Preparing For a New Semester Of School

Being on vacation from work, and having a break off school. I still have a lot to do before I'm ready for the new Fall 2015 semester at college.

So here are the TOP things I always do to prepare for a new semester....

1. Clean out the computer
- I delete things I don't need anymore
- put documents in the right folders
- get everything organized to begin a new school year

2. Still living at my parents house, I always deep clean my room. I sweep, mop, and dust. I go through my closet, desk, dresser, vanity, and old drawers. I love cleaning so this really does help me get everything in place. I also clean my bathroom and car out to just get rid of clutter.

3. My favorite thing is to go and look through all my old school supplies. To figure out what I need for the new semester. Lucky this year I only had to buy new highlighters ( I really wanted the see through ones), one pencil (for my planner), one notebook (50 cents I plan on using it for studying), white out tape (the liquid wasn't doing the job). While everything else I already had including a file system, pens, folders, binders and loose leaf paper (I have a 2 inch binder FILLED with paper).

However, this year my mom bought me a Livescribe 3 Smartpen Pro Edition so I plan on using this to take notes. I'll do a review on this once I have started using it.

4. I clean all my bedding and jackets. I clean my bedding every two weeks, so the Sunday before I start school I'll clean my bedding again. I wash all my jackets because they've been hanging round my house through the summer. During Christmas break I wash them again before the Spring semester starts.

5. I pamper myself, I get a facial, my nails done, a haircut, go shopping for new clothes. I do this because what women doesn't love pampering themselves.

6. I get my planner cute, clean, and ready for the Fall. I make sure I've wrote in all the dates from the school calendar. Then for the Plum Paper Planner I have I write in my classes. I also make a note card of my class schedule with the room number.

What do you do to get ready for a new semester of school?

So I just got approved for my first CREDIT CARD, eek! But I'm pretty excited all at the same time.

Because this means I'm one step closer to buying a home. 

All and all the Credit Card is to build credit. Because I have NONE! 

Since I got approved, I went and bought checks (first time also) and am now waiting on both the card and checks to come in. Once they do I"ll be ready….well not yet.

I'm going to get money in my savings first (along with what I already have) but this is how I feel about credit cards myself

1. If I'm going to buy something huge (say a iPad) I want to make sure I have at LEAST HALF of the total of the item (iPad $600 have $300 saved) saved up before I go buying it. If you can have the whole amount saved and just pay in payments that is ever better. 

2. If you use your card for small things, DON'T buy so many small things that it adds up to a big monthly bill! 

3. BE SMART all my life, I've heard credit card debt is bad, don't do it. But for me I don't have an option I'm NOT renting (I have two dogs, and want to decorate), I don't know any other way to build credit beside get a credit card. 

So enough talking and on to the way I will be organizing my credit card payments, and monthly flow of money. 

 I repurposed my coupon binder into my money organizer.

 So first thing first clean up the old labels
-Get acetone
-Cotton balls

Just go over the permanent marker with acetone and its back to normal.

Make a list of places/ Categories you shop at the most

-Target

-Wal-Mart

-Beauty 

-Gifts

-Crafts

-Extra 

Now that you have your list take your permanent marker and write on the clear pockets what receipt you want them to hold.

Now on to the actual money organizing of things…

I bought a "To- Do List, Groceries List" magnet note pad at Wal-Mart (for a $1) hole punched it and made that were I'll write my monthly income and subtract as I pay bills, or buy things. 

To make sure the holes worked in the binder I used one of the clear pockets and hole punched the paper. 

First let me break down what I pay a month:
1. $80 insurance
2. Soon to be Discover payments (hope to keep around $100 a month or less)
3. Around $25 on gas a week (as we all no gas changes)

So, how do I plan on using my To-Do list paper well as I get checks, I get paid weekly.
*mind you I'm a full time college student so I don't work a lot. 

$200    - Check I got paid for that week

-$100   - Discover bill

-$30     -Gas 

-$20     -Dinner 

__________

That leaves me with $50 till the following week when I get paid again.
However I would put $40 in saving and use the $10 for the rest of the week.

*Every week will have different expenses. But I'll be able to track how much I'm spending towards gifts, gas, insurance, Discover, and saving in a month. 

My goal:
To Keep Track of my expenses WAY better then what I do now
Build Credit- NOT GO INTO DEBT
Only buy/spend money on things I NEED
Save every last drop of extra money I have
Buy a house in two years 

I'm sure as I start using my monthly organizer more in depth I'll change it up a little. If I do I will add a update. 

Hope you enjoy, sharing is caring!