Hey everyone! So I’m sure we can all relate to the simple fact that the holidays are super expensive. I’m in my last year of college and as a college student the holidays are particularly hard for me as well. With over 35 people to purchase gifts for and the number continuously growing, it’s becoming more of an expense or a bill than a fun holiday. I’ve come up with and even engaged in some quick ways to make money for the holidays and I wanted to share it with you.
1) Garage Sale/ Yard Sale:
This is something that I had done last year during the holidays to make some extra cash. There was a ton of stuff I was looking to get rid of so I cleared house and sold it at a yard sale! I was able to make an extra $100 this way for gifts.
2) Rake Leaves/ Shovel Snow For Neighbors
This isn’t something that I personally have done but it is a great idea! My boyfriend had once made $300 during a snowstorm just by shoveling driveways. Whether it be leaves or snow– if you are able to, you can make some good money by doing these tasks for people.
3) Flea Market
A flea market is the perfect place to sell any of your items and you are almost guaranteed that someone will purchase something from you. People go there to spend money on just about anything– as they say, one mans garbage is another’s treasure. I did the flea market and I was able to make $200 during the summer $65 a month ago and $120 just recently. It’s also a perfect way to get rid of some old clothes. I sold a lot of the clothes that I was going to get rid of anyway and made some nice profit.
4) OfferUp/ LetGo/ Facebook Market Place
These apps are perfect for selling things that you no longer want or need. They are a lot safer than Craig’s List and you can make some decent money. Recently, I’ve made $95 just on selling items around the house I no longer need. I normally use OfferUp for household items like microwaves, vacuum cleaner, elliptical etc. I use LetGo for fashion products like jewelry, clothes etc. Lastly, I use Facebook Marketplace for bigger things and appliances like refrigerators, cars, kids play stuff etc.
5) Poshmark
Poshmark is a perfect app to sell lightly used or new clothes, accessories, shoes and you don’t have to meet up with anyone. The buyer pays for the item and for shipping. It’s an amazing way to make room in your closet and make some money for the holidays. I had overall made $113 from everything I have sold. You can sell items for women, men, and children. A perfect time to list is now because people are looking for affordable outfits for the holidays and gifts for others! If you want to download this app and start listing or buying today feel free to use my referral code for a free $5 to spend on your first purchase: STEPHRUSS0811
6) Etsy
If you have a cricut or are good at arts and crafts, you can make your own Etsy Shoppe! Etsy is my, and a lot of others go-to during the holidays. Nothing is better than a hand crafted and personalized gift. You can definitely make good money from an Etsy Shop especially now that the holiday season is upon us!
7) EBATES
This may not be a way to make some extra money but it definitely is the best way to save money while shopping. With the app Ebates you are able to get cash back on a lot of your purchases. I’ve gotten $20 just from shopping and getting cash back for purchases. If you want to start getting cash back feel free to use my referral link and get your first $10 cash back when you sign up with my link: https://go.ebat.es/R0vBjTESPM
8) Save Your Change
This sounds silly right? But I promise you, this will be a life saver during the holidays. Get a tall decorative vase and put any of your spare change in the vase. I have saved over $100 this way once. If you do this over the course of a year you can save some extra money instead of letting your change collect in your purse and in your laundry room.
9) Sell Your Old Phones And Technology
You can sell your old phones and technology on a website called Gazelle or you can visit your nearest ecoATM. You can get cash for your old outdated technology that is otherwise collecting dust.
10) Upcycle Old Furniture
A perfect way to make a huge profit is to upcycle old furniture. Drive around your town and pick up furniture on the side of the road (only if it is being given away for free) that looks like it is in pretty good condition and upcycle it. You can do this by sanding, re-staining and re-finishing the old wood, painting it for a rustic look, changing the knobs and more! I would only recommend doing this if you have the space but you can sell the pieces on OfferUp, Facebook Marketplace, LetGo and others alike.
I hope you enjoyed this post and I hope it helped with ideas for quick cash ventures that you want to take. Remember to subscribe for email notifications for when I post new content and make sure you comment down below what you do to make extra cash during the holidays.
