inspirationfeed.com » Self Development

Defining Your Artistic Style

Igor Ovsyannykov — Fri, 17 May 2013 08:00:23 +0000

This article was written for Inspirationfeed by Edward Stuart. Edward is an art and decoration enthusiast, as well as an online publisher for Framed Art which provides a variety of bathroom, kitchen, and inspirational art prints. He frequently blogs on the topics of art, art history, design, and home decor.

Learning to paint (or draw) well takes years of practice, and on the way it’s not uncommon to get stuck in a rut where you feel like you’re no longer improving, but you still aren’t happy with where you’re at. While some might throw in the towel here and declare that they’re just “not talented enough” there are a few relatively simple steps to break out of your box and figure out a new approach that can further develop your skills.

Analyze Art

Before you can really make stylistic choices about your own work, you need to be able to know which assumptions you (and others) are making when you’re painting. Draw a very rough sketch of a person. You’ll probably end up with some kind of oval for a head, and a series of oblong roundish things outlining the rest of the body. Why should a head be an oval? Why not some other shape?

Picasso used square heads; cartoon characters sometimes don’t even have a real head (think Spongebob), but we still think of them as recognizably anthropomorphic. Think about all of the other things that you make unconscious, and really very arbitrary assumptions about. How do you think about trees, clouds, houses, animals, or flowers? What if it were different? What about colors? Is the sun really yellow or the sky actually blue all the time? Does it even matter how it is in real life? What If you decided to change it?

Setting Constraints

Once you’ve removed some of the constraints you didn’t know you were setting for yourself you can set new ones. One of my favorite examples is South Park. If you were on Myspace or early Facebook in the early to mid 2000s you’ll remember a south park character builder that went around at some point encouraging people to make south park avatars for themselves or their friends. This is a great example of a highly constrained medium. Everything is limited, from the shape of head and bodies, to clothing, to hair, to facial expressions. While it’s not exactly fine art and I wouldn’t necessarily constrain myself to such an extent, it’s very distinctive and recognizable while still remaining functional.

Setting Good Constraints

Once you’ve tried that you’ll notice very quickly that setting good rules isn’t as easy as it sounds. The easiest way to learn how to go about it is to borrow from other people’s work. Pick some of your favorite artists and analyze their work. Take note of what assumptions they’re making, and what stylistic choices they’ve decided to make. Then pick up your brush and paint your own version of the same painting.

The way to make it work is to add in, or change, one particular constraint that the original artist was operating under. A single rule can fundamentally alter the entire painting, or it can be almost totally unnoticeable. For example if you decided that everything had to be some sort of geometric shape, you would have a much more drastic impact than if you decided that leaves were always red.

How to move forward when Debt is Dragging you Down

Igor Ovsyannykov — Fri, 17 May 2013 06:53:45 +0000

This article was written for Inspirationfeed by Marie Kelley. Marie is a local debt advisor specializing in helping people escape from debt. When not at work, she writes articles on getting out of debt and dealing with creditors. A great resource for debt services can be found at Advantageccs.org.

Debt is the enemy of any bank balance. It can drag you down physically, mentally, and emotionally. Millions of people throughout human history have fallen to the iron grip of debt. When it starts to get out of control, it can seem like there’s no light at the end of the tunnel. Well, there is an end to the tunnel and a way to reach the light once again.

Nobody has to suffer from debt. With a little motivation and a variety of free debt advice services, there’s a debt solution for everyone. Here are some tips for moving forward and carving out a better life for yourself.

Dwelling on Debt

It’s tempting to think about debt regularly. Are you going to put food on the table? Are you going to lose the house? Where’s the money going to come from?

Stop, right now! Dwelling on debt is where it begins to cause serious damage. Debt isn’t as complicated as it seems. You owe a certain amount and you have to pay back a certain amount. It’s that simple. You know what you can bring in and you know what you need to cover your essentials.

Once you’ve calculated this, why should you continue to dwell on things? If you already have the solution you only do discredit to yourself by beginning to think about it all over again.

