3 Easy Tricks to Eat More Fruit

Picture by Michael Geipel

Vegetables are quite easy to incorporate into our diet since they're a part of our main meals, but unless you eat fruit as a desert or with breakfast, it can be difficult to give it a place in your diet. Fruit makes an ideal snack, however, as long as it's readily available when you feel like snacking.
Healthy eating is always a concern of mine, and with another life growing inside, it is now more so than ever. So I try to consume at least 3 pieces of fruit a day. Here's how I do it:

1. Pick fruit that's easy to eat on the go. It's tangerine and banana season here, but apples, grapes or berries are great too. Put a piece of fruit (or a bag of grapes) in your purse/briefcase so you have it with you when you're out of the house. You'll find yourself reaching for it when you're in the mood for something sweet because it's so close at hand.
   
2. Make a smoothie or shake to go with breakfast or as an in between snack. You can pack smoothies with quite a bit of different fruits, and you can add milk or yogurt for extra calcium, or orange juice for extra  vitamin C. Adding ice-cream is delicious, but kind of defeats the purpose. We've been loving our banana-yogurt-cocoa shakes lately!
   
3. Wash fruits right when you bring them into the house, and then display them wherever you spend the most time in the house. Having it already washed means you can just reach and take a bite. It also means you can let your fruit soak in salt water which is a great way to remove pesticides.
   Remember to wash your fruit even if it is organic because there are bugs and parasites in dirt too!

For me, fruit is a great way to satisfy that craving for something sweet without having to feel guilty about it. It also gives you fast sugars if you're feeling low on energy, so it's a great pick-me-up.
Fruits are full of wonderful nutrients, so every piece is a treat not only for your taste buds, but for your body too! Enjoy!

5 Tasks that Take More Time than You Think

Instant Noodles (source)

We're notoriously bad at gauging time. If you've been with this blog for a while, maybe you remember the post I wrote about Time: a User's Guide by Stefan Klein. You can read the post here if you haven't yet.

We overestimate and underestimate how long something takes all the time. When we overestimate we end up with extra free time we didn't expect, which is nice, or put something of we could've done, which is not so nice. But when we think a task is much shorter than it really is in reality, we can end up planning too much and stretching ourselves too thin.
To avoid that, have a look at these 5 common activities that may take more time than you think. Next time you do one of them, try to time or pay attention to how long you spend on them to get a more realistic idea.

1. Getting ready, whether it's in the morning, to leave work or to go out, always takes time. My hubby and I often find ourselves rushing out the door because we turned off the computer at 7:15, which is also when we have to leave. Gathering your stuff, putting on coats and shoes and checking you got the keys are all tiny time-consumers not to be forgotten!
   
2. Checking e-mails (or online networks) is an activity that can take anywhere from 3 seconds to 3 hours. It all depends on where you let the e-mails take you. If you're going to click through links and check out stuff online, you're on the dangerous path to losing track. Instead, try to focus on responding to important personal/business e-mails before diving into newsletters and notifications.
   
3. 'Preparing instant food' is a deceiving name for an activity that is usually anything but instant. It takes time to get stuff together and unwrap/put in bowl/heat up/or whatever else you have to do to prepare your meal. I've found very little difference between heating up instant stuff and making a salad in the amount of time it takes me to get the food on the table.
   
4. Shopping without a list is dangerous. Not only will you undoubtedly spend much more than you planned and buy lots of stuff you don't really need, you'll also need more time as you remember things in random order and find yourself running back to the produce section 5 times in one trip. Use a grocery list instead!
   
5. When it comes to dealing with people there are no quick fixes. Whenever you need to discuss something with another person, make sure you have set out enough time to do it. Relationships don't benefit from being rushed, so show your love and respect for those around you by not underestimating the time it takes to communicate with them.

Time is precious and knowing how much time you need to spend on anything can be the difference between feeling frustrated and rushed or feeling calm and in control. Do you find yourself often losing track of time? Or do you notice that the time you've taken out to do some thing just doesn't suffice?

5 Chores that Take Less Time than You Think

Picture by Cielo de la Paz

How often have you made the excuse that you 'just don't have time' to do this or that. We leave the dishes piling up in the sink because we figure that it takes too much time to do them right away, and we'd rather do something else. There's dirty laundry in every corner of the bedroom because we just can't find the time to sort through it and put it in the machine.

