This is a post I wrote a month ago while waiting for my flight to Taipei. I was inspired to put some thoughts down when I saw what people were emptying their wallets on in the duty-free arcade.

Oct 30, 4:42pm – Gate 121, Incheon Airport, South Korea

Question of the Day: How can you own fewer items and remain satisfied?

I strive to own as few things as possible, but I still like to enjoy the comfort of advanced technology and craftsmanship.

I’m happy to have a smartphone with an Internet connection in my pocket so that I can stay in touch with my friends and family. The device is also handy for looking up train routes and timetables on the go, and I love the fact that if I tell it to do so, my phone will magically remind me to do something at the right moment. That’s just incredible. And it also performs well as a portable music player and RSS reader.

Before I used to buy lots of things I didn’t need at all. I used to hoard stacks of key holders, figures, pens, and all kinds of junk that just ended up cluttering the closet.

Some minimalists might argue that food, clothes, and shelter are the only necessities in life—period. But ordinary people like myself (I think) still want to have a soft bed and a reading lamp in the bedroom, and a couch in the living room, and more than one ricebowl and a pair of chopsticks per person in the pantry. Etc.

The problem arises when excess takes over necessity.

It’s easy to associate necessity with usefulness—or more commonly, the feeling of “just in case”. Noodle makers are useful, but not necessary unless you own a noodle shop or consistently make your noodles from scratch. But do you need to have five pairs of scissors lying around in the house? You would probably do just as well having only one pair with razor-sharp blades made of solid stainless steel. Do you need both an MP3 player AND a mobile phone that can play music? How about replacing your bookshelf with an ebook reader?

Before becoming an iPhone convert, I used to switch phones on a yearly basis because I was never happy with what I had, so I kept looking for newer and better models. But when I got my first iPhone—the 3GS—I was content. Not only was the operating system easy to use and responsive, the outer shell was pleasing as well. And after two model updates since 2009, I still haven’t felt the urge to upgrade since the 3GS perfectly satisfies my needs.

The same principle applies to other items as well. Surely, getting a $400 Louis Vuitton wallet won’t guarantee unlimited durability, but by investing a bit of money in genuine leather and fine craftsmanship, you can be quite sure that your wallet will last a decade or two.

I’ve just returned from a 31-day trip to Asia (South Korea and Taiwan) and thought I’d share some health tips I found in an article, Forty 5-Minute Health Fixes, in the Asian edition of Reader’s Digest (Nov 2011 issue) and thought were interesting and worth giving a shot.

1. Take short 10min cooler showers to avoid stripping moisture and natural protective oils from the skin.
2. Stay up all night to lift depression.
3. Brush your teeth with sodium bicarbonate, a.k.a. baking soda, once a week to remove stains and whiten your teeth. (This is what I’m currently working on.)
4. Do breathing exercises if you wake feeling low.
5. When feeling nervous, tighten and release your abdominal muscles. Repeat several times.
6. Eat a whole raw onion at the first hint of a cold to stop infections.
7. Use a couple of drops of olive oil to smooth your skin.

As I mentioned in my previous post, I recently made a visit to South Korea and Taiwan. I had a great time exploring the country, so I thought I’d share some footage with you guys… Hope you like it!

It’s been a while! I hope everyone enjoyed the summer. I certainly did, even though I spent most of it at the office (and the army barracks). But as I’m writing this post, I’ve got 10 days left in the military. It feels incredible to have 260 days under your belt.

There’s also another announcement to make. I’ll be heading off to South Korea and Taiwan at the end of October, and I’m planning to share my experiences through Twitter so be sure to follow me at @ericnishio!

As you might guess, life in the barracks can get extremely boring unless you come up with things to do in your spare time. But rather than think of it as a source of frustration and boredom, the better alternative is to treat it as a great opportunity to focus.

As a soldier, the number of personal possessions that you keep in your locker is limited. You won’t have your entire book or magazine collection with you, nor will you have a fancy entertainment center equipped with Xboxes and audio systems to play with.

My personal belongings were limited to three things primarily: a book, an iPhone, and a journal. Surely I could have crammed my locker full of items, but I don’t think my superiors would have liked the mess—especially during basic training when they did frequent locker inspections to see that everything was arranged according to the instructions given.

