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| "It's hard to be hateful when you're grateful!" - Chris Hogan |
The Quote of the Day is "It's hard to be hateful when you're grateful!" by Chris Hogan.
Chris is a Ramsey personality, a two-time #1 national bestselling author and financial expert. He authored the books Everyday Millionaires: How Ordinary People Built Extraordinary Wealth—and How You Can Too and Retire Inspired: It's Not an Age, It's a Financial Number.
Each book you read changes you - that's why it is also imperative that you choose which books (or authors) you read. For my
2021 reset, one of my goals is to read at least 52 books this year, or about one book per week.
For January 2021, I focused mostly on self-help/improvement and books. I completed reading five books and started with one but I wasn't able to finish it. (47 more to go, Yey!). Here's a rundown of the books I read this month (and see which one I started but can't complete):
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| The 8 Minute Organizer: Easy Solutions to Simplify Your Life in Your Spare Time by Regina Leeds |
Title: The 8 Minute Organizer: Easy Solutions to Simplify Your Life in Your Spare Time
Author: Regina Leeds
Finished Reading on: January 3, 2021
My Takeaways: Zen organizing | tasks you can do in 8 minutes or less that will help you organize the bedroom, kitchen, bathroom, paper clutter, family room & kid's room
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| A Monk's Guide to a Clean House and Mind by Shoukei Matsumoto |
Title: A Monk's Guide to a Clean House and Mind
Author: Shoukei Matsumoto
Finished Reading on: January 6, 2021
My Takeaways: Buddhist monk's whys and hows of cleaning the surroundings and your body
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| Clutter Free: Quick and Easy Steps to Simplifying Your Space by Kathi Lipp |
Title: Clutter Free: Quick and Easy Steps to Simplifying Your Space
Author: Kathi Lipp
Finished Reading on: January 10, 2021
My Takeaways: A (surprisingly!) comprehensive book on clutter in just a 224-page book | the why's, what's and how's of clutter | I will be reading her other books
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| Spark Joy: An Illustrated Master Class on the Art of Organizing and Tidying Up by Marie Kondo |
Title: Spark Joy: An Illustrated Master Class on the Art of Organizing and Tidying Up
Author: Marie Kondo
Finished Reading on: January 25, 2021
My Takeaways: Organizing and tidying up the house | creating an environment that sparks joy | thank things before discarding them
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The Life-Changing Manga of Tidying Up: A Magical Story by Marie Kondo |
Title: The Life-Changing Manga of Tidying Up
Author: Marie Kondo
Finished Reading on: January 31, 2021
My Takeaways: Manga on organizing and tidying up the house | creating an environment that sparks
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| Singletasking: Get More Done — One Thing at a Time by Devora Zack |
Title: Singletasking: Get More Done — One Thing at a Time
Author: Devora Zack
Stopped Reading on: January 8, 2021.
My Takeaways: can't tell much
Status: I stopped reading halfway through Chapter 1.
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| Uncluttered: Free Your Space, Free Your Schedule, Free Your Soul by Courtney Ellis |
Title: Uncluttered
Author: Courtney Ellis
Stopped Reading on: January 14, 2021. Credit: 0.5 book only.
My Takeaways: More of a Christian book instead of uncluttering and organizing | will probably turn off most non-Christian readers
Status: I stopped reading at Chapter 10 (out of 14). I REALLY tried to finish reading this book but even though I am a Christian, I zoned out in the last few chapters. I probably will read it some other time but right now, this is not the genre I want to read. I think it should have been given a different title and sub-titles because the contents are entirely different from what one would expect.
I know how hard it is to write and publish a book so I am a bit disappointed that I just can't finish reading some of the books listed above. However, I'm glad that I was able to learn a lot about organizing and decluttering from the books that I read this month. I hope I'll be able to apply what I learned at home and in my day to day activities.
My daughter and I got a chance to read the book, Kiki & Jax by Marie Kondo on the 29th of January on Kindle. It was a very short read, and it's for kids, so no points earned for me.
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| Kiki & Jax: the life-changing magic of Friendship by Marie Kondo |
Care to share the title of your favorite books or the name of your favorite author in the comment section below? I would like to hear about your recommendations! Although I already have one personal finance book lined up for February, Know Yourself, Know Your Money, suggestions of books from all genre are welcome.
