#my water bill payment didn’t go through the app so i had to come in person

[kaidabakugou]

i want pancakes :(

[arrogantsonofabiscuit]

Calling him your husband prank

Feat:- Kuroo, Oikawa, Sakusa & Kita

A/n:- I don’t know what should i write here lol.

General masterlist || Haikyuu masterlist

Genre:- fluff, mentions of pet names + TikTok

✮ Kuroo:-

    Oh boy,

    When I say he is whipped for you I ain’t lying! He is a simp for you!

    Neways so you were scrolling through the addicting app tik-tok when this prank just popped up on your fyp.

    You saw a girl calling her boyfriend her husband and his reaction to the term.

    You thought since Kuroo is a tease maybe you could get a reaction out of him which flusters him .

    You place your phone on the coffee table and cover it a bit so that only the camera is visible to you. Kuroo steps out of the bedroom and plops himself right next to you on the couch and searches for a movie to play on the flat tv screen.

    You had hit the record button and were talking on the other phone and that’s when you said it.

    You pretend that your friend had called you  to ask you about your whereabouts and with whom you were with.

    You reply “I am at my home with my husband.”

    Kuroo whips his head so fast at your direction that he almost felt he may have broke it . Please don’t do this, even though y/n is cute but still no!

    Kuroo looks at you amused and you could see that his tips of his ear were red and his cheek was pink.

You end the call and sit next to him, he then grabs your wrists and plants soft kiss on them saying “Rather than calling me babe, you should call me your husband.”

Now it is your time to be flustered.

✮ Oikawa:-

Yoohoo ~

Ahem anyways, you guys were on a date enjoying your meal together . After finishing up with your meal , You guys wait for the bill .

Oikawa always spoiled  you , he would always give his card to you for shopping . Would buy you stuff which you just talked about or saw it in some store. Your boyfriend was talking to the waiter and asked them to bring the bill.

You were just scrolling through your Instagram reels when you saw someone do a prank in which they call their boyfriend as their husband. Your relationship with Tooru was always playful and you liked that. He was a tease for sure and he always made you flustered whenever he could. You wanted to fluster him so you decided to do this prank on him . 

You hold your phone in such a way that it would look like you were taking a selfie. Oikawa starts posing as he thought you were taking his pictures , you decided to go with the flow.

 The waiter arrives and places the bill on your table waiting for you guys to settle the payment. Oikawa pulls his credit card out of his wallet and gives his card to the waiter to swipe it in the machine.

 As their job the waiter asks for the review about their service, food, ambience of the restaurant. You take it as an opportunity and say “ My husband and I really like coming here for dates and it’s really pretty and your services are great as well. Isn’t it my husband?” You wink at his direction . 

Oikawa.exe has stopped working . He whipped his head towards the waiter and asks him while stuttering “did they just call me their husband? They did?!?” The waiter nods their head in amusement and smile looking at you guys. “Well my wife and I do enjoy coming here! Thank you for great food as always” Oikawa flashes his infamous wink towards you only to see you as flustered as he was. 

“Angel, do you wanna be my wife?”

“Yes, but at a right time”

 “Oh it would come soon don’t worry”

✮ Sakusa:-

You were sitting on your couch watching some tv shows which you missed because of work but you got  bored easy and were now scrolling on tik-tok watching some videos.

The front door creaks open , as your grumpy boyfriend enters with a huff he takes off his shoes and masks and makes his way towards you plopping on top of you.

“What is all this?” You ask him amused by his behavior. “I missed you and the practice was quite tiring” he replies with a pout still prominent on his lips. “Let me guess your teammates kept on doing something new ? Or were they loud as always?” You ask as you stroke his hair and kiss his forehead. 

“You have no clue how hard it is to handle them” you cup his cheeks gently and look at him with adoration “ Omi who are you kidding you love them irrespective of how they are” you giggle as Omi huffs and mumbles “don’t team up with them” . 

“How about you take a quick shower and I would offer my cuddles and kisses Hmm?” He gets up nodding his head. You were  now on the couch waiting for him to come back from his shower laughing at some tik-toks until one caught your eye. 

Calling your s/o your hubby thinking aback Omi was still not used to the pranks you and Atsumu always pulled . So you decide to try this on him. As Sakusa enters the living room he plops down again on top of you nuzzling his head closer to your chest.

 “My big baby do you wanna watch something or you wanna nap?” “Nap” “okay” you then place your phone on the coffee table and start recording. 

“Y/n?” “Yes?” “My phone is ringing would you pick it up but if it’s them (referring to Hinata, Bokuto & Atsumu) don’t pick up”

 “ Hey Tsumu  how are you?” Sakusa rolls his eyes .

“Yes my husband is fast asleep what do you want?” Sakusa raises his head and hugs your waist tightly mumbling an “I love you my-soon-to-be-wife”

 “DID HE SAY I LOVE YOU? HE NEVER SAYS THAT TO U-“ Sakusa cuts the call and falls asleep on you smiling as you were still flustered.

✮ Kita:-

You were on a video call with your sister talking about the daily gossips she had to share . Whereas your boyfriend was patiently waiting for you to be done with the call.

“And then they fell while stomping off *weird laughing noise*” You roll your eyes as you were used to your sister and how weird her humour was .

Kita enters the kitchen to fetch a glass of water but you were so busy on call that you did not realise that he was around.

“Anyways I gotta ask how is your husband?” You sister smirks as she asks this question.

“Oh he is great tbh we were planning to watch a movie and order take out!” You reply giddily.

“So has he planned to wife you up?” Your sister asks.

“Hello, uh yes I have decided to wife your sister up but I need to have a beautiful ring as her which would be impossible to find. But I will find a precious ring and wife your sister” Kita replies as he smiles at your sister and then you placing a chaste kiss on your forehead.

“Y/n? Y/n? Are you okay? You aren’t responding at all” . You were shocked as you didn’t expect him to be so straightforward with his answer.

“Shin?”

“Yes darling?”

“Do you really mean it? You want to Marry me?”

“Yes Ms Kita I want to”

“Say that again” you blush

“Ms Kita”

“🥺🥺🥺”

Thank you for reading. Take care <3

Reblogs are highly appreciated <3

[fandom-hoarder]

listen I have so many questions about Stanford Sam, like this kid who was raised in the wild, barely aware of acceptable social conduct arrives with his 2 ectoplasm stained t-shirts at his dorm and like ????? is he very aware of it at first? or does he think he's hiding it well? and like moving in with Jessica?????? he doesn't know how to water plants and that you have to pay electricity bills ??? Like obviously he's not stupid, we know that!! But there are certain things about ordinary everyday life that are just impossible to pick up when you're raised like that. And this is just surface-level stuff, like I feel overwhelmed just thinking about how many tiny things I do in a day, just normal life stuff that I've always done, that Sam would be like ???? so weirded out by, or maybe creepily fascinated ??? Would he try and copy everyone around him maybe??? and then all the odd things that he'd probably do !!! like just basic marine survival nonsense he's dad probably taught him applied in mundane life situations that would make him stand out and he wouldn't even notice !!! And he thinks he's doing fine, people seem to accept him, but then suddenly someone mentions like... TRL or something and he's like ??? and then Dean picks him up and it all falls to pieces, because it's so EASY and ingrained and he doesn't have to pretend and it puts it into perspective how not okay he was doing at Stanford even when it felt like he was ?? god I'm just rambling, like I barely even have headcanons, I'm just so overwhelmed by all the possibilities of how this would play out !!!!

Holy crap, first I wanna apologize if this has been sitting here awhile. The Ask notification location in settings instead of notifications on the app is so weird and I get them so rarely I don’t think to check. (and the website shows that I have 4 but this one is the only one it’ll show? How does tumblr work? Oh yeah, it doesn’t lol.)

Anyway, I have so many thoughts on this! But they’re not necessarily cohesive?! Like first we all know Sam is super smart. He’s curious. He’s inquisitive. But he’s also sheltered in weird ways. There are things he’s known about the world that most people would never know about, let alone kids his age at any given time; yet the existence of those things--and the understanding that therefore potentially anything could be real--also lends itself to keeping him childlike--he had an “imaginary friend” at age nine and believed in the Easter bunny through age eleven, which is much later than the average probably???

By middle school, he definitely would’ve been feeling the strains of his otherness around his classmates, even if they weren’t constantly moving around, but of course the nomadic lifestyle just makes it even harder.

I think Sam is a very observant person, though. He figured out something was up with their dad and The Truth at age 8! So people watching is Sam’s saving grace for getting along in the mundane world. He definitely learns to mask his otherness by mimicking mundane people.

And I get sidetracked here because then I start thinking about exactly how their childhood went. We know John used Pastor Jim and Bobby as childcare/parenting support to some degree. I don’t think we really know anything about Caleb, maybe I’m forgetting something, but my headcanon is that Caleb functioned as a “fun younger uncle” type to Sam and Dean: cool, responsible in a pinch, but mostly not given childcare responsibilities because of his wilding tendencies. (they learn swears accidentally from Bobby and John, but Caleb TEACHES them.) Sam and Dean didn’t even know about Missouri until s1, so she’s off the caretaker list. They had that babysitter they met up with in uhh... Swap Meat! But largely we assume that Dean had a lot of the caretaking responsibilities; maybe with temporary babysitters in other places the same as Swap Meat.

And lbh you just can’t expect well-rounded, informed child-rearing from a kid only four years older. There’s a reason I associate a lot of weechester flashbacks with Sammy watching TV like in Something Wicked, because literally little siblings are A LOT and sometimes you just want them to sit still and quiet and leave you alone for a bit omg.(wait, give me a minute, I’m imagining little 6 year old Dean on the phone with Bobby because John ran out for food supplies and isn’t back yet and Sammy is still asleep but Dean’s creeped out in the longterm room they’re staying in because he KNOWS about the supernatural already. but then bobby gets on John’s case about it--and instead of never leaving Dean alone with baby Sam again, Dean learns from John’s belt not to call anyone when he’s left alone unless it’s an ACTUAL EMERGENCY. Or maybe, because marine, John doesn’t use his belt; maybe he uses PT instead and every time Dean thinks about calling Bobby for that reason again, his abs ache from the memory of punishment situps, or his arms get suddenly shaky thinking about doing pushups til he just couldn’t anymore.)

I haven’t read all of John’s Journal, and I know it’s not actually canon, but IIRC the bits that I’ve read from the wiki show John and the boys staying with a family friend in Lawrence for a few weeks, MAYBE a few months before John visits Missouri and everything STARTS. I think if he hadn’t picked up and left with them then, the family friends would’ve been contacting CPS because they’re starting to think John’s grief is making him unhinged. (I really want to read the journal tbh--there are bits I’ve seen that make me fantasize even more about boyking!sam storylines... but I’m getting even more off track.)

So we’ve got this weird/interesting dichotomy of kids that are groomed with these hyperspecialiizations, too weird to really fit in with other kids but sheltered from the actual hunter life also--like the fact that there ARE other hunters, like as a THING, not just their dad’s rando friends that, as kids, they may just assume know about the supernatural because their dad told them! (jfc they’re SO PRIMED to be each other’s entire world omg I’m gonna die)

So like, by being quiet and observant (an imaginative kid, by nature and by nurture as John starts to take Dean out more and leave Sam alone with his own thoughts), Sam would pick up a lot of things. But they’re never anywhere long enough for him to fully grasp everything and he would definitely suffer a bit from the Dunning-Kruger effect--not having enough knowledge about a thing, but having just enough that you don’t realize you don’t.

