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I want more “and they lived happily ever after” fics where they don’t have a kid. At all. Not a plan, not an accident. Not in the epilogue. Many people are child free by choice and turn to fanfics to get stories different from the mainstream man woman child picket fence storyline. But so often it’s always “and then they had a kid and everything was perfect” and it just ruins the whole story for me. Not everyone needs a kid to feel fulfilled. Not everyone dreams of having a kid, and I wish I saw that reflected more in fics.

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I always forget the tiny detail when I romanticize staying up late at night to study it’s because I’m imagining myself passionately perusing knowledge. Not pulling my hair and being anxious about my deadline.

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When reading this I am reluctant to realize that I fall in the category of "rich friend" - but please tell me: What can I do to make your life easier without making you uncomfortable? How do I best support you?

Is it o.k. for me to pay the entire bill if we eat out because I have the luxury of affording it or is it rude because I'm flaunting my good fortune in your face or does it feel like charity? From my perspective: I'm just being pragmatic about who can best afford the bill and it's no big deal, but I realize that I'm likely the only one at the table who sees it like that.

Obviously I can do the simple stuff like take notes if a class isn't made and obviously my couch is yours whenever it's too late to make the commute back. But that seems marginally helpful at best.

How can I be supportive without highlighting our different situations? My friends shouldn't have to bear that weight alone, not when I can help shoulder it the tiniest of fractions.

All the Ways Your Rich Friends Will Not “Get It”

I’m a kid from a blue-collar, working-class background, doing my master’s degree at an Ivy League school. I’m incredibly grateful to be here, and I fully understand that this is an opportunity most people of my upbringing never get to have. Not everyone here is from a rich background - there are other working-class kids, getting by on loans, scholarships and part-time jobs. But for the most part, the people around me grew up very differently than I did, and although I love my friends, there are things about my life and my college experience that they’re just never going to get. Things like:

Money can buy good grades. My wealthier friends aren’t slipping the TAs a wink and a $100 bill on their way out of the midterm, but being wealthier does make it easier to earn better grades. I have to work a part-time job in order to afford my rent, while my rich friends are abstaining from work so they can focus on school. That’s 20 hours per week that they can spend on school, while I’m at my job. Our school is in a neighborhood in Manhattan that I can’t afford to live in - I’m spending at least ten hours per week commuting, while they live steps from campus. That’s all extra time that they can spend studying, or just relaxing and getting the sleep they need to be mentally alert. Many of my friends pay to have a laundry service pick up their dirty laundry and bring it back clean and folded (which is common in NYC). I can’t afford this, so instead I spend hours lugging laundry up and down five flights of stairs, because I can’t afford to live in a building with an elevator. I cook and prepare my own meals, they eat mostly takeout. And so on, and so forth. My life is filled with hours of work, chores and annoyances that they don’t have to deal with, and all of it cuts into my time. We may be taking the same classes and doing assignments that are the same difficulty, but I’m going in with a 40-hour per week handicap that they can afford not to have. 

“Follow your dreams” is a risk some of us can’t afford to take. My old roommate spent long hours agonizing over whether she wanted to major in art history or creative writing. For me, that would be like asking if I preferred a pet dragon or a unicorn. My biggest passion in life is fiction writing, but I can’t justify spending tens of thousands of dollars to study it - I’m paying for my education by myself, and I had to choose a field that would let me make enough money to pay back my student loans and afford my own rent after graduating. My friends can focus on the things that really interest them, without worrying about future career prospects. A lot of them are using their college years to “find themselves” and plan to take some time off to travel the world or work on their art after graduating. Many of them have parents with connections in hard-to-access industries like fashion, publishing, television, or the art world. They can take unpaid internships and go for their shot at a one-in-a-million dream job - if it doesn’t work out, they can move on to something else, no harm done. If I put tens of thousands of dollars into being an author and it doesn’t pan out for me right away, I’m in deep shit. I’m happy for people who are able to follow their true passions, and I wish more people were able to do so without fear, but I’m tired of the pitying looks and condescending lectures I get when I tell my friends why I’m not in school for my greatest passion. I didn’t make that decision because I’m boring, or because I don’t believe in myself hard enough - I made that decision because my parents co-signed on all my student loans, and they could lose their house if I can’t find a job. 

