Category Archives: Advice/How To

Advice/How To

The importance of hygiene

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By: Jooney Freddieson & Aalovely Lor

Generated by Canva AI 

Introduction 

Good hygiene is essential for both your physical and mental wellbeing. It holds multiple practices, starting from handwashing to brushing your teeth. 

Hygiene helps prevent spreading harmful bacteria, infections, and viruses. That makes it the best and easiest disease prevention technique.

Without proper hygiene, people become susceptible to widespread health issues. This could be the common cold or more serious illnesses like the flu. 

Dental Hygiene

Dental hygiene is one of the key factors to keeping good hygiene. 

This begins with brushing your teeth at least twice a day, both morning and night. Along with brushing comes flossing and mouthwash to help remove plaque and prevent gum infections. 

Poor dental hygiene leads to cavities, gum infections, and in serious cases heart conditions. 

Having regular checkups and cleanings with dentists play a crucial role in your dental hygiene because even if you can’t feel it, you never truly know what’s going on in your mouth. 

Body Hygiene 

Body hygiene is keeping the body clean. 

The most important aspect of body hygiene is bathing or showering regularly. This helps remove the dirt, excess oils, and sweat you’ve built up over the previous days. 

Showering and changing into clean clothes daily help reduce the risk of skin infections, including acne or fungal infections.

Proper body hygiene also builds confidence and comfort in your wellbeing. Feeling fresh and clean positively impacts your interactions with others. 

Hand hygiene 

Hand hygiene is one of the most effective methods to prevent the spread of diseases and illnesses. 

Washing your hands with soap and water for at least 20 seconds already helps remove disease, dirt, and viruses that could cause illness. 

Using this method is really important after using the bathroom, handling food, or being in public areas. 

Throughout the day you touch many infected surfaces such as your phone, toilets, doorknobs, and tables. These surfaces have harmful bacteria that could be washed off with soap and water. 

Nail Hygiene 

Nail Hygiene is very important but it is an overlooked part of personal hygiene. 

It involves keeping your fingernails and toenails trimmed, clean, and strong. Nails should be free from bacteria and dirt.

Nails can easily trap germs that you pick up from everyday activities if they’re not cleaned regularly. These germs can enter your body through eating/drinking or when touching your face. They can also enter through cuts and wounds. 

Poor nail hygiene can lead to infections like, stomach aches, paronychia, and buildups of bacteria. 

Cleaning and trimming your nails regularly helps prevent issues like infections or stomach aches, and also helps your nails grow strong and healthy. 

Clothing Hygiene

Clothing hygiene means wearing, cleaning, and changing clothes regularly. After sweating from physical activities our clothes absorb our sweat and oil from our skin including dirt and dust throughout the day. 

If you continue to wear unwashed clothes regularly, not only will it give you a bad odor it will also lead to skin irritations and or bacterial infections. 

Clean clothes help prevent health problems but they also help with boosting self esteem and presenting a positive image to others. 

Ear Hygiene 

Ear hygiene focuses on cleaning, managing earwax build ups, and cleaning the outer part of our ears. 

Wiping the outside of our ears with a damp cloth or paper towel helps remove dirt and excess wax. Doing this regularly prevents itchy buildups and helps keep our ears clean. 

Inserting cotton swabs/q-tips or fingers into our ears can push the wax in further leading to an uncomfortable buildup and ear infections. It can also damage our hearing if pushed further. 

It is recommended by doctors to use an earwax remover tool to remove ear wax build ups. The tool is in the shape of a tiny spoon which helps safely remove earwax and not push the wax forward. 

Maintaining good ear hygiene prevents discomfort, infections, and hearing problems. 

Overall, good hygiene is essential for preventing the spread of illness, staying healthy, and keeping a better image. Making these habits a regular part of your daily life and routine will improve your physical and mental wellbeing. 

Advice/How To

How to care for hedgehogs

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By: Maya Song

Photo by Pixabay on Pexels.com

Hedgehogs are considered to be exotic pets, thus the care for them needs to be understood before purchasing one. A pet hedgehog’s life span is usually 4-6 years but they can live up to over 8 years. Most hedgehogs are nocturnal so when you’re awake they’ll most likely be sleeping but there are a few species of hedgehogs that are diurnal.

Can hedgehogs even be house pets? While most of the United States thinks that is completely fine, the few states and areas that disagree are: Georgia, Hawaii, California, Pennsylvania, Washington D.C., and the five boroughs of New York City. Even though hedgehogs are not native to North America they have been becoming more popular as pets.

