fabiochiu/medium-articles huggingface dataset:
Can you ‘Watch the Thinker?’. What it is and how to get there
By: Missguided Manifestor
Tags: Eckhart Tolle, Universe, Meditation, Spiritual, Spiritual Growth

Can you ‘Watch the Thinker?’

Photo by Matteo Di Iorio on Unsplash

When most people think of the meaning of Enlightenment, they associate it with something along the lines of peace and happiness.

Though reaching/being Enlightened can have peace and happiness, there is more to it.

Eckhart Tolle defines Enlightenment as “your natural state of oneness with being” or, “state of connectedness”.

What does Tolle mean by “Being”?

Tolle describes “Being” as something you can know only when the mind is still. He says that Being can be felt, but it can never be understood mentally.

Oof.

Sounds more complicated than it actually is.

Being can easily be felt by the simple practice of Meditation.

You can feel what Tolle describes as a state of connectedness by calming the mind and reducing all the mindless chatter.

“State of connectedness; that is essentially you and yet is much greater than you” -Eckhart Tolle in The Power of Now

Photo by JD Mason on Unsplash

Obstacles to Enlightenment

Tolle says that the greatest obstacle to experiencing the reality of Enlightenment is an identification with the mind.

Identification with the mind is not being able to separate your thoughts from yourself as a being.

There are 3 questions that can get your mind jogging to see if you are identified with your mind or not.

Do you equate thinking with Being ? And Identity with thinking?

Equating thinking with Being and Identity creates an aura of separateness between you and yourself. You and The Universe. You and nature. You and God.

It is important to realize that you are not your mind. You are not one with involuntary internal dialogue, mindless chatter and worries of the past and future.

You must be free of your mind whenever you want to achieve Enlightenment. Being able to simply turn off your thoughts at will, sit in peaceful solitude, and nothing running across your mind is part of what Enlightenment is.

Observing your thoughts, when you have them voluntarily, as a third party is described as ‘watching the thinker’ by Tolle.

Watching the thinker is when you are able to observe your thoughts without actually being influenced by them. When nasty, ugly, negative thoughts come up, you are able to flick them away without disturbing your mood or altering your decisions.
How To Manifest
By: Missguided Manifestor
Tags: Universe, Gratitude, Spirituality, Manifestation, Law Of Attraction

How To Manifest

Photo by Marvin Meyer on Unsplash

If you were granted 3 wishes from a genie in a bottle, what would you wish for?

Other than wishing for more wishes, what would you ask your genie for?

Money?

Love?

A Job?

3 wishes would be nice, but we can’t all stumble across a genie in a bottle like Aladdin.

However, we can ask The Universe, which is always listening to us through Manifestation!

What is Manifestation?

Manifestation is bringing something tangible into your life through attraction and belief, according to google.

Manifestation, in my own terms, is asking & putting into The Universe a wish for whatever you would like, and then accelerating the process of receiving the actual thing by raising your vibration.

Everything in The Universe has a frequency at which it vibrates, including us. Our emotions and feelings have vibrations. Negative emotions such as Shame, Guilt and Fear have lower vibrations, whereas Positive emotions such as Peace, Joy and Love have higher vibrations.

Image from Google From Mastermind Matrix

The rules are simple. The higher vibration you are in, the more higher vibrational things you attract.

Same goes for lower vibrations.

Have you ever noticed when you are in a bad mood, you tend to attract more negative things?

If you are in a low vibrational state, such as in deep depression or in anger, and are trying to attract high vibrational things into your life, it will be difficult because you are not on the correct frequency to receive them.

To manifest good things into your life you must raise your vibration too.

Some things to do to raise your vibration include:

Meditating Show gratitude Think positively Spend more time in nature Consume more water Sit in sunlight

Photo by Michael Held on Unsplash

Some of my own personal Manifestation success stories include my current job, best friend and text messages from people.

I personally have experienced manifestation with wishes I never thought would come true. By raising my vibration and clearing out my own negative energies, I have been able to attract anything I want in my life.
How did our solar system form?
By: Karuna Tata
Tags: Universe, Science, Solar System, Planetary Science, Stellar

The most beautiful pictures of nebulae that you see here are also called stellar nurseries!

The birth place of stars! Even our sun was born in this way. Today’s Solar System was nothing more than a loose collection of gas and dust—what we call a nebula.

At the center of this dusty disc,there was a great increase in pressure which was so powerful that hydrogen atoms loosely floating in the cloud began to come into contact.They fused and produced helium aaaannddd the Sun was born. A BABY SUN! You think that’s cute? 😼 Um nope

The baby sun ate up almost everything which was lying around it! Such a hungry little hot ball!! Okay so now what? Where did the planets come from? If nebula is like a mother to stars then planets?planets are formed around a new star.There is still lot of dust, debris and gas around the sun.All of this starts to clump together. Our baby sun emits a lot of gas and melts away all the ice near by.So now the clumped up debris became small rocky planets which were closer to the sun and gas giants were doing a bit of social distance from the sun. In short, the clumping together of protoplanets (planets in formation) eventually formed the planets.The solar system is still messy with asteroids and moons! Oh and our moon formed when earth got hit with a mars sized object. The debris flew into the space and revolves around the earth and there is an asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter.That belt might have formed into a planet if Jupiter’s gravity wasn’t that strong!Jupiter’s gravity is so strong that it can tear asteroids apart & send it’s moons far away,out of its orbit!It even captured comets which later crashed into Jupiter like comet shoemaker!The spots were visible for years!

