How to Budget $25/week on Groceries

The first thing my fiancee and I learned as we moved into our own apartment was that food gets expensive. Especially because we could easily blow $200 per week on just eating out. Which is horrible budgeting and it doesn't help us pay our bills and our debt. So in order for us to get our finances together, we came up with a budget on food that we have implemented since July 2017.

Several months later, I can tell you that this is a tried and true method and we have saved $100's just by following our basic budget plan. This post is here to help you in your endeavor to save money with still obtaining the nutrition needed for your family.
This is set for my fiance and I, however, we do still have leftover food from these meals and could very likely be updated for at least one more person. In the post, I'll go over what worked best for the two of us and what we started out doing and what we decided to do differently. Here's HOW TO BUDGET $25/WEEK ON GROCERIES.

Making a plan and sticking to it:

We get easily distracted whenever we go shopping for food that we tend to buy too much and it ends up going to waste or we'll call up pizza hut and have the pizza delivered to us. But if you are an avid pizza lover like myself, you'll learn very quickly that pizza can be upwards of $30 including the tip. So, we decided to try out $20/week on food and we would have to actually make food. (What? No...ewwww. Just kidding, but really, who has time for that??)

The $20/week worked well and we'd spend only $80/month on groceries but we always found ourselves running short a day or two before our shopping day. So we bumped it up $5 dollars and we have done well with sticking to the budget and lasting the extra two days.

List out ahead of time:

We keep a tiny $2 white board on our refrigerator and any time we run out of something we'll write it on the board. Or if there's a new meal we want to try, we'll write down the ingredients that we need. Basics like Flour, oil, and Sugar don't count in our budget just because you can buy a large amount of it and you don't need to replace it until after a month or so. AND that's if you use it daily.

By writing all of our ingredients ahead of time, we can make decisions based on what is most important to buy and what can be saved for the next week, since we shop once a week. AND shopping once a week ensures that we don't need to blow our budget to buy everything that we need, because we can just wait a week to pick it up.

When it is grocery time, we'll snap a picture of the list or rewrite it on a sticky note and when we go shopping, we can cross each item off. It also feels to go cross each item off of the list because it feels as if we are doing something with our day and getting things done. I'll also write down each price and subtract it from the $25 dollars.

Breaking down the Budget:

Here's an example of what I mean:

As you can see, I have a list of what I'm buying and as I get each item in my basket, I write down the price and subtract from my initial $25. Once we have everything that we need, then we can decide what else we could pick up. 

In this case, I started with everything except the meat because I didn't know how much meat I could buy. With pork being $1.99/lb, and having $9.68 left over, we could get a decent sized nearly 5-lb pork. Which we could cut up and store in the freezer to have later. OR we could pick up that juice we always wanted to try or grab another type of cereal, or maybe we want to have some fruit as well with our meal. Who knows? The extra amount is up to you and however you decide to spend it, ALWAYS USE THE AMOUNT YOU SET ASIDE. 

Because if not, you'll remember that extra thing you wanted to buy but now the next week is around, so maybe you decide to go over the budget for this week because you didn't last week. Before you know it, you aren't even on budget anymore and you already spent an extra $50 without meaning to. TRUST ME, just stick to the budget. It's easier after you're already in routine.

Research Groceries BEFOREHAND

There was this one time when Steven and I were out shopping at Aldi's and the meat was significantly higher than the week before. We decided that we were also going to grab some water bottles but figured that the meat and the H2O would be cheaper at Walmart. However, we didn't know for certain. When we arrived to Walmart, lo and behold!!....it was the same price. So we just wasted gas driving across town rather than looking up prices beforehand or even with our smartphones.

However, it is generally better to get regular, non-special meat at Walmart when the meat is discounted because it's "old". As long as the meat looks and smells fine, I promise, it's fine. I once got a roast for half the price it would have been just because it didn't sell before "sell-by date". And, It tasted lovely!

Overall, looking up shopping tips on Pinterest, Coupon.com, and several blogging sites can help you save money and by doing at least ten minutes of research, you'll be all the wiser for looking!

