Would you rather be ten minutes late, or ten minutes early? I asked this question on my Facebook Page, and found the answers fascinating. I would much prefer to be ten minutes early–and in fact, I usually am. My husband is the same way, which is a major contributor to the harmony of our relationship.

I often meet up with a good friend of mine that I’ll call Dave. You rarely see Dave without his trusty bottle of Powerade at his side. He seems to thrive on the stuff.

By Leo Babauta If I’ve found two guiding principles in my life, they are contentment and compassion. With these two ideas, life becomes better. Contentment makes every moment better.

A course I went through recently had an interesting twist on a standard approach toward teaching.

Materials: IKEA PELLO Armchair, Sheet of Marine ply, Pop rivets, Enamel spraypak (optional) Description: My neighbour was throwing out a very worn and torn up Ikea recliner, but the bones were good and I just wanted to try and revive it. With a bit of thought, patience and a good set of clamps I was able to clad the ply to the original steel frame with rivets.

Materials: Grundtal magnetic knife rack and desk organisers Description: I had a small space in the electrical cabinet in our small unit. I love my tools and working with my hands so I fashioned a small toolshed from the Ikea magnetic knife strip, desk organiser and some plastic organisers also from Ikea.

This week’s Workspace of the Week is PennPal’s repurposed home office: I have a number of praises for PennPal’s workspace, but before I delve into them I wanted to make sure everyone saw the wonderful description that accompanied the photograph in our Flickr pool: This is where an ESL lecturer gets stuff done at home, away from the hectic classroom and the distractions of a shared o

Materials: Trofast Description: Cut out holes for the small Trofast bowls. Smaller so they won't fall through. Paint to protect for outside use, use acrylic paint since the Trofast cabinet is already in acrylic. Drop the bowls in and fill with water and/or sand. The large bowls in the cabinet are ideal for storing all the sandbox toys!

Let’s look at a “typical” mortgage. Right now, the average American mortgage is $235,000, so let’s use that as our baseline. The Seattle Times reports that, right now, the average 30 year fixed mortgage rate is 3.42%. So, let’s use those numbers.

Materials: Wooden Cutlery Tray, Paint, Glass Knobs, Cup Hooks Description: Sand the tray thoroughly and paint all sides and crevices carefully with a brush (I used Valspar's Tempered Gray for my main colour). Let the coat dry, and then paint another coat.

If you’re a regular reader of Get Rich Slowly, you are focused on getting out of debt, saving, retirement goals – all of those money issues we all deal with. But at what point would you or do you feel financially secure? I think my own sense of financial security came once I had paid off all of my debts (excluding my mortgage) and had enough money to save a chunk each month.

If you want to build remarkably awesome things, then partner with people who feel like their whole life has prepared them for the opportunity at hand. If someone says something like, “My whole life has led me to this point,” then you should really consider hiring them, collaborating with them, or making out with them. Winners are enthusiastic. Fuck “cool,” coy and vague.

There are a number of reasons why many of us fail to take control of our health.  Everything from time, lack of quality information, and motivation play a roll in our success or failure. But there’s another set of lesser-known reasons why you aren’t as healthy as you’d like: the thoughts in your head. Below I’ve profiled the top seven bad mental habits I see over and over, an

When I’m not roaming the world, I live in Portland, Oregon, land of strong coffee and tall bikes. Portland is a fun little place, and it also happens to be one of the most progressive cities in America. You can buy marijuana at a food cart beginning at approximately age twelve.

Further Secrets of Adulthood:   I have Eight Splendid Truths about Happiness (very inspired by the numbered lists of Buddhism), and this is the Second Splendid Truth. People often talk about Part A, but much more rarely about Part B. But I think they’re both true–agree? disagree?