It was a combination of unapologetically being yourself – the “authenticity” that’s such a buzzword now, especially if you’re Prince Harry - and faking it ’til you make it. Basically, what a generation that had been thirsty for relatable role models wanted to hear. This was the moment when being a millennial became cultural catnip. Lena Dunham’s Girls had recently launched and, like Brown’s book, was for millennials by a millennial and showed a group of millennials taking their first confusing steps into adulthood and working out who they were in the world (albeit an overwhelmingly white world). It was also the year of Frances Ha, starring Greta Gerwig as a 20-something mess, trying to navigate her professional dreams and crumbling friendships, and edge a little closer to adulthood while doing it. Also, we’d just found out that Dan Humphries was Gossip Girl. Create routines in your home - Routines will change, but the basic theory behind them will stay with children well into adult years. Today’s attitude is gratitude and it feels oh so good. Send someone a thank you note. Pause to compliment or express gratitude to someone who has helped your recently – especially if it’s out of the blue or face to face! Kids these days don't have to learn the art of scheduling; they are told where to be and when by their parents, their friends over text, and the almighty Google calendar. When they waltz into the real world, mastering schedules will become essential to their success. Get your teens and adult children to take accountability for themselves. At the same time, Bellaire says that sometimes the best first step toward creating a retirement fund is first paying down any ‘bad debt,’ like that stubborn credit card balance. “Getting out from under debt like that should take precedence over retirement savings, as it has implications for your credit score and long-term financial picture,” she says. Start adulting today

Adulting is hard,” says Bellaire. “The adulting mindset is acting like an independent person and proactively managing your responsibilities (financial and otherwise) on your own. It also means taking care of yourself—maintaining a clean apartment, going to the dentist, meal prepping, doing laundry, going to bed early—the things we all associate with being an adult.”alright, that's if you've made it through week one, congrats! I promise, it gets easier from here, I figure, let's start with the hard stuff and then the rest will feel like a breeze! Day 8: Set appointments for health.

Without a community and a concrete place to turn for personalized resources, navigating these decisions is isolating and frustrating,” says Bellaire. “With Gen-Z’s focus on mental health, they’re looking for a place to ease their fear of missing out and falling behind.” Embracing the financial ABCs RELATED] Cheap Grocery List + Meal Plan for Family On A Budget Trying To Grocery Shop Once A Month Day 16: Dump expired stuff. RELATED] 5 Financial Boundaries You Need To Set With Friends [+ How To Do It!] Day 26: Practice mindfulness. Focus on a few basic meal recipes - Scrambled eggs, pasta dishes, grilled cheese, and baked potatoes are all things that even the most clueless chef can create in a kitchen. RELATED READING] 7 Ways To Network Like A Boss Day 25: Revisit an old relationship friend, mentor etc.

Older children on the cusp of leaving home also have to learn to trust themselves. Morin suggests parents model working through problems with older children. In teaching young adults to better trust their assessment and judgment of problems, they have to be able to think to themselves, "Can I solve this myself?" Always being there to provide answers doesn't instill critical thinking skills needed for life outside of mom and dad's house. Starting to save for retirement as early as possible is like paying your future self and giving you more optionality down the line,” says Bellaire. Compounding interest—a near-magical financial principle—on 401(k)s or IRAs means that the earlier you start saving for retirement, the more money you’ll have to enjoy later in life. “Prioritizing setting aside some money each month in accounts like this also has positive tax consequences you don’t find with other savings accounts, so it’s doubly helpful!” Teach teens to write out their schedules - Make sure they know to include key information like times, dates, and places. One of the biggest steps a young person can take toward successful adulting is to look past the short-term of today and begin to plan further out. Retirement is one area that can feel so far away to someone just starting their career. But in the bigger picture, it just doesn’t make sense to ignore it. Morin suggests that parents consider sharing with their growing children the financial hurdles and burdens of life rather than hiding them. It is an instinct to want to shelter children from the adult stressors in the world, but discussing budgeting and finances in their presence can be quite helpful to this aspect of their development. Having money conversations with older children present does several helpful things.