Reward yourself(ves)!!

After a couple of weeks of making breakfast, lunch, and dinner, it gets tiring always making something. So, you should reward yourselves for sticking to the budget with that date night you haven't had in awhile. Or maybe going out and doing something you haven't done in a long time such as go to the movies and splurging on the popcorn! Or it could even be a rewarding night in the homestead with pizza delivered from Pizza Hut. 

Whatever it may be, make it worth the while to Budgeting on $25/week because it's hard work. It definitely gets easier over time as you begin to recognize prices and can tell when you've reached your limit without any basic math at all!

But rewarding yourself helps reinforce that what you're doing, the time you are setting aside for grocery shopping and budgeting to, are in fact good things to be doing and much better to save money for bills and/or debts you're paying. 

I hope you've enjoyed this YAC! Please leave comments below on what budget techniques you've used that help and which ones that don't!

Thank you!

8 Ways to Save Money With a Small Income

Whether you just opened your Pay Stub at the end of the grueling two week work-period and realize "Oh shit, I have no money!", or you are in between jobs and are living dollars a day, Saving Money when you have none, can be extremely hard work. Especially when the money you do have needs to go to bills, it can be extremely hard to scrap some for food.

And food is not always cheap.

We've all been there at one time or another, or maybe we are there now. Living paycheck to paycheck, just barely, and hoping that someday soon we'll be out of the dark abyss of debt and bills.

But until then, I've got a list for you specifically for these situations! All tried and true by yours truly!

This is:

8 Ways to Save Money With a Small Income

It's important to understand that one can't just do nothing and save money, you have to be willing to put a little bit of effort into wanting to save money whether it be research on how, or downloading a few simple apps.

#1. There's an App for that!

There's literally, not figuratively, but actually LITERALLY AN APP FOR EVERYTHING!! Whether you have trouble with budgeting what you spend, balancing all of your accounts, or finding money-saving apps, I promise, IT EXISTS!! A couple such apps that exist are:

"Prism Bills & Personal Finance" is rated with a 4.6 Stars as of September 2nd. You can hook up all of your bills, including Netflix, credit cards, banks, etc.  You can input all of your bills and keep track of what you need to pay and how much you have already paid. It's sweet and simple.

"Mint: Budget, Bills, Finance" is also another free app in which you can also budget everything you need in one place. This app however can also add bills such as your education debt, your gas, groceries, and you get to see your credit score while your are paying bills. Don't be discouraged if you credit score is low or average, being able to see where you are can help you build up while you are paying off your bills. This in turn, will help build your credit slowly.

"Pocket Points" is an app for college students who are looking to get deals with anything, but mainly food. Pocket points is set up so that while the student is in class or on campus, they open the app and 'lock their phone' to obtain points while they are off of their phone. These points can then be spent on "Buy One Get One Free"'s at Dairy Queen, Sonic, and other places. It's really simple and it encourages the student to stay off of their phone while in class.

#2. Account text/SMS Reminders

My fiancee has setup every account he has, from all of our bank/credit accounts to our payment accounts, such as our energy bill, phone bill, and the likes, so that he gets text messages every day, EVERY DAY, at 7:15ish am, so he can be reminded about how much we have, and how much we owe. It's really nice because we can control what we spend where, without having to get complicated and guess how much is in our bank.

Knowing exactly how much you have, sets you up to know exactly how much you are going to spend. If you are a frivolous spender like myself, you'll think twice about spending what you don't have. Or, if you find yourself in a better week than usual, you might be able to treat yourself to a nice dinner out.

Speaking of food...

#3. Cook all meals, NO EATING OUT/FAST FOOD

This one, my fiancee and I had such a hard time with because we are college students, and college kids usually don't have the resources need to be able to cook. In the dorms, we aren't equipped with a stove and a fridge to store food to eat. However, there were definitely other alternatives to cooking on the stove that we could have utilized and would have been way Healthier For Ourselves, And Healthier On Our Budgets!