Your “funny mishap” is my “life-changing disaster”. My friends talk about the time that they accidentally got drunk and spent all their rent money at a strip club, or the time that they slept through their final and had to re-take a class. For them, these are funny stories. For me, this would be a life-defining catastrophe that could change the course of my 20s and beyond. If I blow all my rent money, I can’t call my parents to beg for more - I could get evicted, or ruin my credit score. Best-case scenario, I’d probably have to take on so many extra hours at work that I could barely finish my schoolwork. If I sleep through a final and fail a class, I will lose my scholarship and be unable to complete my degree. To my friends, I come across as uptight and overcautious, but I don’t have a choice. The same mistake carries much greater consequences for me than it does for them, and they have a hard time understanding that. I wish that I could be carefree about money, and laugh about accidentally getting drunk and spending $500 on Amazon, but I can’t. It can be hard to tell the difference between “oh shit, this really sucks” and “oh shit, I’m going to be dealing with the consequences of this for years” when you’ve never been on the latter end of the spectrum. Again, I love my friends, and I’m happy that they don’t have to have these stresses in their lives, but it’s hard when they attribute my cautiousness to a personality flaw, and not to the financial reality of my life. 

Having no safety net is more stressful than you can imagine. Many of my friends insist that they aren’t really rich - rich people own private jets and private islands and party with celebrities, while their parents just own a modest condo in Manhattan and a sensible vacation home in Connecticut. They’ve grown up around people who are much richer than they are, and they’ve come to think of themselves as middle-class, even though many of their parents easily make double or triple the federal upper boundary for the middle class. But they don’t have unlimited money. They don’t have their own 6-figure bank accounts or unrestricted use of Daddy’s black credit cards.  If they run out of money, they will have to call home and ask for more, which will be awful for them - their parents will probably yell at them, and make them feel shitty, and give them a huge unwanted lecture about responsibility. It could have a huge toll on their mental health, and that really sucks. But if I run out of money, I’m just kind of screwed. My parents cannot help me, even if they desperately want to. The best they can do is let me move into the guestroom of their home, in a desperately poor rural area where the best job available is cashier at the grocery store in town, because it pays $2 above minimum wage. I wouldn’t be homeless, but I would almost definitely default on my student loans, launch my credit score straight into the sun, and waste months or years trying to get back on my feet in an area with no opportunities. If my friends screw up, they have to face their parents’ scorn and disappointment. If I screw up, I have to face my entire life coming apart at the seams. Living with that constantly hanging over your head can affect your entire life, and it really does feel like you’re trying to walk across a tightrope dozens of feet up, with no net to catch you if you fall.  Once again, I love my friends dearly, and I am grateful to have every single one of them in my life. They have made my life and my time at graduate school infinitely better with their humour, their wit, their friendship and their sympathetic ears. I am in no way blaming them for the way they grew up - they didn’t choose their lives any more than I did, and many of them appreciate how lucky they are. But there’s still a gulf between me and them, and it’s one that can be surprisingly difficult to cross. My rich friends love me, but they don’t understand me. They don’t understand that money isn’t just an aspect of my life - it shapes my entire life, for better or for worse, and I don’t have the luxury of forgetting that it exists for even a moment. My rich friends love me, and they try. But they just don’t get it. 

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Mid-Semester motivation! Renew all that energy and determination you had at the beginning (also applies to work!) and keep going strong! 💪✨

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omfg. I just realized that money did find me.....

I hope love finds you in 2018

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just need to park this somewhere. I just randomly remembered an insult that was hurled at me when I broke up with my (pretty serious) boyfriend to go to grad school. "You really are just average". It was said in the heat of the moment and the breakup wasn't too terrible, but exam time is looming and I cannot help think what if he's right?

What if I ended one of the best things of my life just to be average at something I deluded myself into thinking I could be great in?

Average doesn't get me where I want to go. Natural talent only goes so far. So does hard work. I want to go somewhere that requires both. It's the first time I realize

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You're NEVER too old for anything. You're not too old to act childish. You're not too old to jump around excitedly. You're not too old to not be overly emotional. You're not too old to play around on a kid's playground. You're not too old to order a happy meal. You're not too old to listen to teenage pop stars. And you're definitely not too old to read fanfiction!!! Do what you like, and f*ck the rest of the world for being old closed minded boring people who don't know how to have fun.

PREACH

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‘On October 3rd he asked me what day it was.’

