Adulting 101

To be honest, I only learned how to manage a home when Sweetie and I got married and moved to our own home. I remember I was shocked when Sweetie said he preferred not to have househelp. We always had helpers at home which meant I focused more on my studies/work, other activities than learning how to cook and home management. 

We had a lot of misadventures when we moved to our first home. We shared this on our "Mabuhay ang Bagong Kasal". Our brand new washing machine almost blew up. Our sink billowed white smoke. The worst was the septic tank incident. My Mom eventually took pity on us and got someone to help clean the house and do ironing once a week. I think she got worried we might eventually end up hurting ourselves trying to learn the ropes of home management. 

Here's what I learned through the years:

1. Pay your bills on time. Aside from utilities, always pay your credit card bills in full. That also means do not spend beyond your capacity. Save if there's someone you need to buy. 

2. Invest in good appliances. I learned this from my Mom. Her appliances really last a long time (her Whirlpool fridge is as old as Miggy!). The Union fan I brought to Singapore ten years ago, came back home with me. 

We used our first washing machine for 9 years.
It was still working when we gave it away because we decided to get a bigger one.

3. Your first home may not necessarily be your last. This was advise given to me by my Ate. We've lived in 8 different homes in the last 11 years. We moved based on need and our lifestyle. Now that we're permanently home and we won't be traveling we'll be settling in a permanent home now.

4. Budget to save, work to be financially free. I set aside money for savings before I spent it and eventually adjusted it based on the goal to be eventually financially free. I'm not financially free yet and still working on my strategy. 

5. Enjoy the chores. Yes, you need to embrace the fact that chores will always be waiting for you to do. I enjoy doing the laundry and have a science on how I do it. I feel so satisfied when I'm able to complete it. Sweetie took over it the past year, but I started doing it again yesterday. I ended up feeling unwell though, haha, but I was happy I was able to do it again. 

6. Get help where you can. You can't possibly do everything. We continued to have someone come in once a week to do cleaning and ironing for us. Before we went home last week we had our place deep-cleaned. It would have been dreadful if I ended up inflamming my sinuses with dust, hehe. 

7. Ask for help if you need it. It's been very useful for me to check the posts of our neighbors when they need help for something. I normally check previous posts first on our group before I ask questions or I ping a friend or neighbor to ask directly. I needed to have our sliding door fixed and easily found recommendations on who to contact. It's fixed now, yay!

8. Think twice before buying home items. It takes me years before I finally decide to buy something, i.e. my KitchenAid stand mixer. I always ask myself if I'm really committed to it and I set goals I need to meet before buying something. I'm also changing my grocery buying strategy since we ended up throwing away a lot of stuff before we went home. I will strictly adhere to my meal plans to make sure I only buy what's needed. I'll also probably put in an inventory system so we don't duplicate stuff. 

9. Do tasks by parts. What worked for me was setting tiny home goals per day since I have to manage my energy. I would set one reachable home goal a day. This way I don't end up procrastinating, haha. Give yourself a treat when you complete the task. 

10. Stay healthy, physically, mentally, emotionally and spiritually. Too much of anything is bad for you. Don't forget to love yourself. 

Remember, there's no formula to be a perfect adult. Just do what you think is right for you. Our parents had to help us in the beginning to show us the way. Eventually my Mom said we were already doing well and she believed we could do anything now. I still ask my Mom things when I'm in a bind hehe. 

#Home14 #NewG230 #Xmas38 #StayHome #BeKind