Book Summary: The Index Card

My fourth book summary this year, one of the most useful, simple, and straightforward personal finance books that I read over the years.

The book was born out of an interview with Harold Pollack, where he mentioned that the correct personal finance advice for most people is simple and fits on a 3x5 index card.

• Save 10 to 20% of your money. Know where your money is going. Make it your first priority to set money aside for emergency fund (3 -6 months of your living expenses): medical, car service, heater broke, etc. One way to cut spending is by using cash instead of card or electronic payment. 

• Pay your credit card balance in full every month. 

• Max Out Your 401(k), never forgo the employer match. Don't count on working forever. After your emergency fund, saving for retirement is the most important savings. The younger you start, the better off you will be. If one start at 25 saving $104 every month for forty year with 6% annual return the person will have about $200,000 by age 65. To accumulate the same $200,000 at the age 45, you will need to put aside $430 a month. 

• Next step is college fund saving. There are two ways: Coverdell Education Savings Account and 529 plan. 

• Invest in low-cost index funds instead of buying or selling individual stocks then buy and hold them for the long haul. Even Warren Buffett suggest this to his children, "A very low-cost S&P 500 index fund." 

My Google Plus Contents - Part 1

Over the year I use Google Plus to share links to interesting articles, movies, or any other goodies. Now that Google is shutting down Google Plus, I thought I just move the contents and share them here. Enjoy!

Inspiration:
The Drop Box Story

One Stitch Closer: Veronika Scott empowers other women

Auschwitz Survivor Gena Turgel Walked Out of Gas Chamber Alive

"Suffering is not a mistake and isn't the absence of God's goodness because He still presents in pain." Kara Tippetts

Only kindness begets kindness; kindness begets love.

Anger does not beget heart change; it begets shame. Yelling does not beget understanding; it begets hurt. Harsh words do not beget love; they beget humiliation. Intimidation does not beget kindness; it begets fear.

I’ve already seen a return on my investment; as I trust God to help me respond to my rebellious children in kindness and love instead of fear and anger, these young hearts are learning that kindness is always right and they treat each other with kindness. What a joy for my mama’s heart!

"Your time spent pursuing love will not be wasted. The time spent embracing your moments, reading that extra bedtime book, sitting together to dinner, loving a child in their unkindness and weakness matter. Live each moment knowing even your unseen movement toward love and away from unkindness matters." Kara Tippetts, Big Love

Most Dangerous School Run

What Would You Say If Your Wife Was Ripped Away

Brother Burst Into Happy Tears Over Hamster Surprise

The Learning Habit Book Review - Part 2

Learning to make wise/ responsible decision
One of the hardest things for parents to do is to give their children the opportunity to make choices that may not turn out well. Helping children learn through making both right and wrong decisions is the only way to learn habit of decision making. Our natural instinct is to make excuses, complain about injustice, or blame someone else.

Communicating Effectively
Teach the children respectful adult communication. Four keys sentences:
a. I feel..., I want ...., 
b. I am sorry. I was wrong.
c.  I need help. 
d. I don't know. 

Concentrating on Focus
Lack of self-management skills is part and parcel of the problems children face in developing the learning habit of concentrated focus. Using time-limited tasks is reassuring to children; it's easier to concentrate if you know you don't have to do it for very long.
Use effort based praise such as "Good concentration, I see how hard you play, you were such a good sport today." Catch your kids doing something right and appreciate it make your child feel valued and encouraged.

For rewards to work, they have to be immediately follow the event you want to reinforce; they need to be small, so that you can use them frequently. For instance, having snack only after they put away their toys; screen time only after their practice piano or finish their homework, etc.

Set up your child's study area to be distraction free, with no media. You are nearby but not interacting, during homework time.

Because of their limited capacity for self-regulation, teens and children are susceptible to internet addiction and sleep deprivation. 
Some example of focus boot camp rules:
a. A media-free bedroom
b. Borrow books from the library
c. Limit media/ gadget time to 1 hour or less as a reward when homework and chores are done.
d. Set alarm, get themselves up and ready for breakfast.
e. Spend a certain amount for instance 60 minutes on homework at the same time every day. If the child doesn't have homework have them do some reading.
f. Practice relaxation techniques and positive self-talk when anxious or frustrated. 

