7 More Ways to Reduce Your Expenses

Reducing expenses is an on-going battle to effectively maximize the use of every dollar in your possession. Here are 7 more ways to trim your expenditure in more creative ways:


1. Walk more: Walk if you can instead of driving your car. Walking is the best form of exercise and at the same time, you cut down on petrol usage and reduce the wear and tear of your vehicle.

2. Plan your trip: Arrange your trip so that you do your errands in one go. Take it as a joy ride at the same time and enjoy the trip to town.

3. Proper storage at home: Proper storage of the things at home is essential to cut down expenses. It is to avoid buying items that are still available at home. If an item is not stored orderly, when you have found it, most probably it is way beyond the expiry date. You will also attract the flow of positive energy when you keep your house tidy and clean

4. Tweet instead of using your phone: It is a wonderful way to reduce phone charges. Tweeting on Twitter or write on the wall on Facebook is just as effective as talking over the phone to get messages across. The big difference is that it is free to tweet or write on the wall.

5. Go shopping with a shopping list and follow the list: A shopping list is important that you don’t overlook an item and waste valuable time to go back and get it again. Furthermore, you avoid impulsive spending by sticking to the list and buy nothing more.

6. Take advantage of your credit cards to save: Get a credit card that is free for life and also offer you a discount on grocery and petrol charges. So instead of paying in cash charge them to your card and save.

7. Prepare your own favorite food: Home cooking is not only cost-effective but it is good for your health. You can go one step further by making your own desserts and pastry items such as cakes and muffin and serve as a snack during tea time. You use less sugar. It is more nutritious and a delight for the whole family.


What else can you think of to reduce expenses in more delightful ways?

7 Reasons to Get Rid of Your Alarm Clock

Do you need an alarm clock every morning to wake you up? Do you turn it off and continue to snooze away? Get rid of the alarm clock and wake up when you are ready to do so in a natural way:


1. An alarm clock: When you use an alarm clock, it means you are not ready to wake up; you need more sleep if you can. However, you have to get up and go to work. You wake up and get up rather reluctantly every morning.

2. Rude awakening: It is the worst way to be rudely awakened by the sound of an alarm clock. It is annoying and irritating and the noise puts you off even before you get up to start a brand new day.

3. Natural way to wake up: Listen to the natural sound in the morning to wake you up. .As an example, listen to the wake-up call of the roosters, the sound of the chirping birds, or notice the first ray of light breaking into your window. It is a pleasant, natural, soothing, and encouraging way to wake up in the morning. Don’t wake up to the artificial noise of an alarm clock.

4. Follow the rhythm of your body: There is a rhythm of work and rest going on in your body system, follow the rhythm, don’t force yourself to work further when your body has already signaled you to take rest. You will ruin your health this way. You will also wake up naturally when your body tells you to do so.

5. Sleep early and wake up early: The best thing in life is to sleep early and get up early. Early risers have many wonderful benefits.

6. Hopeful: You will wake up willingly when you are optimistic about life and full of hope.

7. Something you look forward to doing: Another good reason that you will wake up energetically to jump-start a new day is that you look forward to engaging in work that you are passionate about and interested in. According to an article in the August 2009 issue of the Reader’s Digest, The Digg Idea, it is mentioned that for two months after he launched digg.com, Kevin Rose didn’t need an alarm clock. “By 6am, I was up and on the computer,” he recalls,” It was the sheer fear of not knowing what was on my own home page.”


I don’t use an alarm clock to wake me up in the morning. I wake up but I don’t get up immediately. I prepare myself in a positive frame of mind before I get up. Do you think you can wake up without an alarm clock? Give it a try.

10 Measures of Success in Blogging

According to the Forbes Asia magazine in the July 2010 issue, the rankings of U.S. Celebrity 100 are a blended measure of earnings and buzz:


• Earnings

• Social rank: Facebook friends and fans as well as Twitter followers.

• Overall press mention on Factiva

• Web hits on Google Blog Search

• The number of times a celebrity’s image appeared on the cover of 25 English-language consumer magazines

• TV/radio mentions on LexisNexis


How do you measure your success in blogging? Here are the telltale signs that you are doing things right:


1. Better writing: You are writing articles that are wanted by the readers to solve their problems or answer their questions. Your writing improves in quality and quality over time. You write and post regularly and consistently as expected by your readers.

2. More comments: When you get more comments, it means you have touched on the feelings of the readers on a common subject that they want to share their views with you. More comments mean your articles are effective.

