I cleaned my clothes closet last month. I found an amazing amount of clothing that either I didn't like anymore or was two sizes too big. It really felt good to get all of that out of the way. I can find things so much easier too. We also store much of our winter clothing in under bed storage.
Except mine isn't just strictly for Spring, it's on going the entire year to be more of a minimalist, and to have more of a uncluttered, zen lifestyle. Hence why I'm selling all I can on FB Closet...
I have yet to start on my dvds, cds, books, and comic books... ugh :)
Nice post and good luck with your spring clean! Two small things:
1. Be careful with getting rid of your cd's. My computer and soundsystem both crashed in 2007 meaning all my music that was saved was gone. Even with an external hard-drive it can be risky. I have one of those IKEA tables that is box shaped and then the inside is storage, all my cd's happily reside there - out of the way but handy in an emergency.
2. I also used to keep books galore and found it hard to get rid of them even when I came to the viewpoint that if I kept them all I would miss out on all the new books that were printed each day. LibraryThing (www.librarything.com) is a great solution. Here you can put in all the books you have, including your thoughts on the book, reviews, when you finished the book, etc and then you can let all those books go. That way you have a record of what you read without the hassle of keeping a space for it.
Isn't it true that most unhappiness comes from wanting those things that we cannot have ? Although, I believe that we don't always want to be happy, to avoid much sadness, wouldn't it be fun to learn to enjoy those things that we can have. A good friend, a sunny day, a warm breeze, a cool drink. Life is so good it seems such a shame that it takes adversity for us to recognize it. Right now I need to breathe but I am also enjoying it greatly. Have a most enjoyable Day.
You know I've seen this happen with my ING account too. In my savings it went up to 3.057% on March 11th, and then on March 19th went down to 2.960%. At first I thought I was being penalized for transferring money out of my savings account, but this actually makes me feel better about that thought.
Statistically, in 1/3 of households the wife earns more than the husband. This may sound strange but I have a few friends who have divorced and are quite happy with the outcome. Their husbands were a drain financially and in the end, separating the finances worked out for the best! Guess the coin turns both ways nowadays!
Regardless of what those videos say, the choice is 50/50. No matter what door you pick, one goat door will be removed. You will always be left with a goat door and a car door. Doesn't matter if you pick goat 1, goat 2, or the car first.
It's amazing how some people, even when faced with overwhelming evidence to the contrary, are so confident in their preconceived notions.
I tried XDrive and it was terrible for my purposes. I needed it to back up files unattended on a schedule, and it simply failed more often than it worked. I switched to iDrive. They give you 2 GB free, but the best part is that they give you another 10 GB for referring them to five other people. They do respond to support requests, even from free accounts. The software is also updated on a regular basis.
"Neither a borrower, nor lender be," said Jesus Christ at some point when he existed some 2000 years ago.
No, he said that the borrower is slave to the lender. He also said some other things that would rightly lead one to the summary you cited. But it's dangerous to quote summaries as scripture.
@ AZ if you want to start a conversation, pick something that they are wearing and compliment them on it, or bring up a recent news topic (not politics!), or if nothing else the weather!
Seriously the easiest way to learn to start conversations is to keep doing it.
I am painfully shy but always force myself to do this for at least awhile at every social event I attend. Sometimes the attempts at conversation fall flat, and sometimes I think back and feel like I have said something stupid after I walk away. But in general most people are polite enough to chat with you.
Also I have heard through friends and colleagues that the opinion that these strangers have of me after these events is that I am friendly, not odd or stupid or weird. So it's worth it.
Great article Nora!
I try to be as nice as the next person, no matter who I'm dealing with. But am I the only one here who's had bad experiences with (for example) people who work at McDonald's because they act like they're doing ME a huge favor by ringing up my order?
I've definitely had my share of employees giving me a brusque "what can I get you" that's had plenty of attitude in it. And sorry to say, I'm not exactly nice if they're going to start off by giving me attitude first.
While the wage rate in a factory in China may seem absurdly low, one must look at the cost of living in China. How much are groceries, rent, transportation, etc? If adjusted for these parameters, perhaps the wage, though still low, would not seem quite as inhumane as it does when one compares it to western standards.
I'm not in these guy's league but I'm doing OK. Reminds me of the story about the High School Idiot who turns up at his 10 years reunion driving a Ferrari.
One of his old classmates asked him how he made so much money so quickly ... he said:
"It's simple, I buy stuff and sell it for a 3% margin"
The old class-mate says: "how can you possibly make any money at only 3%"
To which he replied: "I buy stuff for $1 and sell it for $3 ... that's 3%"!
You dont have to be smart to be rich ... math optional!
Keeping copies on which the bar codes and information can be read after it's faxed for the 3rd time is the key, and so is patience. I just got $450 worth of rebates back on my computer. Took 2 months, and 3 hours of my time when one of the rebates screwed up. I don't make $150 an hour, so I'm good with it.