-Stay Chic,
Stephanie Russell
Hey everyone! Recently I’ve been on a life journey recently and I learned a life lesson that is very important. I wanted to share this with you all because maybe you all could learn from the lessons that I experience. I love discussing life lessons with you all, it definitely allows you guys to get a better understanding of who I am as a person.
Recently, I have been trying to be a more forgiving person and I feel that this is a very mature thing to do. I used to be spiteful and I always wanted revenge on people who hurt me. Now, I am learning that holding onto that spite and anger only hurts myself mentally and emotionally. Nothing comes out of holding that anger.
You must forgive to save yourself the grief and pain of holding onto those harsh emotions. You should also learn this lesson from the Dalai Lama: “Don’t let the behavior of others destroy your inner peace.” This basically means to not allow the actions and behaviors of other people affect you because it is out of your hands. You cannot change how other people act but you can always change how you react.
It is something you owe to yourself– to allow yourself to be happy and let go of pain and anger. There are no answers in those emotions so let them go. I hope this life lesson is helpful for you all and I hope you enjoyed reading this post. Remember to subscribe for email notifications for when I post new content!
-Stay Chic,
Stephanie Russell
Have you ever finished a series and wondered what you were going to do with your life now? I have and this is something that happens to me regularly because I binge watch shows constantly. So, I am constantly watching new shows. Here’s what I’m binging right now:
Madam Secretary
The Haunting Of Hill House
How To Get Away With Murder
Schitts Creek
Parks And Recreation
Designated Survivor
House Of Cards
The Good Place
American Horror Story
Lost In Space
Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt
Black Mirror
These are the shows I’m watching on Netflix and I recommend trying them out! I hope you enjoyed this post and remember to subscribe for email notifications for when I post new content and make sure you comment down below what shows you are binging.
-Stay Chic,
Stephanie Russell
Hey everyone! Today I want to do a get to know me post because I honestly haven’t done one of these in such a long time. I love doing posts like this because it helps you all, my loyal readers, know a little more about who I am as a person. So here are 10 things you probably don’t know about me:
1) I am not a good cook, not yet anyway. I haven’t had much experience with cooking but in my most recent experience with cooking, it hadn’t gone over well.
2) I am a born scholar. This may be the hard worker in my talking but I love school so much. I even love learning and doing homework. I’m no genius or mad scientist but I definitely love going to school.
3) For me, college wasn’t the “best four years” of my life like everyone explained it to be. I felt that I was a lot more mature than the people I had gone to school with which made it a really hard task to make friends. I felt I related more to professors than the actual students.
4) I’m a materialistic person. Is this a bad quality? I guess but it’s just who I am. I love stuff whether it be clothes, jewelry, makeup or little gifts. This doesn’t mean that moments in life don’t matter to me or intangible things don’t matter because they do just as much as the next person. I just enjoy getting things regardless of if they are only temporary or not!
5) I enjoy scary movies and being scared. I don’t ever want to be in a true scary situation but I do get a kick out of haunted houses and scary movies. It’s so much fun!
6) I’m a huge goof ball but only with people that are close to me. I have so much fun joking around with my close friends and family. I constantly crack jokes, I’m loud and it’s so much fun to let my true goofy self shine around those people!
7) I quote memes and vines constantly.
8) I laugh at really bad dad jokes and just bad jokes in general. I will crack up if someone says “Why did the chicken cross the road? To get to the other side”. I think that kind of dry dad humor is hilarious.
9) I drank wine once and it made me sick to the point where I couldn’t drink it ever again. I couldn’t even smell it. But now I am able to drink it again and I’m starting to develop the acquired taste for it.
10) When I was born I used to be a toe head blonde but now my actual hair is a darker blonde and I started to put highlights in it over a year ago. I put highlights in my hair because I stopped being friends with my best friend and I needed a change. So I chopped and bleached my hair and have been doing it ever since.
I hope you enjoyed these small facts about me and remember to subscribe for email notifications for when I post new content and make sure you comment down below a fact about you or even ask me a question!
-Stay Chic,
Stephanie Russell
Hey everyone! I am inspired to share a dream I have with you all today. I don’t normally discuss this with anyone but Ryan and my best friend but I recently had a near death experience and it pushed me to do more things that make me happy. My near death experience was eye opening and I appreciate having a second chance.
