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