NEAT & SIMPLE LIVING

Want to get the people you live with to be neater and / or more organized?

If you've been struggling to try and get the people you live with to be neater, or to change in any way, you must check out this post by Liz Strauss based on Steve Pavlina's article on Understanding Human Relationships  which is exceptional. (Steve's blog is an excellent resource for self-development.)

See Liz Strauss's Post on Relationships - Interestingly, the example used in this article is how Steve approached getting his wife to be neater!  But don't look for a magic cure to "fix" your loved one.  As Liz says,

The quickest way to change someone’s behavior is to change our own.

See another EXCELLENT post by Steve on this topic here:
Understanding Family Relationship Problems

Also see The #1 Mistake People Make When Using the Law of Attraction and  Why Do Intentions Take So Long to Manifest? by Steve Pavlina.  These are great resources to help you if you are struggling with attracting what you really want into your life.

See All Related Posts on the Neat Living Blog.

Peace Be With You  : )

How to Protect Your Family & Home From "Lock Bumping" - This is a Must See

A friend sent me this YouTube link to share with ya'll.  It's a video clip from a news report on "Lock Bumping" 

Essentially, the point is this - If you don't have a certain type of high quality locks on your front doors , you are at risk.  There are videos all over the internet right now teaching people how to make special keys that can open your door locks just by "bumping" them into the lock a certain way. I'm not going to link to them here, but trust me, they are there.   You must watch this video clip to believe it. 

Tips to Protect Your Family

Get "Bump-Proof Locks" - Thankfully, we have Medeco locks which are one of the few "bump-proof" locks.  The Medeco site has an article about how they Combat the Bump Key here. According to the Medeco article,

"Medeco is commonly known as a ‘bump proof lock’ by those who view picking as a sport. Standard locks utilize a single locking point, while high security locks such as Medeco utilize multiple locking technologies. To see why Medeco is not vulnerable to this type of attack, a short video is available at www.medeco.com in the Interactive Security Solutions link."

Click here to watch the Medeco videos

Here are some more tips from Wikipedia on how to make sure your locks are not vulnerable to lock bumping.

"Ironically, more precise manufacturing tolerances within the cylinder make bumping easier as the pins move more freely and smoothly. Also, more expensive locks made of hardened steel are actually more vulnerable because they are less prone to damage during the bumping process which might cause a cheaper lock to jam.

Locks having security pins (spool or mushroom pins, etc.)—even when combined with a regular tumbler mechanism—generally make bumping somewhat more difficult, but not impossible.

Electronic locks, magnetic locks, and locks using rotating disks are not vulnerable to this attack.

Because a bump key must have the same blank profile as the lock it is made to open, restricted or registered key profiles are much safer from bumping, as the correct keyblanks cannot legally be obtained without permission and/or registration with relevant locksmiths' associations."

Here's to staying one step ahead...

Monday "Link Love" Fest! Don't miss these fabulous posts from Inspirational Bloggers!

Over the weekend I decided to catch up with some of my favorite bloggers and I found so much to learn and be inspired by!   So I decided to have a Link Love Fest and just put a bunch of great links in one post!  So without further ado, here are some of the best, most insightful and inspiration posts I found!  These are not in any particular order - they are all awesome posts! 

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Learn the Rules with Liz

"Business Rules They Don't Teach in School".  From the warm and super-smart Liz Strauss of www.Successful-Blog.com we have a series of insightful rules that are true for business and life in general.  I love her canoe analogy which illustrates Rule #6 !

"Focusing on the past can’t fix the future. Focusing on the future might."

It does no good to blame or find fault or regret...just focus on making things right!

Rules Posts by Liz
Business Rule 5: Never Underestimate the Power of a Voice on the Telephone
Business Rule 4: You Know Your Truth — Listen to Yourself
Business Rule 3: In PRM, the First Test Always Outweighs the Final
Business Rule 2: How to Do What You Want
Business Rule 1: Working at Home and Doing it Right

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Get Healthy with Wendy

The Psychology of Losing Weight
The Psychology of Losing Weight - Listening
When is it Time to Leave an Alcoholic? (Her advice applies not only to being involved with alcoholics but with people with any addiction that is ruining your lives - including clutter.

These are from the fabulous fountain of inspiration, WendyPiersall.com - )

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Cultivate Enthusiasm with Mark!

5 Reasons Why Enthusiasm is Better than Confidence This is is a post that will make you smile no matter what you are feeling when you read it! From Mark McGuiness and the "Wishful Thinking" Blog (with thanks to the wise, witty & wonderful Gretchen Rubin of the Happiness Project for introducing me to this great blog!)

