International student enrollment in America’s colleges is a rising trend. Whether it is the allure of a high-paying job or to leverage a better position, over one million international students enroll in American colleges every year. Even the number of graduate and post-graduate international enrollment has been steadily increasing for the past few decades. More than ever, students from all over the world are looking to America to continue their education.

The top three areas of study for international students are engineering, computer science, and business-related fields. These are very competitive fields among native speakers, so the challenge posed for international students is even higher. Not only do these subjects demand proficiency in science and math, but the ability to take classes in a language different from their own.

International students seeking to study in America need to be aware of the lengthy and often challenging process of applying to a university. There are several things to consider before even taking the first step. Here is a brief preparation guide on how to get started.

Get your Paperwork in Order

There are several steps to be taken before even beginning the application process. For starters, there are immigration standards to meet. An up-to-date passport should be the priority of any prospective student. It is also a must that you ensure all of your medical records are up-to-date. The Department of State website has more details on specific requirements.

It is important to note that many expenses are associated with attending college, and not all of them pertain to the education itself. Home furnishings, transportation, and health insurance are all added expenses that can very quickly add up. Do not forget to factor in the quality of life when you are creating a budget. Costs of living can vary greatly from city to city, so make that a consideration as well.

Time to Brush Up

Once you have a plan, know your deadlines, and feel ready to begin, hit the books. Overconfidence is a student’s worst enemy, as many are often surprised by the degree of difficulty of their required tests. Remember that even native speakers struggle with these examinations. Regardless of your perceived level of skill, taking the time to study could only improve your readiness to begin your college journey.

Many American schools, such as Purdue University, offer free ESL assistance on their web page. Additionally, England’s Cambridge University is known as one of the most prominent contributors to the ESL curriculum. Their online resources will give students a chance to view and even take an older IELTS exam. There are plenty of free instructional videos on YouTube as well. Students can find plenty of different lessons on the internet with minimal searching.

If you require a more intensive course, consider some form of online language tutoring. Various platforms have online courses available for university students, regardless of your location. Also, seek out any ESL programs in your community. Sometimes a local university will offer tutoring and assistance for students seeking to enroll in a university abroad.

Determine the Objective

While many students take their time picking a major and an academic path, international students do not have this luxury. Not only is entering college without a plan a bad idea, but some schools may not even allow you to enter as an undeclared major. It is best not simply to know your major but your desired outcome as well.

Establish what kind of education your field of choice requires. Does it require a Bachelor’s Degree, a Master’s Degree, or a Ph.D.? Are there any additional certifications? Not only do most universities provide a comprehensive list of courses required, but a student advisor can help map out a path.

Additionally, set a reasonable timeframe for the completion of your program of study. Colleges generally require international students to be enrolled full-time, but that does not mean one must burden themselves with 18 hours a semester. Plan for your first year to be an adjustment year.

Consider the Location

Just as important of a factor is your school’s location. The size of the city, its population, and the proximity to necessary facilities are all considerations when deciding what school to attend. If you are not used to the big city, it may be wise to select a school in a less densely populated area. If you want the experience of a bustling college town, make sure your school is not located in a rural part of the country.

Don’t forget the local weather, either. It may sound like a small detail, but students often underestimate their ability to adjust to a new climate. Believe it or not, this is a factor that can affect a student’s mood and well-being, often to the detriment of their performance.

Understand the Requirements

The next step is to figure out what test scores your schools require. Most American colleges and universities need either an SAT or ACT score, so be prepared to take the same examination that all Americans have to take. It is important to note that the ACT is universally known as the more difficult of the two tests. If your school gives you a choice, it is best to go with the SAT.

Keep in mind, too, that schools all have a minimum score for entry. Whatever that score is, you are going to want to aim for much higher. Enrollment has become more competitive in recent years, especially among international students. There are a limited number of slots, so achieving the minimum entry scores will probably not be enough to put you at the front of the list of candidates.

Students may also have to submit a standardized test score from one of the accredited ESL examination boards. The TOEFL and the IELTS are the most common requirements, and you will take these exams locally. Students often find these tests extremely challenging because of the variety of areas evaluated in the exam. Spoken, written, and reading skills are all tested, and these skills often require a great deal of preparation. A student should study for at least two months, though some students opt to take much longer.

Get Started Right Away

The process for getting into a university as an international student is a lengthy one. Be prepared for the process to take up to a year, or perhaps even longer. Covid-19 has slowed the admittance of international students significantly, so expect delays.

However, these delays will allow for more time to get yourself ready. Use the time wisely as you are waiting. There are many ways to prepare for your journey besides studying. Watch American movies to hear the language conversationally. Listen to American podcasts. Prepare yourself not only for the test but for the culture change as well.

