triking out on your own can be equal parts liberating and intimidating. Now that you have gained independence from your parents it can be hard figuring it all out, not to mention figuring out what you have to figure out! Luck would have it just below is a pre-made, put together list of beginner adulting competencies to master.
1. Budgeting
Money is a quintessential core of adulting. Bills, grocery shopping, rent, car insurance, student loan payments, and sometimes even more. Every adult must have his or her budget in order to sustain personal independence. Plus a good budget will never leave you worrying that your card might be declined.
Start by taking the money from your average monthly paycheck and break it down into necessities: rent, bills, insurance, and loans. If you haven’t moved out yet or are taking stock of your spending, remember the recommended percent of money to spend on rent is 30% of income. From those baseline monthly costs factor in how much money is needed to buy groceries and keep your gas tank full. Now that it is all over try budgeting some savings, you never know when unexpected costs will pop up so always try to budget for about 20% of your salary towards this. It might not be the most glamorous way to spend your money, but it will be the most responsible. Now that the adultiest part of this responsibility out the way there is room for a little fun. Factor in for monthly subscriptions! Check out the suggested list below if you do not have some already.
- TV streaming services- Netflix, Hulu, Amazon Prime Video, Disney, and Sling all have content for days to binge watch
- Amazon Prime- this is for all your buying online must-haves. This can get you expected shipping on certain items, Amazon Prime video which has a lot exclusive content (The Marvelous Miss Maisle is recommended), and prime reading which allows you unlimited access to over a 1,000 of ebooks, magazines, and variety of other texts.
- Ispy make-up subscription- based on your make-up preference quiz Ipsy will send you five fresh make-up items for only $12 a bag!
- Birchbox- This is a men's self-care/grooming subscription that includes things like moisturizer, shampoo, soap, beard wash, beard oil, shaving cream and aftershave.
Remember these are just a few ideas to help make your adult life more interesting and fun- just make sure not to go too overboard because there are still a few things to budget for! Try setting money aside for the following as necessary
- Holiday gifts for loved ones- this can be birthdays, Hanukkah, Kwanzaa, Christmas, Valentine’s day, Halloween (for your spooky friends), graduations, house-warmings, baby showers, and anything else that might pop-up
- Going out- money in case you want to hang out with friends or just get out of the apartment for day
- Meals out- because cooking isn’t alway feasible and Arby’s just tastes so good.
- Additional fun items- these can be anything from facial masks, books, clothes, or anything that is a special interest of yours. Just because you are adulting doesn’t mean it needs to be boring.
2. Cooking
Food is the staple of life and without it humans tend not to survive long without it. Unfortunately, eating out is expensive and can add big costs to your budget (see adulting skill one for more information). While prepared dinners are quick and easy there is not a lot of variety and sometimes lacking in nutrition value. Kick up your adulting prowess by learning the basics of cooking, and quite frankly a little baking would be great too. Who doesn’t like a fresh warm baked chocolate chip cookie. Easy recipes like tacos, pizza, hot dogs, hamburgers, meatloaf, stir-fry, and noodles are great. Try a few of these easy beginner's ideas if you are a rookie in the kitchen department.
Pasta Recipes
Not only are there a wide variety of options to choose there is an unlimited amount of things you can do with them. You do not necessarily need to make your own (but are more than welcome to give a try) stores bought will do the trick just fine. Look at a few pasta types along with a few recipe ideas. Just remember if you're cooking noodles in boiling water put in salt. This will prevent the noodles from sticking
- Spaghetti- A classic childhood favorite. Spaghetti noodles, red sauce, and ground beef. Those are the basics, but to punch up the taste check out this delicious recipe for extra flavor enhancing ingredients.
- Mac and Cheese- All this dish requires elbow macaroni (or shells depending on your preference), cheese (preferably multiple kinds), and milk. Although if you’re looking to spice it up (literally) try buffalo mac and cheese for some heat.
- Shrimp Scampi- Shrimp, olive oil, lemon, butter, garlic and a few other things and angel hair pasta (or Linguini). Simple, but delicious.
- Ramen noodles- get a pack of pre-made ramen and use the noodles as base to your scrumptious homemade ramen dish. Cook the noodles up in some beef stock, onion, seasonings, and garlic and you have an elevated meal on your hands.
Pizza
Another Italian Classic! Pizza can be made in quite a few ways and having a way to make some will curb that need to order out excessively. Dough (use a tortilla or pre-made Pilsbury dough if you don’t have a recipe), cheese, sauce, and topping. 5 easy things that can be mixed up in a variety of different ways:
- Classic- Red sauce, mozzarella cheese, and toppings like pepperoni, bell pepper, mushroom, and pineapple if you really so chose.
- BBQ- Use barbeque sauce, cheddar cheese, chicken and/or bacon for protein, and onions.
- Buffalo- Hot sauce, mozzarella, chicken, and your choice of blue cheese for topping or ranch for dipping sauce. Perhaps get wild and do both.
3. Time management
Every highly functioning adult practices good time management. The work to life balance can be incredibly tricky, but it doesn’t have to be! Take time and set up a weekly schedule to follow. If you work an hourly job with different shifts try just ball-parking it or making a weekly schedule based on your work schedule. Here’s a quick guide on how to set your schedule.
- Start with your work schedule, this will be the basis of how you plan everything else out, because let's face it adulting is centered around being able to maintain a standard of living. This of course requires money, but for anyone in school or doing an internship can manifest itself into learning experiences that will help towards a future career. This can include other life obligations like a weekly family dinner or watching over a nephew for a day etc.
- After this set a wake-up time and morning schedule. Some people prefer to roll out of bed 10 minutes before they need to be at work and others might prefer something like to wake-up, going on a run (or watching an episode of TV), and eating a good meal before heading out for the day. Decide what’s necessary for you to start your day.
- Set a bed-time. This may sound silly, but having a good sleep schedule provides numerous health benefits like a boosted immune system and release of stress. If you need a good 8 hours of sleep to function don’t cheat yourself by scheduling too late of bed time.
- Next is chore planning. This may not be the most exciting to all, unless you have a penchant for cleaning, but having all of it done will free you from worrying about falling behind on dishes, laundry, and vacuuming. Otherwise the daunting build-up might become a source of stress in life. Even if you just get one or two chores done a day you’re off to a great start. Remember adding in things like meal prep or cooking if necessary.
- Last, but certainly not least, free time! Everything left over in your schedule is free time. You don’t necessarily need to plan something to do, just know during these blocks of time you may do whatever the mood strikes. Fishing, dancing, TV, hanging out with friends, and whatever else you can imagine.
Remember, having a schedule is supposed to help de-stress your life clutter. However, if staying on schedule is proving to be difficult, start with smaller schedule goals. Try something like hitting your target sleep and coming home from work at a certain time. Once you get into those certain grooves add one more and keep it going until you’ve mastered how you want your schedule to look like. Do not be afraid to experiment with the schedule, because you never know when you might like a different workflow to your day better.