The good thing about having so few items with you is that it sets limitations on what you can do. I was lucky to have my iPhone connected to a 3G network most of the time, so I was able to peruse the YouTube library quite comfortably, and spend at least a couple of hours each day learning Mandarin Chinese. I didn’t have a single boring moment during the 9 months, and I was able to accomplish more than ever.

Today, I’d like to introduce you to Meg who will be sharing some great tips on how to live a simpler and more authentic life.

You see, most of us are driven to follow the consumerist trends and lifestyles that govern modern society. We’re tempted to buy the newest gadgets (yup, I have an iPhone and a MacBook), eat at fast food joints or lavish restaurants while forgetting the art of cooking. Instead of living our own lives, we spend our weekends watching how the wealthy (whom we so envy and admire) squander their riches on Louis Vuitton shoes and suitcases…

Although I would never let go of my MacBook, I’ll admit that there are many areas in our lives that seriously need some rethinking. So how can we break free from the fetters we’ve allowed on ourselves, and start living a more rewarding life?

(Hands the mic over to Meg…)

The following is a guest post by Meg Rain of Eat Breathe Blog

Before I start, I must admit that I have no PhD in living ecologically. I am just a student in the thought school of making this world a more livable and beautiful place. If you are here looking for some form of personal health insurance or medical support, I am not the one to provide you with that need. But I will openly express to you my view on the importance of simplifying your life and treating others with utmost respect and how in treating others well you too will live a happy and fulfilling life!

My main piece of advice is: Simplify your life. That’s it. It sounds feasible. It sounds “simple,” doesn’t it? I think so, but in all actuality it might be one of the most difficult things you’ve ever been asked to do! It’s a huge task that can and will take a long time to complete. It has to become something you are constantly aware of and willing to change (for the better) or I fear you will never be able to find the happiness you are pursuing.

This might all sound pretty abstract and flowery to you right now, but in the lines that are to follow I plan to give you some pointers and insights into simplifying your own life. I hope to inspire you to take your happiness into your own hands and stop listening to the commercial world when it comes to what they tell you they “know” you “need” in order to be content in this life.

1. Live YOUR Life

Okay, for starters, stop watching TV. Instead, why don’t you go DO something? Why don’t you go for a walk to the library and read a classic book filled with information no modern day television show could possibly provide for you! I’m not trying to knock down all television broadcasts, I do enjoy watching the History and Discovery channel from time to time, but I enjoy LIVING life more than watching others live their lives. I’ve noticed over the past decade the amount of reality television we are being exposed to. It makes me sad and sick at the same time. Why do we care more about what other “celebrity” types are doing with their time then what we could be accomplishing with OUR own time? It doesn’t make much sense to me at all.

2. Be Yourself

Secondly, I think this might follow suit once you start using your time more wisely, stop caring what the media thinks you should look like. Stop trying to be “perfect.” Just be you. Be real. Be honest. Be kind. Find out what makes you tick? What is that driving force that makes you want to wake up in the morning? And I don’t mean waking up to make money so that you can buy nice things. Find what really makes you happy and then do everything in your power to retrieve it. Don’t waste your precious energy on things you can do without. Find and hold tight to the things you know you couldn’t exist without.

3. Fill Yourself with Love

Most importantly, learn to truly love. I don’t mean in a romantic sense or in a “I love my dog sooooo much” kind of way. I mean truly love EVERYTHING and EVERYONE. The Buddhists have the saying “Namaste” which means the light in me appreciates the light in you. In my opinion, everyone has light in them. This is a world of duality that we live in. Light and dark, good and evil, night and day. Try to see the light in everyone you encounter on a daily basis. They are just human too. And don’t all humans just want to be happy and content anyways? I know I do! It is important to not just value the people you can gain from financially or materially. I think it is important to treat everyone as if they are a part of you, because after all, they are. We are each made of the same light, the same energy that this very world we inhabit is created of!

Learn to truly love. Embrace yourself. Embrace others. And forget about all the riches money can buy, the true gold is what you hold inside!

Meg Rain is an inspired artist, designer, and poet that graduated from Herron School of Art + Design in Indianapolis, Indiana with a degree in visual communication design and a minor in creative writing non-fiction. She is striving to make a name for herself in the music industry as a freelance music promotion designer and songwriter. Her motto is “the sky is the limit.”

I recently found a cool Flickr group called Office Space where people have submitted pictures of their offices and workspaces. It’s inspiring to look at creatively designed office spaces. In fact, I could keep on relishing their beauty for hours on end… but if I ever want to finish writing this post, I must conquer the temptation.

