Major Money-Saving Mistakes

Saving money is very important to staying happy. You will always stay more content and satisfied if you have money that you can use to save you from trouble. Savingmoney is really difficult even for the people that are not known as spenders. At times, even the banks that we keep our money with, prevent us from saving. Following are four major money-saving mistakes that people usually make:

1.      Saving the leftover amount

People would usually think that they’d take out all the expenses and then save whatever is left from the salary. However, this is a very bad approach as it lures you into a false feeling of security that makes you think you have more to spend, while you actually do not. The best way to save instead is to think through your expenses and then designate a particular amount to savings. When you get your salary, the first thing you can do, is pick out the savings amount first. What is left in the pool is eventually there to spend.

2.      Interlinked checking and savings accounts

It might seem really convenient, but it is a bad idea to have your savings and checking accounts linked. When you have gone over the limit with your current account, the bank would automatically divert the transactions from your savings account. Hence, if you want to save money and keep a track of it, you better keep them unlinked. In fact, it is even better if you don’t have an ATM for your savings account. Make it a little difficult to access your savings, so that you’d only withdraw in case of emergencies.

3.      Keeping all savings in one place

It feels really good to watch your savings grow when you’ve put them in one place. However, as finance gurus say, diversification is very important to minimizing risk. If you put everything in one place, it is not only a bit risky, but it is also deceiving. You end up thinking that you actually have much money for purchases. Hence, it is best if you have your savings divided into multiple accounts or even invested in gold and stocks if you have a bigger pool for investment.

4.      Saving only the large windfalls

If you get money in big chunks which you can save directly, then it must be no problem for you to borrow it back. However, it is also important to save on a daily basis. Pick out money from your salary and save it before you start to spend. Managing your savings and spending will also contribute to a better macroeconomic situation.

Organic Baking

It is real fun making baking your favorite food at home. Making cookies and brownies is not only amusing, but it also impresses your family and friends. In addition, you also save money whilst cooking at home instead of getting the desired product from a bakery.

All bakery products are full of unnecessary fat and cholesterol. However, this fat can be reduced to a high extent if the artificial sugar is replaced with natural and organic sweeteners. The trick lies in finding the right sweetener for the right food. For example, there is a proper procedure to bake bread with bananas which will involve using bananas as the organic sweeteners.

Selection of Sweetener

Choosing the best organic sugar for baking can get difficult; although the most successful is a blend of stevia and erythritol. Stevia is basically a herbal extract which is sweeter than sugar. It is used to add flavor to smoothies, frostings, sauces, glazes and icings. Remember that a little bit of stevia will go a long way.

Erythritol, however, possesses the physical properties of sugar but is not as sweet as sugar. It is present in some fruits as fructose in small amounts, while some mushrooms contain it in larger amounts. In addition, fermented fruits such as wine and soy sauce contain erythritol in large amounts too.

Ideal quantity in which the erythritol/stevia blend should be used is 1:2 in place of sugar. For example if you would generally use 50 grams of sugar in a particular recipe, you can replace it with 25 grams of the erythritol/stevia blend.

Basic Body Language

Scientists and psychologists have long been studying body language and its importance. There is no question in the fact that body language plays a very important role in expression. Following discussed are some of the best body language techniques from Leil Lowndes’ book “How to talk to anyone”:

The flooding smile

Never flash a smile when you greet someone. It is because this act depicts that everyone in your line of sight will get the same smile. Instead, you can pause for a bit before you look at the person and give out a warm and responsive smile. Even though, this seems a bit scripted, it will convince people that your smile was specially personalized for them.

Sticky Eyes

When listening to a person, pose as if your eyes are glued to your conversation partner’s eyes. Even if they’ve finished speaking, move your gaze away from the speaker very slowly and reluctantly. This shows interest and attraction towards the speaker.

Epoxy Eyes

When sitting with a group of people, occasionally look at the person that you are interested in regardless of who is talking. If someone else is speaking and you still want to look at that person, shows that you are interested in that person’s reactions no matter who is speaking. But beware that using epoxy eyes too much might scare the person and make them uncomfortable. You should primarily watch the speaker, however, let your eyes peek a glance or two every once in a while.

Big-baby Pivot

People are actually concerned of how other people react to them. When meeting someone new, it is best that you turn your complete body towards that person giving them an undivided attention. This expression screams out that the person is very special to you and is a very strong gesture.

3 Harsh Truths that will Lead you to Success

It can get really tough to deal with a few harsh facts in life. However, people all around the world need to face them at one point or the other. Following are some of these harsh truths that you will come across at least once:

1.       Death

Everyone has to die one day. People know this fact but are often reluctant to believe in their own death.  This is one reality that everyone will have to face one day no matter how much you workout and eat healthy.