Begin your journey today. Consult with an academic adviser, and start on your road to a new beginning and new possibilities.

Our world is getting smaller and more connected. Where city directories and local newsletters used to help us find people and locate stores, these days, anyone can be found, online, with a few clicks of the mouse. It’s a huge benefit to society in many ways, but on the other hand, the wide reach of technology has created a new problem—some businesses are being buried by the sheer amount of information available on the Internet. Faced with the highly competitive and ever-evolving realm of digital marketing, many brands that are not tech-savvy are finding it hard to keep up. Online shopping, accelerated by pandemic control measures, has become a central consumer behavior.

As consumers become increasingly spoilt for choice, even those who prefer to shop in brick-and-mortar stores are researching products and services online before buying. While it may have once been sufficient to simply maintain a website, businesses now need to ensure that their online presence is both optimised and authoritative, to capture their audience’s attention.

Putting Yourself on the Map

Given the wide range of attention-grabbing digital marketing avenues such as advertising, sponsored posts, and influencer collaborations, it is easy to forget that something as plain as a search engine could have a massive impact on your business. Google is the most used search engine globally, holding over 90 percent of the search engine market share and clocking a staggering 3.5 billion searches per day. It is important to note that there is a significant difference between being listed on the first page and the last page.

Research has shown that an average of 28.5 percent of search engine users click on the top result on the search engine results page with click-through rates dropping rapidly as you move down the list of results. Results beyond the first page are rarely considered. Because the majority of the world—including a good chunk of your potential clientele—will likely turn to Google to search for your product or service, it is imperative to invest in search engine optimization (SEO) to ensure the visibility of your brand.

Aside from the standard search engine service, Google’s expansion into maps and navigation over the last decade has presented businesses with another valuable digital marketing opportunity. Just as we used to advertise on AAA magazines and travel directories, Google Maps is an avenue for businesses to reach consumers who are searching for local solutions. With most people using mobile apps on their devices for navigation and local search, having a presence on Google Maps can open the floodgates to a huge number of prospects. Businesses can add their information to Google Maps by submitting a Google My Business listing. At its most basic, a Google My Business listing can display the general information of your business such as your address, hours of operation, and customer reviews. This can be extremely useful, particularly in the current pandemic, where customers are unsure if businesses are operating as usual.

That said, there is a lot more to Google Maps than just submitting business information to Google My Business. Search engines typically display local map results based on the location of their users and the keywords or phrases that are applied. Sounds great, right? But what if numerous businesses serve the same niche as you in the city or town? Because users generally choose the first few results, being poorly ranked may mean that your business listing has zero impact. Thankfully, there are certain steps that SEO professionals can take to ensure that your business listing always comes out on top in your locality.

Send in the Professionals

Search engine methodology is constantly being reviewed and refined as search engines strive to provide users with the most relevant spam-free results. With a thorough understanding of how Google grades its Google Maps search results, Google Maps SEO experts can help to move listings up in the rankings. Part of this involves on-page SEO that tailors your content to the keywords or phrases that your potential customers are most likely to use.

This not only helps search engines to determine that you are more relevant in map-based searches but has the added benefit of increasing your page visibility in traditional searches as well. Then, SEO professionals work to build NAP (name, address, phone number) citations and quality backlinks from respected and established websites to prove the reliability of your page. Together with curated reviews, these actions help to convince Google that your page is trustworthy and informative, thus elevating its ranking.

The methods of improving a website’s organic search and Google Maps rankings can be complicated. Without industry connections, businesses may find it impossible to source authoritative websites for citations and backlinks. Hence, it is best to call in the professionals to assist with your SEO efforts. Because enhancements to your search ranking will persist in the long term, SEO is one of the best-performing digital marketing strategies in terms of ROI.

In this digital age, search engines are the powerhouses of organic lead generation. By leveraging your Google Maps listing, brands can enjoy a higher profile, a larger audience, and more profits for years to come.

It’s been a few years since Marie Kondo first graced our screens with her paradigm-shifting mantra to “discard everything that does not spark joy.” But her philosophy has endured with many people around the world now re-embracing the minimalist aesthetic. Gone are the days of hoarding memorabilia and filling up storage spaces with rarely-used items. Minimalism is the new it-aesthetic for the modern urbanite.

Minimalism has a long history. Many people attribute modern minimalism to the Japanese Zen philosophy that places importance on simplicity to achieve inner peace. In the US, minimalism emerged in the 1960s as a reaction to the consumerist mentality birthed in the aftermath of the Industrial Revolution. Today, it is a popular style of interior design that prizes practicality and affords a timeless elegance to your interiors that promise that no matter what the trend is, your home will never go out-of-style.

