Do you know the secret of a happy and simple life? As of late, the world believes that the answer lies in minimalism. The world is awakening to the benefits of minimalism. The most important benefit of the principle is that it is helping people lead a better life. Minimalism focuses on living a simple life, free from materialist temptations. It drives our focus away from objects.
So, if you think about it, it tremendously helps your finances. If you are still confused, and cannot figure out how to, just sit back and read on.
Financial benefits of Minimalism
1. Money from selling stuff
When you live a minimalist lifestyle, you focus on increasing free space in your house and owning fewer things. Consequently, you declutter things you held onto for years without using them. Now with minimalism, the focus is changed.
You either get rid of useless things by throwing them away or selling them off. If you do the latter, you earn money. Even though the amount is less than the purchasing price, it wasn’t anyway going to give you any money if you had kept the things in your home.
2. You buy less
It’s simple – with minimalism, you grow satisfied with the things you have. As a result, you only buy the things that are necessary for you. You no longer have the temptations to buy those extra bottles of sauces you seldom use, and the clothes you bought out of fascination, only to get bored of them a week later. Thereby, you do not only end up saving your house from clutter but saving a handful of money as well.
3. Your purchasing priorities change
Did you ever refuse to leave the shopping mall without buying a pair of shoes you fell in love with? If yes, then minimalism can change that. With minimalism, you no longer submit to your shopping triggers. Your purchasing priorities change. You don’t buy the things you want, but only those you need. In other words, you buy those things that you know you cannot do without.
For instance, if your laptop malfunctions and becomes irreparable, your priority would be to buy a new one because you necessarily need it for work. You won’t buy shoes, clothes, home décor, or anything that you only “want”
4. Can facilitate debt payment
Minimalism can tremendously help your savings. When that happens, you can put your money to better use – debt payment. Back then, you might have held yourself back when you exceeded your budgets, thinking you would need the money for other expenses. But now with a significant amount saved, you’d use it for debt payment.
You might not be able to pay your debts all at once with the amount saved, but when minimalism becomes a lifestyle, you save every month, giving you a chance to pay your debts, portion by portion. Consequently, by paying debts earlier, you save money too when you don’t have to pay added interests.
5. Increases investments
As said before, you can make better use of your saved money. You can pay your debts, and at the same time increase your investments which would help you to double your wealth over a period of time.
Most people refrain from making any investments because they don’t have enough money left at the end of the month to do so. However, sometimes, they do invest, but not as much as they should.
When it comes to accumulating wealth, you have to take greater risks (investing in equity); you have to invest more and sometimes you have to face losses as well. But how would one do that when their financial standing is not good enough to afford any loss? Minimalism can fix that.
6. Fewer decisions make better decisions
With minimalism, you would have time to make better decisions. You wouldn’t have to think a hundred times as to what to wear to the dinner on Sunday or how would you manage to pay the bills when you have no money left. And as we know, decision-making can be exhausting, and at the same time pointless, if we waste our energy making decisions about trivial matters.
Ergo, when it comes to minimalism, it cannot only make you think better but help you make wise decisions about other important things. These wise decisions may be anything – where to invest? How should I improve my investment portfolio? How should I increase my income? How do I expand my business? How do I grow? etc etc.
Lastly, you become more productive
With no worries and stress about bill payments and debts holding, you become more focused and more productive.
Looking at it from another perspective, with minimalism, you have a lot of space in your surroundings – meaning no clutter. Thus, you don’t only act fast, but your mind functions better in an open space. This improves your thought process, concentration, and eventually helps you deliver quality results.
So if you haven’t tried minimalism yet, I hope you make up your mind to do that. If you want to stay ahead of your bills and improve your financial standing minimalism can surely help you. What are your thoughts? Feel free to share your heart out in the comment section.
We ditched traditionalism to embrace digitalism, and it seems the world has changed.
But what still remains the same is the clutter and the dire need for organization. That is to say, our documents may have moved from our cabinets to our computer folders, but they still need organization. Otherwise, we’ll all be staring at a thousand emails, or images only to struggle with storage issues, not to mention focus and productivity as well.
Therefore, here’s how you can master the skill of digital decluttering. Just sit back and read along.
How to organize digital clutter
1. Unsubscribe
How to Organize Digital Clutter
We are all in the same boat in this regard; our mail app finds itself clogged by a thousand unwanted mails. Wondering how such emails reach your mail id in the first place?
Well, thank yourself, because mostly you are the one to subscribe to them unconsciously every time you visit a website and register yourself on it.
