Gail Vaz-Oxlade's Blog, page 88

RRR: Wine Corks

If you're not the screw-top wine drinker, then you've no doubt held that wine cork in your hand and wondered if there's anything useful you could do with it. Then you tossed it. Hey, hold on to those corks. They can be pretty useful.

1. Keep one in your sewing drawer or basket and you can stick anything sharp into it instead of leaving those stabby ends loose.

2. Add them to the bottom of a planter instead of rocks or stones to provide drainage. Your pots and planters will be a lot lighter when you want to move them around.

3. Grind them up and add them to the soil for plants that require a lot of moisture. The cork will help the soil remain moist, and this is a lot cheaper than those granules that you can buy for the same purpose. It also won't add unwanted chemicals to edible plants like basil and rosemary.

4. Slice the cork and use it to put on the bottom of your furniture to stop your furniture from scratching your floors when you move it around.

5. Cut a slit in the cork lengthways, but not all the way through, and use the cork as a place setting card holder. You'll have to flatten one edge so that the cork doesn't roll. Glue two corks together and one more on top for more height.

6. Make an inexpensive cork board by gluing a bunch of corks together. To get fancy, find an old picture (at a garage sale) and glue the corks within the frame using the picture as the backing.

7. Make a trivet by gluing a bunch of corks together in a pattern and shape that works with your ovenware. Cork trivets are both furniture and dish friendly.

8. Make a cork mud mat for wet boots. Here's a Youtube link.

9. Make a cat toy by sticking in feathers and attaching a string. Hang your creation from a doorknob and watch your cat bat away with pleasure.

10. Attach them to anything you need to float, from bath toys to fishing lines.

Okay, your turn. What do you do with your corks?

Share this on Facebook


Share this on del.icio.us


Digg this!


Share this on LinkedIn


Stumble upon something good? Share it on StumbleUpon


Tweet This!


Subscribe to the comments for this post?


Email this to a friend?

Having Fun with Trends & Accessories

When Princess started airing, I got a few letters like this one:

One thing I've noticed is that on both episodes you've had a guest appearance from a stylist who talked about how to build a wardrobe that will be smaller but smarter, with higher quality pieces that cost less in the long run. I really love this idea but I am quite clueless about putting it into action. Is there any chance you might consider having a stylist do a guest series on your blog about building a wardrobe.

I asked Afiya to do some posts for the site and she agreed to do three. Here are part 1 and part 2 if you want to catch up. And today, I have for you the final installment from gorgeous and talented stylist, Afiya Francisco, on having fun with trends and accessories and developing your own style. Enjoy!

At this stage, if you've been reading my posts, hopefully you look at your closet every morning without any panic as to what to wear. But while classic pieces are absolute essentials for a cohesive wardrobe that can be mixed and matched there is the risk of being a little (dare I say) bland.

This is where you'll want to have fun with trends and accessories. As a general rule, I typically do not spend much on trendy pieces (remember the cost-per-wear ratio). But these are the pieces that you don't intend to keep forever, they inject some personality and fun to your wardrobe, but they are on rotation with the season. Fashion changes so quickly that you may soon regret having shelled out a ton on a style that you can no longer stand or that feels dated. Mind you, inexpensive is different from cheap. You still want to be sure that garments fit properly and are well crafted (nice finish, no loose threads or seams).

Accessories are also an easy way to add a little fun to your look without breaking the bank. Love a colour but it doesn't suit you, get a bag in that shade. Love military style but don't really think that you can pull it off? Tough boots nod to the trend without full dedication. Accessories allow you to be a bit more frivolous as they can pretty much go with whatever you're wearing.

So how to decide what trends are for you and which you should just bypass? The same rules apply as when shopping for classics: Ask yourself is it a '10'? Does it go with the items already in your closet?

When introducing new items I suggest that you think of three ways that you can wear it using items that you already own. Asking these questions will hopefully help to determine whether an item is worthy of being added to your closet. Shopping this way helps to save you money because you are not just adding random things never to be worn. Every item has a place and you know how you'll wear it because you thought it through before you left the store. Shopping with these key points in mind will hopefully prevent you from ever saying, "I have nothing to wear!"

