I’ll tell you where to go.

Posted on by carissa.

& thats exactly what I told my money. My money will not control me this year.

Every year I tell myself “I am going to save money” but I never really do it. Lets be honest how many of us say the same thing, but constantly get trapped in the money web. Here I am making decent money with nothing to show for it. One day I woke up and the lightbulb went on and it stayed on, thank God. It hit me, I’m almost 30 living paycheck to paycheck. 30 years old and I still don’t know how to budget/ save correctly. 30 years old and still have one eye open at 1am every other Friday to see how much I got paid. I finally realized that this is the ghetto. 0/10 I would not recommend.

So how do I fix this?

I vividly remember being in the backseat of my moms car on Saturday mornings while she listened to Dave Ramsey. People would call him and ask for advice on how to get out of $120,000 worth of debt. 6 year old me was like yikes, little did I know. The first goal that I have is to save $6,000 this year. $3,000 of which will be my emergency fund, $2,000 will be my back up, and $1,000 to go towards my car. Will I achieve this goal? I hope so. I will be saving money as I go so even if I don’t hit my goal I will be saving something and at the end of the day that’s all that matters.

This year I’m gonna be stuck to Dave Ramsey like white on rice. Like a beef patty on cocoa bread. Like rum to coke ok you get the point. Sn: My poor budgeting skills do not reflect my mother, because she is the budget queen. In case she ever reads this. In my next post I will break down the cash envelope system and also talk about sinking funds. I hope you will follow me on this voyage.

The Broken Down Writer.

Posted on by carissa.

Consistent:

con·sist·ent/kənˈsistənt

  1. acting or done in the same way over time, especially so as to be fair or accurate.

Once again I have decided to start blogging, again. Life just gets so busy that I feel like I never have time to write. In reality, you make time for what you want to make time for. I find time for Eagles game and ID episodes why cant I find the time to do something I love, writing.

I logged into WordPress to change some things around and I started to look at my old blog posts and whewww chillleee. I haven’t written in almost 3 years. I was really going through it back in the day. My love life was in shambles. While I’m sure the content was / is relatable I am not in that place anymore. I’m a few months shy of 30 and my mindset has changed. I still plan on writing content that you can relate to and opening up, because my my how things have changed. Nursing school, job changes, mental hospital, finding love through darkness, moving, and being on a quest to financial freedom the journey never stops. I hope you all continue to follow me on this wild ride.

Good For Nothing

Posted on by carissa.

Except for maybe sex.

I’m starting to think that I have a sign on my forehead that says “Only good for sex”. I have been re evaluating my life & the men in it & man. Everybody around me is in a relationship, getting married, and living their best lives but what about me. Why is it so hard for me to find myself in a relationship. I was recently told by my constant after 3 years that it was still just sex and when I tell you a bitch is perplexed. After the occasional ” I love You” and the matching tattoo ideas, and all the side shit I did for him this negro still told me it was just sex. I appreciate his honesty, but damn. I look back over the last 7 years of my relationshits trying to see what I did wrong, and once again a bitch is perplexed.  I did everything for them ie: cooked, took niggas on trips, bday gifts/ surprises even gave one money when times got tough & yet it still wasn’t good enough. I got nothing in return except good dick & insecurity. Like damn I couldn’t even get a bday card. Before you throw judgement, these men I did shit for weren’t niggas off the street and I didn’t do things for everybody. I know you are saying why would you do anything for these men especially when they aren’t your husband. So yes I’ll take the blame but it still leaves the million dollar question why wasn’t it enough? Yesterday I was reading my book & the writer said:

“There’s nothing more confusing & painful to a woman than being told she’s amazing by a man who treats her like she’s not good enough to commit to and the saddest part of it all is that this woman will fight to prove her value to the one man who doesn’t even deserve her.”

& then I realized oh shit maybe it’s not just me. Niggas really do this foolery to other women on the daily. I think I’ve learned my lesson tho. Keep your heart & your wallet 3 $tacks.

2017

Posted on by carissa.

It’s been real. I don’t have any complaints honestly and I’m thankful for that. I made life changing decisions (stay tuned) and I learned to face my fears. I flew 3x this year. People that know me know that I do not fly but this year I decided to not let my fear keep me from seeing the world, and I will be bringing that same mindset into 2018. I opened up more. I did new activities. I laughed harder than ever. I went thru a period where every week I was hit with a new issue but I got past it (thank you Jesus). I will not put up with anything that does not make me happy. This year I went to another country, turned my phone off, and didn’t talk to anybody for a week. I haven’t been the same since. I learned to look at things differently and change my way of thinking. I put myself in situations that could have ended my life but I learned from them. In 2018 I want to get out of my comfort zone…slightly. I want to live life even if I’m going thru this journey by myself. Lets just say I am beyond excited for 2018 and all that it has to offer.

 

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Plus One Please

Posted on by carissa.