Let’s say Sam observes and picks up some things about normal residential life by being around a few mundane babysitters. The nature of John’s “work” would mean that, even if they were in a more in-home-daycare-like situation, they’d be likely to be the “after hours” kinds of kids that are still there when everyone else is picked up and the babysitter would normally be doing their normal life stuff: changing clothes, cleaning up from the daycare kids, making dinner, etc (sam and dean would definitely help, either out of kindness or duty or because it’s agreed that if they help out John will get a discount on their care costs--don’t mind me, just projecting my childhood onto the winchesters hahh. I’m NOT going to go off on a tangent about Dean already having so much experience caring for babies cuz of Sam. He definitely doesn’t have all the under-4s following him around begging for attention while he burps one of the three babies their babysitter cares for after a bottle. it DEFINITELY didn’t make Sam (age 4, 5, 6 maybe) jealous enough to repress the memory so that over a decade later he would claim that Dean doesn’t even LIKE kids.)

Uhh... what was I talking about? Oh yeah, Sam. Observing normal life. Anyway so maybe after things settle for the day, sometimes a babysitter will sit at the dining table with the weekly bills and their checkbook and do the bills. And Sam kind of loves things like this: it feels like something important; it feels like playing school before he was old enough to go (quick aside here: John totally enrolled Sam in school early, both because that’s the only way his age works with canon timeline and because it would make life easier if Sam was in school just like Dean--more cost-and-time efficient.) And maybe Sam goes and sits at the table and just. Watches.

And then he asks questions. When he’s curious, he doesn’t keep his questions to himself as a child (unless the subject is expressly forbidden: see Dean’s reaction when Sam brings up Mary). But his age would inevitably limit the scope and understanding of those questions. Adults are generally disinclined to fully explain the adult world to children, especially when it comes to finances, and in the 80s and early 90s?? With most of the adults of that time that I knew, those kinds of questions were considered rude and nosey. He might understand that adults have to pay bills; he may even understand something about utilities; but he wouldn’t necessarily understand all the requirements and frequency.

Though their nomadic lifestyle wasn’t stable by any “normal” definition, one thing to be said about mostly living out of motels is that your power is never cut off, or your water, or your heat. There’s always television, usually with cable. And the only form of payment you see going on is dad handing over cash or plastic at the front desk--one and done. My headcanon usually disallows the idea that they would’ve squatted in empty houses when Sam and Dean were kids (John makes plenty of bad decisions but I just don’t see him staying in a place without power or water with CHILDREN. Teenagers? SURE.) They would learn how to clean house and make proper beds even when it wasn’t always necessary with housekeeping available--both because of John’s military parenting style and because John would be most likely to opt out of daily housekeeping to lower the risk of having people ask questions.

So yeah, there are so many little intricacies of the mundane world that Sam wouldn’t be conditioned to even think about. Even the realization that he doesn’t know enough about regular life, as he grows up and longs more and more for that very thing because he’s never had more than a glimpse of it, wouldn’t necessarily be enough.

Would his natural curiosity lead him to ask those questions? He can’t ask John because he already asked Dean and got a dismissive answer because ‘what does any of that matter, Sam? we’ll never have to worry about that shit.’ and if Dean seems borderline offended by the sheer audacity of the questions in the first place, he knows John will be worse.

In the 90s, life skills were still kind of a thing in most U.S. schools. But in a really inconsistent way. Sometimes it was in health class curriculum; sometimes your math class would actually do a short focus on balancing a checkbook and banking if there was a chapter, but a lot of times those parts get skipped. You never use the whole textbook. Sometimes life skills was only in Home Ec, but H.E. was completely elective in my area when I was in middle school (the same exact years Sam would’ve been in middle school) and I’m assuming the same for most of the U.S. Sam may have taken it, or he may have taken something else instead (wood shop or computer class were the alternatives in my area). Maybe the nature of school hopping meant that he HAD to enroll in Home Ec, because resources for the other electives were finite, but somehow always managed to miss the bills and budgeting portion. Maybe he couldn’t even take Home Ec due to class size or resources and they just put him in a study hall for that period. (Maybe they put him in the computer class, where he mostly does book work until he gets a turn on the PC he has to share with his classmate.)

As an observant person, Sam totally would’ve known about TRL, I think. There’s no way at least one group of kids in the halls or lunchroom wasn’t talking about it every day in high school, especially with the advent of Britney Spears and Eminem and Jesse freakin Camp. Maybe he goes to someone’s house to try to hang out or to study and they turn it on and Sam watches raptly because it’s such a strange phenomenon and he hardly ever gets to hear new music, much less watch the videos. But he can’t actually get into it because the fangirls are annoying and his analytical mind won’t let him suspend his disbelief about how the voting works. (Maybe he tries giving it another shot in their motel room sometimes, but Dean vetoes that bubblegum pop shit IMMEDIATELY--no Sam, look, that shit isn’t REAL music; most of them don’t even play instruments. And it’s really not fair because Dean TOTALLY watched MTV’s The Grind in the early 90s for his fix of suggestively gyrating bodies before he figured out how to access porn without getting caught.)

Sam and Dean actually make a LOT of pop culture references, which always fascinates me. I imagine they did a lot of TV watching and VCR/movie renting in the times they weren’t working on a case with/for their dad (projecting again; my dad’s house was a very boring place on his weekends). The nature of Dean’s idolization of John and disinclination to let Sam have his own separate likes means they have a mix of age-appropriate pop culture knowledge and a lot of Boomer-era TV and movie knowledge--Dean more than Sam, maybe when it comes to things like cowboy movies and TV lol.

Anyway, as the realization that he doesn’t really know how anything works crept in, maybe Sam would try to lowkey create situations where he could ask his friends/his friends’ parents those normal life kind of questions. But maybe after his first few tries, he’s become so uncomfortably aware of how weird he is to even need to ask that he stops asking. Maybe he starts to tap into his specialized skills and starts snooping/creeping around their houses to try to glean knowledge. Maybe he scours the library for books on ‘what you need to know for life’--I have the urge now to do a google search on actual titles of books on this subject that may have existed at the time, but I’ve already spent a lot of time on this without going into research spirals. lol Maybe he can’t find exactly the things that are pertinent--still doesn’t fully realize that, though--and in the meantime his cache of esoteric knowledge continues to build.

So he gets to Stanford and he mostly understands how the financing works; enough to get by with enrollment and stuff. He understands that he’ll need to get a job of some sort to make ends meet because he’s there to be normal and normal people don’t pay for everything with scammed credit cards and billiards money; he knows that much. But he doesn’t really know about wages, minimum wage, freaking payroll taxes, etc. (I feel like Dean would’ve had odd jobs as a teen, some legit some under the table, but that the nature of John (and Dean) wanting to keep Sam home and safe would’ve made the subject of Sam working through high school a banned topic. And anyway, much as I’m not a fan of the characterization in Drag Me Away (From You), what Dean said to Sam about the impossibility of getting into college with the way his academic career would look is accurate. So Sam would’ve probably spent most of his free time on academics so he could get the fuck out, rather than trying to get a job.

Maybe having to buy his textbooks would be a surprise? John probably always qualified for Sam and Dean to be on free lunch/free book programs in public school, not to mention the likelihood of the records being at least partially counterfeit. But at the same time, John was probably very hands off with their school enrollment crap once the boys were old enough to handle it themselves, so Sam would at least have an inkling.

Sam would be a weird mix of no-boundaries and too-secretive, and his first attempts at acting normal would be a bit too put-on. He’s got experience acting per 1x16 (oh, maybe he did drama instead of home ec somewhere lol), but acting on stage is so much different to acting in a more personal setting. On stage you have to exaggerate your movements to project all the way to the back. Early-Stanford Sam, I guess, is a bit like Soulless Sam. He knows there’s something off about him compared to the people around him, and he just does his best to pretend he’s the same as them without calling attention to his differences, which ends up coming off robotic. A little Stepford. A little uncanny valley. He learns to bite his tongue every time he’s about to let something normal only to his family roll off it; learns to be even more vague than he used to be, because now he’s around strangers ALL THE TIME.

At some point, Sam has a little-but-big breakdown about a payment he missed or the fact that he had to steal shampoo because he didn’t even have toiletries in his budget and couldn’t even afford a bottle of White Rain or Suave, so since he was stealing anyway he got the special brand he really likes and then feels too awful to even use it and doesn’t wash his hair for a week. Brady takes pity on the cute but hapless puppy-boy who is a physical and academic behemoth but has obviously been living off-grid on some kind of militia commune for the past forever--at first the rumor was that he was Amish on rumspringa but the amount of times Sam has busted out some supremely random survival knowledge in casual conversation changes that rumor quickly--and has no understanding of the world. And by the time he moves off-campus with Jess, Sam has this masking thing down pretty well; he can almost forget he’s not normal sometimes and Jess only knows about his previous helplessness in a cute, anecdotal kind of way.

And then Dean comes and gets him and Sam’s all “you and Dad still doing credit card scams?” and Dean’s like “well hunting doesn’t pay the bills.”

AND SAM’S LIKE, NEITHER DO YOU DEAN! DO YOU EVEN KNOW WHAT BILLS ARE?! BECAUSE I DIDN’T AND IT WOULD’VE BEEN NICE TO KNOW!

[jhoudiey]

Yoru got herself some human legs, finally! Now she’s all dressed up and ready to take herself on a date now that she can be fancy! Mostro Lounge seems like a good place to debut the new legs! Story below the cut (1320 words)!

“Table for 1, please” Yoru had finally mustered the courage to leave the house after getting her human legs. It had taken her the better part of a day to be able to stand at all without falling, and more than a week to learn how to walk on the tiny human feet she finally found herself with. She had ordered some new clothes and shoes so decided to treat herself for dinner at Mostro Lounge once they showed up, it would be nice to say hello to Azul, Floyd, and Jade as well, since she hadn’t seen any of them in over a week now.

“Ahhh Yoru-san, it’s good to see you. Glad to see you’re well” Jade had sidled up to her table to take her order. “And I see you found a solution to cure you of your bird legs, excellent work”

She beamed at him, though the potion she’d made wasn’t perfect it did it’s job and the side effects thus far were manageable. 

“Thank you!” She opened her mouth to order but Floyd had come up behind Jade and stared at her, a scowl on his face. “What?” she said, staring back at him.

“You look stupid” he said with a wave of his hand. 

“Huh? Are you looking for a fight?!” she started to get up from the table, her mood souring

“What’s the point, you’re probably so weak now it wouldn’t even be any fun” 

“If you came over here just to insult me Floyd, piss off. I don’t want to hear it”

“Now now, Floyd, you can’t be rude to customers of ours, especially when it is Yoru-san, out for the first time on new legs.”

“Ehhhh, not like I care. I’m leaving” He turned and walked away from the table, leaving through a back door. 

“Ahhh, it seems Floyd has left again before the end of his shift, Azul is going to be angry with him again”

Yoru sat back in her chair, trying to keep some of the excitement she had before she’d run into Floyd intact. “Sorry Jade, I probably should have just gone to the village or something, this was a bad idea”

“No no, it’s fine, Floyd has just been in a bad mood lately, I assure you it’s not your fault. Will you be having the special for dinner?”