Best Way to Identify and Build Your Own Unique Style

So how does one determine their personal style? I don't think that you need to over-think this or deliberate forever. Ask yourself what are the colours, styles, specific pieces that you love to wear? This may help you to realize that you often gravitate to a particular colour or style. Check out some magazines and determine what styles jump out at you.

Yes magazines are filled with glamourous celebs and stick thin models but they are still a great starting point to discover elements to your own style. Remember you're not looking for a specific shopping list but rather an overall aesthetic that you love. And your style may not fit neatly into one category, you'll probably love a lot of different looks but ultimately there is probably a unifying factor that works for you.

And keep your lifestyle in mind. Sure, you may love the rocker look, complete with skulls & ripped tees, but if you work in an office, skintight leather pants are probably not going to fly with your boss. That doesn't mean that you have to, or should, forego that particular style but rather tailor it to suit you and how you live. A studded bracelet or dark nail polish gives a hint of rocker edge but still is appropriate when paired with an otherwise professional outfit.

Make your wardrobe work for you. Hopefully with these tips you'll have a versatile wardrobe that reflects your personal style. Also, you'll stretch your clothing budget further because you will shop with specific pieces in mind that will enhance what you already own. No more throwing away cash with items that will never see the light of day.

Share this on Facebook


Share this on del.icio.us


Digg this!


Share this on LinkedIn


Stumble upon something good? Share it on StumbleUpon


Tweet This!


Subscribe to the comments for this post?


Email this to a friend?

How She Saved $40K in 2 Years

One of the pleasures of travelling is the people I get to meet. Now that I'm in everybody's home on their TVs, they feel they know me and they'll tell me anything. Let me introduce you to Jane who I met on my recent trip out west. No, Jane isn't her real name, you know that. But her story is fabulous and fits right in with what I've been writing about here.

So Jane walks up to me, her eyes sparkling and a huge smile on her face. "You saved my life" she says very matter-of-factly.

"You exaggerate," said I.

" Only a little," she grins back at me. "Because of you I saved $40,000 in two years so I could buy myself and my daughter a home."

"Wow!" I said, very impressed. "How'd you do it?"

"The first thing I did was quit smoking," said Jane. "I watched you flush that guy's cigarettes down the toilet a bunch of times and then I did it." Smoking a pack a day wasn't good for Jane's health, insurance premiums or wallet. When she quit, she ended up saving just over $7,000 in two years. "The thing is, I opened up a savings account and called it 'Not Smoking' and every week I moved the equivalent of what would have gone up in smoke into the saving. I just couldn't believe how much of my money I'd been wasting on such a bad habit."

What else did Jane do?

She started to carpool with a couple of friends. "Since we were each driving so much less, I saved a lot of money on gas. And I started making my trips really count by doing all my errands at once." Jane took advice she'd read on my blog about making a list to get things done and used it to consolidate her errand trips. "I figure I was saving about $25 a week in gas alone, never mind the maintenance on my car."

Oh, and BTW, when Jane's car payment ended six months into her new savings game, she channeled the money from the car payment into her savings too. "I was spending $372.27 a month on my car loan. So I opened up another account and called it "Car Savings" and ended up with $9,450 in it."

Were there any downsides to her rabid savings plan? Yup, she admitted. There wasn't a lot of going out. And because she took in a student as a roomie, there also wasn't a lot of privacy. Was it worth it? "It sure was. My roommate saved me $400 a month on my rent. And I saved about $270 a month on entertaining myself and Julia at home."

"Let me guess," I said, "another savings account."

"Yes ma'am," said Jane.

"How much?"

"$6,880."

"You're still a long way of $40K" said I.

"Not so long" said Jane. "I did have some help."

"Mom and Dad?" I asked.

"Everyone I know," she said laughing. "I told anyone who would normally give me a present for my birthday or for Christmas to give me $20 instead so that they could help me get the best present ever: a home of my own."