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Shia LaBoeuf

you’re walking in the woods there’s no one around and your phone is dead out of the corner of your eye, you spot him (naked horse man)

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german cuisine is terrible in general imo, most germans arent even huge fans of it

i mean they got bread figured out lets be real

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Footnotes are king! That way you can happily read the supplemental information and don’t need to flip through the entire paper. Otherwise you’ll already have forgotten your sentence by the time you reach the end.

As for the German comment - 100% can confirm. If your paper is not 20% footnotes you obviously did not do your research properly

There’s a special place in hell for the people who leave the footnotes at the end of a book.

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Big jock energy

I’m still not over the fact that Hermione Jean Granger managed to snag a famous international quidditch star as her date to the yule ball like. This is the FUNNIEST SHIT. Hermione isn’t even into quidditch. She didn’t even do anything. Viktor Krum just fell for this 15 year old muggle-born girl who spends all her spare time in the library and had never heard of the most famous quidditch player in the world before her best friends took her to the world cup. AMAZING.

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The Full Potential Challenge

Ever wonder what your life would be like if you lived up to your full potential? Would your body be healthier? Your skin clearer? Bank account bigger? I think about these things all the time, and, judging my a previous post, you guys do to. Below is a chart designed to help all of us live up to our full potential. I’ve broken it down into time frames to help keep you from getting overwhelmed. Write the chart down and hang it someplace where you can see it all the time. I will be starting this challenge tomorrow, 9/8. I’ll check in with you guys every Sunday to track my progress. I have specific goals in mind for myself, and you guys should make some too! I really want to know how you guys are doing. Tag your progress posts with #sbfpc so I can track it and take a look. Let’s get to it!

EVERY MORNING

Stretch. First thing. Really give your body enough time to wake up. Touch your toes. Roll out your shoulders. Do not hit snooze!

Do your full skincare routine. I have mine detailed here, but do whatever works for you and your complexion. Be gentle and consistent. 

Brush your teeth and floss. I used to be a big floss-skipper too, but you’d be amazed at how dig of a difference it makes. Rinse with a whitening mouthwash. I use one by Crest, and I notice a major difference in my teeth’s overall whiteness in just a few days.

Give yourself enough time to get ready. Whether you’re a wash-and-go kind of girl, or someone who spends an hour doing a full contouring routine before class (and either one is fine!), make sure you aren’t rushing. If you need to wake up a few minutes earlier than normal, so be it. Rushing sets an awful, stressed-out tone for the rest of the day. Allow yourself to be relaxed before taking on the day.

Eat something. I’m not going to say eat a big breakfast, because some people (myself included) just can’t eat in the morning. But you should eat, or at least bring a little something with you to work or school. If you can’t eat a full breakfast, grab a fruit! You won’t be as hungry come lunch time, making you less likely to gorge yourself.

Shower. You can do this at night, in the morning, whatever. Again, this is something you should allow some time for. I don’t wash my hair every day, but I do condition it every day (from the ears down). Scrub yourself with a delicious-smelling body wash. If you shave, make yourself as smooth as a dolphin, dude. If you don’t, then don’t and don’t ever ever ever let anyone make you feel bad or weird about it. When you get out of the shower, wrap yourself in a fluffy towel and totally slather your sexy self with lotion. Top to bottom. Do it as soon as you can post-shower so it can really sink in. 

Put leave-in condition throughout your damp hair and comb it through.

Put on an outfit that makes you feel good! So important!

Drink water. Drink water. Drink water. Drink water!!!!!

Take a look at your daily to-do list. Knock out the most pressing stuff first. Take pride when you cross things off your list.

Make your bed! Oh my god, make your bed. Do it. Do it. Do it. 

EVERY AFTERNOON 

Follow the “touch it once” approach. This is a truly life-changing thing. When a task is in front of you, no matter how big or small, just do it right then and there. How many times have you gotten a work email or homework assignment and thought, “Eh, I’ll do it later”? And then later never comes? Once something pops up, do it once. Squash it and be done. Cross things off your list and feel like a badass.

Try to go for a walk at lunch. Even one little lap around the block or campus will reenergize you like nobody’s business. 

Drink water. Drink water. Drink water. Drink water!!!!!

Be present. This is so hard for me too, but you have to make a major effort to be present in whatever you’re doing. Be engaged and plugged-in and just exist in the moment. Give 100 percent.

Be friendly to friends and strangers. A smile goes a long way.

Eat something. Eat what you packed for lunch (see below) and take a break from working while you do it. You need “you time”!

EVERY EVENING

Take your makeup off as soon as you’re in for the night. Wash your face with your full routine and let your skin have a break. 