2.       Everything is worthless unless you value it

According to Horace Walpole “The world is a tragedy to those who feel, but a comedy to those who think”. People around us are always seen obsessed with trivial things. It does feel awful when you lose your job or when you go through a bad break up. However, we do need to believe that these things are all trivial and temporary when you look at poverty, violence and terrorism.

3.       “Rules” are only a safety net built by people who have the guts to break them

You are always afraid of getting criticized and upsetting other people. But if what you say does not even matter to other people, you are doing it wrong. You are basically following a script that was designed by others. Remember, meaningful change is only achieved by the people who can do what they want without thinking about others. Hence, if you want to be successful, “rules” should have no meaning to you.

Managing your LinkedIn profile to Target Employers

For recruitment professionals, both casual and professionalsocial media websites are alike when gathering information about potential candidates. In addition to resumes, candidates’ profiles on these social media contribute greatly to the hiring decision. The recruiters are primarily interested in the candidate’s profile for his/her personality etc; however, they are least concerned with things such as the number of friends or the type of pictures posted on the profile. The following

1.       Manage a good persona

On LinkedIn, try to limit your news updates and conversations to a professional standard. Secondly, join groups from your field of interest and share news and info graphics related to the same field. This will show the recruiters how much passionate you are about getting work in the same industry.

2.       You should have a complete profile

Recruiters will preferably want to see a complete profile on LinkedIn. This is because every aspect of your personality on LinkedIn is a depiction of your resume. It is very easy to do so on LinkedIn because of the pop-ups that remind you of your profile completion. Aim for 100%.

3.       Recommendations are the key

LinkedIn endorsements and recommendations are essential for recruiters. This is because these are the only pieces of information that represent how your peers perceive you in respective fields. Endorsements show the job candidate’s ability to work with different skills while recommendations show how renowned the candidate is.

4.       A professional picture

Having a casual persona on Facebook is expected and it is fine. However, it is recommended to use a professional looking picture for LinkedIn. It is not important to get a new head shot done; instead, you can use the pictures of employees from the same company as reference for your new picture. This first impression on social media is bound to attract the employers.

Traits that Highly Confident People Avoid

1.       Making excuses

People that are confident make sure they take ownership for what they can accomplish. However, if they fail at it, they would still accept the blame instead of throwing it at someone else. In addition, they do not make excuses, such as they didn’t have time or they couldn’t accomplish their targets because of someone else.

2.       Omitting difficult tasks

Confident people would not let fear overcome them. They know that this fear will only make them stronger and help them evolve into better person.

3.       Living in a comfort bubble

They understand and fully accept the reality of life and avoid the comfort zone. This is because they know that dreams die in the comfort zone. In fact, they would rather stretch themselves by pulling off a few tough stunts every now and then to test their competitiveness.

4.       Obsessing over other’s opinions

Confident people don’t pay attention to other peoples’ feedbacks. While they do value other people and their comments; they really don’t pay attention to the negative feedbacks that they can do nothing about.

5.       Being stopped by lack of resources

These people do not require resourcefulness. They try to make the most and the best out of whatever they possess. In addition, they will try gathering the resources in case they need them desperately.

6.       Accepting everything they are told

These people would never blindly accept what they listen or find on the internet. Instead, they maintain an active skepticism to question the validity of the news or information. This is because only confident people know that what is best for them. Hence, confident people require a careful check of the information before they believe in it. This skepticism management helps confident people in daily life evaluation of various phenomenons.

Differentiating Vegans and Vegetarians

People still don’t know the difference between a vegan and a vegetarian. Even though the two societies are common now, many people still think that vegans and vegetarians are the same.

However, vegans are the people who really care about animals and boycott from all animal product usage. They will neither have meat, nor use any dairy or poultry products.  In addition, vegans don’t use any other products that come from animals such as wool, silk and leather. Vegans are highly compassionate towards animals and they base their lives on this conviction.

Meanwhile, vegetarians are only against the consumption of meat, fish and poultry, however, they do consume dairy products and eggs. Although, lacto-vegetarians do consume dairy products, yet ovo-vegetarians do consume eggs. In addition, vegetarians also don’t consume any products that contain gelatin or animal fat oil.

The vegan psychology degrades and discourages animal commercialization. This is because using animals implies disrespect for basic life and expresses a component of inhumanity. The only problem faced by vegans is that they need to take B12 and amino acid supplements. However, a complete nutrition can be obtained on a lacto-ovo vegetarian diet.

There are many health benefits attached to a vegetarian diet. Vegetarians have a 12% longer life expectancy than meat eaters and are 19% less likely to die from a cardiovascular disease. In addition, vegans also have a lower rate of diabetes and kidney failure. Meanwhile vegans do not consume most processed food because of one reason or the other, hence, the elimination of fast food also plays a part in healthy living. It was also experienced that the vegan benefits were stronger in men than in women. 