She sighed and took another quick look at the menu, trying again to improve her mood.

“Yea, and the new drink too, please” 

“Of course” He nodded and strode away. She’d never been in the lounge before, she was surprised at how intimate the environment felt, despite it being quite large. She was admiring the fish tanks around the walls when Azul joined her.

“Jade tells me you’ve come for dinner with a new set of legs” 

“Yup!” She wiggled a foot at him under the table

“Quite an impressive feat, though I am surprised you mastered walking in heels so quickly” He gestured to her shoes “You look like a whole different person from usual, is this why I haven’t seen you for any club activities this week?”

She blushed and ruffled her hair “yea, I got these shoes last week and I’ve been trying to learn how to walk in them without falling over. I did pretty good getting here, but I’m glad to be sitting now. I have no idea how Vil does this all the time”

“Ahhh, were you looking at Vil-san for inspiration?” He peered over his glasses at her, already knowing he was right.

“Yeaaaaaa. I probably spent more time on Magicam this week going through his posts than I’ve ever spent on the app period” 

“Hmmm I see, has it been worth it so far though? Your dress is quite stunning” She looked shocked, confused by the compliment. “I do wonder though, what sort of side effects does this potion you made have? You are looking a bit pale”

She waved a dismissive hand at him “nothing out of the ordinary, the side effects when I started taking the potion to change my hands were much worse, I’m just getting used to it still”

“If you do find it too much to bear, I’m sure we can come to an agreement and I would be able to help you find something without such severe side effects”

“I’m not giving you my unique magic, Azul, you wouldn’t even know what to do with that many crows”

“Hmmm maybe not, but I daresay it would be handy to have in a pinch. Is there anything else you might need that you would consider trading for?”

“I’d consider it if you left me alone to admire the Lounge” she laughed and he smiled at her

“You really should watch your words, Yoru-san, lest you find yourself on the wrong side of a contract” he chuckled as he stood up “I believe your dinner is here, so I will leave you to it. I expect you’ll be joining us at the club meeting tomorrow?”

“Of course, I need to beat you at Mahjong and continue my winning streak”

“I look forward to crushing you” He tipped his hat, smiled at the waiter, and retired to the VIP room. 

Her dinner arrived and it looked magnificent, though she mused about the morality behind serving fish when the owner was a mermaid himself. Despite the run in with Floyd earlier, she was glad she came to the Lounge for dinner, it was like being under the ocean, without getting waterlogged or attacked by a giant sea monster. 

“Jade, can you talk to fish?” she asked him the next time he came by her table to check on her. 

“While in mermaid form, yes, but like this, no. Why?”

“Just wondering, I’ve never talked to a fish before, just birds. Was wondering what it is fish would even talk about, I wonder if they have little fish problems they need to solve…” she trailed off staring into one of the nearby fish tanks

“Hmmmmm Yoru-san are you feeling well? Did the food not sit right with you? You seem to be rambling”

“What? Oh, I’m fine. It’s just I’ve never spent a lot of time in water before, so I feel like I’m getting a little lost down here. It’s really nice... I probably should be going soon though, it is getting late”

“Ah okay then, here is your bill” she took the bill from him and glanced at it. Then looked at it again, more closely.

“4800 MADOL? IS AZUL CRAZY?”

“Fufufu, I assure you that is the standard price, our special dinner menu is quite popular” She groaned and reached for her wallet.

“Tell Azul that if I’m not at board game club tomorrow it’s because my dad has murdered me”

“I’ll make sure to pass along the message” He chuckled while collecting her payment “Have a good night, Yoru-san” He walked away, leaving her alone. She saw Floyd slink back into the lounge through the door near the back and glared at him. He didn’t manage to ruin her night after all. She got up to leave, lamenting that heels were REALLY hard to walk in. She hoped that Vil never saw her in person while wearing them, or she may find herself roped into strict classes on how to properly walk in shoes. 

...On second thought maybe that wouldn’t be a bad idea. But that was for another time, she was beginning to get really tired, and needed to get home before she passed out for the evening.

******The next day at board game club****

“Azul… how did we both lose” She was crumpled over the table, losing tiles scattered beneath her

“I don’t know. I never expected Idia to be an accomplished Mahjong player” He leaned back over his chair, arm covering his face.

“Hehehe, I’ve been practicing online. My winning streak starts now” Idia gloated. They both groaned.

[seokjinsonlyone-main]

in which y/n buys harry starbucks...

"Next in line, please."

A few seconds went by.

"Next in line, please."

She heard what the barista was saying, but she wasn't processing anything. She was frozen in place. It wasn't until the person in line behind her cleared their throat that she finally moved forward the couple of feet, coming face to face with the barista.  

"What can I get for you ma'am?"

Her eyes skirted around the menu for a few moments, as if she hadn't been to Starbucks a million times. "May I get a grande white chocolate mocha? And also..." she looked in the pastry display, not quite finding what she was looking for, "Do you still have those pumpkin cream cheese muffins?"

"Yes, we do," he said with a smile. 

"I'll have one of those as well," she replied, smiling back while pulling up the app on her phone. Normally, she'd already be prepared with her order and payment, but the fact that she watched Harry Styles walk into the place and was currently standing three people behind her was throwing her through a loop. 

Once her order was paid for, she leaned forward and gave the barista a ten dollar bill. "Harry Styles is standing a couple of feet down. Use that to pay for his drink and you can keep the change."

He let out a short burst of laughter, but nodded his head along anyway. "Alright, love. I've got you." He winked at her, as she went to go sit at the table with her belongings.

She had come there in hopes that a change of scenery would do her writing some good, but all chances of getting any work done flew out the window the second Harry Styles walked in. She spent the time waiting for her drink and muffin stealing glances at him from behind her laptop. 

They called her name and she scurried over to the counter to collect her refreshments just as Harry was moving up to the register. She was sure to keep her head down. Eye contact with him was the last thing she needed. She was just getting settled back in her seat when she looked up, prepared to sneak another peek at him when instead she saw the barista pointing at her. Quickly, she shot her head down before Harry caught her gaze, eyes bulging out of her skull. He wasn't supposed to tell him! All she wanted was to do something nice for someone she was such a huge fan of. Now, he was walking her way. 

She plucked a piece of her muffin off, stuffing it in her mouth and chasing it with her drink, attempting to look engaged in anything that wasn't him.

"Mind if I sit here?" 

"No, of course not," she choked out. 

She had planned out what she was going to say or do if she ever met him a million times over for a million different scenarios, but she never actually thought it'd happen. Still, she figured the key to this sort of thing would be to act natural. 

"Y/N was it?"

She nodded.

"Thank you for paying for my drink. You didn't have to," he said, smiling warmly at her. 

She smiled tightly at him in return. "I wanted to," she said, glancing upward for a moment before looking back down. "And, I didn't, like, do it so you'd..." she gestured between them, "I didn't—don't—expect anything in return." She hadn't held any eye contact until she finished her sentence, but when she did, she found him already looking back at her, listening intently.

"Well, I appreciate it, anyway. I've never had a stranger buy me coffee before," he admitted sheepishly.

She shrugged, finding it easier to talk to him than she imagined. "I like to keep my men both wined and dined."

He snorted before bursting into a full bellied laugh. "I don't even have any food."

She pushed out the muffin she ordered for herself, silently offering him a piece.

He wrinkled his nose up at it. "What is it?"

"Pumpkin cream cheese muffin. It's really good." She thought for a moment. "Or are you not eating like carbs or gluten or something right now?"

He shook his head in amusement. "Where do you guys get this stuff from?"

She raised her eyebrows. "You literally admitted to doing a juice cleanse on national television. And, you're, like, really fit."

His face broke into a splitting grin. "You think I'm fit?"

"Not, like, British fit, like American fit, like, you're always going to the gym and ugh!" she ended, burying her face in her hands.

He pried her hands from her face, laughing lightly. "Kidding."

She opened her mouth to say something, breath hitching from the contact they held but was cut off by a pinging sound coming from Harry's phone. 

He dropped her hands in favour of reading the message on the screen. She took a sip of her beverage in an attempt to avert her attention away from him. "I have to go," he piped up a couple seconds later, grabbing his coffee and standing up to exit the building.

"It was lovely meeting you, Harry," she responded, smiling graciously.

"The pleasure was all mine." He picked up her hand and planted a small kiss on it causing her to squeak.

She watched him take a few steps towards the door, then spun on his heel walking back to her. To say she was confused was an understatement. "Did you leave something?" she questioned at the same time he sputtered out "Do you have tickets?"

"Pardon?" she said, furrowing her eyebrows.

He released a nervous breath. "Do you have tickets? To my show tonight?"

"I... do not."

"Would you... like some?"

"Tickets? To your show?"

"Yeah."

She was taken aback, so much so that she didn't say anything for several seconds. Harry stood there nervously shifting from foot to foot. "You don't have to," he spat out.

"I'd love to."

"Cool. Cool. Also, there's gonna be an after party, and I'd really like it if you would stick around."

She was certain she looked like a fish out of water with the amount of times her mouth opened and closed. "That sounds like something I would be interested in," she finally said overly composing herself. 

"I'll see you later then?"

"That you will, my dear, that you will."

She watched him walk out the door and turn right before she freaked out over what had just happened.

[jncera]

So I'm a senior in high school and I'm really excited to be moving away from the constant negativity and toxicity of my parents when I get to college next year, but I'm really nervous to be living any where other than home. Do you have any advice?

Hey there! congrats! that’s super exciting and i know must feel like such a huge relief. an amazing new chapter of your life is about to begin!

I made a post about living alone/apartment life way back when here. Also have a post about what to bring to a dorm if you’re staying in one here (and if you have any more questions regarding dorm life, feel free to hit me up!!)

As for other tips about living away from home that the 1st linked post didn’t mention:

At College:

If you can, it helps to have a part-time job, especially one on campus as your employer will be more understanding of your student status, and will offer flexible schedules.

Learn all the safety services your college has (on-campus police, safe rides at night, text message alerts, emergency call stations, etc). Have that campus police number in your Favorites/somewhere easy to dial. They know the campus buildings better than the local police, so call them first if you’re on campus. 

If you want to go to parties with alcohol, go with trustworthy friends, and watch each other’s backs/drinks. If shit’s going down, even if you’re not involved, leave before the police shows up.

Before buying any textbooks, email the professor and ask just how much required work will come from it. Sometimes they’re just there for “your reference”, so you don’t need to buy it if you don’t want to. I also used bigwords.com to find the cheapest textbooks online (it basically does the work of comparing between sites for you). Renting is also a good option because honestly, how many times have we actually gone back to an old textbook years later? Everything’s always being constantly updated anyway. 

And, if you’re gonna throw a party at your place, inform your neighbors. Tell them to call you before they call the police if things are too rowdy, and respect their wishes. 

Finances:

Create a budget. There are plenty of online websites/apps to help or offer advice. Someone from your bank can also help you (they can also help you with all other financial stuff like what credit card is best for you (i also have some tips here for that)). If you already have a sense of personal finance, an Excel sheet works too!

Set up automatic payment for any bills. This can be done online through the company’s (electric, water, internet, etc) website, and directly links them to your bank account so that every month, they’ll automatically transfer the bill’s amount. It really helps prevent late fees/your power being shut off, etc. One less thing to think about during college! Just keep an eye on the numbers.

