How I Protect My Eyes From Digital Eye Strain

Hi there. Do you spend a lot of time staring at a screen? Your eyes are straining, but not looking at a digital monitor is not an option? You want to protect your eyes from Computer Vision Syndrome as much as possible, especially now that we’re all quarantined at home? Then this one is for you.

It’s been over a year since I’ve taken these steps and they have been very effective for me, so I wanted to share these in case it can help you too.

I have always had 20/20 vision. However, my previous occupations required staring a laptop for 9hrs+ per day, and eventually I realised that towards the end of the day, my vision would be going blurry, my eyes would be dry and I’d have regular headaches etc. It would be okay the next day after I’d had a good night’s rest, but the same thing would happen the next evening.

I became frightened when I was driving home one day and realised that even the pedestrian countdown timer that I once saw with full clarity had become so blurry I could barely make out the numbers anymore.

I suddenly recalled the time we were purchasing a new pair of glasses for my sister in China, and the salesperson had asked if she wanted a pair that filtered out blue light from screens. That’s when it clicked that all the blue light coming through all these screens were probably doing a number on my body and my eyesight.

So I did some research, and found this pair of glasses on Amazon that supposedly filtered out 50% of harmful blue light. They were inexpensive and I figured I’d give them a try.

It’s been over a year since I started wearing them and my verdict is this: These. Are. Amazing.

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Finance: How I Saved 20-30% Of My Income Every Year

Image credit: Pexels.com

I have been meaning to do more finance posts for some time now. Having lived in the US for almost 5yrs now, I’ve been surprised to learn about how many Americans live paycheque to paycheque, regardless of income. I’ve since realised I have a very different mindset when it comes to finances than the average American, because even when I didn’t have anything in particular to save up for, I still saved 20-30% of my income after tithing and gifting 10-15%.

As such, in the past 5yrs I have been able to:

  • Purchase a 3yr-old Honda Civic and paid it off in full within a year.
  • Accumulate enough savings to live without working for a year.
  • With my hubby, pay for our wedding in full.
  • Still have some savings left to make opening a CD worthwhile.

A friend asked me how I managed to save so much, and I really had to think about it because saving has just been somewhat second nature to me. I’ve now put it into words, and have decided to write it here in case you’re interested and it can somehow help you with your savings goals.

This may be particular relevant now as many Americans are struggling due to COVID, and we are very, very thankful that Jacky still has a job. We aren’t able to save up much now that we’re on his single income, but knowing we still have savings in the bank just gives us a lot more peace of mind.

So here they are, some key financial/saving rules I’ve followed subconsciously my whole life. Jacky and I are now slowly saving up for a house, following the same guidelines:

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Growing Celery Take 2: Fail

This post was last updated and completed on 7/22/2020.

After take 1 failed massively, we tried again with a couple of new celery stalks. I realise now that I probably should have planted my trial 1 on 22nd May when it’d already started to grow roots but the stalk hadn’t yet begun to mould. You live and you learn.

We bought two more stalks of celery and after eating most of one we decided to try again. This was the organic celery from Trader Joe’s. So far it seems to be a lot more successful. Check back for updates!

12th June

I thought the toothpicks in the celery may have been causing it to rot so this time I tried to tie it up with string instead:

Jacky asked why we couldn’t just put the celery into the glass with water at the bottom? I thought I read that it would cause the celery to rot, so to confirm this I did some more research and watched a video about growing celery (probs should have done that first). The video advised to cut a little off the bottom of the celery before putting it in water, and that it needn’t be suspended by toothpicks.

Jacky also said that since the celery just grows from the middle anyway, can we just put the thus-far uneaten centre of our celery stalk into water and see how it goes?

Sure, why not. Let’s test it:

We’ll call them Shortie and Tall Bro. I’ll let you figure out which is which.

I also trimmed a little off the bottom of the Tall Bro. Presumably doing this removes the hardened layer from the bottom so that the celery can better absorb the water and its nutrients.

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Food: Stop Eating This!

I feel like I need this post for myself. I have the worst memory and I always seem to think that a certain food or establishment is a good idea when I get a craving, but every single time I order it again I am disappointed. It’s a waste of money, it’s a waste of stomach space, it’s bad for me, the list goes on.

So here it is, a list of dishes or restaurants that I dislike, or at least would prefer for myself not to eat at anymore. Not to say that you shouldn’t eat it/there… but I don’t recommend it for me, and hope that checking back here would remind me why I shouldn’t be going back to them.

I will update this list as necessary. In alphabetical order:

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Bullet Journal: Initial Thoughts, July Setup & August Draft

Click here for my overall setup & June half-month spread.

It’s getting to the end of the month (what!) and I figured I’d set up my July spread in my bullet journal. I am only planning to use it for monthly trackers because I have other notebooks for other things, so figure this one journal can last me a long time.

There’s a bit of a story behind the setup of this one, but I feel that as I’m getting more accustomed to my journal, I’m also learning and better understanding how I want to use it. If you just want to see the spread, here it is! My original draft and the final spread:

July’s colours were green, so I just did some basic doodles in green and left it at that. I used a light and dark green Paper Mate pen (I have this set), and a green highlighter.

I don’t plan to change the habits I’m tracking for the moment so they’re the same as last month, but I’ve written them on alternating lines on either side of the tracker so each row has a bit more breathing space. I’ll be indicating each habit done with an ‘x’, as per the x’s by my “habit tracker” title.

For July I highlighted the weekends of the month by outlining them with my dark green pen, which I felt would be helpful for myself. I went back and did the same for June with my purple pen too. The washi tape conceals a semi-private task.

Now onto the story and my August draft…

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