3. Traffic Rank: More page views and more unique visitors will get you a higher Alexa Traffic Rank. It means your article is using the right keywords to get noticed by search engines. It is also to say that you are writing the kind of articles that people are looking for.

4. Higher Technorati Authority: Among other things, it measures how often a site produces content being referenced by other sites. Do guest postings and participation in blog carnivals are two ways to get better Authority ranking.

5. More blog followers: Are you having followers on your blog? A lot of followers mean others like what you are doing and they want to follow you to see your daily update.

6. More guest postings and more articles accepted by blog carnivals: It is an indication that your articles are of good standard to be accepted. All these are a one-way link to your blog.

7. Social networking sites: Do you tweet your articles? I do and I get more followers this way. I write on the wall of Facebook about the posting of my articles. My friends will follow the article links to check out my posts.

8. More RSS and email subscribers: This is the real sign of a successful blog. It is measured by the number of subscribers you have. The more subscribers to your blog, the more successful your blog are. Your writing is so good that they want to have more of the same from you, therefore they subscribe.

9. Higher Google PageRank: Good articles attract like-minded people to link to you. The more links from high PageRank blogs in a similar niche will boost the PageRank of your blog. Unfortunately after blogging for close to three years, my PageRank is still 0. However, another blog of mine, Credit Card Lighthouse, which I have not updated for quite a while has got a Page Rank of 2.

10. Adsense earnings: Your success is also measured by your earnings on the Net. Sad to say that it takes me six months to earn US100.What about you?


Are you getting success in blogging? Look carefully at the key indicators. Rejoice if you are on the right track. If not, you have to work harder.

10 Advantages of Positive Thinking

Life goes on whether you think positively or negatively. However, the advantages of positive thinking far outweigh negative thoughts. Here are the 10 benefits of positive thinking:



1. Health Benefits: According to an article from MayoClinic.com Positive thinking: Reduce stress, enjoy life more, positive thinking may provide increased life span, lower rates of depression, lower levels of distress, greater resistance to the common cold, better psychological and physical well-being, reduced risk of death from cardiovascular disease and better-coping skills during hardships and times of stress.

2. Work: Positive thinking promotes resilience against challenges in the workplace. A person with a positive mental attitude is determined to get a thing done because he thinks that it can be done. He is also able to cope better with stressful situations

3. Problems: A person with positive thinking finds problem-solving interesting. He will employ his creativity and resourcefulness to solve each and every problem.

4. Outlook in Life: Positive thinking means looking at the bright side of things and also able to see light at the end of the tunnel. To such a person life is hopeful.

5. Connection with people: He looks for the positive aspect of other people and he admires and appreciates their strengths. He is also trying to learn a few things from them.

6. Boost confidence: A positive mental attitude carries a can-do attitude. It means there is self-confidence in getting things done.

7. Boost self-esteem: Self-confidence promotes a positive image of self. He values and appreciates himself for what he is and what he can do.

8. Boost success: A person with positive thinking is more likely to achieve success with positive emotions than someone who is not. You see a glass as half full rather than half empty.

9. Boost creativity: Positive thinking means the possibility of unlimited. A person will imagine and conceive ideas to solve problems or get things done more effectively.

10. Promote happiness: Happiness and positive thinking go hand in hand. Happiness promotes good feelings and a good feeling creates positive thinking.

Positive thinking is the right way and the only way to face obstacles and problems in life.

10 Ways Happiness Transforms Your Daily Life

According to a survey conducted recently, people from Denmark are the happiest people in the world. One of the factors is personal freedom such as freedom of choice. In your daily life, you can choose happiness because it can do wonders for your daily life. Here are the ten ways of how happiness can transform your daily living:


1. In the mood: Happiness puts you in the right frame of mind in your daily life. You are excited to live life and take quick action to get things done.

2. In the moment: When you are happy it is unlike that you are thinking of the past regrets or worrying about the future, you are more likely to focus on the task at hand and get the flow of things. You are engaged and pay full attention to what you are doing at the moment

3. At work: You get satisfaction out of your job. Your work is fulfilling, challenging, and interesting. You are enthusiastic and full of energy at work.

4. At play: You are relaxed, joyous, and experiencing a delightful feeling. In other words, you play hard just as you work hard. You really get the kick out of the fun and enjoyment.