Before I buy anything, I always think: do I need it? do I want it? and can I really afford it? I mean, the treat yo self mantra is awesome and all, but so is not going broke. In college I did this whole “i can’t buy anything that’s not necessary” every other month (with a friend too, for accountability) and it really helped with my budgeting and self-discipline. 

Make a shopping list and stick to it. I use the Notes app on my phone and am constantly updating it until I go to the store. 

Safety:

Download the Uber app. Comes in handy if you’re at a party and want to leave early/don’t want to get in a car with someone drunk/etc. If I’m riding by myself I always screenshot my driver + route and send to a friend and tell them hey if you don’t hear from me in __ minutes, call the police.

If you have a car, learn about the maintenance so you a) stay safe on the road and b) can have an educated say on what’s being done when you car does go to the shop.

Don’t leave anything valuable in your car unattended. I know this is such common sense, but my family had our car broken into once and my purse got stolen.. all because I was too lazy to carry it into the restaurant 20 ft away. Some people may even break in for loose change if they see an opportunity. But if you must leave something valuable in your car, hide it before you reach your destination. Sounds super paranoid, but people may be watching.

And as soon as you get into your car, lock the doors. 

If your phone comes with an Emergency Contact/Health info page (accessible without unlocking), I highly advise to fill it out. There should also be room for you to put your blood type and list any allergies, current medications, etc. 

At Home:

Do all your chores religiously until they become habit, because the best thing about habits is that you never have to really think about doing them. Just like brushing your teeth, yeah? So if you hate doing dishes (like me), always do them after every meal until it just.. becomes something you just do without thinking. There: hate for doing dishes gone!

If you don’t know how to fix/do something, youtube tutorials are a godsend. 

Regularly get the mail, even if you’re not expecting anything. Ads/junk mail still come through, and if your postal service can’t fit anything in your mailbox, they may hold the rest of your mail in the post office, which could interfere with any important mail you may receive later. That being said, remember to change your address on any mailing lists every time you move, and set up a mail forwarding service with the post office (I think they do it for like.. 4 weeks or something?). If you’re going to be gone for a long period of time, you can also set up Mail Hold. 

And one last word (well, second to last): living on your own is amazing, but it’s also filled with learning curves. Everyone can give us advice all day long, but at the end of the day, sometimes we just gotta learn some things for ourselves. So it’s ok to make mistakes the first time round. I’ve burned food. Shattered glass pots. Set off the fire alarm. Clogged the sink with too many potato peels. Had something ridiculous and expensive happen to my car’s engine. Turned in my taxes late and got fined. Life happens, and we learn and adapt and grow. Honestly that’s what it means to be an Adult Who Knows Things--it’s because we’ve fucked up enough times and are old enough to have accumulated Knowledge and Experience. You’re gonna be ok, ok? :)

And.. last word. From one kid of toxic parents to another: life got.. so much better once i moved out and became independent. breathe. you’ve survived. and it’s all uphill from now on. your parents may still be a part of your life, and who knows, maybe in time they’ll realize their mistakes and try to make amends--like mine--but you just gotta remember... it’s all up to you now. it’s your life, all yours. and life’s gonna be so great for you

[kennethherrerablog]

How to Save for a Car if You’re Just Looking… or Need a New Ride ASAP

I knew my old Nissan Altima was failing when I couldn’t turn on the air conditioning. And again when it shut off at a red light.

After patching each problem only to be stranded by another, I finally gave up on it.

I didn’t have the money for a new car yet, so I started saving and rode my bike or carpooled in the meantime.

I was carless for months.

I hadn’t purchased a vehicle since 2004, so I was a bit indecisive on what to buy and what I needed. So I spent a few months saving, researching and planning until the time was right to buy the 2018 Kia Sorento I had my eye on.

If you’re in a similar situation, you pretty much have two options: pay for the car outright with cash or take out a loan.

How to Save Money for a Car in 6 Steps

Whether you need a car immediately or have a few months to save money, planning ahead will save you from going broke or falling victim to a sneaky salesperson. Follow these six steps.

1. Figure Out How Much Can You Afford to Spend

Knowing is half the battle. Once you pinpoint how much you can afford, you’ll know what to save.

Calculate all your basic monthly expenses. These include your rent or mortgage, utilities, phone bill, credit card and student loan payments, and insurance. Do not include extras like cable, groceries or gym memberships.

What do you have left over? This is the working number that you’ll use to figure out what you can reasonably afford for a monthly loan payment or how much you need to save toward a one-time purchase.

Example: Jane makes $1,500 a month, or $18,000 a year. Her basic monthly expenses are:

Rent: $500

Utilities (water, electric, gas, internet): $200

Phone: $60

Credit card: $100

Total: $860

Left over: $640

Jane’s car budget is not $640. It will be considerably less than that.

Remember, she will need to fork over extra funds for expenses like insurance premiums, gas, maintenance and repairs.

Jane also needs to eat and will likely have other expenses. We’ll discuss how to cut down on those variable costs in the last step.

2. Determine What Kind of Car You Want

We all want cars that run, but zeroing in on the right car for you will help give you a target budget.

Some questions to consider when buying a car include:

Do you want a compact, sedan, van, truck or SUV?

Will you use it for work, travel or school?

What features are important, and which can you live without?

Be honest with yourself. If you make $18,000 a year, stay within your means and skip the Lexus.

Once you nail down what car you’re purchasing, you can look up the fair purchase price for new and used cars through Kelley Blue Book.

3. Decide if You Want a New or Used Car

There’s value in buying a car that’s brand new, from warranties and lower interest rates to the comfort of knowing the true vehicle history.

But new cars are expensive and depreciate relatively quickly, and they often come with higher insurance premiums. Plus, you’ll be strapped to monthly payments that go on for years before you can officially own your car. Not everyone can afford this commitment.

Ain’t no shame in going the used route, either.

Lower monthly payments, insurance premiums and registration costs might make buying a used car more appealing. And if you save up, you can purchase a used car in one shot.

But if you buy a car without a warranty, you may pay extra for maintenance and repair costs. Know what compromises you’re willing to make ahead of time.

4. Calculate the True Cost of Owning a Car

Now that you know what is affordable, it’s time to calculate down payments, monthly payments (if you’re financing) and associated costs.

How Much to Put Down on a Car

The general rule for how much to put down on a car is 10% of the sale price for a used car and 20% for a new car.

If the used car you have your eye on costs $6,000, that means you should put down at least $600. For a $20,000 new car, plan to pay at least $4,000 upfront.

Remember: There will be fees for tags and title, so give your down payment savings a buffer to allow for these initial expenses.

Calculating Your Monthly Car Payments

If you put $600 down on a $6,000 car, you will finance $5,400 into a series of monthly payments. The most common auto loan terms are 36, 48 or 60 months.

Use an online auto loan calculator to estimate your monthly payments. These can vary based on sales tax, interest rates and the trade-in value of your old car, which we’ll discuss in the next section.

For a $5,400 loan with a 5.15% interest rate and 7% sales tax over 48 months, your monthly payment would be $134.

Using the Jane example above, we know that she can afford this payment with her current income.

Loans can be secured from a dealership but also from a bank, credit union or other lending company. Credit unions and smaller lending companies could be especially helpful if you finance an older used car, because larger banks often won’t finance a car that’s more than 10 years old.

Budgeting for Additional Car Expenses

Recurring costs like insurance, gas and maintenance are mandatory if you want those four wheels to go anywhere.

Insurance premiums vary depending on make, model, year, location, driving history and the car’s safety features. There’s a maze of options when deciding on car insurance coverage, but you can shop around and get free quotes to find the best deal.

Gas prices fluctuate wildly, but you can approximate what you’ll need weekly and leave wiggle room in your budget for the go-go juice.

If you buy used, consider a warranty or maintenance plan. They’ll cover the costs of certain repairs or service jobs, depending on your specific warranty or plan. You can purchase one from the car dealership or a third-party vendor.

If this isn’t an option, set money aside each month to maintain your vehicle, and be prepared for an unexpected repair. Patrice Banks, auto mechanic and founder of Girls Auto Clinic, recommends car owners save about $100 per month if their vehicle has over 100,000 miles on it.

All of your monthly car related expenses combined — loan payment, insurance, gas, maintenance — shouldn’t exceed 10% to 15% of your take-home income.

5. Evaluate Your Current Car’s Worth

If you have a car to trade in, it is an asset. The value of that car will lower the sale price — and your monthly payments if you’re buying a car with a loan.

To find out the trade-in value of your current vehicle, you can have it appraised online so you know what to expect if you trade it directly with a dealer.

Every little bit you can take off the sale price counts.

Another option might be to sell it yourself locally or use a third-party service like Peddle. Save that cash toward your down payment, or add it to the car repair emergency fund.

6. Save Up for Your Car

Remember when I said, “Knowing is half the battle”? Well, doing is the other half.

If you really want a car, you’re going to have to make sacrifices and commit to saving money. Here are some ways to get started.

Cut Back on Your Expenses

Think about wants versus needs to decide what you can forgo as you save money. A few ideas:

Consider cutting out that gym membership and using the great outdoors for your exercise.

Limit your streaming subscription services.

Start doing your own nails.

Stick with the essentials when you grocery shop, and avoid splurge items, eating out and ordering in.

Don’t tighten your straps too hard, or else you’ll be headed for a binge. An occasional treat to reward yourself is deserved — just don’t lose sight of your goal. Small changes in your spending habits will make your car fund grow rapidly and keep you committed to saving.

Earn Extra Income

As Penny Hoarders, we’re well-versed in getting that side hustle on. Of course, you might be limited without a car, but there are plenty of opportunities to make money by working from home, selling your stuff or finding nearby gigs in your city.

Every little bit counts; just $20 here and there can add up when it’s time to buy.

Use a Savings Account

Between cutting back on expenses and earning extra income, you’ll have to store that money somewhere, preferably out of reach. Use or open a savings account, and regularly contribute to it.

If you know what you can comfortably afford for a car payment, start adding at least that amount to your account every month. Trick yourself into saving by setting up automatic transfers to a savings account, or use a budget savings app that will do all the work for you.

Stick to Your Savings Goals

Staying disciplined makes things easier. It’ll be a tough adjustment at first, but it gets exciting to watch your savings tick upward, and having goals will help you limit your excess spending.

Just focus and be diligent about saving up for your next set of wheels. Skipping the budget and savings plan will put the brakes on your car-buying intentions, and all Jane, you and me want is to cruise on that open road.

Stephanie Bolling is a former staff writer at The Penny Hoarder. After her recent purchase, she hopes to not buy a car for another 14 years.

Senior Writer Nicole Dow contributed to this post.

This was originally published on The Penny Hoarder, which helps millions of readers worldwide earn and save money by sharing unique job opportunities, personal stories, freebies and more. The Inc. 5000 ranked The Penny Hoarder as the fastest-growing private media company in the U.S. in 2017.

How to Save for a Car if You’re Just Looking… or Need a New Ride ASAP published first on https://justinbetreviews.tumblr.com/

[dailyaudiobible]

03/21/2018 DAB Transcript

Numbers 32:1-33:39, Luke 4:31-5:11, Psalms 64:1-10, Proverbs 11:22

Today is the 21st day of March.  Welcome to the Daily Audio Bible. I am Brian. It's great to be here with you. Next step forward is right in front of us, like we've lifted up our foot and we're reaching forward to plant it down as we move forward through the Scriptures. And we do that by picking up where we left off yesterday and moving forward. So, today from the New Living Translation, Numbers chapter 32 verse 1 through 33 verse 39.