If you’re having trouble with constantly thinking about debt, distract yourself. Take a bath, put on a favorite movie, or just have a chat with a friend or family member. Keep yourself busy.

Here to Help

Nobody wants you to be in debt. Creditors want their money and debtors want to be free of debt. It’s why there are a number of services you can take advantage of.

Firstly, check with your local council about free debt advice services. Most areas of the country have them. Public sector debt advice specialists offer free debt advice to people from the local community.

There are also companies offering free debt consolidation services. They’ll negotiate with your creditors on your behalf to consolidate your debts into one easily repayable loan. It takes the stress from your shoulders. And you only have to deal with one creditor from now on.

Once you’ve consolidated your loan, you’ll know precisely what you can pay and when you have to pay it. Set up a direct debit and the money will leave your account each month. You don’t have to pay any attention to the debt again. Just concentrate on your own life.

Negotiation

If you’re someone who can’t afford to meet the repayments, it doesn’t matter as you still have options available to you.

Creditors are perfectly happy to negotiate on the repayments. All they want is their money. They only turn into moneygrubbing horrors when they know you’re trying to avoid paying.

Just pick up the phone and have a chat to them. Tell them what you can afford and renegotiate a payment plan. This way you can still meet your daily expenses whilst fulfilling your obligations to your creditors.

Simplicity Itself

Each of the above scenarios covers the most common situations. And each of them only takes a few minutes to rectify. Within just a few hours, your debt becomes nothing but a minor inconvenience.

Get your affairs in order and you’ll realize how this burden just seems to dissolve.

Check out more informative articles!

Did you enjoy this article? We would love to hear your thoughts, so don’t be shy and comment below! Please don’t forget to subscribe to our RSS-feed or follow Inspirationfeed on Twitter, Google+, Tumblr, and Facebook! If you enjoyed the following article we humbly ask you to comment, and help us spread the word!

Decorating Your Home Office – How To Get More For Less

Igor Ovsyannykov — Wed, 15 May 2013 06:04:43 +0000

This article was written for Inspirationfeed by LaGeris Underwood Bell. LaGeris is always on the lookout for cutting edge trends in home design and decor. Her latest find: Atlanta-based Artismo offers custom framed art for homes and businesses as well as prints by up and coming artists. Artismo.com is also an inspiration for artists seeking to showcase their work and for interior decorators with an eye for a bargain.

Business owners and ambitious professionals often find that they’re more productive when their work places are both aesthetically pleasing and well organized. However, home-based business owners who want to incorporate fresh new designs into their work environments may have budgetary constraints to consider. Here are some cost-saving ideas on how to make a home office inspiring and efficient.

Less is More.

Good news: The latest design trend for home offices is minimalism. From furniture to textiles to artwork, minimalism means fewer items in your office and less strain on your purse. This trend relies on a few well chosen pieces, like prints from online source Artismo, that set the tone for your workspace. Framed art choices come in complimenting colors so your walls can reflect the real you.

Keep It Simple, Sweetie.

The first order of business in setting up your new work station is setting aside the stuff you just don’t need. Designate an area to store infrequently used items and develop the habit of using that storage area. Decluttering your office can also declutter your mind. Your space will work more efficiently and so will you.

Dress It For Success.

Large design elements like carpets, desks, wall colors, and window treatments can dress your home office in tones that will both ground and invigorate you. Choose solid colors for these larger pieces to help you focus on your work. Pick patterns and prints as accents that compliment your personality and overall design aesthetic.

Small Space With Big Style.

For a home office in a small room or tucked within a larger area, consider using white or light colored furniture, doors, and trims to help define the space. Under-cabinet LED lighting makes great task lighting and also saves space. DIY shelving and small file cabinets can extend desk space, minimize floor clutter, and add a dash of panache.

Art Works.

Art comes in many forms from a variety of sources. Consider these tips to transform your work space into a stylish and functional work space.

