What is RSS?

For the media addicts amongst us who follow blogs and other news, having RSS feeds right to your Google Reader can be a great time-saver!

RSS is a way to get blog posts and other newsworthy articles delivered to you automatically. It eliminates the need to check each individual site. It is like having your newspaper delivered to your door instead of having to go out to the store to get it! 

Check out this CommonCraft video that explains RSS very clearly:

Click here to have 'Sanity for the Insanely Busy' delivered to you.

After the Taxes Are Done....

Salvatore Vuono / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

For the majority of us, taxes are over for another year. We're breathing big sighs of relief. We're figuring we can relax and forget about it for another year. But should we? 


Shouldn't we be preparing now for next year? Shouldn't we be turning over a new leaf and keeping better records? Shouldn't we be looking at a good financial software program?


Do we have an efficient "To Do" list prepared to be sure we don't miss crucial dates? Maybe you filed an extension. Do you have your new due date on your "to Do" list? Maybe you owed too much or received too great a refund and need to make an adjustment to your withholding. Is that on your "To Do" list?


My "To Do" list includes dates when I need to prepare and submit estimated tax payments as well as sales tax payments.  


Breathing a sigh of relief is great. Relaxing? That's great too. But let's not relax so much that we hurt our financial stability!

Travel-Ready

Packing at a moment's notice can add unneeded stress to a day. Having a semi-ready suitcase packed and ready is a good de-stresser. I would recommend it for anyone who travels frequently. 

Throw in the basics. You can add a few extra clothes on your way out the door. Keep a toiletry bag in it or ready to throw in. I purchased and put a hairbrush in my suitcase after waking up to blow-dry my hair on the road without one, not once, but twice! A small but good investment in sanity! 

What I was missing was my old travel hair dryer that had finally died on me.  Compared to my normal folding hair dryer which takes up a quarter of my suitcase, this one was less than half that size. But it had died. Checking out the local store where I had originally bought it many years ago, it was not to be found.

Not to be deterred, I began my web search. Amazon.com proved faithful once again. The replacement has arrived, is powerful enough at 1,000 watts, and slides inconspicuously into my suitcase in its own small pouch.

Anyone else looking for that perfect travel hair dryer? Click her to check it out!
   

   
      

An Organized Computer Is a Safer Computer!

Five Steps to an Organized & Safer Computer!

I've used PC Tools as my virus protection for several years now with great success and would definitely recommend them. They recently sent me an article on the benefits of an organized computer. Right. We don't just need an organized house or an organized life -- we also need an organized computer!

The premise behind the article is it is easier for malicious software that has inadvertently been downloaded to your computer to hide in messy files that resemble a tangled subway map.

Click HERE for hints on making your computer more organized AND safer!

Organized Chaos

http://www.organizedchaosbyang.com/

I've been following a blog called Organized Chaos by none other than another former missionary! She has lots of good ideas. She is also a professional organizer. If you live in the McHenry County area of Illinois (or in the surrounding area) and are in need of help with organizing your house, you might want to look her up! She is a member of the Faithful Organizers. To read more click on: http://www.organizedchaosbyang.com

Learning to Say Yes

Most articles on saving time will tell you to learn to say no--and they are probably right. Yet there are times when we need to learn to say yes.

Two days after my last posting called Stressfree Holidays, my healthy husband of 25 years was in the hospital receiving a blood transfusion.  Christmas week found us facing the news that he had cancer, presumably pancreatic cancer that had metastasized to the liver. This was later confirmed.

Having a strange sense of humor, I had to chuckle a bit as I remembered my Stressfree Holidays posting. This was not the Christmas I had planned. I was thankful for all the preparations I had made, but realized this was going to be a tricky Christmas to pull off even if we made it home for Christmas.

After seven days of not sleeping in my own bed, I was blessed to be able to bring my husband home two days before Christmas. Knowing the state the house could be in after seven days at the hands of our three young adult sons, when my wonderful daughter-in-law offered to clean the house before our arrival, I quickly learned to say yes. 

When this same wonderful daughter-in-law (and no, you can't have her!) also offered to purchase all the groceries needed for Christmas dinner and have them at the house waiting for me, I quickly learned to say yes.

We chose to enjoy Christmas, to enjoy the time together as a family, despite the hard news we had received. Having learned to yes to help, things worked out remarkably well even having arrived home two days before Christmas with out-of-town and also out-of-country guests! 

Most articles on saving time will tell you to learn to say no--and they are probably right. Yet there are times when we need to learn to say yes. This was one of those times.

Stressfree Holidays

I love Thanksgiving and Christmas. They are holidays geared for family time. They are just a day each, yet packed into that time between Thanksgiving and Christmas the average person (moms in particular) have this written or mental list that could scare the elves away. And yet, moms, unlike Santa, don't usually have a company of elves at their bidding to do all this preparation. The trick to stress-free holidays is to learn to enjoy not only the holidays, but the preparations as well!

The day after Thanksgiving begins the Christmas preparations in our house. Black Friday is when the majority of my Christmas shopping is done. My goal is usually to have it all bought that day, but goals are made to be adjusted.

That evening, or the next day, the Christmas decorations go up. This is when I usually call on my elves if they are available. Decorating as a family is quicker and easier. It's family time. It's memory-making time. And yes, having the boys bring up the plastic containers of Christmas decorations from the basement is much easier for me!

The next available Saturday when the house is not full of watching eyes is when I wrap the presents and get them under the tree. Stockings are stuffed and stored out of sight. This usually goes over much better for me if I've a large cup of coffee and a chocolate bar to set the mood.

As Christmas draws closer there are cookies to bake, a menu to plan, and a myriad of other events to plan and attend that take place in that time period between Thanksgiving and the end of the year.

It's a fact that the preparations and events surrounding this Holiday Season take time and effort. Yet if we can learn to slow down on the inside as we hurry up on the outside, enjoying the preparations as much as the holidays themselves, we'll find that stress-free holidays are possible! It's a paradox...but it works for me!