But don’t worry, here’s how you can undo it.
You just have to hit the unsubscribe button. Every mail carries an unsubscribe button along with it. Most commonly, it is at the bottom of the mail. However, you can also find it at the top sometimes.
2. Images
Our galleries are stuffed with unnecessary images. Be it old screenshots or just hundreds of pictures in the same pose.
But, if you want to be free of digital clutter, you have to get rid of them.
Here are a few tips for you.
Organize your images. Sort them, and add them to the folders they belong in.
You can start by deleting images that look more or less the same.
Go from folder to folder. Head to screenshots first. Look closely, and delete the unnecessary ones.
Switch off auto-download for images and videos.
Make it a habit that every time you receive an important image, you add it to your favorites or at least mark them. It will help you retain important images and get rid of the useless ones easily.
Use cloud storage services like google drive or iCloud.
3. Applications
Our phones provide shelter to a lot of apps that we never used or do not use anymore. It’s time to bid our goodbyes to them.
Start by getting rid of apps you do not ever use. Then head to those which you seldom use.
Furthermore, if you happen to be an IOS user, there’s an offload feature that allows you to get rid of an app you seldom use and automatically store its data when you reinstall it.
4. Organize your desktop
Our desktops are usually filled with gazillion apps and icons. It’s time to organize them for your own convenience.
It will involve lots of sorting, creating folders, and storing the data in them for an efficient organization.
5. Music library detox
I don’t know about you, but hundreds of songs consume significant space on both my phone and laptop. And I guess, you too must not be a stranger to the crowd.
Therefore, start by deleting songs you don’t listen to anymore. You can also go for music streaming apps like Spotify and Apple Music and stream music instead of downloading them to spare your phone from potential storage issues.
6. Clear junk/temporary files
How to Organize Digital Clutter
Every time you visit a website, you end up storing cookies and caches. They are nothing but a burden on storage. Therefore, do not think twice before deleting them.
For laptops – Open the Run app by searching it in the taskbar. Type in %temp% and delete everything.
For iPhone- Delete website data for safari, and clear app cache from apps individually. PS. Only some apps, say Amazon, allows you to clear cache in the app itself.
For android – You just have to head to your storage and file settings.
Last but not least
It might be a tedious task to de-clutter, might even take a whole day or more than that. But it’s just one time, then you’ll be mess-free and stress-free.
Hey, feel you have some tips to share? We’re all ears. Feel free to head to the comment section.
If it takes a minute to earn money, it can take less than 30 seconds to lose all of it. In simpler words, it is difficult to earn money but easier to lose all of it.
But this is when financial management comes to your rescue. In a nutshell, financial management is to manage the finances of a firm. And in this case, you are the firm. You are the CEO, who must excel in the skill of financial management to be the guardian of your own money.
But the question still remains, how do you do that? How do you manage money like a CEO? Well, here’s how.
How to manage your money like a CEO
1. Take responsibility
You are the proprietor of your own money. You get to decide where to spend it and how much of it to spend.
That being said, you are the shareholder in benefit when the firm earns profit, and you are the one that incurs losses if things go south.
In simpler words, you have to accept that when you are the CEO of your money; you’re the one accountable for everything.
2. Define roles
A household is not just operated by one single person, much like an organization. There are other key professionals equally sharing the workload and responsibilities. In the context of a firm, it is the CEO, COO, and CFO.
A CEO might be the highest authority, but in a household, they can simply be the person who takes the charge of everything and directs others for a profitable and manageable household.
Much like A COO of the company, a COO of the house can be the one who takes care of the day to day operations.
A CFO, lastly, can act as a consultant to the finances of the house.
3. Creating a management system
It all comes down to management. Bearing a close resemblance to the management of a firm, a household can simply function like this.
Strategic management – It involves formulating strategies, analyzing the risk involved, monitoring them post-implementation to your household.
Operation management – It involves operating with an approach that yields profits, but most importantly, induces a systematic efficiency across all the levels of management of the household.
Financial management – It is backed by an objective to earn profits. It requires analysis of finances, including analysis of ROI, risk determination, and consistent monitoring.
Human Capital management – It involves boosting both the productivity and morale of the persons concerned in the household for greater optimization.
4. Budgeting and Savings
An efficient budget planning is the one that results in higher savings. In simpler terms,
An efficient budget produces, S (Savings) = I (Income) – E( Expenditure)
Apart from that, it also involves the decision and strategy that involve retaining and investing. That is, when you know you are saving money, you can simply retain it or invest it in assets (for your household) that directly or indirectly provide you a higher ROI.