There are so may unique recipes online, especially on Pinterest!!

However, we now live in our own apartment off campus and we have saved hundreds of dollars a month on not eating out!! How crazy is that?? We spend about $25/week on groceries. If you don't believe me, my future self will write another post about how that is possible to do so! (Hint: Aldi's works wonders!!)

#4. Selling Crap You Don't Need/Use

There's a few quotes that makes this so much easier for me to sell extra stuff I just lying around but here's a couple:

"Your home is LIVING SPACE, NOT STORAGE SPACE." Francine Jay

"He who buys what he does not need, steals from himself." Swedish Proverb

Both of these are so fricken true!! When my mother was cleaning out her horde of a storage room, there were so many things that I set aside so I could go through; books, board games, art books, arts & crafts, but honestly, I didn't need any of these things. The last time I had knitted was so long ago, I had forgotten my knitting stuff were in there.

Trust me when I say this, if you don't want to get rid of whatever is holding you back from getting rid of it, you have a couple of options:

     You can pick it up again, reference to my knitting, and get rid of all the yarn/arts&crafts you have..

     You can imagine it as someone who actually has an interest in it and will use it for good purposes and you are preventing it...

or  You can imagine that it's holding you back from a cleaner, simpler life.

The choice is yours..and the choice of extra income or your stuff just sitting there...I like the extra couple of bucks better!

#5. Tracking your expenses

I would have put this up higher to remind you guys that budgeting your income is the best, but sometimes, we don't really know where our money is going even after setting up an income plan!

So what you should do instead, is keep all the receipts, then after a week has gone by, highlight the days and the cost of what you bought/ate/drank/etc. After you do that for your week of receipts, you take a piece of paper, write down the weeks days (mon-sun) and under each day, write the total about of money spent on food, gas, bills, and other.

You should be able to see very quickly where your money is going. If it's going to food, refer to #3. If it goes to random knick knacks, or bullet journals you're never going to use regularly, then refer to #4. If it's gas or bills, I'm going to explain how to fix that with the point.

#6. Readjusting your lackless expenses

Lackless expenses are the items you have to buy to live comfortably, such as tampons, pads, dog food, gas, new work clothes, etc. These are items you can't wait to buy.

If your money is getting soaked up by your car, you might want to see if you can trade your auto friend to something with better gas mileage. My fiance's and my first big purchase together was a car. We had to give my car back to my parents since my brother's car broke down, and we traded my fiance's car for a car that had working A/C and heat, locked properly, and wasn't breaking down every other week. (Literally, there were times we thought we were stranded 30 minutes from home and had no way to drive back!)

Readjusting your lackless expenses will be easier than trying your bills. However, BOTH ARE POSSIBLE! You might be required to think outside of the box. Such as buying tampons and food with coupons instead of purchasing without, or buying dog food when it's on sale.

#7. Using Coupons wisely upon purchasing

I'm not like other people who will tell you that couponing has changed my life. Simple fact, it can if you let it but it might not be a good change. Couponing is definitely time-consuming but it's not an automatic reward. COUPONING IS NOT BASED ON TIME=REWARD. THE MORE AMOUNT OF TIME YOU PUT IN, DOES NOT MEAN YOU'LL SAVE MORE MONEY. You might actually end up spending more than you have.

When I coupon, it's not like extreme couponing, I won't be able to get $2,000 worth of food for $1. It's not like that usually because then companies don't make the money they are wanting to. 

What to look for when you are couponing, should start with your grocery list first. If I'm buying tampons and dog food, they are always super cheap at the Dollar Store/Dollar General to begin with, then I look for coupons on dog food and tampons, there usually always there and it helps save you a couple of bucks to about $10.

We could fill up half a tank with $10! It's the little things that matter. So don't get confused and bedazzled by all of the coupons. ONLY GET WHAT YOU NEED TO GET. Just because it's a Buy One Get One (BOGO), does not mean you should go out of your way, and out of your budget to buy the BOGO cereal boxes that you don't need/eat. (This is just an example, if you eat cereal like myself, go for it. It's a good deal.) I just mean, don't waste time and money on items you really don't need just because it's a good deal.

