Day Girl's Bookclub

Oh goodness, it took me forever to realize that I wasn't logged in. I was on this page and able to read everything but I was looking everywhere for how to reply to the postings and finally I realized, there isn't a reply tab because I'm not logged in. G's!

Alright so chapter 11 I didn't enjoy at all, as yall all know I am not into social media at all. I will say that the internet I find extremely useful and would die without it. I love being able to access the internet to look stuff up that I'm interested in. I just recently got into youtube and I love being able to get on it and search stuff on different topics I'm interested in. However when I think of social media what comes to my mind is facebook, Instagram, snapchat, and whatever else is popular right now that I'm not aware of. Social media is something I personally choose not to participate in, I don't look negatively on other people that use it, it's just my personal chose, and I feel good knowing it's not something that consumes me that unfortunately for a lot of other people it does.


The biggest reason I choose not to participate in social media is because like I said earlier, I feel like it consumes peoples' lives. So many people I encounter are obsessed with it, they are constantly on their phone checking their social media sights. I also feel like it causes people to become obsessed with their persona. People want to take a million selfies or pictures in general to post on their sights to get their friends/followers attention. So many young girls who are brought up with social media are posting, let's be honest, slutty pictures of themselves. It's embarrassing! They do this to get guy's attention or to make other girls jealous. This is the type of behavior I don't want to participate in. I also don't like how people want to post every little part of their day to all their friends/followers. I find it sad that people feel the need to do this. I'm not going to sit down in the morning with a cup of coffee and book and take a selfie and post it updating everyone on what I'm doing and I don't know if this is still popular but putting my location out there so people know where I am (YIKES who came up with that, honestly why would anyone post their location, HELLO don't you know there are psychos out there who might stalk you and track you down). I'm also a very private person and don't want people stalking me. I feel like when you have social media so many people want to be "your friend" but they aren't really your friend, they just want to see what you're up to, and let's be honest you just accept to be their friend because you want to know what they're up to. This is also a big reason I don't want to participate because I would get addicted to looking people up and stalking them and I don't want to waste my day doing that so I make sure it's not something I'm susceptible to.


I feel so free knowing  that I'm completely ignorant of the drama that is going on on people's social media sights. No one knows what I'm up to and I don't have to worry about what they are thinking about me, and I don't have to worry about what people are posting! Our neighborhood has a facebook page and there is always so much gossip and drama. I am SO glad I am ignorant to it all. It is so sad to think that so many of these people, actually ALL of these people are older then me and they just sit around on their facebook pages posting so much crap. I'm thinking really? Do you not have anything better to do?


A flip side to social media that pretty much everyone will tell you for their reasoning behind why they have a social media sight is because they have it to keep in contact with certain people (family, friends, whatever). I have no trouble keeping in contact with the people I choose to keep in contact with. If you have a smartphone you can keep in touch with anyone, it's called get their phone number. You can text message, talk on the phone, send pictures, email, it's no harder to do this then use social media. I love communicating this way because I get to choose who has my phone number, as opposed to social media, anyone can look you up, and yes you can make your page private but they can still find you and ask to be your friend.


So as of right now, social media is not for me. I feel adequate keeping in touch with people via my cell phone. I think social media is more so negative then positive and I feel like it can be extremely addictive for most people. I know that if I had one it would become addicting for me, I also know that if I had one I would start worrying about stupid stuff like how I am portraying myself and what people are thinking about me. I would also get drug into people's drama.

Side note, hope I didn't offend anyone on my views of social media, I know yall all have one. I think as long as you don't get caught up in the negative aspects of it then it's fine to have. For me I just rather be safe then sorry so choose not to paticipate. I think if I had a business though I would definitely get one because it is a great way to reach out to people and find cliental.

Oooo I'm the first one on this post!!!

I can pretend like I am all caught up, lol!

1. How do you balance your life with social media?
First, how sad is this question? I don't mean that in the sense that your question is sad, but that we have to sit and think about how much time we invest in the internet. I personally feel like I waste a lot of time on social media. I don't let it come in the way of my responsibilities, but I could be doing something else. For instance, when I'm nursing Ruby. I have to stay put, so I whip out my phone and scroll. I nurse her 8-10 times a day...up to 15 minutes, that's a lot of time. However, on the flip side, I use social media to boost my photography business. 95% of my business is from connections through social media. Very few are from outside sources.