Brené Brown's Lessons for Relationship

on Blaming

on Emphathy
 

The Learning Habit Book Review - Part 1

I found this book from the library couple years ago and kept going back to read it again and again. It filled with so much useful information for any parents or educator. This is just the summary of bits of wisdom I learned; read the book to get further details and examples.

Empowerment Parenting:

• Build habits through clear, realistic, time oriented, and consistent rules that allow them to reach their goals.
• Empower children through choices and allowing children to experience the consequences of their actions.
• Encourage children through effort based praise, for instance: praising for trying hard, keeping a positive attitude, and continuing to work at solving problems. For example saying things like, "You did so well; you must have practiced hard," instead of "You are very smart."
• Encourage children to take responsibility by allowing them to experience the consequences of their actions.
• Establishing a learning environment means encouraging the behaviors that, over time, become habitual. The earlier we start, the easier the task. 

Media Matters: Managing Our Kids' Media Use
Gaming can be just as destructive to a child's academic performance, social skills, and emotional balance as other addictions.

1. Eat dinner with your kids, unplugged.
2. Start a family activity night play spots or board games instead of video games
3. No media in the bedroom, including cellphone.
4. Screen time as a reward (after tasks are done, never before)
5. Unplug the media and bring out the books; you will be helping your child master a skill that will get them both into and out of college - with a degree
6. Introduce media creation instead of media consumption: word processing and presentation skills, digital drawing, Legos: Bricks in Space, and We Do Robotics. Apps: Book Creator, My story, iMovie, iPad Boot Camps.

Riding Hot Air Baloon at Napa Valley and Some Tips

The real reason we went to Napa this time was for this: Hot Air Balloon Ride. After reading online reviews, we decided to go with Napa Valley Aloft; the only company allowed to fly on Pope Valley so we got to see the beautiful vineyards. We booked through their online website and got a reminder call the day before we flew along with the e-mail explaining where to go and what time we have to be there.

We woke up early that day to get there at 5:30 a.m. and were greeted by those colorful gigantic balloon.  


Disclaimer:  Some of the pictures below we took with our camera and some were taken by the photographer at Napa Valley Loft, which we opted to pay in order to get our pictures when were inside the basket. Ready or not here we go.

 

Aren't those balloons so pretty? I can't take my eyes out of them.

Bedtime Routine Printable

After I made the Morning Routine and Low-Tech Toys print outs, Max asked  if I can make Bedtime Routine Printable as well. Of course I can't say no to such a wonderful idea.
Full resolution can be download HERE

Low-Tech Toys

We limit screen time for the boys to 30 minutes a day so I often heard they said, "What should we do now, ma?" once they're done with their screen time and still have some free time. So thought I made this Low-Tech Toys List for my 7 and 4 years old boys and print them out that way I can just point them to it whenever they ask me that question.


You can download the full size resolution HERE

Reading/ writing

Drawing/ coloring/ painting

Biking, click here to read how we teach the kids biking two wheels bike.

 

Ball games: soccer, basketball. We use this indoor basketball hoop

 

Playing tag
 



Playing Light sabers/ sponge swords

Indoor Fabric Frisbee. DIY instruction can be found HERE

Cars/ Trains/ Toy animals

 

Effective Morning Routine: Patience & Gentleness Series #10

"The wisdom of the prudent is to give thought to their ways." Proverbs 14:8a

A few weeks ago, I heard a podcast about the important of early morning routine and how it impact our productivity. I already had a morning routine before but since listening to the podcast I added some practices that Hal Elrod suggested such as waking up 30 minutes earlier than I normally would and doing 10 minutes exercise. 

It makes such a big difference. Instead of waking up grumpy and in the rush, I am waking up ready to face the day and much calmer through out the day because I have plenty of time to do what need to be done.