#8. Looking into Cutting your Bills in HALF!

If it's possible, look at how much you are spending for that unlimited data plan for your family, or see how much energy you are using while no one is home. If your bills are pretty pricey and there's a definite possibility in making sure all the lights & electricals are unplugged while your home, or switching your plan to a limited data plan because it turns out that your family only uses 5GBs, or 10GBs, in your cycle, YOU CAN EASILY SAVE $100s BY JUST CUTTING IT BY A LITTLE BIT. It doesn't have to be cut in half but it's a definite GOAL to save so much more.

You can also invest into Energy Saving gadgets that will save you $100s-$1000s in the long run, such as Nest. My professor invested in Nest, it's an easy installation that replaces your thermostat and you hook it up to your phones. It times when you are in or out of the house and it adjusts the temperature so that you only pay for the cool/hot air when you are home.

Thanks for reading!!

Please post a comment about other ways you can save 

Pinterest Challenge

Hello all!



And welcome back to The Young Adult's Club!
I've come up with a great idea (because I honestly have been thinking about this all the time) and I'm going to begin a Pinterest Challenge.

My idea for The Pinterest Challenge begins like this,

• I'll set up a variety of rules and regulations, as well as a reward system for each challenge that is completed and a progress page on my blog.
• Since Pinterest has billions of unique pins, I'll have to keep to a timeline (Hours/Days) of individual mini challenges or "levels" and then I'll also have to have a lengthy timeline (weeks/month) for big challenges or something similar to "Boss levels".
• I'll set up four Pinterest boards for everyone's access, in which they will be labelled "Levels" and "Boss Levels", then "Completed Levels" and "Completed Boss Levels" as well as Youtube videos for each of my completed/attempted challenges.
• To ensure that I follow all of the written rules and regulations, I'll have a PDF available for my readers/watchers/supporters to be able to comment on any of my challenges whether or not if I followed each rule and regulation. So be watching!
• For each and every one of my Youtube videos, I'll also have another blog posted and each of my accounts will be intertwined so everyone can be able to press onto links to get to where they need to be to watch, read, and see upcoming pin "levels".

I'm excited to see what I can accomplish! I'm currently writing the rules and regulations and will soon upload it online!

Thanks and I hope you enjoyed my YAC!

Response to the past two days

I see a great nation on her knees, fallen because she couldn’t see the many wounds that she has had for the last century. But she has many scars on her. These scars remind her of what she’s survived.

There’s the scar along her stomach from the civil war when she almost got split in half from people tearing her apart because of different beliefs.

She’s got stretch marks on her belly because of the influx of her children, all of whom are immigrants who had come from other countries or had ancestors that traveled many seas to be on these lands, whether or not her children like to think so.

There’s the scars on her back from when she turned her back from the first World War all because she didn’t want to be involved in the War across the seas, causing the War to come to her, bombing Pearl Harbor and destroying many families all at once.

She has sunken eyes when the nation fell into the Great Depression and many of her newborn children died before the age of 5 years, and very few of her adult children lived beyond the age of 60. She hardly ate and worked hard to provide for millions of people.

She’s got scars on her legs from the gruesome second World War in which she carried herself and many millions of people while she walked to become strong, and she fought for a better nation, for a better world.

She’s got scars from the cuts along her arms from the Cold War, ready to sacrifice herself to destroy another nation if they even so much as glanced at the Nuclear Missiles. She barely survived the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis. But she did.

She’s been beaten, raped, and has rope burns along her neck because she fought for men’s and women’s equality regardless of race, ethnicity, income, gender, sexual orientation and civil rights, many of which still aren’t given across all of her states. She’s still trying though men push her around and tell her what’s right and what’s wrong. She know the truth to a great nation.

And on her heart, she’s got a healing wound where the recent injury would have surely killed her as it did for many Americans on the morning of September 11th, 2001. But she knew that if she didn’t stand up for herself now, many of her children wouldn’t know what it would be like to have a great nation after such a traumatic experience and the horrible fate that would lead her taking orders from the man in the office, going to wars, and finally killing Osama Bin Laden.

