Stress at work: Why aren't there support groups for this?

Okay, so there actually are support groups for this.. but then, who has time to join a support group?

I must have the most stressful job in the world (Or so I thought). I am an accountant. We are about to start "busy season" (we have a NAME for it?) where we will be working late hours (so what do you call the last 6 months?). Don't worry, we are ramping up into busy season (and ramping down my social life...).

Then I took a look at my closest girlfriends. The marketing major who has late nights preparing for a huge presentation for to a CEO. The first year teacher who stays up late with lesson plans and deals with disciplining highschoolers all day. The fitness instructor who is thrown into coordinating 6am bootcamps and has to cover weekend shifts. Welcome to the real world- where stress is the only common denominator.

We are going to have stress. The goal should be managing how we deal with it.

Unhealthy ways to deal with stress? smoking, drinking, overeating, undereating, making voodoo dolls of our bosses, taking it out on friends (who wont be friends much longer), turning to retail therapy (that diminishing bank account will just cause more stress).

Healthy ways to deal with stress?
1. Say No- Find your limit and don't take on more than you can handle.
2. When number 1 doesn't work? Make a to-do list. prioritize. and then tackle just one task at a time.
3. Exercise- They say it releases that endorphin that makes you happy. I say it keeps you for getting fat, which just adds another thing to stress you out. Besides, a good kickboxing class while envisioning your boss just might be the trick.
4. Eat well- "Feed the brain so it can work" & "Start the day with a good breakfast". Why is it that suddenly you get into the real world and you realize the lessons your mom taught you growing up were right all along?
5. Get some sleep- These ideas sound so obvious, but they are easier said than done. The days that I get more sleep? I tend to handle situations better.

And when all else fails? Take a personal day.

What do you do when you are stressed at work? Trust me... I'm open for suggestions!

Can Facebook get me fired?

The gap between social media and work? It may be smaller than you think.

Today I received and email from a friend (Trey) issuing a warning that should be shared. He had sent a work related email to a coworker through their email system. The email came with a picture of Trey's face that was pulled from his facebook profile. Turns out the iphone and the new blackberry will automatically sync work email and facebook and allow the receiver to view the sender's picture. Thankfully Trey's facebook picture was appropriate and the coworker was a peer. That being said, there is potential for embarrassment. How many times have people come home from a Vegas weekend and posted a fun picture to their facebook profile? I am not sure I want my fun Vegas weekend picture associated with my work.

The separation between social life and work life is getting smaller. After doing some research, I found an article at PCWorld that illustrates a case where the US court system rules it "okay" to fire an employee based on facebook. And if you work in an "at-will" state? You can be fired without question. Fox News reported today that Facebook is lowering its security (shocker) and allowing more third parties access to personal information (oh like pictures?).

What does this mean? Make sure you have appropriate pictures and some intense security settings and don't express your hate for your boss or the fact that you are extremely hungover at work all over facebook. Somethings are better left unsaid.

What do you think about facebook and work? When has facebook gone too far?Is it okay to be fired for your status update?

The day before you lose your purse

How many times have you been to a restaurant and left your purse on the booth and had to run back to get it? Or been to the movies and was so busy talking about the movie that you left your purse under the chair? Or put your purse down at a party (SHAME ON YOU)? Or walked out of a cab with your purse on the seat?

There are certain things you should do before you lose your purse. I like to think I am responsible (everyone feels this way about themselves), but give me a great conversation or a glass of wine and I can easily misplace the most important accessory I own. I never know the day that I will lose my purse. Which means I need to prepare TODAY for the case that I might lose my purse tomorrow. Or tonight.

1. Clean out your purse. (This is beneficial in SO many ways.) Do you really need to give the person who finds your purse your social security card? And how often do you really use all 7 credit cards in your wallet? The less in there- the less to lose.

2. Make sure you have your credit card numbers accounted for. This means that you need to have (in a locked and safe place) all of your credit card numbers written down, and a list of the bank phone numbers associated with each one. This will make it easy to call and cancel immediately.

3. Write down your driver's license number. No one like the DMV and the long lines of really angry people. If you have your license number written down (or memorized) you can renew your license online. Sweet!

4. Give a friend a spare key. You lost your purse at a bar. It is 2am. You at least deserve to sleep in your own bed. Make sure someone has a key as a backup.

5. Stash some cash under your mattress. Or well, in your desk. (the mattress just sounded more dramatic) If you are stranded without a credit card for a few days, you are going to want to have some backup cash so that you can at least survive on some ramen noodles.

Don't be lazy today. It will just cause more work for tomorrow..

Sticky-Note your life

This is the best work-life balance tip I have so far.