2. How do you use social media in your life?

I sort of answered this one in question one, but I use it to stay in touch and for my business. Since I moved away from the place I grew up, I am not able to see my childhood friends. Social media has allowed me to stay in touch, see their family and share our lives together. It also helps to find out about fun events going on in my area and connect with local moms. I use Facebook for my photography business, it has helped a lot over the last 12 months.

3. Do you let your children use social media and if so, do you have limitations/rules?

My older two kids are on Instagram. We are friends, so we see what they post. Their account is private, however, this doesn't stop random people from requesting them or messaging them. We have taught them to ignore requests from strangers and to be mindful of what they post. Never where they are, just the picture. I personally think my kids need some sort of exposure to the internet and social media. They need to learn what it is and how it can be useful, but also how it can be dangerous. Completely shielding them from social media doesn't really help to educate them. Growing up in a time where social media didn't exist really allows for me to see both sides. I am thankful that I never had to deal with bullying via the internet, (mind you, bullying still happens, just in different forms) and it's sad to read stories of children who are affected by it.

4. What was the most important thing you took away from the chapter/videos?

I confess that I did not read this chapter.

My apologies.

OMG you posted without reading the chapter!!!  JK:)  Love your post!  And I agree that social media can really help with promoting your business!  I forgot about that aspect of using social media.  I have read stories on how companies have grown by just using social media and they don't have to pay for ads and stuff. 

I loved both of yall's posts, it's nice to see how other people manage their money and get new insights.

1. Who is in charge of your finances, you or your husband? Or do yall both share the responsibilities?

Alright so Andrew and I actually combined our finances a good while before we were even married. I feel very strongly about husband and wife having finances combined and finding a way to manage it together, which can be VERY difficult, especially if yall are both complete opposites with your money like Andrew and I definitely are (although I can say now, thankfully, over the years we have both met each other close to the middle).  So Andrew and I both manage the finances together, however, I am in charge of managing it day to day, and Andrew is more in charge of managing it when it comes to doing taxes, buying a house, car, or something big. Hopefully this makes sense. I keep up with our daily spending, how much our paychecks are, when bills are due, how much bills are, I basically know everything about our finances, I know how much we make each month and how much we are going to be throwing away on all our bills and then how much we have left over to do with what we want. 

2. How do you manage your finances, do you have a monthly budget where you set money aside for certain things?

So the way I manage our finances is with my monthly planner and keeping up with balancing our account. I have my monthly planner that has all of our bills wrote down on it and also when our paychecks are coming. Andrew and I each get paid every two weeks on the exact same day. So what I do is I look at each two week interval and I calculate up how much money has to go towards bills and then I subtract that from what our paychecks will be. I do this every two weeks so I know what we are looking like financially and how much money is coming in and then I figure out how much we need to put towards savings and how much we can use towards spending. In addition to this I also write down all of our transactions every day and every two weeks I go through and check all of our transactions to the bank transactions to confirm that everything has come out and that the amount of money the bank says it actually how much we have (sometimes there may be a transaction pending that I know about but that hasn't come out of the bank yet so it may look like we have more money then what we really have). Andrew and I don't put an exact amount towards savings each paycheck we kinda just see what we are working with and put different amounts towards savings. I do think it's important to have a savings though, which we do, it's great for emergencies or if you find yourself in a tough spot, it's nice to know that you have it if you need it.

3. Do you have any advice on managing finances that you think works well or you have learned from?

My advice is if you like what I just said I do with my finances, then there you go! 

4. Do you practice stewardship with your finances?  (giving back financially)

Yes I practice stewardship. I think this is important. I think Andrew and I have been extremely blessed and it's important for us to give back. Andrew always keeps cash on him and anytime he sees someone begging for money he always gives them some (and yes I am aware that some of the people who beg for money may just be lazy and don't want to go get a job or are lying about their situation, but we could care less, to me if you are standing in public asking for money you clearly aren't living a good life so we are willing to help out and it makes us feel better like we helped someone, and it's not for us to judge them, if they are being shaddy then they will be judged when the time comes). In addition to that we give money to the church every week, my goal is ten percent but we aren't all the way there yet. The reason I think it is important to give to the church is because then I am letting God be apart of my finances and if I let him be apart of my finances then he will bless me in return. I can't let him not have anything to do with my money and then when I am in a hard time pray to him to help me, then he's just going to be thinking "oh now you want my help" (side note, God wouldn't actually say that because he's awesome). Also God is the one who has blessed us with being financially stable and in return he asks us to contribute a little money to him in return, which I think is fair. God is very generous, and if you are generous towards him financially then he will in return be generous to you financially, I really believe this and have had numerous times that I have had this proven to me. Even if Andrew and I have been in a tough time financially I still make sure we give a little money to God and trust that in return he will help us out and he always does, I think that's why we are where we are now financially.