Commentary:

Alright. So, as we're moving through the gospel of Luke today, some interesting questions begin to percolate. And then when we turn them toward ourselves, they kind of amount to this: why do you follow Jesus? It's actually a more penetrating question than it might seem. If you sit with that for a minute, like, if you were to push pause and try to answer that question why do I follow Jesus, all kinds of answers can come to the surface and when we read into the gospel of Luke why people are following Jesus around, it kind of boils down to that He is a miracle worker who speaks with authority. And, so, people are coming from all around the countryside to hear Jesus and maybe hopefully get something from Jesus. Get some sort of touch of healing or deliverance from Jesus. And, of course, there's nothing wrong with this, but it just exposes the motivation. Like, why am I getting up off of my sleeping mat, leaving my home walking for miles to find this Jesus, to listen to this Jesus? But for many of these people, it was because they needed something, whether it was words of hope and authority or whether it was a healing touch in some sort of way. So, as we continue to read forward and as the story progresses, Jesus has a crowd around Him and He's kind of pressed up against the shores of the Sea of Galilee. And there's a couple of boats. And, so, He just hops into one of the boats, which is an interesting thing to do, especially if it's not your boat, but it was Simon's boat and Jesus had been to Simon's house so that all makes sense. Jesus goes out into the water where He can sit down and not be pressed into the water and He teaches the crowds. When He's done, He asked His experienced friends who were fishermen, who actually knew the Sea of Galilee and made their living on the Sea of Galilee, to row out into deeper water and cast their nets down. And it's Simon Peter and he says, Well, if this is what you want us to do, rabbi, then we'll do this. But just so you know, we were fishing all night. When you showed up, we were cleaning off our nets so we can get some rest. Like, we kind of know what we're doing. We fished all night and we didn't catch anything. But if this is what you want, then we'll do it. And, so, they go out into the deep, cast their nets down into the water, right? And then this huge horde of fish is so large that it's tearing their nets. The other boat has to come out and help. And by the time it's done, both of these fishing boats are so full of fish that the boats are in danger of capsizing. So, Simon Peter, James and John, the sons of Zebedee, they have just got the catch of a lifetime. Like, their boats are so full of fish right now that maybe they’re going to get ahead on their payments. Maybe they have boat payments, maybe they have bills to pay. Maybe they are finally going to get ahead. God has truly blessed them. So that's a reason to follow Jesus. And, after all, they do become His disciples. So, that's a reason to follow Jesus. But we see that their heart’s posture is so awestruck that it becomes something far more than what they can get from Jesus. Simon Peter falls to his knees and he's like, Lord, leave. Leave me. I don't deserve to be in your presence. I'm such a sinful man. So, we're seeing Peter's heart in this. And Jesus tells Him, don't be afraid. From now on, you'll be fishing for people. And then here's the kicker. As they are getting the catch of a lifetime, the opportunity to get ahead in life, maybe financially, maybe add a boat to the fleet, who knows? As they get to the shore, and I'm quoting the Scripture here, and as soon as they landed, they left everything and followed Jesus. So, obviously in this moment it went beyond what they could get from Jesus. They left it all and followed Him, knowing that what they had just experienced and what they had been seeing was clearly from God. And they were so convinced that they left everything. They left this great opportunity to follow Jesus. So, the question comes up: why am I following Jesus? Is it because of what He can do for me? Is it because of what His words bring up and do inside me? Is it because I think my life could be better with Him in it? Or does being in His presence make the world diminish and fade away and I see the presence of God before me. And my circumstances, whether challenging or whether bountiful, have so much less significance that I'll follow Him anywhere because I cannot stand to be out of His presence. This is God. I want to be in His presence and whatever He goes, I'm going. That's the posture of heart that we see in these disciples today as they begin to follow the path of Jesus and His ministry. And the posture of heart that we need to cultivate and adopt in our own lives.

Prayer:

And, so, Jesus we invite You into that question. Why are we walking with You? Why are we following You? And we invite Your Holy Spirit to bring up all of those things. None of them are wrong. We're following You for lots of reasons, but we're asking You to get to the bedrock of this. Is it because being in Your presence is the only place in this world that makes any sense and that nothing else is more important? This is the longing of our heart. Come Holy Spirit, we pray. In Jesus’ name. Amen.

Announcements:

dailyaudiobible.com is the website. It's home base. It's where you find out what is going on around here.

And a couple things real quick calendar related.

This Sunday, this coming Sunday, which is the 25th, I'll be in Louisville Kentucky speaking at New Song Christian Fellowship. And then two weeks from this Sunday, I'll be in Washington state in the Tri Cities at Columbia Community Church. So, if you are in either of those areas, you can get the details at dailyaudiobible.com in the events section.

And then on the 12th of April, the More Gathering for Women begins. So, if you're still wanting to check that out, moregathering.com is the place. But this is the time where we invite the entire community. Begin praying, praying over this. The team has been interceding for months prior, our intercessors have been interceding for months. But now it's time to call in the army and raise a canopy of prayer over the events at the More Gathering. And, so, just as you prayed for us as we were travelling around the land of the Bible and we felt that, we ask for your prayer covering over the More Gathering for Women coming up on the 12th. We wouldn't dare go into something like this without the prayers of God's people and the prayers in this community. We wouldn't dare. So, we're calling in the troops and asking for your prayers as we prepare for April.

If you want to partner with the Daily Audio Bible, you can do that at dailyaudiobible.com. And humble gratitude is sent back toward you from all of our hearts. We are in this together. If we don't do this together, then this can't be done. And yet here we are. And God has sustained us because we've done this together. So, thank you for your partnership. There's a link on the homepage at dailyaudiobible.com. If you're using the Daily Audio Bible app, you can press the Give button in the upper right-hand corner. Or if you prefer, the mailing address is P.O. Box 1996, Spring Hill, Tennessee, 37174.

And as always, if you have a prayer request or comment, there are a number of numbers that you can use depending on where you are in the world. If you're in the Americas, 877-942-4253 is the number to call. If you're in the UK or Europe, 44-20-3608-8078. And if you are in Australia or that part of the world, 61-3-8820-5459 is the number that you can call.

And that's it for today. I am Brian I love you and I'll be waiting for you here tomorrow.

Community Prayer and Praise:

Hello Daily Audio Bible family. Let’s pray. Father, we come together as a family to pray for sister Mel of Florida whose suffering from insomnia Lord. But she did exactly what she supposed to do Lord. She’s in the midst of her battle, she’s deep in the pit like David and reached out to You Father. And we just ask Lord that You would just come to her Lord, anoint here with peace, anoint her with sleep Father. For the glory of Your kingdom, let her know Lord what it is to rest fully Lord that she can have the rest needed to go on and be Your kingdom. And Lord we love You, we honor You, we pray this in Jesus’ name. I also want to pray for the men of the United States of America. I just ask that we come together Lord and lift up Lord men, honorable men of character Lord, that they would see their call, their noble call to lift up others, young men Father. That’s what we’re missing in this country so much is that men aren’t getting up to fight the good fight Lord and other men aren’t teaching those ways and I just ask Lord that every good honorable and man of character listening here today would find somebody to begin to pour that understanding and that goodness into Father, just so we can turn the tide of our families of the Youth of this country Father God. That’s what we need to Lord, is Your representation in the men of this country Lord to be honorable and of high character Lord, to be vulnerable with each other enough to admit their faults and to move forward. Thank You for praying with me family. This is Delta Alpha Foxtrot calling from the southern Texas front.

Hey family it’s Jordan from Michigan. I need prayer more than ever right now. So, two weeks ago I got engaged to a lovely woman, but five days ago she said that I need to talk to you in five days about something and we can talk until then. And, so, I’ve been in agony and anxiety for five days waiting and I found out that she’s breaking off our engagement. She gave me the ring back and it was because the distance was too much and because I had committed some sins that she had a hard time forgetting about. And she also said that I was relying too much on her for peace and comfort and not enough on God. And I’m just so broken right now. I’m just beside myself with grief. It’s been the worst five days of my life. And I just need God right now. So please, please pray for me. Thank you.

[Singing] Jesus I love you because you first loved me. Oh Lord Your blessings are so long for me. And how you keep me going dear Lord day by day. Jesus, I love you in every way. [Singing ends]

Hello Daily Audio Bible this is Duane from Wisconsin. All praise and glory to God. Today is 8:27. I’m praying for our children, March 18. Dear Lord, today I want to lift up all of our children out there, those that are struggling with depression, physical needs, mental needs, financial needs Lord. We ask that You allow Your grace to enter them, to protect them, to heal them, to draw them closer to You. We ask You also to be over those who are orphans who don’t have parents. We ask that You allow people out there who are able to to support them to come into their lives and if possible adopt them and if they go to adopt that the road will be smooth and that You will help overcome any hurdles that may come in the way. And we ask that You be with those who are being used in the sex trafficking Lord. We ask that You give them comfort, peace, and remove that evil for their life. Block those people that are doing that __. We ask that You turn their cold hearts from what that they’re doing, to soften their hearts and turn to your Lord for forgiveness and to stop that evil trade. We ask that those out there who are hungry Lord that You allow them to have food and give them nourishment that they need and more importantly Your spiritual nourishment. We lift this all up to You Lord Jesus. In Jesus name. Amen. And God bless.

Hi this is Joanne from New Jersey. A shout out to DAB Israel 2018. Hi everybody. First of all, I want to say just thank you again to Brian and his family for doing this and all of the people who are  in the background. It’s been a blessing to me. Second of all, I would like to just encourage John from Florida who called in on Saturday the 17th. Your call really touched my heart. I will definitely be in prayer, you know, with the lawsuit that you’re dealing with. And one thing that I do want to submit to you and your family is just continue doing what you’re doing, crying out to the Lord. And forgive, forgiveness. And ask the Lord about forgiveness and what it will do to release the spirit in the situation, open your eyes and set you free, and also set your adversary free. So, please just go before the Lord and this is coming from someone who has seen the ravages of unforgiveness, bitterness, you know, completely destroying people’s lives and also in the midst of it for self, in learning about forgiveness for self. So, I hope you can hear this and know that I am praying and I’m standing and fighting from the same place. So, all right. Bless you. Bye-bye.

