Living on My Own

Well after months and months of looking for a place to live other than my parent’s house I am living on my own. I moved everything in last Saturday and I love my new place! Decorating was my favorite part of moving, but I still am not done. I have been living on my own now for a week and I already have some advice for other young people wanting to move out. Number one it is EXPENSIVE! There are so many things you take for granted when you live with your parents, like toilet paper, cleaning supplies, and other random things. Food is so expensive especially when I prefer healthy food over junk food. My first grocery bill was almost two hundred dollars! Number two you are always busy. Now I know why my mom would complain about dinner, laundry, and a dirty house because there is always something that needs to be done. I have never been this tired; forty hours a week of work, school three says a week, and household duties leave little time for sleep. I like for things to be neat, clean, and organized so when something is messy I cannot just leave it alone so picking up some clothes can turn into an hour of scrubbing floors because I saw they needed done. Number three don’t take TV for granted. With the grocery bill, utilities bill, and rent on top of other expenses like gas there is not a whole lot of money left over so we have decided to wait on getting cable. Thank God we have a ton of movies because that is the only thing we can watch. I realize now in just a week how many things I took for granted living with my parents and how hard it is to have nice things. For everyone wanting to get out of their parents’ house as soon as they can here is some advice really think about the costs involved with living on your own because you will be on a tight budget, appreciate your parents, and learn how to cook because it is way cheaper to cook meals than buy frozen dinners or go out to eat. 

Social Lubricant: How a Marketing Campaign Became the Catalyst for a Social Debate

The article I read for this week was called “Social Lubricant: How a Marketing Campaign Became the Catalyst for a Social Debate” by Rob Walker. The article was about Dove body cleanser’s new advertising tactic. Dove is using what they call “real” women for their ads. The Dove girls featured on many billboards are not the traditional super thin models pictured on most beauty products. Dove is using these real women as a marketing tactic, but instead of just selling more lotions they have sparked a controversial issue of what is beauty in our society. Many beauty ads feature women that are super thin and flawless, but how many women look like that? This is the problem; beauty standards are unrealistic. The article expresses that many women need to hear this that it is ok to not be perfect because a thin perfect body is not the only way to still be beautiful. I completely agree with the author on this issue. Rarely do I see curvy women with dimples, freckles, and other imperfections in beauty ads. Do companies think that if they put real women in ads they won’t sell their products because the women are ugly? That is crazy. I believe that beauty lies in the eyes of the beholder. As long a woman is confident in her own skin I do not see why society should put her down for her looks when she loves who she is. Beauty is real so why shouldn’t real women be featured in beauty ads, instead of fake breasts, liposuction thighs, and airbrushed faces?   

Moving Out Well 15 Miles Out

               My apartment/house search is finally over and I cannot believe that I am settling to live in my home town. I live in the country now so at least I am moving away from my parents, but I am only moving fifteen miles from my parent’s house. My boyfriend and I are moving into a house in Henry this weekend. Henry was the last place I wanted to live, but I guess making decisions like this is part of being an adult. I just got accepted into the radiology program that starts in the fall. I am very excited that I was accepted, but it has changed our plans for moving to Peoria or Chillicothe. Since I will not be able to work as much as I do now when I am in the program I need to have a job that will work with a crazy schedule. Where I work now is great and so is my boss. When I told my boss my news of getting in the program he told me not to worry about my job because he will work with me and make sure I have enough hours. How can I turn that down? I cannot take the chance of moving to a new town and have a job that will not work with me because I need a pay check every week to have money for gas and other expenses. Also moving closer to Peoria increases what we will have to pay in rent and if I cannot work we could not pay the rent. After debating all the details we decided on a cute three bedroom house in Henry. Life is full of surprises, but this is one I definitely did not see coming.    

