Last Post For The Year
It is almost the end of the year and I already posted an article on reflecting back on the year. In my reflections I had a few ups and downs during the past year which are sort of covered in the quotes that follow. This post is going to be really short in that sense :). May be some of these apply to you and perhaps you felt something similar at some point in life? This is the last post on reflections for the year I promise!
...continue readingChange Habits For The New Year
It is almost the end of the year and it's time to reflect back on 2020. What is the progress on your goals if you made any at the start of the year. Did the events during the year upset your plans? What impact did COVID have on you? Did you come out stronger? Learned something new that you never thought about earlier? Usually I reflect back around this time of the year and make note of my achievements and failures. The details of which will come out next year as usual in my year in review series.
...continue readingWhy Is Sleep Important?
I sleep too much. Way too much by today's standards. When I tell someone that I sleep at 9:30 pm, I see raised eyebrows. Not sure if their expression is because they think "you are lucky to get to bed by that time". Or may be it is along the lines of "you are too old and have no social life and are not invited to parties, or you are lazy". Either way it does not really matter to me. I decline late night parties and meetings as much as possible. But you know in the modern era you are an outcast if you sleep early.
...continue readingGrow In Complete Freedom
When people ask me what is this unschooling thing we are doing, I find it very difficult to answer. Not because I don't know what I feel about unschooling, but because I am unable to articulate my thoughts into words. When you are an unschooled parent, you subconsciously know what it means to you. You can understand why you behave the way you behave or do the things you do given a situation with your child. But it is extremely difficult to explain to others who only understand school or home school.
...continue readingManaging Dry Waste – Part II
If you have been reading our sustainable living series, you already know that we have stopped generating any wet waste for the trash picker. In the previous post on managing dry waste, I talked about how we are trying to reduce dry waste. In this continuation post I want to talk about more ways to reduce dry waste.
...continue readingThe Credit Card Experiment
There are polarizing opinions about using credit cards. Some consider credit cards to be very useful while others consider them as debt traps. Like most things in life, it is not as black and white of course. This post is not about debating whether credit cards are good or bad but more about my experience with a credit card.
...continue readingWhy I Buy Used Cars and Should You Too?
Every single car we have owned were used cars. And we bought 5 cars so far in our adult life. I am not here to argue whether buying a used car is better than a new car or vice-versa. It is just my opinion and I am sure the counter arguments are as strong. Here are some reasons why we went this route even before we went down the minimalism path.
...continue readingMaximize Investment Returns (While Taking On Some Risk)
With more powers come more responsibilities. Err... I meant to say, with more returns come more risks. Most new investors want to maximize their investment returns with minimal risk. But that is hardly possible. Instead, in this post I will talk about how you can increase your returns but buy taking more calculated risk. I say calculated risk because you will not take blind risk, but instead use a proper method to improve your chances of increasing your returns.
...continue readingThe Gift Of Free Play
School has become an abnormal setting for children. Instead of admitting that, we say children are abnormal and that we need to correct the children. Of course as an unschooler I would certainly like to believe that. Whether it is really true or not is in the eye of the beholder. I am not here to argue about the merits or demerits of school but to point out that play is an important part of a child's development. Most of what I am about to say in this post is pretty much what is covered in the excellent TED talk linked below. You can skip this article if you watch that video.
...continue readingOn Goal Setting
Setting goals is a great motivator to get things done. Without a goal, life goes on without much excitement and nothing to look forward to or work towards. But if you have a goal that is too hard or takes too long to achieve it may actually be demotivating. How do you get out of this situation. Simple, have a long term goal and then have a few smaller, shorter incremental goals.
...continue reading