Jessi Marquez

Kick the Habit

There are a few habits I plan to kick, and oddly enough, they are all somehow related.

I realized that where you invest your heart, is where you invest your life. If you want to know where your heart is: look at where you spend your money, time and energy/thoughts.

Anyone that knows me, knows my love for people. I love meeting people for coffee, or taking friends out to dinner. However, I believe that there are other places where my resources need to be spent. I am not saying that there will be no more coffee dates, what I am saying is, there is a way to live a balanced life.

Starting August 1st: for Kick The Habit I will be kicking:

• Over spending/ not budgeting – aka FINANCIAL FREEDOM

• Time management and spending my time wisely

• Taking care of myself : Fitness and healthy eating

Financial Freedom:

Money is always flowing in and out of your life. On payday it comes in, and until your next paycheck, it goes out to pay for your housing, transportation, food, clothing, entertainment and more. I realized that I had unhealthy spending habits.

I live a busy lifestyle in New York City- and was going out to eat for EVERY MEAL. I was spending hundreds of dollars on food and entertainment.

Breakdown of a typical day:

8am: Iced Latte from Birch Coffee

9am: $5 on breakfast

Noon: Lunch – A salad could cost me $10 easily, or if I met up with someone, I was spending $20 to dine-out

3pm: Another coffee break- another $5

Dinner: I really enjoy dining out, and the social aspect of eating with friends. Dinner typically costs $20+

On a weekday: I could EASILY spend $40 minimum. ON WEEKENDS: I was spending $60-$100

Kick the habit Breakdown of a typical day:

8am: Brew espresso at home (Cost me $5 for a giant bag of espresso)

9am: Eat cereal and fruit ($5 for a box, and $2 for a bunch of bananas)

Noon: Bring a packed sandwich ( cost me about $15 to make 5 sandwiches a week- including turkey, cheese and avocado)

3pm: Another coffee break: I signed up for Starbucks Rewards and get a FREE COFFEE (read more here)

Dinner: Either make a healthy salad, grilled veggie burgers, grilled chicken and veggies (Each dinner cost about $5 to make)

I am now spending about $55 a week for food, which breaks down to $11 a day, saving me $30 a day/ $120 a month! As for my weekends: I am allowing myself to go out to dinner somewhere reasonable on Saturday nights.

So why, why is this SO important? I believe this is important because I believe that God entrusts us with blessings to pour out blessings to others. Sow and Reap. I have always had a very generous heart, and often times wish I could do more. There are friends of mine that are missionaries that I want to support, there are orphans that I call friends that are starving, and there are causes that I am passionate about that need my help!

My pastor Paul actually spoke about this last week. You can listen to the podcast here. It was actually a pretty big coincidence, because this was something on my heart for quite some time.

Another BIG red flag for me was that, I didn’t know where my finances were going! It is imperative to track your finances and start saving. I hope to one day have a family, and this is a lesson that needs to be learned NOW.

I just signed up with LearnVest : I recommend this tool for anyone starting to prepare a new budget. I can track my spending, and develop an easy system to tithe, save, and not over spend. Days of “waiting for the next paycheck” will no longer be words plaguing my life, but will be a friendly reminder of my financial freedom.

Time management:

I have a very full life. I work a full time job, am starting an organization, volunteering at church, mentoring girls, being a Maid of Honor for my best friend, participating in a connect group, legends group, and building the relationships around me. My friends have coined me the “energizer bunny” and ask how I have the ability to always keep going.

I will admit, my energy level is a gift. I believe I’ve been given this gift because of the things I am meant to do with my life. However, here comes that MAGIC WORD : BALANCE!

Even God rested…and that alone is reason enough for me. He worked pretty hard for 6 days, and then rested on the 7th.

For Kick The Habit: I am going to be scheduling time to rest, and spend time with God and time alone. I am a natural planner, but I fully enjoy the spontaneity of life. Hence why I even took on an adventure like The World Race.

So how am I going to do it:

1st-learning to say no. It’s actually okay to not meet someone at 5:30am for breakfast because they neeeeeed you. (Thanks Rhema) Because to be honest, if you are meeting that person at 5:30 am, are you even fully present? I rather give people 100% less often, then be scheduling people in, every free second of my day, and be burnt out and mentally unavailable.

2nd- I have scheduled: No plans Saturday. I know that sounds funny, to plan to not have plans. The thing is this…going to bed on Friday night, and knowing I have NO obligations on Saturday is quite freeing. I wake up Saturday refreshed and expectant to see the beautiful day unfold. Last week I practiced this, and had the funniest adventure day with Deirdre and Meredith…

3rd- I am scheduling time for God, myself, my organization, and then others. I know I know…love your neighbors as yourself. However, I need to love myself and give time to myself to truly LOVE others. Also, FreelyBe is something that is DEEP set into my heart. I need to make sure I give it the time it needs, as well as my energy and time to my team that is passionate about the cause. Everytime I say yes to something, I am saying no to something else. I want to make sure I am saying YES to the RIGHT things.

Taking care of myself:

This one is a biggie. The above two really will be having an influence on this one.

Here’s the plan: pretty simple. Don’t do things to please others or their approval, eat healthy (self control), and workout/rest (time management).

My financial budget actually helps with my eating healthy because my meals are now planned. While grocery shopping I can choose healthy options, oppose to the 1,000+ calorie salad at FoodParc.

I also just joined a gym that has fitness/dance classes. I will NEVER go to a normal gym. I belonged to equinox for a year, and went 7 times. However, I love dancing. This is something that I would be excited to go to, and I even got some of my friends from Legends to sign up with me. Socializing+Dancing+Working out= Fitness Solution that works!

With my new time management plan, I can schedule time to go to the classes, as well as time to just RELAX and watch a movie (Like Never say Never haha)

So that’s my plan…

It’s not always going to be easy. However, success is taking the first step. I know I will make mistakes, but here’s the thing... “It’s not the long walk home that will change this heart, it’s the welcome I receive with every start.”-Mumford & Sons