You can listen to the podcast titled: Productivity and the Early Morning Routine.
My Morning Routine {ideally speaking, sometimes thing happened like I blogged a little bit late the night before and the kids wake up earlier than normal, so I adjust accordingly}:

1. Set alarm and wake up 30 minutes earlier than I am supposed to
2. Drink a glass of water followed by coffee later
3. Turn on worship song on Pandora
4. Put essentials oils in the diffuser. I use lemon oil in the morning
5. Do 10 minutes Yoga or stretching exercise 
6. Prayer, Bible Reading
7. Planning and Journaling
8. Waking up the kids, help them with their morning chores/ morning routine
9. Breakfast 
10. Morning devotion & reading time with the kids 

"Early to bed and early to rise makes a man healthy, wealthy, and wise." Benjamin Franklin

Related Posts:

Patient & Gentleness Series:

#1 Make Decision 

#2 Heart Check Up

#3 Give Them Grace and Truth

#4 Death and Life are in the power of the tongue

#5 Ex-Squeeze Yourself

#6 Perspective

#7 Stop being Easily Offended 

#8 Prioritize

#9 Speaking in Kindness

Camping at Mendocino & How we turn our van into "tent"

Last August, our family went to Mendocino for our annual family camping trip.

After about 3.5 hours on the road we're finally arrived at Mendocino Campground.

Aaaah.... the trees, fresh air, scenery, quietness... the reasons why we go camping every year.

What I learned from burglary and how to prevent it from happening

It's been a few months since the break-in. I have been thinking about the lessons I learned out of the experience:
 

 1. Life is a gift. We cannot go back to the past and we will never knew what will happen tomorrow. All we have is today.

2. Never think it could never happened to you. We need to be proactive in regards to our family safety {read the Safety Tips below}

3. Share what we are going through. I am continuously amazed at how compassionate people are. We have been showered with prayers, words of encouragement, notes, foods, visit, stories, and advises from close friends to strangers. Thank you for the bottom of our heart.

4. The break in brought us closer to God, each others and the people in our neighborhood. It encourages us to take part to improve the security in our neighborhood.

Some home Safety tips worth mentioning:

• Make your home look occupied, and make it difficult to break in.

• Lock all outside doors, side gates, and windows before you leave the house or go to bed. Even if it is for a short time, lock your doors.

• Leave lights on when you go out. If you are going to be away for a length of time, connect some lamps to automatic timers to turn them on in the evening and off during the day.

• Keep your garage door closed and locked.

• Don't allow daily deliveries of mail, newspapers or flyers build up while you are away. Arrange with the Post Office to hold your mail, or for a friend or neighbor to take them regularly.

• Push button locks on doorknobs are easy for burglars to open. Install deadbolt locks on all your outside doors.

• Get dogs,  at least put the "Beware of Dog" or Security Yard Sign

• Install security cameras. 

• Install home alarm systems. We use this one from Amazon.

• Sliding glass doors are vulnerable. Install sliding door bolt lock or simply use wood.

• Lawn mowers, barbecues, ladder, and bicycles are best stored out of sight

• Always lock your garden sheds and garages.

• Use curtains on garage and basement windows.

• Never leave notes on your door such as “Gone shopping.”

• Sign up for alert Santa Clara County  
• Last but really first and always: Pray pray pray constantly. 

Great video from our local Police Department:


Do you have any other safety tips? Please share in the comments.

What we bring during our temporary move

These past few days we've moved back to our old condo while the bathroom in the new place is being renovated. What happened? Before we bought the house, we already knew the bathroom need major renovation since it has leak and mold. However, we thought we could managed to live for a few months until our old place got sold.

After living there for a few days, it became clear to us that the bathroom need to be fixed sooner than later so once we accepted an offer for our condo, we decided to start planning and working on it.

We still like the idea of moving in first before doing any major renovation.  Just a little over a week living in the new place gave us better ideas on improvements that need to be done, which we won't know if we haven't live there for a while.

Refrigerator is the only thing we don't have at this moment since we already moved it to the new place. It's not a big deal though since we still go to the new place daily to monitor the renovation, we just pick up our meat and vegetables during that time.

Besides clothes and toiletries, here are few things we brought during our temporary move:

Kitchen essentials. These are similar to what I would bring to camping except I wouldn't bring any electric appliances.

Balance Bike Review

When Wes turned 3 a few months ago, Chris and I decided to gave him a balance bike, a two-wheel bike without pedal, after hearing all the rave reviews about how it helps kids to learn balance so later on they can ride the regular two-wheel bike in a matter of seconds.

Before that he used to ride on his trike which he's already overgrown.

It took him a while to get used to riding the balance bike. In the beginning he kept going back to his old trike until we donated it, then he got no other option besides learning to use the new bike.


