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Five Ways to Simplify Your Life in Five Minutes

May 4, 2014/0 Comments/in Apps, Benefits of List Making, Boost Memory, Decision Making, Home, Increase Productivity, List Making, Reduce Stress, Saving Time, Technology, Tool for Success, Uncategorized/by Paula Rizzo

Alarm Clock Redux (Photo credit: Gnu2000)

We’ve all heard it before, “I’ll be there in five minutes.” or “just give me five more minutes.” Everyone always throws around five minutes even if it’s going to take them 10 or 15 minutes. Throwing five minutes around annoys me. Maybe it’s the producer in me because I’m used to being very precise with time. I’ve been known to have meetings at odd times like 4:37 or 12:23 because I know exactly how long it will take me to get somewhere and every minute counts.

But if you’re smart enough, you can spend those “five minutes” actually doing something really productive. Five minutes is a very valuable chunk of time — if you know how to use it correctly. Here’s a list of things you should use those extra five minutes doing:

1. Prioritize and prepare: Before you go to bed each night, take five minutes to jot down the most important activities that you need to get done tomorrow. This will help you schedule your time appropriately and be productive from the start of your day. Once you have created your list, look through it and identify any ways you can make each task a little easier. If you’re planning on going for a run in the morning, lay out your workout clothes the night before to save you time when you wake up. Not only will this be time efficient, but this will also encourage you to follow through with your workout plans!

2. Refine your list: It’s easy to get caught up in miscellaneous tasks throughout the course of the day. If you find yourself straying from your ‘to-do list’, take five minutes to rework your list. Keep it as simple as possible—if you take on a new task; replace it with a different task on your list. This way, you won’t be taking on more than you can handle. And don’t be afraid to say no when necessary!

3. Limit your media consumption: From cell phones, to social media, to e-mail, it’s easy to get distracted. In order to ensure that you do not stray from your priorities, take five minutes to download apps, such as “AwayFind”, which will send an auto-reply text message stating that you are currently busy. It will also provide emergency contact information just incase. This eliminates the social distractions in your life and allows you to focus on what’s important so you can check another thing off your ‘to-do list’.

4. Clean out your closet: If your clothes drawers are so stuffed that you can’t close them, take a five minutes to give one drawer a once over. Pull everything out, set a timer and get rid of any items you do not use.

5. Eliminate any junk mail: If your email inbox is overflowing with messages, it becomes difficult to find that important email from a few days or weeks ago. Take five minutes to clear out any unneeded messages or spam from your inbox in order to make your account easier to manage. Next time you go to look for an old e-mail, it will be much quicker to find.

Hopefully, the five minutes you took to read these steps will buy you five extra minutes in the future!

Easy Meals to Get on the Table Quickly

April 20, 2014/0 Comments/in Food, Home, Increase Productivity, Reduce Stress, Saving Money, Uncategorized/by Paula Rizzo

Fresh vegetarian pasta (2528005054) (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

When you are having a crazy-busy work day the last thing you want to do when you come home is slave away in the kitchen to make a decent meal. I know when I’m mentally exhausted from the day, I don’t want to think anymore, so I end up ordering out and spending way too much money. To kick the dine-out habit, I found some awesome quick and easy meals to make that require little ingredients and not too much brain power!

Here’s my list:

1. Avocado Chicken Salad:

Ingredients: 2 cups of shredded chicken, 1 avocado, 1/4 cup of diced onions, juice from half a lime, 2 tablespoons of plain yogurt (optional), 1 tablespoon of basil leaves.

Preparation: Just mix everything together well and you have a yummy meal 🙂 (recipe from Real Foo d Enthusiast)

7 Ways to Deal When Cable and Internet go out

March 2, 2014/0 Comments/in Benefits of List Making, Home, List Making, Tool for Success, TV, Uncategorized/by Paula Rizzo

no-cable-tv (Photo credit: hjl)

As many of you know — I’m getting ready for a big move to a brand new apartment. With that comes a lot of coordinating and planning. Our cable company made one very big mistake about our move and shut off our service in our current apartment a month too early! So yes, we were left without TV, Internet, and phone service for two days. Who cares, you may think. And I would have said the same — until it happened to me.

