Two Easy Steps to Decluttering Your Home

I have been watching Clean House on Netflix and it has motivated me to organize my apartment. Living in a 400 sq. ft. apartment studio can be a blessing or a curse: a blessing if you are a minimalist and you like to live clutter-free; a curse if you are like me who has a lot of everything and no room to storage or display them all.

Where to start?

1. The Four-Box Method:
1. Trash – all the items you know you hate, the old bills, torn/broken items.
2. Keep – the items you love. Yes! LOVE, not like or like a lot. You must love, Love, LOVE the item for you give yourself the permission to keep it.
3. Sale – all items people will be willing to buy, DVDs, books, clothes. Either have a yard sale or use eBay, Craigslist or Amazon to sell the items.
4. Donate – give away items that you are embarrassed to give to someone, but is still good. My favorite place give these items is Goodwill. This also give you a tax write-off at the end of the year.
2. 15 Minutes a Day:
1. Make a list of what you need to do to help declutter your house.
2. Pick a time everyday to do one or two items on your list for 15 minutes
3. Set a timer for 15 minutes
4. Start from one corner and work your way to the other corners

Sample List:

1.     Tackle on shelf to clear out or organize.

2.     Pick up 15 items and relocate them.

3.     Clean one drawer.

4.     Toss out clothes you haven’t worn over two years.

Benefits of a clutter-free home?

1. Peace of mind
2. More money in your pocket (I actually found two gift cards with a total of $105!!)
3. Entertaining friends
4. Control over your life and finances 

I am going to leave you with this great quote from Donald Horban,
“We don’t need to increase our goods nearly as much as we need to scale down our wants. Not wanting something is as good as possessing it.”

Written by Linh Dang

Founder of FreedomCollage

A Habit Makes the World Go Around

For this New Year, I want to do the following:

1. Spend more time praying, reading, worshipping God. 
2. De-clutter my life, which means de-cluttering my clothes, boxes of books, art supplies, etc.
3. Save at least $500 a month, and I don't mean saving on sales, but literally putting the $500 in my savings account. 
4. Re-write my children's stories before publishing.
5. Eat Healthier
6. Exercise more
7. Write a memoir

I have learned that I can only focus on three at a time. If I can turn the three into a habit, than I can add three more on my list.

Check out this site where Dr. BJ Fogg shares the we can make things into a habit with only 3 steps:

http://www.slideshare.net/captology/3-steps-to-new-habits

I plan on doing this for the item number 1, 3 and 5.

Item 1, I will turn worship music on the second after I get out of bed.

Item 3, I will put $250 into my saving account after I get my paycheck.

Item 5, I will pack my lunch after I brush my teeth at night.

Dr. BF Fogg says that if you can make small changes to these habits, once you can do these with little effort, you can accomplish full behaviors, like the items 2, 4, 6, and 7.

Let me know if you learned something to better your life today. 

Written by Linh Dang

Founder of FreedomCollage

Fiscal Cliff Made Easy

Are you able to understand the ‘Fiscal cliff’?  I am not very good with politics and taxes, so I had my boyfriend (an amazing guy who started watching political news at the age of 7) explain it to me.

Well, his “cliff notes” version for the ‘fiscal cliff’ is this:

• There is a higher tax rate for individuals who earn more than $400,000 and on family incomes of $450,000 or more. The tax rate used to be 35%, now it is 39.6%.  
• There will also be an increase of 2% taken out of each pay check on the first $113,700. This will cost you about $2,274 maximum.
• Capital gains and dividend tax rates went up from 15% to 20%.
• Our Personal Exemption Phaseout (PEP) Itemize deduction limits to $250,000 for individuals and $300,000 for joint filers.

Some good news for the low to middle wage earners:

• The Child Tax Credit is up to $1,000 for each child under 17. (Details are in IRS Publication 972)
• The Child and Dependent Care Credit will be reduced, but at least you will still have credit for your child-care expenses. (IRS Publication 503)
• You can get a maximum annual credit of $2,500 for The American Opportunity Tax Credit. This is for four post-secondary education years instead of two. It's good for individuals with gross income of $80,000 or less.

If you want to get deeper, here are a few links you can visit:

http://www.npr.org/blogs/thetwo-way/2013/01/01/168419337/inside-the-budget-compromise-bill-tax-cuts-and-tax-hikes

http://money.cnn.com/2012/12/31/pf/taxes/family-tax-credits/

http://www.moneytalksnews.com/2013/01/02/what-the-fiscal-cliff-bill-means-for-your-money/

Written by Linh Dang

Founder of FreedomCollage

Book Review: How to Look Expensive

This book has a lot of good pointers on hair, nails and make-up.  I wish she had more pointers on fashion and style.  However, the title is "How to Look Expensive".  Ms. Lustig stated that looking expensive starts with your hair and your skin/make-up. Your nails need to look manicure along with your feet. I believe 75% of the book was on these subjects, and 5% on the fashion. The rest gave some good resource pages.  If you can borrow this book from your library, that is the best way to go, because I don't believe it's worth the full retail price of $25.00.