1. Scour thrift stores and garage sales for desks, book cases, and other office items.

2. Craft a collage by adapting a larger picture frame to encase smaller favorite photos. Not only is this less expensive than using individual frames, but it will make your space more inviting.

3. Create a bulletin board using a large piece of cardboard. Cover it with double folded fabric that compliments the wall color and use no-mark picture hangers to mount it near your desk. Then cover it with calendars, pictures, inspirational quotes, or even use it as a vision board. Personalize and customize your bulletin board to reflect the real you.

4. Decorative metal trays are great for storing supplies. They are cheap, convenient, and easily transportable to any area. Consider using small vases, sugar bowls, vintage jars, and souvenir mugs to store pens, paper clips, stamps, and other small supplies.

As is often said, it is better to have a small quantity of useful items than a large quantity of useless kitsch. Your home-based business has a purpose and your office should reflect that purpose. Strategic and creative home office design can be inexpensive, ergonomic, and innovative.

Check out our previous articles:

We hope you enjoyed this article! Please don’t forget to subscribe to our RSS-feed or follow Inspirationfeed on Twitter, Google+, and Facebook! If you enjoyed the following article we humbly ask you to comment, and help us spread the word!

7 Ways To Contrive Imagination & Formalize Results

George Stavrinou — Fri, 10 May 2013 03:36:16 +0000

Today we present you with a short & sweet list of things you can do in order to get the best out of yourself and designs, also inspirational ideas and exercises to remain consistent in your chosen craft or hobby.

1. Keep a dream journal- A dream journal is a great idea to keep track of our dreams and whatever our subconscious projects to us in our sleep and who knows maybe a dream could spark and idea which could form a catalyst for your design.

2. Hang around with like-minded and creative people and connect when you can, discuss ideas, designs & even music amongst yourself, this is a great way to fuel your creativity.

3. Watch films- Films are a great way to spark imagination and power it, read reviews and look online for visual movies or informative documentaries that keep the mind busy. YouTube offers a great range of documentaries that could serve as an inspiration to you.

4. Listen to music constantly- Music is a glorious thing, certain music we hear could be the source of our inspiration, a great way is to go backwards and listen to great music from past decades, music that has influenced decades which they existed in and still continue today.

5. Receive feedback and critiques- A great way to find out what people think of your design is to post it online or share it amongst your friends, sure certain comments may not be exactly what you’re looking for but remember they are constructive, there may room for improvement or something to consider.

6. Don’t be afraid to write- Even if it’s free writing it’s a great way to express yourself freely, try writing a short story or poem, let your imagination wander and see where it leads to.

7. Travel- Whether it is local or out of the city, see where you are comfortable and strong to be, where you truly gather inspiration from, take pictures so you can take the place your idea may have generated from so you don’t lose it.

8. Be Persistent- Always stay true to your chosen craft or hobby, whether it be music, art, film, graphic or web design, never stop creating and never stop learning. Gather momentum and you will be surprised of how far you can go, jot down ideas and see where you can gather your true inspiration from in order to project and execute your ideas flawlessly, design is what you make it but the passion to create is our sole quality.

Check out our previous articles:

12 Secrets to Enjoying a Happier and Longer Life

Igor Ovsyannykov — Thu, 09 May 2013 03:45:51 +0000

This article was written for Inspirationfeed by John Madden. John writes about alternatives to smoking for Ecigarette Reviewed. After years of battling anxiety and panic disorder, he credits quitting smoking and drinking to helping him rekindle a more carefree outlook on life.

Everyone ideally wants to live an exciting, productive and happy life full of accomplishments and rewards. However, to achieve success and become a happy individual, one needs sufficient time to make adjustments to reach this coveted level of happiness and emotional or financial satisfaction. Here are 12 secrets that can help an individual enjoy a longer life full of exciting experiences, learning, and productive work.

1) Reduce the intensity and occurrences of panic, anxiety and worries in life. Stress and panic are normal responses of the body to physical or psychological “threats”, but worrying excessively about everything that happens around can dramatically lower one’s self-confidence, ruin one’s emotional well-being, and diminish the mental alertness needed to be productive at work, training or academic studies. One should learn to “let go” and enjoy the present moment without thinking too much about what might happen in the future, which is also associated with health benefits, such as a lower risk for depression and a healthier metabolism.

