NEAT & SIMPLE LIVING

25 Ways I Save Money - 2008

I wrote a post on this a few years ago, and with financial times the way they are, I thought this might be a good time to update it and ask: How are you Saving Money?

1. We live in a smaller house than we can afford, and do our own gardening, home repairs and painting. This year, we redid our front garden to expand it and use only plants that don't require watering, and that are perennial.  This is going to save us a lot of money on annuals! Plus it's going to save a lot of time spent on mowing. The new tree will also give us more shade in the summer and save on energy.
    
   
2. Pay bills online with a free checking & online account which also pays interest on our balances.
   
3. We still have our home equity loan balance on a 0% credit card. Haven't paid interest for the 3 years since we renovated the entire front and backyard of our home which has enabled us to pay it off much faster. I set up reminders in my GOOGLE CALENDAR to tell me when the 0% rate is up and then we move it to another 0% interest account. We have paid most of it, and used it to invest in a new roof. But it's still all 0%.
   
4. We never use an ATM or any other banking service that charges fees.
   
5. We changed all our lightbulbs to compact flourescent bulbs including our front porch and outdoor lights. Of course we got them in bulk on sale! We still have not had to replace any of these bulbs.  They really last!
   
6. We use a single Amazon.com Rewards Credit Card and get $25 rewards every month or two. We put all daily living purchases on it and pay it in full every month. We use the reward certificates for birthday gifts that we can simply enclose in a birthday card. In 2008, we earned over 500$ for using our card.
    
7. We use a Miles One Rewards credit card for all business purchases and get free miles for traveling. In 2008, we got Alan's ticket to go with me to the NSGCD Conference for free.
   
8. Don't go to movie theaters anymore - we have cable & wait for movies to come out on cable.  We use Tivo to record movies we really want to see.
   
9. We only eat in restaurants or get takeout maybe once a month or even 2 months. We cook at home every day.
   
10. We only run the dishwasher and washing machine when it's full.
    
11. Only drink water, coffee or tea...no sodas, etc.  We don't drink alcohol at all any more.   
    
12. We moved our car insurance to Geico last year and saved $1500 per year.  Northern NJ has nearly the highest insurance rates in the country. We couldn't believe we saved this much.  And our insurance rates have actually gone down every year!  Probably because my car just keeps getting older.  We also have a huge collision deductible which also keeps rates down.
    
13. I cut my husband's hair myself.
     
14. deleted - out of date
    
15. deleted - out of date
    
16. I mostly only wear lipstick and blush.  Only use full makeup for special occasions.  :)
    
17. Only wear a watch and my wedding rings as jewelry.  Jewelry on my neck, wrists or ears causes me a lot of discomfort and annoyance anyway.
    
18. Do my own pedicures and go out for a pedicure maybe once a year as a treat for a special occasion.
    
19. Do my own manicures...and I don't use nail polish on my fingernails - it saves a lot of time too!!  : )
    
20. We rarely throw any food anyway. We have a system for storing leftovers to make sure we use them them. We always put leftovers in a designated section of the top shelf in the fridge next to the milk so we can't forget about them. We use leftovers the next day for lunch or snacks or as a side dish with dinner.
     
21. We have a small Cuisinart counter top combo toaster, broiler and convection oven and use that for heating & baking small portions instead of turning on the oven.
     
22. We keep our cars. I've only bought one brand new car in my life! Cars only depreciate so I never saw the point in losing a few thousand dollars as soon as you drive it off the lot.  But I did finally splurge on my 40th birthday and got myself a 2000 Sebring Convertible which I will keep as long it is still safe to drive!  I love it!  It is actually very practical as we can open the top and haul just about anything an SUV can.  Even more!  Plus it gets about 27 MPG.  Not bad when you consider how much mileage an SUV gets. In 2008, it is still going strong, but does have a little water leak. : )
    
    I had my 1988 Honda Accord for 10 years until I gave it to my brother in 2000.  He had it another 4 years before it died.  My husband has a 2003 Honda Civic Hybrid he LOVES and it gets nearly 50 mpg.  We also buy other things used...like our dining room set.
    
23. We don't buy CDs or DVDs anymore - we download most of our music  - we get 25 songs free every month with our Comcast cable internet service.  The super high speed internet pays for itself between the free music and all the research we do on it to save money.
    
