Let's Talk About Injustice

There have been many reports throughout 2016 of horrible crimes against humanity: unnecessary deaths, racial targeting and profiling, and targeting others for their religion. This is an oversimplification of the tragedies and injustice you see in your newsfeed daily.
I will be including several videos and articles from possibly triggering tragedies and I urge you to please read with caution from here. Read more

Community Mental Health: The Pros and Cons

Originally, I wrote a post about Oppositional Defiant Disorder for this week but in light of my horrific day, I’ve decided to switch gears and write about what working in community mental health is like as a professional.
Community mental health is a branch of mental health at works with clients in an outpatient or community setting. This includes your standard counselors, community-based programs, psychosocial rehabilitation, in-home services, and many more. Basically, if it’s not in-patient, it’s community mental health.
Let me begin my sharing my transition of positions over time. I was initially hired at my current company to provide Mental Health Skill-Building Services. After about 3 months, I transitioned to providing Crisis Stabilization Services. Both of those positions were working directly with clients in the community and the primary support of my post today. Read more

Goal Check-In: Day 250

This post contains referral links. Please see my disclosure page for full details.

Today marks the 250th day of the year! That means it’s the 250th day of my 2016 goals, including my savings challenge. I posted an update at the 50-day100-day, 150-day, and 200-day marks to help me stay accountable. I’ve made it a goal to post an update every 50 days to help hold myself accountable.
My savings have had a pretty significant change due to my decision to forego my original goal of saving $7557.95 then putting it towards my debt at the end of the year. This goal changed to paying a total of $7557.95 extra on my debts throughout the year.
Here is my 250-day savings update:
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How We Handle Split Finances (Millennial Marriage #2)

My husband and I have split finances. We’ve been doing this since we started dating (despite having a joint bank account for 5 years). He watched his parents get divorced and have finances issues as a result of untangling their joint lives. I have strong ideals of being an independent woman who can make it on her own (cue Miss Independent).
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What is Mindfulness & How Can It Help Anxiety?

Mindfulness is the practice of being intentional, being reflective, and living in the moment. There are innumerable ways to be mindful and individuals with mental health disorders can benefit from mindfulness and positive ways to cope with their symptoms. Mindfulness is particularly helpful to people with Borderline Personality Disorder and anxiety disorders.
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My Top 3 Homemade Household Recipes

Last week I talked about my top 5 frugal rules, including knowing when to do it yourself. Today I want to go over a few of the recipes I use around the house that lower my overall costs: laundry detergent, moisturizer, and face wash.
All 3 of these recipes can be made using essential oils, so before I go into further detail I’m to talk about where I get my essential oils (non-affiliate pitch, I promise).
I buy all of my essential oils from Edens Garden. They have quality essential oils, very affordable prices, and have the option to create your own custom sets. I have used them from the beginning I cannot imagine changing. I have used doTerra and Young Living and see no difference in the quality but a significant difference in the price. I highly recommend checking them out!
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Becoming A Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist in Virginia

I’m finally about halfway through with my residency and about halfway to becoming a Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist (LMFT) in Virginia. When I’m mentioned this before, I’ve gotten a lot of feedback about people being surprised at how much was involved in becoming a licensed therapist. Today I’m going to dive into the requirements for Virginia LMFTs and my journey.
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My Top 5 Frugal Rules

Living the frugal life is not always fun and games. Most of the time, the frugal life is irritating in one way or another. But frugal people overlook the irritants in the now for the benefits in the future.
Think of it like a diet. Most of the time, you don’t start a diet thinking, realistically, that you will achieve your goal weight/shape/size overnight. Instead, you put in the work to bring about the future you want.
Personal finance works the same way. You have to put in the work to have a better future. Read more

Regional Yard Sale: The Good, Bad, and Ugly

Most people are familiar with the concept of a yard sale: you go through your home and collect everything you no longer want or need, then you sell it on your front lawn.
This past weekend was a well known regional yard sale in my area. It’s basically 140 miles of yard sales from Virginia to North Carolina. This was both a good thing and a bad thing, as I’ve learned. There is a higher volume of traffic but also a lot of other sales, too.
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Blogging Break

Hello everyone!
I wanted to let you know I’m taking a short break from blogging this week and will be returning next week! I’ve been struggling a lot with motivation and finding the right topics for my blog so I’ll be taking the week to look at what I want and where I want Furry Finches to go.
 
Stay tuned to what gets rolled out next week!