But these are only two of the many tasks that we often over-estimate. Somehow we fool ourselves into thinking that these tasks take more time. Maybe it's because of the different steps they contain, or the fact that we dislike them so much. But knowing how fast you can complete some of these chores can give you incentive to just finish them as quickly as possible and stop letting them nestle in the back of your mind.

1. Breakfast dishes really only take about 5 minutes to finish if everyone helps. Bowls and plates are easy to wash and dry. There are usually no pots to scrub, so it's a matter of minutes altogether.
   
2.  Cleaning the sink is just a matter of getting some product and wiping everything down. Unless you've recently cleaned out paint brushes in there or spilled something nasty, it doesn't take nearly as long as you might think.
   
3. Clearing up can be done in an incredibly short time. Set a timer for 5 minutes and see how much clutter you can clear away. Don't linger over stuff, just put it where it needs to go (or toss it out if it's useless.)
   
4. Making a proper breakfast is just a quick and easy task that there's no excuse for eating cereal every morning. We usually make some toast, scrambled eggs, and get some fruit on the table in about 3 minutes. It'll take me 5 if I have to do it myself. But even if you're one to roll out of bed and rush out the door, you can still enjoy a nourishing bite beforehand.
   
5. Making the bed doesn't take minutes, it takes only a couple of seconds. Don't know why you'd make your bed in the first place? I explain some of the reasons in this post.

Any other tasks that you can think of which seem to take much longer than they really do? Feel free to share in the comments below! I love to hear your opinions and ideas.

The "Right Time" Will Never Come

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There is no such thing. The 'right time' does not exist. Sure, you may have had those moments where everything just clicked: the work went great, you felt like you were exactly where you were meant to be, everything just happened naturally. But I bet your own mind played into it much more than you realise.

Waiting around for the right time can be a great excuse to procrastinate when you don't feel like starting a task. The typical movie-example is of a character waiting for the right time to tell the truth, which of course always backfires because by that time, that character's already been lying for so long it doesn't really matter anymore.

The idea that a single moment is better than a whole lot of other ones, and that we should instinctively be aware of this one moment, is a useless and paralyzing notion. Waiting around is a waste of time. The only time we ever have is NOW. We don't have yesterday anymore, that time has come and gone. We don't have tomorrow, that time will be ours later (or may not be, you never know) and it can never be ours this very moment. So the only time you ever have to do anything is right now. 
That makes right now the only right time you will ever have.

Are you postponing an important task? An annoying chore? A vital decision? Don't wait around for any other time but now. Make the most of the present moment and use it to the best of your ability. 

And that's my cue to get up and get to that pile of clothes to iron that's been waiting for me to decide the time is right.

Worth Every Minute!

Every Wednesday, here on Minutes Worth Hours, I share something from around the web that I found truly inspiring or informative.
Today I went to share anothe article from SimpleProductivityBlog.com, one of my favorite blogs. This is an article about clutter and collections, that I know will ring true to some people in my life.

Moving from country to country has forced both me and my hubby to give up on the idea of collecting pretty much anything, although we both will have to face collections that we have at home when we return to our countries.

In this post, LJ Earnest talks about taking a good look at the different items in your collections and asking yourself whether 'being part of a collection' is really a good reason to keep anything.

You can read it for yourself!

Get Rid of Clutter by Weeding Out Collections by LJ Earnest on SimpleProductivityBlog.com

Go ahead and check out LJ's blog for more advice on productivity, simplicity and organization.

For more articles and videos worth every minute, check out the other posts in this series.

Mind-map It in 5 Minutes

As a teacher of writing, I'm often confronted with students who are full of good ideas but just can't seem to get them down on paper properly. Usually they just start writing an essay from the top, and the reader has to dive into a stream-of-consciousness-like monologue that ends somewhere totally unexpected. Since college professors and test center examinators usually don't have much time to appreciate students' writing artistically, it's my job to hand some tools to these students for writing more effectively, more goal-oriented and overall much faster.
One of the things I teach them is to start with brainstorming and writing down all their ideas as quickly as possible. The easiest way to do this? Make a mind map.