You might be like me. Sitting at your desk at work at 10am on a tuesday and thinking of everything you need to do when you get home. Pick up some hand lotion, order that cute sweater that went on sale, drop off the RedBox video from yesterday (AH! They charge a dollar a day), call your mom, pay the electric bill, do a load of laundry, etc. Why is there always so much to do? I find myself wasting 30 minutes (easily) thinking about what I need to be doing at work. Guess what? That gets me absolutely nowhere. The funny thing is, come 6pm I don't even remember everything anyways. Which is perfect because then I can try to remember the same list at work at 10am on wednesday. What a waste of time.

The solution? the Oh-So-Underrated Sticky-Note. This little invention gives me the option to write down the list of things I need to do later that night when I get home. It then gives me the freedom to put my "to-do list" out of my mind, think about work, and actually focus on my job without a continuous list running through my head... and stressing me out. Who needs to add stress to an already stressful job? Somehow I am actually able to get more work done- allowing for more evening time to get the "sticky-note to-do-list" done. Win Win situation? Absolutely. Best thing is, most offices have sticky notes in the supply room!

My car broke down on the highway- Now what!?

This is a true story. And this is a true picture of the car I was in that broke down on the highway friday night.

Thankfully I was not driving (yes, I was using the advice in the previous post and car-pooling to a sporting event) And thankfully I was with three other people when the car started smoking off the highway in a sketchy part of Dallas. But it got me thinking, would I know what to do by myself if the car broke down?

1. Pull off the highway. Even if it is a sketchy area, it is better to sit on the access road with the doors locked than risk getting hit by another car.

2. Make sure your cell is charged and have a roadside assistance in your contacts. If you are driving, any smart girl should have her cell phone charged. It is worth the investment to have car charger for long trips. Put the roadside assistance number in your phone RIGHT NOW. This is one of those things I always mean to do (like buy mace) but you never actually do until you need it. Then it is too late.

3. If you can't get off the highway? Stay in your car! There goes my dreams of standing by the car and having a dashing young gentleman pull over and change my tire. But (1) you are likely to get hit if you stand outside on the highway and your life is more important (2) calling roadside assistance or a friend is a safer bet. There are so many creeps out there and (3) he probably wasn't going to be that cute anyways.

4. Before abandoning your car, take all valuables. Valuables? Yes, this includes your insurance and registration. If someone steals your car (which I don't know how this is possible if it isn't working) you don't want them to have your car AND your registration.

Gas Stinks

One of the most painful money experiences is filling up a gas tank. You stand there and just watch your money disappear on the screen with every tick. Gas prices yesterday were $2.99 a gallon. My bill? I total of $40.32. (The meter reaches $4... thats a new nail polish, $6 a new eyeshadow, $10 a bottle of wine, $20 a new shirt, $30 a new pair of jeans, $40 those really cute new heels that I've been eying for weeks)  I am not sure why I find the need to stand outside in the cold winter and watch the numbers increase. I am aware that the quick fix to this problem would be to wait in the car, but the concept is still the same. Impractically, I could quit driving all together, but since that is not an option there are tips that we can all use to help us save money on gas.

1. Before getting into the car think: Do I really need to go there? Is there another 3 errands that you can run while you are out? Saturdays are notorious for running to grocery store, coming home, going to the mall, coming home, meeting friends for dinner, coming home.

2. Can I walk, bike, or roller blade there? (Yes, I have blades- they are a great workout, but I do not take them to the mall. No worries.) It is nice to get fresh air and alittle exercise, and I don't really NEED to drive two blocks to a friend's house.

3. Car-pool. Make friends AND you get to ride in the HOV lane. (sweet deal huh?)

4. Avoid rush hour and traffic. This eats away at your gas! I know it is not completely possible to avoid traffic, but make a friend drive to the next sporting event. I am going to attempt to tell the people at work that I need to leave at 4pm to avoid traffic. (Yeah right) But it is worth a shot!

5. Does that Chinese food place deliver for free? Let them pay for gas!


6. Don't speed. The faster you go, the more gas you waste per mile. (google that, I promise). Yes, this means that you have to actually leave your house on time. Maybe the goal to lower the amount spent on gas could actually benefit your life in all aspects!?

7. Keep your car in good shape. Make sure the gas cap fits (seriously? Take it to someone else to make sure the gas cap fits), get an oil change, don't slam on the breaks, or rev your engine, or street race of any kind for that matter. If you feel the need to race -  find a place with gokarts.