This brings me to my question of the day: What does your office space look like?

Is your desk full of miscellaneous objects such as phone chargers, keys, remote controllers, coffee mugs, stationery, nail clippers, unorganized notes, and gummi bears? Would you be embarrassed to take a picture of it and post it on Facebook?

If you answered positively, let’s take a look at what we can do to make your office space more comfortable.

Since an office space is a place where you usually spend the greater portion of your day, I think it’s important that you make it as comfortable as possible. In fact, you should treat it as a personal sanctuary where you can feel at home, regardless of where it’s located—your office space may be a small cubicle at your workplace or an ordinary room in your house.

At least I can personally feel more productive when my surroundings radiate peace and harmony. You’ll, of course, have to arrange your office space according to your own preference. That is, if you can feel cozy working 8h+/day amid piles of clutter and dirty dishes and stacks of empty pizza boxes, by all means, do that.

But if you find yourself attracted to cleanness and maybe even a bit of minimalism, we need to do some work.

Step Número Uno — Unclothe Your Desk

Completely. I don’t care where you put your things, but be sure to remove every bit of clutter off your desk. This change is only temporary, so you shouldn’t spend too much time arranging at this point. If you ask me, the best spot to dump your stuff would be the floor.

Step Número Dos — Wipe Your Desk

Take a shred of fabric (that hasn’t been used for polishing the toilet bowl, floors, or any other filthy targets), moisten it with water, and begin scrubbing off the crust that has accumulated on your desk. At a glance, your desk might look clean, but don’t let your human eyes deceive you. Use a white cloth if you don’t believe it.

Step Número Tres — Define the Role of Your Desk

What is the main reason you come to your desk every day? For me, that would be to use the computer. For others, it could be drawing comics, practicing calligraphy, filling out forms, or just resting your arms when meditating.

If you want to transform your desk into a super-clean/minimalist workspace, you must define the purpose of the desk, because if you don’t, it’s just going to attract more clutter.

For the rest of this guide, let’s assume that your desk’s main role is to accommodate your Mac or PC.

Step Número Cuatro — Install Your Main Tool

Place the main object, i.e., your computer, on the desk.

Set it up neatly so that all the cords and cables attached to it remain hidden. One of the ugliest sights that can plague an office is the presence of a disheveled bunch of cords that are all tangled up or otherwise resting haphazardly around the computer.

But, again, don’t spend too much time tweaking things at this stage. We’ll come back to that later once everything else has been placed on the desk.

Step Número Cinco — Choose Your Daily Items

Now that your computer has been secured, it’s time to look at all the other items that rested on your desk before the cleanup. You need to make some critical choices. What can you discard? And what should you absolutely leave on the desk?

Let’s rephrase the last two questions. Which items will you be using on a daily basis?

This is key. You don’t want to leave things on your desk that you’re not going to use frequently. Sure, it’s handy to have all your binders at elbow-length, but if you end up touching them just a couple of times a week, I strongly advise you to store them someplace else.

What I like to keep on my desk (apart from my MacBook) are:

1. cell phone and charger
2. wallet
3. key case
4. leather journal
5. skin cream (I have dry skin so I use it daily)
6. book (that I’m currently reading)
7. my Moomin mug (I like to drink tea when I’m at my desk)

When you’ve selected your items, simply place them on your desk.

Step Número Seis — Perfect the Order

Now it’s time to make the final adjustments.

Start with the computer. Make sure all the cords are plugged correctly. Use cable clips and velcro ties to organize cords and cables. If you slipped a mousepad underneath your mouse, this is your last chance to decide whether it’s absolutely necessary to keep it there.

Finally, position all the rest of the items neatly to their correct places.

Step Número Siete — Clean Up the Discarded Items

Remember the items you dumped on the floor when we started? They need to be moved to their new homes. The best option, of course, would be to get rid of them altogether if they’re not going to be used. Either gift them, sell them, or dispose of them. But if you’ve convinced yourself that you’ll use them in the near future, store them appropriately.

Last But Not Least

When you’re done with the cleanup, it’s good to consider taking up a couple of new habits—if you don’t practice them already.