If you keep a pet hedgehog you need to make sure they have plenty of things to do to occupy themselves such as toys; items like balls, stuffed animals, and small cars are very common. Hedgehogs are naturally very curious animals and love to explore, so things like tunnels and tubes would also be a good idea. It must also be kept in mind that hedgehogs need exercise so a pet exercise wheel is highly recommended.

The hedgehog’s diet is very large so you need to be making sure everything you give your hedgehog is safe and healthy for them. A few examples of food for your hedgehog would be things like: cat food, dog food, meats, mice, insects, caterpillars, mealworms, earthworms, eggs, bananas, cherries, watermelon, fruit, berry, peaches, kiwi, vegetables, apple, broccoli, leafy greens, pears, and papaya. These foods are examples of what to feed your hedgehog on a daily basis. It is recommended that hedgehogs eat at least once a day with 3-4 teaspoons per serving.

If you choose to own a hedgehog you must be prepared in order to be successful. Making sure that the hedgehog has items to occupy itself with, food to eat, and making sure that it’s legal to own it should be considered. That being said, they are adorable, and worth the effort.

Advice/How To

Different kinds of hobbies

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By: Fletcher Pike

Photo by Em Hopper on Pexels.com

To many, hobbies can be a fun way to express yourself by learning a new skill that gives you joy. However, you might not know where to start if you want to learn a new hobby. In this article, I will give you multiple examples of hobbies that you can try.

Art

Art is a popular kind of hobby that allows you to express your creative side. This can include things such as painting, sculpting, and drawing. Art can be a relaxing activity for anyone to try. Art comes in so many different forms, you can experiment with the different kinds of art that you can create. Art doesn’t always have to involve paint, ink, or lead. It also includes activities such as knitting, crocheting, or making jewelry. These are also great options if you don’t like the messier side of creating art.

Personally, I think that art is one of my favorite hobbies, and I love doing different kinds of artwork. I highly recommend this kind of hobby to anyone looking to explore their creative side.

Games

Though this hobby is a broad term, it can refer to both board games and video games. Learning a new type of game can be a fun hobby to do as it can help build strategic skills, or you can play completely for fun. Some board games include: chess, Battleship, checkers, or card games. I personally enjoy learning a lot of card games, as it can be fun to learn the different rules of the games. Video games have a nearly endless amount of different categories.

I recommend this kind of hobby to anyone wanting to incorporate their thinking and mental skills into their hobby more.

Sports

Sports is a very popular hobby, and is essentially available to everyone who wants to play. There are many different types of sports to choose from, but popular ones include: soccer, basketball, football, and baseball. Sports is a great hobby to try as there are many different kinds of sports to play, and it can help you stay physically active as well as being able to build communication skills with your teammates.

Music

Music is a great hobby to try, as learning to create or learn music can help improve several different skills. You can learn to play a new instrument, learn to sing, or even compose your own songs. Music is pretty similar to art in my opinion, as creating music itself can be interpreted as a form of art by combining creativity and emotion into the music.

Music is a fun hobby to try if you like listening to music or if you have ever wanted to sing or learn a new instrument. 

Cooking / Baking

Creating food is a hobby that I highly recommend if you want to learn more about exploring the many different kinds of food. There are millions of recipes online and in books that you can find, and you can even experiment with creating your own recipes. Creating a meal is an important part of life, and I believe that it’s important to know how to cook in order to provide for yourself or your family. 

I hope that this article informed you about some of the different kinds of hobbies, and inspired you to try one out. I think it is a good idea to try out different types of hobbies, as you might find something that you really enjoy doing.

Advice/How To

The importance of journaling

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By: Sylvia Yannsdottir

It’s really easy to get caught up in the constant changes of life, and one way to help navigate through that is by journaling. Journaling is a productive way to sort your thoughts, and emotions, and can help you grow as a person. By taking just a few minutes of your day to write down anything that you’re thinking of, it can really help you find peace and clarity within your life.

One way that journaling has personally benefited me is by forcing me to reflect on my experiences and lessons I’ve learned. Oftentimes when I journal it leads me to re-analyze the things that I’ve experienced from a different perspective, and that leads me to look for improvement and growth within my actions.

Aside from that, journaling can strengthen many things, like memory, creativity, critical thinking, focus, and problem solving skills. There are truly no downsides to journaling, so why not start sooner rather than later?

In the past few years, it has become more popularized by society, especially social media, to establish healthy habits in your life, and one of those healthy habits is journaling. Oftentimes you’ll see more people sharing different kinds of interesting prompts, or ideas for what you can write about.

