens to me that my family will not have to scramble to cover my mortgage or even my funeral expenses. Last month was month 4 for my savings and finance plan. I had to get a Living trust and a will. I did both. Currently I am making sure that it is legal and getting a lawyer at work to look over for me for free. Then I will get both signed a notarized. It was tough to make sure that I made the right decisions in leaving my belongings to my family. It had to be done. What I did was something that I want other young people to do, especially young married couples with children. They should also make sure that they have life insurance. I got a policy for 30 years big enough to cover my home, car, funeral, and any debt that I may have. I also noted in my will that the rest be split evenly between all of my nieces and nephews with stipulations of course. I urge any young couple out there to get a will and life insurance, if not anything else. You need that security, I know its tough to thing about but do it for your furture. If you want to do this for no cost at all; you can go to www.rocketlawyer.com they are running a promotion during the month of April and allowing people to create a free will.

Another thing that I did during the month of April was to move my savings account into a bank with a higher Annual Percentage Yield (APY) than what I did have. A great bank to go to for that would be Ally. I did my research before opening it, but after using only .005% APY with my old savings; I feel it was a good move with an APY of 1.00%...how in the hell could I resist not seeing more growth out of my money. Yet another good move for young couples with children. You could see more growth for your children's college or open a ROTH IRA for them as well and not have to pay taxes on it. Unfortunately with savings you will be taxed, no way around that one.

Something else to do is to see if your retirement at work (401K) is set at the amount to where if you leave they will match it. Mine was not, I had to increase my deferral from 1% to 3% to ensure that when I leave, it will be matched.

This whole financially stable adventure has been freeing. Its made me realize that I don't need to live check to check, what I need to feel safe knowing that I am financially secure on my own because the truth of the matter is...I am Single, Living and Loving life :)

"Do you now understand why you have to go back to class to learn about your money. Don't depend on others to save you..."  --Suze Orman