Let’s talk a little about my near death experience first. I was in the car with my best friend, she has a 2006 Monte Carlo. As we were making a left turn onto my street a huge pickup truck that was behind us didn’t see us until the last possible second and the person had to swerve around us. Since we were completely stopped waiting for the person in the oncoming lane to pass, we definitely would not have made it if we were hit. The impact of a pickup truck that size coming full speed of almost 45mph hitting a still car would be detrimental. We were both pretty shook up from the experience and we now realize how precious life is and how fast it could all just be over.
So, I am making it a point to do more things that make me happy, to not argue about pointless things, to be more positive and to always say I love you and goodbye to those I care for. I know that’s a loaded list of to-dos and it will take time for me to change my ways but I wanted to share some dreams I have when it comes to my life. When I accomplish these dreams I will likely share it with you all.
My dreams:
– I want to make a life canvas. I was inspired by a video with Jason Momoa that gave me this idea. After my near death experience I realized there wasn’t anything in my life that I was leaving behind that captured who I am as a person. No makeup, clothes or skincare is going to show who I was. So I want to make a scrapbook with pictures of me with people that I love, and maybe put my accomplishments that I am proud of in the book. If you want to watch Jason Momoas video to get a better understanding of what I am talking about here is the link: https://youtu.be/Ey1vror6dco!
– I want to graduate college and get a good job.
– I want to get married to my soulmate
– I want to be a home owner at some point in my life
– I want to have children
– I want to have a successful blog and YouTube channel and in turn be able to start my own online boutique
– I want to live a happy life.
These are my dreams and I hope to achieve them during my time here on earth. They seem like basic dreams to have but I guess we don’t realize that everything we wanted to amount to can be taken away in an instant. We aren’t promised tomorrow, so live today! I hope you enjoyed this post and remember to subscribe for email notifications for when I post new content. Let me know your dreams in the comments down below.
-Stay Chic,
Stephanie Russell
Sometimes as we look back on things, we realize that our younger self would have never known what was in store. The future I had planned for myself was so different than what it is at this moment. So, I wanted to write a post about what I would tell my younger self. I hope you enjoy this letter.
Dear 17-year-old Stephanie,
As you are reading this, you may think arrogantly that this is not the way life will pan out for you. You are such a hardheaded person. But there are some things that you need to hear.
Stop worrying about if you are good enough, you always will be. Those who don’t see this don’t deserve to be in your life. You are going to meet your soulmate soon and he will be the best thing God has ever given you. There are hardships within this but try to look past them and realize that the only thing that matters is your love for him. You will wake up every morning so thankful that he is in your life. As for college, stop boasting about going away forever. College isn’t what you think it will be but this is okay, you will learn more about yourself here. Keep your head up high and remember that most of the problems you will face are only temporary. You will go home a lot, and you probably feel lonely but I swear this feeling won’t last forever. For that carefree feeling you have, this will wash away. You will wish for more simpler times when you get to where I am now. So enjoy every moment.
You are going to lose your best friend for a little bit as well. These times will be very tough on you but you have to be strong. No one will understand the pain you are going through but try your best to realize she is going through pain too. Be forgiving. You will both reconnect after a long while but things will be back to normal with time.
You will never again be the person you are right now. Bask in this sunlight and enjoy this part of you because I promise you’ll miss it. I don’t think this part of who you are is lost forever, it will always be deep inside of you but you will change. I haven’t determined if this change is for the better or worse but I am hopeful about the future at this moment. You will worry a lot, some of this anxiety will be crippling and when you go through it you will know what I am talking about. Just know that it all works out in the end. It will be okay, just trust yourself. You are a lot smarter than you realize, so don’t let failures push you down. You’ve worked hard to get where you are, so get on your feet and keep on fighting.
At some point you will come in contact with some selfish and malicious people, and you need to understand that not everyone has the same heart as you do. You are a unique breed of person, don’t let them affect you because in the large aspect of things you will always be the better and bigger person.
You will amount to great things. It might be hard for you to trust fate and not try and plan out the next 50 years (yes I know you), but I promise you that everything will fall beautifully into place. You have an amazing life, in hard times it may be difficult to see this but I hope that you remember this letter when you do. Make sure you kiss and hug everyone as much as you can, this will be important later on.