Our solar system is still messy but that’s what makes it beautiful with all the rare astronomical events happening around us! Look up and smile, the universe is blessing us with its beauty ✨

Clap for the beauty!
Attaining absolute perfection
By: Zsolt Hermann
Tags: Universe, Research, Humanity, Perception, Perfection

Question from the Internet:

“What if all humans suddenly knew everything about the universe and how to do everything perfectly?”

It works exactly this way, when we know how to do everything perfectly, we will get to know everything about the Universe.

Nature has this failsafe mechanism, that it doesn’t allow us the enter Nature’s system and get to know its true resources, blueprints, the mechanisms we could operate, until we prove that we would use them perfectly, without any egotistic, exploitative goals, intentions.

It is like we are not allowing children, uneducated people to access, use very complicated systems, machinery, until they receive the necessary education, until they pass different tests, as without those they would only cause harm to others and themselves.

In our inherently “childish", 100% self-serving, self-justifying, egocentric, recklessly, excessively consuming form we harm, destroy everything we lay our hands on.

Thus what we know from Natural reality is only a very limited, distorted, misunderstood superficial layer we consider the Universe. We suspect that there are deeper, more profound layers, laws, principles which could straighten, explain the chaos, randomness we see, feel, but we have no ability to get closer these deeper layers to actually study, experience them.

We have to adjust, develop, fine tune ourselves to reach compatibility with Nature’s defining qualities, characteristics of altruistic, selfless, unconditional love and service of everything outside of the egotis self. Then through the similarity we will be able to study and understand the system.

We have to embrace and implement the paradox of: we receive, attain everything when we don’t want it for ourselves, when whatever we receive, attain we pass onto others, when we use our existence only for the benefit of others and for sustaining the overall balance and homeostasis in the Natural Universe.

Then everything opens up for us in a completely unlimited, timeless manner.

https://youtu.be/nktd3UfUr34
The MoOn
By: My Lipstick Under Your Bed
Tags: Universe, She, Moon, Human Nature, Him

She was the moon in the day sky.

Sometimes around, and never full.

The shadow on the moon wasnt even her’s, yet it somehow made it dark for her.

He took her to meet herself and said “We are not what we show, but what we hide”.

From breaking cycles of the human nature, to learning the nature of the universe and how everything is a circle of repeated cycles.

Like the shifting phases of the moon in a month, and then the next, and then another…

- My lipsticks under your bed
Sacred Universe
By: Randy Shingler
Tags: Nature, Universe, Mindfulness, Poetry, Freedom

Releasing unpleasant internal tensions

Seeking to feel freedom’s true blessings

Quieting mind while calming body

Feeling peaceful spirit dwelling within

Following the breath wherever it goes.

Being in harmony with the universe

Divining vibrations it keeps sending

Trying to decipher what they mean,

Having respect for all living beings

Knowing each bears unique purposes.

Admiring vast nature and its habitats

Scrutinizing beauty contained in each

Watching wildlife in abundant flourish

Identifying each as they appear

Fascinating in how they develop.

Absorbing universe’s full gestalt

Communing with all that’s here

Feeling sacredness of our universe.
Entropy
By: Maggie Greenwood
Tags: Universe, Entropy, Coffee, Poetry

the Universe is born when the Coffee mixes with the Cream;

a simple Black and White beginning.

swirls and eddies form the planets and stars.

Life flickers and sparks in the Chaos,

in the improbable configurations

of the Coffee dancing with the Cream.

and life dies out.

the stars explode.

the inevitable Quiet takes hold.

Uniform and Simple once again.

the Universe has ended,

and I drain it from my cup.
Esmeralda and the Magic of Signs
Tags: Universe, Jewellery, Belief, Signs, Magic

Do you believe in signs from the universe? If you don’t then what I am sharing here won’t be of much interest. But if you do, I am sure you will find what I call “Esmeralda and the Magic of Signs” quite intriguing!

Back in July 2020, I had started taking online Spanish lessons. That led to remembering a super funny scene from Two and a Half Men where Charlie has this Spanish speaking housekeeper named Esmeralda. I liked the name Esmeralda and looked up the meaning, which is an emerald.

A few weeks later I was watching some random episode of Hot in Cleveland, and the name Esmeralda came up again. Then another few weeks later I was watching I Love Lucy and Lucy’s full name was mentioned — Lucille Esmeralda Ricardo née McGillicuddy. There it was again, Esmeralda! As someone big on signs from the universe, I wondered if I should get myself an emerald ring. One thing led to another and that thought was forgotten. Or so I thought!