The first one to ever introduce the concept of mind maps to me was a professor at Ghent University (Professor Martin Valcke, for those who know him). He taught about the science behind instruction, the different techniques, systems, different ways of testing, and so on. 
He also taught us, and showed us, the value of mind maps. 

To make a mind map, start with the most important concept or idea which you put in the middle of your page. Then, by association, link other ideas and concepts to it, and then again do the same for those new ideas. You'll end up with a system of nodes that will show you the relationship -and degree of importance of that relationship- of each concept to the other. The picture at the bottom shows you a very elaborate example of a mind map on time management.

Mind maps are a great, quick way to get your thoughts, ideas, plans or feelings down on paper and to create room in your mind so you can start using it more creatively instead of for storing information. It's a great learning tool as well! 

I'm just getting back into studying about mind maps and how to use my brain more effectively with the help of The Mind Map Book (Amazon link) by Tony (and Barry) Buzan. It's a fascinating read!

Picture by Jean-Louis Zimmerman

5 Ways to Cut Back Facebook Time

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I've betrayed myself. Only months after I wrote this post on how and why to quit facebook, I went back. Now, since this is my blog, I have exclusive justification rights which I plan to exploit to the fullest! You may call me a hypocrite in the comments below, but up here, I'm the only one talking.

All kidding aside, I do have (good) reasons for returning to facebook. One is that I have awful friends who don't know how to keep an email conversation going beyond 3 emails. The other is that I am pretty much the same. Other reasons include all those pictures I didn't get to see of my friends and family: Kids growing up. great places to see, etc. And of course, facebook is a great (read: free) marketing tool for things like, um, this blog?

Still, my reasons for quitting in the first place haven't changed. I'm still worried about spending too much time on there instead of doing stuff that'll matter in the end, so I've thought of some ways to keep myself from spending too much time getting lost on the profiles of friends-of-friends I hardly know.

1. Unsubscribe from e-mail notifications.
   It's much easier to stay away from a website if there's nothing that's drawing you back there. One of the things that gets me on a website (facebook, couchsurfing, blogger) is when I get emails that alert me to some kind of change. I've now unsubscribed from every single notification on the website, and now only log on when I feel like it.
2. Limit the flow of information.
   There is more information floating around on facebook (or the web for that matter) than what we possibly could or would ever want to process. Use those little arrows that let you unsubscribe from the stuff you don't really care about. Lots of facebook contacts are acquaintances of mine. It's nice to know when something important happens, but I really don't need to know what each one had for breakfast.
3. Set a specific time.
   Control yourself by setting a limited time on which you will look around facebook stuff. I suggest doing this for most activities because it will make you more focused and involved with the activity at hand. A limited time means that the time you spend on your activity becomes more valuable. You can use the tool I mentioned in this post to help you.
4. Set priorities.
   If you know what you want to see, who you want to get in touch with, what you want to do; then you'll be able to focus on that one thing and do it quickly and efficiently. Don't just 'go on facebook', do something specific like 'looking at friends' holiday pictures', 'updating your status' or 'sending a birthday message'.
5. Quit the games!
   No further explanation needed, I'm sure. When I quit it was the height of Farmville. I see that has come and gone to make room for other, similar stuff.   

A great way to motivate yourself is to track how much time you spend on facebook for a week, and see which other goals you would be able to accomplish within that time (or part of that time).

Triple Inspiration: Food Edition

A little later than usual, but here it is still on Sunday: this week's installment of Triple Inspiration. Today I've let myself get inspired by food, which isn't difficult when you think about it 24/7.

If you're looking for more quotes to inspire you during the week, or for more ideas on how to use these quotes, check out the other Triple Inspiration posts.

Get "Productive"!

Never work before breakfast; if you have to work before breakfast, eat your breakfast first.  

(Josh Billings)

Get Happy!

The only time to eat diet food is while you’re waiting for the steak to cook. 

(Julia Child)

Get Inspired
Food is our common ground, a universal experience. 

(James Beard) 

5 Adventures to be Had in Your State

Note: This is a guest post by Kara Taylor. She is a freelance writer who loves to clear her head with adventurous outdoor activities.
For more information on being a guest author, or having me write a guest post for your blog, click here.