For many, the minimalist design aesthetic evokes imagery of white-on-white and soulless living spaces free of signs of inhabitation. But this isn’t necessarily what minimalism is. Minimalism is the pairing of form with function, and the idea that “less is more.” One of the many benefits of the minimalist aesthetic is its ability to make spaces look bigger by decluttering and paring down on furniture. And at a time when our homes have pretty much become our whole worlds, minimalism may just be the perfect aesthetic to experiment with.

Spring Clean for a Fresh Start

The first step to take when going down the minimalist path is decluttering. It’s important to first survey all that you have in your home, and really narrow down on what you need and what you don’t. It can be a painful process; it’s not exactly easy to let go of things that you have been holding onto for a long time. But in the long-term, decluttering can make you healthier and happier by reducing stress and improving focus, among numerous other benefits.

These health benefits of minimalism become even more important when people start spending more time at home. Nowadays, when work-from-home is on the rise and many businesses are transitioning to teleworking, creating a relaxing environment at home that is conducive for work is well-worth the effort.

But there’s no one-size-fits-all when it comes to decluttering. Just like everyone has different methods of organising their rooms, different people may also have different strategies of decluttering their living spaces that works best for them. If you are a home-organising whiz, then perhaps you’ll be perfectly comfortable with decluttering room-by-room. If you’re more faint-at-heart, you may prefer to declutter one-item-a-day. What matters is that you find the style that you are more comfortable with, and really commit to the process.

Functionality is Key

For the minimalist aesthetic, functionality is paramount. Everything must have a purpose. This means ridding yourselves of extraneous pieces of furniture that have no function. Think reuse here—your light therapy lamp, for example, can double as a showpiece to give your space a relaxed cool daylight vibe. Contrary to popular opinion, the minimalist aesthetic can reconcile sparsity with personality so that your house feels like a home.

There are many different types of minimalism aesthetics such as rustic minimalism, industrial minimalism and even the maximalist minimalist style that have their own unique features and are sure to satisfy diverse aesthetic tastes. Playing with textures and accent colors can often completely transform the look of a room, and affect the energy it exudes.

But a very real concern when styling homes is how all the individual pieces come together to create an atmosphere. When picking apart an existing style and transforming a space to a different aesthetic style, creating that common atmosphere becomes even more of a challenge.

When faced with this challenge, some home-owners may prefer to buy-in all new furniture instead of using their existing pieces. Often it’s easier and safer to purchase furniture sets and home decor from the comfort of your own home.

For those in favour of this method of achieving the minimalist aesthetic, you can still achieve the minimalist philosophy by purchasing furniture made from recycled materials and by donating all your old furniture to secondhand furniture stores, or to charity.

The minimalist aesthetic is a hard one to achieve primarily because it often involves letting go of sentimental items and paring down to essentials. But there is also a type of freedom afforded by letting go of all unnecessary possessions and keeping your spaces clean and simple—and this is the real appeal of the minimalist aesthetic.

Ah, the lei. You probably already have a vague idea of what it’s supposed to be. Even if you’ve never held one in your hands, or worn one around your neck, you can likely already picture it in your head: A thick, fetching garland of delicate island flowers, usually worn around the neck of a noisy tourist. Generations of pop culture has turned Hawaiian leis, once a local tradition, into a worldwide symbol of exotic vacations and island getaways.

For the people of the Polynesia region, from Tahiti to Hawaii, the making and giving of leis are an age-old tradition. In the past, lei were used to indicate wealth, ranks, and royal status. Today, leis are given as gifts to honor people. Common recipients include visiting dignitaries, new graduates, loved ones who are departing, and loved ones who have come home for a visit. They are also given out on special occasions as well. Events as wide-ranging as marriages, funerals, graduations, and birthdays are all considered valid events for the giving of lei. Lei truly occupies an omnipresent role in Polynesian culture, as key to their celebrations as cakes are in the West. In fact, there is even a dedicated holiday just to honor the lei. Every first of March since 1929, Lei Day is celebrated. Parades and festivals are held all over Hawaii, while people compete in Beauty pageants and lei-making contests.

The undoubted reason why leis are so iconic worldwide, though, is tourism. With the rise of tourism to Hawaii in the 19th century (especially by the Americans and British), Westerners came back with merry stories about the beautiful flower necklaces they received from the islanders. Thereafter, any depiction of the Pacific islands and their inhabitants inevitably featured the colorful garlands. In fact, Hawaiian leis are so iconic that tourists to Hawaii can even order a traditional greeting, where they are gifted with freshly-made leis as they touch down at the airport.