Paying bills on time and writing thank you letters, funnily enough, didn’t turn out to be the blueprint for growing up that we’d hoped it might be (although I still do both). There wasn’t much room for making mistakes in this version of adulting – which is, of course, the only way to become truly adult. Plus, in highlighting our extended adolescence, did it compound the millennial stereotype of a generation of fragile, self-obsessed snowflakes who can’t get a mortgage because we eat too much brunch? Now that everything is cleaned out, let’s make sure we create a schedule to keep it that way! Organize your digital life using a calendar or Trello and set due dates to make sure you’re on top of keeping things clean clear and on schedule. For example, one the 7th of every month, you'll do a digital dump again and on the 11th of every month you'll shred all those pesky mail docs. You just went through the steps, so you know how good it feels to have thing clean and organized! Don't let it all pile up again! Holy moly! The month FLEW by! Can you believe it? Now is the time to set your intentions for the new month! Write it all out! Maybe you didn’t do something on this list? No worries! Shoot to get it done next month! This was meant to dabble in a few areas, but maybe while going through hit you felt like you needed more energy or focus around finances, or self care, or the home, or relationships, maybe set that as a sole intention for the new month! Through it all, the message about adulting remained the same: the goal was to get onto that traditional life path. The one you’re supposed to follow. Meet a partner, buy a home, start a family. All while nailing it at work, being an amazing friend and having the perfect wardrobe.Today's children are growing up with a genuine fear of failing. Morin points out that the fear of failing is often two-fold. Kids are either being raised in a world of participation ribbons, where everything is a celebrated success and everyone is a winner, or they are growing up in a world where success isn't an option, so why try? As parents, it is your job to teach both sides of failure. Yes, in the world of adulting, failure is most definitely an option. It stings and it is no fun, but it is going to happen. That said, just because you might sink doesn't mean that you don't have to get in the pool. You know all those pesky letters you get in the mail? Like W2s, W9s, bank statements and the like? Well it’s time to take them off your kitchen counter (why does stuff ALWAYS pile up there?!) and file it away! I personally use this filing cabinet and I either file (longer term docs I might need like W2s, W9s, healthcare statements, retirement account statements etc.) or shred (monthly bank statements, unnecessary healthcare docs, etc.) A post shared by Rachel // Blogger | Influencer (@theconfusedmillennial) on Jun 9, 2016 at 5:47am PDT Because of the Great Recession, life has never been more expensive. Getting an education and setting forth on a career path is not cheap. Young adults often struggle to create financial stability entering the real world. Besides being at the mercy of the inflated economy, it is hard to grind it out day after day when one can basically live with mom and dad for free. Parents often think that providing a financial safety net is a gift to their older children, but in many ways, it is a hindrance. Why go for something when it can be handed to you with little effort on your part?

Have teens and young adults help with home repairs - Before they leave home, make sure they know their way around a hammer and nails, a screwdriver, and a drill. Make those annual physical exams, two dental cleaning, and gynecologist appoints if you don’t already have them scheduled! Seriously, just schedule them, even if you need to reschedule, at least you’ll have it on your calendar to deal with at a later date. Part of adulting is finding your voice! Stand up for yourself today. We all have that running tape, that voice inside, that’s talking to us all day. You know the one who says you shouldn’t have said that or done that or you should have said or done things differently. Well today is the day to be bold. To speak out loud. To advocate for yourself. Whether it’s with that inner voice and telling it to pipe down, or standing up for yourself at work or in another relationship. Looking for some ideas? How about dropping one of these harmful communication tactics. Day 29: Try a new wellness trend. Whoever said no new friends had it all wrong. Life is about exploring, innovating, and growing and what better way to do that than networking?! Whether it’s professional or personal networking, focus on making a new connection today. — And if you're feeling overwhelmed, start here! Seriously, if you been reading the blog but never left a comment, this is your chance! Say “hi!” introduce yourself! Yeah, today’s the day to actually take all those donation bags to Goodwill. Seriously, get them out of your house and car! Day 21: Clean out social media.Nobody likes bed bugs or a nasty gal * or maybe we do? I can’t keep up with is nasty girl a good thing or bad thing these days?* Anyway, just clean your sheets. Especially if you’ve been breaking out on your face, it’s probably a sign your pillow case needs to be washed!