I worked for a rebate place. Not many people realize the enormous volume: Your carefully prepared envelope of receipts, UPCs and forms is ripped open, scanned/data entered by someone making 6 cents per envelope, then it hits file 13 -- it isn't kept. I worked missing rebate inquiries via email from home, and only had what came up on my computer to show whether proper documentation was received. To generate a rebate a page of fields is filled out: Valid dates, valid UPC codes, valid store name/ID numbers, etc. The codes are like those encrypted credit card numbers; you can't force through a random number in a field (we all tried).
However, I did have a small amount of discretion to force through a transaction (from $2 to $150) if something went wrong. Some companies would even allow us to reimburse under another of their promotions if we felt the person got screwed over somehow (the product company's choice, not a rebate center decision).
I made 15 cents per email inquiry no matter how long the research or reply took. If the person got nasty it took an incredible Zen-like effort not to enter the "did not meet terms of promotion" code, hit reply, move along. For reasonable people, I and my fellow rebaters would take time to force through a transaction if it seemed the person tried to comply and/or we lost something. When I asked for backup documentation I wasn't stalling, I was trying to get the proper codes to make the computer in Maryland spit out a check. When people refused because they "shouldn't have to do all that again" there was nothing I could do but auto reply.
Some people misunderstood or missed the terms of the rebate, or their documentation got lost in the enormous opened envelope pile. (Purchased too few, past date due to post office, lost the UPC, spilled coffee on the receipt, couldn't read the copy you sent -- not your fault, I know, but I can't help you.) The rebate center doesn't get to "keep" money they don't send out. They just administer the terms of the promotion for the company that sells the product, and that company determines who gets through the golden gates.
Politeness goes a long way in the rebating world. My coworkers and I enjoyed our slave labor job when it let us send money out to frugal people. Be kind to your rebate contact; chances are that person is sitting at their computer at 2 a.m. drinking cheap store brand coffee and thinking "Hey, this guy is cool and he kept his sense of humor. Let's see if I can force this through somehow." When you resubmit 4 pages of copies for your Athelon MD Processor and get a check for the right amount with the odd notation "Promotion closed, CSR applied Energizer Bunny Clock 369D $150," just smile and head for the bank :)
This is really crazy my neighbors are in the same situation. I know a couple that will not get married for the exact same reason as the Man who divorced his disabled wife. The girlfriend receives Medicaid and has extremely expensive Doctors bills every year and if they were to get married she would lose her insurance and the boyfriends isn't as good as hers. They would literally go bankrupt if they got married.
I too am nervous about getting married because I am pretty sure that will throw us into AMT. If separately we pay plenty of taxes (and believe me, we do), why on earth should we have to pay more together??? We live together now and share fiances, so there is really no need for us to marry except for pressure from family and society.
I'm not very good with small talk, but it occurs to me that aside from weather and politics, there's always inquiring about how a new friend has come to know the host of the party. :) Odds are good that if you're at a party with others, there's going to be some element of commonality, and it's a direct link between you and your new friend.
I think I heard of Wisebread through The Happiness Project, and have to admit that I prefer Wisebread. It's good to meet you!
Why not you take a look at easystockalerts.com with lots information and updates? You can get all recent news and information relating to the stock you follow from this site. Site also monitors some of the top financial blogs for opinions on your stocks. It’s not a spam, just very useful, actionable investment ideas. So make money now and sign up for easystockalerts.com
I completely disagree. I have been dealing with Marty for about 4 years.
Even when he can’t help me, he gives me ideas on where to take the deal.
Not only that but he actually answers the phone and has manners, unlike most hard money lenders.
You either caught him on a bad day or did something to offend him. Just my opinion.
Very interesting article. My biggest problem is small talk. If I am involved in a subject, and know about a person and their interests, I can chat all day - but with 'strangers' or people I know less of, I can't. I don't know how to strike up a conversation. The whole process just feels completely un-natural.
Now, at work I know what everybody does, and some of their interests - so I can easily bring up things like work, politics or sports.
So, at a party with many people I don't know, I'm a wallflower. How to get started, I need an article about that!
I'm sorry, but the vinegar one just sounds disgusting. It'd be like drinking weak floor cleaner. Salt doesn't sound that great either. Salt water (even to gargle on a sore throat) makes me vomit. The others don't sound so bad though.
As a college kid, I'm usually too lazy/broke to go for fresh fruits to add. I tend to toss a lemon zinger tea bag into a gallon pitcher and reuse it throughout the rest of the day. Makes for a zingy lemoney quick and easy change to water that keeps me away from soda.
I cleaned my clothes closet last month. I found an amazing amount of clothing that either I didn't like anymore or was two sizes too big. It really felt good to get all of that out of the way. I can find things so much easier too. We also store much of our winter clothing in under bed storage.