5. Projecting
A plan can induce smooth functioning only until things are in your favor and the market is soaring. However, they are both susceptible to change.
That being said, projecting is much like speculation, only this time you are prepared and mindful of future expenditure, contingencies, and losses while creating a plan. Furthermore, it is imperative that you make moderations to the plan while adapting to the market changes when the hard times come.
In the context of the household, it is projecting future expenditures and contingencies to make greater adjustments to your budget for bigger savings.
6. Allocating resources
How to manage your money like a CEO
You now have the plan, you know where to invest being cognizant of the risk and changes, it is time to finally put the plan in action, i.e. Allocate your funds.
And if you have some money still left, you can put it in your savings or create an emergency reserve.
Last but not least
Financial management can be perceived as a very complicated affair, but it’s not. You just have to be mindful and speculative at the same time.
Hey, what are your thoughts on money management? How do you do that? Do you think there might be some tips you can share? We welcome you to our comment section.
Everyone dreams of being successful. However, only some of those dreams turn into realities. All because success isn’t a fruit that you can simply pluck out of a tree. It takes hard work, dedication, motivation, and whatnot.
But what brings all of these pillars of success together is a routine. Following a routine can help you to be systematic and organized, thereby bringing you much closer to your dream.
Therefore, if you are looking forward to creating an effective routine for yourself, here’s everything you should know.
How to Establish a Routine for Success
Identify your goals and your WHY
When we are talking of success, then there’s no way we can skip talking about goals. Precisely because they drive you towards success.
Setting goals is easy, but before that, you have to identify them. But, how do you identify them? By asking yourself what it is that you want.
Furthermore, asking yourself, do you want it bad enough? Are you ready to reach the end of the earth for it?
If yes, then comes, why do you want it?
When you have answered all these questions, and come to a conclusion. My friend, that is your goal. That is something you have to work for.
Start small
It is good to be enthusiastic at the beginning. However, starting with greater and challenging tasks in the zeal isn’t a good idea.
That is to say, you have to be realistic, and you have to be slow at least in the beginning. If you do otherwise, you’ll be exhausted and lose motivation in a short period of time. Which I bet, is something you do not want.
Therefore be patient, start small, if you think you have conquered easy and small tasks, head to the next level of difficulty.
Break down your goals
Having one long term goal is good, but breaking down this one big goal into smaller ones is an even better option.
Wondering how? Here are all the reasons why.
It won’t feel like a decade to you.
You will be focussing on the present, rather than living in the future.
You’ll be motivated throughout. You might be losing motivation, but also gaining it on the fulfillment of a short goal.
Weekly, monthly, or yearly, that’s your call to make. However, our recommendation is that you go monthly.
Make every day contribute
A day might seem just a day. However, it can still be of significant contribution to your short term goals.
That is to say, doing even little every day can make it all easier in the end. You would not only be avoiding the last-minute rush, but you would also be practicing consistency. Ensure everyone is on board with your plan to make sure the day does work in your favor.
Focus on sustainability, not perfection
Well, perfection is good, but it is not feasible in the long run. In other words, if you’ll be wanting perfection every time, you’ll be losing motivation soon. And god forbid, if you do anything imperfectly, you’ll be blaming and exhausting yourself mentally.
This is something you would not want. Therefore, be sustainable. Cut yourself some slack if you feel like it.
Be realistic, but most importantly be a human – A human who can make mistakes, but also bags the courage to start again with the routine instead of feeling guilty and giving it all up.
Enjoy the plan
When you start to enjoy something, you do not only do it better, but you feel content. This is what you have to do here. You do not have to follow the plan out of self-obligations but because you enjoy them.
And, how do you do that?
Try to make the plan more fun.
Bring your friends together in your plan if you can.
Take time for yourself and your loved ones.
Try to be calm and relaxed.
Be flexible.
Last but not least
Having a plan doesn’t mean functioning like a robot. It means being systematic and organized while not getting pressured by it at the same time. And when you have the plan, remember it’s likely sometimes that plan will change, but try to stay on it for best results.
Hey there, now it’s your turn. Do you have a routine as well? Feel free to share your opinions with us in the comment section.
Fear of the unknown or sometimes known is always our worst enemy. But those who are mentally strong can easily overcome fear and clear their path for themselves.
How to become mentally strong and control your life
So, how do you become mentally strong?
Is it something that’s innate or something developed over time? It is indeed, the latter because mental strength, just like physical strength, has to be developed over time. There are techniques and habits using which you can strengthen your mind so that you never fall prey to anxiety, insecurities or depression.