In a matter of a few days, he mastered it and could ride so fast and so well that we decided to do the same for Max. Instead of buying another balance bike, we took out the training wheels and the pedals of his bike so he could learn balance too.

I waited until we saw the result before posting this review.

The video was taken the first time Max rode on his two-wheel after we put back the pedals:


So.... answering a few questions:
a. Does it really work? Yes, it does.

b. Which one do we get? We get this one but our humble opinion, even the cheaper ones like this would work as well or better yet if you already have one with training wheels like Max's, then all you need to do is taking off the training wheels and the pedals.

c. If we can go back; would we buy it again? No. we would buy regular bike and take off the pedals. Just for your information, some metal part of the pedals can't be taken off so we had to use duck tape to keep it from hurting his feet.

How to cook "krupuk" {Indonesian Cracker} in microwave

I am in the process of moving all my food related posts to our food site: Asian Family Recipes. 
The how to cook "krupuk" {Indonesian Craker} in the microwave can be found here.

Summer Bucket List Update

I am back! The last two weeks have been full yet refreshing at the same time.

You may have seen some of these photo on my Instagram. Thanks to Didi who lost my old Nokia, I got a used Iphone 3. Now I got a smart phone and can jump in "Instagram" bandwagon.

We joined our church Vacation Bible School. The church nearby our house kindly shared their VBS materials so our small church didn't have to buy anything. So grateful for their kindness and generosity.


After that, we went to Mendocino for family camping.


One of the reasons I love family road trips is the fact it gives us chance to get into deep heart to heart conversations

and make wonderful memories.

more on our camping trip later now onto


Summer Bucket List Update

Our Favorite Carry On for International Flight

We fly back to Indonesia almost every year. The flight is long and expensive but we believe it's important for the kids and us to meet their grandparents and the rest of their extended family so we make it a priority.

After four round trips with kids I found these carry on to be my favorite. Less is definitely more! 
Each person carries one bag except me. I have an extra totes filled with breads and snacks in case the kids get hungry. The rest of our stuff goes to checked baggage.

What to bring on jury duty

I was called for jury duty last week. Despite the inconvenience, It was very interesting and educational experience. I was very impressed and grateful for our justice system, staff and judge who patiently explained the procedure and the case with us.

I wasn't prepare with what to bring or not to bring on my first visit so I thought I post this for future reference.

What to bring on jury duty:   

Food Photography: Before and After

I am in the process of moving all my food posts to our food website: Asian Family Recipes. The Food Photography: Before and After post can be found here.

Twelve Things I Would Tell My Newlywed Self

We don't have a perfect marriage, we are not perfect after all but by God's grace, we are standing side by side with more love, respect, understanding, appreciation, and passion for each other than we ever been after 12 years of marriages. Like a good wine, good marriage does get better with age.

Twelve Things I Would Tell My Newlywed Self:

1. Mind your expectation.  "Sometimes we get disillusioned because of our own unreasonable or unrealistic expectation. It may not be that our mates are doing something wrong; it's simply that we expect too much in some areas. Our expectation must be met in God alone, and then we will have the right perspective to ask God for the grace we need to respond to others." Nancy Leigh DeMoss

Each man has different strength and weaknesses. My husband maybe handy, can cook, and all, but he has weaknesses too. He is a perfectionist and for years I feel like I am not measured up to his standard. On the other hand, I maybe good at managing money, being creative, and so on, but I am also very good at procrastinating and being flexible with time, which drive him crazy.

Both of us are working on our weaknesses and as iron sharpen iron we are helping each other in to grow in our character. The sooner we accept the fact that there is no perfect person, the better off our relationship would be.

2. Be kind with my words. "A quarrelsome wife is as annoying as constant dripping on a rainy day". I didn't say that Solomon did. He also wrote "Better to live on a corner of the roof than share a house with a quarrelsome wife." Ouch.

Under the sea... under the sea....

Okay not really... it's under the pool but under the sea sounds much better; plus I got to sing while typing that. The weather has been around mid 90s this week so we're heading to the pool {our neighbor's pool actually} to cool off:

I love those floaties. They enable me to swim peacefully while the boys swim on their own. I made a mistake by buying cheapo ones, which result in continuous leaking. Chris then bought this puddle jumper style for Wes and the arm bands one for Max, which work great.