5 Things to do while you are Unemployed

Losing one’s job is a very acute turn in the events of life. It makes one reconsider their priorities, obviously because the monthly income has stopped. However, one’s daily routine needs to be forced into productivity as well considering that the unemployed has almost half day more to spare. It can also be considered as a growth or a turning opportunity where one can reconsider their options for a new job. Following are a few activities to make the most out of one’s time and money and help the unemployed stay sane and motivated.

1.       Start Budgeting

Plan ahead of time and stay organized and cut off any unnecessary expenses. Start budgeting properly so that you can make the most out of what you have, even if it starts to get a bit inconvenient.

2.       Simplify your Life

It is quite obvious and understood that you cannot maintain the same lifestyle as you did when you were working. Going out to eat, or going to the gym will need to stop. You can instead workout in the park or at home and start cooking at home to cut costs. Get movies from the Netflix rental instead of purchase and go to the library instead of purchasing books. In addition, if you used to take the cab to places, it is about time you start using the bus service. All these activities are bound to be difficult to cope with as they take much time and effort; but they guarantee reduced expenses.

3.       Start saving with coupons

Getting coupons might sound like a pain. However, they are effective and do help much, if you’re planning to save.

4.       Do what you’re good at

Every person has a hobby and a talent. Use them to get an odd job meanwhile you are looking for a proper one. In this time, selling things that are not used anymore will also be a good option. It will not only get you some cash, but it will also clear up the apartment a bit.

5.       Take advantage of the extra time

While you were working, you could never find time for a million things that you wanted to do. Now that you’re jobless, start working on those things. For example, start reading books, learn an instrument and visit your grandmother.  In addition, update your resume’ and work upon hunting for jobs that match your skills, experience and interest. Since this hunt and scrutiny will take time, if you want to do it right, you will need to dedicate time to it. And what better time, than when you are unemployed.

Only 25 minutes of Meditation can lower your Stress

Stress is an unavoidable part of your life. In fact stress in many places is considered productive and healthy. However, when a person’s stress levels rise beyond control, it can lead to a number of diseases including blood pressure, depression, diabetes and heart disease.

Luckily, a recent study has claimed that only half an hour of meditation everyday can lower your stress levels to minimum. Findings of this study suggest that only 25 minutes of dedication to meditating can lead to a better and calm response to stressful situations. The practice helps people by improving their patience, decision-making and energy conservation.

The study mentioned here was carried out in the Mellon University at Pittsburgh, where scientists had took a sample of 66 adults between the ages of 18 and 30. The experiment lasted three days in which random participants were chosen to go through a meditation program for 25 minutes a day for three consecutive days. They were given proper training regarding meditation and were given tutorials on controlling their breathing and being aware of the present moment.

Then, through certain methods such as IQ tests and saliva samples were measured to check the stress hormone cortisol. The scientists found that the sample that had participated in the meditation training were reported to have a lower stress level as opposed to the sample that had not participated in the meditation training, who showed more or less the same stress level.

Acts Forbidden at Work

We are always told certain acts that will always be forbidden at the work place. Tim Ferriss, a bestselling author, recently devised a list of 5 not-to-do acts. These include:

Picking up calls from unknown numbers

The reason behind this is that the interruption and distraction will effect concentration and cost you much in time and stress. Secondly, you will find yourself in a poor position to negotiate on the phone. The reason is that the caller is prepared with what he/she has to say, while you’ll have to make up reasons and answers there and then. You can rather check voice messages for these calls later.

 Mailing first thing in the morning and last thing before day end

Make sure you at least check out a task on the to-do-list before you move on to checking your mails. Do this to avoid being distracted and having your priorities disturbed. However, mailing at day end can keep you distracted after work, and disturb your evening and sleep at night.

Agreeing to meetings unless you have a clear agenda or end time

Agree for meetings when the agenda is clear. In case it is, the meeting will not take more than half hour.  You may also demand a copy of the agenda in advance so you can work on it beforehand and plan what to discuss in the meeting.

4    Getting distracted into small talk

People would often come up to your cubicle to speak to you about their weekend at the beach or a sauna they took yesterday. Such small talk consumes big time. So when people come up to you and start rambling, it’s preferable to cut them off in a polite manner. For example, say “I’m in the middle of something, but yeah, what were you saying?”

5     Do not think that work can suffice for non-work socializing

Work is not life; however it is only a part of life. It is very important to socialize and maintain non-work friendship and relationships. Plan activities with loved ones for a good time after work or on a weekend. Non work activities are very good when it comes to motivating employees for work. The life outside the workplace will help them realize why they have been working in the first place.