Virtual Clutter

Does your email inbox have a lot of emails just sitting in it? Mine does. Why? There are 400 messages in there right now. It's really gotten the best of me lately and I've been giving some thought as to WHY. I've read these email, now why are they still in the inbox? One good reason is the email system I am using does not have folder system. I am not pleased with that. I consulted my husband and now I have gone from a web based email system to a mail client system. What does that mean? My email is now being downloaded into Outlook Express. I am really pleased with it! I can create a lot of folders with it if I want. I organized it and flung out all of the trash.

I took it a step further. This is my personal email system. Remember I just recently read David Bach's Smart Couples Finish Rich? If you haven't read that post, click here to read it. Now David Bach asks each couple to determine what 5 values are important to each of them....ones that they want to work on over the next 12 months. Well, I completed that task. I have my 5 values and I applied them to my email system as well! It's another reminder of what is important to me and what my values are. It's much easier to determine what to do with an email if it doesn't fit in ANY of my categories! So I have 5 mail folders and some sub folders. One of my values is marriage & family. I finally have a subfolder under there that is labeled - Pictures! I've never had a folder for them before and they are important to me. I'd have to search through all of my emails to find a picture I was looking for! Now they are all safely in one organized location. Another sub folder under marriage & family is Christmas 2007. I've never had this folder before either. I love it! All of the Christmas lists for family members are now in our location too! No more searching through all of the emails to go shopping!

If you already have a system in place that you are using, kudos to you! Consider adopting the values system to your folders. =)

Determine Your Values, So You Can Find Your Path in Life

I just finished reading David Bach's Smart Couples Finish Rich. It's actually the second time I've read it. He talks early on about defining the 5 values that you want to work on for the next 12 months, then developing a goal or a few goals for each value. I really like his thinking on the values. Most financial books or financial planners do not work around your values. Isn't that really where you need to start?

In his book you'll find:
Step One: Learn the Facts and Myths about Couples and Money
Step Two: Determine the True Purpose of Money in Your Life
Step Three: Plan Together...Win Together
Step Four: The Couples' Latte Factor
Step Five: Build Your Retirement Basket
Step Six: Build Your Security Basket
Step Seven: Build Your Dream Basket
Step Eight: Learn to Avoid the Ten Biggest Financial Mistakes Couples Make
Step Nine: Increase Your Income by 10 Percent in Nine Weeks

In his book, he also focuses on working together as a couple on your values, then goals, to have the life you've dreamed of together. When my hubby and I began this journey - our quest for a simple life, we used tools like David Bach's book. Take the time to read, sit and talk about what your really want in life, what is important to each of you, your values and your goals, then find a path together to reach these goals! You can do it. My hubby and I became so much closer emotionally when we determined where we wanted to be in life and we took action and started a path on our quest. If this in an intention for you, I highly recommend his book. Read the book, complete the steps, then take action!

The gap in our economy is between what we have and what we think we ought to have - and that is a moral problem, not an economic one. ~Paul Heyne