So, You Want to be An Adult?

{Things To Think About While You Are Growing Up}

• Rent
• Car Payment
• Car Insurance
• Car Registration
• Car Repairs
• Oil Changes
• Tires
• Fuel
• Health Insurance
• Dental Insurance
• Disability Insurance
• Life Insurance
• AAA
• Electricity
• Gas
• Water
• Garbage Collection
• Cable/Satellite
• Telephone
• Long Distance
• Cell Phone
• Internet
• Renter’s Insurance
• Bank Fees
• Groceries
• Incidentals
• Laundry
• Dry Cleaning
• Dining Out
• Entertaining
• Movies
• Movie Rentals/Streaming
• Food to Eat while watching the movie
• Birthday Gifts
• Christmas Presents
• Emergency Funds
• Savings
• Retirement
• College Tuition
• Books
• Lab Fees
• Parking
• Income Tax/Federal
• Income Tax/State
• Social Security Tax
• Local Tax
• Sales Tax
• Tax Preparation Fees
• Clothing
• Shoes
• Vacation Savings
• Travel Expenses
• Computer
• Printer
• Software
• “Office” Supplies
• Pocket Money
• Credit Card Payment(s)
• Credit Card Interest
• Credit Card Fees
• Haircuts
• Other Personal Grooming Fees
• Furniture
• Bedding
• Towels
• Kitchen Appliances
• Pots
• Pans
• Silverware
• Glasses
• Coffee Cups
• TV
• DVD Player
• Stereo
• iPod
• PlayStation/X-Box/Wii/What-have-you
• Games
• Music
• Savings for Car Insurance Deductible
• Savings for Medical Insurance Deductible
• Savings for Dental Insurance Deductible
• Doctor Appointment Co-Pays
• Dentist Appointment Co-Pays
• Medical Lab Fees
• Glasses/Contacts
• Athletics
• Athletic Equipment
• Art Classes
• Art Supplies
• Hobby Funds
• Hobby Supply Funds
• Special Occasions
• Emergency Fund
• Savings for a House
• Savings for a Wedding
• Student Loan Payment
• Mortgage
• Property Taxes
• Home Owners Insurance
• Home Repairs (new roofs aren’t cheap)
• Home Furnishings (houses are bigger than apartments; that’s a lot of paint and carpet and window treatments and new furniture...new everything, right?)
• Home Alarm
• Gardener
• Higher Utilities (houses use more gas, water and electricity than apartments)
• Kids? (those are expensive)

That’s just the start of what you will need to fit into your budget when you are an adult.

As an adult, when you WANT something, you will always have to ask yourself, HOW will I EARN that money?

When you NEED something, you will always have to ask yourself, HOW will I EARN that money?

Money has a finite supply.

Money is based on Supply and Demand.  You can only “supply” your work efforts and earn money based on the “demand” (or need) someone has for what you have to offer.

You may want (or need) to “supply” 40 hours of work per week to make enough money to live and/or save up for something, but employers may only have a “demand” for 20 hours of your work.  Then you would need to find another employer who has a “demand” for your “supply”, and also is willing to work around the hours of your other job, and will pay you what you hope or need to make.  Not always as easy as one thinks it might be.

RESPECT your money.
If you don’t, you will learn this lesson the hard way.

Have MORE than enough.
There will always be something unexpected (good or bad) that will require extra money.  Credit cards won’t always cover that (and they shouldn’t be thought of as the plastic embodiment of emergency funds).

SAVE money from EACH paycheck in order to avoid debt, have money for emergencies, for the future and for your goals (new car, buy a home, take a vacation, buy holiday gifts).

DEBT will ANCHOR you.
Owing money will keep you stuck in a place you don’t want to live, in a job you don’t like.

Too many THINGS will ANCHOR you.
You will become a slave to buying and grasping at “more”.  That grasping will keep you in a job you don’t like, and limit the places you can live because you have so much stuff...where will you fit it all?

When you are a buyer, the return on your investment is small.  You can’t sell back those things and get what you paid for them, or even what you perceive their value to be.  It’s supply and demand again.  If nobody wants to buy what you have to offer, or pay what you are asking, you are stuck with it.  Don’t believe that something will increase in value.  That’s rare, even with high-value items like antiques.  It only works if someone wants to pay that amount.  Which isn’t easy to find.

THINK about everything you want to buy.  Sometimes those things will COST you much MORE than the PRICE you pay for them.

HONOR
INTEGRITY
PERSONAL VALUE
SENSE OF SELF

These are things that you carry inside of you.