Another account?

Yup.

How much?

"This is a little like cheating though, because I have wonderful parents who really wanted to help. My father had a huge garage sale and sold all the stuff he and mom had been piling up since we were kids and added it to my House Savings account."

How much?

$1,200 in two years. Nice family and friends!

"How'd you come up with the rest?"

"The usual: I only shopped for Julia in second hand stores and didn't buy very much. She's still little and didn't notice anything really. I realized the shopping I'd been doing had been more for me than for her. And I brown-bagged it at work, switched from coffee to tea so I could make it at work myself, and stopped buying books and renting movies. We spend every Saturday morning at the library. It's entertainment and we get to bring home new to us stuff."

"Have you found a home yet?"

"Not quite. I've looked at a few. But I want something with some space so I can go on doing the rental thing. I find that very useful in so many ways."

"Well done," I said.

"Thanks," she smiled. "I couldn't have done it without you."

Actually, she could have, but I was glad to help.

Share this on Facebook


Share this on del.icio.us


Digg this!





Stumble upon something good? Share it on StumbleUpon


Tweet This!


Subscribe to the comments for this post?

Counteracting Consumerism

Over the years you've heard me talk about getting the impulse monkey off your back. Sometimes I talk about The Gremlins and how hard they work to convince you to spend money you really, really shouldn't. So today I'm going to give it to you short and sweet and then I want you to give it back: share your ideas on how you keep consumerism at bay.

Me first. Here goes.

The biggest and bestest tip I have for keeping your shopping on track is to use a list. Whether you use a Grocery List to stop you from impulse buying a bunch of stuff you really don't need, or you use a Wants List to prioritize the things you'd like to buy yourself, a list is gold. The rules are simple. If what you want to buy isn't on the list, you can't buy it. You can put it on the list and go home, and then go back out again, assuming you have the money to pay for it. But you've got to wait a specific amount of time – 48 hours, 2 weeks, a month – so that the purchase becomes one that has been planned and isn't simply reactive.

Right behind the list comes the One-in-one-out Rule.  You really want new wine glasses since you're down to an amalgamation of vessels you've collected over the years. This one is easy. You buy yourself new glasses and get rid of the old stuff. But the rule also applies to shoes, dresses, books, DVDs, EVERYTHING! So before you can bring something new into the house, you have to figure out what you're going to get rid of. No cheating: you're not allowed to buy a big-screen TV and get rid of that horrible picture your SIL bought you. It has to be a comparable thing you choose to part with. Hey, that'll give you pause to think, won't it?

Ultimately I've found over time that the things that have brought me the most pleasure aren't the things I've bought – though I have a few things I like a lot – but the things I've done. Sharing an experience with a friend or with one of my kids brings me far greater joy than picking up yet one more thing I'm gonna have to dust. (I hate dusting!) And doing things – learning to knit, cooking dinner with friends, sitting on a beach with Alex or Malcolm watching the little kids dig in the sand – brings me far more pleasure than shopping.

Okay, those are my three: the list, the one-in-one-out rule and prioritizing experiences over stuff. Now it's your turn.  How do you counteract consumerism? Do you miss shopping? And how do you find living in a world that still loves to shop when you're trying not to?

Share this on Facebook


Share this on del.icio.us


Digg this!


Share this on LinkedIn


Stumble upon something good? Share it on StumbleUpon


Tweet This!


Subscribe to the comments for this post?


Email this to a friend?

The Nose Knows

Do you believe that what you smell can have an impact on your emotions? I do. I love those ginger peach candles from Pier One. When I'm trying to get a lot of writing done, I light 'em up all around me, and breath deeply.  And when I want to head off to the land of nod, from my pillows and sheets waft the lavender I spray on my bed every couple of days to gentle me into slumber.

The idea that what you smell can influence your emotions and your behaviour isn't new. Lavender helps you sleep. Mint wakes your brain up and makes you more aware. And no matter how good your diet intentions, if you get a whiff of fresh-baked bread you can watch your self-control go out the window. These are just some of the truths in the aromatherapy domain.