2) Eliminating bad habits, such as drug abuse, excessive alcohol consumption or smoking cigarettes. If a person is a substance abuser, he or she needs to seek immediate help to restore his or her life and become a productive individual. Drug and alcohol addiction can be treated in specialized rehab facilities, and smoking cessation is made easier by using electronic cigarettes.

3) Sustain and protect strong family connections. When one feels insecure and anxious about negative events in their life, the happiness associated with time spend with family members is virtually irreplaceable. It contributes strongly to mental health and well-being.

4) Create and preserve valuable friendships. Friends are the most important asset one may have because they can help one overcome adversity and feel loved and protected. One of the secrets for a longer life is to create and maintain valuable, fruitful friendships with productive, warm individuals.

5) Accomplishing one’s dreams is a solid step towards reaching happiness and a long, healthy life. Quitting on a dream because it is too difficult to accomplish may later transform into frustration and regret, which can shorten one’s life and damage mental health.

6) Enjoying the present day and being aware of what is happening right now, instead of dwelling on the past or the future helps one become more alert and notice attractive opportunities.

7) Engaging in regular exercise to achieve an attractive body and decent levels of physical fitness is great for one’s physical health and mental well-being. Instead of worrying about the pain associated with intense exercise, one should focus on the future benefits and make small, baby steps towards achieving fitness goals.

8) Choosing a job that matches one’s capabilities and talents is an integral part of happiness and mental health. Individuals who are courageous enough to quit a “bad” job that does not utilize their talents are able to achieve success by refusing to settle for anything less than they deserve.

9) Finding a hobby or a passion is a great way to relieve physical and mental tension associated with work or family problems. Everyone needs an escape to their private place where they can feel comfortable and relaxed.

10) Being loyal to a cause, a community, a team or a group of people. Loyalty brings peace of mind and a feeling of belonging. Choosing to be loyal has many rewards in terms of psychological well-being.

11) Adopting a nutritious, well-balanced diet rich in green vegetables, whole grains, lean meat, fish, fruits, nuts and seeds contributes to physical health and can prevent multiple diseases. Individuals are encouraged to reduce as much as possible their intake of high-fat, processed foods and sugar.

12) Undergoing regular, yearly medical examination to detect any health abnormalities and treat diseases in their early stages is a solid step that helps preserve one’s health for many years. Ignoring minor medical complaints can result in a significant negative impact on one’s health later, when doctors are attempting to treat severe complications rather than the initial minor symptoms.

Making gradual adjustments to one’s life according to these secrets can help an individual enjoy a longer, fulfilling life abundant in exciting, colorful events and rewards. It takes patience and dedication to implement these secrets, but with sufficient desire to live a healthier life, anyone can do it.

Resources

Nutrition and Healthy Eating – http://www.mayoclinic.com
Exercise and well-being: a review of mental and physical health benefits associated with physical activity – http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
How Family and Friends Can Aid Mental Health Recovery – http://psychcentral.com
Anxiety – http://www.mayoclinic.com

Check out more informative articles!

Make a Significant Change in Life by Decorating Your Home!

Ivan Dimitrijevic — Fri, 03 May 2013 03:27:26 +0000

The only thing you can do to keep up with this 21st century world is to change as the world changes. Seriously, the change nowadays is rapid, and not only when it comes to technology, but also in other aspects. Just look at the art that was made a hundred years ago and you will see that the difference is huge. Many people claim that art is now less important and that we generally focus on more material things and money, but the truth is, we are surrounded by art all the time, we are just not aware of it.

For example, when you look at the beautiful building across the street, that is a form of art – architecture. Architecture can be pretty amazing, and architects today come up with millions of different ways to build new houses, flats, etc. But now you might wonder: how can you change yourself to keep up with all the change that’s happening?