Andrew and I also just do little things here and there to help people out. If we know someone who needs something and we can help them out we do it. If I'm at the grocrey store and they are asking for donations for different organizations I participate. Just little things here and there.

Jennifer, great post!  I agree with your post about stewardship and I have seen how generous you and Andrew are with people you come in contact with whether it's lending a helping hand or giving money - you both consistently "pay forward" and I think that's great!

I loved both of yall's posts, it's nice to see how other people manage their money and get new insights.

1. Who is in charge of your finances, you or your husband? Or do yall both share the responsibilities?

Alright so Andrew and I actually combined our finances a good while before we were even married. I feel very strongly about husband and wife having finances combined and finding a way to manage it together, which can be VERY difficult, especially if yall are both complete opposites with your money like Andrew and I definitely are (although I can say now, thankfully, over the years we have both met each other close to the middle).  So Andrew and I both manage the finances together, however, I am in charge of managing it day to day, and Andrew is more in charge of managing it when it comes to doing taxes, buying a house, car, or something big. Hopefully this makes sense. I keep up with our daily spending, how much our paychecks are, when bills are due, how much bills are, I basically know everything about our finances, I know how much we make each month and how much we are going to be throwing away on all our bills and then how much we have left over to do with what we want. 

2. How do you manage your finances, do you have a monthly budget where you set money aside for certain things?

So the way I manage our finances is with my monthly planner and keeping up with balancing our account. I have my monthly planner that has all of our bills wrote down on it and also when our paychecks are coming. Andrew and I each get paid every two weeks on the exact same day. So what I do is I look at each two week interval and I calculate up how much money has to go towards bills and then I subtract that from what our paychecks will be. I do this every two weeks so I know what we are looking like financially and how much money is coming in and then I figure out how much we need to put towards savings and how much we can use towards spending. In addition to this I also write down all of our transactions every day and every two weeks I go through and check all of our transactions to the bank transactions to confirm that everything has come out and that the amount of money the bank says it actually how much we have (sometimes there may be a transaction pending that I know about but that hasn't come out of the bank yet so it may look like we have more money then what we really have). Andrew and I don't put an exact amount towards savings each paycheck we kinda just see what we are working with and put different amounts towards savings. I do think it's important to have a savings though, which we do, it's great for emergencies or if you find yourself in a tough spot, it's nice to know that you have it if you need it.

3. Do you have any advice on managing finances that you think works well or you have learned from?

My advice is if you like what I just said I do with my finances, then there you go! 

4. Do you practice stewardship with your finances?  (giving back financially)

Yes I practice stewardship. I think this is important. I think Andrew and I have been extremely blessed and it's important for us to give back. Andrew always keeps cash on him and anytime he sees someone begging for money he always gives them some (and yes I am aware that some of the people who beg for money may just be lazy and don't want to go get a job or are lying about their situation, but we could care less, to me if you are standing in public asking for money you clearly aren't living a good life so we are willing to help out and it makes us feel better like we helped someone, and it's not for us to judge them, if they are being shaddy then they will be judged when the time comes). In addition to that we give money to the church every week, my goal is ten percent but we aren't all the way there yet. The reason I think it is important to give to the church is because then I am letting God be apart of my finances and if I let him be apart of my finances then he will bless me in return. I can't let him not have anything to do with my money and then when I am in a hard time pray to him to help me, then he's just going to be thinking "oh now you want my help" (side note, God wouldn't actually say that because he's awesome). Also God is the one who has blessed us with being financially stable and in return he asks us to contribute a little money to him in return, which I think is fair. God is very generous, and if you are generous towards him financially then he will in return be generous to you financially, I really believe this and have had numerous times that I have had this proven to me. Even if Andrew and I have been in a tough time financially I still make sure we give a little money to God and trust that in return he will help us out and he always does, I think that's why we are where we are now financially.

Andrew and I also just do little things here and there to help people out. If we know someone who needs something and we can help them out we do it. If I'm at the grocrey store and they are asking for donations for different organizations I participate. Just little things here and there.

Chapter 10 – Family Banker

We have a monthly budget and we save A LOT right now.  Unfortunately when we were younger we spent every penny we had to make ends meet.  We definitely lived check to check.  We didn’t save for college or for our future retirement.  So, now that we are able to financially, we are packing away to ensure we have money when we retire – I mean, Social Security… will we even see that when we need it?? 

Same. However, we have slowly learning and able to live my freely