While writing isn’t for everyone, that doesn’t take away from the fact that it can be really beneficial to start journaling. Although it can be hard to maintain habits, there are plenty of ways to start small, like establishing a routine and over time gradually improving it.

I strongly believe that I’ve gained a lot in my life since I started journaling consistently, and I strongly urge others to try it out. Whether you’re a writer or not it’s something that is at least worth trying, and could really be helpful throughout your life.

Advice/How To

Some things to know before getting a cat 

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By: Jooney Freddieson & Aalovely Lor

Planning on getting a cat? Here are some important things you should know before adopting.

Before owning a cat there are several things you should consider like: financial cost, health care, environment, and whether you want to keep it indoors or outdoors.

Initial Cost

First you should consider adopting from a local shelter or a rescue organization instead of choosing a breeder which costs a lot more money.

When adopting from a shelter there are options for vaccinations, microchips, and spaying/neutering.

The average cost of vaccinations for cats usually falls under 10$-50$ per shot depending on what type of vaccines.

Microchips are a small device that’s injected into a cat’s skin that links to their owners. This helps you identify where your cat might be if they get lost or run away from home. These usually cost 20$.

Spaying/Neutering is a surgical procedure that removes a female cat’s uterus and a male cat’s testicles to prevent them from reproducing. When I (Jooney) got my male cat neutered the cost came to about 115$. It depends on what clinic/vet you go to but the average cost falls between 100$-200$.

This is useful if you don’t plan on having more cats or to prevent your male cats from aggression and female cats from mammary cancer.

Initial Needs

Cats require essential needs like food, water, litter box, toys, and scratching posts. This is an ongoing cost and a financial investment that is required when owning a cat.

Since cats are independent they often require lots of space. They need room for their food/water bowls, litter box, and vertical space for them to climb.

According to Cats.org.uk, it’s important for cats to have something to scratch. Scratching is natural behavior, so they’ll consistently need a place to go to when they need to get their claws into something. This could be a scratch post or allowing them to go outside and cling onto trees.

You should be committed, having time dedicated out of your day to tend to them. Despite their independence, they still require interaction and attention daily.

Another thing to take into consideration about commitment is that healthy cats live up to 12-18 years, some even go up to 20. If you’re only willing to dedicate 3 years or less to that cat you should rethink your decision. 

Indoor Cat vs Outdoor Cat

Indoor cats and outdoor cats each have their own pros and cons.

Indoor cats have a longer lifespan than outdoor cats. Their lifespan is around 12-18 years while outdoor cats fall between 5-10 years, which is a huge difference.

Another thing to consider with indoor cats, according to Sfspca.org, they could suffer from boredom which leads to stress and behavioral problems. Cats need to be able to roam around and consistently have things to do or focus on.

Although outdoor cats have their freedom, this allows them to be at a higher risk for diseases, injuries, and getting lost.

Vaccinations play an important role in your cat’s life, whether they’re an indoor or outdoor cat. If your cat is actively outside, you’ll want to go into the vet for regular deworming and checkups.

If you’re planning on allowing your cat to be an outdoor cat, it’s important to consider installing a fence in which they can’t escape your area and other cats can’t roam in.

If you’re planning on keeping an indoors cat, offer them plenty of enrichment and play time. It’s important to make sure your cat stays healthy by keeping them stimulated and going.

In the end, your cat could be an indoor cat who loves going outside. It’s up to you to decide whether or not it’s what you want.

Final decision

After reading this article and you feel positive about your decision, go for it! There are many cats looking for a place to call home and that could be yours.

If you’re having doubts, take more time to think about it. Not everything listed should affect your decision, but they’re important things to consider.

Advice/How To

Procrastination: How to break the habit

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By: Hermekay Dehaney  

Photo by Mat Brown on Pexels.com

The definition of procrastination is, “The act of delaying something that you should do, usually because you do not want to do it.” It’s safe to say that the majority of us have had this habit once in our lifetime, by telling ourselves, “I’ll start tomorrow,” when it comes to delaying doing our homework, chores, or studying.

It’s often frustrating dealing with such a habit, especially if you want to be a person who’s always on top of assignments, but it’s harder to say than do, which often leads to self-criticism.

But how exactly do you break free from this habit? 

Well, for starters, we need to identify the six types of procrastinators. The types of procrastinators are not based on personalities, so you don’t have to  fall under one specific type. Your reason for procrastinating can change based on factors and experiences on what you’re procrastinating from. So yes, it’s likely you can fall into different styles. 