Well, you can first try to accept all the new ideas that the modern world brings, and thus call yourself a modern man. But the change I want to talk about is of an external nature. To be more concrete, I want to talk about the change you should make in your home to keep up with the 21st century. The thing is, I will not talk about the technological changes but rather about an artistic one. To be more concrete, I am going to talk about the usage of tiles to create the perfect environment.

A little something called decoration can change your subconscious

Well, as the title says, the place where you reside can very often alter your mood, or even impact some of the very important decisions you make in your life. Your home can also tell you a lot more about yourself, even your deepest secrets, but that is a topic for some other discussion. All you need to know is that people sometimes unconsciously arrange their furniture in order to make them feel better. I like to cover my walls with different post modernistic paintings, but the thing that caught my mind recently was this new way of tile usage.

Namely, some people started combining tiles from their bathrooms to make mosaics of different kinds and then putting them to cover their walls in, such as, the bedroom. I did a little research on the net, and found out that there are people, whom I can freely call artists, who do this kind of service. There are different types of tiles, some of which do not even resemble the ordinary tiles that you see each day when you are brushing your teeth or taking a shower. Many materials are used and the possibilities are infinite. Let me tell you a thing or two about how each of these materials can impact you and your decisions, and what impression will your guests have when they see these tiles and the mosaics made from them.

A strong will with nerves of steel

The first material that caught my eye was stainless steel. I never saw it possible to make tiles out of steel, and whoever did that has my utmost respect. The tiles themselves look very ordinary when they are separated, however, when combined into a mosaic, they give away this very stylish look, and they simply represent you as a modern person. So, if you want your change to go that way and adapt yourself to the modern art as fast as you can, I recommend you to take stainless steel tiles.

Steel is a material that swords and all kinds of weapons were made of, and therefore it can impact you in a way that you will become more choleric, and your decisions will be very well planned and very effective. However, stainless steel can also sometimes make your nerves calmer when you are angry, because it also gives off the feeling of tranquility when you look at it. Stainless steel tiles can last for a very long time, and you don’t have to spend too much time cleaning them and generally maintaining them. However, make sure that the steel does not come in touch with acidic food, which can leave a bad mark on it.

Glass that reflects your ideas that shine

Another type of tiles are glass tiles. It is even more unbelievable to me that tiles can be made of glass, and the persons who made them deserve Nobel Prize (I am exaggerating). Glass tiles are not even fragile as they look, and they reflect the sunshine beautifully. They can cheer you up in the morning and sing a moonlight sonata to you before you go to bed. But their reflection is not their primary feature.

Their primary feature is their simplicity and ability to combine with other tiles (most common tile combination seen includes glass and steel). The best mosaics are made when tiles are combined, and glass tiles should always be included in those combinations because they give them a bit of transparency and break the monotony of non-transparent materials. Speaking of transparency, glass can make you become a warmer person who enjoys having a lot of friends around and who generally enjoys life.

A stubborn stone upon stone

You probably know of stone tiles, and their ability to fit into every kind of environment. Stone mosaics can look beautiful even in old cottages where there is no decoration at all. Stone can make you stand firm on the ground and defend your attitudes, thus making you a very influential person. I am not going to talk about stone as a material, since I’m sure that you already know all about it.

To sum up, you should definitely consider mosaics made of tiles, if you want to make some significant change in your life because one of the most powerful things that will make you change yourself is your surroundings. If you change your surroundings, you will definitely change in the way you see fit.

Check out our previous articles:

How to Look Confident When Giving a Speech

Ivan Dimitrijevic — Thu, 02 May 2013 02:07:32 +0000

There is a difference between mediocre speakers and great speakers. Great speakers are passionate and knowledgeable about what they speak, they have charm and they are confident and not afraid to move around the stage, call to action, raise their voice and make jokes. They engage the audience and create a very intimate experience. Even when large groups of people are involved you can’t help but feel a personal bond with a good speaker – you feel like you can trust them, like you have learned something new.

