Do you have a plain, boring mug that needs a bit of spicing up? Personalize your mugs by drawing on them! Here's how to start:
2016年3月30日星期三
2016年3月29日星期二
5 Terrible Habits You Need to Stop Immediately
1. Do Not Answer Calls from Unrecognized Numbers
First, the interruption will throw your concentration, costing you far more in time and brain power than just the conversation itself, and second, if it’s important, you’ll find yourself in a poor negotiating position, scrambling to formulate your thoughts when the caller is already well prepared. Instead, use Google Voice to check your messages or a service like PhoneTag to have them sent to you as email.
First, the interruption will throw your concentration, costing you far more in time and brain power than just the conversation itself, and second, if it’s important, you’ll find yourself in a poor negotiating position, scrambling to formulate your thoughts when the caller is already well prepared. Instead, use Google Voice to check your messages or a service like PhoneTag to have them sent to you as email.
2016年3月21日星期一
5 Dumb Ways You’re Wasting Money Without Realizing It
Here’s five signs you need to curb your spending before you send more cash to the dump:
1. You Buy New Stuff Just Because It’s New
You’re the guy in line at 2 a.m. on the day the new iPhone is being released. But guess what? There’s always going to be a new iPhone coming out. And a fancy new fill-in-the-blank. Commerce is what makes the world go ’round. If companies stopped creating new versions of things to sell, they’d go out of business. However, it doesn’t mean you have to buy into the super-hype and rush to get everything the minute it hits the shelf.
It’s not just electronics. The new car smell is still hanging in the air and you’re at the dealership again looking at next year’s models? Cars depreciate 11% the minute you drive them off the lot, and lose 19% of their value in the first year. You don’t get your money’s worth out of a car until you’ve driven for a while.
2. You Sale Shop for Things
You Don’t Need It’s Black Friday, Cyber Monday, Super Saturday, or Free Shipping Day, and you’re right out there among the rest of them. Fighting your way through the crowds — real or virtual — to get your hands on stuff you never knew you wanted. You hate to miss one of your local department or computer store’s special sales (nearly every weekend), and you never pass up two-for-one coupons for things you don’t even need one of. “But look how much I’m saving!” you say. But look how much you’re saving if you keep your wallet in your pocket.
What’s that you say? You only shop at discount stores, dollar stores, and places with Barn, Depot or Warehouse in their names? Look how much I’m saving! Yep, you’re saving what it would have cost if you’d bought the same things at high-end establishments. But if you don’t need them, then you’re not saving a cent no matter what you paid for them. Plus you’ve got to figure out where to put everything when you get it home. You want to wind up living like someone on Hoarders?
3. You Pay Fees to Use a Credit Card or Checking Account
You’re handing over money to a credit card company so that you can pay interest on the money you owe them? What a deal! There are a few exceptions when the program rewards will more than pay the fee, but generally, paying an annual credit card fee is dumb. There are plenty of credit cards with no annual fee. Get one.
The same applies to having accounts at a bank that charges a monthly checking account fee or a fee to visit a teller instead of an ATM. Do some research and find a bank that will accommodate you with no fees for a minimum deposit you can live with.
4. You Don’t Use Loyalty Cards at the Stores You Shop at Regularly
Rail as you might at the insidiousness of grocery and other stores that extract personal information from you and track your purchases in exchange for giving you discounts, if you regularly shop at a store that offers special pricing to customers in its loyalty program and you don’t take advantage of it, you’re over-spending at that store by 20% or more every time you shop there. Unless you’re in a witness protection program, it’s absolutely worth the savings to give your local supermarket your address and phone number and let them keep tabs on the brand of butter you buy.
5. You Eat Out More Often Than You Eat at Home
If your breakfast comes in a Styrofoam container, your lunch is delivered in a plastic box, and you’re choosing dinner from a menu, you’re spending way more than you have to. You can’t help it if you’re on the road, but otherwise, you can eat as well or better at home for a lot less money, even if you barely cook at all. Tax and tip alone add about 25% to the price you’d pay if you bought the food yourself and just nuked it. If you actually know how to cook, there’s sort of no excuse.
1. You Buy New Stuff Just Because It’s New
You’re the guy in line at 2 a.m. on the day the new iPhone is being released. But guess what? There’s always going to be a new iPhone coming out. And a fancy new fill-in-the-blank. Commerce is what makes the world go ’round. If companies stopped creating new versions of things to sell, they’d go out of business. However, it doesn’t mean you have to buy into the super-hype and rush to get everything the minute it hits the shelf.
It’s not just electronics. The new car smell is still hanging in the air and you’re at the dealership again looking at next year’s models? Cars depreciate 11% the minute you drive them off the lot, and lose 19% of their value in the first year. You don’t get your money’s worth out of a car until you’ve driven for a while.
2. You Sale Shop for Things
You Don’t Need It’s Black Friday, Cyber Monday, Super Saturday, or Free Shipping Day, and you’re right out there among the rest of them. Fighting your way through the crowds — real or virtual — to get your hands on stuff you never knew you wanted. You hate to miss one of your local department or computer store’s special sales (nearly every weekend), and you never pass up two-for-one coupons for things you don’t even need one of. “But look how much I’m saving!” you say. But look how much you’re saving if you keep your wallet in your pocket.