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| Ramsey Reset (Image credit: Reset Digital Workbook) |
If you are raring for a financial reset this 2021, how about watching this video of the event called the Ramsey Reset, which features notable speakers Dave Ramsey, Rachel Cruze, Craig Groeschel and Chris Hogan? They talked about how to win with money and building better money habits, among other informative and inspirational topics.
Those who know me know how much I love Dave Ramsey's principles when it comes to money and life in general. Dave's unapologetic way of conveying his message to the world is a breath of fresh air in a world where many personalities are too politically correct and scared to hurt someone's feelings, making them unbelievable sometimes.
Dave Ramsey's teaching will help a lot of people struggling with money. Why not watch the video above and tell me if the message resonates with you? Who knows it might be something that you really need to watch at the beginning of 2021 for your financial reset.
When my daughter was in fifth grade, she needed to prepare or cook something in class. Since she doesn't have access to a stove or oven in class, we chose a recipe wherein she can ready the ingredients at home and will not need any heat/cooking when she prepares her project during her class time: macaroni salad.
This is the recipe card for the macaroni salad that she submitted to her teacher.
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| Macaroni Salad Recipe |
Yey, it's finally out!
I'm referring to the latest book from the New Your Times' best selling author Rachel Cruze entitled "Know Yourself, Know Your Money: Discover WHY you handle money the way you do, and WHAT to do about it!"
Last year, I wrote about Dave Ramsey and his personal finance books and principles. Those of you who watch Papa Dave's Youtube videos or listen to his show in Spotify probably know that Rachel Cruze is his daughter who's also a personal finance expert herself.
Today, I am happy to announce that I already have my own copy of Rachel's latest book, Know Yourself, Know Your Money. Just a few hours ago, I already gained some insights just by watching Dave and Rachel discuss this book on YouTube so I'm so excited to dive into this two-part, 14-chapter-long book about personal finance, budgeting, saving and wealth building.
While most of Dave Ramsey's book tackle the whats and hows of personal finance, this latest offering from Ramsey Press is more on the whys of personal finance. It discusses, among other topics, the psychology, strengths and challenges of the seven money tendencies.
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| The Seven Money Tendencies |
The following are the money tendencies mentioned by Rachel in her book.
What do you think will your money tendencies be?
I'm not sure how exactly she defined them in her book (I still have to read everything to really know) but so far, from the bits and pieces I learned from their show today, my money strategies are saver, nerd, things, quantity, safety, scarcity and spontaneous giving.
Anyway, as part of my "RESET" strategy for 2021, I plan to read at least 52 books this year (about one book a week). So far, I got two boxes checked as I'm through reading The 8 Minute Organizer by Regina Leeds and A Monk's Guide to a Clean House and Mind by Shoukei Matsumoto on this 6th day of January. I liked both books and I am pretty positive that I'm going to enjoy reading Know Yourself, Know Your Money, as well.
Are there other books on personal finance that you can recommend for my reading list? At the rate that I'm going, I'll probably run out of books to read in six months.
PS. This is NOT a sponsored post, however, if you click on the links and buy the books/products listed above, Amazon MAY offer me some compensation for referring you.
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| Are you eager to press the "RESET" button this 2021? |
Dictionary.com defines reset as "set again or differently." I believe that there's no better time to do a reset than the month of the January, the first month of the year. With too much happening in 2020, I am certain that many are glad to leave that year behind and look forward to the year 2021 with high hopes and new goals.
2020 is arguably the year when a lot of changes happened in all aspects of our lives. There are new norms and new ways to doing things that we never imagined before. But it wasn't totally bad, if we come to think of it. If we give ourselves chance to only ponder on it long enough, 2020 is the year when we were afforded the chance to look into ourselves, realign our priorities and appreciate the people/things/situations that we took for granted in the past.
I already gave up creating new year's resolutions in the past but this 2021, as a way to reset, I will be giving myself concrete goals that I must accomplish during the year. Fortunately, I have a printable Tools4Wisdom planner that can help me plan my year, not only for daily tasks that I needed to accomplish but for goals and priorities that I can work on during the year.
There are some habits that I want to start this year and changes that I want to incorporate not only into my lifestyle but into my whole being. With the year 2020 giving more significance to the imaginary reset button that ushered the new year 2021, I am hoping that I will be able to stick to my new year's resolutions this year.
Do you also consider that the "RESET" button this 2021 is more significant because of the events in 2020? Is there a specific goal that you want to accomplish this year?