"Nothing great was ever achieved without enthusiasm."
– Ralph Waldo Emerson

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Bust a Myth - This is a Shocker!

You don't really need 8 glasses of water a day!  You must read this study from Dartmouth University!  Personally, I drink 2-6 glasses a day depending on how I feel.  I can never get down the full 8!  Thanks to Gretchen Rubin of the Happiness Project for finally helping me not feel guilty about this!  : )

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Get Happy with Gretchen

A refinement of my earth-shattering happiness formula. Gretchen Rubin of the Happiness Project strikes gold every time she touches the keyboard - this is a platinum insight from her!

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Become a Great Blogger with Brian, Liz, Sarah, Robin &  Wendy

I can't share just one post from these guys...if you want to be a better blogger, check out these masters.

http://www.copyblogger.com/  Brian Clark
http://www.successful-blog.com/ Liz Strauss
http://www.bloggingexpertise.com/ Sarah Lewis
http://www.sleepyblogger.com/ Robyn Tippins
http://emomsathome.com/blog/ Wendy Piersall

Check out the SOBCon'07 event!  A Relationship Bloggers’ Conference and
Networking Event in Chicago Relationship Bloggers Unite! SOBCon ‘07 This promises to be a fabuous event!  I wish I could go!

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That's it for today...I'll be back with more later in the week!

Tips on Staying Safe When You Work In Clients' Homes

In response to my post on staying safe when selling items online, Michele posed the question:

"I use Craiglist.com to market my organizing services. Do you have advice for people who do in-home services to lessen their risk?"   

In fact I do!  If you work in people's homes, you should keep safety in mind no matter how people learn about your services, ad, website, Craigslist, etc.

Any time you get a call from someone you don't know, there is a risk.  Granted, most of us never, or rarely, have any problems like that...but there are some tips you should keep in mind.

1.  ALWAYS, I repeat, ALWAYS trust your instincts. 

If you are talking with someone on the phone..and something doesn't feel right...DON'T make the appt.  EVER. 

Do NOT talk yourself into thinking you are just being silly.  If for some reason you make the appointment and then you worry about it - CANCEL it. 

Do NOT let your need to make money overcome your instincts.

Be Careful When You Sell or Give Away Your Things Online!

We had some disturbing news here in Bloomfield NJ this week.  I don't want to scare anyone, but I do hope to raise awareness of keeping your personal safety in mind when selling your things.

A man placed an ad on www.Craigslist.com to sell his PlayStation3. A buyer (male) made an appointment to come to his apartment. The buyer arrived and said "let me go to my car and get the money." He then pretended to leave, but suddenly turned around, pulled out a handgun, robbed the man and took the PlayStation.

Our local news said the police checked with Craig's List, but no similar incidents have been reported. They are in the process of tracing the suspect's cell phone number but the robber has not been found.   Read more aobut the story here on LocalSource.com.

So what can you do to be safer?

Here are a few ideas that come to mind...please share any others you can think of! 

1. Donate your stuff instead!  See all my posts in this category here. This is ultimately not only safer but can net you even more money if you claim the deductions on your tax return and use www.itsdeductible.com 
2. Consider meeting people in a public place to transfer the goods.
3. Require people to email you a photo of themselves before giving out your address. That way you can look through a window and make sure that at least if something goes wrong you will have a photo of the person. 
4. Consider making people pay you a deposit via www.PayPal.com  At least you will know their identity has been verified by a third party.
5. Make sure other people are home with you and able to call the police immediately if anything should go wrong.

Stay Safe!

Neat Living is in the Wall Street Journal!

As I'm recovering from a bad lung infection that has kept me offline and out of work the last week, I got great news today!   I was quoted in an article in the Wall Street Journal called "Declutter Your Career To Make Way for Success" by Sarah Needleman!

I also heard my name on the radio this morning at 8:35 (WCBS 880 am) as they quoted me from the article. It was so weird...the announcer even pronounced my name exactly right. I'm not used to that!  : )

You find the article in a few places:

The Wall Street Journal's Executive Career Site http://www.careerjournal.com/myc/climbing/20070206-needleman.html?cjpos=home_whatsnew_major

The Wall Street Journal's College Journal Site http://www.collegejournal.com/successwork/onjob/20070206-needleman.html

And in the print version of the Wall Street Journal on page B15!

What a nice way to help me get energized to get back to work!