1. Wipe your desk every day. Keep the muck away. Pay special attention to spots where you use the mouse and station your coffee mugs. Be sure to lift up objects when wiping in order to cover the whole desk.
2. Keep your items where they belong. This reduces the amount of time you need to spend cleaning your office. Whenever you finish using your phone, put it back to its place. Do the same with every item you use.
3. Declutter your desk periodically. As time passes, you might notice being surrounded by alien objects. This is an indication that you should do some decluttering again. Don’t let your office space become the junkyard it used to be. Prune regularly.

I hope this guide has helped you gain better mastery over your office space. Do you have any tips to add? I’d love to hear them (as well as any pics) in the comments below. Thanks.

We all have different schedules and commitments each day. Some of us are busier than others while others have more time on their hands. Many “successful” people, or those who tend to attract a lot of money, are often seen as busy because they supposedly have more (money-related) commitments to attend to. Well, I’m not here to judge whether that’s true or not… and, in fact, I’m starting to digress, so let’s move on.

What I actually want to talk about is time management, or more specifically, managing the time spent on daily entertainment. After all, we all want to relax at least a bit every day by watching TV, reading trashy novels, playing video games (my favorite), and so forth.

But if we don’t manage our time properly, we easily become consumed by all the entertainment that we have access to. The entertainment starts to control us, when it should be the other way around. And when we should be productive, we lose it because we fail to safeguard our schedules from unwanted shortcomings.

This is especially important for those individuals who have personal commitments in their daily schedules. An example of a personal commitment could be a project that you’re working on. Blogging is a personal commitment. Running your own online clothing store is one too. Weightlifting is an personal commitment. Activities that are initiated and, for the most part, done by you are what I call personal commitments.

So why is entertainment a threat to those of us who have personal commitments? You guessed right. TV and video games make us lazy. You can’t stay productive if your eyes are glued to your nice flat screen display. You need to free yourself from that kind of entertainment slavery (despite your being quite happy in that state).

Setting those pesky time limits

It’s hard to limit your pleasures, but when things need to get done, that’s what you have to do. You have to make a choice: either keep indulging and stay lazy, or control the “happy hours” and get your things done. (If you chose the latter option, keep reading.)

1. First of all, I’d highly suggest that you start off by getting up earlier. You’ll be in better control of your time if you get up before others do, and before you have to go to work, school, et cetera. (More on getting up earlier.)
2. Set a time limit for all activities. Have your day structured so that you can focus on entertainment at the end of the day—not the beginning or the middle. And if you have multiple things that you want to do, time them separately; exempli gratia, 1 hour for TV, 1.5 hours for reading comics, and 30 minutes for YouTube.
3. Start with longer time limits. If you’re used to playing video games 6 hours a day, don’t go down 2 hours right away. It will probably just have the opposite effect on you.
4. Gradually decrease the durations. When you get better at spending your time frugally, you won’t need as much time to finish doing what you’re doing. You also get used to time limits over time, which makes it easier to psychologically accept shorter time limits.
5. Don’t procrastinate/multitask. But don’t kill the enjoyment. If you’re reading a newspaper, don’t try to watch TV simultaneously. Do one thing at a time. Don’t stress yourself.
6. Obey the time limits. Or otherwise it won’t work. Create reasonable time limits that allow you to invest adequate time in your personal commitments.

These principles should primarily be applied to working days (Mon–Fri). Weekends are your days off, so you should focus on relaxing and getting your mind off work. But I still do recommend segmenting your activities so that you wouldn’t end up spending your weekends on the couch.

“People who live on budgets are happier people.”
~ Dale Carnegie (How to Stop Worrying and Start Living, p. 259)

When I was in high school, I often had a one-figure balance in my bank account. I didn’t think about it too much because I thought it was the norm for us students. We were meant to be broke. But had I clung onto this philosophy years later when I went to Japan for an exchange program, my financial worries probably would have developed into stomach ulcers.

I was going to live abroad, alone, which meant that I had to rent an apartment, afford the bills, buy food, pay for train tickets, and hopefully be left with some extra cash for having fun. I could have applied for a student loan, but it would’ve just been another excuse to spend more generously, and be left with empty pockets at the end. I had to change myself.

September 2007 finally came. And I was ready for the challenge.

Since day one I chose to record all my spendings. I would keep every receipt in my wallet, and then store it in a spreadsheet file. I would also display the budget for each week in that same document.

My weekly budget was ¥15,000 per week, and it covered all the money I had for a single week. I also kept a separate plan for static expenses, such as transportation, rent, electricity, and gas. The purpose was to know at the end of the week, exactly, how much money I had lef; and by doing so I would be able to avoid getting into trouble when the bills started sliding in.