It seems that fresh-baked bread can also cause drivers to speed. So say some researchers at the West Virginia Wheeling Jesuit University, who link the hunger that the smell generates to drivers' hurrying to quell their appetites.

In 2004, Richard Axel and Linda Buck were awarded a Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for their pioneering research on our sense of smell. They found that we humans have some 1,000 olfactory genes, and for the first time they clarified how our olfactory system works. So now there's support for all that aromatherapy mumbo jumbo: cinnamon can improve your concentration; coffee can clarify your thinking; sweet smells can increase your tolerance for pain.

Marketers are taking advantage of all the new research and using "ambient scenting" to leave you with a good feeling about their products. Do you think that if they spray a certain scent in your direction, you'll be more likely to buy?

An article in Business Week says, "Researchers believe that ambient scenting allows consumers to make a deeper brand connection, and data has led many other non-scent-related companies to join the fray." Research has shown that there is evidence of a powerful relationship between the olfactory bulb and the brain's limbic system, which is the part of the brain that handles memories and emotion.

Did you know that when a facial tissue is imbued with a scent, consumers' recall of the brand's other attributes increase significantly… up to two weeks? Could this be why laundry detergent, which used to come in lemony fresh, now comes in a b'zillion different scents?

Not only can your nose be pulled into the buying decision, so can your ears. A research study done at Penn State showed that when ambient scent and music dovetail, consumers rate the environment significantly more positive and are more likely to impulse shop.

Research projects are popping up everywhere to try and fine-tune the use of scent and music to manipulate consumers. So if you see me walking around the mall with a clothes pin on my nose, I'm probably trying to compensate for all the smells those wily marketers are throwing at me. And if you call to me and I don't answer, I'm not ignoring you. It's just my earplugs.

Share this on Facebook


Share this on del.icio.us


Digg this!


Share this on LinkedIn


Stumble upon something good? Share it on StumbleUpon


Tweet This!


Subscribe to the comments for this post?


Email this to a friend?

The Year of the Rabbit

If you've felt like life has been tough for the past couple of years, you're about to get some relief. According to the Chinese calendar, today begins the New Year: The Year of the Rabbit. And the Rabbit is said to be the luckiest sign in the Chinese calendar.

So what's the Rabbit all about? His motto could be "Let there be peace — and let it begin with me." The Rabbit is a fence mender. He likes to kiss and make-up.

The Rabbit is also a self-indulgent fellow with good taste and an air of refinement. You'll need to watch yourself this year because the temptation to spend will be bigger. You'll want to go to the theatre, to the spa, to your favourite restaurant. And this is particularly true if you are, like me, a member of the Rabbit's posse: sheeps, pigs (like me) and dogs. So while you're having a GREAT year, don't go over-board. Yes, seize opportunities, enjoy the moment and make your dreams come true. But don't lose sight of some of the practical aspects of life, which the Rabbit likes to ignore. While you're spending a little, save a little too.

Any new year is a good opportunity to stop and take stock of how life has been treating you. What could you do differently to make things more the way you want them to be? With the western New Year following so closely on the heels of Christmas, sometimes goal setting falls by the wayside. We're so busy getting things back on track in January that we don't have the time to reflect and look forward. You can take the Chinese New Year as your opportunity to slow down and think a little. Do some planning. Look at what has been and think about what you would like your life to be like. Breathe. Ponder. Dream.

This is in keeping with the Rabbit.  He's a relaxed fellow. He's calm. He's persistent. (Remember those stories of Peter and how determined he was to eat the veggies in Mr. McGreggor's garden?). He is also cautious, taking his time and thinking carefully before making a move. You would do well to pace yourself like the Rabbit, looking before you leap, and remembering that there are predators out there willing and waiting to gobble you up. Make sure you verify before you buy.

Traditionally the year of the Rabbit is associated with home and family and artistic pursuits. Plan to relax, to enjoy the simple pleasures, to hang with your peeps. After several years of battling to stay afloat, the Year of the Rabbit brings the opportunity to relax.  Socialize, have some fun, and build up your energy stores.

