Archive for the ‘ Sundry ’ Category

At Least I’m Reading

Author: Holland Saltsman

Jan 28

With 13 days left until the official Chinese New Year starts, here’s where I am with my preparations and resolutions. Once everything kicks in, I’ll update with much more detailed info.

Cooking More – I’ve tried 3 new recipes over the last week and 2 are keepers. Also, I’m getting better at remembering to thaw out my ‘make-ahead’ meals that I do on a semi-monthly basis at Time for Dinner.

Eat More Paleo / Blood Type O – Not so good. Having a difficult time at breakfast and damn those chips & salsa.

Get up earlier – I’m reading Laura Vanderkam’s What the Most Successful People Do Before Breakfast (ebook) and it’s a strong, persuasive argument for not hitting snooze. I also joined the Hello Mornings Challenge that started today and maybe tomorrow I’ll actually get up early for it.

Find an exercise to do 3/week – I carved out the time that I could go exercise, but so far haven’t made it out the door.

Read 43 books – 10 books so far. Okay I cheated and started counting on January 1 AND I read really fast AND I LOVE books. Next post, I’ll give my favorites from 2012.

Watch 15 Independent Films – 1 so far. I may have to partner this with spending quality time with husband as that’s harder to plan that I realized.

For the remaining ones, I’ve done zip, nada, nothing but that’s what so ingenious about this plan. When most people are already falling off the wagon with their resolutions, I’m just getting started! Anyone else with me?

 

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The Year of The Snake

Author: Holland Saltsman

Jan 21

credit BBDesigns on etsy

For the first time ever, I am making a serious concerted effort to celebrate the Chinese New Year on February 10th, 2013. Truth be told, it will have given me 41 additional days to sort our my resolutions and goals for the year. January 1st arrived much too quickly and I didn’t want to make any knee jerk resolutions. According to ‘research’ people born in the Year of the Snake are reputed to be thoughtful and wise and to approach problems rationally and logically, seldom instinctively. While I was born in the year of the dog (we can find fault with many things and are noted for our sharp tongues), this particular snake year seems to be aligned with where I’m headed.

Life Simplified continues to be a great place for me to provide shortcuts, solutions and suggestions for living a more simplified life both here, facebook & on twitter. Moving forward, for this particular year, I’m also going to share my quest to follow through on the many goals, ideas, & resolutions that I always WANT to accomplish, but somehow (always) let slide.

In no particular order…

  • Cook more.
  • Eat more Paleo or Blood Type O foods/diet.
  • Prioritize husband / couple time.
  • Find an exercise that I will do 3/week.
  • Entire family to learn basic Spanish.
  • Read 43 books (tracking on goodreads.com).
  • Watch 15 independent films.
  • Get up earlier, even if it’s 15 minutes.
  • Go to bed earlier, turn off bad TV.
  • Less screen time, more kid time.
  • Focus on positive, stay present.
Nothing like learning rocket science, but at least if it’s public, there’s more accountability. And what I’m really hoping is that this helps me direct my time as opposed to wondering where it went. What’s on your agenda for this forthcoming Chinese New Year? I’d love you to share any of your own shortcuts, solutions and suggestions for getting where you want to be! GOOD LUCK!

 

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Must See Documentaries

Author: Holland Saltsman

May 14

I’ll admit that I’ve never been a  BIG documentary fan, escapism is much more my speed but I’m becoming a bit of a convert over the past year. It started when I attended the Sundance Film Festival and was fortunate enough to see the brilliant Miss Representation directed by Jennifer Siebel Newsom. I consider this film, which explores how the media’s misrepresentations of women have led to the underrepresentation of women in positions of power and influence, a must see for any adult and any child over 6th grade.

Recently our family picked up Being Elmo from the library and while you can love or hate this well known muppet, you can’t help but be inspired by Kevin Clash, whose only dream was to make puppets. This documentary follows him through a series of good breaks that led him into the universe of Jim Henson and “Sesame Street,” and we even hear an eyewitness account to the day he “discovered” the Elmo character.

Currently at home, we have No Impact Man which I’m hoping will continue to move me into a less wasteful lifestyle and Page One, which grants the viewers unprecedented access to the New York Times newsroom. Last but not least is The Greatest Movie Ever Sold, a documentary about branding, advertising and product placement that is financed and made possible by brands, advertising and product placement. Trust me, even the trailer is genius!

Many others have generated their must see documentaries as you can review below but l’d love to hear your thoughts and recommendations as well!

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Do you like me – I mean really “Like” me?

Author: Holland Saltsman

Oct 31

If you’re anything like me, you may follow different people or companies through a variety of avenues-  twitter,  RSSfeed, direct email or facebook. In case your main way of connecting with Life Simplified is something other than facebook, I wanted to share a few links with you that I had recently posted ‘over there’ as I’d hate for you to miss any great shortcuts, suggestions or solutions.