5. At home: Happiness is a vital ingredient of a harmonious and peaceful family. Bring more laughter and cheers to your family

6. Your appetite: Happiness promotes a hearty appetite. You enjoy your meal; you eat slowly to savor each mouthful.

7. Your health: There is no true health without happiness. Happiness enhances good health, strengthens your immune system, and promotes healing.

8. Your thoughts: Positive thinking can only happen to happy people. A happy person looks at the bright side of things. He appreciates what he has got out of life and is grateful for his abundant living

9. Yourself: You feel good about yourself and you are full of confidence and enjoying high self-esteem. You act cheerfully and vibrate more positive emotions. You are also upbeat about life and hopeful about the future

10. Other people: You smile at people you meet and you also bring happiness to others when you are happy. You are likable and others enjoy your company.


Let happiness fill your day every day

10 More Virtues of a Good Worker

Previously I have written about the characteristics of a good worker. Here are ten more virtues of a good worker:


1. Think and act: A good worker will not work in haste. He will pause to see what the best way is to get something done correctly for the first time. He believes in quality work instead of rushing about to get things done shabbily

2. Welcome problems: A good worker enjoys problem solving: He does not look at a problem negatively or something of a nuisance. “How can I solve this problem” is his way of response. In this way his creativity and resourcefulness start to work in his mind.

3. Creative: A good worker is creative and resourceful to look for better ways of doing things. His mind is always looking at things with a different perspective and to discover new methods to get things done more efficiently.

4. Inquisitiveness, curiosity, and the thirst to learn and know more:  It is the nature of creative workers to be curious and the urge to find out new things and how things work. By knowing more he is able to employ what he has learnt to do a better job.

5. Learn from experience: A good worker is able to learn and apply from previous experience and past knowledge to do his job. He is able to see the connection between old ideas and new situations.

6. Plan ahead: A good worker starts a new day by spending a few minutes to do a little planning. He will identify those tasks which are important and get to do them first thing in the morning. Advance planning and mentally rehearsing what he has to do is the hallmark of a good worker.

7. Emotionally intelligent: Another great thing about a good worker is that he will not show his negative emotions at work even though he has personal problems troubling him. He goes to work in a positive mood as usual.

8. People friendly: He is empathetic and able to know the feelings of others. He is willing to listen attentively and offer help.

9. Happy: A good worker behaves cheerfully and greets people with a smile. His positive outlook projects an image of likeability and confidence to others.

10. Communicate effectively: A good worker knows that the right time to ask questions is before doing a job. It is to clarify doubts if any. He will not do things to catch others by surprise; he gives sufficient notices in advance like taking a day off, coming to work late, or leaving the workplace.


A good worker is a smart and intelligent worker who does the right thing efficiently and at the right thing.

7 Tips to Develop Your Intelligence

Intelligence is about understanding, reasoning, planning, and many more. Intelligence is the ability to get things done effectively and efficiently by using available resources, information, and ideas. It is also the ability to solve problems creatively. How do you develop intelligence? Here are the 7 top tips to do so:


1. Read: Read to understand complex ideas and to find out the facts from the information provided. Read with a critical mindset. The more you read the more knowledge you will possess. Knowledge is power, there goes the saying.

2. Learn: Your past experience has made you a much wiser person. However, it is good to carry on learning new things to broaden and feed your mind. The more you learn, the more you know and the more resourceful you will be.

3. Connect: Learn from others, be open-minded, and find out their views on certain subjects. It is interesting to note that others may not share the same view on a subject. Different ideas from others stimulate your thinking. Be aware of current events so that you can talk to others meaningfully.

4. Observe: Seeing is believing. See for yourself how things get done Find out how you can apply what you have observed to your advantage. As an example observe the people in a mall to find out what is the current fashion trend.

5. Research: It is about finding facts and information about a subject that you are deeply interested in. The next thing and the most important thing is to discover new facts and original ideas from the existing sources of information.

6. Write: Writing develops intelligence. Writing implies that before you write you read widely about a subject and do research to look for new ideas. The more you write the more creative and witty you will be in your writing. It means you are able to express an idea differently; it is unique and it is original. Write often and write every day to sharpen your intellectual capacity.

7. Create: Welcome problems. These are opportunities to be resourceful and creative to come up with solutions to solve problems. It is another way to exercise your brain. Problems make you smarter.


According to Art Costa, the author of The School as a Home for the Mind, some of the hallmarks of intelligent people are persistence, the flexibility of thinking, inquisitiveness, curiosity, the enjoyment of problem-solving, using all the senses, ingenuity, originality, insightfulness and creativity. Are you one of them?