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Finding the time and money to take a family vacation or have a bit of an adventure seems more and more of a challenge in today’s difficult economic times. However, having a bit of fun outdoors doesn’t have to be impossible. In fact, there are many outdoor adventures and activities to be had without even leaving the state or country. 

Regardless of your budget, you are bound to find inexpensive options that the whole family will enjoy. 

A brief, outdoor getaway is simple, affordable and can be the perfect way for you and your loved ones to relax without breaking the bank.

Here is a list of our favorite five outdoor activities you can do without leaving your state:

1. Hiking

Hiking is a great way to spend some time outdoors. Most states have designated hiking trails for individuals and can be found easily through your search engine. You may also want to consider your state’s tourism guide. The equipment required for your hike will depend on how long your hike will be as well as the climate and surroundings. As a rule of thumb, you will want to carry plenty of water, a map and food. Boots or extremely durable, comfortable shoes are also recommended. Other items that you may require include a flashlight, additional clothes, sunscreen and a first aid kit. A GPS navigation device is also a good idea if you are planning on hiking off-trail. 

2. Camping

If you’re really adventurous, you may want to consider camping as part of your hike. You may also consider car camping—which is done by camping near your car so that more supplies may be stored. Again, you can find camping websites for each state. Supplies can be found at your local hardware store or specialty outdoors and sports stores. You may also find bargains at local thrift shops. It’s important to take along a tent for shelter, first aid materials, sleeping bags, food and water. You may also want to consider items to make a camp fire (if this is legal in your state). A change of clothes, personal care items, trash bags and utensils are also important. Many state parks offer free or low-cost camp ground accommodations. 

3. Fishing

Fishing is great for people of all ages. It is a great way to relax and enjoy the outdoors. Fishing equipment can be purchased at general retailers such as Wal-Mart or Target. You could also visit specialty stores. You will need fishing poles, bait and other accessories which can be purchased relatively cheaply. Make certain to check your local gaming and fishing laws to ensure that you do not need a license in order to fish. Young children should always be supervised when fishing!

4. ATVs

All-terrain vehicles (ATVs) are also known as three or four wheelers, or quads. These vehicles are designed for off-road fun. An ATV is similar to a motorcycle but gives more stability to the driver. ATV sale and rental for your family can be a great way to race and spend time outdoors. ATVs can be bought in all sizes. Remember that young children should be supervised and always wear protective gear. For an experienced, mature rider, ATV racing is an extremely fun and exciting way to relax with friends. For more information on buying your own all-terrain vehicle, check out ATV sale

5. Water sports

How about jet skiing, boating, tubing and surfing? Water sports are a fantastic way to relax and spend some time and fun in the sun. Often, you can rent or buy the equipment for such water activities at an inexpensive rate. Many local renters will offer hourly rates and daily rates on boats and jet skis. Only experienced drivers should handle this equipment. Make sure that proper safety precautions are taken, including but not limited to life jackets. Check your state’s tourism site for water recreation areas near you.

Remember, relaxation doesn’t have to cost a ton of money. These are just five ideas for taking an inexpensive adventure within your state. Are you looking for an adventure?

Keeping Note Paper Nearby

Picture by Matt Reinbold

One of the things that always bugs me is when I have to write something down, but I can't fine a scrap of paper anywhere to do it. It happens in the house, when I'm on the phone, when I get an idea, or in class when a student talks to me and I need to remember to do something.
Since I get a lot of old notebooks from my students, I've now started keeping them in different parts of the house and in my school bag.

You can buy notepads, or you can make your own from scrap paper you have lying around. We used to staple together the last pages in school notebooks at the end of the year to make a new 'notebook' when we were kids. It's environmental and it saves you money!

Put your notebooks in different places. One for each room of the house works, though there are some rooms you can skip (I usually don't try jotting anything down while in the shower). 
Ideally you'd keep a pen with all the note paper too. 

I've found that taking notes on my phone doesn't really help me, because I can't do it fast enough and because I tend to forget about them once they're in there. Paper still does the trick for me.

What about you? Do you ever find yourself in a situation where you need to write stuff down but can't find a scrap of paper anywhere? What are your fixes?

Aim for Small

Mini-cupcake by Vancouver Bites!

