I’m probably far from the minds of anyone who read this blog in the past. I wanted to take some time throw my hat back in to the ring. I miss blogging and I miss all of the knowledge I used to gain from others while blogging. I plan to periodically post financial advice, questions, and personal progress on this site as well as regain my role as an active participant in the blogging community.

A lot has changed since my last post. My girlfriend of five years and I have gotten engaged. We are getting married in May of next year. I plan to discuss the financial implications of getting married along with my personal circumstances and experiences. Since we’ve become engaged, my fiance and I have been actively house hunting and talking with a mortgage broker. The time seems right for first time homebuyers and I definitely want to go in to more details on this later. I am nine classes in to my crazy, non-stop, class schedule and I’ve got about nine to go. My posts may not be as frequent as they once were but I do plan to get back in the game.

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I have not given up on my blog or my readers. I’ve been involved in multiple other online endeavors. One of them is another blogging project that has multiple writers. I am waiting until there is more content on the site before I unveil it but I really think everyone who has enjoyed this site in the past will really enjoy the new site. The other project that I am involved with is a social networking site. It is a big project that will probably take months and months before we really start beta testing it. We are currently in the planning and initial development stages. It is a huge endeavor and I really think it will benefit everyone who reads this site, as well as all of the fans of Be Healthy and Relax.

I’m still knee deep in school work and I’m really trying to use my time wisely. Once our other projects are unveiled, this site will probably act as more of a journal of the progress we are making. I am so thankful of all the readers and all of the people that have supported this website. This website, along with Be Healthy and Relax, has provided the finances needed to really get things moving on those other projects. Please stick around. You won’t want to miss what we have in store with these new projects!

Popularity: 86% [?]

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I will admit that life has been a little hectic lately. I put in about sixty hours per week at work and I’m in charge of about thirty employees. I’m on an accelerated learning course at my college in which I take one class per month. I have either lectures or assignments every single night of the week. I have an exam every Saturday with a final on the last weekend of every month. It is a lot of studying and it’s been a bit crazy. It’s only my first month and I’ve got about seventeen more to go. Finishing a higher education is one the steps on my path to wealth. I must make it one of my biggest priorities. Often times it is very hard to keep up with everything going on in life.

Over the last six months my favorite blog has been Zen Habits. It is a great site that offers so much advice on how to keep your head in the right place when life gets hectic. It also offers up some advice on how to keep certain aspects of life from getting too hectic. I’ve adopted a lot of Leo’s philosophies and my life has been a lot less stressful because of it. I’m not sure what specific posts some of these ideas came from but they are various ideas that I’ve adopted that have really cut down on my stress.

Prioritize the things that are important and cut out the things that aren’t.
This is basically the theme of the entire Zen Habits website. The things that are important in my life are my family, my girlfriend, my education and my job. I also love my blog but, in reality, it is just a hobby. I will always update it when I feel compelled to write. I love sharing my personal goals, my financial goals and the journey that I’ve embarked upon. It will always be here for me to vent and for me to give and receive advice. I love it, it is an outlet and I will never let it die. It may slow down when my priorities need more attention but I will never let it go to waste.

Take time in silence to reflect and listen to your thoughts.
I basically wrote an entire post on this subject over at Lazy Man and Money. Sometimes you just need to take some time and relax in silence. Let ideas run through your head and see what comes out. This concept has a few benefits. You get to relax your body. You can find a comfortable quiet spot, kick off your shoes and just relax. You may be a genius and not even realize it. Who knows what kind of ideas will pop in to your head while you are relaxing. I do this for a little bit every afternoon. It is kind of my post-work/pre-school ritual.

Keep organized.
The biggest lifestyle change that I have made since I’ve begun blogging is the organizational habits that I have adopted. I’ve gotten in the habit of always keeping everything clean and organized all of the time. It’s not like I’m constantly cleaning either. I clean up as I go. I make sure anything I take out, I put it away immediately after using it. Every morning when I wake up, I do a real quick room cleaning. It takes me about two minutes. You have no idea how much stress this relieves. Being clean and organized feels so good and I always know where everything is. I’ve adopted the same philosophy at the office and I’m more productive because of it.

