Semester is OVER! Time to R.E.L.A.X

Hey everyone!!!!

Missed everyone so much + blogging of course. Despite the extremely hectic last few weeks I have been able to sneak a peak at my favorite blogs here and there but nothing beats the leisure of reading away and taking time to relax without having to worry that I have a paper due tomorrow or that I have a very intense Finance final coming up. So, pretty much happy to say that is over!!! :) 

I have the next week off from work so I am excited to catch up on my favorite things more consistently: Blogging, family time, friend time, love time, time to work out, time to meal prep and bake goodies, time to spend time with the people that make me smile and just time to BE FREE. Nothing can describe the sense of freedom that being off from work AND school brings, even if its just for a week. So, I am feeling very blessed and grateful and looking forward to wrapping up this wonderful 2013 on the right foot.

Before I go any further just wanted to give a shout out to Lisa from "Something Infinitely Interesting" for participating on my last give away. Congratulations as you won the amazing Bestowed Box!! Please email me your mailing address (dolcemabelle@gmail.com) so that I can make delivery arrangements. Thank you so much for participating. I didnt get much response on the giveaway and I have a feeling I am lacking a bit on my advertising skills for the blog. Not to mention I haven't really been making people aware of my blog as much as I used to in the past. So, no biggie'. Just something to work on!

So, whats happened since my last blog post? Wish I could say I traveled all around Europe on a private jet. However, the majority of my time was spent with my bank management book:
Here is a photo of me after I took my last final last week:

Lets just say that after nearly 100 note-cards later I was ready for it all to be over!!! Just quickly wanted to point out that despite another challenging class; I once again got a professor whom was very understanding and actually took the time to meet with me and discuss things I did not understand in order to make sure I would be okay. Always thankful for professors that actually care.

Besides finance, I took an "Gender Differences" course which was pretty much an entrepreneurship class focused on women business owners. It was AMAZING and I learned so much! Sometimes I wonder why the heck am I bothering with the degree and then classes like the ones I took remind me of why and put my career goals and objectives back on track and in to better perspective.

So anyways, all the studying, classes, my full time job and trying to balance some sort of social life was starting to take a toll on me back in November. The anxiety was transferring over to my eating habits and I couldnt remember the last time I exercised. Lets just say I was feeling like crap (...and pardon my french). Considering all the races I have done this year running outside had gotten kind of mundane and boring. I needed a change of pace to get excited again about working out so I took it back to the basics: I joined a gym!!! Besides calming down my anxiety and feeling better about myself I also wanted to join in order to start off the new year the right away. I dont know about you but "trying to start something" on January 1st brings a little bit too much pressure and thats when motivation seems to slowly fade away. In comparison, starting off on goals way before the 1st makes me that much more motivated as I transfer the momentum in to the new year. What do you think?

So, back to the gym: I am super, duper, FRUGAL so I did not want to spend a ton on monthly fees. I looked in to Planet Fitness which is the most affordable gym I know ($10 bucks a month, hard to beat that!). After much thinking and back and forth I finally decided to take the plunge and I joined a new facility near my apartment complex.

All I have to say is that I REALLY love it and it's done is job in terms of keeping me motivated to work out again. I have to admit in the past I had been a little skeptical about planet fitness due to some prior not-so-good experiences but I am so glad I joined this branch and look forward to my workouts. No better feeling than to getting back at it! 

Bathroom Selfie

Besides the above, Ive also been spending a lot of time with a good friend and simply just bonding away and feeling very, very happy.

A couple of pictures of decorations around Wall Street (taken right before I literally ran out of the vicinity before vacation):

Tree by NYSE

NYSE

Hope everyone has been good and is ready to start out the new year on a momentum.
Any goals? I suggest starting out now!!! Even if its just a small step. There is no better feeling than starting the new year already ahead of the game!

Love you all and thanks for reading!

 Mabelle <3

Source 

Money Monday$!

Hello everyone! So, if you have been following my blog for a while you may know I am in to finance-- specifically personal finance and money management.

I have to say that I've always been pretty good with money. Sometimes I call myself a "money hoarder" because I go through times where ALL I do is save (after my "fixed expenses" are taken care of).

Whatever you may want to call it--- cheap, frugal--- Saving is something that I consider to be very extremely important.

I want to start a series entitled “Money Mondays” on the blog where I’ll share tips and tricks on personal finance. Sometimes the topic may seem like common sense—or friendly reminders on stuff you may have already heard before. Other times, I’ll share something new all of which you can start to implement in your daily lives for a more financially secured future.

I shall start off by sharing with you guys a simple adjustment I made to my routine since the beginning of the year and which has been saving me quite a bit of change so far.

I present you with this:

 

 

My dear mother gifted me the above pictured thermo/ insulated coffee mug sometime in mid-January. This was so perfect as I was getting kinda’ tired of handing over my money to the corner coffee guy every.single.day. So far this “investment” (as per mother, she paid $5 for it) has saved me over $100 since the beginning of the year. Talk about a nice chunk of change! I suppose I could subtract how much I’ve paid for my supermarket coffee and milk from said 'savings' but, you get the idea! *I am sure you can find a fancier or ‘nicer’ mug somewhere in the cyber world. After all, this will be an investment but for now this little thing has been perfect for me.

When I first started working in downtown Manhattan (November of 2011) I got in to this habit of buying coffee every morning. I have never been the type to buy fancy $5 coffees at Starbucks but something warm and with a bit (or a lot) of caffeine has been necessary to start my day. I would usually stick with the plain and regular cafe with milk which would cost me $1.95 per day (imagine how much YOU would save if you have a Starbucks habit).

Eliminating coffee from my daily routine was not an option so, I simply decided to find an alternative by bringing it from home and I’ve been able to make it work!

Let’s look at some numbers:

*Started: January 15

Today's date: April 8

Approximate amount of work days so far: 60

Total I would have spent of coffee per day: $1.95

Total Saved: $107 (and counting)

 

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*The 'Starbucks' or 'Fancy Coffee' habit edition

Average Starbucks cup of Joe: $4.05

Work days: 60

Total Saved: $243!!

*Try it yourself! Insert how much you've spent on a cup of coffee (tea, breakfast?)  Since January 2013 instead of bringing that from home!!

Now, I am not going to tell you to go buy a new purse or new shoes with the money you are saving. I am going to advise you to put that in your savings account (or preferably investment account) and see it grow. Maybe start funding a Roth IRA?

 

Anyway, I’m excited about this new series! Hope you liked this post! My goal is to share some good tips in relation to personal finance either every Monday or every other Monday depending on whether I have something new to share. Thanks for reading!

 

Question: In which ways do you try to save money? Any personal finance questions/topics you’d like to see featured on the blog? Let me know. I am here to serve!