You'll need it because next year, Enter the Dragon.

Want to ready more about how your "animal" sign will be affected during the year of the Rabbit? Here's some reading fun and some more.

Kung Hei Fat Choy!

Share this on Facebook


Share this on del.icio.us


Digg this!


Share this on LinkedIn


Stumble upon something good? Share it on StumbleUpon


Tweet This!


Subscribe to the comments for this post?


Email this to a friend?

Two Steps Forward, One Back

I've been doing the media rounds of late talking about Never Too Late and how important it is to save for the future. Interviewers inevitably want to talk about the debt problem we're facing and how much trouble we're actually in. I keep pointing out that the flaw in the system is the credit score and how it's been used to replace sensible credit adjudication. And as for using debt service calculations based on gross income, isn't it time the system got with reality? It's a case of "the chicken and the egg" paradox, really. Have people's borrowing habits created the debt crisis, or is it lender's propensity to give too much credit the real problem? Here's a case in point. I just received this letter:

I desperatley need your help! My family is sinking in debt, I am becoming more and more depressed and feeling like there is no way out. We recently purchased a home that is in major need of repair and we do not have the funds to fix it because our debt load is too big and our income too small. I dont know how to repay this debt without having to use what we pay on it every month because there is just not enough money to go around.

Here are the details.

Mortgage: $325000 @ 2.48% amtz 30yrs
LOC: $65000 @ prime plus 1%
LOC: $8000 @ prime plus 2%
Visa $1000 @ 11.49%
Visa $15000 @ 19.9%
Car Loan $15000 approx and not sure of int rate
Our Gross Monthly Income is $5962

So how does a family with a gross income of less than $6,000 a month, which means a net monthly income of about $4,600 depending on their province, qualify for a new $325,000 mortgage on top of a preexisting $104,000 in consumer debt?

Since Total Debt Service calculations usually limit borrowing to no more than 40%, on a gross income of $5962, the banks would be happy to qualify you for $2,384 in monthly payments. Hold on now. With a net of just $4,600, that'd leave you with just $2,216 to pay for everything else in your life AND save. Houston, we have a problem!

So here we have a family that is $429,000 in the hole and unable to bear up under the weight of all that debt. And we have lenders who are willing to give said family all the rope it needs to hang itself, which it has done. So, now, who pays?

The family can't. You can't get blood from a stone. So they'll go bankrupt and as long as their mortgage is in good standing, they'll get to keep their home. But they might lose everything else. And the lenders will lose, and then use that as their excuse for keeping consumer interest rates higher than they should be in the current relatively low interest rate climate.

This family should never have qualified for a $325,000 mortgage. Currently their monthly mortgage payments are about $1300. When they have to renew this mortgage, assuming they go with the current 5-year rate, their mortgage payment will jump by almost $500 a month. Where are they ever going to find that extra money?

Share this on Facebook


Share this on del.icio.us


Digg this!


Share this on LinkedIn


Stumble upon something good? Share it on StumbleUpon


Tweet This!


Subscribe to the comments for this post?


Email this to a friend?

The A, B, Cs of Money: H

HARD STOP: Sometimes called a Stop Loss, this is the price level that if reached will trigger the sale of a security. It's used to protect you from the downside of holding an investment since the hard stop or stop loss is placed in advance of a negative move and remains active until the price of the security moves to the stop level.

HEDGE: This usually means taking an offsetting position in a related security to reduce the risk of adverse price movements in an asset. So, if you owned a stock and then sold a future contract stating that you'll sell your stock at a set price, you'd hedge to avoid market fluctuations. A perfect hedge reduces your risk to nothing except the cost of the hedge. They're still trying to perfect the strategy because hedge funds routinely get the crap kicked out of them.

HICCUP: When you and I get these, we drink backwards from a glass or suffer through the discomfort. When a stock gets this, the investor has to decide if it's a short-term disruption or a trend. If a company misses sales estimates for a quarter, is it an isolated event – a hiccup – or a harbinger of things to come?