Quick tips to keep a record of your spendings:

• Use a spreadsheet program like Google Docs.
• Keep all receipts in your wallet, and record them in your spreadsheet file at the end of the day.
• For all transactions that don’t provide a physical receipt, temporarily store the costs in your cell phone, or use a small notepad or journal.

The plan worked. It worked even better than I expected. I ended up saving money every week. I noticed that if I tried hard enough, I would have more than half of my budget left after each week. And I felt totally elated to have that extra money that I could use when hanging out with friends on Friday night.

Thanks to the habit change, during my one-year exchange program I had no money problems whatsoever. Even though I wasn’t rich I knew exactly how much I had in my pocket every moment, and was thus able to control my spendings. It took some time for me to get used to writing down all the data on a daily basis, but when it became a habit I started enjoying it because it made me want to know how much money I would be able to save the following week.

Try it. And don’t forget to post your success stories.

“Keep quiet and people will think you a philosopher.” ~ Roman proverb

Do you remember how we, as students in high school, tried to impress our teachers with big long, Latin- or Greek-based synonyms? Even though we were trying to adopt new words into our writing style, it actually brought quite the wrong effect. The lack of focus on content lowered the grade because not only were we overly concentrated on big words instead of writing quality content, the words themselves were often incorrectly placed. Now, I admit that I’m still a beginner when it comes to writing, but I learned a valuable lesson when my English teacher finally smeared my stack of turn-in papers with red ink during my sophomore year in high school.

The same thing applies to every skill in the world. When you flaunt your mediocre skills as if you were a master, the reception will be cold. We humans have an innate ability to detect pretenders. Some people are good at deception, and rightfully so, since they are masters of deception. But most of the time deception fails, and the loud talker only ends up proving how little he knows.

Be honest about your skills

The thing is, bragging is completely useless. If it’s really your deep desire to let other people know of your abilities, there are better ways of doing it. Certainly, most of us want attention—I would never deny that. It is natural to welcome approval and praise. But explicit bragging is not the way to win the approval of others; it only does the opposite.

As far as I’ve noticed, the only way to communicate expertise is to become an expert. Be honest. After my freshman year in high school, how in the slug’s name would I have been able to write as eloquently as Hemingway or Thoreau? How would I have done that when I didn’t even have a clear idea of what it was that made those writers great?

Focus on improving yourself

The wiser alternative to bragging is to quiet your desire to openly display your knowledge and skills, and focus on building up your knowledge base and improving your skills. When you’ve reached that invisible milestone that marks you out as an expert, you won’t even have to show off—your expertise will market itself. People will know.

Imagine that you’re flying to Hawaii, and a fashionably dressed guy with a MacBook on his lap introduces himself as a graphic designer. He goes on to share his story why his skills are so good because he started playing around with Photoshop when he was 12. The question is: how do you respond? I mean—how do you respond internally? You wouldn’t want to hurt his feelings, of course.

Now, imagine you’re on your return flight from Hawaii, and next to you is a quiet lady tracing some of her scanned sketches in Illustrator and digitally crafting them into rich paintings. Apart from the casual “Hi” she doesn’t say a word to you, but you can clearly see how she’s employing her expertise in her work. Would you still need her to explain to you how she started her career in graphic design when she was in elementary school? That wouldn’t make much of a difference, would it? The skill is there—and you can see it. There’s no need for further justification.

Also, in real life, it’s far more convincing to show to your job interviewer a sample of what you’ve created rather than to verbally describe your skills. A picture is worth a thousand words, right?

So, the key is to stop the dreaded impulse to brag. Instead of that, focus on acquiring genuine expertise. Listen to others. Learn from the masters. Practice the concepts and techniques you’ve gathered. In time, signs of your mastery will manifest in your presence. True masters don’t need persuasion to get the message across.

Students can live more comfortably by adopting a frugal lifestyle. It needs a bit of commitment and tolerance at first, but you don’t have to become an ascetic to boost your personal finance.

