Learn to Be Clutter-Free

Michelle J Prima

Being clutter-free is more than getting rid of things you don’t need or use. It’s more than cleaning off a counter, emptying the garage or paring down your collections. Being clutter-free also means a change in life-style—for the better.

How will you benefit by getting rid of clutter? You will gain more time for yourself because you won’t be maintaining your property. You will have more money because you won’t be paying for extra storage, and because your buying habits will change once you realize the benefits of having a clutter-free home.

Who wouldn’t want more leisure time and more spare change in their pockets? Here are some steps toward creating a clutter-free lifestyle.

First, look at the cause of the problem. Why do you collect clutter? Is it because your parents did, because it was on sale, because it makes you feel important or safe to be surrounded by it? Why do you keep what you don’t need? Because it was a gift, it will work again once repaired, the spare parts might come in handy, or you’re planning on holding a garage sale one day?

Any of these are good excuses – in your mind, anyway. But there are drawbacks to being cluttered. Clutter affects your lifestyle. You can’t park in your garage, you can’t afford a vacation, you can’t cook healthy meals if you can’t find your stove, you can’t entertain because there’s nowhere to sit, and you can’t exercise on your treadmill because it’s become a second closet.

Clutter also costs money. You’re paying for off-site storage, you’re incurring late fees because you can’t find your bills, you’re racking up finance charges on credit cards, and you’re purchasing duplicates because you can’t find what you want when you need it.

In addition to losing money, you’re losing time. Tasks take longer because you can’t find the tools you need to complete them. You’re late for work because you lose your keys or you miss appointments because you can’t find your date book.

Is this how you want to live your life? Wouldn’t you rather be clutter-free and stress-free? You can, and very easily, too.

Start small. Choose a room where you would gain the most from having it cleaned. For you it may be the kitchen to sit down to a family meal, the bedroom for a serene sleep, or the laundry room which serves as the family control centre. Choose one surface in that room, whether it’s the floor, a counter or dresser, and clear it completely. Make decisions as you go. Do you need it? Do you have a place to store it if you keep it? If you’re not keeping it, what condition is it in? That will determine whether you toss it or donate it. Once that surface is done, move on to a second surface. Repeat this process until the room is done. When one room is done, you can move on to another.

Be honest with yourself when making decisions. Do you want it or need it? Will your life change if you no longer own it? Do you have room to store it? Can you replace it if you ever need it again? Is the item in good/safe condition? And finally, how does it make you feel? Warm and cozy? Or stressed and crazy?

Once your spaces are cleared, it’s only the beginning. Cleared rooms don’t make you clutter-free. New habits and lifestyles make you clutter-free. You have to maintain your new space to keep it that way.

One of the first things you should do is create better storage for what you are keeping. This should be done after everything is cleared and you know what is staying in the space. For easier access, use shelving for boxes instead of stacking them. Store lightweight items on higher shelves, and heavier items on lower ones. Utilize vertical space on your walls and overhead for maximum use of the room. Use clear containers and label them clearly with contents. Finally, containerise within containers to keep things sorted.

After everything is neatly tucked away, examine your habits. What can you do to change them so your house remains clutter-free? Start making wise decisions. Don’t buy anything new unless it replaces something and you have room to store it. Don’t buy it unless you need it. You don’t have to keep up with the neighbours. Set up monthly donations with your favourite charity, and force yourself to set out a bag of things you no longer need. And most important, don’t buy it if you can’t afford it.

The most important part of this process is to not expect changes overnight. It took years to get cluttered. It will take weeks or possibly months for you to go through your home from top to bottom and get rid of all that clutter. Habits can be more difficult to change. Be aware and be patient. Making little changes over time is more beneficial than trying to change everything at once. Once you see the benefits of a clutter-free home, the changes will come more easily.