The lei in the popular imagination is a fluffy affair, a necklace thick with the petals and the cheerful scent of freshly-picked flowers. While flowers are undoubtedly one of the most common materials for a lei, leis in fact can be made out of just about anything. There have been lei made out of feathers, leaves, vines, and fern fronds. There have also been lei made out of harder materials such as seashells, animal bones, and seeds. Even more modern materials like candy, paper, and coins have been used.

Indeed, several islands are known for making distinctive types of lei. The island of Niihau is famous for its lei made out of shells that shine like gemstones, called lei pupu. The Tongans are known for their distinctive-looking "kahoa" lei that are made of cloth ribbons, unto which flowers and foliage are sown. The residents of Niue make their lei from bright yellow snail shells. So long as it can be strung together in a beautiful series that can be worn around a person, there are no limits on what you can make a lei out of.

Be warned, though. While a lei may be seen by outsiders as just a trinket, a beautiful but superfluous accessory, it is seen as more than that to the Polynesian people. In most cases, a lei represents the love and friendship of the giver towards the recipient. Thus, simply throwing a lei in the trash is considered incredibly rude, being equivalent to throwing away someone’s love. If one is not able to wear the lei for whatever reason, they should be displayed on a place of honor (such as the stand of a musician), or hung in a room or vehicle to let its scent fill the air. Traditionally, if one truly wishes to get rid of it, the lei should be returned to the earth: either by burying, burning, or hanging the lei in a tree.

After seeing all the different materials you can make a lei out of, as well as all the wonderful occasions the lei is gifted, some of you may be tempted to make your own. Luckily, there isn’t one definitive way of creating a lei. In fact, the methods of making a lei are almost as varied as the materials making them up. You could pierce the material with a needle and string it on a thread, which is the method most non-Polynesians are familiar with. You could also braid or plait the material itself, if it’s already long and stringy, as is traditionally done with vines and palm strands. You can even sew the material on a pre-existing length of cloth, as is done in Tonga.

Who knows? Perhaps in your next trip to Hawaii, you’ll be the one presenting your homemade lei to the locals. They will certainly appreciate this sudden role reversal!

We all worry about the future. In fact, we spend most of our days as an adult working hard trying to safeguard a smooth and glorious retirement. The act of retiring refers to withdrawing from the workforce and living without any salary or employment for the rest of one’s life. One can retire for several reasons – they may have put aside enough money to sustain themselves, or may have reached the nominal age of retirement. Currently, the average retirement age in the USA is just under 67 years, which is when one becomes eligible for retirement social security benefits. It is possible for one to start benefiting at ages as early as 62, but this would entail a reduction of their benefit, or an increase if they choose to delay their retirement until after the age of 67.

When it comes to retirement planning, attention to detail is important to ensure a solid and fail proof plan. One of the most popular strategies is simply saving up as much as possible during adulthood. Although this strategy is generally low-risk and pretty effective, there are quite a few ways it can be improved.

Planning Your Post-Retirement Lifestyle

It is of great importance for one to imagine what their life would be like after their retirement. Some might aspire to lead a lavish and expensive lifestyle, while others might just want to keep it simple and relaxing. Indeed, being able to afford that costly post-retirement life will require a lot of extra work during the adult days, and also quite possibly the need to retire a few years late. Here comes the importance of setting and following an elaborate timeline leading to one’s retirement. Not only will it help you set your goals straight, but it would also assist in keeping track of your progress and making sure you don’t fall behind. Spending money wisely is the most essential part of any money-saving strategy. After all, you can’t set anything aside if you’re wasting it all.

A good subject to consider while planning your retirement is where you will be residing. If your pre-retirement area of residence is too expensive, it might be a good idea to look into a more affordable rural area. Alternatively, you could move into a smaller and more sustainable house.

Assessing Your Choices for Storing Value

Dumping all your cash into a vault is probably not the best idea. There are many other ways to store money while simultaneously earning interest or having it increase in value. If you still have a long way off and are able to withstand some risks, stocks might prove to be a great investment. They serve as a good hedge against inflation while still generally promising good long-term returns. Other assets like gold and cryptocurrency might also be good candidates for long-term investments. With that said, having a mixed portfolio lowers the risk of sudden loss associated with being heavily invested in a centralized asset. At the end of the day, it all falls back on what is suitable for you and how much risk you’re willing to take.

Looking For Opportunities of Passive Income

Many retirees extensively rely on sources of passive income to cover their retirement expenses. The idea of passive income is pretty straightforward: getting a steady inflow of money without actively doing work. There are many options for achieving this, but one of the safest and most widely adopted is simply putting some money in the bank and living off of the interest it provides. Although interest rates are usually pretty low, many still opt for this method due to its convenience and low risk. Another great option would be benefiting from a reverse mortgage. This type of mortgage is specifically targeted at those older than the age of 62 and constitutes selling part of a homeowner’s home equity. In return, this homeowner receives a loan or a monthly payment, making it a great source of passive income.