Workout. You can also do this in the morning. Whatever works for you. Make a great playlist and go hard af. Get your cardio in. Get your strength training in. Earn every freaking sweat bead forming on your forehead. Earn your shower!

Knock out your homework. Life is infinitely better you don’t have anything hanging over your head. Half the time, the energy and emotion you spent dreading/putting off your work is ten times worse than the work itself.

Make a list of what needs to be done tomorrow. It’ll set you up for success the next day, and you won’t forget anything!

Drink water. Drink water. Drink water. Drink water!!!!!

Lay out your clothes for tomorrow. This will save you SO MUCH TIME in the morning omg I can’t even tell you how important this is.

Eat something great. And once you’ve decided to be done eating for the night, be done. Brush your teeth so you can’t eat again.

After brushing, do a whitening treatment. Whether it’s classic baking soda, a Crest white strip, or a laser. Do something. And floss! Retainers in too, ladies 0:)

Relax! Take a few hours to do what YOU want to do. Scroll through Tumblr, binge on some Netflix, FaceTime gossip with your friends, anything. Do whatever makes you happiest. 

Shut the electronics off an hour before you want to go to bed. Put your phone on sleep mode. If you stare at the screen, it will keep you awake and alert and you won’t be able to fall asleep. A good night’s sleep is crucial for weightless and general happiness lol

Do a quick sweep of your room and see if there’s anything you can put away real quick. A clean space is a happy space.

Crawl into your bed (aren’t you happy you took the time to make it?!) and read a book by lamplight for a while. When you start to feel sleepy, go to sleep. Don’t push it. You kicked ass today and you deserve rest. 

EVERY WEEKEND

Do something with your friends. It just has to be one thing. Even if you’re just hanging out at the coffee shop, spending time with your squad will make you a better, happier person.

Drink water. Drink water. Drink water. Drink water!!!!!

Do something just for you. Set your laptop up in the bathroom and watch a Netflix marathon while you take a bubble bath. Buy an old school bottle of Mr. Bubbles ($3 at Target!) and really just soak. Relax. Light a candle.

Do something creative. You can read a book, write, blog, draw, code, anything. It just has to be something that speaks to your passion.

Track your progress. Just do this once a week so it doesn’t become all-consuming. And remember that non-scale victories are just as important as shedding pounds.

Take the time to be grateful. Tell your friend how much you admire her taste in music. Mention to your mom how much you love her cooking and how happy you are that she takes care of you. Thank your teaching after an especially interesting lecture. When you do something awesome, take a moment to admire yourself. Be grateful for even the little things.

Anything I missed? Reblog + add yours! Don’t forget to tag your progress!

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Immunity Dog (meme)

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EBAY LOCAL AND CRAIGSLIST! Especially for appliances can save you hundreds! I live in a university town so there are always tons of textbooks on sale. I've bought my Wii U there for 150€ new shortly after christmas when market value was still 350€+

Compare €/kg or $/lbs prices between two sizes, often the bigger one is cheaper. Buy own-brand.

If you're a TV show or movie junkie and appreciate physical copies: Buy CDs/DVDs/Blu Rays over the second hand option on Amazon. Bundle them so you save shipping costs.

Hygiene Products: buy in bulk when on sale. use coupons!

Showering: Often the off-brands are produced by the same company that brings the brands to your store (Henkel, P&G, Johnson & Johnson all do this - my dad used to audit them so that's how I know). Use body wash instead of shaving cream if your skin can take it. Razor blades for men and women have different price points: compare the two and see if it makes a difference (please do yourself the favor and buy brand razors, cutting yourself to save a few euros is pretty dumb).

Coffee, JUST TAKE A FUCKING TO GO MUG! Get a pretty one, feel free to splurge on it so it'll stay warm longer. Also, take a bottle of water with you and if you're downtown and thirsty - pop into a convenience or grocery store instead of a starbucks or such.

Clothes: Especially as you intern clothes are important and expensive. To keep the latter down I suggest you get acquainted with the clearance rack at stores such as Kohl's, Dillard's, JC Penny, Sears, Target and even Walmart. If you have a bit of breathing room: TJ Maxx and Marshall's. If you're like me and need a lot of clothes: Thrift stores, go for a rough fit and tailor the pants and jacket to your need, hem from the inside (obviously) so it can't be seen. Other than that, you'd be surprised at the stuff your parents might still have that they don't use and still fit (my lucky suit is an old pantsuit of my mom's from the 90s with a really flattering flare, you can't find pants like those anymore so I always got a ton of compliments from my female coworkers). Ask grandma for her pearl necklace, ladies - or don a high quality fake.

