Pick Up After Myself

From booklet "If I really wanted to SIMPLIFY MY LIFE, I would..." by Advantage Quest Publications (page 102-103).

Pick Up After Myself

Some people actually enjoy housecleaning [I am not one of them], but for most of us it's an arduous and time consuming chore. It will seem a lot less intimidating, however, if you tackle it by the inch rather by the mile. [In our case in Malaysia.... by the cm rather than the km.]

You can do that with a discipline as simple as picking up after yourself. Rinse off dishes and place them in the dishwasher. [Most of us do not have dishwashers, "we" are the dishwasher] as soon as you are finished with them. Undress in the closet where you can hang up your clothes as you take them off. Place dirty clothing directly into the hamper. [Not the gift hamper] Put things back where you found them, and don't start projects you don't have the energy to clean up.

Clean a little now or a lot later. It's up to you.

Clean out my closets

For those with closets, cupboards, drawers, etc... which needs cleaning up, from booklet "If I really wanted to SIMPLIFY MY LIFE, I would..." by Advantage Quest Publications (page 8-9).

Clean out my closets.

The book states... Items that have been stored in your closets for more than a year are merely taking up space and making it more difficult to find the things you need.

Cleaning out your closets can lighten your load and allow you the pleasure of knowing you are helping to meet the needs of others-a wonderfully liberating experience.


We can donate these "not used", "still good to be thrown away", "will use it one day", items to others who needs it, i.e the homeless, orphanages, disaster relief....

Time for me to look into my closets again :-)

Take off your shoes

Asian don't really need to worry bout this, from... "If I really wanted to SIMPLIFY MY LIFE, I would..." by Advantage Quest Publications (page 34-35)

Establish a shoes-off-in-the-house policy

Of course make sure your bare foot is also clean :-D. How about making the same policy for the office or church, muslims take of their shoes in mosques too.

The best place for the vacuum is in the closet.

Sleep more

I like this phrase from "If I really wanted to SIMPLIFY MY LIFE, I would..." by Advantage Quest Publications (page 30-31)

Get Plenty of sleep

It states in the book "During sleep the brain stays busy sorting and storing information, replenishing chemicals and resolving problems or inequities".
...
"Sufficient rest will keep your at your best and make all your efforts more productive and more enjoyable.".

Learn to view sleep as a gift from your creator

Yo brother Jo, get sufficient sleep before baby Janson arrives, reallll soon.

My kind of holidays is one where I can rest and sleep and not do much of anything.

One only... Credit Card

I got a few credit cards, for emergency larrr, but... another phrase from "If I really wanted to SIMPLIFY MY LIFE, I would..." by Advantage Quest Publications (page 6-7)
got me thinking...

Keep only one credit card

Make sense to have one card to control my spending and management of the card. I sometimes forget to pay for the "other" credit cards, and got to pay interest for late payments. Sigh....

In modern times, of course we still need credit cards to pay for petrol, groceries, traveling... its not save to carry huge amounts of cash nowadays. So one card should be sufficient.

The booklet states... " Imagine your life without stress and anxiety of worrying about unpaid bills and the hours of free time you will find find when you no longer have to pour over a stack of statements. Life will be much simpler".

"Debt and worry are Siamese twins"

Just say NO!

During lunch just now, while talking to my colleagues, one of them mention in a situation she faced in the office, she refused to do something that the boss wanted her to do.

This reminded me of a phrase I read in this booklet "If I really wanted to SIMPLIFY MY LIFE, I would..." by Advantage Quest Publications (page 4-5)

Give myself permission to say "No".
This will we do, if God permit - Hebrew 6:3.

There are times when we find it hard to say 'no' to many things, be it from friends, colleagues, family or demands on our time like work, TV, blogging etc, etc... Think about it, we can't do all things, we only have 24 hours in a day.

In the book it states 'Saying "no" frees you to say "Yes" to those things that bring the greatest satisfaction and sense of well-being. It allows you to "de-clutter" your life and restore balance. It is the first step to leading a simpler life.'

One step I have taken in my work life is that I if work 8 hours a day, and I would leave the office at 5pm sharp (work time 8am-5pm) if work permits everyday. When I started work many years ago, I would work overtime most of the days. Imagine the lost times given to the organization.