Tension�.Tension

Certain incidents make us so tension

our blood vessels reach a bursting point because of them. Most often we get flustered that our limbs begin to tremble! The heart throbs so loudly that a person even standing one foot away can hear it clearly! We experience fear so strong and inexplicable that t makes us feel as though we were drowning in a dark sea of troubles. All this is due to tension.
Many times, we get tense on trivialities.
Here is an example �
A professor was transferred to another collage. In order to see him off, four of his colleagues had come to the railway station with him. As there was still time for departure, the professors standing on the platform, began to chat. They were so engrossed in their conversation that they did not realise that the train had begun to move.

Suddenly flustered, they decided to jump into the train. Without even bothering about which compartment they were getting into, the four of them struggled to with the crowd and somehow entered the compartment. Their idea was to move into the correct compartment in the next station.
But one professor holding his luggage in his hands was unable to board the train. A passer-by consoled him saying, `Don’t worry! In another ten minutes the next train would come. You can board that one.’
The professor replied, `I know there is another train after ten minutes�.I am not worried about myself! I am only worried about my colleagues. They came to see me off; in the process, they have all boarded the train by mistake!’

This is how tension and agitation make us lose track of even simple matters. When we are agitated, no matter how hard we work to accomplish some task, the net result would just be zero.
How to be calm?
Just be a witness to your thoughts. Don’t identify with them. See them as clouds in the sky of your awareness. Thoughts will come and go; but you don’t come and go. You are just a witness. Then the mystery of calmness happens.

Quote – Dalai Lama

Remember that silence sometimes is the best answer

A new kind of plastic money

As part of its clean note policy initiative, the Reserve Bank of India is planning to introduce Rs 10 plastic notes in five cities on a trial basis.
In its 2012-13 Annual Report, the RBI has said it considered various options in consultation with the Government before deciding to introduce one billion Rs 10 banknotes on plastic substrate for field trials.
The five cities that have been identified for introduction of plastic notes are Jaipur, Bhubaneshwar, Kochi, Shimla and Mysore.
These cities have been identified because of their geographic and climatic diversity, the report said.
“The soilage is less in plastic compared to paper, and is more cost-effective as they last longer,” the RBI said.

TERI study
The report further said the RBI engaged The Energy and Resources Institute (TERI) to conduct a study on the carbon footprint of cotton-based banknote paper substrate vis-à-vis plastic-based substrate to estimate the overall environmental and life cycle assessment impact.
The result indicated that the polymer/plastic note (and the waste from production) could be granulated and recycled into plastic products such as compost bins, plumbing fittings and the like.
Australia, incidentally, was the first country to introduce polymer notes, way back in 1988.
Since then, over 30 countries have introduced them. Canada is the latest entrant.

*Ethics or Integrity
*

Ethics or Integrity

Zig Ziglar

There’s a strong movement in America to teach ethical behaviour in our personal, family and business lives. Actually, the emphasis is on the wrong word. We should be teaching integrity because a person with integrity will behave in an ethical manner.

According to Webster’s Dictionary, ethics is “the doctrines of morality or social manners; the science of moral philosophy which teaches men their duty and the reasons for it. It is a system of moral principles, a system of rules for regulating the actions and manners of men in society.” Integrity is who you are; it comprehends the whole moral character and is the entire unimpaired state of anything.

This example from the March 17, 1995, issue of Virtues tells a story by Kevin Dolan about Norman Strauss, Chairman of the J. Walter Thompson Advertising Agency. Strauss marched into RCA’s CEO and announced that the new reel-to-reel tape recorder they wanted to market chewed up tape and turned it into spaghetti. Strauss said, “The product doesn’t work. We can’t advertise it.” The RCA CEO replied, “If that’s your decision, we’ll give some other agency the entire RCA account.” Strauss turned to walk out the door. “Wait a minute!” shouted the RCA Chief. “If you feel so strongly you’re willing to sacrifice the whole account, it must be a bad product. We’ll fix it.” So J. Walter Thompson kept the account.

