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Adulting 101 for College Students // Budgeting, Meal Prep, Laundry, Organisation and Much More! - YouTube
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If you just started living on your own college
dorm or apartment, you are probably feeling
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the first struggles of leading an independent
life and figuring out things by yourself.
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In this video I wanted to give you a few tips
that I’ve learned since I started living
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alone and which can help you out and make
you feel less anxious about the moving out
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process.
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Learn how to budget.
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This is the first thing you need to settle
before you do anything else.
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Learning how to budget is a skill that will
help you throughout your life.
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Managing your money can be tricky and prioritizing
expenses, knowing when to pay your bills and
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managing pocket money takes a bit of practice
but it will make your life much less stressful
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and unpredictable.
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I am currently using an excel spreadsheet
to help me with my expenses.
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I just insert all the items that I spend my
money on in a monthly basis and then regularly
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track my spending so I have an overall notion
of where my money is going and where I should
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save.
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One YouTube channel that I highly recommend
for starting building your finance health
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is the Financial Diet.
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Meal prepping
Meal prepping is a life saver and something
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that can both improve your health and diet
as well as your finances.
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Schedule one day per week to look at your
pantry and plan the next seven days of meals.
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This takes half and hour and will save you
so much extra time and struggle.
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After you’ve planned all your meals for
the following week, go shopping or order the
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produce if your local supermarket provides
that service and save one morning to meal
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prep for the following days.
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Boiling eggs in advance, cutting firm veggies,
making humus or other spreads in bulk, cooking
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rice, boning or cutting meat, cooking soup
and freezing pre cut loafs of bread - those
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are all things you can do a few days in advance
that will save you so much time during the
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week.
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Your wallet will also thank you since you
won’t have the urge to dine out as often.
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If you are unsure of how long you can preserve
your food on your fridge or the freezer, I
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will leave a link down below provided by the
World Health Organization which lists different
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types of food, the way they are cooked and
the quantity.
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Creating a Fixed Grocery List and Keeping
Track of Expiration Dates
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Still related to food, a good trick to save
tons of money and make sure you are always
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stocked on the food essentials is keeping
a grocery list with all the basic items you
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need in your fridge and pantry to make sure
you never run out of milk again.
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Check that list once per week and take a look
in your kitchen – are you still stocked
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on all of the items?
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If so, can you estimate how long will it take
until you run out of any of them?
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Even if you are stocked, is your food reaching
its expiration date?
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Manage your grocery shopping around these
questions instead of buying too much in advance
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and letting it spoil or end up lacking some
essential pantry basics and ending up dining
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out.
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Also, a bonus tip: to keep track of expiration
dates, just grab a pen and scribble the date
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when the package was opened or, if you are
able to calculate it, the last day when it’s
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considered acceptable to still consume that
product.
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Create a cleaning plan and schedule
When you’re by yourself, cleaning definitely
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becomes a burden since you have no one to
share your chores with.
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Also, leaving the entire cleaning of a room
or house for one day only each week will take
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precious time out of your schedule that you
could be spending doing far more interesting
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things.
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What I decided to do was dividing these tasks
per day instead of doing everything in one
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morning or afternoon.
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I decided to input all household chores in
my calendar and create a repeating schedule
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so I would be reminded periodically of these
small tasks, such as changing towels, bedsheets,
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vacuuming, cleaning the fridge, and so on.
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I currently clean for 20 or 30 minutes every
day instead of wasting my weekend with those
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tasks and I think it’s a good habit to get
the hang of as soon as you can.
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Understand laundry
I still think laundry is kind of a science
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of its own and it was one of the things that
I had most trouble getting the hang of.
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First of all, understand that not all garments
can be machine washed and as such, you’ll
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have to be prepared with the appropriate setup
and products for hand washing.
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The fool proof way is to look at the tag,
but as a general rule, if they are delicate
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underwear, wool sweaters and silk blouses,
handwashing is the way to go.
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After that, divide your laundry by dark and
light colors and do separate washes for each
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or you’ll risk color transfer.
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If there are any stains, treat them previously
before throwing the garment into the machine.
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Also, be aware that unless your clothing is
severely stained, washing your garments with
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cold water or very low temperatures is still
the best idea in order to avoid disasters.
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The exception are clothes like cotton underwear,
sheets and gym clothing that have been exposed
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to body oil and sweat and as such need high
temperatures to be cleaned.
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Organize bills and important documents
Organizing bills, contracts and other documents
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is important so you can refer back to that
information quickly if you need to do so in
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the future.
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I usually place all of my letters, bills and
documents in a letter tray as soon as I receive
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them or print them.
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Then, a couple of days later, I go through
all of my correspondence and start labelling
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it according to function and importance.
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Contracts, which are documents that I will
need to refer to in the future, go to my main
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binder, where they are filed according to
usage and date.
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A good saving tip if you are paying for your
bills is signing up for electronic bills instead
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of paper ones.
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Most companies offer a discount for people
who sign up for the electronic version instead
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of paper.
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That is beneficial for many reasons – besides
the discount, since the bills are redirected
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to your e-mail address, you have less chances
of forgetting to pay them on time.
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On the other hand, you can keep track of them
by keeping them in the external drive in your
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computer in PDF version instead of having
to print them and file them individually.
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If you are unsure of how long you should keep
paper documents with you, there’s a handy
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guide at lifehack.com which I’ll link in
the description box that lists the documents
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you should permanently keep filed in your
house, and those that you can dispose of in
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a couple of months.
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Start regulating your shopping habits
If there was ever a good moment to start getting
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into the minimalism trend, this is it.
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When you are in a strict budget, with a not-so-good
of an income or trust fund, going all out
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and buying unnecessary things will straight
up ruin your experience.
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Learn how to keep to the essentials and test
yourself on what you really need to feel comfortable
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and happy.
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If you really enjoy that perfume, perhaps
it’s a bad idea to have a collection on
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top of your vanity.
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Investing in a good set of basic t-shirts,
jeans and plain sweaters is better value for
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your money than buying the trendy shirt that
you will stop wearing next season.
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This doesn’t necessarily mean you need to
buy only boring, plain items, but be conscious
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in your shopping instead of impulsive.
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It’s a good time to start researching on
how to build your capsule wardrobe and select
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only the pieces that will make you happy and
comfortable.
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Caring for your health
Part of adulting means that you need to start
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taking care of your health as well.
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Keep an emergency contact list in a visible
area where both you and other people can reach
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for.
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Also, learn how to assemble a first aid kit
and keep it in a place you can easily access.
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To automate all health related errands, force
yourself to book all appointments in bulk,
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even if it means scheduling for weeks or months
in advance.
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Consult with your doctor to know how regularly
you should be visiting, and then plan away
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your dentist’s checks, dermatology consultation,
eye check, and so on.
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Start building your soft skills
Building your career or soft sills should
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start as early as possible and when you are
transitioning from your life as a student
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to full-on adulting, it’s crucial to master
a few basic skills to ease your way into your
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chosen career path.
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Things like writing a cover letter or mastering
your resumé are key aspects that you should
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practice and learn about as soon as you can.
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Attending job fairs or going to career related
workshops provided by your university are
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a good way to start getting acquainted with
these basic requirements.
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And for today these are the topics I wanted
to approach on how to start living an independent
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life.
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If you would like to see more videos on this
subject, feel free to tell me in the comments
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below and I will see you next week.
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Bye!
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