Disclosure: The reviewer has been sponsored by Best Buy. All opinions expressed are my own. Thank you.
There are few things I love more than spending time in the outdoor spaces around my home. In fact, if I could have my bedroom out there I would. Because I love spending time outdoors in my home’s Florida room, its one of the places entertainment at home happens the most. And because I’m so passionate about entertainment options, especially new tech!
I recently discovered the SunBrite Veranda Series at Best Buy, a family of weatherproof televisions designed for full-shade outdoor applications. Truly the best of both worlds, am I right? Products designed to bring the convenience of home entertainment with you to your favorite outdoor hangout spots.
The SunBriteTV Veranda Series is a family of weatherproof televisions designed for full-shade outdoor spaces, like covered patios, screened-in porches, breezeways, and Florida rooms, as I mentioned above. They are engineered to withstand just about any climate in North America, resisting the harsh effects of rain, snow, dust, insects, and extreme temperatures.
No more having to choose between enjoying the weather or binging your favorite shows. As it goes without saying that indoor TVs don’t belong outside but SunBriteTVs are high-performance and specifically made for the outdoors and engineered for permanent outdoor installation.
Veranda comes standard with a direct-lit 4K UHD screen with HDR, which is up to 50% brighter than indoor TVs for improved viewing in brighter outdoor environments. It’s more durable, safer, and a better experience than using an indoor TV outdoors.
Imagine spending this warm weather season with family and friends watching your favorite movie with the entire family outside, a romantic evening with your significant other, or having all your friends over to watch the game! Such a great gift idea for Father’s Day too!
Outdoor living trends are big this season, and all-weather TVs can really enhance the outdoor lifestyle. In fact, creating an outdoor home theater is the most affordable room addition you can make to spaces at home.
Now you can grill, eat outside and watch your favorite show while enjoying the fresh air and nature’s beauty. Just be sure to save me a seat, friends!
Modern lives are filled with noise, even for minimalists. And every day, it’s getting harder to turn down the volume of our crowded minds.
Even the places in which once held solitude are often now filled with the deluge of our heavily mediated culture. From airport waiting rooms to check out lanes at your local market, we find ourselves bombarded with ambient advertisements, social pressures, and visually distracting clutter. Or as I call it- digital stress.
And don’t get me wrong, digital stressors often help to keep our business running and our homes entertained, and for bloggers like myself, a steady source of income. But like all good things moderation, digital stress can help to usher in consumption consumerism including our televisions, Internet connections, smartphones, tablets, and our infinite technical advances—the means by which we invest our attention spans every waking moment of every single day. The same stress that leaves us depleted, feel inadequate, and in constant need for irrational change.
But there’s good news: we can turn down the noise. We can halt the digital stress. It’s not easy, and it takes a certain kind of awareness, but we can turn it down.
This is where minimalism comes into play for myself, my home, and my family. Minimalism has taught me to recognize the need in my own life to turn down my stressors, to know when I need to detach from noise, to reconnect with friends and family, and when I need moments of solitude and self-care in my life.
These are the five ways I use minimalism as a tool to help me create solitude and minimize digital stress during chaotic times in my home and in my life:
Reevaluate your mornings. Minimalism has taught me the value of waking up with purpose. I enjoy waking up early. Waking up slowly. Taking my time to enter my new day with clarity and purpose. To take my first stretch from the bed. To limit my digital stress by avoiding marketing and emails for a full two hours after I wake each morning. To do this I set aside twenty minutes each morning for devotion and to write in my gratitude journal in a quiet room with no distractions—no TV, no radio, no clocks, no noise: just me, my thoughts, and my mental clarity. I’m waking up to the world stress-free and on my own terms.
Schedule time to read. I love reading, especially classic literature, political memoirs, and all things Jane Austen. Minimalism teaches me to make time for the things in my life I love especially reading. I now schedule a time to check out books from the library, find free digital books online, or to attend a local book club. This forces me into solitude: just me, my thoughts, and the characters on the page.
Going for a walk. Before I became a minimalist I lead a very sedentary life. I worked in a corporate office. I then transitioned to working from home first as a caretaker, then at-home legal position, and then as a blogger. My life is now very different. I now walk all the time. Walking gives me uninterrupted time to think, time for myself, time inside my head to marshal my emotions and reactions to business dealings, spirituality, and even interpersonal relationships. Walking is the healthiest distraction I’ve ever found and I love the nurturing solitude it provides. Even if it’s a fifteen-minute walk, it’s worth my time: just me, my thoughts, and the street lamps below small town southern skies.