Don’t carry things around on you.
This is one of the little tips that Leo suggested in one of his older posts. It seems like a small thing but it feels so liberating to never have anything in your pockets. Everyday when I arrive at work; I take my wallet, my keys and my cell phone out of my pocket and throw them in my desk drawer. I’m not sitting on a lump all day, I don’t have bulges in my pocket and I’m not concerned with who’s calling me in the middle of the day. Whoever it is, it can wait until after work. It’s a great little liberating, productivity-boosting tip.

Always be positive.
I am going to finish with this tip but I believe it is the most powerful. I have made a real conscious effort to be positive about everything. Even when things get stressful or deadlines get tight, I honestly try to stay positive. Sometimes it’s hard but it makes people like to be around me more, it helps others around me stay positive and with a can-do attitude, things get done. If you believe in the “law of attraction” type stuff (like I do), there are only benefits to always being positive. Good things come to people who are positive and never lose focus. I see nothing but good things in my future.

Photo Credit: ajusticenetwork

By the way, I want to congratulate Leo from Zen Habits on making the leap in to Professional Blogger. It’s what all of us bloggers strive for one day and it is awesome to see the success that he has made for himself in so little time. It is a great achievement.

Popularity: 89% [?]

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In light of the fact that I have started back to school, I’ve decided to post my technique for studying for tests. Over the course of my entire college career, I have had a 3.5 GPA. That’s despite working full time. My technique works for almost any class and practically no free time is lost.

Buy a Digital Audio Recorder.
I went and purchased an audio recorder that can easily be connected to my computer. The one that I purchased is very similar to This One. A good one is around $50.

Record Your Class Lectures.
Take your new tape recorder to class and tape the entire lecture. If the professor does not allow tape recorders in class, take good notes and record the lecture with your own voice later.

Move The Lecture to a Computer and Burn a CD.
The next thing I do is move the lecture on to my computer using the USB. If you are audio-savvy, like me, you can use a program like Sound Forge to edit the lecture. Cut out all of the filler that has nothing to do with the topic and adjust the volume. Burn the audio file to a CD.

Listen Back To Your Lecture While Driving.
After burning my lecture to a CD, I would drive around listening to the lecture. I spent so much time in my car that I practically had the previous lecture memorized by the time the next class session rolled around. You aren’t wasting any time because you are multi-tasking. You are studying while you are driving.

Using this technique, I was always the first one done with tests and I almost always got an A. I still remember information from lectures that I had three years ago. It’s a great technique to, not only memorize the information, but to really learn the subject matter as well.

Photo Credit: Shaylor

Popularity: 90% [?]

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My grandpa sent this e-mail to me a few days ago. It looks like he got it from the PC World website.

Sell Your Old PC (or Other Devices) to Costco

You have an old PC in the closet? Here’s a way to get rid of it: Sell it to Costco.

Costco, the big-box retailer, has contracted with Greensight to recondition or recycle your old, but still working, PC. They’ll pick up the tab on shipping the PC to them and pay you for the computer. [Thanks to Brad from Atlanta for this amazingly good tip.]

It gets better: They’ll also take notebooks, MP3 players, LCD monitors, camcorders, digital cameras, game consoles, and phones.

It’s gets better yet: There’s no trade-in value, but if you have an old CRT, printer, or fax machine, Greensight will recycle it for you and pay to ship the item to them.

The catch: You get “paid” with a Costco cash card. If you’re not a Costco member, you can use the cash card towards the membership fee; members can use the card to buy merchandise.

I’m taking my wife out to lunch
The Details
Choose the device you want to trade in and answer their questions on an online form. Providing details about the device takes about five minutes. At the end of the process, Greensight will tell you how much the trade-in is worth.

Of course, there’s a good chance you won’t remember the exact components or CPU speed, so the amount may change once the machine is inspected. If you’re not happy, the company will return the PC to you at no charge.

I have to tell you, you’re not going to get rich. I priced a 1.2GHz Pentium III with a 40GB drive and 1GB of RAM and picked up $18. But hey, that pays for a lunch and I didn’t have to schlep to a city-run electronics recycling center.

Greenlight promises they’ll either recondition and sell the entire PC (or just hand-picked parts), or recycle the good parts into raw material. Nothing, they say, will end up in a landfill.

You can read through their FAQ for more details.

This sounds like a great idea to me. I have tons of old computer stuff laying around. I might as well make money of off it.

Photo Credit: Cote

Popularity: 100% [?]

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