Except mine isn't just strictly for Spring, it's on going the entire year to be more of a minimalist, and to have more of a uncluttered, zen lifestyle. Hence why I'm selling all I can on FB Closet...
I have yet to start on my dvds, cds, books, and comic books... ugh :)
Nice post and good luck with your spring clean! Two small things:
1. Be careful with getting rid of your cd's. My computer and soundsystem both crashed in 2007 meaning all my music that was saved was gone. Even with an external hard-drive it can be risky. I have one of those IKEA tables that is box shaped and then the inside is storage, all my cd's happily reside there - out of the way but handy in an emergency.
2. I also used to keep books galore and found it hard to get rid of them even when I came to the viewpoint that if I kept them all I would miss out on all the new books that were printed each day. LibraryThing (www.librarything.com) is a great solution. Here you can put in all the books you have, including your thoughts on the book, reviews, when you finished the book, etc and then you can let all those books go. That way you have a record of what you read without the hassle of keeping a space for it.
Best wishes,
Cloggie In Training
Isn't it true that most unhappiness comes from wanting those things that we cannot have ? Although, I believe that we don't always want to be happy, to avoid much sadness, wouldn't it be fun to learn to enjoy those things that we can have. A good friend, a sunny day, a warm breeze, a cool drink. Life is so good it seems such a shame that it takes adversity for us to recognize it. Right now I need to breathe but I am also enjoying it greatly. Have a most enjoyable Day.
You know I've seen this happen with my ING account too. In my savings it went up to 3.057% on March 11th, and then on March 19th went down to 2.960%. At first I thought I was being penalized for transferring money out of my savings account, but this actually makes me feel better about that thought.
whether laundering money or not, everybody has the choice to do good or bad things
Hi.
Thought you may be interested in a new recall source.
www.totalrecallinfo.com
Take care.
Statistically, in 1/3 of households the wife earns more than the husband. This may sound strange but I have a few friends who have divorced and are quite happy with the outcome. Their husbands were a drain financially and in the end, separating the finances worked out for the best! Guess the coin turns both ways nowadays!
Regardless of what those videos say, the choice is 50/50. No matter what door you pick, one goat door will be removed. You will always be left with a goat door and a car door. Doesn't matter if you pick goat 1, goat 2, or the car first.
It's amazing how some people, even when faced with overwhelming evidence to the contrary, are so confident in their preconceived notions.
I tried XDrive and it was terrible for my purposes. I needed it to back up files unattended on a schedule, and it simply failed more often than it worked. I switched to iDrive. They give you 2 GB free, but the best part is that they give you another 10 GB for referring them to five other people. They do respond to support requests, even from free accounts. The software is also updated on a regular basis.
"Neither a borrower, nor lender be," said Jesus Christ at some point when he existed some 2000 years ago.
No, he said that the borrower is slave to the lender. He also said some other things that would rightly lead one to the summary you cited. But it's dangerous to quote summaries as scripture.
@ AZ if you want to start a conversation, pick something that they are wearing and compliment them on it, or bring up a recent news topic (not politics!), or if nothing else the weather!
Seriously the easiest way to learn to start conversations is to keep doing it.
I am painfully shy but always force myself to do this for at least awhile at every social event I attend. Sometimes the attempts at conversation fall flat, and sometimes I think back and feel like I have said something stupid after I walk away. But in general most people are polite enough to chat with you.
Also I have heard through friends and colleagues that the opinion that these strangers have of me after these events is that I am friendly, not odd or stupid or weird. So it's worth it.
Great article Nora!
I try to be as nice as the next person, no matter who I'm dealing with. But am I the only one here who's had bad experiences with (for example) people who work at McDonald's because they act like they're doing ME a huge favor by ringing up my order?
I've definitely had my share of employees giving me a brusque "what can I get you" that's had plenty of attitude in it. And sorry to say, I'm not exactly nice if they're going to start off by giving me attitude first.
While the wage rate in a factory in China may seem absurdly low, one must look at the cost of living in China. How much are groceries, rent, transportation, etc? If adjusted for these parameters, perhaps the wage, though still low, would not seem quite as inhumane as it does when one compares it to western standards.
You can get a red swingline stapler here
I'm not in these guy's league but I'm doing OK. Reminds me of the story about the High School Idiot who turns up at his 10 years reunion driving a Ferrari.
One of his old classmates asked him how he made so much money so quickly ... he said:
"It's simple, I buy stuff and sell it for a 3% margin"
The old class-mate says: "how can you possibly make any money at only 3%"
To which he replied: "I buy stuff for $1 and sell it for $3 ... that's 3%"!
You dont have to be smart to be rich ... math optional!