24. We avoid processed foods like microwave popcorn, we use the bulk kind and have a West Bend Stir Crazy popcorn popper.which is actually a lot of fun to use!  We also make our own sugar free ice cream with just fruit and milk using the Vitamix blender we invested in. Cutting out sugar and gluten has saved a lot of money in addition to improving our health dramatically.
    
25. We use a digital camera for photos and ONLY print out a very select few!

Whew...that was fun!   So what are your top tips?  Would love to hear any additions you might have!    : ) 

Happy Thanksgiving!    I'll be in Virginia visiting family till Sunday!

 

See you next week! 

 

1. We live in a smaller house than we can afford, and do our own gardening, home repairs and painting. This year, we redid our front garden to expand it and use only plants that don't require watering, and that are perennial.  This is going to save us a lot of money on annuals! Plus it's going to save a lot of time spent on mowing. The new tree will also give us more shade in the summer and save on energy.
    
   
2. Pay bills online with a free checking & online account which also pays interest on our balances.
   
3. We still have our home equity loan balance on a 0% credit card. Haven't paid interest for the 3 years since we renovated the entire front and backyard of our home which has enabled us to pay it off much faster. I set up reminders in my GOOGLE CALENDAR to tell me when the 0% rate is up and then we move it to another 0% interest account. We have paid most of it, and used it to invest in a new roof. But it's still all 0%.
   
4. We never use an ATM or any other banking service that charges fees.
   
5. We changed all our lightbulbs to compact flourescent bulbs including our front porch and outdoor lights. Of course we got them in bulk on sale! We still have not had to replace any of these bulbs.  They really last!
   
6. We use a single Amazon.com Rewards Credit Card and get $25 rewards every month or two. We put all daily living purchases on it and pay it in full every month. We use the reward certificates for birthday gifts that we can simply enclose in a birthday card. In 2008, we earned over 500$ for using our card.
    
7. We use a Miles One Rewards credit card for all business purchases and get free miles for traveling. In 2008, we got Alan's ticket to go with me to the NSGCD Conference for free.
   
8. Don't go to movie theaters anymore - we have cable & wait for movies to come out on cable.  We use Tivo to record movies we really want to see.
   
9. We only eat in restaurants or get takeout maybe once a month or even 2 months. We cook at home every day.
   
10. We only run the dishwasher and washing machine when it's full.
    
11. Only drink water, coffee or tea...no sodas, etc.  We don't drink alcohol at all any more.   
    
12. We moved our car insurance to Geico last year and saved $1500 per year.  Northern NJ has nearly the highest insurance rates in the country. We couldn't believe we saved this much.  And our insurance rates have actually gone down every year!  Probably because my car just keeps getting older.  We also have a huge collision deductible which also keeps rates down.
    
13. I cut my husband's hair myself.
     
14. deleted - out of date
    
15. deleted - out of date
    
16. I mostly only wear lipstick and blush.  Only use full makeup for special occasions.  :)
    
17. Only wear a watch and my wedding rings as jewelry.  Jewelry on my neck, wrists or ears causes me a lot of discomfort and annoyance anyway.
    
18. Do my own pedicures and go out for a pedicure maybe once a year as a treat for a special occasion.
    
19. Do my own manicures...and I don't use nail polish on my fingernails - it saves a lot of time too!!  : )
    
20. We rarely throw any food anyway. We have a system for storing leftovers to make sure we use them them. We always put leftovers in a designated section of the top shelf in the fridge next to the milk so we can't forget about them. We use leftovers the next day for lunch or snacks or as a side dish with dinner.
     
21. We have a small Cuisinart counter top combo toaster, broiler and convection oven and use that for heating & baking small portions instead of turning on the oven.
     
22. We keep our cars. I've only bought one brand new car in my life! Cars only depreciate so I never saw the point in losing a few thousand dollars as soon as you drive it off the lot.  But I did finally splurge on my 40th birthday and got myself a 2000 Sebring Convertible which I will keep as long it is still safe to drive!  I love it!  It is actually very practical as we can open the top and haul just about anything an SUV can.  Even more!  Plus it gets about 27 MPG.  Not bad when you consider how much mileage an SUV gets. In 2008, it is still going strong, but does have a little water leak. : )
    
    I had my 1988 Honda Accord for 10 years until I gave it to my brother in 2000.  He had it another 4 years before it died.  My husband has a 2003 Honda Civic Hybrid he LOVES and it gets nearly 50 mpg.  We also buy other things used...like our dining room set.
    