When I had still not paid any attention to it, the universe decided to have some fun with me. Back in September I was reading The Mystery of Three Quarters, a Hercule Poirot story. The chapters in this crime fiction have the usual titles typical of a story about murder, mystery and mayhem. Then all of a sudden, as I turned the page to begin a new chapter, guess what I came across? The title of that chapter — the emerald ring. Those exact words! I was pretty amused at the universe’s sense of humour.

The final piece of this fascinating game of magical signs came in the form of timing. Right when I had taken this seriously, it was the time of the year when it is customary to buy gold as a symbol of activating prosperity. I am not a gold person but my husband is kind of sentimental about this family tradition, so every year around this time we go to our favourite jewellery store and to our favourite jewellery sales guy and pick up something. This year, no prizes for guessing, it was an emerald ring.

That beautiful piece of jewellery now sits pretty on my little finger, a testimony to the fact that when the universe speaks, I listen :)

That, my friend, is the story of Esmeralda and the Magic of Signs.
Secrets of the World: Questionnaire
By: Gaurav Rajput
Tags: Secrets And Lies, Universe, Words, Universenomy, Secrets

There are a lot of secrets and mysteries in the world. I am sure most people have thought about it. And off cause some of them were successful in doing so—Einstein, Newton, etc. There are a lot of scientists who discovered new things. Here one can say they were exceptional. But is it necessary to have an enormous amount of knowledge to discover something? Is it true?

Well, I will say it's not true. Think about the world that was before any physics, chemistry, or anything you know right now. Then how human evolution started. How the human discovered fire ? Well, here you can say it happened by accident. Some things were discovered by accident. But isn’t it true that some were discovered by humans intentionally, or you can say some were discovered because the human needed something? A need to get something done, but he was totally unaware of possibilities. There may be infinite possibilities to do something or discover something, but it's equally probable that there is only one possibility to discover something. Who knows?.

No one knows, neither I nor you. But I know one thing, there are possibilities, that infinite secrets yet to be discovered by man. There are infinite mysteries in the world. Wait, do anyone cares about them? A human can think of is not the upper bound of mysteries and secrets that need to be found. Our thinking is only limited to what we have learned in our life. There are possibilities that we are following the wrong rules that humans think he discovered. What if there are totally different sets of rules to a world? How probable would it be to have similar discoveries and inventions if all rules of physics, chemistry or mathematics, or whatever you know changes? And similarly, I could ask you, How probable it would be to have amazing discoveries and amazing inventions? Let’s assume you are in a different world where you have everything that you need, but you are not nurtured in this world. You are not nurtured with having these learning that you are gaining in this world. Now tell me how difficult it would be to discover any secret of the universe.

What if we came to know a secret to move things from far away without touching it?

What if we can move from India to the USA within a second?

Don’t you think these are secrets or mysteries that can be found or these things can be true? I really have a lot of unanswered questions in my mind. And these questions sometimes make me angry, sometimes disappointed, but all in vain. Nothing happens😒. But I try to find out things, although sometimes I try to distract myself from them. They always pinch me. Sometimes I think that I do have these questions because there are answers; there are hidden secrets that someone needs to discover somewhere in the world.

As of now, I am still struggling to find out these secrets.
Well, you've got me thinking.
By: K.C. Knouse
Tags: Universe, Science, Experience, Quantum Physics, Life Lessons

Well, you've got me thinking. I'm trying to relate this to my understanding of the laws of the spiritual dimension. I may have to read this a few more times. There was a reason I didn't take any hard science or math courses in college: my mind has trouble processing these ideas. But I am intrigued by them.
How I Saved My First $100,000 💵 💵 .
By: Henry Johnson Lr
Tags: Money, Saving, Culture, Dreamers, Wealth Management

Let me be upfront with you and not be like those who will sell you bs. So, let’s keep it real. The first $100,000 is the hardest to save. Yeah, really; it is complicated, and there’s no easy road getting there. Saving your first $100,000 can be quite tricky or pretty simple, if only you’re willing to make certain sacrifices early on. If you are and is determined, you’ll have this kind of money (or more) in no time.

In this piece, I’ll show you a step-by-step process for saving your first $100,000 in as little as 1 year 2 months. While it won’t be a leisurely joy ride, it also doesn’t have to be complicated. So, let’s get to it.

Steps 1–4: Before you start.

Mindset is everything:

If you want to save $100,000, like me, you’re going to have to think and act differently than most people. Thinking and acting differently requires that there are a lot of things that you have to put off to get that bag. Do you know why there’s a reason almost 50% of Americans have nothing saved for retirement? It would be easy to assume that most, if not some of those people are a materialist. Instead, they would buy that new iPhone that Apple comes out with to make Apple rich every year than invest in their future. That 50% would rather drive the latest cars (2021) than drive their old mobile that could still do the works.