Turn off heating when the window is open, should be a no brainer but makes a huge difference.

Government jobs and agencies pay students better, especially if you already have an undergrad degree (at least in Europe). You'll be doing a lot of research, but the office has AC and benefits, plus usually your supervisors are a lot cooler about leaving early. Your chances are pretty good if you speak multiple languages.

Other worthwhile tips

1) Learn to write a thank-you note, send it after job interviews (be sure to ask for a business card!). Get those blank cards they sell online or at TJ Maxx

2) Don't immediately move in with your SO to save costs

3) BICYCLES are fast, cost no parking, and are good for you (especially if it's not too hilly!)

4) Buy good shoes, just get then resoled

5) A simple black dress looks amazingly different with every hairstyle and jewelery, also trade dresses with friends if you have a specific event

Money Saving Tips for your Studies

Let’s be real, life is expensive, and while learning things doesn’t necessarily have to be expensive sometimes it feels like it has to be due to class lists and requirements, as well as external pressures. I mean I see so many studyblrs and langblrs showing off pretty desks with muji pens and then I stare at my messy notebooks and pen I’ve been using since high school and feel bad.

These advice will apply to different people in different ways, take what works and leave what doesn’t, this is all just things I do and have seen people do and by no means are they a gold standard of what you should do nor am I saying that you just have to do these things and you’ll never struggle affording food again. Like no that’s just not how the world works. These are just tips for saving a little money here and there that may be helpful to varying extents. Also even if money isn’t an issue for you there’s still some good tips here for reducing waste and spending anyway. And I guess if I had to put like a range on it, I would definitely say these tips will probably work best for people in the middle ground where not having enough for food is rarely a problem but you still struggle with other things and could use a little extra help on getting the most out of your money.

1. Reuse, reuse, reuse… So notebooks aren’t actually that expensive but I’m using them as an example, but anyway at the end of each term rather than buy new notebooks for the next term I would just tear out the pages I used and then keep using the rest of the mostly blank notebook for another class. In this way it kind of felt like I still had a new notebook for the class. If you need to or like to save old notes you can always staple the pages you tore out and store them away somewhere else. It’s also good to do this from the perspective of having less waste. Some people use the same notebook for all their classes which is another cost cutting method but it was easier for me to keep things straight in different notebooks so do what works for you. I just remember that in high school it was like “new notebooks every year!” and then getting into college I kept doing that and then I wound up with so many barely used notebooks it was getting ridiculous so that had to change. But just think about ways to reuse things that you already have, and don’t be afraid to let out your inner MacGuyver to make things work.

2. Make wise investments… Unfortunately some things are just going to be expensive, period. So when you come to these items, and you can afford it, it’s actually better to buy a slightly more expensive item of good quality than a crappier but cheaper item. The reason is the cheap item probably won’t have too long of a life span, and you may be forced to replace it, and those replacement costs can add up as well as the waste being generated. But only do this for things you’ll actually keep using regularly, if you just need it for like one class and never again then totally get the cheapest one. For example I had to buy a pair of fabric scissors once (I was an art major in the fibers department) and let me tell you even cheap fabric scissors aren’t cheap. I wound up with a $30 pair classic Fiskars, which is a lot more than I’d ever thought I’d spend on a pair of scissors in my life. But later I was posting about these expensive ass scissors on facebook and I had several people comment that they had the exact same pair and they’d been using them for the last 30 years. Another example is I would always pay extra for proper weaving yarns rather than using the classroom stock because things like color choice and material were very important to me. Meanwhile other students in my class would just use what we had in the cabinet because material mattered less to them. And this works for small things as well, if you want a nice set of muji pens think of them as your investment in yourself. And also you know it’s okay to buy a crappy thing because you need it now and don’t have the money for something pricier but later put some money aside and plan and buy the better quality item you want another time. It’s a personal choice on what’s important and what to invest in and there is no wrong answer.

