This weekend I tried to help my grandmother with her new cell phone. She purchased a phone, bluetooth headset, and another bluetooth device that lets you talk in your car handsfree and broadcasts the callers voice over an FM channel that you can tune to with your radio. I got the handsfree device setup and showed her how to use it, but my final recommendation was to take it back to the store.
In the olden days — before I wrote this blog full time — I was a regular at the wonderful AskMetafilter, a collaborative site for answering reader questions. I don’t have as much time to hang out there anymore, as evidenced by the fact that it took a reader to point me to yesterday’s question about frugality books. Catch wrote:
A little over a week ago, J.D. at Get Rich Slowly posted an article entitled “What Next?” The Third Stage of Personal Finance, where he discussed the fact that he had dug himself out of his financial hole and was beginning to accumulate wealth.
Three of my favorite happiness-project resolutions are Take time for projects, Be a treasure house of happy memories, and “Appreciate the seasons and this time of life.”
A trip to the local library resulted in me spending most of my time browsing for older books–particularly the ones that were published before 1930. A few days later, I was listening to a lecture on Shakespeare and was struck by the fact that much of his greatness comes from the fact that we have so many of his works fully intact.
I recently wrote about how we can make sure that we achieve the goals we set. One of the important factors in this process, which helps us to stay focused on our goals, is tracking progress.Tracking progress is important if you want to ensure that you are on the right path. For example, let's suppose that you've set a goal to lose 30 pounds in the next 3 months.
It seems like every few months there is a story on the local news about a house that is completely filled with animals. The story usually goes like this: A foul odor was reported from neighbors and animal control was called in to investigate. Upon further investigation, the house was home to more than “X” number of animals.
Real Simple magazine has a helpful list of clutter causes. These causes have been covered here at Unclutterer, but the list is rather succinct at pointing out the causes and supplying solutions. From the article:
The obstacle: ‘If I get rid of this wedding vase, I’ll feel guilty’
Each Monday, The Simple Dollar opens up the reader mailbags and answers ten to twenty simple questions offered up by the readers on personal finance topics and many other things. Got a question? Ask it in the comments. You might also enjoy the archive of earlier reader mailbags.
[Today's C&D Guest Blogger is Ursula Bamnolker, the editor of Candy Colored Buddha, a design blog that celebrates all things chic, fun, modern, colorful and green]
When you think of the Midwest, what comes to mind? Corn fields? Cows? Beer? How about Jonathan Adler? Chic, sexy design? Lacquered furniture and fun, fabulous colors?
In 2004, Kris and I bought a hundred-year-old farmhouse. We’d been living in a 1976 ranch-style home that was virtually maintenance-free. We knew that our new house was quirky, and that it needed some remodeling, but we didn’t quite understand the extent to which maintenance would dominate our lives. Every summer, we’ve had a major project. Or two. This year is no different.
Please check out the March 2009 issue of Real Simple magazine, which features an article I wrote titled “10 ways to let go of your stuff.” In the article, I talk about my transformation from a clutterer into an unclutterer (pgs. 119-120).