So, why is that? We, the Americans, overspend. We love to compete and live beyond our means through credits than the things we should own. Imagine your 30-years mortgage; don’t you know that you are pretty much a slave for 30 years with no financial freedoms? Is that living? Is that the life you want or the life that society branded as acceptable? That’s a broke and slave mentality!

Before doing anything else, adjust that broke and slave-to-material things mentality. Changing that broke and slave-to-material things mentality would take sacrifice. It doesn’t mean you can never go on a date, travel a bit, or drink your favorite beverages, and it just means that you can’t buy that new iPhone every year or that brand new car, the following. This doesn’t mean you can’t own a car, but it means you probably can’t lease a new tesla. You have to cut your expenses and live beneath your means.

2. Set Benjamin Goals (SBG).

This is what I called SBG. You’ve got to figure out your SBG before you even start. The sailer cannot get to his/her destination if he/she doesn’t have a road map (navigation). Once you’ve decided to liberate yourself from what I called “Capital Poverty” (material things took on credit, making rich people even more wealthy), you’ll have an SBG. Having an SBG will propel you in the direction to live a frugal life. So, what are you going to do to get there, setting your SBG? The point is to plan strategically and with a vision of where you want to (be) sail.
LTC Scheme can prove effective in saving Income Tax — Wealth4india
By: Wealth India
Tags: Ltc, Income Tax, Income Tax Consultant, Saving, Saving Money

LTC Cash Voucher Scheme can prove effective in saving Income Tax

On 12 October, the central government announced an income tax-free cash voucher to its employees in lieu of LTC. Employees can use these vouchers to buy products on which the GST rate is 12 percent or more. The objective of this initiative is to speed up consumption in the economy affected by Kovid-19.

Everyone can now take advantage of LTC cash voucher scheme. Government employees to those working in private companies have also come under the purview of this scheme of government. This scheme is also effective in saving income tax.

This is LTC Cash Voucher Scheme

Under the LTC Cash Voucher Scheme, there is a provision for giving tax free cash vouchers to employees in lieu of LTC.

1. Employees will have to spend three times the LTC fare on the purchase of goods / services at which the GST rate is 12% or more.

2. These things or services will have to be purchased only from registered shopkeepers / service providers, otherwise it will not get benefit.

3. Payment will have to be made digitally from October 12, 2020 to March 31, 2021.

4. They have to take a voucher, on which full details of GST number and amount have been given.

5. This exemption will be applicable for the employees in respect of LTC payments applicable in their 2018–21 time period.

Suppose family has 4 members in your family. 20,000 as rent for each person

Total LTC Rent = 20,000 x 4 = Rs 80,000

Total expenditure will be Rs. 80,000 x 3 = Rs. 2,40,000

That is, if you spend 2.40 lakh rupees then only you will be able to take advantage of LTC cash voucher scheme and you will get tax exemption. If you spend only 1.80 lakhs then it will get 75% of the total LTC fair i.e. 60,000 rupees only.

Private employees will get discounts

The Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) said in a statement that employees other than the central government will get the benefit of income tax exemption on payment of a maximum of Rs 36,000 cash allowance per person on both sides as valid LTC. This exemption will be available on meeting certain conditions.

CBDT said, ‘In order to provide benefits (non-central government employees) to other employees. It has been decided to give income tax exemption to non-central employees also for payment of cash equivalent to LTC fare.’ Central employees will include state governments, public sector undertakings, banks and private sector employees.
How To Defeat Lifestyle Inflation: 4 Easy Steps To Follow
Tags: Shopaholic, Investments Opportunity, Savings

Ever heard of the Parkinson’s law? It states that expenses would always rise to meet income. Sometimes getting a raise at your current job or landing a better paying job or even getting that 13th month salary, comes with a tricky side to it. On one hand, you have more money in your pocket and on the other hand, your expenses seem to have doubled over night.

You would most likely find yourself asking “where did all the extra money go?” and if you aren’t so financially aware, you might never get to retrace your steps to find out what exactly is “chopping” your money.

how did I spend my money?

The truth you might be shying away from is that you decided to take an uber everyday to your place of work instead of the regular “Danfo”( a danfo is a term used used to refer to commercial buses in Lagos, Nigeria). Even more, you decided to switch from having fish in your meals to eating with chicken wings at every meal.

enjoyment go kill me ooo..

These seemingly little changes you make all at once to befit your new social status, can send you straight into lifestyle inflation faster than it takes to get to bikini bottom.

😢😢😢

You can avoid this unpleasant fall by choosing to be more deliberate in your spending and saving culture with these four easy steps:

Save first:

As soon as you get that pay check, resist the temptation of spending first and take out your savings to a separate account you can’t touch. Employ the 50 20 30 rule with your income. This means , spend 50% of your Income on recurrent expenditure like taxes , feeding, transport e.t.c, 20% on savings and 30% on every other thing you might want. All of these can be easily done by employing auto save functions.