Maintaining Equilibrium

After having assessed all the previously mentioned aspects and put together a cohesive plan, one final key step remains. Just like with anything else, real-life won’t go exactly as planned. It is of therefore crucial importance to leave an extra margin of error and take the necessary precautions should any unexpected challenges arise. At the old age of retirement, one becomes highly prone to health complications, and that can sometimes be pretty costly. A good health insurance plan will bring you the peace of mind that you deserve while simultaneously saving your wallet from the hefty hospitalization bills, should you ever need them.

Conclusion

Having a smooth and relaxing retirement is a goal for everyone. Luckily, all it takes is a little planning and discipline during your adult life. Setting realistic goals and gradually achieving them is a great way to keep yourself motivated, and you’ll be able to ensure a happy and prosperous retirement. The most important thing to keep in mind is that it is never too late to get started.

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Oftentimes, we get so caught up with whatever that’s going on in our lives at the moment that we start to forget the reasons behind why we do what we do. It is easy to be swept up into the whirlwind of never ending tasks, too exhausted to make the most of life but also too busy to make a change. Sometimes, life feels so draining and we feel like we are dragging ourselves through the days.

When we stop to think about it, we actually spend a lot of our time doing things that don’t really matter. And I don’t mean things like hobbies or relaxing or anything unproductive— after all, happiness is a journey not a destination. What I mean is things that you, personally, would rather not spend your time, energy and money on. By this definition, things that “don’t matter” are things that don’t matter TO YOU.

This is where the minimalist lifestyle comes in. There are many tips and guides out there on how to lead a minimalist lifestyle, but it all boils down to one mantra: Avoid the unnecessary.

Benefits

The most straightforward result of a minimalist lifestyle is having fewer material possessions. Getting rid of unnecessary belongings reduces the time and energy required to clean, maintain and organize them. Clothes that are seldom worn, old devices that barely work, books that will not be read again and so on. With fewer material possessions comes a smaller financial burden. taking the constant worries about budgeting out of the way.

Furthermore, the act of seeing a less cluttered environment around you has actually been scientifically proven to affect both physical and mental health. A neater environment can change the brain such that memory, focusing abilities and information processing are enhanced. A neater area also has been linked to better digestion, cardiovascular health, and better sleep. Some studies even showed a link between the tidiness of an environment and healthy eating habits.

In the end, it results in more time, energy and resources for you to spend on the things you actually want to do, or that can help you achieve your long term goals. The minimalist approach can be divided into three categories.

Decluttering your Space

This category is probably the simplest place to start adopting the minimalist lifestyle. It involves evaluating your current belongings and discarding some of them. The same elimination process has to be applied to all future spending as well. Good places to start are clothing, accessories, decor and any other common impulse buys. As you progress further, even furniture, vehicles and homes can be streamlined.

The Minimalists, two of the most prominent creators in the minimalism scene, suggest using the 90/90 rule to determine whether an object should be kept. The rule states that if you used an object in the last 90 days, or will be using it in the next 90 days, it can stay. Otherwise, into the bin it goes.

Tidying expert Marie Kondo suggests an ingenious method to ease parting with objects that are defunct but retain sentimental value. She does so by saying thank you (yes, to an inanimate object!) for serving its purpose and then gratefully letting it go.

Reducing Responsibilities

Because it is not readily in your line of sight, it is easy to forget that not all your money goes to physical goods. A portion is also spent on non-physical possessions. Examples include subscriptions like Netflix and Spotify. With more and more of such subscriptions available, it might be useful to reconsider whether they are really necessary.

Other non-tangible things to consider streamlining are credit cards, banking accounts. These usually have extra service fees and combining them into one can actually help you to save more.

Clearing the Mind

Overthinkers often have unwelcome thoughts plaguing their minds that are not useful in achieving whatever they want to achieve. While cutting out responsibilities can help greatly to reduce the number of things to worry about, sometimes it’s just not enough to keep those sneaky thoughts away. This is where you have to condition your mind to stop wandering pointlessly and instead focus on more significant matters.

A good diet and regular exercise is always the top recommendation to boost overall health. This study reports that mental health is improved by more than 40 percent in those who exercise as compared to those who do not.

A controversial alternative to clear the mind would be the use of cannabis. In recent years, recreational marijuana has made its way into the mainstream and many states are starting to open up. However, opinions regarding this topic are still pretty inconsistent and it is important to make sure you do your own research before trying it.

Cannabis, like any other substance that you take into your body, has to be regulated by the relevant authorities first and there are rules put in place. For example, New Jersey, the most recent state to legalise recreational marijuana, requires that marijuana dispensaries obtain the New Jersey Cannabis Retail License 2021 before operating.

