11.30.08
Photo of the Day
Kid: Concentrate…See, I can do it! (Focus, determination, excitement and a hint of fear)
Mum: Look…no hand! You do it on your own kiddo. (Mixed emotion of fear, pride and excitement)
Photo taken Tea Plantation, Kemuning, Karangpandan.
11.29.08
Writing Journal at Rocketz Cafe – Solo
Yesterday I went to Rocketz Cafe for dinner. While waiting for the food to arrive, I wrote in my journal about the dining experience there. The atmosphere was great, especially the soothing vocal and jazz music. I had a Red Sunrise drink, an OJ with Geraldine liquor. It was nice but a bit too sweet for my taste. I had Chicken d’Rocketz for dinner. The chicken was delicious. The mash potato had a milky taste so I sprinkled a lot of pepper on it.
Tonight my friends and I will go there again for coffee and snack. I’ll try the pancake tonight.
11.28.08
The Millionaire Mind Intensive in UK
I’ve been writing about Millionaire Mind Intensive Seminar that was held in Singapore earlier this month. I really learned a lot from this seminar. If you live in UK or Europe, you have a chance to attend this great seminar in London. The seminar will be held on 3rd-5th April 2009 in ExCel London – UK. There is a special rate for applying before 31st December 2008. For more information, you can click here.
11.26.08
Decluttering Process
In the last few days, my sister and I have been decluttering our rooms. We are far from finish but as you can see in the photo, we’ve collected more than 10 boxes already. By this time next week, we will probably have more than 25 boxes ready for the garage sale.
Most of my stuff are electronic gadgets and sport equipments while my sister’s are clothes, hats, belts, handbags, accessories. Looking at our stuff, you can see how different we are.
How does this decluttering process make me feel?
- I feel lighter because I have less junk living in my drawers. I do not have that nagging feeling of having to clean up or organize the mess.
- I feel productive because I can find things quickly and easily. I know where to find everything because everything has its place.
- I feel happy because I found things that I thought I had lost like my awesome Spyderco knife below. This is my favorite when I started collecting knives 10 years ago.
- I feel excited because we are going to have an awesome garage sale next week. Not only we’ll get some money from the sale, we will also help the environment by recycling our stuff.
- I also feel some regret because I realize that I had bought too many stuff on impulse. If I had only learned money management earlier, I would have been wealthier now. HAHAHA Learning from my past mistakes certainly makes me feel better now.
I will keep you informed on our decluttering process and what we learn.
Learn and Grow!
11.24.08
Simplify Your Life
After watching an episode on Oprah about hoarders and reading Unclutterer blog, I was inspired to simplify my life. I have so many things that I haven’t used for years. These unused things pile up and waste precious space in my house.
This week, I am going to go through every room and start:
- Collecting, put everything out and pile them in the middle of a room
- Choosing, choose what I really want to keep. The key is to be ruthless and stick to the vision of what I want for that particular space.
- Sorting, the rest is divided into three categories: sell, donate, or throw away. I make sure that I have a rubbish bin to throw things out and boxes for those things I want to donate or sell.
- Organizing, put the things that I choose to have and organize them.
I am going to have a garage sale on December 1st 2008. The place will be on Jl. KH Samanhudi 132, Sondakan, Solo.
There are a lot of things available for the garage sale:
- Clothes – branded clothes, pants, hats, etc
- Bag – handbags, computer bags, school bags, etc
- Shoes – dress shoes, sport shoes, sandals, etc
- Accessories – jewelry, belts, glasses etc
- Perfumes – all sort of perfumes and colognes
- Electronic – VCD players, earphones, PDA, cables, chargers, etc
- lots more
If you are interested in joining the garage sale, please contact Ms. Sila at +62-271-738820 or +62 888 2933765.
If you want to learn more about simplifying your life, you can go to here:
Learn and Grow!
11.23.08
Being A Good Receiver
During Millionaire Mind Intensive in Singapore, I learned that to be rich in every area of our lives, we also need to learn to be a good receiver.
I’ve heard the saying “It is better to give than to receive” over and over again for so long, . It is originated from a verse in the Bible “It is more blessed to give than to receive” Acts 20:35 (NIV). I’ve always believed it and I’ve never questioned it before.
Since it is more blessed to give, giving seems to be more superior than receiving, so we strive to give. We tend to look down on receivers and we feel guilty even ashamed when we receive. How can we be rich and wealthy if we feel guilty or ashamed for receiving money, blessing or help from others?
Sometimes when we receive something, we feel obligated to give back even more because we want to be the blessed one. We also want to return the favor as soon as possible so that we do not feel indebted. For example, when we receive a compliment “Wow, you look great”, instead of simply saying “Thank you”, we often return the compliment straight away saying “Hey, you look great too”.
In the seminar, I learned that giving and receiving are two sides of the same coin. A giver needs a receiver and to be a receiver there must be a giver. A giver is not superior and a receiver is not inferior. We must learn to be both a generous giver and an excellent, grateful receiver.