All of her scars reminds her of her past everyday. She has her children learn all of her history in history classrooms because she wants to inspire each and every single one of them that she does have many horrible memories that she wished she didn’t have but that she also has many great success throughout her entirety of existence.

Right at this moment, she is on her knees, trying to prepare for the many riots and the outbursts of anger, frustration, and hate. She’s crying uncontrollably because all she wants for her children is to truly understand all of the pain they are inflicting on her and on themselves, if this should continue, then we as her children, have lost sight of what we truly used to be and she will no longer be a great nation.

A wise man once wrote for a major movie script:

“Fear is the path to the Dark Side.

Fear leads to Anger,

Anger leads to Hate,

Hate leads to Suffering.”

And again:

“You will know (the good from the bad) when you are calm, at peace. Passive. A Jedi uses the Force for knowledge and defense, never for attack.”

Yes these quotes are from the movies Star Wars but that does not mean they should be ignored.

These are quotes that everyone should live by because they are truly meant for the Human beings we are. We have so much power in such a little body, but when we add our powers with many other people, we have the power to destroy and to create the loving and peaceful environment that this Great Nation needs.

Please, if not for the strangers around you, then for your family and friends. Find peace for the nation, find peace for your family, find peace in yourself. From there, we can find the path for the greater good of the nation.

Writing Essays for a College English Course

Writing Essays for a College English Course can seem especially scary if you have no idea where to even begin. There are many 'fool-proof' essay outlines that ensure that if you 'follow this outline, you can never go wrong'!

But sometimes, everything still goes wrong and if it makes you wonder "what happened?", you're in the right place.All throughout high school I was terrified when I had to write an essay. I was so terrified in fact that I never began the essay until usually an hour before class began.

For example, I was taking a fascinating course: AP (college credit course) United States History, in which we were supposed to have a year-long essay that would result with at least 7 pages of written essay and at most 15 pages.

The essay was broken down into four essay throughout the year, but because I had major anxiety just thinking about writing papers, I never did those essays. Within the very last week of the school year, we were to turn in the completed year-long essay.

I never started a word until the day that it had to be turned in. I skipped three of my high school classes that day, sitting in the auditorium with a laptop and wrote everything that came to my mind for the essay.

Hours went by and finally, the bell rang for my APUSH class to begin. I ran to the class, finished my last paragraph and printed the essay, which was exactly 7 pages long. I turned it in and I never thought that I would pass the class because of the idea that I was so very anxious and terrified to write the essay!

Whether it be anxiety, full-on fear, writer's block, or procrastination, I'm going to give you a list of ideas that may be able to help give you ideas on how I got over my problems.

1. Who, What, When, Where, How, & Why

This really helps just to write it down and fill in the blanks. When you thing of ideas that pop into your head, write those down too because you never know if you're going to need to refer back to that specific idea later on the writing road.

2. Write, Rewrite, Contemplate, Never Erase

A lot of the problem I had, dealt with the fact that I would start a paragraph, not like what I wrote, erase it and then not have anywhere to go. If you write a paragraph and you don't like the wording, structure, or even how you phrased one sentence, Never, NEVER, NEVER ERASE anything until you have written something to replace it or you are ready to turn in your draft. When you erase what you wrote, you erase the chance to remember the exact wording that you had written that paragraph.

If you keep what you don't like, you have the chance to contemplate and think "Why don't I like this paragraph, sentence, or phrasing?". Without knowing why you don't like something, you'll never realize how you want to write your essay.

3. Writer's Block, Research, Draw

If you are staring at a blank page and have no idea at all on what you want to write, how to begin writing, or if you just are drawing blanks, start with the basics of the essay:

Name

Class

Teacher's name

Date

Title:

Intro:

Thesis:

Body 1:

2 ideas

Body 2:

2 ideas

Body 3:

2 ideas

Conclusion

For every paper, I literally write this exact outline. Then I go through and add ideas:

Tyra

English Composition

John Doe

October 11, 2016

Title: Technology affecting today's society

Intro: Something about technology affecting today's society, maybe how millennials know not a day with out technology.