2. Stick to a Budget:

If you are going to make progress in being financially free, you undoubtedly have to discipline yourself to make a budget and stick with it. Remember expenses will always rise to meet income so you have to be deliberate enough to know where your money is going.

3. Invest your savings:

Its good to save some cash for the rainy day but it would be better if you can identify credible investment opportunities to grow your savings instead of stacking it up in the bank .

4. Make upgrades gradually:

If you so desire to upgrade your lifestyle, learn to do so gradually. Decide to activate one upgrade at a time. This saves you from being swamped with lots of expenses and helps you better prioritize your expenses.
Look out 2021! Your Money Might Take a Plunge in Value
By: Brandon Wang
Tags: Money, Saving, Investing, Economics, Finance

The Reason Banks Want Inflation

Governments and central banks want to maintain a healthy amount of inflation for a few reasons. The first of which is that it encourages spending and consumerism and creates a healthy economy. If we can buy more socks today, we’re definitely more likely to go out and spend our money instead of saving it. The second reason is to help get rid of their debt. As of 2020, America’s national debt is over $27 trillion and growing each day. The prices of goods, services, and wages all rise with inflation. Debt is one of the only things that will not increase along with inflation. In this way, the government will be able to shrink their debt as inflation makes the value of their debt decrease.

One of the tools central banks and governments use is basically just printing more money or currency. A $100 bill is really just a piece of paper that we trust to have a certain value. We trust that these central banks and governments will back up the value held in these slips of paper. Throughout history, we’ve had many examples of what happens when this trust is lost or destroyed.

A very recent example of this happened in Zimbabwe. Most people know that in Zimbabwe their currency is almost worthless. In fact, most people are millionaires in Zimbabwe dollars which is equivalent to a few thousand USD. The currency in Zimbabwe completely collapsed as people lost trust in their government and hyperinflation set in. This can be worrisome to a lot of people especially if we start to see any signs of hyperinflation in America.

Inflation makes all our money go down in value and in effect, we’re able to buy less socks despite technology making it easier and cheaper to manufacture socks. Despite this, the governments and central banks still want inflation. These same governments and central banks literally created 20% of all the currency that exists today in the past twelve months. Yes, that should sound at least a little crazy to you. $1 has been magically created for every $5 that existed prior to 2020.
DELIO DUCATO Opens a New Savings Program, Deposit BTC Any Time
Tags: Deposit, Defi, Saving, Ducato, Delio

• The first regular deposit service opening in Korea

• When depositing BTC, ETH, USDT, an additional 4% interest is added to the existing 8%

DELIO DUCATO(CEO, James Jung), a crypto finance company, announced that they have newly opened a permanent deposit that allows you to deposit virtual assets when you want.

DELIO DUCATO’s regular deposit service provides customers to deposit virtual assets such as BTC, ETH, and USDT at any time they want, and the principal and handling fees can be paid together after a contract period from the deposit approval date.

In the cases of Bitcoin (BTC), Ethereum (ETH), and Tether (UDST), among these regular deposits, ‘Yield farming’ is applied, with an interest rate of 8% and an annual rate of 4% will be paid in DUCATO for additional interest. …
So true! I deal with this every single day kicking myself for not reading enough 10ks and 10qs…
Tags: Imvestment, Saving

… position of taking ill-advised risk merely to replace the expected future loss of current savings. On an individual level, it is the doctor, nurse, engineer, teacher, butcher, grocer, builder, etc. being turned into a financial investor, plowing the majority of their savings into Wall St. financial products that bear risk while perceiving there to be none. Over time, stocks only go up, real estate only goes up, and interest rates only go down.
Setup your iphone as a webcam
By: James Deluccia
Tags: Zoom, DIY, Saving, iPhone, Hacks

A quick guide for those looking to get it done.

Background:

I have an old iphone that wasn’t worth the trade-in value. I also spend gobs of time (technical term) on zoom calls. So, why not take this camera out of the drawer and provide an alternate angle from the ‘up the nose’ shot of my laptop.

Tools I use:

Here is what I used successfully. Some cost if you go premium, but free is good enough for the regular internal meetings. Enjoy. Some links provide me a commission if you use them at no cost to you. Appreciate your love and time. Share what works for you in comments!

iPhone app I use (follow the 4 steps.. easy peasy)

I am real picky on my tripods, so here is what I use (only for phones)

OBS for those juggling broadcasts

It works — have fun.
How to save some money on Netflix each month
By: Mads Chris
Tags: Entertainment, Netflix, Money, Saving, Finance

netflix.com

Secret ways to save lots of money on Netflix and other streaming services

These savings tactics can help whittle down what you pay for your streaming video subscription — monthly.

Not long ago, Netflix rolled out a price increase, but you don’t need to pay those prices.

One option is to depart Netflix. There are multiple cheaper streaming services.

But what if you aren’t willing to depart Netflix? Well, here’s a savings secret: you can still shave off some of your monthly subscription cost by paying with a discounted gift card. And here is how

1. Buy discounted iTunes or Google Play gift cards from a wholesale club

If you pay for your Netflix subscription through iTunes, you can pay for it with an iTunes gift card, Netflix’s website says. the same goes for Google Store.