23. We don't buy CDs or DVDs anymore - we download most of our music  - we get 25 songs free every month with our Comcast cable internet service.  The super high speed internet pays for itself between the free music and all the research we do on it to save money.
    
24. We avoid processed foods like microwave popcorn, we use the bulk kind and have a West Bend Stir Crazy popcorn popper.which is actually a lot of fun to use!  We also make our own sugar free ice cream with just fruit and milk using the Vitamix blender we invested in. Cutting out sugar and gluten has saved a lot of money in addition to improving our health dramatically.
    
25. We use a digital camera for photos and ONLY print out a very select few!

Whew...that was fun!   So what are your top tips?  Would love to hear any additions you might have!    : ) 

Happy Thanksgiving!    I'll be in Virginia visiting family till Sunday!

 

See you next week! 

 

Are you inadvertently making it hard for me to leave comments on your blog?

I am writing this because I think many of my blogging friends may be wondering why I don't comment on their blogs often.  The reason is that you may have it made too difficult for me!!!  

I know you don't mean to, so that's why I decided to write this post and let you know why you don't hear from me like you used to.  

Over a year ago I stopped commenting on most blogs.  Here's my number one reason why.

 They have CAPTCHA enabled to "challenge" me.  And boy it does challenge me. TOO MUCH.  

I have come to despise CAPTCHA, you know those letters and numbers you have to type just to leave your note?   If a blogger makes me type those challenge letters, I figure they must not really care about getting comments. Here's what happens to me.

I read a lovely post that touches my heart and I want to comment. So even though I have vision and typing issues I type it up.  Then they hit me with "the Challenge" I sigh and then try...but I usually get it wrong 4 or 5 times - its incredibly frustrating. Not only was it time consuming for me to write the comment, I have to go through this.  Then even worse, at least half the time I lose the comment I wrote because for some reason the window shuts down.  So I stopped commenting. 

NEW RULE:  I don't leave comments if people make it hard for me to do so.

I know. Everyone whines, "but what about Spammers?"  Well, what about them?  

Do you really get that many?  I don't.  Maybe once a month and I get a lot of traffic to this blog.  I have about 3000 readers.

 

And how hard is it to delete spam anyway?  I can delete them in one click. So why make my loyal readers suffer?

 

I only tell you this in case you want to reconsider using the challenge feature on your blog. 

 

As an alternative to help with Spamming, TypePad lets you turn off commenting after a certain amount of time.  I turn it off after 3 months.  So SPAM is even more greatly reduced. 

 

I hardly ever get spam, though...so I decided to make it easier for my loyal readers and not challenge them. And by the way, my rate of comments did go up when I did that.  I try to make it as easy as possible.

 

So how about it?  Can we start a campaign to "STOP THE CAPTCHA!"?  : )   

 

If you turn off CAPTCHA  let me know below and I'll start following and commenting on your blog again!  : ) 

 

If you choose to keep it on...feel free to let me know why, but I also reserve the right to not comment.  I've said my piece on it.  It really is that hard for me.  : )

 

 

Another way to Attract Comments - Allow Linking

 

Another way to attract commenting to your blog is to allow people to link to blog posts they have written on similar topics!  I want you to comment and leave relevant links to your posts.  If I had time to search them all down, I would link to them myself. But I don't, so I leave it up to you to share your links.

 

However, if someone abuses this priveledge with irrelevant links.  I will and do delete them. 
It's that simple.

 

I sincerely hope my frustration is not taken the wrong way.  I truly want to just let you know what's happening and give you an opportunity to reconsider your policy. Cuz I love your blogs!  And if I'm feeling this way...I bet lots of other people are too. 

 

All my best,

Ariane : )

 

 

Do you make To Do lists but then don't follow them?

The topic of "to do lists" is an issue that many people agonize over. If you are like the hundreds of people who tell me they make lots of lists, but have difficulty following them or even finding them, you are not alone! 

Difficulty following lists is very common among people with a creative or right-brain dominant personality style as well as with ADDers. In addition, people with certain kinds of brain injuries or head injuries may find it easy to "make" lists, but have much trouble "following" lists. 