Trust me ... I should know ;)
Keeping copies on which the bar codes and information can be read after it's faxed for the 3rd time is the key, and so is patience. I just got $450 worth of rebates back on my computer. Took 2 months, and 3 hours of my time when one of the rebates screwed up. I don't make $150 an hour, so I'm good with it.
I worked for a rebate place. Not many people realize the enormous volume: Your carefully prepared envelope of receipts, UPCs and forms is ripped open, scanned/data entered by someone making 6 cents per envelope, then it hits file 13 -- it isn't kept. I worked missing rebate inquiries via email from home, and only had what came up on my computer to show whether proper documentation was received. To generate a rebate a page of fields is filled out: Valid dates, valid UPC codes, valid store name/ID numbers, etc. The codes are like those encrypted credit card numbers; you can't force through a random number in a field (we all tried).
However, I did have a small amount of discretion to force through a transaction (from $2 to $150) if something went wrong. Some companies would even allow us to reimburse under another of their promotions if we felt the person got screwed over somehow (the product company's choice, not a rebate center decision).
I made 15 cents per email inquiry no matter how long the research or reply took. If the person got nasty it took an incredible Zen-like effort not to enter the "did not meet terms of promotion" code, hit reply, move along. For reasonable people, I and my fellow rebaters would take time to force through a transaction if it seemed the person tried to comply and/or we lost something. When I asked for backup documentation I wasn't stalling, I was trying to get the proper codes to make the computer in Maryland spit out a check. When people refused because they "shouldn't have to do all that again" there was nothing I could do but auto reply.
Some people misunderstood or missed the terms of the rebate, or their documentation got lost in the enormous opened envelope pile. (Purchased too few, past date due to post office, lost the UPC, spilled coffee on the receipt, couldn't read the copy you sent -- not your fault, I know, but I can't help you.) The rebate center doesn't get to "keep" money they don't send out. They just administer the terms of the promotion for the company that sells the product, and that company determines who gets through the golden gates.
Politeness goes a long way in the rebating world. My coworkers and I enjoyed our slave labor job when it let us send money out to frugal people. Be kind to your rebate contact; chances are that person is sitting at their computer at 2 a.m. drinking cheap store brand coffee and thinking "Hey, this guy is cool and he kept his sense of humor. Let's see if I can force this through somehow." When you resubmit 4 pages of copies for your Athelon MD Processor and get a check for the right amount with the odd notation "Promotion closed, CSR applied Energizer Bunny Clock 369D $150," just smile and head for the bank :)
This is really crazy my neighbors are in the same situation. I know a couple that will not get married for the exact same reason as the Man who divorced his disabled wife. The girlfriend receives Medicaid and has extremely expensive Doctors bills every year and if they were to get married she would lose her insurance and the boyfriends isn't as good as hers. They would literally go bankrupt if they got married.
I too am nervous about getting married because I am pretty sure that will throw us into AMT. If separately we pay plenty of taxes (and believe me, we do), why on earth should we have to pay more together??? We live together now and share fiances, so there is really no need for us to marry except for pressure from family and society.
I'm not very good with small talk, but it occurs to me that aside from weather and politics, there's always inquiring about how a new friend has come to know the host of the party. :) Odds are good that if you're at a party with others, there's going to be some element of commonality, and it's a direct link between you and your new friend.
I think I heard of Wisebread through The Happiness Project, and have to admit that I prefer Wisebread. It's good to meet you!
Why not you take a look at easystockalerts.com with lots information and updates? You can get all recent news and information relating to the stock you follow from this site. Site also monitors some of the top financial blogs for opinions on your stocks. It’s not a spam, just very useful, actionable investment ideas. So make money now and sign up for easystockalerts.com
I completely disagree. I have been dealing with Marty for about 4 years.
Even when he can’t help me, he gives me ideas on where to take the deal.
Not only that but he actually answers the phone and has manners, unlike most hard money lenders.
You either caught him on a bad day or did something to offend him. Just my opinion.
Very interesting article. My biggest problem is small talk. If I am involved in a subject, and know about a person and their interests, I can chat all day - but with 'strangers' or people I know less of, I can't. I don't know how to strike up a conversation. The whole process just feels completely un-natural.
Now, at work I know what everybody does, and some of their interests - so I can easily bring up things like work, politics or sports.
So, at a party with many people I don't know, I'm a wallflower. How to get started, I need an article about that!
Great site, love it. Thanks!
I'm sorry, but the vinegar one just sounds disgusting. It'd be like drinking weak floor cleaner. Salt doesn't sound that great either. Salt water (even to gargle on a sore throat) makes me vomit. The others don't sound so bad though.
As a college kid, I'm usually too lazy/broke to go for fresh fruits to add. I tend to toss a lemon zinger tea bag into a gallon pitcher and reuse it throughout the rest of the day. Makes for a zingy lemoney quick and easy change to water that keeps me away from soda.