Let’s start with paying bills. 

As an adult, you must pay your bills on time. You must not charge your bills to your credit card because that will just cause you misery. Bills, like utilities and school fees, must be paid with cash or liquid funds. Set aside a portion of your salary to pay for bills. And in order to do that you must have a job. 

Get a job. 

Like a real one. A full-time one and if possible, not just freelance. Sometimes having any job will do. As long as you’re employed and get paid each month. But no. You really should have a job you like. If you manage to get a job you like and be able to pay bills with cash and not credit, then congratulations, you already have half of the challenge of being an adult fulfilled! 

I’m serious, it is a big achievement even if you are paid peanuts. If you love your job and it allows you to pay bills, then you’re good.

Bills, however, are not fangirl expenses. That is a whole other thing. That is a huge grey area that even an excel freak like me cannot calculate or tabulate in its entirety. Do I classify this expense as credit card expense? So that it becomes just another short term debt? Or is it an entirely separate monster on its own? 

Hmmmm……..

No. If we were to classify fangirl expenses as just another short term debt then we’re not going to be able to cultivate it in a healthy manner. We’ve got to face this demon head on. Because let’s admit it, fangirling is a demon. An expensive and emotionally invested demon.

So like bills, fangirl expenses, at best, should be paid using liquid funds too. So even if you have to charge your credit card, be sure you can pay it off 100% with next month’s salary. That kind of thing. It has to be manageable.
And those are my rules. 

1. Get a job I like.
2. Manage my salary so that I can pay bills and fangirl expenses in cash.

If a time comes where I can’t pay for bills and fangirl expenses in cash, then I must give something up. It could be cancelling some subscriptions (like astro news package –i don’t watch the news–) or like this year, stop buying albums in bulk. Stop going to concerts.

Be an adult.

In order to be a more responsible adult, I declared myself semi-retired from fangirling.