Pregnancy and food are a dangerous mix. Especially pregnancy and junk food. But I know it's not only pregnant women that crave foods that are bad for them. We all have our weaknesses and sometimes it's just too hard not to give in.
My hubby is pretty strict with me when it comes to eating fast food (frankly, I just don't tell him everything), but I make allowances for myself. If I really want something, I feel better just giving in than obsessing over it and getting stressed out in the process.

So how do I lessen my guilt and keep my intake of junk food under control? I opt for the smallest portion size.

I know that technically you get more value for money if you buy big sizes (although it's best to check that because I've found that sometimes the big containers end up costing more per kg than the small ones!), but you will still save money if you buy a smaller portion. The reality is that if you buy the big portion, you'll most likely finish it all at ones. I've only rarely seen someone put away half a bag of potato chips (my personal nemesis). If you only have a small portion, I doubt you'll run back to the store to buy more.

The same goes for bottles of soda, pieces of cake, packages of candy. Buying the small portion may seem more expensive, but it will save you money in the long run and keep you healthier, because you will get used to only consuming the small portion.

So next time you're at the store looking for that snack to satisfy your craving, try to find the smallest bag/package/bottle/can available and buy only that one. Just having a taste can be enough to get rid of those nagging thoughts.
If there is no small size available, sharing can work wonders too cutting your portion at least in half!

Worth Every Minute!

I love TED. I know I mentioned it before (see this post), but I go back to it so often that it has become a trusted and loyal friend, and I'm hoping it can be the same for you.

Today I want to share a TED video that I watched the other day and found very informative.

It's a talk by Philip Zimbardo about how boys are developing in our culture. As most of the teachers among you probably know, boys now consistently perform worse than girls on a whole range of tasks. But Zimbardo shows that this isn't only an academic but also a social issue.

Enjoy these 5 minutes of interesting and entertaining information!

TED Video The Demise of Guys by Philip Zimbardo

Show Your True You

I did it. I caved and bought myself a 3 month subscription to a VPN service so I can hop that dangerously wired fence called the Great Chinese Firewall.
So there goes all that time I saved not being able to watch youtube videos or check social networks. But at least it also allows me to access this blog without any problems whatsoever! So, totally worth the money!

Picture by Chiara Marra

Today I wanted to talk about something that stood out to me after I posted my last blog post, which was an episode of Triple Inspiration on Sunday. In this post I mentioned one of the books I am currently reading. It's an anthology of atheist quotes. After this post, I found that the next day, 1/3 of my RSS subscribers was gone. Don't worry, my list of loyal subscribers is short, so it wasn't a huge number, but I value all of my readers and was sad to see so many go.
I'm not sure if there was a connection, but somehow I would not be surprised. I've seen people cringe at that information before.
So I thought by myself, whether it would have been better not to say anything and just stay neutral. Just be a sort of generic person that everyone can relate to equally.
But that's not very 'me', and not really the kind of person I would want anyone else to be either. So today's post is an appeal to all of you to stay true to who you are as a person; and to let your own dreams and feelings be in charge of how you act.

There are few things more scary than showing who you truly are, and then being rejected for it. One of the appealing aspects of acting out a role is that you don't have to take any negative responses personally. They don't say anything about you as a person.

Today I want to tell you that even when you are being your true self, negative responses only say something about your relationship with the person who's responding to you. There's no knowing how people will react to you whether you're acting or not. When someone disagrees with you or thinks badly of you, it says as much about them as it does about you. One of the things I've learned in China is that my preconceived notions of politeness and good manners, and my judging of the lack thereof in my students, says much more about my culture than about theirs.

Life is too short to go around trying to be someone/something you're not. I stopped acting like I enjoyed big crowds and loud music because it made me miserable, and frankly, I haven't lost any friends over it. They may think I'm a 50 year old in 26 year old skin, but I like it that way. 

I have a lot of different kinds of friends. With some I agree on almost everything, with others on barely anything. Yet I value them for who they are, and for showing who they really are, even when they know I disagree and may think them foolish. I draw power and inspiration from these people.

What about you?

No Blogger Access

Dear readers
China has done it again, found a way to avoid letting me use blogger.
I'm trying to find another way to access this site for free, or to pay for access if there's no other option.

In the mean time, please bear with me and trust me when I say those new blog posts will be coming your way in the future! Promise!