There are many psychological, neurological, learning style, sensory, and even genetic reasons why some people are not good at "following" written instructions of any kind, including their own lists! 

I'm going to spare you the theories, but promise me you'll stopping beating yourself up!  It's not that you are lazy or procrastinating...it's how you are wired.  So let's accept it and work with it.  Even though it's not easy for you...there are some tricks to making your lists easier to follow.  

Here's the thing about making lists. Writing itself is a very effective way to clarify what's on your mind, process information and enhance your ability to remember things. So there is a good reason to keep on making your lists! They help you:

• Remember things better (just like taking notes)
• Slow down your brain to the speed of writing so that you can think more clearly and get your ideas out.
• Articulate your ideas. 
• Reduce your fear that you will forget the items

Before we look at ways to make lists easier to follow...let's look as some of the things that make them more difficult to follow.  Lists may be harder to follow if:

• There are too many items 
• Handwriting isn't clear or the lettering is not big enough
• You use light colored ink or pencil 
• The paper used is colored and does not provide a high contrast with the ink used 
• Action items aren't listed in order of priority and you have to scan the whole list to decide which things to do next.
• Item don't list all the information you need to act on it, e.g. for some people, if they don't write the phone number and have to hunt it down, they will skip write over that item on the list.  
• The spacing between the items is too close.  
• More than a day or 2 goes by before you look at it again (particularly if you have ADD, the list may lose all sense of urgency)
• You have any kind of reading or vision difficulties such as a mild dyslexia
• You are stressed when you look at the list 
• You have lots of other ideas going through your head when you look at 
• The items are so brief that you forget what was actually meant. For example, I have seen many examples of people writing things like "Call Doctor" and then forgetting which doctor and why.    

There are many more items I could add, but I think you get the idea.  Everyone is different in terms of what works best for them, but here are some tips that might help you make your lists easier to "follow".

• Limit the items to 4 - 6 short items on them
• Use very clear large lettering, I use a black Sharpie for lists I really need to follow
• Put lots of space between items.  This makes it easier for your brain to focus on one item at a time. 
• Put a little box or circle in front of each item so that you can check it off when you are done
• Put high priority items at the top, lower priority in the bottom half of the list. 
• Use color or other visual cues to help you highlight the highest priority items:  e.g., highlighters or my personal fave is to draw "clouds" or "bubbles" around the  most important things.
• Use brightly colored paper with high contrast to your ink.
• Use a TO DO notebook that is ONLY for Action Items.  Put a removeable tab or post-it on pages with open items in your notebook. 
• Don't mix things you would "like to do" with things that you really "will or must do". One trick I've used is to turn the notebook upside down and use the back of the book to capture "brainstorms" and "ideas" or use a separate notebook all together.   
• Some people need "novelty" to help stimulate their brain to pay attention to their lists, so using different color paper and highlighters may be effective.  So if you are the types that likes trying out new ways to make your lists, have fun with it, but be aware that if you try lots of complicated software to do lists you are probably wasting a ton of time learning and setting up new ways to do your lists.  Try to restrain your "novelty needs" to simple, easy changes. 

Alternatives to linear lists and paper may also help you follow lists better.  I use different methods for different kinds of lists. Some of the tools I use:

• Digital Recorder
• Calling in to my Voice mail 
• White boards (I have a couple small ones that I use like pads of paper, and one on the wall fo rwhen I need to move around to think/) 
• Mind Mapping 
• Flip Chart that I hang on a nail on my office door 
• Post-it Flip Charts that I hang on my wall.  
• Magnetic pads for my refrigerator  
• Chalkboard in the kitchen 

You may need to experiment with alternate ways to find the best way for you to make your lists, and you may need different kinds of lists for different things.  Some people need to stick to one kind of list, others need the diversity.  Give yourself permission to play and experiment till you find methods that not only attract you but are easy to read and follow later.  Another option is to just give yourself permission to make lists with the intention of helping you get things off your mind without the expectation that you have to follow them! If they helped you remember, and you did the action item without looking at your list. That's good enough.  

Have a quirky way to make lists work for you?  Leave a comment below!

Ever wonder what happens to your donations?

Check out this photo essay Debra Baida, Professional Organizer made about her tour of the San Francisco-based processing facility of Goodwill Industries of San Francisco, San Mateo, and Marin counties.