If you want to be a good speaker, but you still can’t get a hang of all this public speaking business, the most important thing is to project confidence, and you can only do this if you overcome anxiety and have some good material to work with. You will often find speakers that have brilliant speeches who still get overcome by fear and mess everything up. Presentation skills are very important, and there are several things you can do to boost your confidence or to simply seem more confident.

1. Good body language

Body language and facial expressions are more important for human communication than what you actually say. This is how you can tell if someone is being sarcastic, if someone is mocking you, if a person is uncomfortable and so on. The base of confident body language is good posture, basically all the things your mother told you to do: keep your back straight, keep your hands out of your pockets, look people in the eyes when you are talking to them, keep your chin up, etc.

Your feet should to be placed shoulder-width apart, turned slightly outward, you shouldn’t swing your hands wildly but strive to make elegant, controlled gestures. You want to make brief eye contact with different audience members, but be sure to move your gaze through different segments of the audience – front to back and side to side – and hold it on each segment for a few moments before moving on. You can also push your chest slightly out and move around – don’t be afraid to take up more space.

2. Talk slowly and louder than you usually would

This takes some time to get used to, and it is where most people get it wrong. We are used to speaking a bit more quietly as our audience is in close proximity, but if we want to be heard and understood when speaking to a large number of people we have to find walk the thin line between speaking loudly and yelling.

It is also important to constantly remind yourself to talk slower, as we tend to start talking really fast and trailing off when we are nervous, which makes it difficult to get our point across. Public speaking courses and acting classes are a good way to learn how to work through stage fright and speak to an audience, or if you don’t have them in your area a vocal coach can help you a great deal with speaking loudly and fluently.

3. Make a few small jokes here and there

Jokes can be written and practiced before they are delivered to a crowd (like a comedian would do) or they can come organically from the interaction with the crowd or when you mess something up and make a humorous remark about it, breaking the fourth wall so to speak. You will seem more confident, more at ease if you can bring out your funny side.

This doesn’t mean you have to turn the speech into a standup comedy gig, you can simply add a few observations, side notes or a personal anecdote to liven up the crowd and create a bond. Try to seem frank and polite. A soft smile can make you seem more endearing to your audience.

4. Be passionate about the subject

You can be very serious at times, making long pauses for added effect, or raise your voice and make more pronounced hand gestures to emphasize parts of the speech. Let your mood change slightly, become enthusiastic like you are speaking about your favorite hobby, engage the audience and give some comparisons – use examples from everyday life that everyone can relate to.

As far as presentation skills go, your body language is the most important thing to get right. You want to seem somewhat relaxed, yet excited to talk about the subject; speak slowly and clearly yet seem a little emotional at times, lowering your voice or breaking the pattern.

If you come across as confident people will warm up to you and be more attentive, so practice walking the walk and talking the talk. If you really find yourself unable to improve and constantly lock up in front of the crowd, you can turn to local public speaking courses, which are becoming more and more popular with men and women who want to improve their leadership skills.

Check out more inspiring articles!

Philosophy of Frugal Living

Igor Ovsyannykov — Wed, 01 May 2013 02:04:20 +0000

This article was written for Inspirationfeed by Omar Maxwell. Omar is a professional blogger that enjoys providing insight into financial companies and check companies. He writes for Pure Checks, a Check Company that supplies personal and business checks.

Perhaps it was the “He who dies with the most toys wins” bumper stickers that gave us the idea that living frugally equals being miserable. Because of that misconception, a lot of people who are either in financial difficulty or wanting to achieve certain financial goals are looking at everything but economizing as a way to achieve it.

In my opinion, living frugally equates more accurately with success, satisfaction, freedom and creativity. If this attitude underlies your spending philosophy, you will find economy to be an effortless lifestyle. Let’s look at the main component of the frugal living philosophy to see if this is something you could consider for yourself.

Main Component of Frugality

The first principle, and the most important one, is that frugal living is better living.

Many people have a knee–jerk reaction to any form of economizing, erroneously believing that all this austerity will mean years and years of subsistence living in return for incredibly small improvements in our lives.