I really hoped it would be a great reference book, but the veracity is, I felt robbed when I finished the book to discover that there weren't much discussion on fashion. After all, clothes are the big ticket items.

First off, I will share what I do concerning clothes, I have been told that if you wear one expensive piece, you can mix & match it with a lower end item from the Gap, Express or Ross.
1. Try not to buy clothes at full price, wait about 3 weeks or so for it to go on sale.
2. Always search the net using the keywords for discount: coupon promo [name of the store you want].
3. Check out the Clearance section online of your favorite stores before looking at New Arrivals.
4. Shop at Loehmann's, Marshall or Ross in affluent areas, such as Pleasanton or Hillsborough.
5. BUY only what you love, Love, LOVE!  If you like it, put it back. You must LOVE IT.
Bonus: if you haven't worn it within the week you bought it, take it back. You didn't love it enough to want to wear it right away.

Concerning pampering yourself.  I suggest you use Groupon.com, Bloomspot, and LivingSocial. You can save 50% off on many of the deals at these sites.  I highly recommend a facial, mani/pedi, and a massage each month, but if you are on a budget, get a professional facial every two months, give yourself a mani/pedi every month and a professional massage every 6 months. Please do not use the $20 foot massage places. They are not certified and can damage your body.  You can find deals on haircuts, too.

Now onto the information I gleaned from the book How to Look Expensive. I will only share what I found valuable.

1. Your smile is important so keep them teeth as white as you can by brushing for two minutes, followed by flossing, then rinse with mouth wash that contains antioxidants. Ms. Lustig gave a good example of PerioSciences AO ProRinse.

Tricks to making your teeth look whiter:

• Wear a blue-based red lipstick
• Sparkly earrings 
• Wetting your teeth with your tongue to make it look shiny

     2.  A Natural way to bleach teeth is by eating strawberries. Apples cleans your gums and gives you   

          clean breathe.


And lastly, Ms. Lustig's Luxe Wardrobe Rules:

1. Stick to a basic color palette
2. Collect statement jewelry
3. Spend money on accessories, not clothes
4. Don't wear high-end designer from head to toe
5. Find yourself a good taylor
6. White blouses look good in every season
7. Buy interesting one-of-a-kind tops, jackets and dresses
8. Buy your size or get your taylor to fit it for you

If you want more, check out her book at your library or find is used. Otherwise, I think if you make sure your hair and your make-up look good before you leave the house, you will look better than half the people out there who do not care what they look like.

Please leave a comment as to whether you like this topic or not.

Thank you!

Written by Linh Dang
Founder of FreedomCollage

New Year's Resolution 2013

After reading a memoir by Jeannette Walls, The Glass Castle, it reminds me that we all can pull ourselves out of chaos if we all had a dream, a vision, a desire to become better.  Many of my high school friends have known me more than 20 years now. They saw the old me and now want to be more like the new improved me.

I am 43 years old, but most people think I am ten years younger. In high school, I was shy, bullied, molested, and rejected. Now, I am the "butterfly", I share "Hope" to everyone I meet; that is my purpose - to share the good news about love, joy and peace.

This blog is to share what I have learned for the last 25 years. I will share what I do and how I do it. The categories below are the reasons why I am as I am. There will be many topics to help you live a life worth living while increasing your self-esteem, living younger, becoming wiser and most importantly, being a better person than you were the week before.

I hope you will join me on this journey for some DangGoodLiving.

Categories:
Quality of Life
Health
Fashion
Beauty
Money
Books: Self-Help, Non-Fiction, Leadership
Films
Music
Volunteerism
Church
Hobbies
Single Life
Entertaining: Recipes, Cocktails, Decorations
Art Events

What I would like to share first is a little book written by Andrea Pomerantz Lustig, How to Look Expensive: A Beauty Editor's Secrets to Getting Gorgeous without Breaking the Bank.  This book has a lot of great tips on getting great hair, nails, and make-up with whatever your budget is. It is not cheap. It's about $25 retail price.

I love books, but I can't afford to buy all of them, so here is a little secret on how I save on books. I get a membership at my local library. Before I buy a book, I check the online catalogue at my library.
If the book is there, I place it ON HOLD for $0.75 - which is a lot cheaper than $16.50 on Amazon.com or hpb.com.  If it is not there, I read the reviews to see if it's worth buying. I ALWAYS read the 3 good reviews and 2 bad reviews. This helps me to make a more informed decision.  Every dollar adds up. Make sure you really want the book before you buy it; otherwise, you will be wasting your time and money.  If you don't have the time to read through this book, I will have a short review on the items I think were important next week.


Please leave a comment if you think this is helpful. Good or bad, I would love your thoughts.


Written by Linh Dang
Founder of FreedomCollage