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Filed under: Apps, Home & Garden, Saving Money, Sundry, Technology | Tagged as: , , , , , ,

“Hear’s the Thing”

Author: Holland Saltsman

Apr 23

After years or borrowing my family’s headphones, I finally went in search of my very own. I promised myself that good headphones would be the key to  start exercising. Here are ones, plus a few accessories, that made the final cut:

  • Zipbuds earphones – Tangle resistant zipper integrated cabling keeps your cables in line so you spend less time untangling your earbuds and more time listening to your music.
  • Vers earphones -  individually crafted with sustainably sourced hardwoods & Bamboo, and produce that familiar, natural sound quality Vers has become known for. Also, for every tree Vers uses in production, they re-plant 100 through their partnership with the Arbor Day foundation.
  • iFrogz EarPollution Plugz with microphone
  • Skullcandy earphones – IF I was a sports fan OR badas*
  • Modcloth funky headphone splitter
  • fredflare GIANT earbud speakers
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Would you like to purchase the Extended Warranty?

Author: Holland Saltsman

Apr 8

Ugh, this question gets me every time no matter where I am & no matter what I am buying. The very nice salesperson does his/her best to make me feel like an idiot if I don’t purchase it but my head tells me that I’m not supposed to – right?

Since I’m admittedly no expert, here’s what I’ve found from others who are more knowledgeable than me in this area. Mark Huffman from ConsumerAffairs.com offers the 5 Reasons NOT to Buy An Extended Warranty:

  1. They Usually Cost More Than They’re Worth.
  2. Warranty Work May Be Unreliable.
  3. The Warranty May Not Cover What You Think It Does.
  4. Warranty Underwriter May Go Out Of Business.
  5. The Extended Warranty May Overlap the Manufacturer’s Warranty.

Gary Altunian from About.com poses the following questions about electronics & their extended warranties.

  1. Does the Product have Moving Parts or is Delicate?
  2. Is the Product Based on New, Unproven Technology?
  3. Is In-Home Service Provided?

Specifically for auto extended warranties, there’s a considerable amount of research online, and Stacy Johnson from WiseBread had pulled together a great article that puts it all in one place. Overall it seems like a gamble and by buying an extended warranty you are essentially betting that your item is going to break & the companies are betting that it won’t. Who’s got more stacked in their favor?

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Outrageous Offermatic!

Author: Holland Saltsman

Mar 13

I had never heard of offermatic until last week when my sister, Nancy, sent me an email about it and all I can say is – WHERE THE HECK HAVE I BEEN? Michael Arrington describes it best, “offermatic is the freak love child of Mint, Groupon & Blippy“.  Here’s how it works: You register your credit cards with Offermatic via the Yodlee back end (which is secure). Offermatic then downloads your individual credit card purchases and matches offers from advertisers relevant to your purchase history. If you buy something at Home Depot, for example, you may get a $30 off coupon from Lowes. You’ve spent money on textbooks and you get a special offer from Chegg. Etc. All offers will be 40% – 90% off normal retail, says Offermatic.

Within 5 minutes of registering my main credit card, I received a FREE $25 gift certificate from Restaurant.com and $5 off coupons for Walgreens & Macy’s. Check it out!

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Do the (good) deed!

Author: Holland Saltsman

Feb 11

timeisloveblog.com photo

February 14-20 is national Random Acts of Kindness Week. Not that we all shouldn’t be looking for ways to be kind on a daily basis but next week in particular encourages us to ramp it up a bit. There are thousands of ways to perform a random act of kindness (at home, work, running errands, etc) and these sites make it really easy to start.

So put your kindness cap on & plan out warm, fun, inventive and creative ways that you can bring some light into someone’s life next week!

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What makes your pulse race?

Author: Holland Saltsman

Jan 26

So that’s me…at the 2011 Sundance Film Festival (!) with friends.  I returned yesterday and I’m slowly trying to integrate back into reality. It was everything that I had hoped it would be and more! Fabulous films (The Music Never Stopped, Miss Representation, Higher Ground, etc), celebrity run-ins (Liv Tyler, Adrian Grenier, Morgan Spurlock, etc.), and THE best time hanging out with friends old & new. This trip was conceived many, many years ago with my friend Lesley, and a few years ago we got serious saving and planning to go this year. For weeks, I was was like a little kid, getting more excited every day until finally we left. Honestly, it was one of the best times of my life and it was great fun to check it off my “list”.

I’ve got to go on record stating that I think everyone should have a list of things they want to accomplish in their lives. 2 sites -2dobeforeidie & 43things are great places to record your list and  Lifehack & Squidoo both help you get started. It can really be anything – but I’m a true convert that if you “list” it, it can happen.

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The Gift of Organization

Author: Holland Saltsman

Dec 15

Today’s post is totally shameless and self promoting but practical. A friend asked over the weekend if her mom could get her a gift certificate from Life Simplified to help her clean and organize her office. “Of course” was my enthusiastic response because unlike others, I have a unusual enjoyment of assisting and guiding others through the clutter and disorganization in their lives.

Take a moment to check out the services section on the Life Simplified site and you’ll find additional information regarding:

  • Tailored Gift Shopping
  • Media/Photo Projects
  • Home & Business Organization
  • Small Business Support
  • Research

I’ll be happy to do a gift certificate for any of these services for you or someone on your holiday list. Ho! Ho! Ho!

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