Keep Yourself Well, Even if Others are Ill

On Wednesday, I dropped my daughter off at school and went to the gym. An hour later, I arrived home and was taking a shower when I heard my husband knock on the bathroom door. He said, 'You're not going to believe this, but Amanda (our almost-5-year old daughter) is sleeping in the middle of her classroom on the floor with her best friend Anna.'

Red flags, immediately. She's ill.

So I finished up, dried my hair, and Joe and I went to her school to pick her up. Sure enough, she was cranky (very unusual for her) and warm to the touch. By the time we got her home, she had a high fever and just wanted to sleep.

Two days later, Joe was laid up in bed for days, getting over whatever he caught from Amanda.

My mission since last Wednesday: Stay healthy. Knock on wood, so far, so good.

1) Hand washing: I've been an absolute maniac about it.

2) Paper medical masks: I kid you not. My neighbors likely think I'm crazy if they stop by to visit, but at least you won't be catching germs. (Note: It's not like you can wear these everywhere--you could, but what will people think?) but they do help in your own house when your own family members are sick.)

3) Vitamin C: I'm a big believer in it. I like the liquid Emergen-C available at the supermarket.

4) Sleep on another bed (or the sofa): Not as comfortable as in our bed, but as long as my husband is sick, I'd prefer to be in the clear.

5) Lots and lots of rest: This is not only for those sick family members. Rest can actually help keep YOUR immune system high enough to fight those bugs.

9 Simple Ideas for Coping with Financial Stress

Every so often, I come across a great article. This is one of those times. Leo Quinn, my good friend and financial guru from Upstate NY, shares his tips on coping with financial stress. It's a super way to think about your finances in an organized, logical manner. Enjoy! Here goes . . .

In stressful financial times the media likes to remind us of other stressful times in our history. When I look at those past recessions that happened when I was a functioning member of society (a.k.a. an adult) I am struck by the fact that I don't ever remember being aware of them. If I was aware of them at the time, they didn't scar me for life.

Here are 9 ideas to help you cope better with your financial stress in the hopes that this recession will be a soon forgotten memory for you.

1) Turn off and tune out.

Author Barry Neil Kaufman says 'We stare bug-eyed at the eleven o'clock news, striving to be well informed, as if knowledge of the latest disasters will enhance our sense of well-being.' Why do you need to watch or listen to the news? Very few people NEED to get their information this way. Short of a tornado headed to your house, you can live your life quite nicely without 24/7 news. Try it for a week and see what happens.

2) It will not last forever.

Og Mandino is his book 'The Greatest Salesman in the World' gave four words that 'have been passed down from the ancients that will carry me through every adversity and maintain my life in balance. These four words are: This too shall pass.'

He's right. It WILL pass and 5 or 10 years from today we'll be reading about this in the paper and we'll think, 'oh yeah, I remember that' and it will make a great story to tell your kids or grandkids.

Who said it?...'the only difference between tragedy and comedy is time.'

3) Zip it!

Quit yapping about the economy to everyone you meet. Pity parties help no one on any subject so keep the complaining to a minimum. And don't hang around people who insist on wallowing in all the negativity.

Ed Diener, author of 'Happiness, Unlocking the Mysteries of Psychological Wealth', says 'It's not that you shouldn't think about (the economic crisis) but think about it to the extent that you can control it. Put your money places where you are comfortable, deal with it and move forward.'

4) Laugh.

Since 1922 Reader's Digest has been telling us that laughter is the best medicine. Take daily laugh breaks. It's so easy with the Internet. Go to Youtube online and search for 'game show bloopers'. You'll be laughing AND feeling smarter in seconds. Family Feud and The Newlywed Game bloopers are my favorites.

You can find Saturday Night Live and Mad TV clips all over the Internet. Many cartoons, full length movies and sitcoms can be viewed in their entirety online!

5) FACE YOUR FINANCES

They won't get better by ignoring them. They won't go away. Your credit score might be hurt if you can't pay your bills or your get behind but you won't go to debtor's prison.

It's no fun jumping every time the phone rings for fear it's a creditor. If you need help in the U.S., visit
National Foundation for Credit Counseling

Don't deal with any organization that promises to help you with your finances that doesn't get a link from this website.

If you can pay all your debts on time now and you don't have a plan to pay them off much faster, use my plan. Over 18,000 people in the last 4 years have made the investment in 'How To Own Your Paycheck Again!' Visit: http://www.leoquinn.com/cmd.php?af=250440

6) Keep track.

Be ruthless in tracking your spending and income. By ruthless I mean keep track of every penny. We all have a problem with 'mental accounting.' We don't look at 50 cents as real money and thus would likely not even consider tracking expenses that small. Fifty cents a day over a year is $182.50. It really does add up.

Keeping track of all your spending can be an eye-opening experience. You'll often discover unnecessary waste that is easy to fix.

7) Go for a one-minute walk.

It's been proven that those who regularly exercise have lower stress levels than those who don't.

In his book, 'One Small Step Can Change Your Life - The Kaizen Way', Robert Maurer, Ph.D. states that the part of our brain called the 'amygdala'... 'sets off alarm bells whenever we want to make a departure from our usual, safe routines. The brain is designed that way so that any new challenge or opportunity or desire triggers some degree of fear.'

He suggests we take VERY small steps so as not to 'wake up' our amygdala.

My favorite example in the book was a client he wanted to march in place, in front of the TV for one minute a day. That would be her exercise routine. Just one minute.

Eventually she marched for 3 minute commercial breaks and then for whole shows.

'Soon her ridiculously small actions had grown into the firm habit of running one mile each day. Note that this gradual buildup to a steady program is the exact opposite of the usual pattern, in which a person starts off with a burst of activity for a few weeks, but then returns to a comfortable spot on the couch.'

