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Simple Times

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Vol. 10, No. 9 -- May 5th, 2008

http://thesimplemom.wordpress.com/

debi

Copyright 2008 Deborah Taylor-Hough

ISSN: 1527-1269

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Celebrating 10+ years of saving your time, money and sanity!

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IN THIS ISSUE:

-- " Dear Readers "

-- Simple Living Quote

-- Pursue Your Passion, It Might Become Your Career

-- Gardening Tools Organized in 5 Easy Steps

-- Letters to the Editor / Reader Tips

-- Assorted Information (archives, etc.)

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< < < O.U.R S.P.O.N.S.O.R > > >

 

" What the heck... I'll give it a try! "

 

" I have to say I'm so glad I purchased your DebtIntoWealth

System! I was skeptical at first, so I went to the website.

It sounded good, so I figured " what the heck, " I'll give it

a try. My goal was to pay off $5000 in credit card debt and

a car loan so I could buy a new home, and get me and my 4

girls out of our 2-bedroom apartment. It worked! It's now 9

months later and ALL of my debt is paid off, and I just

signed a contract on a new 5-bedroom house! There is no

better feeling than to have NO debts, and a savings account

too! Thanks to your system, my family is going to have a

better life by not being enslaved to debt. "

- Katrina S. in Houston, TX

 

What the heck... Give DebtIntoWealth a try, today!

 

Click:

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Dear Readers,

 

We have several upcoming Sponsorship openings in Simple Times.

If you have a product, service or book that would be of interest to

folks trying to simplify their daily lives, save money, get out of debt,

or live true to their priorities, contact Marketing to

discover the modest rates for reaching this highly targeted audience.

 

On another note, I went to my business mailbox the other day and

there was a long thin package from FedEx waiting for me. Since I

hadn't ordered anything, I couldn't imagine what I'd been sent.

 

When I opened the box, there was a single, fresh, long-stemmed,

white rose with a Happy Mother's Day note in the box with the

rose. A handwritten note, no less. Now, here's the unusual aspect

of the gift: Who it came from. You'll never guess.

 

Since you'll never guess, I'll tell you: The rose was from TiVo.com.

Yep, the TiVo company sent me a rose for Mother's Day, complete

with a personalized, handwritten note saying that they liked reading

my blog at: http://thesimplemom.wordpress.com

 

I fully realize that it's just a ploy to get me to blog about their gift

(and hey, it worked!), but I have to admit that it brightened my day

considerably.

 

Knowing that Mother's Day is coming up is actually sort of sad for me.

My husband used to always take the kids shopping for special Mother's

Day gifts and cards for me, but since his diagnosis, etc., that sort of

thing is now a thing of the past. I know that for the most part, Mother's

Day is just a lot of hype and a lot of people feel a little disappointed

or

let down when their reality doesn't match the hype in greeting cards or

television commercials. I guess for me, it's just one more reminder of

how much life has changed and how much I've lost the past few years.

 

Anyway, that silly TiVo rose made me smile ... even if they were only

thinking about me for publicity purposes, it was touching that someone

actually sat down and wrote out a longish note to me personally, even

though they don't even know me.

 

That's kind of pitiful, isn't it? ;-)

 

Here's a photo of my rose (and yes, that's a TiVo stamp of some sort

on one of the petals ... LOL!):

 

http://dsimple.files.wordpress.com/2008/05/smaller.jpg

 

 

Simply Yours,

 

Debi

(Deborah Taylor-Hough)

Editor, Simple Times Email Newsletter

--Author of the popular 'Frozen Assets' series; 'A Simple Choice: A

practical guide for saving your time, money & sanity'; and 'Frugal

Living for Dummies®

--Editor, Simple Times, Solo Parents, and Bright-Kids email newsletters

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Visit my new site!

http://thesimplemom.wordpress.com/

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SIMPLE LIVING QUOTE

 

" The most precious thing a human being has to give is time. There is

so very little of it, after all, in a life. "

 

--Edith Schaeffer

 

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PURSUE YOUR PASSION, IT MIGHT BECOME YOUR CAREER

Copyright Bettina Langerfeldt

Used with permission from EzineArticles.com.

All rights reserved.

 

 

Whether it's hiking, dog training, computers or sowing, all of us have

an activity we love to do. An area of interest we're passionate about.

When we're done with our regular job and have a chunk of free time,

off we run to do " our thing. " And that precisely is the problem.

 

Unless you're one of the few lucky ones who are working in what they

love to do, most people will displace their passion for " later, " that

famous and undetermined little word ... that will steal our dreams. It

may be the time they have left over from whatever else their daily routine

consists of. Usually that's not very much. For some " later " is some vague

someday in the future.

 

Before you know it, retirement day will come and you'll have been giving

the best of your years to somebody else's dream! That's how most mid-

life crisis' start: Suddenly you realize that you aren't that young

anymore, and that you never endeavored to do what you really love doing.

 

The Bible states that our gifts and God's call are irrevocable (Romans

11:29). God has created you with a unique combination of gifts and talents

to fulfill a special assignment on this planet. He's the one that put that

dream in your heart! God has a plan for your life. He wants to bless you,

and He desires that you bless others.

 

Why not re-ignite that passion and pursue that dream? It's never too late.

