I DON’T need more credit cards. I’m not interested in your product samples. I’m not buying a car or a condo unit. These are some of the things that I may end up with if I entertain all the offers from marketing people, even if my only goal in visiting a mall is to have some R&R.

I think a friend did end up buying a condo unit after listening to a pre-selling pitch for a new uptown condo in Cagayan de Oro. She went to the mall for the usual shopping but became a future condo-unit owner instead.

Better start practicing KISS—Keep It Simple and Simpler—so you can avoid such offers.

KISS should be the mantra for life and work and everything else: makeup, sleep, diet, shopping, and possessions.

But the no-makeup makeup look may not be the perfect example for KISS since you can spend many hours putting on makeup in such a way that your face doesn’t look like it has any makeup. Confusing? Okay. Let’s rephrase that. The no-makeup makeup look merely enhances what’s there instead of altering the face until family, friends, and colleagues can’t recognize you anymore.

I don’t know how to put on makeup, so, I bought a user-friendly brand to simplify the process. But even after several minutes of trying so hard, my face still looks bare. Yes, it’s so easy for me to achieve the no-makeup makeup look. Haha. Still, there’s a need to cover up blemishes, wrinkles, and eye luggage under concealer and foundation otherwise I’ll have the no-sleep look.

I’ve reached that certain age where I wake up before 5 am even after a sleepless night. Wait, how to wake up after a sleepless night? Hmmm.

The morning after, my eye luggage is darker and bigger. It could be because of the sleepless night or because I’m into dirty keto again.

Dirty keto refers to low-carb goodies, processed foods, vegetable oils, artificial sweeteners, and ingredients that are hard to pronounce. Whether low-carb or high-carb, ingredients that cannot be pronounced should have “beware” signs on them.

But once you start focusing on the basics—beef, pork, chicken, fish, eggs—a clean low-carb diet becomes easier to manage. And that also results in a lower budget for food since intermittent fasting is possible once proteins and fats are filling up the tummy. Imagine eating only two meals a day (TMAD), with no snacks—lots of savings there.

With TMAD or even one meal a day a.k.a. OMAD, it’s like your food intake is going through its own spring cleaning. The urge to declutter will then be your second nature since the clear mind that results from intermittent fasting can now help you differentiate the essential from the non-essential.

The essentials are in the eyes of the beholder, though. Makeup, for example, is essential to those who can’t leave the house with a bare face.

My essentials have always been books, writing supplies, and food. But I’ve already reduced the number of books on the shelves, and also my food choices. It’s the writing supplies that are hard to minimize as I tend to buy them in bulk.