When you’re on vacation, you are ready to unplug, you need it and you want it. But in the middle of a work week when you are unexpectedly thrown off of your routine and contact with the outside world is ripped from your grip — you get angry fast! So as I was pulling my hair out with frustration, as our nice field tech Rich tried to get our service turned back on, I wrote out a list.

This is a list of things to do when your cable and Internet go out without warning — like when your cable company screws up or something more dramatic happens like a blackout.

1. Go to the movies. It occurred to me that we had been binge watching Netflix for so long (House of Cards is amazing!) that we hadn’t actually been to a theater in months. It was great to get out and see something new.
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Make Cash From Your Clutter

February 18, 2014/0 Comments/in Apps, Home, Increase Productivity, People, Saving Money, Saving Time, Shopping, Technology/by Paula Rizzo

Yard Sale! (Photo credit: moon angel)

I started my spring cleaning a little early this year, not only in the hopes that maybe Mother Nature will get the hint (crossing my fingers and toes that this ridiculous snow in the Northeast ends) but also to make a little extra cash! YES – cash for your clutter, what could be better then that?

PoshMark
Dig out those glamorous heels in the back of your closet that you love but can’t find another occasion to wear and let this app do the rest. You can set up an inventory of clothes, shoes, and jewelry to sell on the app or through their site. All you do is upload the photos, set the price, negotiate with customers, and voila you now have a little extra space in your wardrobe and cash in your hand. They make shipments super easy by sending you the prepaid packaging – all you need to do is add the address (because of this they take 20% of your sale). You can also browse through other “closets” in case you need to fill that heel hole in your heart 😉

ThreadFlip
This is a similar app to PoshMark, except if you don’t want to spend the time selling your items they will do it for you with their “full service” option (their take on your sale is 40% with this option, “list on your own” is 20%) . ThreadFlip will send you a free pre-paid bag, you fill it with the things you want to sell, and ship it back to them. They will then professionally photograph the items, load them to the site, and send them on there way when they are sold! That’s my kind of outsourcing!

Gazelle
I sometimes keep my old cell phones in case the one I have now suddenly breaks — that’s just the preparer in me. Well, this habit has now taken over an entire drawer, so I decided to sell them on Gazelle. You can sell old cell phones, tablets, Apple computers, and other electronics. Just enter the model, and the current condition and the site does the rest! They will send you a pre-paid box to send back your stuff and send you a check once they receive your package.

YardSale

If you have a random collection of things to get rid of I would try out this app. You can sell pretty much anything from a bike, to a camera, or even a car – it really is a virtual yard sale. Just upload the photo of the item your selling to your profile and set the price. The app shows your location so people can search locally (as well as nationally) for items they want! Maybe someone from the next block is looking for that Beatles poster you no longer want.

Etsy
If you are a avid DIYer and have suddenly found yourself cluttered by crafts this may be the site for you! Whether it’s mason jars, photo frames, or hand crafted jewelry, you can sell it to earn cash! Etsy allows you to set up an account and sell your products through the site. You will be a little more craft free, and who knows, you can actually make a brand for yourself!

Now go dig through your closets and earn some cash! Let me know which apps work best for you 🙂 Happy selling!

Checklist for Moving

February 4, 2014/0 Comments/in Benefits of List Making, Home, Increase Productivity, Learning With a List, List Making, Pets, Reduce Stress, Uncategorized/by Paula Rizzo

Moving Day (Photo credit: Gavin St. Ours)

Recently, Jay and I made a major change — we bought a new apartment in Manhattan (YAY)! Totally exciting, but as I have come to realize, it can also be very stressful and overwhelming. I thought that after we finally closed on our place that there would be a sense of relief. But moving out of our old place and moving into our new one is a totally different story. So, as I embark on this new journey, I thought I would create a few lists (as usual) to lessen the stress!

Packing up the old memories and moving everything out.

Address change. Don’t forget to change your address to the new place. Here are forms on how to do it

Stock up! Make sure to stockpile boxes and tape! Having extra is okay in this case. You don’t want to run out mid packing and have to stop to buy more. Color coding the labels doesn’t hurt either.

De-Clutter! There is a lot more extra junk than you would think lurking around (even if you are organized.) Anything that you won’t be able to use in your new space should be donated. You can find a new home for anything like furniture, books, clothing or even a vintage car! If this is the case and you don’t want to sell your car, you will definitely need to organise car storage. With regards to clothes, you can either sell them, store them or give them to charity.