Boycotting Target, Walmart & Amazon — 

Can boycotting things actually make you happier? More yourself and more resourceful?

I want to say yes. Yes, it can.

To be honest with you, the past year with blogging about certain relevant topics can be fun —

It really can be, but it also walks a fine line of being a terrible thief of joy (if you let it).

Blogs are for writing (or so I thought and still do think).

Politics Not Aside —

This election cycle forced me to take a step back.

To look at myself, to challenge myself, to really look at the blogging space as a whole, and look at how it fit in my own world personally.

To be honest, I got really angry at the passivity of this election cycle in online spaces. It felt irresponsible and silently violent. Sinister even.

It seemed so impolite to even speak about human rights issues.

Be your brand. Until what though? At what cost?

It felt as if everyone was signaling silently to just play along —

As if everything was not as corrupt and misaligned with the human experience as it seemed.

Truth be told, I couldn’t be that person, and I have never been that person.

Starting a Substack

Starting my Substack was a fun way to force myself to be honest with readers and myself. Have you started a Substack? All the nerds and weirdos go there, and it’s fun. I love it!

If you’re going to do something like a blog, it needs to be in a way that makes sense to you and in a way that brings you joy, honors your values, and allows the cracks to show a bit.

If you love fashion, but today’s fashion feels so far removed from the fashion you grew up enjoying (in terms of how people engage with it), I feel your plight!

It seems to no longer be about what someone likes — it seems to be about what EVERYONE else likes.

Taking what I love about fashion —

It felt like it had been melted into a nice, neat gold coin and had its soul extracted into quantifiable sources of “trend.”

The Quiet Luxury Trend

I really want to talk about this before hammering into boycotting territory.

Let’s talk about the quiet luxury trend and how the social cues of who you are without speaking are dead giveaways after your clothes have done the talking —

I believe fashion is a conversation piece about so many things before words are even spoken — To me, it just makes sense not to overthink it.

Letting Yourself Be You!

People often forget that personality and where you come from are housed in many facets of a person before their clothes are even considered.

Yes, your clothes give the first impression, but have you considered that your way of speaking, accent, and mannerisms are all dead giveaways as to your class and where you came from?

Accepting yourself as you are, where you come from, your socioeconomic background is really important.

Obviously, people change their stations in life a lot — I am just saying some things cannot be bought.

Take my grandmother, for example. She grew up pretty well off as a child. That woman was classy (both of my grandmothers were, but in different ways).

But I grew up middle class, and she had to constantly remind me of my posture and how to eat soup properly (the spoon motion is real guys — etiquette, lol). My clothes could have been the nicest, but if I could not pick up social cues, or my accent was a “working class” accent — it’s a dead giveaway as to where I came from, and that is fine.

Think of My Fair Lady — Eliza Doolittle was housed in the best clothes, but it was the entire package that meant she was “A Lady of society.” Old story short, but worth remembering. Eliza constantly felt like an outsider — but she got on. She stayed true to who she was.

So why fake it to the degree so many fake it? Just some food for thought.

For example – when I buy a dupe, it’s because I know that my buying the original item is ridiculous. I have nice things, but I am not trying to trick anyone — the point is to wear what you like and be yourself in the clothes you have.

When you get dressed, you have to get dressed as honestly as you can be with yourself. I am not saying don’t play dress up, I am saying don’t devalue who you are for approval.

Again, to each their own.

Boycotting Target, Walmart, Amazon

America’s current vice before this election was to turn a blind eye and just get on with it.

Trend cycles — a distraction.

Target, Amazon, and Walmart hauls — a distraction.

I decided to pay attention and, in doing so, felt that boycotting these businesses was a great option for my sanity, and it aligned with my values.

Boycotting these businesses has been so much fun.

A blast even.

I also got rid of TikTok, which is truly a blessing in disguise.

Aspects You May Love about Boycotting Target, Walmart, and Amazon!

Here are some aspects about the boycott that you may like —

Not shopping at these stores, allows you to think about where you get all of your stuff from in a more focused and filtered way, while also figuring out ways in which you can obtain items that you do need– you have to build new habits and shopping methods.

Body care and household items — where was I getting those? Now, I order directly from the website of the vendor or from a different company entirely. It’s fun.

Not having things at your fingertips is honestly the true luxury.

There are bonuses to not shopping at these stores. For one, you’ll have to think harder about shopping for things because you won’t be constantly being shown a cheap version of something you probably never even wanted in the first place.

If you have started to boycott Target, Walmart, and Amazon — do let me know in the comments.

Anyway, end rant.

TTYL.

xx,

Nikita

The post Boycotting Target, Walmart & Amazon & How it Feels Great appeared first on Bella Kate 22.

Fall organization is something that I look forward to almost every September.

As the daughter of an educator, you learn to really get excited for fresh notebooks, pens, and sticky notes…..