Our friends will look down on us or even worse, pity us. We’ll never go to the beach or drive anything more than a sub-compact relic. It would be far easier and much quicker to take out a loan or get a second job.

But with careful attention to our spending, we can have our friends admire, if not envy us; have several beach vacations each year; and drive a late model car; all with out the burden of an extra loan repayment or the time crunch of a second job.

So for starters, understand that living frugally is all about getting more, not having less.

The Credit Card Cycle

Let me give you an illustration. Let’s pretend, for example, that your Christmas spending is out of hand. Because of buying last minute gifts in desperation, you ran your credit card way too high and in January, began paying only the minimum payment.

The amount of interest you are accruing is going to double the purchase price of the gifts. Plus, it is hard to even meet the minimum payment.

Then in February, your car breaks down. You want to put the repair on your credit card but with the Christmas purchases still lingering, you can only put part of the repair on your card. Plus interest payments are now making the car repair much more expensive than the original bill. You pay the rest of the bill with cash, but now you are short for electricity and groceries. You start juggling bills as they come in but eventually you fall behind and the phone calls start.

What about a second job?

It seems like now is the time to get a second part time job to at least take care of the credit card bill. In terms of straight money, the second job looks like the answer to all your problems. Seldom, however, do we factor in the hidden costs of a second job. First of all, $10.00 an hour is not $10.00 an hour. With federal, state, local, social security and Medicare taxes it is more like $8.00 an hour. If you must get child care, you have cut into your hourly wage still further. Because you will be rushed, you will not be shopping or cooking economically (or even healthfully) so you must factor in meals from outside sources.

Some of your wage will be taken up with commuting expenses. Perhaps the worst culprit of all is the treats you feel entitled to buy for yourself because you are so frazzled with trying to fit everything into your day.

Do the math for your particular location and be honest with your extra expenditures from the second job and you may find out that that $10.00 per hour job is actually just $5.00. Get distracted and miss a credit card payment one month and you can wipe out most of that.

If you manage to get the credit card bill paid off at all, you may just be in time to start dealing with another Christmas. Pull the credit card back out because you are running out of time. It becomes an endless cycle.

The Frugal Approach

Now, let’s look at how a frugal person would approach this. The goal is to have a holiday where everyone on your gift list is treated generously and let’s throw in some entertaining as well.

Make a list of people to gift and assign a dollar amount to each gift.

Frugality demands some planning so the frugal person begins by making a list of people to gift and assigns a dollar amount to each gift. For example, let’s say there are 10 people on your list and you want to spend $100.00 on each of them. That is $1000.00 total for gifts.

Now, look at your list. Does everyone have to have a $100.00 gift? Are there people who could be removed? Are there people who would value something besides a gift, for example an aunt who would enjoy a lunch out with you and the kids or a grandparent that would like their garage cleaned or their car waxed? Are there people to spend more than $100.00 on such as your teenager?

Shopping All Year

Now, the frugal person will divide the $1000.00 by 52 to determine how much money to set back each week to pay for Christmas. This amounts to $20 per week; hardly noticeable most weeks.

Now you may think that the economizer would want to put this into a Christmas club at the bank in order to get the interest on the set aside money.

Perhaps, But a better strategy would be to keep that money accumulating somewhere that is accessible because buying Christmas presents throughout the year is a great way to save money. The money-wise person will not let shopping go until November, but rather keep an eye out for gifts all year round.

For example, winter clothing clearance sales are great places to pick up gifts for adults whose size does not change from year to year. It is not unusual to find shirts, sweaters, sports clothes, purses, and outerwear for 30%-75% less.

So instead of buying a sweater for $89, the frugal person buys two sweaters for around $50; far less than the original $100 price point and double the gifts.

This is a concrete example of the more for less philosophy we were discussing.

Another example is jewelry and sporting goods. Browse the clearance section of online jewelers and outfitters throughout the year. Because the frugal person has months to find a purchase instead of just weeks or even days, chances are really good that he or she will find each person the perfect gift at an incredibly low price. The same is true of many other vendors.