And many warehouse clubs sell iTunes or Google Play gift cards at a reduction. For instance, Costco currently sells iTunes gift cards, while Sam’s Club offers both iTunes and Google Play gift cards.

Warehouse club discounts for these gift cards aren’t huge — generally up to around 5%, from what we’ve seen. Still, this tactic will shave down the cost of a recurring expense that rarely goes on sale.

2. Buy discounted Netflix gift cards through a marketplace

Another way to shop for discounted gift cards — no wholesale club membership necessary — is through gift card marketplaces. These are websites on which folks with unwanted gift cards sell them for fewer than their face value to folks seeking a deal.

If you purchase a gift card for 10% off its face value, for instance, you’ll effectively save 10% on everything you purchase with that card — which could include your Netflix bill. Netflix’s website states that you can pay for your subscription with a Netflix gift card.

You may not land a big discount with this tactic, but, again, you’ll still shave down the price of a recurring expense. and that kind of savvy savings is, well, not to be discounted.

3. Share an account with your friend or family member

It may sound obvious, but a lot of families, have multiple accounts on the same streaming service. Instead of paying both $8.99 every month, you could be paying $6,5 each month if you are two who splits. You could lower the cost with the premium version that contains 4 simultaneous streams at once for only $4 every month each.

4. Only having one streaming service at a time

Instead of having 3 or 4 different streaming services at a time, you could plan your subscriptions, so you only have each streaming service 1 month at a time. If you switch between 4 different services, by the time you are back at the first, there will be new shows for you to watch.

So what did we learn?

There are multiple ways to increase your savings within the entertainment world. You just need to be patient and choose the service that best fits you. We hope you enjoyed the article, and if you want to check out our other content, feel free to do so.
What To Do With Your Second Stimulus Check
By: Citizen Upgrade
Tags: Personal Finance, Real Estate, Saving, Investment, Debt

What To Do With Your Second Stimulus Check

Photo by Giorgio Trovato on Unsplash

On December 29, 2020, the US Treasury began distributing the second stimulus package via electronic transfers. Paper checks began to be mailed on December 30. Similar to the first round, the method and amount of payment is based on your 2019 tax returns. If you provided your bank account information to the IRS you will receive a direct deposit, if not you will get a check in the mail. You can check the status of your payment here. The amount of the stimulus check is based on your 2019 Tax Return Adjusted Gross Income: individuals who earned less than $75,000 and joint filing couples who earned less than $150,000 are eligible for the full amount of $600 per person to include dependents below 16 years old. Those who earned more than those thresholds ($75,000/$150,000) will get progressively less, while joint filers who made more than $174,000 and individuals who made more than $87,000 are not eligible for a second stimulus.

One should consider where to put this money. Individual considerations will drive your decision to make an optimal choice. Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs starts with a foundation of basic physiological survival items: food, water, and shelter. For anyone in dire circumstances, focus on meeting these needs: putting food on the table or paying rent/mortgage payments.

After basic needs are met, you can focus on safety and security. This is where I will focus the rest of this article.
My two-year personal financial plan.
By: Rocco Pendola
Tags: Personal Finance, Money, Saving, Investing, Self

My two-year personal financial plan.

Help me stick to it. I’ll detail it in a future, full-length Medium article.

I maintain and update quite a few notes in Google Keep. They’re all subject to change.

I‘m always thinking about the intersection between process and goals. Respecting the process and adapting your goals to your present and ideal state of mind and attendant vision might be the most important element of sound and thoughtful personal finance.

Don’t scoff or judge on the girlfriend part. It makes sense. I’ll detail that too.
December Update: Good times👻
Tags: Defi, Online Savings Account, Saving, Financial Freedom, Savings Tips

Behind the scenes at GoodGhosting

Time for another update!

BizDev

We started preparations to set up a proper limited liability company. This will allow us to launch internationally, without legal headaches. 🌎

We were awarded a grant by MakerDAO and Meta Gamma Delta (MGD) 👩

In addition to $10k, we’ll receive:

A security audit by a member of the Quantstamp team

Access to legal guidance

Mentorship and guidance from leading developers in the DeFi ecosystem

An interview with Girl Gone Crypto

A new domain from Unstoppable Domains (https://goodghosting.crypto)

That’s not all. We also have a new intern: Simon Cousaert (Business Analyst). He will support us building our business plan, and general operations.

It might have been quiet, but allot has been happening behind the scenes.

Tech improvements 👷

Back-end (smart contracts)

Our smart contract developers made a number of changes that will go a long way to reduce gas costs. It also enables us to more easily plug into additional yield-generating platforms in the future, as well as deploy multiple games at the same time.

Some examples:

Integration of Aave v2

Added batch deposit functionality

Increased smart contract unit test coverage to 100%

Added scripts to automatically deploy new games

Mitigated potential security issue

You can follow our progress in real-time on Github.