I went to my 2nd jobs Christmas party last week not realizing that one small question would turn my world upside down. As I’m sitting at the table with my doctors and co workers one of them turns to me and jokingly says “Where is your plus one?”. I put my brown Bacardi and coke down and proceed to stare at her like a deer in headlights. I looked around the room and realized that everybody up in this piece has somebody with them except me. I finally snapped back into reality gulped the rest of my drink down and laughed her comment off. I laughed to keep from crying forreal. In my head I was yelling at her that I didn’t need a man and that I was I-N-D-E-P-E-N-D-E-N-T don’t you know what that means (s/o to my Webbie fans) but in actuality I was embarrassed, saltier than a Philly pretzel. Once again I had it thrown in my face that I was single like a dollar bill.  This year I really tried to evaluate myself to see why I’m single or why I attract the men that I do ie: the sex offender I met while I was at work a few months ago but that’s a whole different story. I mean I know I’m far from perfect but my goodness I haven’t been in a real relationship since the devil was a boy. Is it my insecurities? Am I too picky? Am I not “bad” enough? Do I need too much attention?. I downed a few more drinks and vowed that this time next year I will have a plus one to all my Christmas parties. I’m speaking that shit into existence. Y’all pray for me.

A Realistic Christmas List

Posted on by carissa.

So a lot of people have asked me “What did you get for Christmas?” or “What did you ask for?”. The older I get the harder it is for me to answer these questions because whatever I want I go buy it. For example I bought myself a new car this year and the new fancy laptop that I’m using right now. Me personally I’m not into gadgets and all that other stuff. No I don’t want the new IPhone give me the $1000 so I can put that in my savings account. Anywhoo I thought I would make a realistic wish list. If you are younger you might not agree but if you are at least 24 & up I know you will feel me. So lets get into it.

  1. I would like my new car paid off
  2. I would like my student loans to disappear
  3. I would unlimited gas for a year
  4. I would like a nice townhouse with no mortgage
  5. I would like an automatic paid vacation every 3 months
  6. Pay a car note or 2

But instead I settled for the nonstick griddle that I asked for. Hope everybody had a great holiday.

He She and We

Posted on by carissa.

I want to tell you a story about he, she, and we. It was me and he and then there was a she. How the fuck did she get here? She had been there all along. I was the behind the scenes girl. They didn’t even know I existed. How could you hide me? How could you play me when I would do anything for you? I would give you my ribs. I would die to see you live. Lets fast forward to 4 years later 10,000 buckets of tears and anger later. You and she are taking baecations even tho you have a permanent staycation in my heart. You choose her over me basically saying she was better than me, I think the fuck not. Conveniency > Loyalty or so you thought. I often wondered what would happen if I saw her walking down the street. Would I beat her ass or thank her? Beat her ass for taking what was mine or thank her for helping me see the light. I saw the light and it showed my heart In a million pieces. It’s not fair you say, I know. So what happened in the end of the story? Well he and she are trying to convince themselves that they are meant to be and live happily. See he thought she was the greener grass but little did he know. And now he can kiss my ass. As much as I hate she its not entirely her fault. I stayed, I waited, I prayed for you to be the he God made for me but sadly you could not live up to those standards. Now I stand tall with my head held high. I won.

Hold the black man down

Posted on by carissa.

But what about us?

Lately I’ve been feeling left out. Feeling like our black women are being left out. You always hear it being emphasized that black women need to hold black men down, be there for him, and support him always. Ride or Die. That’s all fine and dandy but what about black women? Who’s holding us down? We go through shit too. Even if we don’t speak on it we deal with a lot on a daily basis. Insecurity, constantly being torn down, depression, and all the other bullshit. Yes, black men have their fare share of difficulties on a daily basis but that’s not what I’m here for today. Growing up I was always told to be the “strong black woman” but shit I need a man to check up on me sometimes and ask me how my day was, ask me if I’m ok. I also don’t mean generic how are you I mean genuine shit. Just ask me how my damn life is going. If I tell you I have an interview I expect you to ask me about it later. That 6 page paper I told you about a few weeks ago I want you to inquire about the grade I got. If I tell you I’m looking to buy a house I anticipate you to ask me if I’ve found potential houses. I’m not trying to come off as needy but sometimes I feel like we as black women are forgotten yes we are superheroes but we struggle too. Did you know I contemplated suicide today? Did you know I lost my job today?  Now I’m not saying all black men don’t reach out and check on their girl I’ve just noticed that society pushes the woman to always hold her man down and that it’s not vice versa.

Don’t forget about us.

& that’s real pain

Posted on by carissa.

  • A paper cut.
  • Watching the person you love get engaged to somebody else.

 

Child let me rub my damn temples for a minute. If you have ever read some of my previous blogs I have talked about “love dove” and the struggles we have gone thru. Well 4 years later here we are and “love dove” has seemed to have lost his damn mind. The details of this story is too much and I’m not in the right mental space to even talk about it in detail right now. I never thought I would be here in my late 20’s watching a man that I did everything for, gave everything to ,get down on his little ashy knee and ask another female to spend the rest of her life with him. Tuhhhh. I’m hurt forreal. The saddest part of it is that I’m use to this shit. I legit wouldn’t wish this hurt on anybody. He’s off gallavanting planning a damn wedding while I’m left with insecurity looking at me in the face.

But then I remembered who the fuck I am.

To be continued..