Left Behind, Way Behind

I read the article “Left Behind, Way Behind” by Bob Herbert, a columnist for the New York Times.  His article was about the United States education crisis. He states that many children do not graduate high school, when a diploma and a college education are almost mandatory for a middle class lifestyle today. He gave statistics for the amount of children who do not have the adequate reading or math skills that college requires. He also explained a survey that was taken by fifteen year olds in the United States on reading and math skills and over the world the United States ranked twenty-fourth out of twenty-nine nations. The solution to this crisis that  he gathered was to lengthen the school day and even year, provide better teachers for rural and inner city schools, and higher curriculum standards. He believes that this is a crisis that is not getting near enough attention. I agree with this statement. I am from a small town and the school I went to had only two hundred people including staff. I thought the education I was getting was no different than other students from other schools, but compared to a larger school I did not have the options they did. At a larger school I could have taken more than one foreign language, more math, and higher sciences. I was prepared for college, but I can see where larger schools have an advantage. I also believe that many inner city schools do not have the adequate teaching staff. Many students from small schools or poor schools are not prepared for college but a longer school year or higher standards might be the boost schools need to better prepare their students.   

Struggling but not struggling enough

My apartment search keeps getting more and more ridiculous. I found a one bedroom apartment in Peoria that was perfect for me. It was in a good area and affordable. It had its own entry way instead of a gloomy and dark hallway that smells funny. It had a washer and dryer hook-up so I would not have to take multiple trips to a Laundromat. The kitchen and carpet was new and it had the biggest bathroom I have ever seen in an apartment. I was ready to sign a lease that day, but there was one little problem with this place. It was not that the rent was too high or I did not have enough credit. It was that my boyfriend and I make too much money to live there. How ridiculous is that? The apartment complex is based on your income and we have to be under a certain amount in order to pay only 579 a month; anything over the cut off then you have to pay 679 a month for the same apartment. The complex asked for our gross income and when you add both of ours it was too much. What makes me so mad is why they would ask for our gross income when that is not what we bring home each month. They told me I could go unemployed for a year and we could have the apartment, but how could I pay for the rent? We do not make enough to pay the higher rent. I do not understand why a complex would turn people away that have jobs, good credit, and would pay the rent every month because they make too much money. Ridiculous!         

On Facebook, Biggest Threat to Your Private Data May Be You

               The article I read for this week is called “On Facebook, Biggest Threat to Your Private Data May Be You” by Jacquielynn Floyd. In this article she is talking about how we provide so much information on Facebook that we are threatening the privacy of our personal data. She talks about the recent change in the terms of service on Facebook and how many people think that Facebook owns them. She points out that by posting what you are doing, where you are going, and every aspect of your life you are jeopardizing your personal information not the terms of service. I completely agree with the author. I have a Facebook, but I rarely post anything. I have friends that post something at least three times a day. Some of them post how they are feeling, where they are going later that night, and pictures. Most people have at least 200 friends and they usually do not know most of them. A complete stranger that you say is your “friend “or has complete access to your life through your Facebook. Someone could rob you blind because they know you will be at your grandmother’s for the weekend or they could stalk you because they know everywhere you are going. You decide what to post and what not to post not your terms of service so if you become more discrete about what you are posting you may not have to worry about going home to a man with a mask and a knife hiding in your closet waiting for you to come home.     

I am going to live with my parents forever!

               Is there such thing as living on your own by the age of nineteen? This is a question I am facing right now. I live almost an hour away from ICC and soon I will need to be in Peoria every day during the week for the radiology program. I have been looking at apartments for months now and the prices are outrageous! For a one bedroom apartment in a good part of Peoria or Dunlap is over five hundred dollars a month in rent and that does not include utilities. I am a full time student and work part time, but there is no way I make enough money to pay rent, cable, utilities, a car payment, and food. My boyfriend is moving with me, but it is still hard to make ends meet. With the way our economy is today it is so hard for young adults to get their lives started. It is hard to establish credit when you are this young, pay bills, and go to school. I do not want to live with my parents until I am thirty, but I might have to if I do not find something cheaper. In ten months of living in an apartment I could spend five thousand dollars alone in just rent. I might as well start paying a mortgage on a house.