Make time for exercise. Like with walking, I make time to exercise each day. I just walk into my spare bedroom turned home gym and perform everything from yoga stretches to push-ups, squats, and pull-ups. Whatever I do, I enjoy having the opportunity to do it by myself in solitude: just me, my thoughts, and my body in motion. I’ve been able to burn away stress, physical, emotional, and digital, and I’ve lost sixty pounds in the process this past year as well. Exercise has helped to create a new me. Minimalism has helped me recognize it.
Declutter your distractions. When we are distracted by the digital noise we can also become sidetracked from common sense, a state of being that doesn’t seem all too common these days. We forget obligations. We stop taking care of yourself. Luckily, you can try to turn off your cellphone, turn off your television, even take an internet sabbatical. That’s what I’ve done, I turn off social media each weekend and it’s been great: just me, my thoughts, and more meaningful life. When I minimize my distractions, I can truly cynosure onto life’s greatest pleasures- being a joy-chaser extraordinaire.
So these are the 5 ways minimalism helps me to avoid stress at home and can do the same for you. Now, friends, I’d love to know how do you avoid the stresses of life and digital distraction and stress in your neck of the woods? I’d love to hear about it below!
As a small business owner, we know that in order to succeed, yourself and your team must be equipped with not just a dream needs the technology to make those dreams a reality. Because in a results-driven economy, one of the biggest challenges small business owners face is how to do all that needs to be done when there are never enough hours in the day. And why opting to use the best software for your blog and small business a paramount in today’s business world.
Sometimes it can seem that the most difficult part of running a small business is selecting the proper software to take care of the more tedious details for you. Sure, your predecessors just sharpened pencils when it came time to take care of the books, but this isn’t conducive to today’s business climate anymore. These days, there are many products available to streamline the process for you, like making money.
Deciding which is the best product for you is a matter of zeroing in on your business’s unique needs and perhaps identifying what business-related tasks you have zero tolerance for. Then you can select software to lighten your load. Want some help? Read on to see which programs are best suited to your needs. So if you are deciding which software might be the best fit for your business this season, here are four applications that serve to help automate business processes, save time, increase productivity and stay focused on the most valuable activities.
Trello
Ideal for small organizations, Trello is an organizational app that works as a team task-board. Users tasks and assign steps to individual team members to complete said tasks. Trello promotes productivity by small business maintain real-time visualization of what’s been finished already, and what new deadlines are approaching. Moreover, most of Trello’s best features are free to use. Find out more about this program here.
HootSuite
This app allows small businesses to schedule social media posts on popular platforms like Facebook, Instagram, and the like. With HootSuite, you can listen to social media and get involved in emerging conversations in your niche, helping to grow your followers and position you as an authority. HootSuite saves you time by letting you schedule posts in advance, so you’re not constantly having to push your brand on social media. For work smarter, not harder method of scheduling social media, starting at only $19.00/month, check out this service here.
Mail Chimp
As you gain customers, you’ll need a way to stay in touch with them. As one of your growing businesses’ greatest resources, a working means of communicating news about your company and the latest deals and offers. Such as a scheduled newsletter. Which is were Mail Chimp can help. This service lets you organize and store your own mailing lists and provides you with templates that you can use to quickly create e-mail newsletters for your customers. Mail Chimp is the best way to keep track of, and communicate with, the people who matter: your customers! Check them out here.
An MDM vendor
In order to take your blog and mall business to the next level this season, you should invest in the services of an MDM vendor. Experts in unlocking analytical insights on strengths and cautions for all 14 MDM vendors. With a focus on sales momentum, market understanding, and product vision as well as pricing and deployment options. Steps that help take your business from niche to experienced this season and increase your profit margins for the foreseeable future. Vendors such as gartner mdm.
Friends, I hope you’ll take advantage of this list of software applications that can help you accomplish more with your small business. Let us know how these applications are working for you in the comment below!
This post has been sponsored by Family Link App from Google in partnership with Forward Influence. All opinions are my own.#sponsored #FamilyLink
I always joke with my friends about the days before devices and tablets became commonplace in our lives. Days when dinners consisted of more than the sound of chomping and chirping notifications. Now, if I was being completely honest, though, I don’t really think life was better, easier, or more civilized before such things came into existence! And I’m not even sure I would want such times to return. As much as I miss clear, corded phones and game boys, having to have a separate caller identification box to see who’s calling my phone or having to print out map directions before places are things I hope to never have to go through again! I’ll take seamless technology instead, thank you!