Knowing which one you are in that moment is a step closer to breaking the habit, as different strategies work best for different types. Here is a breakdown of the six types: 

  1. The perfectionist: They avoid starting or finishing tasks for fear of not being able to do them perfectly.  Dr. Linda Sapadin says, “The perfectionist pays too much attention to detail, and you would think a perfectionist does not procrastinate, but that’s not true because a perfectionist pays so much attention to detail that they often can’t finish a project.”

Tips:  Focus on progress rather than perfection – remind yourselves that it’s okay to make mistakes. Set realistic over idealistic goals, you can start by making time limits for yourselves when doing an assignment to avoid spending a lot of time obsessing over it. 

  1. The dreamer: Puts off tasks because they are not good at paying attention to detail. Similar to perfectionists, they have big ideas, but dreamers struggle with taking action. 

Tips: Create a to-do list, make small daily goals that are achievable that are realistic, and set a realistic time to do it. That doesn’t mean giving up on your bigger long-term goals, set time apart regularly to do them, little by little, it will eventually build up over time. 

  1. The worrier:  This is usually the “what ifs”; they overthink to the point where they fear failing, so they avoid the task altogether.

Tips:  A quote by George Clooney says, “The only failure is not to try.” By letting fear overthrow you, that will allow you to never see your full potential. Try to prioritize important tasks and create a clear plan. Worrying is often a sign of anxiety, so try to share concerns with trusted and supportive friends and family, or a therapist. Try to alleviate fear to the best of your ability by meditation, and journaling.

  1. The defier: They procrastinate because they don’t like being told what to do. 

Tips: Try to turn assignments into a personal task rather than an obligation. Set a personal schedule when you want to accomplish an assignment, this tip will help you feel in control. 

  1. Crisis-maker: They purposely put off tasks because they like the adrenaline of working under pressure. 

Tips: Try to find healthier habits for using adrenaline, such as sports. Try to start assignments on time by rewarding yourself when you do. Create your own earlier deadline as well as a small competition with yourself for each task to avoid last-minute rushing. 

  1.  Over-doer: Takes on too many tasks at once, leading to a struggle to find the time to complete all of the tasks. 

Tips: Try to create a to-do list, make sure to prioritize the more important tasks first such as studying for a big summative. Don’t burn yourself out, maybe set 1-2 hours a day to doing 2 assignments, make sure to give yourselves 10-15 minute breaks in between. 

Staying consistent might not be easy, but when you try, you will notice a difference in your everyday life. 

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Advice/How To

Learning how to love yourself

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By: Kate Tabor

Image created with ChatGPT

Learning how to love yourself is something that everyone always preaches about, but how do you actually practice self love? Well, it starts with focusing on yourself, and being the best version of you that you can be, which can be tricky.

In order to focus on yourself, you need to let go of other people’s opinions of you. Validation is always nice, but the only person you really need it from is yourself. As long as you’re happy with yourself, nobody else’s opinion matters.

Focusing on yourself doesn’t stop with that though. Start doing things for yourself that you want to do. For example, joining a gym, like the JCC, joining a club, trying a new sport, exploring a new hiking trail, etc. It doesn’t always have to take you out of your comfort zone either, maybe you’re letting yourself take a break, staying in more often, letting yourself relax. It’s important to have a mix of putting yourself out there, and knowing when to let yourself take a break.

In order to move forward and love yourself, you need to let go of the past. Let go of all the things you think you should’ve done, and all the things you wish you hadn’t. You can’t change the past, so there’s no point of holding on to it. Reflect on those moments, accept what happened, and take your newfound wisdom with you into future experiences.

Start accepting the parts of yourself and your life that you can’t change. Life can be hard, but it’s those moments that matter the most, and that make you who you are. Let yourself go through pain in order to overcome it. Then, take a step back, and appreciate what you gained from that situation. Find the good in every situation you find yourself in. You can’t love yourself if you bury the experiences that made you who you are.

Everything happens for a reason, and you won’t be able to fully appreciate your wins if you don’t let yourself feel your losses.

Be the person you can always count on to give you love.

Advice/How To

Best Shops

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By: Grace Lopez

  1. Target

Target is a really popular place to shop. Target always has really nice clothing, home decor and more. It’s also possibly a grocery store to buy food as some people think it could be really expensive or kind of cheap. But Target would be such a good recommendation to buy home decor or clothing items.

  • Walmart

Walmart is a really good grocery store, you can almost find anything in Walmart, but they also sell some really good clothing, home decor and way more. Walmart could be more on the cheaper side but their item qualities are really good and anyone can also shop here.

  • Cub Foods

Cub Foods is mostly an only Minnesota grocery store. It’s a good store because it offers really good products and very reasonable prices. They are pretty close to everywhere, and that is really convenient too.

