Simplicity Doctor

I order to simplify your finances, try identifying your financial ugly ducklings, ad see if you can turn them in to swans.

By this I mean you have to identify your financial bad habits and take actions to transform these habits into positive financial situations.

A few of these ugly ducklings include:

No financial goals

 In order to simplify you should set some personal financial goals. Even if they are tiny ones only, it is better than nothing. For example I set as a goal to put aside 5 pound a week for each of my two kids. I reckoned by the time they are 16; I would have saved up a sizeable sum for them, to spend as they like. This is not a massive goal, but it makes me feel more in control of my financial situation. I am still looking to set new financial goals.

Goals help you simplify your finances quicker. Try it and see what you think.

Not living on a budget

Really you don’t need to set a monthly or annual budget, as it can be difficult to foresee how an entire year will unfold for you. Even a week to week budget will do, or start small with a daily budget, even if you just have an idea of how much you would like to spend in your head. If you spend without setting limits, you are likely to spend more than you can afford, ad be surprised at ten end, not knowing where your money has gone. Budgeting of any size gives you more control of your finances. Forget fancy budgeting software or excel worksheets, a simple pen and paper outline or single Words page will do.

Not planning for the unexpected – having an emergency fund, will give you some breathing space should something unexpected turn up.

Not planning

Okay, this one is kinda obvious. But many of us still don’t do this. If you have not planned for the expected things that you know will happen in your life, you are placing additional pressure o yourself, that could easily have been avoided. Take the pressure of yourself, and consider planing for an upcoming birthday party, holiday, private operation or whatever.

Too many credit cards

Okay, some of us out there have 2 or more credit cards with balances on them without a plan in place to pay the off, or reduce their debt.

Consider ditching those fancy cards. And the outstanding balances on them. This will simplify your personal finance dramatically.

Not automating

Do you really need to go to the bank, ATM or post office each time to do a transaction, cash your payroll cheques, paying your bills or c heck your outstanding balance. Online banking is the way to go. Establishing online banking which will help you do most of these things from the convenience of your home or office. Setup automatic deposits of your payroll cheques to make your life simpler. Why bother popping out when it’s chilly to stand in a queue with other grouchy people I a bank, when you could be snuggled at home with a warm cuppa or hot chocolate. Do save yourself stress and time, you deserve it.

Living beyond your means

Trying to keep up with your friends, family members or co-workers, and causing yourself undue financial stress is just not wise living. Stop trying to match up. It will reduce your anxiety levels and perhaps increase your appreciation of what you have actually got, because you are not just focused on getting more or better.

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Avg. reading time 3.5mins

Here is a small compilation of some quotes on simplicity I especially enjoy. It’s awesome that such inspiring minds existed, and continue to touch us today.

Hope you enjoy, and feel free to add your own quotes in the comments section. As i am sure there are plenty of great once I missed.

Sit back and enjoy!

1. Henry David Thoreau – “Simplicity, simplicity, simplicity! I say, let your affairs be as two or three, and not a hundred or a thousand instead of a million count half a dozen, and keep your accounts on your thumb-nail.”
2. Eleanor Roosevelt – “A little simplification would be the first step toward rational living, I think.”
3. Charles Mingus – “Making the simple complicated is commonplace; making the complicated simple, awesomely simple, that’s creativity.”
4. Henry David Thoreau – “As you simplify your life, the laws of the universe will be simpler; solitude will not be solitude, poverty will not be poverty, nor weakness weakness.”
5. Richard Holloway – “Simplicity, clarity, singleness: These are the attributes that give our lives power and vividness and joy as they are also the marks of great art. They seem to be the purpose of God for his whole creation.”
6. Plato – “Beauty of style and harmony and grace and good rhythm depend on simplicity.”
7. Leonardo da Vinci – “Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication.”
8. Albert Einstein – “Everything should be made as simple as possible, but not simpler.”
9. Henry David Thoreau – “Most of the luxuries, and many of the so-called comforts of life, are not only not indispensable, but positive hindrances to the elevation of mankind. With respect to luxuries and comforts, the wisest have even lived a more simple and meagre life than the poor.”
10. Henry Wadsworth – “In character, in manner, in style, in all things, the supreme excellence is simplicity.”
11. Hans Hofmann – “The ability to simplify means to eliminate the unnecessary so that the necessary may speak.”
12. E.F. Schumacker – “Any intelligent fool can make things bigger, more complex, and more violent. It takes a touch of genius—and a lot of courage—to move in the opposite direction.”
13. Elise Boulding – “Frugality is one of the most beautiful and joyful words in the English language, and yet one that we are culturally cut off from understanding and enjoying.  The consumption society has made us feel that happiness lies in having things, and has failed to teach us the happiness of not having things.”
14. William Morris – “Have nothing in your houses that you do not know to be useful or believe to be beautiful.”
15. Ralph Waldo Emerson – “Nothing is more simple than greatness; indeed, to be simple is to be great.”
16. John Burroughs – “To find the universal elements enough; to find the air and the water exhilarating; to be refreshed by a morning walk or an evening saunter … to be thrilled by the stars at night; to be elated over a bird’s nest or a wildflower in spring—these are some of the rewards of the simple life.”
17. D.H. Mondfleur – “Eliminate physical clutter.  More importantly, eliminate spiritual clutter.”
18. Richard Bach “The simplest things are often the truest.”