1. Pack your own lunch. Prepare it the night before to avoid skipping the practice. Not only will you save a lot of money, you can also be eating healthier food.
2. Bring fruits to school. When the hunger hits you, it’s easy to just head over to the kiosk and buy a chocolate bar or a bag of chips. But if you like fruits (and you definitely should btw), your bag should be prepared with an apple that you can consume at any time.
3. Bring your own water bottle. If you need more water, you can go to the cafeteria for refills. Don’t waste money on water or soft drinks.
4. Use the public library for books, newspapers, magazines, and DVDs.
5. Plan your weekly menus beforehand. When you plan your meals beforehand, you can buy all the ingredients in bulk, and use them thriftily. Freeze any leftovers or leave them for the next day’s breakfast/lunch.
6. Open a savings account. It’s never too early to start saving for holiday gifts. Twenty bucks a month should suffice.
7. Use your cell phone sparingly. Ask yourself if the call/SMS you’re about to make/dispatch is absolutely necessary. Consider emailing or calling via Skype.
8. Download free computer software. No-brainer. Don’t sabotage your budget with unnecessary purchases such as Microsoft Office or Adobe Photoshop. OpenOffice and GIMP are adequate alternatives for students.
9. Sell your old textbooks. When you’re done with a book, sell it to another student. You’ll get a portion of your money back while your buddy gets the book for less—nice. You should also consider swapping books with your school mates.
10. Use public transportation. Car maintenance is expensive. Forget about tax, insurance, gasoline, repairs, and parking tickets; get a student commuter pass.
11. Rent movies if the DVD collection at your library is limited. You’re probably not going to watch the movies twice anyway, so why waste more money on them.
12. No credit cards. I would never recommend anyone to take loans in the first place, but students and loans simply don’t match. Avoid having credit cards altogether.
13. Wash clothes by hand. You can still go to the laundromat to get your jeans and shirts done, but socks and underwear can be easily washed in the bathroom sink.
14. Use candles. When you’re at the computer or reading a book, you probably don’t need a fully lit room. Candles are cheap and a great source of atmospheric lighting.
15. Simply buy less. Make a habit out of it. You will notice that buying less and possessing less leads to a richer lifestyle—financially as well as mentally.

Next, give us your awesome tips on frugal living.

Have you ever weighed your backpack? Except before going traveling. If you haven’t, there’s a big possibility you’re carrying too much stuff in the bag you take with you every day. And if your bag comes close to weighing five kilograms, you’re definitely carrying too much.

Carrying too much with you can cause a lot of problems. Your shoulders get stiff easily. You’re always fatigued. You waste time trying to find an item among everything else, which also makes you irritated. When you really need to put something in, there isn’t any space. In short, you need to unclutter your bag.

Whether it’s your school backpack or business briefcase, you don’t need to carry more than what you need. ‘Just in case’ usually means ‘you don’t need it’. If you’re thinking whether you should, just in case, take your mouse and laptop charger to school, you probably don’t need to. You should rather think if it would be better to leave the laptop at home altogether—they probably have free computers in your school anyway. I bought my first laptop when I started college because I thought I would need it, but how many times did I actually end up taking it to school? Maybe twice over a period of three years.

Only keep the essentials

What people consider essential depends on the person. I’m a guy so I don’t carry a makeup pouch with me. Some people might like to have a Nintendo DS instead of a book. Here’s a list of the items I have in my daily school bag.

1. journal & fountain pen
2. digital camera
3. book
4. handkerchief
5. earphones for iPhone
6. pencil case (incl. pen, mechanical pencil + refills, ink cartridges, eraser, glue stick, memory stick)
7. absolutely necessary school materials

I like to carry a digital camera because I often take photos when I’m walking outside. I also carry the book I’m currently reading because I know that I’m going to read it while commuting to and from school. I try to convert handouts into digital format whenever possible, but there are days when I have to bring certain things to school in their physical form. And if I know that I’m going to eat lunch at school, I pack my own lunch. If I know that I’m only having a class on marketing, I’m only going to take my marketing stuff with me, and only the stuff related to today’s class. While it can be troublesome to sort out my stuff every day, it feels much better when I’m outside the house.

So, it all comes down to the absolute essentials. It feels great to have a light bag that doesn’t cause muscle aches. You just have to take some time organizing it and thinking what to leave at home. The essentials will always stay in the bag, so you don’t have to worry about them. Just don’t forget to keep your pencil case organized. The same rules apply to your pencil case too, by the way. I don’t need to carry three different pencils and a sharpener, because I’m pretty sure I’ll be fine with one mechanical pencil and a case of refills.

I’d like to know what you consider essential in your school bag. Please share your thoughts in the comments below.