Especially when it comes to mindful technology and parenting. While we need to be protective of younger children, we also need to strike a balance between invocation and exploration. And if you’re a parent who feels the same, you’ll be glad to find out about Family Link from Google. Because it can be overwhelming to navigate technology as a parent. Which is why many families feel that this service helps them to more seamlessly set digital ground rules for their kids at home and manage their online content too! With Family Link, parents are better able t manage the content their kids see, set adequate screen time limitations, and start proactive conversations centered around the concept of having a healthy, long-term relationship with technology.
The Family Link App from Google helps families manage the content our kids see on their devices and set limits. As well as allowing parents to guide children to learn, play, and explore online. The app also allows parents to remotely approve or decline apps your kids want to download from the Google Play Store as well, hide apps you don’t want to be displayed on kid’s devices, lock devices to allow for only calls to be made, set bedtime timers, and to restrict what content your kids can see in the Play Store by maturity rating. Even track your child’s location, when devices are on or with your child. All without having to worry about in-app purchases bills. Measures that can help you better keep an eye on what they’re viewing on their device.
The app also allows parents to curate a listing of family-specific sites, with applied filters, that help to protect children from mature content in the family Link’s Family Link settings. And setting up the app (Android phone or tablet for your child that runs Nougat or ios device), just download the Family Link App from the App Store or Google Play Store and after installation, link your account to your child’s device account, then just follow the on-screen directions and set up your child’s device and begin to monitor their online progress. You can also invite other family members to join your family too!
The Family Link App from Google helps manage the content kids see on their devices and set limits while allowing little ones to have fun while maintaining digital habits at home. Check out the #parenting benefits! #sponsored #FamilyLink for more details! With Family link from Google, families can better manage the content kids see on their devices and set healthy internet limits. Friends, do you use Family Link by Google at home? And how do you set digital ground rules at your home? Leave your tips in the comments below!
This post was sponsored by College Avenue Student Loans. All opinion expressed are my own, thank you.
“You’ll never make it,” they said. “You’re just not smart enough,” they explained. Those were the comments I heard from my extended family growing up when the topic of me attending college was discussed. And though their words were meant to demoralize and discourage, they became my personal anthem of progress when it came time for me to not only attend but to flourish and ultimately graduate from my university. With not just one but two collegiate degrees.
Their words also propelled me to make the decision to attend graduate school. I could provide myself with not only a large and more diverse educational background but also provide myself with a way to better differentiate myself in today’s increasingly competitive job market.
Luckily, I’m not the only one who considers attending graduate school a no-brainer. According to the Federal Reserve, earning an advanced degree offers a substantial payoff, with graduate degree holders earning 30 percent more than those with only a bachelor’s degree. And with the ever-changing needs of employers across various private and public sectors desiring professionals who continually upskill themselves, graduate programs can help new students and returning students alike in immeasurable ways.
Also, by obtaining your master’s degree, you develop transferable skills that apply to various jobs, organizations, and industries, such as analytical, interpersonal, organizational, communication, and advanced technological skills. Skill sets that are often transferable and can help you become both a versatile employee and a more valuable asset to hiring managers and recruiters.
A graduate degree can also help you move into more senior roles, including management and leadership. Many companies not only recognize the benefits of earning your master’s degree but encourage their employees to get one through tuition reimbursement. In fact, 38 percent of employers nationally require applicants to have previously obtained a graduate degree as part of their educational requirements.
For these reasons, you may already be considering expanding your educational opportunities to include graduate coursework. Which leaves one of the largest and final decisions in attending, wondering if a graduate degree is worth the financial cost?
For me, it was. It was a key investment in my financial plans for the future. I’d like to say that I was able to pay for my continued education out-of-pocket, but this was not a reality in my world. I was not in a position to take on non-traditional payment plans and graduate student loans were my most viable financing option. Which is why I implemented the use of graduate student loans to obtain my degree.
My graduate student loans allowed me to borrow enough money to attend school and by doing so, I was also to obtain a degree that gave me the opportunity to implement new lucrative career opportunities in place. I knew I would not be borrowing more money than I expected to make in my first year at a firm. Coupled with setting a personal goal of working while attending school in an effort to pay down accrued interest, I felt at peace with borrowing money for school. And why, despite being a debt-free blogger, I’ll always encourage people to take out graduate student loans if they make financial sense to attend graduate school this season.
And I wasn’t alone. According to the College Board, in 2015-16 alone, 5% of master’s degree recipients, 20% of doctoral degree recipients, and 50% of professional degree recipients borrowed $100,000 or more to fund their graduate school study. As many MBA programs can cost tens of thousands of dollars for each potential student, and the average medical school degree can set students back upwards of $180,000.