Triple Inspiration In a Single Minute

It's Sunday again, so time for me to share some more of my favorite quotes. I love using quotes to pull myself through a rough day, or to make a great day even more inspiring. I'll often take a book of quotes and read a couple of pages before going to sleep, because it's so entertaining. Currently that book is The Atheist's Bible by Joan Konner. But there are tons of anthologies out there!

Now, for the quotes of this week:

Get Productive!

“If you love life, don’t waste time, for time is what life is made up of.”

(Bruce Lee)

Get Happy!

"Moderation. Small helpings. Sample a little bit of everything. 

These are the secrets of happiness and good health."

(Julia Child)

Get Inspired

"Life begins at the end of your comfort zone."

(Neale Donald Walsch)

For more quotes, check out the entire series here.

Plan a Cat-Nap

Picture by Michael Himbeault

Naps are not just a luxury. For many of us, they could make the difference between an afternoon of sluggish dragging your feet or an afternoon full of energy and productivity.
Many cultures incorporate naps as a regular part of the day. In China, also, many people use the 2 hour lunch break for the reason it was intended: to rest for a while after a busy morning.

If you don't plan to take a nap, it's one of those things that gets put off to make room for endless Internet surfing or catalog browsing. Somehow the prospect of going to bed or lying down on the couch is not the most exciting. 

So instead, plan your cat-nap as vigorously and faithfully as your first priority tasks. When you do lay down and get some rest, allow yourself a feeling of accomplishment. Sleeping enough is just as important as eating healthy, so if you can feel good about eating a salad instead of eating a burger, you can feel good about getting some rest instead of shopping on eBay. 

Cat-naps don't have to be long (of course) and often as little as 15 minutes can already make a big difference!

Of course, for pregnant ladies like me naps are not so much optional as do-it-now-or-you'll-never-make-it-to-the-end-of-the-day. But I made napping a habit even before getting pregnant, and can fully attest to the benefits.

Give it a try and see what the effect is. Maybe it's not for you, or maybe you'll find your productivity, satisfaction, happiness and energy shooting up.

Any nappers already present on the readers' list? Now's the time to show your true colors and convince others! 

Double-Check Your Dates

Picture by Joe Lanman

Just a short message of advice for you today, one that I was reminded of on my trip lately.

We arrived in our hotel, only for the receptionist to tell me that I had booked the wrong date. This being China, I checked the confirmation e-mail I had received, and sure, she was right. I had booked a room for 10 days later.

I still have no idea what happened, but it did teach me a lesson (for the zillionth time) that I'd like to remind you of as well.

We wasted 3 hours calling around and waiting for people to check out at our hostel, before we finally got a room. That's three hours of sightseeing that we missed. And all because I forget to check the dates when I received the confirmation. 

So take your time in checking dates. When traveling, or making plans, keep a calendar with you and make sure that you check both the DAY and the DATE. That way you can also spot if someone else made an error in thinking the 20th was a Saturday instead of a Sunday, for example.

This is literally the work of seconds, and yet is forgotten more often than not. It may not be necessary in most cases, but the one time you're off, it can cost you a lot of time!

Are you someone who usually checks twice? Have you ever booked a hotel for the wrong date? Or worse, a plane ticket?

Worth Every Minute!

I've read so many great blog posts lately, that I find it difficult to choose one to share. But there was one that I just knew I had to share.
Perseverance hasn't always been the easiest for me, and I still need to be reminded of how important it is to just keep going at it from time to time. Chances are that if you try long enough, you'll eventually get the result you're looking for. You're increasing the odds with every attempt.

Today's article talks about just that. It gives you the reasons you need to keep working at your goals. For those of you who are working toward a goal that seems to be impossible to reach, this could be a great help!

So without further ado:

How to Succeed: Keep At It Until You Get Lucky by Donald Latumahina on Lifeoptimizer.com

Let me know if you enjoyed it as much as I did!

For more worthwhile reads, check out the other posts of Worth Every Minute.

Re-use Previous Plans

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As a teacher, one of the great advantages of teaching the same class two years in a row is the fact that you get to re-use your old lesson plans. Sure, you have to tweak them a bit, keep it fresh and up to date, but you can stick to the same essentials.
The amount of time you can save is huge! Planning classes last year took me on average about one hour for a 90 minute class, which I could then teach 7 times (luckily). Now, it's a matter of pulling up the old plans and bringing them to class. I still remember how to teach them.