Either it is losing a loved one, being bored with your job, or being uninspired, as long as you are mentally strong, you can cross any hurdle that comes your way.
So, if you’re struggling to acquire such mental strength and take control of your life,
Here are some ways –
1)Challenge yourself
Always keep challenging yourself to do things beyond your comfort zone. You are selling yourself short if you don’t use your capabilities to attain your true potential. Be confident in your abilities and challenge yourself constantly to pursue aims beyond your reach. Who knows, you might find something new that you mentally love and challenges you at the same time. This is a sure-fire way to positive growth.
2)Embrace hardships
When you are mentally strong, you don’t break down at the sight of difficulty, for you know that hardships are meant to strengthen you, not break you down. When you realize that every hardship is a stepping stone to success, you become strong enough to overcome any obstacle that comes your way. It does take some time to see the hardships as stepping stones, so don’t be surprised if it takes a few times to see it that way.
3)Overcome fear
Do not let fear and anxiety choke you to death. When you realize that fear is only a window for you to grow, you stop being fearful of the unknown. You take life as a challenge, and you become determined to overcome any fear that comes in your way.
4)Be mindful
Practicing mindfulness means focusing your attention on something deeply and being very mindful of what you give your energy to. Go through life in an unhurried manner, taking pauses to truly focus on the things you want. Practice mindfulness in everything you see, feel, hear or register. If you need help with mindfulness, check out my blog post here.
5)Positive self-talk
When it comes to encouraging others, there’s no one who can do it better than us, but when it comes to motivating your own self, you fail. This is what happens when you don’t practice positive self-talk with yourself. You deserve to be treated with the same generosity with which you treat others. Be compassionate, supportive, and optimistic while cheering yourself up.
6)Be grateful
In our busy lives, it’s easy to focus on all the things we lack and forget all the things we do possess. Along with practicing mindfulness, practice the art of being grateful. Practice affirmations expressing your gratitude for all the blessings in your life, at least once every day.
7)Get rid of can’t
When you feel like you can’t possibly do something, always retrain your focus to optimism and develop a ‘Can-Do’ attitude. Mentally delete words like can’t, never, unable and replace them with positive phrases like Will, Shall and When. Everything is easier than you think, and it’s only a matter of time when you accomplish your goals, no ifs and buts.
8)Exercise your mind
Just like exercising your muscles is an important step in building up your physical strength, exercising the gears of your mind are important in building up mental strength and endurance. Constantly push yourself to do more than you can. Tackle a task daily that challenges your mental stamina and leads to positive mental growth.
9)Search for answers
All problems have some kind of a solution. Get yourself to believe in this ideology and then look for answers to your problems. Look back on your past and learn from it. Has there ever been a situation where you were not successful in making your peace with it? No, right? You have always made it through, and you are doing okay at the moment.
So, what makes you think you will be faced with such problems in the future that have no solutions? Everything has a solution, and you need to focus on looking for it instead of wasting time on the difficulty.
Final words
Perseverance, positivity, willpower and focus will all be key elements in building up your mental strength. Stretch your mind and challenge yourself constantly, and see how enduring and tough you can be, both mentally and spiritually.
That’s all from my side, I hope these tips help you to become strong mentally. Let me know what you think? Do you find these tips worthy? Drop your answers in the comments below, I’ll love to read them.
Consequently, you declutter things you held onto for years without using them. Now with minimalism, the focus is changed.
only end up saving your house from clutter but saving a handful of money as well.
debt payment. Back then, you might have held yourself back when you exceeded your budgets, thinking you would need the money for other expenses. But now with a significant amount saved, you’d use it for debt payment.
increase your investments which would help you to double your wealth over a period of time.
goodbyes to them.
can simply function like this.
they drive you towards success.
courage to start again with the routine instead of feeling guilty and giving it all up.
You are selling yourself short if you don’t use your capabilities to attain your true potential. Be confident in your abilities and challenge yourself constantly to pursue aims beyond your reach. Who knows, you might find something new that you mentally love and challenges you at the same time. This is a sure-fire way to positive growth.
than us, but when it comes to motivating your own self, you fail. This is what happens when you don’t practice positive self-talk with yourself. You deserve to be treated with the same generosity with which you treat others. Be compassionate, supportive, and optimistic while cheering yourself up.
ideology and then look for answers to your problems. Look back on your past and learn from it. Has there ever been a situation where you were not successful in making your peace with it? No, right? You have always made it through, and you are doing okay at the moment.
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