Thesis: Because technology has affected people all over the world, yadayadayada

Body 1: Technology brings people together

2 ideas/examples: Facebook, Instagram

Body 2: Technology denys people's ability to focus on surroundings

2 ideas/examples: PokemonGo, Snapchat

Body 3: But technology has a great understanding of who we are and who we want to be with

2 ideas/examples: Eharmony, other dating websites

Conclusion: technology affects society in both good and bad ways because of yadayadayada

As you can see, this is pretty much the exact thought process I go through. Once I realize all my options, then I can begin writing what I know and can draw out what I want the audience to know.

4. If all else fails, start a new page.

Sometimes we try everything and we still can't figure it out. So now we have two choices:

A) We walk away

B) We start anew

Either one is fine but if you're on a deadline, it'd be best to start over but don't delete the page you had. Just open a new tab or a new window. That way you can take the ideas that you like from your previous failure and use it to help you onto your journey with this new paper.

I hope you enjoyed my YAC! Thanks! Leave any ideas or comments on how you surpass the great white wall of nothing!

My fish died...Now What?

I love fish! I'm still pretty new to being a fish owner but I've had a ton of fish in the last year and a few months.

It all began with my first Betta fish. I had walked into Petco in my town and saw this beautiful baby girl who was just as interested in me as I was interested in her! She was smaller that my thumb nail and such a dorky fish!!

I brought her home and had a tiny bowl for her. She was set in the kitchen where she could also the Dogs' food bowl. I fed her about the time that the dogs ate and she learned how to eat like a dog. She would look at her food as if it were her prey and then pounce after it. Not ever really eating it but totally grabbing her food and swishing her body back and forth like a dog. She is such a cutie.

Since then, I've collected more souls. About a month after I got her, I saved Ghost Prince. He was a very expensive betta fish but he was dying at the store. I felt empathy toward the fish and he looked at me, as if begging me to let him free. So, I brought him home. I somehow found magic that healed him and he lived for almost a year after the store.

Other fish that I currently have are 5 Goldfish, 4 Betta fish (including my original cutie pie whose name is Gyspy Lovely), 1 Plecostomus, and I'm hoping to get a few more.

But recently, like 3 days ago recently, I acquired 6 fish that half of whom have passed away!! That's crazy!!!

Well, now what?
I've compiled a list for you on what to do after you find a dead fish.

Step 1: Remove fish immediately!

If a dead fish were to remain in the fish tank with a bunch of other fish, you can be guaranteed that 

A) that fish will stink up the place because of toxin build up

B) Hazard to you and your fish. 

Step 2: Set the fish aside, immediately treat your tank.

You never know how long the fish may have been dead or how long the toxins from his/her body have been releasing by the minute. Also, just set the dead guy aside because by the time you get to him, he'll still be dead.

Step 3: Determine the best way to dispose of the body.

I got into a book series and by the third book was inspired by their burial process. In the book, there is an alien species that when they die, their body is transformed into a tree. They enter their "Third Life" as a tree and can then provide their tribe with resources, wisdom, and comfort under their branches.

I LOVE this idea that there is a "Third Life" but for my babies that have left their body behind on earth, I figured this would be their "Second Life" and they would help the seeds grow by giving their bodies as nutrition for plants. So far, I have a Lemon plant and several flowers.

Of course, don't eat anything that you plant with these guys because I'm sure there are still toxins that aren't good that are within the food. But you never know!

There are many methods of disposing a fish's body but my favorite is definitely giving life to the once living.

Thank you!

The Young Adult's Club

How to find the perfect wedding dress on ANY budget!

A few months ago...

I found an amazing wedding dress, the perfect dress of my dreams!...for a few thousand dollars.