Wrapping It Up

Stash gift purchases in a large tote box in a closet and come the holiday season, the frugal person is ready to start wrapping, (with clearance wrap bought the January before of course) rather than shopping. So at this point, no money is going out. Christmas is paid for.

But that isn’t all to this story. Let’s say that the frugal person was able to shave $25 off each person’s gift total. That makes a whopping $250 excess. This money is available for entertaining. Fix the family Christmas Eve meal for a dozen people for a comfortable $150, and have $100 for another gathering.

These are two quite different scenarios and it would be hard to conclude that simply throwing money at Christmas made for a more meaningful holiday. If someone on your guest list received two perfect gifts for half the money and you were able to easily open your home to family and friends, then you achieved more – a lot more.

Stop feeling that you don’t have enough money to achieve the things you want to achieve. Step back, begin finding ways to accomplish everything with less money, and put the excess to wise use. But first, begin by believing that this is the better, more meaningful way to live.

Check out our previous articles:

How to Deal with Procrastination Faced by Telecommuters

Igor Ovsyannykov — Tue, 30 Apr 2013 02:01:50 +0000

This article was written for Inspirationfeed by Ron Taylor. Ron is a writer by profession and used to work for a Fortune 500 company, writing and editing copy for their websites. He currently works from home, writing articles for a couple of e-commerce sites, namely nameplatesdiv.com and signcollection.com. He writes about a number of things like ADA guidelines for accessibility, the many uses of nameplates, and much more.

In my previous article, I mentioned that procrastination is one of the biggest problems people working from home (and even in an office setting) face. Putting off till later, or even till tomorrow, the things that should have been done right now is a very common occurrence, and is something I fall victim to at times myself. While I do make up for lost time by working longer hours to make my deadlines, ideally, this should not happen.

In order for telecommuters like me to avoid procrastination, there are some things that should be strictly adhered to and these include work schedules, deadlines, and the like. If you tend to delay some of the things you need to do occasionally, that may be excusable, but if you find yourself putting things off more often than is considered acceptable, then you need to acknowledge that there is indeed a problem. Once you recognize that there is a problem, the next thing you have to do is to find out why there is a problem.

Usually, when I find myself putting stuff off for later, it is either because what I need to get done seems boring or is something I can’t seem to find any pleasure in doing. This can be avoided with the right mindset. If I cannot make what I am writing interesting for myself, then why would I expect readers to find it interesting as well?

As a web content writer, I have to keep in mind that I need to bring my readers information that is not only useful to them, but is also attention-grabbing. To try and do this, I focus on what is fascinating with the topic I am to tackle and attack it from that angle. That way, I not only motivate myself to write but I also create an article that will be of interest to others.

Another reason why people delay doing what they should be doing is because they are not organized and disciplined enough to follow through with their set schedule. While I am not a total expert at organization, I do make it a point to create a weekly work schedule. I try to discipline myself to follow through, and when I miss one or two things that are set for that day, I try to squeeze these into the schedule for the next few days.

Sometimes, procrastination can be the result of plain laziness. I have to admit, there are days that this happens to me as well. What do I do? If my mind really won’t let me work right then and there, I give in and laze around for a few hours (not the entire day, mind you, just a few hours to get the laziness bug out of my system). Once I feel that I have lazed around enough, I hit the keys again and get back to work, doing things faster than ever to catch up.

There are also times that I try to get myself going by telling myself that after I finish a few more articles, I can watch that new movie, or I can get myself a snack afterwards. While this may sound rather simplistic (and somewhat childish), the reward system does work to help motivate a person to stick to a task until the goal for the reward is reached (and I use the same tack with my kids if they keep delaying a project or assignment, and it works too!).

Procrastination is not a disease, nor is it a problem that does not have a solution. You just need to find a method that will effectively get you out of delaying what needs to be done and use that to get yourself to finish what you need to finish. If you find that you really cannot get yourself to focus on your work-from-home tasks, then maybe, just maybe, working from home is not for you.