  • Lunds and Byerlys

Lunds and Byerlys is a good store because you can have a really good shopping experience. They have a lot of fresh produce, special foods and a lot of bakery items. And what’s good about Lunds and Byerlys is that everything is well organized.

  • Hy-Vee

Hy-Vee is quite a lot like Cub Foods but Hy-Vee is also such a good store to shop at. It offers a lot of services like a pharmacy, groceries and some household items, but what is a little special about Hy-Vee is that there is a gas station and some popular food options.

  • Aldi

Aldi is a good store because they also really focus on their high quality products at very low prices, so that’s why it’s a really good place to shop at. A fun little thing at Aldi is that you will need a quarter to get a shopping cart so you should always be prepared with a quarter to shop.

  • Trader Joe’s

Trader Joe’s has very unique foods that you probably can’t find anywhere else. They also have very high quality products and service and their prices are very very affordable for anyone. They also have really nice produce and more.

Advice/How To

Top 5 animals to have as pets

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By: Cleo Newton

Photo by Gilberto Reyes on Pexels.com

If you plan on getting a pet, I think the following animals would make good pets.

Dog

Dogs are one of the most common pets to have. They’re known to be very loyal and smart. Dogs are also easier to train compared to certain other animals. Dogs can be brought into certain workplaces as long as they’re properly trained. Some of the most popular dog breeds include the Siberian Husky, Golden Retriever, German Shepherd, and a poodle.

Cat

Cats are the other most commonly owned pet. According to Helpguide.org, cats serve as a good outlet for fun and play. They can also be calming to be around. Cats are pretty affectionate and loving towards their owners and/or people they trust. 46.5 million households in the United States own cats. Cats that live indoors by their owners live longer than those that are allowed to wander outside. Keeping your cat inside protects them from dangers such as large birds and traffic.

Betta Fish

If you want to let your kid take care of a pet, Betta fish are an easy pet to take care of. They don’t need much attention other than feeding them and cleaning the bowl daily. They are very pretty and come in many different colors. According to Animals.howthingswork.com, putting two male betta fish together isn’t something you should do as they could end up fighting.

Rabbit

Rabbits are social animals and are smart enough to be trained how to use the litter box. Rabbits may enjoy playing with and sitting next to their owners, but they prefer not to be hugged or snuggled with. Some rabbit breeds include Polish rabbits, Netherland Dwarf rabbit, and the American Fuzzy Lop.

Hamster

Hamsters aren’t considered domestic animals like dogs, cats, rabbits, and Guinea pigs. Just keeping one hamster is fine because like the ones that still live out in nature, they are also solitary creatures.

After reading this article, I hope you’ve learned a bit more about which animals make good pets.

Advice/How To

Things to do to make the most of Winter Break

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By: Kumari Wijetunge

A view of the Mississippi River from the trails in Crosby Farm Regional Park in Saint Paul, Minnesota, United States, February 3, 2016. By: National Park Service-courtesy of Wikimedia Commons 

During winter break many people will leave town or even the country to see family and friends or just for a vacation, but some people will stay home during break. And since many places are closed and friends are out of town, winter break can seem boring or lonely, so here are five things you can do during break to keep yourself busy and make the most of it.

Visit a local Christmas market:

Christmas markets are a great way to take in local Minnesota traditions and Christmas spirit. Here are some options: European Christmas market in St. Paul, which is held in Union Depot, has over 70 different vendors, holiday themed activities, and live entertainment. Another notable option is Dayton’s Holiday Market in Minneapolis. Located in the Nicollet Mall this market has a mix of festive decor, holiday treats, and local artisans. These markets are great places to visit during break.

Visit a llama farm:

There are a few great llama farms in Minnesota and many of these locations let you feed, pet, and take photos with them. Places like Carlsons’s Llovable Llama in Waconia and Pauley Alpaca company in Rochester are awesome places to hang out with some llamas!

Ice castles:

Minnesota Ice Castles have super impressive ice structures, the location changes every year and prices vary depending on what day you go. But no matter what, it’s a super fun experience with ice slides, caverns, tunnels, and many more exciting adventures in ice.

Art Shanty Projects:

The Art Shanty Projects is an immersive art program that takes place on the frozen surface of Minneapolis’ Bdé Umán/Lake Harriet.

Saint Paul Winter Carnival:

The Saint Paul Winter Carnival invites a great lineup of events to experience in Saint Paul. It is the oldest winter festival in the United States. Many events that the carnival offers are free, both traditional favorites and new attractions, that cater to all ages.