Copyright © 2011 SimplicityDoctor.com. All rights reserved.

Avg. reading time 2 min

Here I provide the tips I have learnt along the way that help me stop wasting time and improve my focus while writing online.

1) I write my blog post first on my laptop word processor (words) before importing posts into my blog – I find this less distracting and the plain white background helps me maintain focus

2) I import all my written blog posts into my blogsite at the end of my writing day, so I can deal with all the technical stuff in one go.

3) I only view my blog site twice a day at a maximum. First I note down all the modifications to be made, then I correct them, then view the pages again. Believe me in my past days of blog infatuation, I would check my blog site about 10 times a day. I am a writer, not a technophile! I really can’t be bothered with it all.

4) Close any unused open tabs, to avoid “a quick peek” at other pages that is never so “quick”. Your tabs are not to-do-lists. Don’t deceive yourself like I did saying they are for “research”. They are distractions, plain and simple!

5) When searching for information online now, I am using the two search rule. If I done two Google searches or other search I make do with the results and take the best of the two. This curbs my curiosity and stops me from thinking there is always something more out there. There isn’t! Two sources are more than enough. I only need so much.

Copyright © 2011 SimplicityDoctor.com. All rights reserved.

Welcome to one of the top soul –crushing, time wasting, and energy zapping activities of all time.

Introducing the wonderful Monsieur WORRY

Bet you know people who are always worried about things? I mean everything from their hair, to the transport, to the news, weather, state of the society, state of the planet. Everything and anything really. They are not picky. Faced with any topic they will infect it and others their worry-bug. Do you happen to be one of those people? Come on be honest with yourself. All of us have at some time or another being such a worry-peddler, it brings us shame to think of how we huffed, puffed, and had sleepless nights for the tiniest of things. What a complete, and utter waste of that precious LIMITED gift called time.

STOP!

Hey do yourself and me a favour

JUST STOP!

You’re driving yourself F@#*ing Crazy.

Worrying about the way things will turn out is one of the most useless functions of your brain, and one of the most limited way to experience living a as human being. The sheer energy we pump into our worry-cars is soooo emotionally and physically draining, why bother with it all.

If you think I’m being harsh. Tough! I say this because I have spent a lot of my energy in the past brain-wracking and worrying myself to ridiculous lengths. It’s laughable when I look back on my life.

So am I in a constant state of worry-free Zen bliss? NO.

Far from it to be honest. Some days I still give in to my inner worry-dragon and just have a good old whinge. But I try not to stay there too long, and step into action mode as soon as I can muster the effort. This is a quick pick-me-up tonic; I find works all the time.

Still not convinced?

Let me break down the insanity for you.

In my former life I was a doctor and have trained in NLP and various mind techniques (this is not a brag! It’s just nowadays if you don’t wear an “expert” hat people don’t take commonsense knowledge seriously, so thought I’d follow the expected trend).

Did you know that when you worry over and over again about something, you play the worst-case scenario over and over again in your head? Given that your mind cannot tell the difference between what’s real and what’s imagined; that is like having the event happen to you over and over again.

This is worst than if the thing actually happen. At least it would have only happened once. Hence, worrying about something is actually worse than if the thing happened!

So please put a halt on all that worrying, and try to relax with life, I mean there are only a few instances where your life would be over if something happened. As long as there is life there is hope hey. So go grab a chill drink or nice cuppa now, and say goodbye to your worry days.

~”Worry does not empty tomorrow of it’s troubles, it empties today of it’s strengths”~

Anonymous

xx

Love Egypt

The Simplicity Doctor 

Copyright © 2011 SimplicityDoctor.com. All rights reserved.

Studies have shown that people who use plastic tend to spend more than people using cash. So what is the reason for this?

One thing could be due to the mere physical act of handing over cash is a more tangible intimate experience than the detached act of using your credit card

Indeed when MacDonald’s started allowing customers to pay by credit card, the average purchase went up from $4.50 to $7.00. This is a huge jump.

There is no doubt that credit cards make life more convenient in some situations, the mere fact that they make buying easier, puts a lot of us in a position where we get “credit card happy” and go overboard.

For a moment ask yourself how did you survive before the credit card craze. Well I’m guessing you were ticking along very nicely indeed.

For every problem there is a solution. So what do you do? How do you tame the credit card impulsivity in the depth of your being? Well it involves taking a pair of scissors, and snapping up those mean little buggers.

If that send’s tingle down your spine, ask yourself, have you developed an unhealthy relationship with your card? I mean it’s just plastic right, what is the big deal in exterminating?

In the current economic climate, it is practical and even commendable to cut up those lurking money leakers and subsist without cards. If you must have a card. Replace your credit card with a debit card, that way you’re left in a position where if you can’t afford something you don’t buy it. Plain and easy peasy!

I find for me the mere feel of the crisp notes of paper and the clashing of coins in my purse, has an earthier organic feel to it, which is strangely reassuring and grounding.

So unleash your inner credit card slayer, to wave a life steeped in debt adios!

Copyright © 2011 SimplicityDoctor.com. All rights reserved.