MoneyDigest - Personal Finance, Lifestyle, Money Saving Tips

Shockingly Free Tips To Boost Your Confidence

Confidence opens more opportunities in business and in life but, how does one boost his confidence?

1. KNOWLEDGE IS POWER

When it comes to elevating your confidence, staying informed is essential. When you know what you are talking about, you are more likely to share, interact, and engage more. Thus, you are manifesting confidence throughout the day! So, you better hit the books before going to events.

2. POWER OF HUMOR

Laughter produces wonderful benefits in your physical and emotional well-being. But, you shall not burst into laughter and look inappropriate! Simply tell a joke or share a funny story with others and laugh along. The benefits of laughing are cumulative and profound.

3. MAINTAINING EYE CONTACT

You can project your power and assertiveness with your body language. With the people you interact with regularly, make it a habit to maintain eye contact and direct your gaze to them while you are conversing. This little gesture will show that you are interested, engaged, and confident.

4. GUIDED MEDITATION

Frequent meditation increases your mindfulness to the present state. It keeps you balanced and focused. It helps increase your confidence by washing out your stress and worries. Also, it allows you to mentally prepare for success.

There is an abundance of free guided mediation videos on the Internet but I recommend this 10-minute video:

5. PRACTICING GOOD POSTURE

Constantly touching the strands of your hair or pulling your pigtail is a surefire giveaway that you are nervous. Instead, walk or sit up straight with your arms uncrossed and chin up. You will appear and feel more confident afterwards.

6. HELP FROM YOUR FRIENDS

Feeling down and incapable? Are you scared to do something new and difficult? Try seeking the help of your friends. Call them over the phone, write them thru email, or private message them via social media platforms and ask why they believe you would succeed. Knowing your positive qualities will help you feel more motivated, energized, and confident.

Image Credits: pixabay.com (License: CC0 Public Domain)

Sources: 1 , 2 , & 3

4 Ways To Save Big On School Supplies

I can still remember the time when my mother distributed school supplies to me and my other siblings. It was a rush that I get every time I fill my bag with new stationery items. But, behind that joyful rush is a mother that just spent her hard-earned cash on supplies!

This is why it is important to save as much as you can while shopping. Start by setting aside extra cash each week before the school starts. Then, follow these 4 tips:

1. KIDS MATTER

Children play a huge role on what goes inside your basket. If you have the option to leave your child at home with a family member or a babysitter then, do so. Going on a shopping trip alone will ensure that you do not have to give in to what your kids wants. Furthermore, you would save a lot more in your bill.

2. KNOW WHAT TO BUY

Come prepared to avoid getting overwhelmed with the abundance of school supplies available. Make a shopping list that is in lined with your budget and stick with it. If you are shopping for more than one kid then, organize the list by making a column for each. And, if the school provided a list of mandatory school supplies then, it will give you an opportunity to save money beforehand.

3. SHOP ONLINE

Be patient and purchase online. There are many retailers that offer promotions and clearance sales on their own website. Also, you get to save on gas or transportation fee. Lionstationery.com.sg and Evergreen.com.sg are the two stationery websites you can visit.

4. QUALITY OVER PRICE

If you are only focused with the cost, you will end up replacing a bunch of items in the near future. Save more in the long run by buying quality items that you think your children will overuse for the whole school year such as backpacks and binders. Moreover, some of these excellent quality items can last for the next school year.

Image Credits: pixabay.com (License: CC0 Public Domain)

This is why you must buy supplies that have basic colors to stay on trend!

Sources: 1 & 2

Free Wedding Planner Tools For A Fantastic Wedding

According to Dictionary.com, a wedding planner is the person responsible for conceptualizing and organizing the wedding ceremony, the reception, and perhaps the honeymoon. A busy couple can certainly hire a professional wedding planner to take off the load on their shoulders.

However, if you have too much time on your hands and do not want to cast a hole on your pocket, you can take on the role of the wedding planner and DIY your way to your dream wedding!

1. WEDDING PLANNER CHECKLIST

So, you have a ring on your finger. Now what is next? Wedding Ideas Magazine shares checklists and tips for planning a wedding in 12 months, 6 months, and 1 month. The first sentence speaks volumes: “The secret to a great day is to start planning early!” Thus, planning a wedding 12 months in advance with this concise planner sounds like a good idea.

Available here: weddingideasmag.com/wp-content/uploads/files/downloads/Wedding-Ideas-Planner.pdf

2. BACHELORETTE OR HEN PARTY

Whether you are planning your own bachelorette or hen party or you are bestowing the responsibility to your maid-of-honor, coming up with the whole event can be stressful. To help you with this, you can use a guide or a checklist too for 12-24 months, 2 months, 1 month, and 1-2 days before the party.