Being a good receiver means that instead of feeling guilty when we receive something, we feel grateful. We let the giver feel the pleasure of giving and be thanked for their generosity. Next time, if someone gives you something, just say thank you gracefully and give thanks to God for the blessings. If you want to return the favor, do it at later time and be a generous giver expecting nothing in return.
Some cautions: since not everybody understands this concept of being a good receiver, you may encounter some awkward moments when you put this into practice. For example, if your spouse, boyfriend, or girlfriend says “Darling, I love you” and you simply say “Thank you” without saying “I love you” back…you can be in big trouble HAHAHA. In order to avoid this situation, please ask them to read this blog post 
Thank you for reading.
Learn and Grow!
PS. Yesterday I received lunch blessing from friends at Atria, so thank you. This morning I received another breakfast blessing from Church friends at Soto Kirana, thank you to both of you. God bless.
11.20.08
Success Journal
In Millionaire Mind Intensive Seminar, T Harv Eker said that it was important to acknowledge your success. One way to acknowledge your success is by keeping a success journal.
Success journal is a special journal where you write all your successes and achievements. It is recommended to write at least five(5) successes of the day. They can be small things such as putting $1 in Financial Freedom Account Jar, waking up 30 min earlier, or they can be big things such as getting a promotion, winning prizes, and so on.
The most important thing is to keep your focus on success! Success breeds success. Success attracts more success.
The success journal can also help you when the going gets tough. It reminds you of your strength and capability to overcome challenges in your life.
Journal Writing
This is a photo of my recent journals. Those are not moleskine. I wish they are.
I’ve been writing journal or diary since I was 16 years old. I started the habit when my English teacher in Perth, Judy asked me to write a diary everyday and show it to her. This was how I learned English, through writing diary. My first diary:
When I was in Beijing learning Mandarin, I also wrote my journal in Chinese. Writing a journal in Chinese really helped me to increase my vocabulary and memorize those Chinese characters.
Some benefits of journal writing for me:
- to record, explore, and clarify my thoughts and feelings,
- to write what I have learned from daily experiences,
- to help me learn a new language,
- to help me release emotional burdens,
- to help me remember great moments in my life,
- to explore creative ideas,
- to weigh alternatives when making an important decision,
- and many more
Do you keep a journal? If you do, please share your experience in the comments.
Acknowledge and celebrate your success!
Learn and Grow!
11.18.08
Prosperity Jars – Money Management System
These are my prosperity jars, a complete set of six jars for money management.
My current money management system:
- 10% for Financial Freedom Account
- 10% for Long Term Savings for Spending Account and Debt Repayment
- 10% for Education Account
- 50% for Necessities Account
- 10% for Play Account
- 10% for Give Account
Each jar also has a corresponding bank account in different banks.
I currently use BCA Bank for Necessities Account because it has the best facilities such as internet banking, mobile banking and ATMs everywhere. It is very convenient that I can do almost everything from home. Since a lot of people have an account in BCA, it is the most widely used to pay other people. The drawback of this account is low interest rate, monthly bank fees of Rp. 10,000 (USD 1) and transfer fee to other bank of at least Rp. 5,000 (USD 0.50) per transaction.
I use Danamon Bank for my Financial Freedom Account (FFA) and Give Account. I use an account called Danamon Lebih that does not charge monthly fees as long as the balance is above Rp. 100,000 (USD 10). I use it to hold daily deposit of FAA until the amount is big enough to be invested in term deposit or other investment instrument. Currently the term deposit rate at Danamon Bank is 10% for 3 month term. The drawback of Danamon Bank is its extremely slow service and limited facilities.
My LTSS Account resides in BII Bank. I am sorry to say that I am quite disappointed with BII because it offers a lot of facilities such as internet banking and mobile banking BUT those facilities simply do NOT work! Until now I have not been able to login to their internet banking site! Why do I still use this for my LTSS account? This account serves me a purpose of discouraging me taking money out of this account.
I locate my Education Account in Mandiri Bank. Mandiri Bank also has a lot of facilities. Some advantages of using Mandiri Bank are: the ability to invest in term deposit account online, cheaper fees to pay bills and credit card balance, cheap and easy access to various mutual funds.
I have my Play Account and some of my Give Account in cash so I can use it anytime.
I also keep updating my money management system so that it is getting better everyday. Next time I’ll share with you some money management software to help you manage your money better.
If you want to learn more about the money management system or some advice on managing your money, please contact me at ingesantoso(at)hotmail.com
Learn and Grow!
Inge Santoso, B. Com
11.13.08
E-Pond and E-Fish at Changi Airport Singapore
I saw this at Changi Airport Singapore. It was so interesting and fun. I even ran around on the carpet to chase the e-fish HAHAHA
It is amazing to see how far technology has gone. It will continue to move forward at a faster rate. Are we up to it? This generation is demanded to learn more and faster just to keep up. We cannot afford to stop learning and growing.
Learn and Grow!
11.12.08
Wood Block Print – Changi Airport
While waiting for my flight, I found this wood block print display at Changi Airport. There were several different wood block carvings. You took a piece of paper, put it on top of the wood block carving, then use crayons to rub…voila… wood block print. You can also use different colors to make it more interesting.