Be kind to yourself.
– Love, 21-year-old Stephanie Russell
Recently I have been struggling with time management because I am always so busy. We’ve all been here, and balancing out life as well as work is very hard. I’ve come up with a few solutions to the problem that I would like to share. But I first want to discuss how much I have on my plate to give you an idea of why I had trouble with time management.
Not only do I have an internship that I work for 13 hours a week, I also have a full course load which is 21 credits. On top of that I took on a second internship that I work for 12 hours a week and I am also the head of an organization on campus which is a ton of work. I am also taking on a note-taker position at school which means I have to take notes for students in class and type them out and upload them for the students to access. Plus, I am joining Ju Jitsu which I will be going to for an hour or two twice-three times a week. I also have to do stuff for my blog as well as YouTube channel. I try to go to the gym as often as I can after school or on the weekends for an hour or two. On top of all of that I also have a relationship, social life and family life that I try to keep intact. It’s a lot to handle. Trying to fit everything in my schedule seems almost impossible but I’m managing to do it.
So what are the ways to better manage your time and your life? First off, buy a planner and actually use the planner. This will help you remember due dates, events and will prevent you from planning something on a day you already have plans. You can even color-code the planner to make it easier to read which assignment is for which class and what event is mandatory or optional.
Second, set reminders on your phone for things that can be easily forgotten a few hours before it is due or you need to show up. Whether that be for a meeting, or a weekly discussion board post.
Third, don’t say yes to something until you know that you have nothing else to do. Nothing feels worse than scheduling an appointment with someone and then having to cancel last minute because you forgot to check what you had planned already. So make sure to double check your calendar before agreeing to something.
Fourth, do important work before the due date. This is extremely necessary because if you have a lot of stuff going on things may slip your mind or you might not have time to do it later. It’s best to keep up with any work you have by doing it a week in advance if you can.
Fifth, if you are trying to do things for yourself make sure you make time for it. Obviously, you need to make sure you have everything done that is necessary to get done first. But if you want to work out then try to allot time for it to happen. It’s important you do things for yourself when you are busy because otherwise you might drive yourself crazy.
Sixth, don’t assume that you don’t need a social life. Humans are natural social creatures and being social is necessary sometimes. So whatever opportunity you have to hangout with friends, go somewhere with your significant other, or be with family then take it. But again make sure you have no other obligations before saying yes.
For instance, here is my tentative schedule:
Monday:
Internship #1- 10am-4:30pm
Ju Jitsu- 8pm-9pm
Tuesday:
School- 10am-4:20pm
Internship #2- 4:30pm-9pm
Homework- 10pm-11pm
Gym-11:30pm-12:30am
Wednesday:
Muay Thai- 10am-11pm
Ju Jitsu- 11pm-12pm
School- 3:30pm- 10pm
Gym- 11pm-12am
Thursday:
School- 10am-4:20pm
Internship #2- 4:30pm-9pm
Homework- 10pm-11pm
Gym- 11:30pm-12:30am
Friday:
Internship #1- 10am-4:30pm
Ju Jitsu- 6pm-7pm
Gym- 7pm-8pm
Hangout With Friends- 9:30pm-12:30am
Saturday:
Family and Boyfriend day
Do any other homework
Sunday:
Homework, boyfriend and his family day
Meal prep for the week
Gym?
From this schedule I am able to move things around and schedule things around activities that are already implemented in my plans. I hope this helps you with making your schedules and that you enjoyed reading his post. Please remember to subscribe for email notifications for when I post new content. Comment down below what helps you while making your schedule.
-Stay Chic,
Stephanie Russell
Hey everyone! I hope this post finds you feeling well. I am currently announcing that from now on I will only be doing one post a day! So, from here on out I will only be scheduled to post once a day. This has nothing to do with my followers, readers or email subscribers! I really appreciate all of you and this is just a decision I made for myself by myself.
For the past eight months or so I’ve been posting twice a day and it’s taken a lot of dedication and time. I am very proud of the content I have put out and I love to blog! I started posting twice a day as a fun thing to do during the holiday season for Christmas. I then realized that I enjoyed posting a lot and I ran with it! I posted twice a day since then and it was a ton of fun!