Front-end (user interface)

Integrating feedback from UX testing

This is the big one! We will be adding new features and fixing the few bugs that popped up during alpha testing in our current prototype. More about that in this blog post.

This is the big one! We will be adding new features and fixing the few bugs that popped up during alpha testing in our current prototype. More about that in this blog post. Updated website FAQ & Roadmap

Gitcoin Grants (GR8): 50+ contributors! 🎁

Round 8 of Gitcoin Grants just came to a close. It is great to see so many of you contribute to the GoodGhosting Grant. We’ve counted over 65 unique contributors. A massive thank you to all who dug in to their wallets to support us! 🙏 It not only helps to keeps us motivated, but also enables us to actually build and deploy the MVP to mainnet!

A special shout out to the Ethereum Push Notification Service, DeFi Dad, Simona Pop, ThisBoyonGithub and Chloethedev for their — sometimes even multiple — donations. 🙏

Ps: don’t forget to claim your airdropped $BADGER if you donated.

Networking

Our team members have been reaching out not only to great people and teams in the crypto space, but also in the FinTech world. We learned allot the past two months, build new relationships, all while having lots of fun!

Giel infiltrating the FinTech world in Belgium
Just in Time for Christmas
By: Andy Davis
Tags: Gifts, Christmas, Savings, Holiday

Now that Black Friday and Cyber Monday are behind us, shoppers could be thinking that the best deals are in the past. However, savings season is still going strong with lots of stores pushing hard with their discounts to lure last minute shoppers still looking for their presents this holiday season. You can finish your shopping with strong discounts.

Sale promotion manager Andrew from CouponMeUp.com says, “Shoppers working their way through their shopping list can still rejoice as there are still lots of opportunities to save. December finds lots of deals on your gift giving essentials, with time for delivery on most things by Christmas. You can still fill the stockings in time for holiday joy.”

Game the System

Sales on gaming and electronics did not end on Cyber Monday. More deals continue all the way through to christmas. Be it games, consoles, phones or other electronics like laptops, monitors and cameras, you can still see some steel discounts through to the end of December.

Cards, gift cards

If the season is near and you still can’t work our what your loved ones really, really want, then gift cards are the solution for you. With cards available from all your favorite stores, your sure to find one to suit your special someones.

Deck the Halls

With only days left until your loved ones arrive at your house for holiday festivities, you still have time for last minute decorations at greater and greater discounts the later you leave it, and the stores become more willing to clear out their holiday decorations at lower prices. Andrew advises, “Really great discounts on decorations can be found the longer you leave shopping for them, you will have less choice but also lower prices.”

Do not miss a delivery

With all the packages arriving at your door, you won’t want to miss a gift. With not a lot of time left, you are not going to miss one. A new Ring doorbell can alert you on your phone when deliveries arrive and now is the time to save on one.

Be sure to check CouponMeUp.com or CouponMeUp.com.au for more tips, tricks and ways to save.
6 Ways To Save Money And Get More Value
By: Darrin Atkins
Tags: Saving Money, Saving, Shopping

What things can you do to save money when you shop? I have a few suggestions for you and this is from my personal experience. Everyone should do what is best for them, of course, and everyone’s mileage can vary when it comes to saving money.

One thing to do is to shop around for the best price. This takes some work because often the merchants have identical prices on the same items. Keep looking for the lowest price and try to get that one.

The next thing is to try to buy from a merchant that offers easy and free returns. This is a big savings when you need to return something, so that you don’t have to worry of you need a full refund.

Consider using a credit card that offers a big cash back amount due when you use it. These dollars can add up if you use it throughout the year, but make sure you are not paying too much interest or other fees to use the card.

Use sale days to save even more. Do you ever see those offers that are for a limited time only? Don’t wait too long or you will lose that big discount.

Think about getting a warranty on your electronics item. If the price is low enough, it could be worth it one day if your item stops working. Also some credit cards will extend the warranty for free.

Lastly, keep track of your expenses on paper or by using software. Once you realize that money is going to unnecessary items, you can make adjustments to save money.

I hope you can use some of these days. Prices seem to always go up so everything we can do to save money is a very good thing.

It is almost a side job in itself to save money and keep track of expenses. But you can do it. Just stay focused on the big picture and keep good accounting of where the money is going and how much you are saving every month of the year.
How to cut the learning time of Machine Learning concepts in half and save money at the same time?
Tags: Data Science, Learning, Machine Learning, Money, Saving

How to cut the learning time of Machine Learning concepts in half and save money at the same time? AG Follow Dec 14, 2020 · 3 min read

“I’d love to learn DS & ML but I’m so busy already… what should I do?”. It seems like there’s a Himalaya size of topics, subtopics, and “prerequisites” you need to learn before you can gain skills that can land a job in ML or DS…

…but that couldn’t be further from the truth.

Time is money, and you’ve only got 24 hours in a day.