NOTE: For extra expensive things like electronics, READ THE REVIEWS. I cannot stress this enough, I know so many people buy their laptop because the guy at best buy recommended it and no offense to the guy at best buy but that’s not a super great way to buy things. Take your time and really find the best item for you in your price range, and don’t discount ordering things online. Listen to what the guy at best buy recommends and then go home and google it. Avoid brand loyalty, good brands can make bad products and vice versa, I know Macbooks are popular but they are not that great for the price tag (and this is coming from me an apple fan by the way). My current laptop is 5 years old, going strong, and it only cost me $520, despite being an $800 value. I mean in general reading reviews is smart but sometimes you’re at the store and you need it now in which case use your judgement. But for really expensive things do not skip this step.

3. Take care of your investment… (God I’m starting to sound like a finance advisor, lol). If you’ve spent a lot of money on something, treat it well. In some cases this goes without saying, who wouldn’t treat a $400 phone well? (*cough cough* my friends in high school). But in others it might not seem as obvious. And there’s nothing wrong with that. Basically for the things you buy, cheap or expensive but especially expensive, do your best to take care of them. Like in college a pencil case was invaluable to me. I had exactly 5 writing utensils, I was emotionally attached to all of them, and I never lost a single one thanks to that pencil case. And they weren’t even expensive or rare writing utensils or anything, I just hated replacing lost things (as I had to do all to frequently I was honestly a mess in college but hey I kept all my pens safe). For something like a smart phone it might be good to invest in one of those seriously beefy cases. They may not be as cute or come in as many options but I once dropped my iPhone from six feet up onto concrete and then watched it skip across the ground another 6 feet and let me tell in that moment every penny of the $50 I spent on that case was worth it.

4. Fix don’t replace… This only applies to certain things, but a lot of times I feel like things that could be fixed are just thrown away unnecessarily. If a pen runs out of ink, buy a refill, if your laptop screen cracks, take it in and get it replaced, if your knives dull have them sharpened. Fixing things isn’t always cheap and you may have to deal with a cracked screen for awhile until you can figure out how to afford it but it’s better than replacing the whole laptop. My brother even replaced his laptop screen entirely on his own over the break (he ordered the part, watched the youtube video, and then did it). Though DIY isn’t always recommended (it can void warranties and you could mess up your item even worse if done wrong), but it is an option. But do it wisely, because there are times when a replacement is the better option than fixing the original, for example if your laptop is really old (5 years is generally considered an old laptop) and it’s been buggy in other ways it might be time to call it quits on that particular machine. But if it’s been running just fine otherwise, it’s probably a good idea to at least get a quote on what it would take to fix it. And if you’re not sure if it’s fixable or not, ask. Even if you think it’s totaled, that doesn’t always mean it is.

5. Sharing really is caring… If you have a friend in the same class that requires the same expensive item, share. If you’re hungry split a meal with a friend (I do this ALL the time, restaurants sell more than I can eat). If you’re extra close with someone (and you trust them), even things like sharing an amazon prime account or netflix subscription are possible. For smaller things you can share even with just classmates, different people will have different levels of willingness and it depends on what it is but you can get some surprising results if you just ask. And especially if it’s something you can financially split because you’ll probably be helping out the other person, too.

6. Talk to your instructor… This is probably the most important tip here. Seriously, talk to them and just be honest. I had a friend do this for one professor because she couldn’t afford the textbook and the guy just bought it for her (she didn’t even go in with that motivation she just needed more time to get it). Another time there was a required subscription service for a class and after talking to the teacher my same friend got that waived. Some instructors may have textbooks they’re willing to loan to you, or they’ll get the library to carry a copy, or even just help you with photocopies of the pages you need each week. You may get some mean teachers that could care less about your financial troubles, but I’ve found a lot of them are more sympathetic than not. Just be honest but brief, and ask “I really can’t afford ____ this term, is there something else I can do?”

7. And lastly but not least(ly)… IT’S OKAY TO TREAT YOURSELF AND HAVE NICE THINGS AND IT’S ALSO OKAY TO HAVE BEATEN UP USED THINGS. And that’s regardless of your bank account or financial status. I see so much shaming where it’s like “how dare you have a nice phone if you’re poor” coming out of the mouths of the same people that judge you for wearing second hand clothes. INVEST IN YOURSELF. If having a nice item helps you feel better and work harder, DO IT. But don’t feel you have to do it either way. It’s your life and your money so figure out what works for you and stick with that.

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surprisingly inspiring and helpful

Friendly reminder that there is no food even remotely close to the unhealthiness of an eating disorder.

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“Freeing yourself was one thing, claiming ownership of that freed self was another.” (Toni Morrison)

Women’s March (1- 21-2017) || Global Movement