[katygoestoeurope]

Day 17--September 16 We woke up again to a wonderful breakfast and this time Kimmie and her mom joined us. We just adored our host and talked for a long time about a lot of things while we ate. Here are some things we learned from her: - The economy in Italy is really bad, way worse than other EU counties - Their income tax is about 55-60% and she felt as though they did not get nearly enough back from the government to make it worth while. - The salaries are low and the cost of living is exorbitant. For example a street vendor (of whom there are a lot) make around €1,000 a month and doctors make only €1,800 when rent can be upwards of €2000 in a place like Venice. We were shocked and she just kept reiterating how it's impossible to live there. - You are required to pay your income tax a year ahead so they just predict you'll make the same money the next year and if you make less? It takes years to get a refund. - Overtime pay is not possible. Strange how we have this perception sometimes that the US makes their employees slacs away and we don't have enough work life balance but this is the other extreme. Desperately needing more money and being denied an opportunity to make it. - Black money is huge. "Under the table" because it isn't taxed. So like her mosaic job is all black money and a lot of the vendors won't type in cash payments and will give discounts for paying in cash for that exact reason. I see the temptation to do this and I would probably do it also myself, but I'm positive it makes the whole economic problem even more messy. - Sales tax is 22% - There are many people who live in Venice who have never been to Rome - Venetians have their own language that is much different from actual Italian and many of them speak only that. - The southern part of Italy is entirely different with people living with no electricity and a lot of people not working so the northern workers have to compensate--a source of political friction and economic turmoil - If you attend public school, they don't teach English at all. Private schools do but they are, at the minimum, €400 a month. - Italians eat like 4 courses. They eat breads and spreads and cheeses first, then pasta, then more pasta with some meat, then desert. Our host has dinner with her husbands family every Sunday and they won't take no for an answer when they serve a meal! We just kept talking to her and before we knew it we didn't have much time to walk around Murano, the place outside of Venice we were staying. Murano is known as "the city of glass" and we wandered around for a brief hour looking at some of the shops and admiring the massive talent that inhabits the streets. From Murano we took a water taxi to Venice and then used the "people mover" to get to the Tronchetto bus station. However, we did make a pit stop for some pizza first. The options to get to La Spezia were complicated and either we could either different busses, 3 different trains, or one direct bus that left later than we'd hoped but we figured the convenience was worth it. This bus ride was 5 and a half hours long and boy did it feel like it. I love the bus rides, seeing the country but this ride was basically all ugly and it was far too long to be enjoyable. It took us 3 hours and 2 stops to realize there was a bathroom on board because when we would "stop" to let people off and people get on--I use parenthesis because it was more like a pause than a stop--there was not nearly enough time to use the bathroom. Also at no point did we stop long enough to get any food so we were running on a slice of pizza basically all day. The only redeeming quality of this ride was the sunset. As the sun went down we were driving through mountains in Italy and they were beautiful and massive and rolling and green and I tried to take pictures but they didn't come out. The clouds were cotton candy and they hung delicately over the simple towns that were nestled in the canyons and mountains. At 8:00 we arrived at La Spezia but when we got off we noticed some people were staying on the bus even thought it was supposed to be the last stop, and we didn't seem to be at a bus station. The driver was rushed, frantically throwing open doors and running around the bus. I went up to ask if there was another stop in La Spezia and either he really didn't speak much English or he did and was just being a dick (I've heard the Italian and French do this sometimes). I tried even using sign language but he wasn't helpful. So we were already off and he drove away and I looked at my map only to find that we were way the hell away from our Airbnb, a 45 minute walk instead of 10, and not even at a bus station. As someone who works in a job dealing with lots of people from everywhere don't you think he should speak some English?? I mean for goodness sake we couldn't even ask a simple question about the bus ride. We were pretty frustrated at this point because we were far away and not at a bus station meaning we'd needs to call a taxi or uber. We walked a ways until we got to a building that ended up being a movie theater. Both starving I drooled at food even though it was Burger King and then saw they had the worlds longest line. I tried downloading the uber app and then was informed they don't have Uber in Italy. Taylor went up and asked a guy working there if he'd call us a cab and he tried to dial the number then hand it to me. As if I would understand anything the other person said or even be able to repeat the name of the street we were on hahaha goodness. Then we waited for the Taxi and proceeded to take the worlds scariest drive. Truly, drivers are crazy here. Maneuvering through tiny alleys, speeding down main strips, dodging motorcycles, it was wild. I told taylor I thought we were going to die, her reponse? "thought?! I was certain". 8-10 minutes later we got there and he charged us €20....... when we got in the cab I saw him bump something from €11-14 and then we started and I assumed he'd just subtract but no, we had a BASE of basically $15. Before we'd moved. So idk what the hell that was about but we got ripped off and couldn't do anything about it because he spoke as much English as we do Italian. It's just beyond frustrating especially since that freaking bus was supposed to get us here and we ended up spending an extra hour and a half and $25 getting to our destination. It was a looooong day. Thankfully the host was there to greet us on the street when we arrived and she showed us around. The building has the worlds scariest elevator that barely fit us three with our suitcases and has no light so it we pitch black and it has a window so you can see the floors passing. The whole apartment kinda smelled like poop, the bathroom kinda like mold, there were mosquitoes everywhere and I'm pretty sure the bed sheets weren't cleaned because I found a few hairs, and the floor feels like it hasn't been cleaned in about a year 🙃 on the plus side the bed is decently comfortable and there is a free bottle of wine in the fridge--though I'd prefer a clean place in lieu of this present. Since we were still starving we went out to look for food. Luckily there were a lot of places open and we had, as always, a difficult time choosing. We ended up at this place where there was a queue, which is always a good sign. We shared testolini pesto and a pizza with onions and bell peppers. The pizza was to die for and the pasta was different and kinda like a flat gnocchi. We also spent the last part of our meal trying to learn the Italian phrase to ask for the bill. Well, it was more like taylor picked it up right away and then spend 10 minutes trying to teach me and laughing at me butchering it. I really struggle with language and I'm jealous of her affinity for it. Anyway I finally got it down ahah "senori, solo il cunto per favore" --"sir, just the check please". In an food comma we got home and quickly went to sleep. Having no internet is difficult but it's only for a few days.

[touristguidebuzz]

How I Saved Money For Travel (You Don’t Need To Be Rich)

How to Save Money for Travel

Travel Tips

Want to travel the world for a while? Or just take an epic vacation? You don’t need to be rich, but you’ll need to get creative about saving money for travel. Here’s how I did it.

There’s a popular myth floating around that travel is an expensive hobby. Certainly people who travel a lot must have rich parents, lucrative lottery winnings, or work high paying jobs… right?

Normal people can’t afford to travel. It’s far too expensive for the rest of us…

Don’t worry, I understand where you’re coming from. I used to think that way too. As an American who didn’t even know what a hostel or GAP year was, I thought international travel was only for the rich and privileged.

But after traveling the world extensively for the past 6 years, I’m here to tell you world travel is possible for the rest of us too.

How To Save Money For Travel

After countless emails from readers asking about how I’m able to travel the world seemingly non-stop exploring incredible destinations, I wanted to share some useful tips about how I learned to save money for traveling.

Because I had to learn too — it didn’t come naturally. In fact I used to be horrible at saving money.

When I quit my job in 2010 to embark on a year long adventure in Central America, I wasn’t rich. I was living in South Florida earning $28,000 a year working as a photographer for used car dealerships and nightclubs in Miami.

Incredibly glamorous, I know…

Even with my very average (American) income, and living in a pretty expensive area of the country, I managed to save $7000 in 12 months by transforming my lifestyle and living below my means.

I learned how to spend less, save more, and earn extra cash on the side.

It wasn’t easy, and it required plenty of hard work and sacrifice, but if I could do it, I’m confident you could too. It doesn’t matter if you want to travel for two weeks or two years, the process is the same.

Here’s my simple formula that will help you save money for your next trip.

We All Want More Of This…

1: Become Financially Responsible

This isn’t intended to sound judgmental. We all start here. What did school really teach you about financial planning? For many of us, not much.

Money management is a learned skill – but most of us don’t master the basics until we’re adults — if ever. I was clueless for a long time.

If you want to save money for travel, now is a good time to revisit those basics, and maybe iron out a few of those bad financial habits we all acquire along the way.

Remember that this is a marathon, not a sprint.

You are making a significant long-term commitment that’s sometimes going to be really hard to stick to. Saving up enough money for travel, or anything for that matter, is tough on the soul and demands sacrifice, which is why so few people succeed. The right mindset is everything!

How much do you want this? Because nobody else will do it for you. It’s your responsibility the whole way.

Equally importantly, how many times are you willing to try and fail until you’ve successfully learned all the habits and strategies that will put the required amount in the bank to get you traveling?

Good. I think you’re ready for this then! (Just don’t expect it to be easy.)

2: Track Your Spending

Money itself isn’t stressful. Neither is effective money management. Not knowing what your money is doing? Being afraid to check your bank balance? That’s where all the stress happens.

The solution to this is simple.

Put aside a day this weekend, buy your favorite bottle of wine (you’ll need it), and go through all your accounts to find out EXACTLY what your finances look like, down to the dollar.

Tracking expenses is an important part of learning where you can cut back, or even eliminate your spending.

I know, you’ve probably heard this before. But have you actually done it? On a regular basis? It’s a powerful way to identify how much money you piss away every month on random crap you don’t need.

Write it ALL down. How much do you spend on food each week? Don’t forget to include groceries, eating out, bottled water, and snacks. How much do you spend on entertainment? Movies, books, music, sports tickets, dates, etc.

What about vices like alcohol, cigarettes, and coffee?

What are your monthly bills? Rent, mortgage, utilities, car payment, insurance, credit card interest, cell phone service, gym membership, student loans, etc. Don’t forget miscellaneous shopping either. Video games, clothes, pet toys, etc.

Now, grit your teeth and look it all in the face. You may be surprised at how much you’re spending. Little things tend to add up. This isn’t an easy thing to do, I know. That’s why you might need that wine.

But it becomes a lot easier if you approach saving with the right attitude. You’re not here to judge yourself or wallow in regret. Take your feelings out of the equation because they’re not needed.

This is simply about awareness. You’re looking your financial situation right in the eye and saying, “OK – this is where I am. This is where I need to be.”

If you’re like me, building this kind of awareness, and tracking everything, takes time. That’s the nature of habits – you don’t suddenly change your behavior overnight.

Track your spending like a pro with this free expense tracking app from Mint.

Stick To Your Budget

3: Budget Ruthlessly

There are two types of budgeting you need to do here. The first is budgeting your trip. The second is budgeting your life.

First, you need to work out how much your trip is going to cost you. If you know what you’re doing, your travel budget can be as low as $50 a day.

The amount is going to vary wildly depending on where you want to travel, and how thrifty you are. But for long-term budget travel, I usually recommend planning to spend at least $1500 per month.

So that means to backpack around the world for 6 months, you should have at least $9000 in your bank account before you leave.

If you choose wisely, your accommodation can cost next to nothing. Cheap flights can be easy to find if you follow these simple tips – and so on.

If you want all my best advice for ways to save money on travel, start here.

You’ve got 16 months before you leave? Great! Your monthly savings goal is 1/16th of that total – and you need to budget successfully to put that amount aside every month, more or less, until you hit your target.

Now the big question becomes – how are you going to hit that target?

First step: create a running budget, assigning strict numbers to recurring expenses – and stick to it religiously. Some expenses are fixed, for example, your rent (although, keep reading below for one way to lower it).

Other expenses are flexible, like the money you spend on food every month, or socializing. The trick with these is to make sure you always know how much of your budget is left, so you’re not a victim of “phantom expenses” that nibble away your hard-earned savings without you being aware of them.

Going shopping? Decide in advance how much you can afford to spend, and use the calculator on your phone to total everything up as you walk round the aisles. Going out with friends? Withdraw cash, and leave your cards at home so you can’t blow your budget.

Budgeting effectively isn’t scary. In fact, it’s the exact opposite. When you have complete control of your money (and not the other way round), your confidence will soar – and you’ll work even harder towards your goal.

Check out this terrific set of free online budgeting classes to master the basics.