Another great way to clear your mind and understand things better would be to take time out of each day to do journaling or meditation. These practices allow you to have a space to consolidate thoughts and events amidst a chaotic schedule.

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Are you craving a minimalist wardrobe? Are you tired of your cramped and bursting cupboards? Are you tired of cheap and disposable fashion items, the kind where the faux leather started peeling and bubbling because you got caught in the rain? Would you like more space and actually be able to see the clothes hanging in your closet? It’s time to start afresh. Minimalism is the new black. We live in a world where more is finally too much. Psychology professor Barry Schwartz argues that having an infinite number of choices is paralyzing and exhausting. We are all too familiar with the meme where a woman stands in front of an overflowing wardrobe and complains that she has got nothing to wear. It turns out that having too many choices and too many things to choose from is actually making us unhappy. That and the constant worrying that what we have is never good enough or will last through seasons and trends, hence onto the next thing we need to get.

The world was not always like that. Fast fashion and factory-produced stuff was not normal, until the industrialization age. It could be about hankering after a simpler age, where there were less things, less choices and things were made for people to use, instead of for people to keep as a status symbol. The lockdown has nudged the world another step into minimalism. Locked in their homes for days, weeks and months, people realize they need more space. Wandering into basements and attics unearthed stuff to throw out, wardrobes to clear and cupboards to empty. Stuff bought on impulse, because they were cheap and it seemed like a good deal at that time, all needed to find new homes through a yard sale or donation. In the past, clothes were made to be worn, sometimes every day. Bags and shoes were made to last. Instead of looking like new all the time, aging was worn with pride and stories were told about how long the items have been with their owners and how well they have stood the test of time. When you buy something that will last because it has been made with quality materials and thought and care has been put into the design to make it timeless, it also has a higher recycle value, when you or your lifestyle change. When you buy less, you can buy better.

Making the Right Choice

When we needed to go out and make a refuel run to the supermarket while masked during the lockdown, we require one, maybe two canvas tote bags. But the world is opening up again and much as we would prefer to slouch around in PJs the whole day, life is moving on again. Given the opportunity to start afresh, the question to ask is, “What do people really want?”. Is it that bag on sale that might just complement the colour of the jacket bought at another sale? Or is there something classic and durable that can match many different outfits and occasions? What are the top bags that would fit into a minimalist lifestyle? What does that even look like? It might seem like an easy question, but the truth is that we have been so used to fast fashion that is unsustainable for the environment and for the people who are employed to produce it, that it is hard for us to imagine something that we use through the years and is present on every occasion.

Making the right choice takes time. It is not about going to a sale, grabbing a bag because it is time-limited and going home and realizing it was another impulse buy. Though things do not and should not represent us, they should at least make us think about who we are, how we live and what we need to help us live better. What kind of bag will suit your lifestyle? Do you travel and entertain a lot and have to be on the go from morning meetings to evening dates with minimal fuss? Or do you work from home, with the occasional meeting uptown, after which you pick up groceries on the way home? Are you a soccer mom and you sit on the parent-teacher committee and need something practical but classy? What you like in reality and what you like in theory can end up being different things. You may love how a certain color or design looks in the photos, but held up against your skin, it doesn’t exactly look the way you thought it would. Think of it as a second chance to develop your style. The two keywords you need to keep in mind as you start your minimalist journey are: quality and versatility.

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Television is changing. Television is cleaning up its excesses, and decluttering its messy and unwieldy business model. The future of television is here, and it’s called streaming.

In the past, if you wanted to watch a television show, you really only had two options:

First, there was terrestrial television. This was where shows would be transmitted to your set via radio waves from a local television station.

The other method was cable television. In this, you paid a monthly fee to have shows sent to your television set via cables instead of radio broadcasts (hence the name).

Each of the two had their own strengths and weaknesses.

For the longest time, terrestrial television was the cheapest means available to watch television, as it involved simply buying a television set with a working antenna, and plugging it in your living room.

This made its programming available to everyone. However, this was also a double-edged sword, as that meant it had to appeal to everyone, from children coming home from school to bored grandparents in the throes of retirement.

While many shows benefited from this wide appeal, just as many other shows had their interesting elements censored, to avoid the risk of alienating a viewer with the show’s content. Violence and swearing got toned down, if not entirely removed. Saccharine happy endings were demanded. Protagonists were made to slot into familiar archetypes. Plotlines were predictable and cookie-cutter.

What I’ve just described didn’t apply perfectly to all shows broadcast in this mode, but it did describe the ideal show for their broadcasters. They wanted shows made to appeal to as many people as possible, which mostly resulted in bland programming that interested nobody.