8. Call first. Macy's has a sale? Call and see if that cute cocktail dress is even in stock first.

The Post-Holiday Blues

Sunday night after a long holiday break. This could quite possibly be one of the most depressing moments. You just roll off of a long vacation with family, friends, presents, cake, and sleeping until 10am. Suddenly the break is over and you are back to waking up at 7am, putting on work clothes, and sitting at your desk for 8+ hours. I definitely have the work-blues. Don't get me wrong, I like my job (as I am sure many of you do), but I really like vacation more. Americans get an average of 17 vacation days a year. The French? 37.5. (37.5!? Au revoir- I am heading to France!) It doesn't matter how sad I am about getting back to real life, or how many statistics I look up about vacation days, the days of college 4 week winter breaks are over and I (as most of you) have work tomorrow. So what can I do? Make the best of it and try to fight the Post-Holiday Blues.

Ways to beat the post holiday blues when heading back to work:

1. Be thankful you have a job. It would be worse to NOT have a job to go back to after the holidays- appreciate this blessing
2. Get excited to reorganize your work life. It is a new year and you have a new opportunity to organize your desk and how you work at work. Get excited about how you are going to change your work life for the better and going back wont be so bad.
3. Make plans. It is easier to go back when you know you get to spend time with your work friends. Get excited to catch up with them.
4. Buy yourself some new work clothes. (Am I suggesting retail therapy? maybe, but hey, it always does the trick.)
5. Get a good night's sleep. Chances are you have quite a few emails awaiting your arrival and who knows what other work obligations. EVERYTHING seems better when you have slept. Instead of thinking about how much you don't want to go to work, just go to sleep and know that tomorrow will come ready or not.
6. Be motivated for a new routine. It is sometimes nice to have a routine, something that vacation doesn't provide for you.
7. Listen to some good music. If nothing else works, at least you will be sent off to post-holiday work in a good mood.

On that note, I am going to download some N*SYNC (legally of course) to my computer, layout my new shoes (Not sure what outfit I will wear yet, but I have my new work shoes ready for their debut), text Kelly about lunch, and I am off to get a good 8 hours of sleep. (let me suggest the same!)

Budgets and Diets: Easy to make, hard to stick to

Hello 2011! It is that time of the year again where we get to make our resolution for the new year and then desperately try to stick to it for all of January. The number one resolution for the new year is to start a diet (According to CNN. But really, is anyone surprised?). Where is the love for personal finance plans? To be honest, dieting and budgeting should go hand in hand. (And not because a starvation diet saves money on food... although that might also be true) Both take planning in the beginning, hard work and dedication, and daily commitment but reap huge payoffs in the end.

Let's break it down.

Step 1: Create your plan. You can't get your body or your finances inshape by just talking about it unless you have an actual plan. Where to start? A good idea is to use the 60% Solution. Start with your income. Where should it be going?

60% - Committed expenses (this is your house, electricity, taxes, insurance, cable and TV, phone bill)
10%- Retirement. How to save for retirement? Check out this post.
10%- Surprise. This is that cavity that you weren't planning on having (I brush my teeth every day!), or the car battery that randomly dies on you ($100 later...), or your Mom's birthday (Just kidding! You should know about this one!)
10%- Savings/Debt. Pay off your debt, then set up savings. Yes, that means that you are putting 10% into retirement AND 10% into savings. You have to look at in as "paying yourself first". It is just like 6am bootcamp: it sucks doing it, but you will be so glad you stuck with it in the end.
10%- Fun money. I know it can be sad that ONLY 10% of your income each year goes to massages, vacations, Louis Vuittons, manis/pedis, etc. But start with these numbers and see where you can save in the "committed expenses". Call your cable company: Do you realize you might be paying extra for 6 different ESPN channels that you might never watch?

Step 2: Track your plan. This is the equivalent to a food diary in your diet plan. The coolest part? You don't have to write in a book everyday. Since you are reading this blog, you probably have the internet, and since you have the internet, you can use this nifty website called Mint. Mint is a free site that links your credit and debit cards to a budgeting plan. It will not only keep track and  tell you when you have reached your "maximum amount you are allowed to spend on shoes", it can be set up to send you an email or text that says "PUT DOWN THE SHOES AND WALK AWAY SLOWLY".

Step 3: It is okay to reward yourself. Any great workout and diet blog (Such as Fun, Fit, and Fabulous) will tell you that it is okay to mess up from time to time and have alittle slice of heavenly dessert because of valentines day, your birthday, or because it is wednesday. If you accidentally buy those stilettos calling your name, don't give up on your budget just yet. You will make mistakes. On the same note, it doesnt hurt to use "rewards" to your advantage. "If I save ___ amount over the next month, I will use some of my fun money to treat myself to those stilettos" In the end? you still get that pair of stilettos AND you get to use your fancy new budget.

Best of luck with your new budget and diet plan and any other resolution you might have. I honestly hope you make it the full year and not just until february. Set yourself up for success!