Like, really excited.

As one ages and enters into the workforce, you don’t tend to have the same set routine you’ve had from kindergarten until college.

Fall always marks the start of a new educational school year, and I go there in my mind mentally — as if I, too, need back-to-school supplies.

September is my Organizational New Year

It really is.

I love this time of year.

All I want routine, focus, and a bit of predictability.

It’s a time to set new goals, to get really honest with myself and get stern with how much better I could be doing.

I do this throughout the year, but September hits different.

Organizational Tools I am Loving – Home Finds

For my home office, I invested in two things that have been game changers.

The first is my white board.

It is great for writing things down, and remembering anything that I may forget.

Also, it helps that it is right in front of my face so I can reference it throughout the day.

The next is my pink office chair. I love it. This makes such a difference when I am working from home and adds a level of comfort to any office experience.

A great working space is also key.

I have been using my aunt’s old desk from the 80s. I am not sure of its exact year. But you can shop thrifted or vintage to find a comfy older desk.

This is the closest thing I could find that looks similar.

Great Basic Supplies Are Key – Fall Organization

Great basics are key in having an organizational overhaul.

Here are some of my favorites.

My ‘S Gel Sharpie’ pens are my favorite pen.

I also crave a satisfactory pen to paper slide that can only be made by these blue pens.

Some dry erase pens.

Dry erase board cleaner. You can get pens and cleaner in the same kit. I just really prefer the option of pens that are not offered in the kits.

More Fall Organization Basics

I love having spiral notebooks over legal pads.

These are great to leave as markers in notebooks. It makes finding things a lot easier.

This just literally makes my brain happy and excited to look at.

Push pins are always great to have on hand. As well as a cork board.

A laptop/keyboard accessory I find to be helpful for posture. It is on my list.

As is this pop keyboard. I think I want the pink version. Not sure yet. It is a dream and I can only imagine how satisfying it is to click and clack onto the keys.

Closing with some fidget toys.

What tools help you to get into your fall organizational mode?

Let me know in the comments.

xx

The post Fall Organization – The Best Tools to Get You Organized appeared first on Bella Kate 22.

Blog writing has to be easy, right?

How hard can blogging actually be?

Truly.

Well, I am here to tell you.

Blog Writing is Not Writing

Hear me out.

Blog writing is writing, but it’s made for the masses in a way that educational writing is not.

As someone who almost majored in English and studied journalism……

I had to unlearn all that I learned in the classroom in order to write a high-rating blog post that met the needed SEO standards.

In order to do this, it felt basically like turning in an F paper.

Sounds harsh, I know.

Unlearning How to Write

As someone who writes a blog post every week– I can tell that my blog writing is getting better.

However, in order to view it that way, I had to let my normal way of writing take a backseat which was hard.

In terms of what I thought sounded like a great blog post, I had a lot of pride in the beginning stages of blogging. I wanted an A paper every time, but the SEO tools always gave me a bad score, and I had to find out why.

Basically, when you’re writing a blog post you need to stay away from bigger words and use more common (colloquial) words.

You need to make your paragraphs shorter, and the content needs to be really easy to digest.

Don’t Compare Your Writing

In the early stages of blogs taking off in the teens of the new millennium, I would often click on websites via Pinterest and would get dizzy from the article I was reading.

Example: Blog posts that had you scroll down a page to get to the article and a ton of additional information that didn’t pertain to the blog post.

I didn’t understand how bloggers were writing this way and getting careers out of it (snobby as it sounds, I didn’t understand the strategy of why they wrote the way they wrote), so I naturally thought that if I knew how to write already, it would only help me to begin blogging.

Truth is, now that SEO has entered the game, knowing the structure of writing can actually hurt how great of a blog post you write at first. It takes practice.

Blog Writing SEO Style

To write a great blog post that you approve of, I suggest installing a great SEO plug-in and using it when you write your blog posts (I use Yoast).

Your first step will be learning the basics, but this can take you up to five hours or more in the beginning stages.

Always keyword research before writing a blog post. This takes time to learn.

When you know how to write an SEO blog post, you can really whiz through them (for your personal blog), but always try to edit them a few times before posting.

Note: Never whiz through a blog post when writing for a client or organization. Writing blog posts for others takes me a few days (sometimes) before submitting in for review.

Next, you’re going to want to write your blog post so that anyone who reads it will be able to understand it.

Finally, you’re going to have to unlearn a lot about proper writing etiquette, although spelling and punctuation should still be something you strive for (I am not perfect at it either).

In the end — I am extremely happy I understand SEO, but it took me a while to get it for blogging purposes.

If you’re thinking about starting a blog, I fully support you, and I hope reading this blog post helps to broaden your view of the blogging world.

Just start writing your blog already.

xx

The post Blog Writing & What You Didn’t Know appeared first on Bella Kate 22.