8) Start another income stream.

People who work 9-5 and do nothing else to earn money have always perplexed me.

They get up every day, shower, drive to work, work, drive home, do whatever they do at home, go to bed and start it over again every day for 40 years.

At home they worry about job security, promotions, raises, benefits and the like but they do little if anything to ensure their own future, content to rely on an employer who may or may not be around in 5 years.

Spend some of your worry time researching ways to make extra money. Any bookstore or library will have many books on the subject.

Get your children involved. Make it a partnership. What an incredible gift to give your children. The gift of independence.

Yes, there may be laws and rules and regulations you need to follow but don't let those stop you. They are many resources available to help.

Start at the small business administration or check out SCORE.

9) Play the lottery!

No, not the state lottery, also known as 'a tax on people bad at math.' I'm talking about the comptroller's office lottery. Every state has an office that handles what are known as 'Unclaimed Funds' or 'Unclaimed Property.' In NY it's called the Comptroller's Office. Other states give it various names. Unclaimed funds are forgotten bank deposits, tax refunds, and security deposits from landlords and utility companies to name a few.

Most amounts are very small, but it's still fun to search. You can search the databases online. Most won't tell you how much is owed but some will give you a range. Search for your name and the names of all your friends and relatives in whatever states they live.

When you find some money that is owed, point your friend or relative to the appropriate website and collect the gratitude (and hopefully a finders fee!) Soon you'll feel like Santa at Christmas handing out wads of cash.

The site to begin your search is:

http://www.FindLostMoneyHere.com

So there are nine ideas for you to try. None of them are hard and most you'll find rather fun. Turn off the TV and the radio, ignore the nattering nabobs of negativity and live a less stressful and more peaceful life.

***

Leo Quinn is a financial educator from Upstate NY. Since 1997 he has helped over 18,000 people from around the world, through his live workshops and website, get better control of their finances and pay off their debts much faster than normal. Visit his web site today and take control of your finances once and for all:

http://www.leoquinn.com/cmd.php?af=250440

Label with Words and Photos

(Click photo to enlarge.)
When trying to get young children to organize, you have to make it as easy as possible for them--especially kids who are still too young to read.

Although most of her toys are in our finished basement, our almost 5-year-old daughter, Amanda, also likes to keep some of her things in the living room--where we spend most of our leisure time.

She has a few plastic cabinets, with drawers to store all her things.

Using my computer and printer, I labeled each drawer with the name(s) of the items that belongs inside, as well as a photograph representing those items.

(Click photo to enlarge.)
For instance, I have one drawer for her Legos. It's labeled with the word 'Legos' and also has a colorful photo of Legos on it, which I found on the Internet.

She can easily put her toys away, without any help from mom and dad. Of course, when she does so, she's praised for doing it--which makes her want to keep everything organized all the time.

Whether it's labeling with pictures, lowering a shelf or a rod, making a checklist with child-recognizable drawings or playing your child's favorite song when it's clean-up time, making organizing easy and fun is key. You'll be teaching your kids a lesson that will benefit them for a lifetime.

1,000 Photos Later

After a 10-day trip to Disneyworld, FL back in December, we ended up with over 1,000 photos on our digital camera to download, sort through, streamline and organize. My husband, Joe, took on this project. Believe me, it was quite the feat and took him two weeks to get through. But so worth it. The photos, which are now up on Phanfare in a massive slideshow, are gorgeous (Joe took most of them) and truly remind us of this magical trip.

1) When we first downloaded all the photos from the camera onto Joe's computer, he and I sat down together and deleted all those photos that didn't make the cut.

2) He then organized the keepers, one by one, into specifically named folders (Magic Kingdom, Epcot, Hotel, etc.)

3) Finally, he created a 'main' digital album on Phanfare. Then, within that album, he created mini albums for the various parks, subjects, etc. He copied the photos from the individual folders, into the appropriate Phanfare albums. This is nice because you can either view the photos all in one sitting, or a mini-album at a time.

He worked on this project each day for two weeks, for a specified amount of time each day, until it was done. He's a true example of what you can get done when you set your mind to accomplish something and dedicate the time necessary to get it done.

P.S. If you're interested in seeing our photos, email me at getorgnow@charter.net and I'll send you the link.

California family finds $10,000 in box of crackers

Source: Associated Press

IRVINE, Calif. The box of Annie's Sour Cream and Onion Cheddar Bunny crackers that Debra Rogoff bought at the grocery store included something extra--an envelope stuffed with $10,000.

Yet the Irvine woman was more curious than ecstatic. After all, who would leave money in such a place?

'We just thought, `This is someone's money,' she said. 'We would never feel good about spending it.'

The family called police and was initially told the money could be part of a drug drop.

But police later heard from store managers at Whole Foods in Tustin that an elderly woman had come in a few days earlier, hysterical because she had mistakenly returned a box of crackers with her life savings inside. In a mix- up, the store restocked the box. The woman, whose identity wasn't released, had lost faith in her bank and decided the box would be a safer place for the money.

Luckily for her, the box of crackers were bought by the Rogoffs, who found the crisp $100 bills in an unmarked white envelope.

The Rogoffs never heard from the woman and didn't receive a reward, but Rogoff did return to Whole Foods a couple weeks later.

'I asked them if I could have another box of crackers,' she said with a laugh. The store obliged.

Moral of this story...

It's never a good or organized idea to stick your life savings in a box of crackers!

Happy New Year 2009!

Wishing you and your family a very happy, prosperous, fun, healthy, ORGANIZED new year!

Hope you're off to a good start on the 1st of January. Looking forward to sharing lots of tips, ideas, observations, and more with you in the coming days.