Although you may be concerned that some of the items do go to Rag Sellers, many do go to the GoodWill stores.

The best news?  Debra tells us that

"Donated items arrive at Goodwill's central processing facility in San Francisco for sorting, inspection, and distribution. The work is done by participants in Goodwill's diverse job training programs. Part of the mission is to create "solutions to poverty through workforce creation" and to "build sustainable livelihoods." As I witnessed during the tour, this training occurs at all phases throughout the facility."

So your donations also help people develop employable skills!  To me that is a great reason to donate old clothing and not let my home become a "graveyard" for rotting clothes that produce nothing but dust! 

What the best way to ensure they don't become rags?  Donate them while they are still in good condition! Don't wait till they are full of moth holes and the elastic in the waste bands no longer works : ) 

When was the last time you sorted through your clothes for donations?  During this change of seasons is a GREAT time to let go of those items you didn't wear all summer and the items you don't want to wear this winter. : )

Read Debra's post and see more photos here.

Related Post from the Green Guide:  What happens to Donated Clothes?

Organizing Your Office - Book Contest Results!

Please accept my apologies for the delay in choosing the winners for my book title contest.  Since I announced the contest, my uncle who was like a dad to me, found out he had lung and bone cancer and passed away just before the election. I was in New Hampshire often and the book was the last thing on my mind.  On top of that our roof started leaking (again), we had a flood in the basement (again), and a pipe under the kitchen sink burst.  It's been a month from hell for me, but I'm getting back on track.

I truly appreciate your patience! 

Here's what's going on with the contest.

We have winners!!!

The winning title is  "I know it's here somewhere!"
and was submitted by:

1. Fran Pikus
2. Naomi T.
3. Pamela Luisa

Since 3 people submitted the winning title, we are working out the details of whether to give the prize to the first person to submit the title, or share the prize of $100 + One hour consultation among the three.

Top Runners up

You made this decision REALLY tough! I will use this for something....

1. It's 9:00am. Do You Know Where Your Desk Is?   
2. Has anyone seen my desk? Submitted by:
   • Angie Poole http://www.angiepoole.blogspot.com
   • Chelo www.chelokeys.com
3. Excuse me, have you seen my desk?   by Debbie Jordan Kravitz
4. Stop Agonizing Over Organizing!   by Audra I may use this for a book about general organizing!  : )

I appreciate all of your contribution. You all submitted awesome titles.  In fact I'm thinking that some of the titles I will use for articles / presentations / classes.  Also I will combine some and use them as Subtitle and Promotional copy for the book.  To thank you for your contribution, the winners and runners up have all been emailed copies of my e-books for FREE!

All my best,

 

20 Neat & Simple ways to simplify Holiday Decorating, Gift Giving, Card Sending, and Entertaining!

The holidays are supposed to be a time of giving and celebration of new beginnings.  But our traditions of decorating, gift giving, card sending, eating and entertaining have become so complicated and stressful that it’s almost impossible to recognize the true meaning of the holidays anymore.  Here are a few tips to help you simplify, reduce stress and get back to experiencing the joys of holiday traditions!

Decorating Tips

• Decorate less!  This year, try using only half of your decorations. Spending less time displaying decorations will give you more time to enjoy them!  You’ll also have less to put away after the holidays!

• Don’t add to your decorations, REPLACE them!  If you buy a new decoration, let go of an old one.

• Create a decorating routine.  Use pictures of last year's decorations as a guide to help you figure out where to put everything more quickly.

• When you put holiday decorations out on display, put some of your non-holiday decorations away. Keep those decorations in your holiday storage box until the holidays are over!

• If you have decorations that are worn out, or that you don’t really use any more, donate them.  Don’t just keep them out of habit. If they are sentimental, take a photo and let them go.

Gift Giving Tips

• Set limits. It’s so tempting to give your kids lots of gifts.  But when you do, you are actually teaching them to expect that every year.  The best gift you can give your kids is to teach them that the true meaning of the holidays is to give of yourself to others, be with people you love, and not about how many gifts you get.

• One of the biggest sources of holiday stress is overspending on gifts. Make a list of everyone you want to give a gift to and set a budget that allows you to celebrate the holidays without creating a financial hardship.