Cable, on the other hand, had shows for more specialised audiences (e.g. adults, fans of mystery fiction, thrill-seekers, sci-fi aficionados), and so could have programming that had maximum appeal for a certain type of viewer.

The problem for cable television, though, was that it was inefficient and expensive. Cable television was frequently sold as packages of many different channels offered together, with a steep monthly price to match. Oftentimes, though, viewers often found that only a small fraction of those channels genuinely interested them. You couldn’t just stop paying for all those other channels in the package, though. As a consequence of how the business model of cable television worked, either you paid for channels you didn’t watch, or you didn’t get any cable television at all.

Both terrestrial television and cable television shared one glaring flaw, as well. Viewers had to meticulously plan their schedules around the programming they wanted to watch. If they weren’t at their television sets during the right time slot, then the show went on without them. If you happened to miss an episode due to a sudden emergency or urgent appointment, then tough luck, it could be ages before broadcasters decided to rerun that particular episode again. This was most of the reason why television was a largely episodic affair before the rise of streaming. Missing an episode in a serialised story could mean losing an important chapter required to understand the later parts of the story.

It’s no surprise then, that everything changed when streaming TV came onto the scene. Here were services where you could watch whatever episode of whichever television series you fancied at any time, without relying on an external broadcast schedule imposed from on high. Because of this freedom to pick your programming, viewers could watch their favorite shows whenever they found it convenient, instead of having to plan their life around their favorite shows. This meant one less thing to worry about for modern viewers, who already had enough worries on their plate. This also freed up shows to be as unique as they wanted, confident that their target audience could find them easily through the search function.

As a bonus, streaming services generally cost less than their cable competition, meaning less worry over one’s wallet as well as one’s time.

Like many other innovations throughout history, convenience wins over new users more than any other quality. With the advent of cheap or free streaming services, more and more people are "cord-cutting", cancelling their cable subscriptions (or never setting one up in the first place) in favour of more efficient streaming services.

As a result, many old and established media companies are suffering from this tectonic shift.

Today’s children are growing up with the notion that how you access video content need not be dictated by the whims of a fixed broadcast schedule. Just like with a book or a game, you can begin watching a television series any time you fancy, and go through the story at your own pace. You need not complicate your life by planning around external, arbitrary time slots.

Indeed, streaming TV might be one of the few innovations that results in less clutter in our lives, rather than more.

Minimalism is the practice of removing everything unnecessary and focusing only on the things that really add value. It can be applied to a lot of areas — minimalist art and design are well established and have long histories. However, these days incorporating minimalism into your lifestyle is rapidly becoming the next big thing.

Doubtless you would have heard of Marie Kondo and her Netflix show, which is based on her popular book “The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up.” Other key figures in the minimalist lifestyle movement are Joshua Fields Millburn and Ryan Nicodemus, who call themselves minimalists and have written books, made films and hosted podcasts on how to live a minimalist lifestyle. They also have a popular blog that shares tips and tricks on how to remove the clutter from your life.

At first glance, the concept of minimalism seems simple. Just get rid of everything you don’t need. But often, we are too busy and stressed to take the time to figure out what we truly need in our lives and what we keep around as distractions. There is also a misconception that minimalism means just getting rid of all your furniture, painting your walls white, and putting in a wooden table and chair. There is a growing industry dedicated to selling you things that will help you maintain a minimalist lifestyle — but doesn’t buying more things go against the basic concept of minimalism?

At its core, minimalism is about focusing your life only on the things that add value. Whether it’s your home, work, school, or social life, you can use the principles of minimalism to make your daily life a more fulfilling one. Keep in mind that minimalism is not the magic solution to all of your life’s problems. It is just a foundation on which you can build other good habits and practices to improve the quality of your life.

Here’s how you can incorporate minimalism into your everyday routine. It’s not difficult, and the more you do it the easier it will be to extend the approach to other aspects of your life as well.

Home. No, you don’t need to throw out everything you own and live like a monk. But let’s be honest, there are probably an awful lot of things in your house that you haven’t looked at or touched in years. These are the things you need to be throwing out. As Marie Kondo’s now-viral catchphrase goes, if it doesn’t “spark joy”, throw it out. Just because it’s old, doesn’t mean it’s unnecessary. If an old letter or diary sparks joy, then keep it. But if a new sweatshirt or pair of shoes doesn’t, then don’t be afraid to get rid of it. Don’t wait around for acts of nature to prompt you into starting the decluttering process — there’s no time like the present!