If you're pretty much like my fiancee and I, we're stingy with our money because we almost have none, then a dress that's a few thousand dollars is totally out of the question!! For us, a few grand can buy us a car, a half of a year full of groceries, or even pay off a part of our student loans! So, no... that beautiful dress that would look amazing on anyone is one that can not be bought.

Wedding dresses are crazy expensive and are only worn once!!! I'm not going to buy a car just to drive it once! That's ridiculous! So anyways, I put on my research thinking cap and went to work.

And FINALLY!!!!

I found the dress of my dreams for $200!!! That's amazing, right?! It's the exact look that I want and everything that I pictured! While I was working this evening, I thought "Surely there must be other Brides-to-be that are struggling to buy the dress of their dreams because of expenses!" Henceforth the title:

How to find the Perfect Wedding Dress on ANY budget!!

A) You NEED TO KNOW your budget!!

If you don't know your budget for your wedding, how are you supposed to know how much you can spend on everything? I'll do another post on my fiancee's and my budget but the gist is that our total max is $5,000. We have percentage'd out our attire to be $500 +/- some. 

That's to include my dress, his suit, 1/2 the bride's maid (I only have one female) and the guy's bow ties & suspenders. That's a lot for $500 but I'm super determined that we can make it work! Knowing that we only $500 to work with, that means my dress has got to be LESS THAN HALF!!!

Whew! That's all out now. Once you figure your budget, you'll know what to spend. Here's an awesome link to another blog that helps out with an inexpensive wedding and it totally worth the quick read: https://themttm.com/2015/08/11/our-low-budget-wedding/#like-32

B) Forget the budget & lookup dresses!

Now that you have how much you can spend on your dress, put that aside and take out a legal notepad (or whatever). You should probably make a list on MustHaves and NotHaves for your dress. I love the idea of a long, floorlength dress but despise the long train or any trains. Personal preference is what makes your dress a part of you and what can make the day special as your husband/wife-to-be (not wanting to offend any sexual orientation) looks down the aisle and sees you in all your beauty just for them.

If you're a brilliant artist, drawing out what you're looking for can definitely help you not forget or get lost in all the wonders and wows of looking at dresses and you can stay tied to what you think will make your dress you.

It's also good to go online and just type in wedding dresses. If you have no idea whatsoever on what you are looking for in a dress, do the research with your significant other so they can help you with types of dresses that they know would look great on you because they see you in a different light than you may see yourself.

Knowing the types of dresses you are looking for can give you a great start on what you are interested in and DON'T GET CAUGHT UP WITH PRICES YET!!! Right now, you're just looking for What It Is that you like and your style! (I dared to look at a $2000 dress! Oh. My. Stars!)

C) Find a good price range & don't EVER settle

If there's a dress that covers almost everything you like but you're still just not feeling it, then don't pressure yourself into buying that dress. 

UNLESS your significant other sees it and knows you'll look amazing in it! I almost left a store without buying a beautiful blue dress because I didn't like how it sat on my hips but my fiancee saw it and told me to buy it. He wouldn't let me leave the store until I bought the dress. I told him that if it sat in the closet, he would have to pay me back. But he was right, after giving the dress another try, a belt, and some accessories, OH MY GOODNESS!!! I loved this dress!!! Still do! It's great! 

Besides your SO telling you that you'll look amazing in this dress and you don't know it yet, then you need to trust your gut about what you like and don't like.

D) Go back to the Budget!

You will always be able to find the dress that you dream of, for a cheaper price. You'll just have to do the research and be patient! Always look in places you won't normally look too! It's totally fine to just browse. You don't have to commit yourself to any one brand or nonbrand, online store or walk-in store. Nothing is permanent so don't worry too much about it.

E) In the End everything will be just fine!!

Don't forget that the whole point of a marriage isn't the dress, the decor, the reception, or the music. It's actually about two people who have found one another in this vast universe and declare their love to all their families!

If you truly love your future spouse, what you wear doesn't matter. All they want and all you should want is to love them for the rest of your lives because this is your (your as in you two) life together!

I hope you enjoy this post and I'll be adding more posts soon!