Unfortunately, most data science and machine learning courses feel like a “laundry list” of topics: “Ok first we’ve got gradient descent…

…then we’ll move onto linear regression…

…next, let’s talk about logistic regression…

…and then decision trees…

…don’t forget SVMs…

…oh, and of course random forests”….. and so on.

It is an easy way to teach and monetize the course with this approach, but it doesn’t give you practical skills.

In reality, all it does is overload you with theory and jargon right out of the gate. It assumes you have all the time in the world to “piece things together” for yourself and figure out how to apply these concepts in business situations.

Just think about it….

…and think back to when you were a child. Did you learn all of your vocabulary one word at a time? Did all of those children open the dictionary and memorize thousands of words from the ages of three to five?

How to Master Machine Learning In Context

The #1 way to learn machine learning in context is to complete realistic, end-to-end projects while you learn new concepts. Learning-by-doing! Using a real-world dataset that has NOT already been cleaned for you…Picking a real-world objective that is NOT trivial…And then going through the ENTIRE machine learning workflow from start to finish.

When you tackle end-to-end projects, you’ll hit all of the core steps, including data exploration, data cleaning, feature engineering, algorithm selection, and model training.

Make it part of your life

The best way to reduce excess time spent on learning is to make the practice part of your everyday life. Next time when you try to buy a car, do it the DS way! Or if you are looking for a new apartment to rent, gather data analyze and make a decision that way. You will not just learn but save money at the same time!

“May the DATA be with you”

Gain Access to Expert View — Subscribe to DDI Intel
LOVE your post, Ann!
By: Bianca Zagan
Tags: Shopping, Conscious Consumerism, Saving, Compulsive Shopping, Shopaholic

LOVE your post, Ann! I've been there too - and I practice most of what you mentioned - including writing down manually every expense and manual input for credit card!

It's a way of being more conscious about shopping, but still not turning into a cheapskate or refusing yourself any purchase.

Another trick I use is waiting for 2 or 3 days — and if I’m still thinking of a product, then I’ll consider buying it, when the ‘buying fever’ has passed.

Many of us need to read this!
Paying Down Debt VS Saving For Retirement
By: Andrew Cartwright
Tags: Retirement Planning, Saving, Saving Money, Debt, Retirement

Photo by Micheile Henderson on Unsplash

While it is encouraged to start saving for retirement at a very young age, many people have trouble figuring out if you should prioritize saving for retirement or paying off debt.

Everyone has a different financial circumstance and for some, it may seem that debt is slowing their progress on other financial matters.

Some circumstances require them to focus on one vs the other and for some, it may still be feasible to both save for retirement and paying down debt.

When to prioritize debt first?

Many are weighed down by their student loans, mortgage payments, or their credit card payments.

If your total debt amount is more than your income, it would be more financially rewarding to prioritize your debt first.

You should always deal with the most threatening obstacles first, and it may also free your mind to concentrate on other things.

Getting rid of debt first can decrease your expenses each month further allowing you to maximize your income toward your retirement later.

If you have high-interest debt and your only contributing your minimum monthly payments further extending your loan, you could have saved thousands of dollars in interest that could have been going towards your retirement.

Consider thinking of your retirement as you work to pay off your debt.

When to prioritize saving for retirement?

If your debt is manageable for you, you should consider setting aside money for your retirement fund while still making those minimum monthly payments.

According to debt.org, “A lower amount of debt can boost your credit card score. If you’re planning on buying a home or car, this could make you eligible for better interest rates when you take out a loan.”

Not all debt should be considered bad as it can help you improve your credit score.

Making the minimum payments for low-interest credit card payments, for example, will help you to maintain a good credit score so that you are eligible in case you do need another loan.

If your employer can match your contribution in your 401k or a similar plan, it would be beneficial to use that free money. You’ll be doubling your money if you match your employer’s offer.

A retirement plan should be seen as part of your monthly expenses and should be treated as such.

Even while you focus on your financial necessities each month like your phone and car bill, your retirement should be apart of your financial necessity that you have each month.

For example, setting a retirement auto-payment plan will ensure that you never miss out on saving just as you would in making sure your bills are paid.

If your near retirement or older, your retirement should be a financial priority.

Consider opening a traditional IRA or Roth IRA to set up recurring transfers from your bank account.

While everyone has different financial situations, the goal for everyone is to keep a balance of paying off debt while still saving for retirement.
I enjoyed reading your post.
By: Bianca Zagan
Tags: Financial Education, Personal Finance, Saving, Millennial Money, Investing

I enjoyed reading your post. Sums up 2,000 pages of financial education books I've probably went through so far.

Because I'm close to my 20s- just left them :) - I find that sometimes, you don't know precisely what you want to do in life.

And that's ok. You can still make good decisions with money, even if you don't have a plan for the rest of your 50-70 years.

Following some healthy principles is enough - like:

*saving first, spending after saving;

*living under your means - and investing the difference;

*avoid going for investments with the herd - instead, learn as much as possible and only put hard earned money into what you understand,

I'm following you! Keep writing! :)