Relationships. Getting rid of the toxic people in your life can go a long way to decluttering your social life and giving you peace of mind. We’ve all got an acquaintance or two that we just hate hanging out with because they just leave us feeling bad when the day ends. Don’t be afraid to jettison these people from your lives. Some relationships are just not meant to be. Channel the energy you use to maintain these superficial ties into the relationships that you really care about. In relationships, as with most other things, it’s about quality rather than quantity. Better to have a handful of really good, trustworthy friends than a whole collection of “friends” that don’t add anything to your life.

Time. Time is finite, and many of us often find that we don’t have enough of it to focus on the things we want to do. Take a look at your daily schedule and objectively evaluate how many of the items on there are really related to your interests and wishes. Don’t be afraid to skip an office function or a school reunion every now and again if it really doesn’t interest you.

Work. Try not to let your work bleed into the rest of your day. We spend most of our time in the office anyway, so make sure that when you’re off-work, you’re really off-work. Try not to check your work email or reply to work related messages outside office hours. This will help you make sure that you’re maximizing your free time to enrich your own life as much as possible.

Minimalism is not an aesthetic. There’s no fixed way to do it, no right or wrong answer, no set of rules that you have to follow. Read up about what it’s really about and how people have used it throughout history. Then, look at your own life and see how best you can apply it in a way that suits your specific context. Most importantly, don’t be afraid to start small — every little counts.

As a minimalist, I spend more time than you might think managing my belongings. Part of living a simple lifestyle is owning less possessions, which makes it all the more important that you don’t lose them—as there are no backups.

As a business owner, I therefore place a lot of importance on inventory management—a term that encompasses all of the processes and strategies that are used to manage the inventory that a business has. In this article I want to talk about tips I’ve learnt in business, and how these ideas can be carried over to your personal life as a minimalist.

What is Inventory Management?

Inventory management is the process of planning, implementing, and controlling a system that tracks and manages a company’s inventory. It is a system that is used to achieve control over the flow of inventory within a business.

Inventory can be anything from products, to raw materials, to the box of paper clips on your desk at work. It’s important to track inventory within a business because it allows you to forecast demand, and therefore plan for the future, as well as optimize your processes.

Why is Inventory Management so Important?

A key component of business success is maximizing efficiency and minimizing waste, and one of the most important parts of this is effective inventory management. Effective inventory management will streamline all of the processes involved in the production, delivery, and sale of the product. Without it, you risk being under-resourced, overstocked, or just plain inefficient.

For example, let’s say that you own a retail store. You’re always going to need a certain amount of inventory to facilitate the sales process. You’re going to have a certain amount of toothbrushes on the floor. If you have a toothbrush that is sold, you’ll need to order more. If you don’t have enough toothbrushes on the sales floor, you lose both sales and the confidence of your customers. You might be tempted to order excess stock in advance – but what do you do if the toothbrushes don’t sell? These are the types of inefficiencies that can be avoided with good inventory management.

Likewise, in manufacturing businesses, inventory management is used to ensure that the right amount of raw materials are purchased to meet demand. In the event of a sudden surge in demand, there is enough inventory to meet that demand. If there is too much inventory, the business might end up with excess stock. Every business, whether it is a manufacturing business, a retail business, a service-based business, or any other type of business will have some inventory.

Tracking Inventory

A major component of inventory management, of course, is tracking what you have and where it is. Systems for this, called inventory management systems, can be invaluable – this is something I learnt early on when I worked for a small Amazon competitor. This includes software that can be used to track and manage inventory, as well as the physical tracking of inventory with technology like RFID warehouse management. I want to talk more about RFID in particular, as it’s something we minimalists can also adopt to manage personal belongings.

What is RFID?

Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) is a technology that combines the use of wireless non-contact radio-frequency communication with computer technology to identify and track tags attached to objects.

There are tags that can be attached to items in your home or business that allow you to track and manage them. These tags are used in a variety of ways. For example, they can be attached to items that are being shipped. When those items are shipped, the tags will allow you to track the items and make sure that they arrive safely to their destination. They could also be attached to items in your supply chain, allowing you to track what is going on with that item at every stage of the process.

The tags are also used for inventory management in e-commerce. They are attached to products, and the information is transmitted to the website. This allows you to track what you have in stock and what you need to order, to fulfill demand.

Inventory Management for Minimalists

As a minimalist, you’re going to have fewer things, and therefore you’ll have fewer things to manage. However, while you may need to manage fewer things, the things that you do have are going to be more important to you. If you have fewer things, then you’re going to be putting more value on each thing that you do own.

I have tagged many of my personal belongings with RFID tags—it’s fun, and it really helps me to know what I have to avoid excess consumption and waste.

Conclusion

Inventory management is a key component of business success and is something that I learned early on. I now use these principles to manage my personal belongings and to help me live a more minimalistic lifestyle. I hope that you can do the same!