I am no longer posting twice a day because of how time consuming it is. I am not becoming lazy but I am about to graduate college and I really have to focus on my schooling. I also am going to be commuting back and forth from school this year and it would be almost near impossible for me to be able to do two posts a day while being so constantly on the road. I will always try to post quality content but I just am unable to do it as frequently.
Another reason why I am unable to post as much is because I am currently trying to kickstart my YouTube channel again. I had done some videos in the past but I felt that the quality wasn’t there so I had deleted the past videos. I am now starting over and trying again with YouTube which will also be another time consuming aspect.
I appreciate you all and I hope this doesn’t deter you from reading my blog posts! I hope you enjoyed all of the posts you’ve read from me and I promise there are more amazing things to come! Please remember to subscribe for email notifications for when I post new content! Comment down below what your thoughts are on this!
-Stay Chic,
Stephanie Russell
Hey everyone! I really wanted to interview Ryan because I want to have you all get to know him better. I talk about him a lot on here and I feel that sometimes there’s a disconnect when I talk about him. So I decided a Q&A Interview would be the way to help make that connection!
What’s something I do, that I don’t realize I do, that you love?
You do things in cute ways. Like for example, you lay on your belly to doodle or wash the car with a sponge and rinse it off with a bucket of water instead of sitting to doodle or washing the car off with a hose.
If I was really sad, what would you do to cheer me up?
Roll you up in a blanket sushi roll and feed you Chipotle or ice cream
What outfit of mine do you like the most?
Jeans with a nice flowy shirt and sneakers
Do you prefer a date watching movies at home, snuggled up on the couch, or out at the movie theater?
Snuggled up together
What would be your ideal vacation with me?
On a beach relaxing by ourselves
What, to you, is the most important thing in life?
Comfort
What would be the absolute perfect day?
A day in nature
What’s something you tried really hard to like but just couldn’t?
College
What names were ruined for you because you knew someone terrible with that name?
Philip
What’s the most stress relieving thing you can get/do for less than 20$?
Cheap concert tickets
Should TP hang over or under?
Over
Do fish have necks?
Fish do not have necks
What’s the last thing you Googled?
“Restaurants”
What are your 10 most recent emojis?
😂💕❤️💝😊😘😍😏😑🇺🇸
What “old person” things do you do?
Read the news
What’s your favorite candle scent?
Eucalyptus Mint
How old do you think you’ll be when you get married?
It’s a surprise
Do you spell the color as grey or gray?
Gray
Where do you buy your jeans?
Target
How old were you when you found out that Santa wasn’t real?
What? Santa Clause isn’t real?!
What is one band you don’t like to listen to?
21 Pilots
What makeup trend are you not a fan of?
Big Lips
Do you have any tattoos?
No
Who said “I love you” first?
Me
Describe me in three words.
Sweet, caring, and beautiful
What is my weirdest habit?
You breathe in really hard when you look in the mirror
I hope you all enjoyed this Q&A boyfriend interview. I hope you got a better idea of who Ryan is as a person and I hope it’s easier to make a connection when I talk about him on my blog! Please remember to subscribe for email notifications for when I post new content. Comment down below any other questions you’d like me to ask him!
-Stay Chic,
Stephanie Russell
Hey everyone! I’ve wanted to share this photo challenge that I am trying to do this August and I will be uploading the results sometime soon! I wanted to do a photo challenge because it’s something that not only I could challenge myself with but I could share the challenge with you all.
So, for the challenge you can either choose to do the pictures whenever in August or you can do one everyday for this month. It’s up to you how you want to do this. Just make sure if you are Blogging this, to provide a link to my website and credits to this challenge. Also, if you are posting this on social media please @me and hashtag #NotTooShabbyChicFashion #AugustShabbyPhotoChallenge and I will take a look at the pictures!
This should be a ton of fun and I’m super excited to do a photo challenge. I haven’t done one of these since I was 17 and I am so happy that I get to share the photo challenge experience with you all! I will post the pictures for it soon on my blog! I hope you enjoyed this post and remember to subscribe for email notifications for when I post new content! Feel free to use this challenge, and comment down below if you are going to join!
-Stay Chic,
Stephanie Russell
