20 Tips To Help Yourself Adult

I’m 30 now and people around me are adulting like crazy. Houses, mortgages, babies, but more than that: a lot of healthy and responsible decision making. Yes, the occasional wild night of terrible decision making and irresponsibility still happens, but overall, we be adulting.

Hell, even I am adulting. But some aspects of adulting just require more effort on my part than most people, or so it seems. I made a list of things I’m doing in 2018 to adult better and make my life as a functioning adult easier and more responsible. Maybe you’d like to take some of these tips with you in the coming year!

1. Always have a good bottle of white and a good bottle of red wine at the house to bring with you to a dinner party. Preferably not one from the supermarket (although that works too!), order something interesting and fun-looking online! Need inspiration? This Chunky Red is my absolute favourite red wine (to give and to drink) and this is one of my favourite Sauvignon Blancs.
2. Make friends with the people at your gym so it’s not only more fun and like you’re hanging out when you work out, but they also text you when they haven’t seen you in a while. Accountability and sociability!
3. Errybody is having babies in my age category, and I’m terrible at gifts for babies. Ask your friends with babies what the best gifts were they received and make a list of cute, fun and helpful baby gifts so you have it at the ready and can order at any time.
4. Make a year-round schedule of all those extra bills and expenses that come around, like income tax, municipality tax, holiday expenses or big birthday gifts. This can help you be more financially aware and responsible.
5. Speaking of, put the birthdays of people you love in your phone. Relying on Facebook isn’t always the best move. (iPhone has the option to put it in the contact information! Maybe everybody knew this already but my mind was blown).
6. SPEAKING OF, put people’s addresses in that contact information too. Can’t tell you how many times I had to text “er…what number you live on again?” or had to ask friends for another friend’s address if I wanted to send them a card or a gift.
7. Always have a tub of homemade soup in the freezer. Ideal meal for the days when you’re tired, sick, broke and even talking to the food delivery guy is too much of an effort.
8. Put make-up wipes and coconut oil in your night stand for the nights you can’t be arsed to get your make-up off as you usually do, so you can do it half asleep.
9. Lifesaver I learnt from Vin: Put a 20-euro bill behind your phone in your phone case for the times you either forget your wallet or you need actual cash instead of your debit card.
10. For the mornings that you oversleep, haven’t slept or wake up like a zombie for whatever reason: Reserve one spot in your closet or drawer for a complete outfit, from socks to underwear to shirt and sweater. I have a regular outfit (underwear, jeans, socks, shirt and sweater) and a workout outfit (drifit legging, sports bra, socks, tanktop, vest) always at the ready.
11. Actually set up your To Watch list on Netflix so your food doesn’t get cold when you’re trying to pick something to watch.
12. Schedule hair cuts & dentist appointments and whatever other checkup you might need so you won’t forget. I’m like a goldfish with these things.
13. If you have a car, set a reminder in your phone to check the air in the tires every two to three months.
14. This is a huge one for me: Never go to sleep with a dirty kitchen. Save 20 minutes after dinner to clean up and live your damn best life.
15. Create cheat-sheets for information that you find yourself Googling or asking your colleague about again and again and again. I keep them in my Notes, because that way they’re on all my devices. I have a cheat sheet about DUO (for my job as a student counselor), on how to put money on my credit card and one for easy recipes.
16. Honestly, it’s never been easier to be on time (aka considerate of other people’s time and effort). Just plan your journey with GoogleMaps and choose arrive [time]-5 minutes.
17. Two things I (almost) always have on me: Lip balm and Deep Heat Heat Rub. When I’m sore of my back hurts but I have to work or be somewhere, that deep heat stuff is a godsend. Lip balm is just because having dry lips is hella uncomfortable.
18. I have done this for a long time and will continue to do it, but I usually prepare my work food on Sunday for Monday and Tuesday, and on Wednesday night for Thursday and Friday (I have Wednesdays off). I do it while cooking dinner so it doesn’t take that much extra time, effort or cleaning. And my meal prep is not necessarily fit girl meal prepping, but just so I have food to work that I really like to eat and don’t have to buy stuff I’m not even really craving.
19. Make sure you always have a few extra sets of LED lights for on your bike, boxes of tampons or other products of the sort and toothbrushes.
20. The moment your headphones sort of start giving static or you lose one ear? Or when you need to wiggle your phone or laptop charger in and out a few times before it works? Order a new one. Even if the old ones last you a little longer than you expected, you’ll never be without.

If you have any other lifesavers, drop them in the comments so I can make my life as a high-functioning bad adult even easier!

Have a lovely Sunday! <3