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5/29/12

Journey: Week Twenty


Stop wasting time explaining yourself to others. 
"Your friends don’t need it and your enemies won’t believe it anyway.  Just do what you know in your heart is right."

This is a beautiful and profound message. Just think on it one more time: Your friends don't need it and your enemies won't believe it anyway.

This journey has taught me to be comfortable with who I am and with the choices I've made (and continue to make). The message this week really solidifies and builds upon that lesson and I love that! Without following my heart and standing strong upon self confidence and determination, I doubt I'd have accomplished nearly what I have so far in life. And I'll shamelessly admit, I'm pretty darn proud of myself! Unfortunately though, I definitely recall times that I've looked back and asked "what if" in regards to a situation I didn't take advantage of due to doubting myself and/or caring what others thought. I have quickly realized that I much prefer to live my life with no regrets, only lessons learned- the good... and the bad. 

So, here's to following our hearts, self confidence, and determination. Cheers!

If  you're reading about my Journey the first time and are wondering what the heck I'm talking about, click here


5/16/12

Welcome the Frugal Rican!


Mario works at a financial institution and has a huge passion for money. When he’s not working, hitting the gym, or spending time with his better half, he shares many tips about anything and everything money related over at http://frugalrican.com. Humorous, but practical, this blog is a great read and awesome if you’re learning how to budget, cut back, or keep money in the bank! In this day and age, I’ll take all the help I can get! Be sure to check him out (also on twitter: @frugalrican), but not before reading his guest post here at Life of Ikkins first! Enjoy.  

  • Tampons
  • Lip Gloss
  • Hair Brush
  • Compact
  • Wallet
  • Gum
  • Hand cream
Any woman reading this right now immediately recognizes this as the everyday contents within their purse. Every guy that just read this, thought this was a random list of my just spouting out objects for absolutely no reason at all.

As the Frugal Rican, I've had my own share of personal experiences when it comes to saving money, but I never figured that gender would be a major reason and influence when it comes to how much I could possibly save over the length of my lifetime. Out of those 7 items I listed, I currently carry only one: Hand cream.

Just kidding.


Most men carry a wallet with the basics: Cash, cards, phone numbers. That's it. There are no personal items, there are no emergency female articles, and definitely no "beauty" products to powder our noses. It's this great divide that seems to hold us back from understanding why women spend so much sometimes. It seems like being female comes at a quantifiable cost that males cannot understand and it wasn't until I WANTED to understand, that I came to actually begin to comprehend, how much more it can cost to be female. Yep, you read correctly, just your gender alone can determine how much you are going to spend and how much you are going to save.

I definitely don't worry about having a spare tampon laying around, nor having a hand cream to moisturize with, nor does having a hand brush ever come across my mind. And if you are completely curious, I scoured the internet for lists of the most common things that are found within a woman's purse (including asking Nikki) and then compiled a much more condensed version based on those lists. I was surprised and, yet, not surprised at the same time to see such a huge difference in just the common objects that women carry around that men do not.

It's a harsh world, in these economic times, so I do feel a hint of compassion with all the women that are trying to save while still trying to be feminine. It isn't easy, but at least you have one more that understands your pain. Stay frugal, ladies. Hopefully one day we'll definitely understand what you, as a gender, must go through to keep us all smiling.

5/12/12

Journey: Week Nineteen

Stop letting others bring you down to their level. 

 "Refuse to lower your standards to accommodate those who refuse to raise theirs."

Sorry I'm so late on getting this weeks post up! I've been busy with finals and some events over at Scary Mommy. I also have some really exciting news to share, but I'll announce that later this week (how's that for suspense?)!! And now on to my thought for week nineteen's theme....

AMEN.

I think that's the shortest review for this Journey so far.

In other totally unrelated news, I went to a gun range for the first time today!! I was initially pretty nervous and completely unsure of what to expect. Once I shot the first round I felt right at home though and I can't wait to go back again!

If you've ever gone shooting, let me know how your experience was in the comments!




Almost hit the bullseye!
Headshot!!!