• Limit the number of shopping trips you make. 3-4 should be plenty!

• Create your gift list based on what you know people really need and use. If you aren’t sure, find out their favorite stores, restaurants, activities or service providers and give them a gift certificate. See Jeri Dansky's Tips on Giving Gift Cards and Gift Certificates (Here are my "clutter-free holiday gift ideas")

• Don’t go shopping just to look for gift ideas!  When people shop looking for ideas, they often end up finding too many great gift ideas, can't decide, and then they buy too many gifts!

• Don’t bring home “possible” gifts thinking you'll return the ones you decide not to give.  That almost never happens! And it just causes more stress. The best time to make decisions about what gifts you want to give is BEFORE you go shopping.

• Shop online!  Especially for people you have to ship gifts to.  Having your gifts wrapped & shipped directly to them can save you a lot of aggravation waiting in line at the post office!

• Instead of spending a lot on gift wrap, make creative gift wraps out of items in your home.  For example, use fabric.  You can even cut strips of fabric to make bows. 

Card Sending Tips

• Rethink your card traditions.  How many cards do you really need to send out this year?

• Consider sending e-cards, making phone calls or sending personal emails with photos this year instead of cards.

This year, in lieu of mailing cards, we donated the money we usually spend on cards and stamps etc. ($200) to www.RoomtoRead.org.  Instead, we are making our own e-card to send on Plaxo.  I purchase the Plaxo service because of how simple it is and they let me upload my own photo for the cards. Plus when they send the card, the recipient does not hoave to go the website to pick it up - so no worries about spam.  

• Imagine how much nicer it would be to actually talk to the college roommate you exchange cards with every year but haven’t seen or spoken to in 20 years.   

Eating and Entertaining Tips

• Limit how much sugar you eat.  Sugar impairs your immune system and causes water retention and mood swings. Much holiday depression is caused by eating too much junk!

• Keep a few healthy meals & snacks on hand.  Fruit, cut vegetables, nuts, popcorn and cheese are excellent alternatives to sweets!

• If you are having a party, let your guests bring something.  You don’t have to do it all yourself!  Remember, people love to contribute.  Don’t you? 

• Finally, give up the myth of the perfect holiday.

It doesn’t exist!  What stories are you telling yourself about what people expect of you?  Chances are they don’t expect nearly as much as you think they do.  The truth is most people don’t care how many decorations you put up or whether or not you send them a card.  90% of our stress is self-inflicted by the stories we tell ourselves about events in our lives.  By rethinking the stories you tell yourself about your holiday traditions, you can start getting back to a simpler, happier holiday season!

Wishing you Happy, Healthy & Simpler Holidays!

Preserving Archival Photos and Newspapers

Do you have old photos, newspapers, and other documents you need to preserve or archive?   Do you maintain your family genealogy documents? Here are some neat archiving tips & resources to help you preserve your valuable historical photos, newspapers, books & documents make sure they last and stay in the best quality archival condition possible over the years.

Preserving Photos

Did you know?

• No color prints last forever! Black and white is made of silver and not dyes, so it lasts longer than color. So, consider turning some of your more important photographs into black and white prints. (Wonder if this is true of ink-jet printed photos?  My guess is yes as mine do seem to fade)

Reminder: Free Call! Thursday Nov. 6 1:00 PM EST

Just a quick reminder that tomorrow I will be hosting a one hour Q&A call-in for members of the Neat & Simple Living Cafe - an online community for people seeking "Sustainable Success" in Health, Prosperity, Relationships, Work, Home, Organizing, and Clutter Control! There is no charge to join the cafe.

Date: Thursday, November 6, 1:00 - 2:00 pm EST

This will be the first of a monthly series of "Members Only calls" to help you get to know other members of the "cafe" even better!

This month your hosts will be:

Ariane Benefit, Organizing Coach
Ellen Shapiro, Prosperity and Success Coach
Bernadette Armiento, Certified Holistic Health Practitioner

You can ask us anything about organizing, clutter, ADD, chronic disorganization, repatterning, prosperity, holistic heath, nutrition, or whatever is on your mind.

All the details for calling in are here:
http://www.neatandsimpleliving.com/profiles/blog/show?id=2385095%3ABlogPost%3A851

Hope to "see" you there!

p.s. If you know someone who might be interested in being on the call, please forward them this information!