4: Reduce Unnecessary Spending

Grab a piece of paper and draw a vertical line down the middle of it. At the top left, write “NEEDS” – and at the top right, write “WANTS”.

Now place everything you spend money on into one of these two columns.

Be as brutally honest as possible. Do you need Netflix right now? Do you need that cappuccino you always have on your lunch break? What about those beers on Friday night? How about new clothes?

Consult your spending diary that you’ve hopefully been using. How many of those daily entries were things you actually needed? Will your life end without them?

Once you’re finished, look at the “WANTS” column – and write down how much they cost, next to each item. Now total them up. That’s how much you can instantly start saving every month if you cut all these out.

The final step here is simply to stop buying those things you don’t need. I know, it’s harder than it sounds.

Our extremely effective and profitable marketing industry will try its best to convince you to buy that Starbucks Unicorn Frappuccino. Don’t let them win. It’s time to take control of your finances right now.

I Cook A Mean Risotto…

5: Develop Habits That Save You Money

How about getting up a little earlier, skipping the bus and walking/riding a bike to work instead? Ever heard of ride-sharing? What other daily expenses can you replace with money-saving habits?

What skills can you learn that will cut your daily costs?

I’ll give an example. By cooking your meals instead of buying them prepared, you can save thousands of dollars every year. Which is exactly what I did when I was saving money for my own travel adventures.

You don’t have to give up excellent coffee and tasty avocado toast — just make them yourself and save money.

Cooking for yourself, especially lunch & dinner, can save somewhere between $6 and $11 per meal – so if you previously spent all your time eating out, you’d save between $125 and $230 every week just by cooking.

It’s a skill that puts decent money in your pocket. Plus, it’s fun too!

6: Cut Accommodation Costs

This is extreme – but also extremely effective. If the place you are renting (or own) costs a lot of money, how about taking on a roommate to share the rent and bills? What about two roommates?

If that’s not an option, and you’ve got a year or more before you hit the road – why not move into a smaller apartment, or a cheaper neighborhood? This is one way I was able to save money for my trip.

By moving into a cheaper neighborhood on the outskirts of Fort Lauderdale in Florida, sharing a small house with 2 other roommates, I was able to save hundreds of dollars on accommodation every month rather than living in the much more expensive city of Miami.

Other travelers I know moved in with their parents for a few months to save money. Or they rent out their homes and move somewhere cheaper. Obviously these aren’t ideal situations, and may not even be options for everyone, but I just want to open your eyes to the possibilities.

Sometimes you need to think outside the box to make your dreams come true. And drastic measures can be uncomfortable, but effective.

Who Needs A Car?

7: Sell Your Crap

If it’s worth good money and you can’t travel with it, then is it really worth hanging onto? In my case, I took a long, hard look at my car one day, decided to sell it, and bought a used folding bicycle to replace it.

Instant injection of much-needed cash! Not only from the sale, but also from canceling my auto insurance and no longer needing to buy gas.

Instead, I purchased a public bus pass. Sure, my commute was longer. Riding my bike to the bus stop in the rain kinda sucked. But you know what? I was dedicated. I was determined. Wearing a poncho and riding in the rain isn’t the end of the world. Other people do it, why can’t I?

In addition to my car, I also sold my DJ turntables, sports equipment, and some furniture I really didn’t need. Everyone’s “crap” will be different. But we all collect it in one form or another.

Sites like Ebay & Craigslist can help you sell your stuff for extra cash to build up your travel fund.

8: Other Ways To Save

No, simply quitting avocado toast and frappuccinos isn’t going to pay for 6 months of travel. But, when combined with other money saving lifestyle changes, it all adds up to make a big difference.

Stop Going Out

Instead of spending too much money at a club or movie theater, invite friends over to your place for a movie night. Get outside and go on a hike.

Cook More

Now is a good time to learn the art of cooking. It’s entirely possible to buy low-cost, healthy ingredients, and cook your own tasty meals at home.

Shop Around

Did you compare prices while grocery shopping last week? Did you buy the cheapest toilet paper? Are you shopping at places like Costco & Amazon?

Cut Your Landline

I can’t remember the last time I used a landline. Cellphones work just fine. Switch to the cheapest provider, with the cheapest plan possible.

Ditch Your Cable

TV is a waste of time. Stop paying to live vicariously through shows, and make your own life more exciting. The internet is full of free entertainment!

Quit The Gym

No need for a gym membership when you can go running, hiking, or practice bodyweight exercise routines outside while enjoying nature!

Slash Your Shopping

No, you don’t need the latest smartphone. No, you don’t need new clothes every month. No, you don’t need 5 different shades of lipstick.

Reduce Utilities

Turn down your air conditioning and use a fan or wear a sweater. Unplug electronics when not in use. Take shorter showers.

Do You Have Any Talents You Can Sell?

9: Make More Money

Everyone wants to earn more money, right? Well it doesn’t grow on trees, but there are opportunities, even if you already have a full-time job.

Find part time work on the side. Maybe as a waiter, bartender, supermarket cashier, etc. I worked as a nightclub photographer 4 nights a week, putting up with drunk entitled assholes…

It doesn’t need to be an amazing job! Just something to boost your income. Do some research, and figure out what kinds of part-time positions match your skillset & talents.

Selling arts & crafts on Etsy. Stalking garage sales & re-selling on eBay. Walking dogs. Tutoring students. Babysitting. Audio transcription. Playing music.

The only limit is your imagination!

Check out Reddit’s Side Income Wiki for examples of how other people earn extra money.

10: Review Your Employment

Not earning enough money from your current job? Maybe it’s time to ask for a raise (as long as you can prove you actually deserve it). What makes you an important asset to the company?

Alternately, why not attempt to re-negotiate? Ask if there’s any way you can cut back your hours, or work from home a few days a week, so you can use that time you would normally spend commuting… on your side job.

If those aren’t options, you can start looking for another employer who pays more. Train in your spare time for something that pays better.

You’re not a slave to your job — if you don’t make enough, shop around and find a better place to work.

I know I’m making it sound easier than it is… but I never promised this would be easy. It’s not.

11: Earn As You Travel

This is a nice short-cut. If you can earn money as you travel, you won’t have to save quite as much. This is what I did. Before I began traveling, I’d built a small online business selling eBooks about topics I was knowledgeable on.

I managed to squeeze a money-making opportunity from my limited free time – which reduced the amount I needed to save for travel, as I could earn income on the road.

Because I was earning about $1500 per month from my online business, I left to backpack around Central America with only $7000 in the bank — confident I could continue working from my laptop.

Selling ebooks is no longer how I earn income. These days I make a good living from my travel blog. But that took a few years to accomplish.

How can you earn money online? Well there are all kinds of ways.

Affiliate marketing. Freelance writing. Graphic design. Computer programming. Becoming a virtual assistant. Language translation. I don’t know what skills & experience you have. But there are options.

For more details and ideas about how to earn money while traveling, make sure to check out my travel job guide.

Saving Money Won’t Be Easy!

Saving money doesn’t come naturally to most people. Nearly half of Americans don’t even have a $400 emergency fund.

The formula is simple. Live below your means, and save the rest.

Yet implementing this formula is not always easy. There are social pressures. We’re bombarded by marketing. Our willpower is lacking. We make excuses and lie to ourselves.

Others may have additional roadblocks — like obligations to support loved ones, student loans, debilitating injury, chronic disease, or a lack of job opportunities where they live.

If that’s the case, it may just take longer to reach your savings goal.

Following through is the difficult part. I know, I’ve been there. If this was easy, everyone would be doing it.

Resources To Get You There

To help you start saving money for travel, I’ve included some of my favorite resources below. These are useful tools for learning how to track your spending, budget your life, save money fast, or earn extra income.

YNAB – Excellent budgeting software & system to help you get out of debt and save money.

Mint – Popular free app for tracking your finances and managing your money.

I Will Teach You To Be Rich – My favorite book about becoming financially responsible & independent.

Remote Job Directory – Wonderful resource that lists websites for finding a location independent job.

The $100 Startup – Inspiring book that highlights 50 people who built their own businesses with minimum investment.

The 4-Hour Workweek – The book that convinced me to enter the world of online business and entrepreneurship.

One Last Piece Of Advice

As you’ll discover when you’re traveling, things rarely go exactly to plan.

The ability to think on your feet and adjust your trajectory on the fly is an important skill for travel, and life.

Expect many course corrections. Don’t be surprised when obstacles get in your way. Life is messy and the best-laid plans have a habit of fraying at the edges, or falling apart completely.

That shouldn’t matter though – you’re committed to this, right? You’ll find another way to get there. The specific plan you choose isn’t important… the destination is everything.

Best of luck – and I hope to see you out there! ★

READ MORE TRAVEL TIPS

The 33 Best Travel Friendly Jobs This Is How I Get Paid To Travel Advice For Students Who Want To Travel

Have any questions about saving money for travel? Drop me a message in the comments below!

This is a post from The Expert Vagabond adventure blog.

[ronaldmrashid]

The Downside Of Financial Independence

One of the things I was counting on when I published, Being A Landlord Questions My Faith In Humanity, was readers coming out of the woodwork questioning why I would be so lenient when my tenants were so thoughtless. Most were empathetic to my situation, but some blamed me for my tenant’s actions. That’s cool.

At the end of the day, I got $216,000 worth of rent over 24 months, a completely redone backyard mostly paid for by them, a professionally cleaned house, and $1,000 of their $17,000 deposit. Things could have been much worse if you read some of the tenant horror stories in the comments section.

My tenants were generally nice guys. They were just clueless. When I sent them the picture of the trash explosion the next day, they immediately called a junk trunk to collect everything a couple hours later. They could have just disappeared into the wind since they had their deposits back. But they didn’t.

Hopefully my post will encourage people to be more thoughtful. At the very least, it provides some insights for current and future landlords. I always try to highlight the good with the bad on my road towards financial utopia (doesn’t exist, sorry).

In this post, I’d like to highlight the downside of being financially independent. I don’t know any other landlord who would not have charged a single late fee after eight times of tardiness. But you know I’ve got a masochistic side, looking for ridiculous situations to share with all of you!

The Downside Of Being FIRE

1) Not optimizing for maximum financial returns. When you are financially independent, you don’t need more money because you already have money. If the counter party isn’t financially independent as well, you start feeling a little slimy for trying to optimize your returns. As a result, you aren’t negotiating the best deals. You aren’t shopping around to find the best bargains. You’re definitely not driving around the block to find a free parking spot. And you’re always booking flights late because you value optionality.

Instead of optimizing for financial returns, you start maximizing for peace and harmony. With each late payment, I had a choice of letting it go or laying down the hammer, which might have led to more property damage and further disregard of the lease. I knew they would eventually pay, so I showed kindness.

By forgiving their tardiness, I wanted to build credits for future instances when I couldn’t come over in a timely manner to fix something or address an issue. And it worked on two occasions: 1) The kitchen faucet lost cold water pressure for some reason. My master tenant volunteered to meet the plumber, make the payment, and oversee the project. 2) Then my microwave stopped working one day. It was a custom size that was built into the cabinetry. He took it upon himself to go to Best Buy, then to a private party when Best Buy didn’t carry such a model to pick one up, pay for it, and install it. His actions saved me at least three hours of time.

My main mantra is to always give as much as possible first. This way, people are more inclined to do right by you in the future. I’m a peacekeeper by nature who believes everything can be worked out through an open discussion.