Which is why, like me, you’ll likely need to borrow to help pay for a graduate degree after all scholarships, grants, and personal savings options have been exhausted. This makes private graduate student loans one of your next best bets to finance your educational pursuits for graduate school.
For those looking to find smarter graduate student loan opportunities, I encourage you to consider College Ave Student Loans as an option when financing your graduate degree.
College Ave offers new and returning students a better overall loan experience. From helping you find your best graduate school loan to providing borrowers with budget-friendly repayment options, this company makes borrowing fast and easy. They also provide applicants with a simple-to-use application process. It’s so simple that you can complete your application from any mobile device in minutes and find out instantly if your loan approved. Plus, borrowers can choose the loan term that works best for them and their budget with clean, concise borrowing terms upfront.
Graduate student loans are designed with students in mind, and College Ave takes the stress and guesswork out of paying for college or graduate school by putting you in charge of how your student loan will best fit within your budgetary needs this season. Coupled with helpful online tools, no origination fees, and great customer service, these loan programs can be one of your best bets for obtaining private loans for postgraduate, masters or professional degrees to help advance your educational career paths too!
When it comes to balancing the cost of school with other financial priorities and going to graduate school, you’ll be faced with big decisions that require even bigger investments. Which is why borrowing from College Ave can help make your graduate school dreams a reality. Leaving you more time to learn, study, and grow as a student in your own right.
Now, friends, I want to ask, are you considering getting your graduate degree this season? And if your educational future includes student loans, what are your biggest concerns in securing this type of educational funding? Leave your comments below!
This post was sponsored by College Avenue Student Loans. All opinion expressed are my own, thank you.
This post is sponsored by Chewy.com expressed here are my own.
Cats can be picky. Some cats will use nearly any litter. Others will refuse to use pelletized litters. Trial and error is the key to lasting litter training success.
From personal experience, I suggest trying several varieties of cat litter to find the best fit for your pet. We literally inundate our cats with their litter. One of our favorite tips for litter continuity is to leave your litter packaging about your home, to allow your pets to become acquainted with the scent of the litter.
Once you have found a litter that seems to be accepted by your cat, don’t switch to another kind. Even if it may seem more convenient for you. Litter brand continuity is uber important to cats. For us, we chose Fresh Step Triple Action Scented Clumping Cat Litter from Chewy.com.
Fresh Step Triple Action Scented Clumping Cat Litter is a low-maintenance, high-quality, affordable cat litter solution. We also love that it can be conveniently found on Chewy.com.
I also love that this litter helps to lock away odors that can lead to the face you make when your house indicates you have litter boxes nearby! You know, the super stinky litter box odors that can make even the most dignified person’s face look like a petrified tree! Luckily, Fresh Step offers consumers a wide range of products, so every cat owner can find the best litter for their cat’s needs, which means that you’ll never have to make another Stank Face again.
It is also made with paw-activated plant extracts that release a fresh scent on contact, which means that a hint of freshness will be released only when needed! Then the unique Carbon Plus technology clumps and grabs odors, allowing the powerful antimicrobial agents to eliminate odors entirely. Allowing out cats litter boxes to be clean and fresh whenever he needs them!
A few other things we love about this litter:
Made with paw-activated fresh scent and an even more antimicrobial agent to fight even the toughest odors created by multi-cat households.
It features Carbon Plus technology and plant extracts help to destroy litter box odors
Has highly absorbent granules of clay form solid clumps to allow for an easy litter-box cleaning
Helps to reduce tracking throughout the house.
You can confidently enjoy up to 10 days of long-lasting freshness at home with each use
This is America’s first clumping cat litter made from a premium blend of natural minerals and clay
Which is why this litter is our go-to brand for all of our cats. So be sure to purchase Fresh Step Clumping Cat Litter from Chewy.com. After all, your cats
deserve it!. It’s the feel-good way to keep your homes fresher and to protect your cat’s urinary health. Even our other love bug, Shadow, approves this message too!
Humanity. The greatest story our world has ever known. The shared narrative of our shared social conditioning, that for better or for worse, has helped weave of all that we have become. But now our society needs a new story to share.
For far too long, the story of empirical dominion over our home, our planet, has been looked at in less than full light – with humanities cultural stories and values having been taken for granted. Leaving the stories of this world’s richest resources, the simple and the free, left invisible and unviable.