But not only teachers can benefit from re-using old plans.

Think of plans you've made in your daily life. Examples that quickly come to mind are meal plans or travel plans. You've likely made a list at some point of things you need to bring, things to remember, etc.
Instead of throwing out those lists when you're done with them, file them somewhere you can find them easily. Next time a similar situation comes up, there's no need for you to start from scratch again. Just use the old plan, or use it as a basis for your new plan.

I'm sure the annual meeting covers similar topics every year. I'm sure your kids need the same stuff for their first day of school, and that the contents of your overnight bag haven't changed much. Keeping your plans can be a great way to reduce stress and save time.

What kind of plans do you re-use? How about party plans? Have you thrown a similar party twice?
You could share plans with friends too!

Organize your Medicine Cabinet

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My hubby cut his finger the other day and as I was searching our medicine cabinet for a band-aid, I was appalled at the terrible organization in there. It was a big mess with different strips of pills, bottles, creams and ointments just put together without any system to help me through it.

So after taking care of that nasty cut, I turned to the cabinet for some quick re-organizing.

Here's how I organized my supplies:

In one section I put all of the stuff that you could consider 'first-aid'. This includes band-aids, a disinfectant, and ointment for burns. Anything that I could need in case of a likely emergency. 


In another section I put all of our drugs that we use to deal with everyday ailments like headaches, soar throats and upset stomachs. In front went the stuff we use most often, which is a traditional type of Chinese cough drops. They're herbal and taste great. I sometimes take them instead of mints too.

In a third section I put all of the stuff we might take on trips. This is mostly medication that deals with digestive problems, but it also has some pills for nausea and it's where we keep the alcohol gel to sanitize.

So much for a quick organization of the medicine cabinet. As you can tell, we don't take a lot of pills. If you have to take something daily (in my case that's just a prenatal vitamin) then I suggest you don't store it in a medicine cabinet but somewhere in the kitchen or dining room where it's convenient to grab during a meal.
Getting a little pill-box that can help you prepare a week's worth of medication can be a real time saver too!

Triple Inspiration: Autumn Edition

It's October, and today's quotes are in an autumn theme. It's an amazing season where we are forced to let go of the warmth of summer and prepare for the dark winter months to come. 

But it's also a season full of beauty and light. It draws our attention inward, into our own minds and souls. It's a great time to let nature inspire you.

More inspirational quotes can be found in the other Triple Inspiration posts.

Get Productive!

"Even after a bad harvest, there must be sowing."

(Seneca)

Get Happy!

Everyone must take time to sit and watch the leaves turn.

(Elizabeth Lawrence)

Get Inspired!

No spring nor summer beauty hath such grace, as I have seen in one autumnal face.

(John Donne)

Spread Some Good News!

Photo by Dasha Bondareva

Hello dear time-savers and life-optimizers!

After a short holiday I'm back, better and more energized than ever. Full of new ideas to share with all of you!

Today I want to talk about the pleasure that comes from the couple of minutes it takes to share good news. I love the way it can change someone's day in an instant. Good news doesn't have to be anything big. It could be personal, about someone you know, or something you read in the newspaper. But it instantly puts the focus on something positive and worthwhile.

When sharing good news, you may want to think about how you break this particular bit of news to the people around you. Especially if it's something huge like an engagement or an exciting new job. 

I recently told my friends some big news, and this is how I worded it:

"Dear friends, I'm emailing you to tell you about this project we have been working on lately. We've been busy with production for about 11 weeks now, and hope to finish around April 21st.
The current working name of our product is 'Kaixinguo' which means happy bean, or pistachio, in Chinese. That's about the size of our project now, but it's expected to reach watermelon size around the time of completion.
My 24/7 investment in this project has left me a bit drained and not feeling my best, but we're counting on a wonderful result!

So in short: we're pregnant! There, good news is now officially shared with the world!

Sharing this news with family and friends individually let me celebrate over and over again. Reading and seeing their reactions was so wonderful. So I urge you not to keep good news to yourself, but to spread the word to as many people as you know. Everyone can use a bit of sunshine in this rainy, windy autumn.