People can’t always see that these attributes, but they always know when they are missing.

No one can give these things to you.  You must create them and nurture them yourself.

No one can take these things from you.  You either give them away or toss them aside.

6 AM Wake Up
Make Bed
Brush Teeth
Wash Face
Exercise (now or later?)
Shower
Eat Breakfast
Pack Lunch
Clean Kitchen
Get Dressed
8 AM Drive to Work/School
9 AM Work (9 hours, including 1 hour for lunch)
6 PM Leave Work/School
Exercise (if you didn’t in the morning, then shower again)
Run Errands
Drive Home
Make Dinner
Clean Kitchen
Do Laundry
Pay Bills/Do Homework
Clean House
Relax (30 mins)
Brush Teeth
Wash Face
10 PM Go to Bed

Think this is a crazy schedule?  This is what it’s like to be an adult.

Being an adult is about DOING things that need to be done without putting them off or complaining about it.

No one wants to do the dishes, but they have to be done.

No one wants to wake up when the alarm goes off, but we have to get up to be on time for our responsibilities.

No one wants to go to work, but we have to earn money for food, shelter, clothing, and everything else Life requires.

If you are trying to find a way out of or around these things, that’s kid talk — and a sure sign you’re not ready to be an adult.

If you think no one can boss you around when you are an adult, think again.

Everyone has a “boss”, even people who work for themselves.  There is always someone to answer to, be it a manager, supervisor or client, teacher, coach or parent.

Your first boss is your mom and/or dad.

Your first job is Adult Trainee.

Every day, in every way, your parents are training you to be a grown-up.

Sucks, doesn’t it?

How many vacation days do you get now?  When you are an adult, you are lucky if you get 5.  Sure, you might get national holidays (depending on what kind of job you have), but there are no summer vacations, spring breaks or two weeks off at Christmas.

So, being a pre-adult does have some perks.

If you are LIVING for the day when you turn 18, you may want to think twice.

Nothing miraculous happens on your 18th birthday, except that all of the responsibility of your life moves solely into your possession in the eyes of the law.

When you turn 18, you have bills to pay, jobs to do, school to attend, goals to attain, and your chances to make big mistakes and start over with a clean slate get slimmer.  When you make a mistake as an adult, the consequences are more severe.  Like prison or bankruptcy or worse.

As an adult, you need to live wisely and responsibly, ALWAYS honoring yourself, ALWAYS keeping your integrity, ALWAYS respecting your worth.
That’s not always easy, but it must always be strived for.

Friendships are not worth more than your integrity.

No one worth winning is worth losing yourself.

Loving someone does not require hiding who you are and what you believe in.

Don’t bother waiting for your life to begin — it’s already started.

It’s happening right now.

And now.

And now.

This is it.  This is life.

Life isn’t something that’s going to happen — it’s occurring as we speak.

And it goes much faster than you think.  So, pay attention to the NOW, not the WHEN.

If you are bored by this — this life thing — do something.
   Read a book.
      Write.
            Play music.  Listen to music.
               Draw.  Go for a walk.  Dance.  Jump rope.
Do something that uses your brain and the boredom will disappear.

Life is all about CHOICES.

The choices you make every day shape your life.

How you react to things is a choice.

Whether you are happy or sad or angry or fine is a choice.  Really.  It’s all in your mind.  It’s all how you let your mind see it and react to it.

You choose to make things a big deal.  You choose to blow something off.  That’s a lot of control to have, but you need to remember to use that power.

You can decide to have a good day.  You can succeed at that by focusing on the good and blowing off the not so great.  It takes practice, but you can do it.

Choosing well and wisely creates the life you want to live.  But, you don’t have to wait to be 18 to start doing that.

And what’s the rush?  Why do you want to hurry into being an adult?  Slow down.  All there is at the finish line of Life is a casket.

Don’t hurry. You only have 18 years to be young.  The rest of your life is spent being an adult.  And when you are an adult, you long for the simplicity of the life you had before you turned 18.

Learn all you can now.  Pay attention.  Grow your wisdom.  Let the mistakes of others serve as lessons to you, so you don’t have to learn them the hard way like they did.

THINKING that you KNOW IT ALL is a symptom of a young brain.

The older — and wiser — you get, you will realize there is always something to learn, from everyone and everything.  And your greatest teacher will end up being the kid you were and all the mistakes you made — especially the mistake of wanting to grow up too soon.

So, I hope you will wait to be an adult, and enjoy what little time you have left being a kid.