The experience made a lasting impression on Dolan and when he became Deputy Head of J. Walter Thompson’s international accounts, Frederick’s of Hollywood, the purveyor of sexy lingerie, wanted to give him their international account. “It turned out they needed our good name,” said Dolan. “I told them that’s exactly the reason we wouldn’t handle it. If we gave Frederick’s our name, it would no longer stand for a certain ethical standard.”

Yes, integrity is the key, so live your life with integrity and I’ll see you at the top!

Beautiful message!

💬 Stay away from Anger..
It hurts ..Only You!

💬 If you are right then there is no need to get angry,

💬 And if you are wrong then you don’t have any right to get angry.

💬 Patience with family is love,

💬 Patience with others is respect.

💬 Patience with self is confidence and Patience with GOD is faith.

💬 Never Think Hard about the PAST, It brings Tears…

💬 Don’t think more about the FUTURE, It brings Fear…

💬 Live this Moment with a Smile,It brings Cheer.

💬Every test in our life makes us bitter or better,

💬 Every problem comes to make us or break us,

💬 The choice is ours whether we become victims or victorious.

💬 Beautiful things are not always good but good things are always beautiful

💬 Do you know why God created gaps between fingers?

💬 So that someone who is special to you comes and fills those gaps by holding your hand forever.

💬 Happiness keeps You Sweet..But being sweet brings happiness.

Zig Ziglar

Unfortunately, significant portions of working people don’t really like their jobs, feel they are “dead-end,” and that they are “stuck” with them. Fortunately, a change in attitude towards your job will increase your effectiveness on that job and open the door for a better one.

Step one: There are some things you like about your job, and you should make a list of them. It could start with the simple fact that it provides you with at least enough money to exist. Expand on that list and then accept as a fact that while you don’t like everything about your job, you can learn to like the way you do your job. Choose the portions you do not like, evaluate why you don’t like them, figure out a way to do them better and faster or simply to get them done with a smile on your face.

Robert D. Updegraff reminds us that probably half of our income comes from doing the things on the job that we don’t like to do– working with difficult people under unpleasant circumstances. He says that if the job was easy and pleasant, someone else could be found to do the job for about half of what you’re being paid. When you reflect on that fact, it will help you to like your job and accept it with a better attitude.

Here is a fact of life: If you will tackle the unpleasant parts of the job with a sense of excitement, you will get a deep sense of satisfaction out of handling them well. This approach will eventually enable you to qualify for a better job, either with your present company or with another company.

Remember that cheerful people with a good attitude, who work hard and accomplish difficult things, are always in demand in the marketplace. This simply means that by giving your unpleasant job your best shot, you’re qualifying for a more pleasant one at a higher salary. Think about it. Smile about it. Get busy, and I’ll see you at the top!

One truck driver was doing his usual load delivery at a mental hospital, by parking his vehicle beside an open drain.
He discovered a flat tyre when he was about to return from the mental hospital.
He jacked up the truck and removed the flat tyre to fix the spare tyre.

When he was about to fix the spare tyre, he accidentally dropped all the 4 bolts in the open drain.
As he cannot fish the bolts in the open drain, he started to panic as to what should be done?

Just then, one patient happened to walk past him and asked the driver as to why he was looking troubled.
The driver thought to himself, since there is nothing much he can do or this mental joker can.
Just to keep the bugging away, the truck driver informed the whole episode to the mental patient and gave a helpless look.

The patient just laughed at the truck driver and said you just cannot even fix such a simple problem?
“No wonder you are destined to remain a truck driver for life”.

The truck driver was astonished to hear such a compliment from a mental guy.
“Here is what you can do” said the mental guy…
“Take one bolt from each of the remaining 3 tyres / wheels and fix it on to this tyre.
Then drive down to the nearest workshop and replace the missing ones. Isn’t it simple my friend”?

The truck driver was so impressed with this quick fix answer and asked the patient:
“How come you are so smart and intelligent and you are here at the mental hospital?”

The patient replied:
“Hello friend! I stay here because I am crazy but not stupid”.