Modern technology has helped change this dynamic. No longer is mankind without knowing our planet’s ambient history. We have resources on hand that can help us better understand ourselves, one another, our planet, and the need for movements such as non-consumerism, ecology, and the sustainability movement. And the greatest of these tools is that of film.
The film offers us a powerful tool to inspire awareness and action and break our dependence on the mainstream media and become outlets for the media ourselves.
A film, particularly documentaries, allow people to understand that creating a better world really does start with an informed citizenry. That our country has to come to terms with the true impact of Western civilization. From our abuses of basic ecology to understanding the impact of coal mining, peak oil, and misnomers about capitalism and governments.
Documentaries give us the promise of alternatives – exciting ways that people could live, better ways to change the social paradigm, and effective ways of saving money too.
Personally, documentaries have provided my personal journey with newfound streams of introspection, dreaming, questioning, and discovery areas of my life that mean the most to me. Ways to raise a family, human rights, non-consumerism, tiny living, cultural awareness, gender issues, and sustainability.
The knowledge that was vitally necessary to becoming debt-free, minimalists at home. Taken together, this knowledge will help lay the foundation for future conversations for you too!
Best of all, all of the following films can be viewed on Netflix. My go-to when I’m ready to dig deep and learn something new.
Here are my top 10 Netflix documentaries, and trailers, on minimalism so you can get a better idea of what each film is like. So break out that popcorn and get ready to learn something exciting about the world we live in.
10 Must-Watch Netflix Documentaries on Minimalism
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XF2fjGNkQNA
The True Cost (2015)
“The True Cost” pulls back the curtain on the fashion industry to give viewers an honest look at the human and environmental costs of producing fast fashion. After watching this documentary I haven’t been able to look at the clothes in my closet the same way.
Planet Earth (2006)
This David Attenborough documentary celebrates the amazing variety and beauty of the natural world. Filmed over four years and across 64 different countries, there are few films that compare in terms of scope. It’s a classic and a must-see!
Cowspiracy (2014)
I firmly believe that watching “Cowspiracy” should be a requirement for every student studying environmental sciences in school. This movie is not just about saving animals but environmental degradation, consumer health, and the environmental impact as the leading cause of carbon emissions, global warming, deforestation, and just about everything else. This is the film that caused me to become vegan at home.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=07t9NOV7SwY
Happy (2011)
Filmmaker and director Roko Belic set out to travel the world with the intention of discovering the meaning of happiness. Belic was inspired to make the film after coming across an article in The New York Times entitled, “A New Measure of Well Being From a Happy Little Kingdom.” The article ranked the United States as the 23rd happiest country in the world. This film will help you see your life, works, and personal pursuits in a new light!
More Than Honey (2012)
Did you know that if bees were to disappear from the globe, mankind would have only four years left to live? In “More Than Honey,” Oscar-nominated director Markus Imhoof tackles the issue of why bees are facing worldwide extinction, hive collapse syndrome, and what can be done in our own homes, yards, and communities to encourage bees.
Forks Over Knives (2011)
Watching “Forks Over Knives” changes my life. If you’ve ever struggled with a chronic disease like obesity, cardiovascular disease, or cancer, “Forks Over Knives” can help you see plant-based diets in a new, healthy, and economical way to live the rest of your life!
No Impact Man (2009)
Self-proclaimed “No Impact Man,” Colin Beavan swore off plastic and toxins, turned off his electricity, went organic, and started riding his bicycle exclusively for an entire year. Reviewed as a “sensational, funny, and consciousness-raisin story,” “No Impact Man” change the way you view zero impact living. In a funny, relatable kind of way!
The 11th Hour (2007)
Leonardo Dicaprio’s 2017 film “The 11th Hour” explores how humanity has arrived at the 11th hour – the last possible moment that change is possible for our planet and its ecosystems. Featuring ongoing dialogues of experts including former Soviet Prime Minister Mikhail Gorbachev, renowned scientist Stephen Hawking, and sustainable design expert William McDonough, “The 11th Hour” is a dense film that is likely to make you rethink global climate change.
Minimalism (2016)
“Minimalism,” from the popular due that brought you the minimalists, explores how our lives might be better with less by taking viewers inside the lives of minimalists from all walks of modern life.
Fed Up (2014)
Did you know that there are well over 600,000 food items in the Standard American Diet and that 80% of these foods contain 1 or more added, processed forms of sugar? Did you know that our current generation of youth is the first expected to live a shorter life than their parents? “FED UP,” as a documentary, looks at the American food epidemic and will change the way you eat forever.
So those are my top 10 minimalist documentaries. I hope you will take the time to check them all out and come back and let me know what you think. Share in the comments below!
