This page is designed to offer resources for adulting — usually meaning someone said it better or knows more than I do, and I’m happy to be the middleman. Below are several categories of resources that might come in handy, and I’ll be adding to it as I come across good resources.
Disclaimer: I don’t get paid or compensated for any of these recommendations, but have put them here because they’ve actually been helpful to me or other people I know.
JOBS are a thing
- Books are almost always an excellent place to start. These have all been recommended to me, and I’m working my way through reading them all:
- Getting from College to Career by Lindsey Pollak
- Life After College by Jenny Blake
- Quarter-Life Calling by Paul Sohn — This one is from a Christian perspective, but has some quality advice no matter your faith background
- [Notes: The links are all to Amazon because it’s supremely convenient, but consider checking your local bookstore to support. Also shoutout to Professor Ballard for recommending these.]
- “Career Freshman” is a witty and genuinely helpful blog post by my friend Melina with tips for those of us who are just starting to venture into the world of full-time work.
- Interviewing? I have some handy tips for that process.
- Dress to impress.
FINANCES are tricky
- Broke-ish describes a lot of emerging adults’ finances, for which I’ve compiled helpful tips on that weird limbo of financial life.
- There are a ton of spending trackers available online and as apps, such as Mint, which can be super helpful when learning to budget and trying to save. (Truth be told Google sheets or Excel can also be good ways to track spending if you’re consistent about updating.)
- For a more heavy-duty budgeting tool, EveryDollar is free and user-friendly.
- Trying to figure out saving? Start here.
FOOD is necessary
- A series of simple af recipes for all occasions — dinner party, Netflix binges, you name it. Because mac and cheese is too wonderful to be ruined by eating it every single day.
- Roasted tomatoes
- Stir fry
- Mini apple pies
- Pico de gallo
- Crepes
- Slow-roasted pork tacos
- Cold smoked salmon
- Crock Pot chicken & veggies
- Pulled pork
- Peach crisp
- Homemade chicken soup
- Kale & quinoa
- Mostly healthy breakfast cookies
- Spiked apple cider
- Homemade sourdough bread
- Amatriciana
- Casa Roma
- Mediterranean salad
- Double chocolate espresso cookies with browned butter
- Veggies are good for you. And they don’t have to suck.
- Meal prep can be a pain. There are ways around that.
PRACTICAL SKILLS are helpful
- YouTube can teach us almost anything, right? Maybe. But the same awesome minds that do Crash Course and similar YouTube channels launched one called How to Adult. They’ve got videos on everything from car maintenance to taxes, which for me at least are going to come in handy.
- Cartoonist Nathan Pyle wrote a light and meaningful BuzzFeed article on lessons he hopes other people will be able to learn earlier than he did. It’s both encouraging and helpful, like a friend who will give you a hug and then help with the dishes.
- MORE BOOKS! Seriously, though, my dear friend Kami (check her out @kambythebook) has put Meg Jay’s The Defining Decade at the top of her required reading list for all twenty-somethings just trying to figure it out.
- Boring adult stuff that is actually good to do (and a ton of links on how to do them).
PEOPLE are strange
- I am being completely serious when the first resource I suggest for dealing with people is a deep breath and a sitcom. Whether you are nervous, frustrated, confused, throwing on an episode of a sitcom will help how you’re feeling so that you can actually deal with it.
- Emerging Adulthood by Jeffrey Jensen Arnett — This is the guy who coined the term emerging adults, and while I don’t agree with everything he has to say, he has a lot of insight into understanding what this phase of life looks like for many of us.
- Advocacy! Your fellow human matters. But learning how to live that way takes work.
oh grow up 