HIGH RATIO MORTGAGE: If you can't come up with a 20% downpayment on a home, you have to take out a high-ratio mortgage. That means you have to pay insurance to Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC). There are other mortgage insurance providers but CMHC has the lion's share of the market. The insurance premiums are significant but are added into the mortgage, which makes it easy to ignore the additional cost.

HOME BIAS: While it's generally accepted that investing in foreign equities tends to lower the systematic risk on your portfolio, that doesn't stop investors from investing large amounts of money in domestic equities. One deterrent to foreign market investing may be the fact that investors must not only contend with a market they aren't familiar with, but also the fallout from currency fluctuations.

HOME EQUITY LINE OF CREDIT: A line of credit secured by the equity in your home, it can be in the form of a second mortgage or a collateral mortgage. The interest rate on a HELOC is usually lower than with an unsecured LOC because of the security you've offered to guarantee the loan.

HST: Harmonized sales tax is the tax everyone loves to hate. It combines a province's provincial sales tax (PST) with the federal Goods and Services Tax (GST) and gives a province the opportunity to tax crap it never used to tax to grab more money for the provincial coffers.

Share this on Facebook


Share this on del.icio.us


Digg this!


Share this on LinkedIn


Stumble upon something good? Share it on StumbleUpon


Tweet This!


Subscribe to the comments for this post?


Email this to a friend?

RRSP Quick Facts

I wrote The RRSP Answer Book (now out of publication) almost 20 years ago (Geeze, I'm getting old!) Back then, no one understood what an RRSP was and I spent a lot of time saying the same thing over and over. So I thought a straightforward Q&A would work well. It did. Every year for five years the book sold about 5,000 copies.

Sadly, I still meet people who don't know what an RRSP is or how it works. Maybe I shouldn't be surprised (there are always new people coming into the workforce, after all), but I am. Since we're well into RRSP "season" – the period during which people who don't make monthly contributions rush to get their money into a plan so they can claim their deduction – I thought, well, hey, why not a refresher course.

What's the deadline? The deadline for RRSP contributions is always 60 days after the end of the previous year if you want to be able to claim the deduction for the previous tax year. So, for 2011, the deadline is March 1, 2011.

Keep in mind that a contribution made in the first 60 days of the year can be applied against your 2010 income, or any income you earn in 2011 and beyond. Also note that if you're turning 71 this year, this is the last year in which you may contribute to your own RRSP since you must convert your RRSP by December 31. However, if you have a younger spouse, and you continue to have earned income, you can contribute to a spousal RRSP up until your spouse turns 71.

Who can buy an RRSP? Anyone who has earned income, a social insurance number and who files a tax return can contribute to an RRSP up until the end of the year they turn 71 (or their spouse turns 71 in the case of a spousal plan). Yup, even a kid can have an RRSP. If you make a contribution when you don't have to pay any tax (or very little tax) just don't claim the deduction. You can do so later when your income and your tax rate go up and get a bigger bang for your buck.

How much can I contribute? The lesser of 18% of your earned income from 2010, or the maximum annual contribution limit, which is $22,450. If you belong to a company pension plan, your RRSP contribution limit is reduced by a pension adjustment or PA. The PA represents the value of any pension benefits accruing from participation in a registered pension plan or deferred profit sharing plan.

Check the Notice of Assessment you got from the Tax Man after you filed your taxes last year. That'll show you both your 2011 contribution limit and any unused contribution room you may have built up. Can't find your Notice of Assessment? Call the TIPS number (blue pages in your phone book under "tax services"); have your SIN and last tax return handy.

How do I know how much my "earned income" is? For most T4-grunts, this is the amount that shows up in box 14 on T4 slips. If you're self-employed, it includes your net income. If you're a landlord, it includes your net rental income. And if you're getting CPP/QPP disability payments, those count too. What doesn't count? Investment income, all pensions and retiring allowances, death benefits, taxable capital gains and limited-partnership income.