Related: To Get Rich, Be Willing To Do The Dirty Work

2) People will take advantage of your kindness. It doesn’t matter how rich you are, nobody ever wants to be taken advantage of. Yes, my tenants were taking advantage that I wasn’t penalizing them $250 for each time they were late. But the way I saw it was I had $2,000 worth of credit I could withhold from their $17,000 security deposit if they didn’t comply with what I asked for before moving out.

They knew this, which is why one of the tenants said the day before move out, “We won’t let you down Sam!”

I have a wealthy friend who escaped to Paris for a year with his wife and four kids because he couldn’t stand getting hit up for money all the time. He told me, “Every time I open my inbox, I get some random person whom I don’t even know asking if I could donate $100,000 to some organization I don’t care for. It’s maddening I tell you. How about at least getting to know me first?”

One time I met a friend for drinks. He was talking to this startup female founder who was once an ex-beauty pageant queen. She was attractive and she knew it by the way she talked about her relationships with “high powered VCs.” Both my friend and the founder had to leave, so instead of paying for her own drink, she looked at me and said, “I’ve got to run. It was nice meeting you,” implying that I was to pick up her tab. Since she Usain bolted, of course I had to pay even though we just met. I’ll give her startup a 0.1% chance of surviving with that type of entitlement.

Finally, I get bombarded every day with questions from people who don’t bother to make a connection first. I’ve been asked to give a diagnostic of their entire financial lives. Some have asked whether I can help them with their marriages. Others have asked me to help them with their online business plan. The most common question I get is, “Can I pick your brain?” I’m not sure how anybody thinks that’s enjoyable.

To avoid being taken advantage is one of the key reasons for practicing Stealth Wealth. If people know you are financially independent, they’ll do everything they can to extract as much time and money from you as possible.

3) You start empathizing too much. I saw in my tenants a rowdier version of me when I was their age. I remember what it was like to struggle at work, survive layoffs, begrudgingly pay a portion of my paycheck to rent, all while trying to enjoy all that life has to offer. I started developing a lot of empathy for them because some of them had issues at work. Another had back tax problems because he somehow forgot to pay them. While another just couldn’t get it together given his parents babied him too much as an adult. I thought I could be sort of a big brother who could provide some guidance.

But empathy doesn’t get you anywhere if the other side doesn’t care. There’s a reason why it’s never a good idea to do business with friends or loved ones. For at least the rest of the year, I’m going to work on being a stone cold business assassin. It’s not in my nature because I’m always joking around and having a good time.

To be frank, I fear the lion within. I’ve never backed down from a fist fight or a shouting match when provoked. A part of me longs to snap an oppressor’s bones as I once did as a raging young man who always defended his honor. Thanks to the feedback from the community, I’ve been reminded how overly soft I’ve become. Time to get fierce and care for no one!

Related: Are You Smart Enough To Act Dumb Enough To Get Ahead

4) You start taking money for granted. Do you remember how excited you were as a kid to get a crisp new bill in an envelope for your birthday or Christmas? Those were the best! Unfortunately, I no longer get excited about seeing a $20 bill or even a $100 bill in my wallet. Now, I withdraw thousands of dollars at a time to pay vendors without feeling a thing.

The reason why I’ve begun to tip more aggressively since reaching financial independence is because I enjoy seeing the joy in others that I once had. I remember getting a $5 tip for just a $5 ride when I gave an Uber ride to this woman. My eyes teared up with gratitude! For the rest of the afternoon I had an extra hop in my step. Then I noticed the best tippers are those who work in the service industry because they know how hard it is to make a buck.

I wish I would be excited by money again. But I’m not. Nowadays, all I get excited about is living life on my terms.

* I just realized while writing this post that I forgot to collect $420 for the two pro-rated and discounted nights after April 30 check out. I accommodated two of the guys because their escrow closing was delayed. I wanted them out on April 30 because it would take five days for the floor guy to refinish everything with four coats of polyurethane. If I cared more about money, I would have remembered to have collected the $420 on the May 2 walk through. 

5) You slowly lose motivation to try harder. There was a time when I responded to almost every comment. I felt I had to at least say “thank you” to those who took the time to share their thoughts. But now, I respond to only about a third because I’ve lost the energy to keep up. I feel I’ve provided enough value over the years to give myself a break. Besides, the time formerly spent responding to comments is being used to write meaty new posts.

I used to have this goal of writing five posts a week from the current three posts a week cadence. More posts, higher growth, and more revenue. Now, I’m thinking about just posting a couple times a week because I don’t have this insatiable drive to grow my business anymore. Unless there’s a huge tax cut, I don’t want to build a Financial Samurai app or create a larger publication with 10 different staff writers. I just want to have my own little lifestyle business that never feels like work.

The people who hit it out of the ballpark have this ridiculous drive. Pity the trust fund kids who went to private school, got jobs through connections, and don’t really have to create something of their own. When you have everything taken care of, it’s much harder to be your own person. I blame my loss of motivation partly due to my older age, but mostly due to my passive income and steadily declining debt levels.

Related: Debt Optimization Framework For Financial Independence

The Three Generation Cycle

“From rice paddy field to rice paddy field in three generations.” – Japanese/Chinese variation

“Shirtsleeves to shirtsleeves in three generations.” – American variation

“The father buys, the son builds, the grandchild sells, and his son begs.” – Scottish variation

The First Generation comes from a life of hardship. This generation takes the most risks, works the hardest, and makes the most sacrifices to break the cycle of poverty.

The Second Generation grows up a witness to their parents’ struggle and understands the importance of hard work. Because of this awareness, they make good financial decisions and build upon the foundation their parents worked so hard to create.

The Third Generation, however, has no recollection of hardship. They only know a life of abundance. Without an awareness of the work needed to build build wealth, the third generation squanders their good fortune their parents and grandparents worked so hard to build.

My great grandparents left China by boat in order to make better lives in Hawaii and Taiwan. They took all kinds of risk, whereas by comparison, I’ve done nothing close. I fear that a life free of financial worries will dishonor their generations of hard work, frugality, and sacrifice. With consternation, I wonder when my child grows up, will he take his good fortune for granted?

Being financially independent is fine, but unless you have a deep hunger to do something great, it is unlikely you will ever maximize your potential. Therefore, a key reminder is to always be mindful of others.

Financial independence can blind you to the world’s suffering. Or financial independence can bless you with the time to help other people. Which will you choose?

Related:

The Dark Side Of Early Retirement

Once You Have F U Money It’s Hard To Tell Others To F Off!

How Does It Feel To Be Financial Independent?

from http://www.financialsamurai.com/the-downside-of-financial-independence/

[houstonlocalus-blog]

Yes, Poor People Need Smart Phones (AND Health Insurance)

About a month ago, the ramp up to the predictably dismal Trumpcare bill was in full bloom. The bill has since been dealt an inglorious defeat due to it being too terrible for moderate Republicans and not terrible enough for the wing nuts. In the midst of all that came Jason Chaffetz. The U.S. Representative of Utah’s 3rd District, who wanted to make sure that everyone knew he was objectively awful at this whole being a human thing. He had some advice for people struggling to afford health insurance: just stop buying iPhones.

  I’m late to the party on this hot take, but this weekend I finally upgraded my two-year-old phone as a birthday present to myself. I thought I’d try and enlighten the gentleman from the Beehive State on this amazing luxury he thinks people are blowing would-be premiums on.

  First things first, I’ve never paid full-price for a smart phone at one time. Ever. Know what my brand new iPhone 7 cost me out-of-pocket this weekend? $3. Yes, you read that right, and no, I didn’t buy it out of the back of a van or something. I got it at an AT&T store.

  I’ve been with AT&T for cell phone coverage for as long as I have had one, which is at least a decade. They sign you up for a contract, and you pay for your phone in installments of somewhere between $15 and $35 depending on the model, length of the contract and whether you get any insurance. When the contract is up, you get an upgrade where you only pay the tax due on the phone at the store ($61.87 in my case). Factor in the $59 they are crediting me on the account for my old phone on trade-in, and my new phone was, again, $3, with a payment plan less than my renter’s insurance.

  All that is slightly beside the point, though. I mean, if the Republicans can make me a health insurance plan that costs me less than $50 a month, sure, Chaffetz’s argument would hold water like a Star Wars fan’s bladder the last twenty-minutes of Rogue One. And if monkeys could get law degrees they’d run for congress, but that seems just about as plausible.

  Instead, let’s stare this head on. Dear Republicans; a smart phone is no longer a luxury item. It is not the early ‘00s. Access to the online world is quickly becoming a right as much as landline access has been in the past, and pretty soon existing in most population centers without a smart phone will be more or less impossible.

  Know what you can do with an iPhone. Well, you can check your eligibility for Medicaid and CHIPS on HealthCare.gov without owning a computer for starts. You know, until the Republicans kill it, but for now smartphones are already the gateway to the health insurance programs provided by the state. You could also shop for conventional health insurance on them, as well as find a doctor, or the nearest CVS clinic. Barring that, you can use one to do what I did two weeks ago, and save yourself a $40 trip to the pediatrician by Googling symptoms. My iPhone literally paid for itself that month simply by being in my hand and ready to access information when my baby was sick.

  You can apply for a job with a smartphone (and receive a call back as well!). Most large businesses these days have apps, and they actively prefer you to apply online rather than come in and do it with pen and paper. Plus, you save yourself the costly driving around process looking for work. Want to work at Kroger? There’s an optimized mobile site for that. Ditto Starbucks. Ditto pretty much any corporation of significant size. You can even use an app to summon an Uber driver to take you there for the interview.

  Know what I did with my phone a lot during the election? Made sure all my information was in order so I could vote, not to mention text numerous friends who asked me what they needed to do to vote as many of them were doing it for the first time (or the first time in the primaries). The state lags behind private enterprise in mobile website construction, but they work well enough to get the job done. I’m certain the iPhone map app is what led me to my early voting location both times. Not that Republicans are trying to suppress voters or anything… except when they totally are. The fact that minorities (who tend to vote Democrat) use their mobile devices proportionately more than whites is telling in this regard. Surely everyone remember the racist specter of the Obamaphone “scandal.”

  My favorite iPhone feature is that it allows me to record moments, and while that allows for a lot of precious family memories it also comes in handy with the cops. Even my whiter-than-rice self gets a little nervous getting pulled over these days, and when I do I quietly flip on the voice memo feature on my iPhone. I try to keep it low key, even though it is perfectly legal to film cops in this state. You never know when you’re going to need the objective truth of a recording to back up your word against authority, and having a smart phone could literally save your life.

  I could go on and on, and hopefully someday someone will, at length, to Chaffetz’s face. No one is giving up their iPhone for health insurance. What it costs me to have one is less than a tenth of the vision rider my wife gets our family through her insurance at a major hospital, and I know for a fact it’s even less for someone who got their insurance on the exchange. Republicans have got to stop pretending that the poor are wasting their money on frivolities instead of necessities. Smartphones open a gate into the world and it’s opportunities, and for the most part they cost so little in regards to healthcare you wouldn’t even notice the difference in your paycheck if they were deducted the same way. Pretending anything else is just admitting they don’t actually care. Please vote accordingly in 2018.

Yes, Poor People Need Smart Phones (AND Health Insurance) this is a repost