What’s that you say? You only shop at discount stores, dollar stores, and places with Barn, Depot or Warehouse in their names? Look how much I’m saving! Yep, you’re saving what it would have cost if you’d bought the same things at high-end establishments. But if you don’t need them, then you’re not saving a cent no matter what you paid for them. Plus you’ve got to figure out where to put everything when you get it home. You want to wind up living like someone on Hoarders?
3. You Pay Fees to Use a Credit Card or Checking Account
You’re handing over money to a credit card company so that you can pay interest on the money you owe them? What a deal! There are a few exceptions when the program rewards will more than pay the fee, but generally, paying an annual credit card fee is dumb. There are plenty of credit cards with no annual fee. Get one.
The same applies to having accounts at a bank that charges a monthly checking account fee or a fee to visit a teller instead of an ATM. Do some research and find a bank that will accommodate you with no fees for a minimum deposit you can live with.
4. You Don’t Use Loyalty Cards at the Stores You Shop at Regularly
Rail as you might at the insidiousness of grocery and other stores that extract personal information from you and track your purchases in exchange for giving you discounts, if you regularly shop at a store that offers special pricing to customers in its loyalty program and you don’t take advantage of it, you’re over-spending at that store by 20% or more every time you shop there. Unless you’re in a witness protection program, it’s absolutely worth the savings to give your local supermarket your address and phone number and let them keep tabs on the brand of butter you buy.
5. You Eat Out More Often Than You Eat at Home
If your breakfast comes in a Styrofoam container, your lunch is delivered in a plastic box, and you’re choosing dinner from a menu, you’re spending way more than you have to. You can’t help it if you’re on the road, but otherwise, you can eat as well or better at home for a lot less money, even if you barely cook at all. Tax and tip alone add about 25% to the price you’d pay if you bought the food yourself and just nuked it. If you actually know how to cook, there’s sort of no excuse.
2016年3月17日星期四
Boost Your Creativity
Creativity is always a leap of faith. You’re faced with a blank page, a blank easel or an empty stage. It’s all part of the process when you live a creative life or work in a creative field, but some days the blankness gets the better of you. You can’t seem to write the first word, paint the first mark or speak the first line.
2016年3月14日星期一
3 Ways to Be Instantly More Productive
Here are 3 stategies for becoming your smartest, fastest, best self.
1. Ask yourself why you’re doing something
1. Ask yourself why you’re doing something
2016年3月9日星期三
Make a Tank Top from a T-shirt
Looking for something cute to wear on St. Patrick's Day? Making a personalized tank top from a green t-shirt is a perfect idea.
2016年3月7日星期一
How to Make a Paper Leprechaun Hat
Materials:
- green card stock (1-2 shades)
- craft knife
- ruler
- paper scoring tool
- 3-inch hole punch
- glue gun
- plastic headband
- Download: Leprechaun Hat Pattern
- green card stock (1-2 shades)
- craft knife
- ruler
- paper scoring tool
- 3-inch hole punch
- glue gun
- plastic headband
- Download: Leprechaun Hat Pattern
2016年3月3日星期四
DIY St. Patrick’s Day T-Shirt
Today, I want to show you a new way to make the St. Patrick’s Day t-shirt by yourself.
To make the eraser-stamped DIY St. Patrick’s Day shirt you will need:
– clover pattern
– a shirt
– Freezer Paper
– fabric paint
– pencil with an unused eraser Let’s get started!
1. Trace the clover shape on the NON-shiny side of a piece of freezer paper.
2. Cut out the clover shape. If you were doing a more intricate design, you could use an X-Acto knife, but scissors worked fine here.
3. Put the clover, shiny side down, on your shirt. Iron it on.
4. Dip the eraser in green paint and start stamping around the clover. Make sure to put another piece of freezer paper inside the shirt to keep the paint from leaking through.
5. Put the dots closer together around the clover and then gradually faded them out.
6. Let the paint dry and peel off the freezer paper. Follow the instructions on your paint to heat set it.
There you go! That's the funny personalized t-shirt! Cute and simple!
To make the eraser-stamped DIY St. Patrick’s Day shirt you will need:
– clover pattern
– a shirt
– Freezer Paper
– fabric paint
– pencil with an unused eraser Let’s get started!
1. Trace the clover shape on the NON-shiny side of a piece of freezer paper.
2. Cut out the clover shape. If you were doing a more intricate design, you could use an X-Acto knife, but scissors worked fine here.
3. Put the clover, shiny side down, on your shirt. Iron it on.
4. Dip the eraser in green paint and start stamping around the clover. Make sure to put another piece of freezer paper inside the shirt to keep the paint from leaking through.
5. Put the dots closer together around the clover and then gradually faded them out.
6. Let the paint dry and peel off the freezer paper. Follow the instructions on your paint to heat set it.
There you go! That's the funny personalized t-shirt! Cute and simple!
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