How to Adult: Things I Wish I Would Have Known

Adulting can be hard. Adulthood is always a rocky transition in life, and isn’t made to be perfect. There are a lot of things that are learned though this transition in your life. There will be highs. There will be lows. You’ll make mistakes along the way. Guess what, THAT’S OKAY! Here are three things that I wish I would have known, before becoming an adult.

1. Save money! (Yes, it really doesn’t grow on trees)

When I was first trying to figure things out, I never paid attention to how much things cost. Much like everyone else when they are living in their parents’ house, they had almost everything paid for them. I didn’t

fully get a grasp on just how expensive it was to pay the bills. Here are a few tips that I eventually learned, that helped me manage my money.

- Don’t spend any unnecessary money (no, those new shoes are not a necessity)

- Stop eating out so much. Cooking meals yourself is much cheaper

- Instead of telling yourself you can’t go out and do fun things, set $100 each month aside that you can do whatever you want with

2. Have an emergency savings account

Life happens, and sometimes unexpected cost will come up. For example, if you are driving and your tire blows, you will have to spend extra money you didn’t plan for. You don’t ever want to find yourself in a spot where you have an unexpected cost, that you can’t pay for. This is when your emergency money comes in! Make sure you have at least $1,000 in your emergency savings account at all times. We all know we can’t snap our fingers and make that money appear, so set up a plan that works with your financial situation, on how you’re going to get there. The easiest way to do this is each time you get paid, set some money aside. For example, if you get paid bi-weekly, set aside $50 each week, until you reach $1,000.

3. Sleeping schedule, sleeping schedule, sleeping schedule

Sleep is for the weak right? WRONG! Having a consistent 8 hours of sleep each night is key to having a productive day. Your brain cannot function off 4 hours of sleep like it can off 8 hours of sleep. It is really important that you make time each night to get those 8 hours of sleep. The best way to do this is to go to sleep early, and get up early. If you are one of those people that like to stay up late, try looking at the glass half full, instead of half empty. If you go to sleep at midnight, and get up at 8 am, that’s 8 hours of sleep right there! It may take you a couple weeks to get into a routine, but once you have your sleeping schedule mastered, you will feel like you have more time in the day to get your stuff done. Biggest Thing To Remember: Once you have a sleeping schedule, please, please, don’t mess it up.

Saving money, having an emergency savings account, and having a sleeping schedule, are the three biggest things that I wish I would have known before becoming an adult. If you’re already doing some of these things great! If not, you still have plenty of time to make a small change that will add up to a big difference. Which one of these tips did you find to be the most helpful to you? /SB