Even if you're retired, that special talent God gave you is still lurking

there, waiting to be exploited. Instead of just accepting your present

situation, you can make a change.

 

Now that we're in the Information Age, the possibilities are at the tips

of your fingers. There are literally hundreds of thousands of people out

there who have the same passion you have. They need to know what you have

to say. And you have something special and unique for them that no one

else can offer.

 

All you need is a computer and an email address. Make a step today ...

start small, but start!

 

 

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

-Bettina Langerfeldt teaches people how to pursue their God-given gifts

and talents by designing their own education with self-directed learning.

A short message from Bettina: " I'd like to invite you to go for it! Visit

http://www.Self-DirectedLearningForSuccess.com for tips and tools for

creating and growing in your own learning process. Learn how to teach

yourself in my FREE e-book: The Power of Self-Directed Learning, and

my FREE e-course: Seven Steps to Consistently Change Your Life. "

 

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Bettina_Langerfeldt

 

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O.U.R. S.P.O.N.S.O.R.

 

Want to make your life better? Start right here, with the book

that gives you 700 ways to change your life, one small step

at a time!

 

The Life Guide teaches you how to get more out of life:

 

-- Self-improvement that's actually fun ...

... with small steps you'll enjoy taking

 

-- 10 questions to ask yourself ...

... to figure out what really matters to you

 

-- 50 ways to reduce life stress ...

... and use the stress that remains to your advantage

 

Get your copy of The Life Guide today!

 

Save 32% at Amazon.com on this book:

 

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GARDENING SUPPLIES ORGANIZED IN 5 EASY STEPS

Copyright Paula Constable

Used with permission from EzineArticles.com.

All rights reserved.

 

 

It's time to get out the gardening supplies again. Did you take the time

last fall put them away in an orderly fashion? Does your gardening storage

space need a tune-up? Just follow my easy five-step STUFF System

to help you get it all organized and ready to go for the season.

 

 

" S " - Sort

 

Give yourself lots of working space to sort like items together; use you

garage floor, driveway, or yard. This first step gives you a good idea of

what you actually have. Be sure to check the forecast for rain if you are

doing this outside.

 

 

" T " - Take Out

 

Next, take out, recycle, throw, or give away anything that is broken, you

don't use, or just don't need. Maybe you have extra flower pots that a

friend could use. Do you really need six rakes? Keep only what you need

and use.

 

 

" U " - Utilize Your Space and a System

 

Now that you know what you will be keeping, you need to figure out how to

best organize your space. Do you need shelves? Can you hang up some of the

lawn tools? Keep like items together or near each other.

 

 

" F " - Fill Containers

 

Use boxes, buckets or baskets to contain like items. For example, I like

to keep my hand tools, gloves and kneeling pad in bucket with a handle.

When I work in the yard, I take my bucket with me wherever I go. Every-

thing I need is right there.

 

 

" F " - Follow-up

 

When you're finished working, return your tools and supplies to their

home. This will help keep them nice, and you'll know exactly where to

look for them the next time you need them.

 

 

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

--Paula Constable, professional organizer and speaker, works with families

who want to make their daily lives easier through organization. She is

the owner of Stuff 2b Organized, LLC and she brings understanding, support

and solutions to help calm the busy lives of the families she works with.

To sign up for her free newsletter, visit http://stuff2borganized.com/

 

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Paula_Constable

 

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Feel free to forward this newsletter to your family and friends. :-)

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LETTERS TO THE EDITOR / READER TIPS

We'd love to hear YOUR tips and ideas for simplifying daily life.

Send your simple living comments/tips to: DSimple

 

 

== Encouraging Imagination ==

A good way to encourage pretend play is simply to start doing it

yourself -- pick up a stuffed animal and begin to " feed it, " saying,

" Oh, Bear loves cereal! " Another idea is to use a stuffed animal or

doll to ask your child a question, then wait for the answer. " Mommy,

do I have to get a shot today? " " When will you come get me from

child care? " " How does Bear feel when Mommy's away at work for

the day? "

--Lynne T., Seattle WA

 

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SIMPLE TIMES RECOMMENDED BOOKS

Book list for frugality and simple living

Go to: http://snurl.com/simplebooks

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Would you like to place an ad in this newsletter? Contact

Laura at marketing Subject line: simple-times

Discover the modest rates for reaching this targeted market.

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SIMPLE TIMES ARCHIVES

 

Two years' worth of back issues are available by clicking the

" Read Messages " button at: http://snurl.com/st_archives

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As always, a special " Thank you! " goes out to Gary Foreman

and the friendly folks at the Dollar Stretcher for making this

mailing list possible!

 

== http://www.stretcher.com/ ==

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Feel free to forward this newsletter to your family and friends. :-)

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EDITOR'S BOOKS AND AUDIO RESOURCES:

Books and resources by Deborah Taylor-Hough

Editor, Simple Times Email Newsletter

http://snurl.com/debisbooks

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DEBI'S ON-LINE RESOURCES:

Personal Blog: http://dsimple.wordpress.com/

Frugality/Simplicity: http://thesimplemom.wordpress.com

Cooking Ahead: http://frozenassets.wordpress.com/

Bright-Kids: http://brightkids.wordpress.com

Tupperware®: http://snurl.com/DebiTupperware

Kids' Books: http://snurl.com/books4kids

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