yourself for your progress. Occasionally, when you've achieved certain milestones in your goal plan, take a break and reward yourself. See a favorite movie, visit a friend who lives across town, go to the ice cream parlor with your friends, or buy yourself something new. If you don't have the money to purchase rewards for yourself, find ways to reward yourself that don't cost anything. This can include setting aside a favorite game or activity only for when you earn it. mistakes. You are going to make mistakes during the process of achieving your goals. That is completely normal and expected. Even if it’s not you making a mistake, you’re going to encounter some kind of obstacle. Don’t let these problems overwhelm you. Gather your thoughts, readjust your efforts, and maintain a positive mindset. Break down your goals into smaller chunks if you find that your initial list was not possible. Once you’ve gone through the first part of the school year, make a list for the second half. You may have some goals that you haven’t accomplished yet, and that’s okay. Put those goals at the top of your new list. Write down a few other realistic and manageable goals. At some point during the year, you will need to evaluate your progress. Think of what you’ve accomplished so far. You should also consider what you need to work on. Once you’ve done that, you can figure out what you need to do to get better as the year goes on. You can review your progress halfway through the year, or do it once a month. Sleep  is very important, especially when you’re keeping up with a busy school schedule. Don’t overwhelm yourself so much that you lose out on sleep. Try to maintain a sleeping schedule. Go to bed at the same time every night and get at least eight hours of sleep. Avoid caffeine and other stimulants, like television screens, before you go to bed. Hard work is necessary but so is relaxation. Overwhelming yourself can lead to exhaustion and mood problems, which could prevent you from achieving your goals. Do things like sports, meditation, or writing to help you relax. Exercising can also help you sleep better.
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One-sentence summary -- Reward   Overcome Create new goals halfway through the year. Reflect on your progress. Get enough sleep. Find ways to relax.


An amortization schedule will help you understand your monthly payments and fit them into your budget. The benefit of creating your own spreadsheet is that you can save it on your own computer and print it out, which you can't do with the online calculators.  Most basic spreadsheet apps have amortization table templates built in. You also may be able to find a template for the spreadsheet app you use and download it for free online. Using a template will save you from having to enter the amortization formula manually. Your spreadsheet will have a separate line or row for each payment over the life of the loan. You may want to organize your spreadsheet so that the first half of the payments are on one side of the page and the other half run down the other side of the page, so you can see the whole table at a glance. The first column of your spreadsheet typically should be the date each payment will be made. Work with your spreadsheet functions to see if you can get these dates to auto-populate based on a formula rather than having to input each one manually. The two columns that provide the amount of each payment that goes to principal and the amount that goes to interest will be the most useful columns for you in comparing different loans or understanding how your loan is amortized.  In the beginning, you'll notice that more of your payment goes to interest than to principal. This is because interest is being computed on a larger amount of principal initially. As you pay down the principal, the interest you pay gradually decreases as well and more of your payment goes to principal. If you aren't using a specifically designed amortization table spreadsheet, you'll have to enter the code yourself for the amortization formula so that your spreadsheet will auto-populate these columns and you don't have to calculate each amount by hand. You may want to add an additional column for the interest rate. If you have a fixed-rate loan, you may feel this column is unnecessary, but it could be useful if you have an adjustable-rate loan. Unless you have an adjustable-rate loan, your monthly payments aren't going to change, so you can easily fill in the payments column using cut and paste.  Your overall balance typically should be the last column on the spreadsheet. Use the formula function to fill in the data for this column, showing the balance decline by the amount of each monthly payment. You also may want to include a column that shows how the principal balance (rather than the total payoff amount) is declining over time. To populate this column, create a formula that subtracts the amount of each payment applied to principal from the total remaining principal after each payment. If you have a fixed-rate loan, your amortization schedule will determine the amount of each monthly payment. This amount won't change unless you are late with a payment, at which point your lender will charge you late fees and other penalties.  Some lenders reserve the right to increase the interest rate if you are late on multiple payments, which could affect the amount of your monthly payment. Keep in mind that if you are late on a mortgage payment, you typically must continue to pay fees and penalties until your mortgage is brought current. This means if you skip one month's payment and then make the regular monthly payment the next month, you'll be charged for two months of late fees. In many cases, you can make extra payments each month and these will be applied entirely to the principal of your loan. Making extra payments, whether regularly or sporadically, can help reduce the amount of interest you have to pay. You'll also pay off your loan faster. With an amortization schedule you can create an extra column for extra payments. Enter extra payments to see how much sooner you can pay your loan off.
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One-sentence summary -- Download a template. Create a line for each payment. Include the date of each payment. Add columns for principal and interest. Set columns for your balance and payments. Make your payments on time. Evaluate the impact of extra payments.


At least five people are usually needed to play the game. You can use less than five, but it’s usually not as much fun! You should sit in a circle so you can see everyone’s hands. You can rest your hands on the floor or hold your hands up. Either way, everyone starts with 10 chances. You can have someone volunteer to go first, or play rock, paper, scissors to decide. The first player says “Never have I ever....” and then announces something outrageous they haven’t done. It's best if the player thinks it's likely something other people have done. For example, you can say something like "Never have I ever been to Europe," "Never have I ever been arrested," or "Never have I ever had detention." The players who also haven’t done it should keep all of their fingers up. Move clockwise through the circle, with the person on the first player's left taking the next turn. The next player comes up with a new thing they’ve never done. The players who have done it put a finger down, the players that haven’t keep their fingers up. The last person who has fingers up wins the game. You can repeat the game as many times as you like.
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One-sentence summary --
Gather at least five players in a circle. Each player holds 10 fingers in front of them. The first player announces something they’ve never done. Put one finger down if you’ve done what the first player said. Move to the next player in the circle. The person with fingers remaining up wins.