Available here: weddingideasmag.com/wp-content/uploads/files/downloads/Wedding-Ideas-Magazine-Planning-Tool-Hen-Party-Checklist.pdf

3. WEDDING PLANNER SOFTWARE

Do you know that there is a no-cost wedding planner software available to support you in:

Designing the Floor Plan,
Managing the Guest List,
Tracking RSVPs,
Assigning Seating Arrangements,
Generating Guest List Reports,
Printing the Floor Plan,
Printing Place Cards,
Sharing event information with others, and so much more?

This wedding planner tool is called Seating Arrangement.

Know more about it here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6AfmxfzEtekfeatures.htm

4. WEDDING WEBSITE

To take your organizational skills to the next level, you can make a website for your special day. You do not need to have major tech skills or digital knowledge to get started with your own website. Simply use the reliable free website builders such as WordPress.com. Website builders already have the template, plugins, and coding for you.

Inside your website, include the guest lists, RSVP forms, meal requests, gift registry, gift wish list, and anything you want to include. Furthermore, with the help of your website, guests can easily collect and share photos on their Facebook, Instagram, and other social media platforms.

Image Credits: pixabay.com (License: CC0 Public Domain)

How To Stay Healthy Despite of The Terrible Hazy Conditions

Our air quality worsened on Monday due to the shift in the prevailing winds that brought denser haze from Sumatra. In fact, the 24-hour Pollutant Standards Index (PSI) entered the “unhealthy” range last Sunday according to the National Environment Agency.

For your knowledge, a PSI reading of 0-50 is okay, 51-100 is moderate, 101-200 is unhealthy, 201-300 is very unhealthy, and 301 and beyond is hazardous. At the time of writing, the 24-hour PSI readings from 1am-12am today ranges from 148-184. Yes! That is certainly unhealthy.

Short-term exposure to unhealthy haze can cause irritated eyes, runny or stuffy nose, dry or sore throat, headache, and fatigue. In some cases, it can even affect one’s heart and lungs that higher PSI readings can cause breathlessness.

So, how do you stay healthy despite the haze?

You must wear the N95 mask to ensure full coverage when you breathe. But, the best way is to stay indoors (with an air purifier and air conditioner) as much as possible!

While staying inside the walls of your home, you do not have to spend money or sulk in boredom. You can enjoy playing video games, board games, and a bunch of other activities like…

1. LEARNING SOMETHING NEW FOR FREE

Upgrade your knowledge and skills with the quality online resources that are available for free. There are two websites that I am fond of namely: Khan Academy and Code Academy. Khan Academy offers a myriad of courses and exam preparation modules. While, Code Academy offers classes in 6 different programming languages. You can definitely complete the course and be well versed in several programming scripts!

2. EARNING EXTRA MONEY

Use your free time to earn extra money by selling your underused and unwanted items on Gumtree or Carousell. Then, spend more time by cleaning up your closets and drawers in the process.

You may also complete some online surveys and get compensated with cash or redeemable rewards in websites such as My Survey and SurveyCompare.

3. QUALITY TIME WITH THE FAMILY

Lastly, use this valuable time to enjoy the company of your family. Catch up on the lives and the latest projects of every family member and indulge on a great session of cooking, games, or movies. These kind of moments are best spent with the ones you love.

Image Credits: pixabay.com (License: CC0 Public Domain)

Sources: 1, 2, & 3

The Future Of Money: No Paper Currencies And Plastic Cards

Money is an integral part of our lives. Its birth dates back to the beginning of the civilization. Now, money is viewed as a legal tender generally consisting of paper currency and coins. Time and technology paved a way for money to transform beyond its value. Interacting with money is far different from when we traded thousands of years ago.

In fact, a decade ago, I never thought that digital currency in the form of bitcoins will ever occur. Bitcoins can only be made by mining, which is done by solving complicated mathematical problems. Also, bitcoins are capped so that no one can ever create an unlimited supply of it.

Interestingly, the designers at a global design firm called Method envisioned the future of money in different ways. These are just three of their ideas:

1. MONEY AND PHYSIOLOGY

Method looked at what can happen when you connect your physical well-being to your purchases. They designed a toothbrush that would harvest hormonal data from one’s saliva twice a day. This said data would sync to your spending habits through an App. The App would give you an idea about the items you are buying and why you are buying them. Thus, this can help explain and monitor your spending.

2. MONEY WITH A PERSONALITY

Method took the futuristic concept further by give money a personality. Five employees were assigned with digital personalities such as Mindful, Jealous, Hedonistic, Adventurous, and Frugal. For example, the employee with the Adventurous personality would fork over half of his salary and invest it in cryptocurrencies for a week.

3. MONEY AND PUBLICITY

If your payments were publicize, what would you do? Well, designers at Method were asked to note and broadcast their every purchase! Once an employee buys something, he or she is required to post it on Instagram no matter how embarrassing it may be. Yes! Since it can be very uncomfortable, they started to share their purchases anonymously. But, the effects were still the same. People knew that they are being watched so they modified their behavior to become more interesting and to seem socially acceptable.

Image Credits: pixabay.com (License: CC0 Public Domain)

Aside from these futuristic ideas, how do you envision money…5 or 20 years from now?

Sources: 1 & 2

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