What if I go over the contribution limit? As long as you're over 18, you have a $2,000 lifetime over contribution allowance to help manage slip-ups. You can claim the deduction for this overcontribution in future years. However, if you go over the $2,000, you'll get hit with a wicked penalty of 1% per month.

What if I don't have any cash to contribute? You don't necessarily need cash to make an RRSP contribution. You can contribute a security, like a mutual fund, stock or GIC you already own to a self-directed RRSP. The contribution is equal to the fair market value of the security when you stick it into the RRSP. The security is deemed to have been disposed of – meaning that it's treated as if you SOLD it to the RRSP — at time of contribution, and this can have tax consequences.

Share this on Facebook


Share this on del.icio.us


Digg this!


Share this on LinkedIn


Stumble upon something good? Share it on StumbleUpon


Tweet This!


Subscribe to the comments for this post?


Email this to a friend?

Habit Can Be MAGIC!

There are people who do things for no other reason than habit. When I smoked, every time I picked up the telephone I lit a cigarette. Habit. And when I contemplated quitting smoking, I actually had myself convinced that I wouldn't be able to write without lighting up. Really.

I did quit. I still write. So much for that.

So what kinds of habits do you have that you do almost unconsciously? What habits are robbing you of what you really want from your life?

Despite the bad habits I've had through my life – there have been a few – I'm still convinced that you can make habit your friend. You can use that automatic routine of doing something habitually to your advantage.

It's one of the reasons why I get even the most debt-encumbered person on a savings program. Establishing the habit of saving isn't hard. But you have to DO IT! For as long as you don't, you're missing out on a very good habit.

Habit is one of the things that can help you Get'erdone. If there's a single characteristic that differentiates the people who are successful from those who are less so, it's the ability to get things done.

So many people are waiting for the right time to start a good habit.

"I'll start walking every day when the weather is warmer, cooler, less rainy, less muggy."

"I'll start saving when I've paid off my debt, gotten a raise, eliminated this expense, found a way to balance my budget."

If you are waiting for conditions to be perfect, you'll be waiting a really, really long time. There will always be a "good reason" for you to delay acting. The fact is, if you want to do something differently, you must take action now to make it so. Get'erdone.

You may need to practice some of what you're planning to do before you actually do it. Hey, practice is a valid step in establishing a new habit. I quit smoking a dozen times before I quit smoking. But if there is something you really want to do, you've got to get the idea out of your head and into action. The longer you just think about it, the more that great idea you had will fizzle out.

You may be afraid of starting. What if you fail? What if you can't do what you want to do? What if it's hard? Anxiety over something new is natural.  But if you've watched what you've done through your life with any introspection, you'll notice that the waiting to do something new – the anticipation – is inevitably harder than the actual doing. Once you get going, you build confidence and things just seem to keep getting easier. Not to say there won't be bumps along the way. But moving is easier than contemplating moving.

Your friends can be great helpers when you're establishing a new habit. Have a friend who loves to walk? Go walking with her. Have a friend who loves to talk about money? Discuss your debt repayment plan with him. Whatever the habit you're trying to establish – automatic savings, tracking your spending, meditating – if you find a friend who has similar interest, (s)he can help to encourage the habit.

While you're establishing the habit don't get too far ahead of yourself. It's easy to decide to walk around the block a couple of times each day, and then imagine having to buy a whole new wardrobe because you've re-bodied yourself. But that expectation set too high can be the demotivating factor on the day that it's raining and you look down to see your pudgy belly and thick thighs even after weeks of walking. Ditto the debt repayment play. Set the "payoff day" unrealistically and debt fatigue will set in even faster.

Live in the present. Focus on what you can do now, and know that doing that will get you one step closer to your goal. After all, that's what habit is all about: acting consistently. Since only the things you do today will move you closer to your goal, you must focus on the small accomplishments of habit to keep your momentum going and get'erdone.

Share this on Facebook


Share this on del.icio.us


Digg this!


Share this on LinkedIn


Stumble upon something good? Share it on StumbleUpon


Tweet This!


Subscribe to the comments for this post?


Email this to a friend?