I don’t often write reviews of ebooks, but a handful of them have come out in the last couple weeks that I just can’t ignore — I really think they’ll be of interest to Zen Habits readers who are interested in getting out of debt, in minimalism, or in reducing dependence on cars.

The first is a project I’m involved in: Unautomate Your Finances. An ebook by Baker of ManvsDebt, it teaches you to curb your impulse spending and become more conscious of your financial habits, so you can stop living paycheck-to-paycheck and take control of your money. I wrote a forward to the ebook and there’s a video interview with me on these topics that comes with the book. Buy it here: Unautomate Your Finances.

A quick note: the links to the ebooks in this post are affiliate links, which means that while I’d fully recommend them without compensation, if you do buy a copy you’re helping to support Zen Habits.

Some other awesome ebooks I think you’ll be interested in:

• Simplify: focuses on 7 guiding principles used by the family of four who share their journey at the excellent blog, Becoming Minimalist. Must-read.
• Simply Car-free: wonderful ebook by Tammy of Rowdy Kittens (another awesome simplicity blog) that explores the whys and hows of becoming car-free. Very practical guide that’s been useful to me as my family and I move towards a car-free lifestyle (will be fully car-free when we move to S.F. in June).
• Project M-31: Simplify Your Life in 30 Days: excellent step-by-step approach by Dave of The Minimalist Path that will target one area of your life per day for 30 days. Makes a major change manageable.
• The Art of Being Minimalist: book by Everett Bogue, great advice on becoming a minimalist.

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Haiti Relief Donation
I’m also happy to report back to all of you that my fund-raising effort for the Haiti disaster relief was successful, thanks to all of you! As I said near the end of January, 100% of Zen Habits ebook sales for 30 days would be donated to Doctors Without Borders. Last week, I was happy to make a donation of $6,100 from those ebook sales.

So thank you, all of you, for your generosity!

If you’d still like to buy a Zen Habits ebook to support this site, you can do so:

1. Zen To Done.
2. The Simple Guide to a Minimalist Life.
3. The Zen Habits Handbook for Life.

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Zen Habits blog skin, plus a video
Finally, a couple things of potential interest to bloggers:

1. Zen Habits skin. If you buy the Frugal theme for Wordpress, or if you already own it, you can get the Zen Habits skin for Frugal. The skin is free, and it’ll make your blog look pretty much like this one, if that’s of interest.

2. Video interview with Leo: Making a living online. Eric Hamm, developer of Frugal and blogger at Motivate Thyself, did a video interview with me on making a living online. I don’t give you any get-rich-quick answers, but it’s a little insight into what has worked for me.

Needless to say I was soaked. Traffic accidents on I-95 extended my cold, shivering wait in the car to two hours.  After spending 20 minutes in the gym locker at work with a hair dryer on me, I felt more or less OK.  Then…. bam.  About 24 hours later, I felt sick.  I visited the urgent care clinic and got some help.  24 hours later, with my blood pressure soaring, severe sinus pain and serious weakness, I was off to the doctor.  I had to get a CAT scan to rule out a stroke, but apparently it was just my body’s reaction to the infection.  My blood pressure’s been normal for 7-8 years, and was just checked about 3 weeks ago so the surge was weird, and made the doctor double-check with the CAT scan.  Not a fun experience.  On the bright side, with some antibiotics and a brief course of blood pressure medicine I’m back to feeling more or less normal today (120 over 70 type blood pressure, and sinus pressure greatly reduced).

Too much information?

Well, just wait til you see the boatload of links I’ve got:

• Running Up Debt:  Never having been in debt other than mortgage debt in my life, I’m always slightly fascinated by other people’s stories of debt spiraling out of control.
• Are Over Half of Workers Really Dissatisfied with Their Jobs?:  Doesn’t surprise me, simply because most of us believe our job should pay a bit more, the boss should be a bit nicer or the guy in the next cubicle shouldn’t tap his pen all day long.
• Do Something You Love, Before You Have To Do Something For Money:  Amen – which is why you should go to an inexpensive college, preferably public, and get out of school without needing to go to work immediately to pay off $80,000 in student loans (or more).
• Crock Pot BBQ Pulled Pork Recipe for Under $15 – Easy and Frugal:  We just got a Crock Pot (actually the exact same one Jeremy has in this post) so I’m going to have to give this a shot.  Nothing like pork for healthy eating!
• To Succeed Financially, You Must Know Yourself and Know Thy (Financial) Self:  Closely related articles, and both worth considering:  you need to understand yourself before you attempt to change yourself.
• What Happened to Patrick? A Few Thoughts About Blogging Anonymously:  I’ve written about my struggle with anonymity before, and Ryan (who is the “real Patrick”) over at Cash Money Life finally gave up on anonymity, giving out his full name right there on the blog.  Not a bad idea.  You can find my real name without much trouble, but I still haven’t just slapped it up on the blog.  Patrick Ryan’s probably right – anonymity won’t do much for furthering your online “brand.”
• The Curse Of Making Too Much Money And Not Pursuing Your Dreams: I sympathize with Lyndon in this post. I make enough money that dropping my current lucrative career seems insane, even to follow my dreams (which aren’t that firmly defined, but that’s a separate question).

Some more good reads, but now I’ve run out of steam to comment…

• Overtime Exempt Employee vs Non-Exempt Employee
• The Key To Living Frugally
• Unemployed Tax Deductions Provide Tax Relief
• Best Gasoline For Your Car Engine? Not Always Premium Gas
• How To Get Health Insurance When You are Self Employed
• Happiness, experience, and memory – Daniel Kahneman’s TED lecture

americas-richest-counties: Personal Finance News from Yahoo! Finance: And finally, a nice little bonus read on a statistic that always kills me. “Highest income” is a radically different concept from “richest.” I had a high income in New Jersey, but my expenses were proportionately higher. If you want to get a true look at “richest” you’d have to incorporate some sort of cost-of-living metric.

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linklings, sneezing leads to a CAT scan edition is an original article from the website brip blap.

The low carb versus low fat battle has raged for a while now, and it would seem that the low fat guys have something of an edge.

A study recently published in the Annals of internal Medicine found after 3 years of research, that while low carb diets may lead to quicker weight loss; low fat diets were better for keeping the weight off. Over three years, researchers observed the subjects of their weight loss program and those that were on a low fat diet were seen to have sustained twice the long term weight loss when compared to the dieters who were on a low carb diet.

Of course this is not to say that this is the Holy Grail when it comes to weight loss or that this is likely to apply to each individual. This is a general guideline that people would do well to follow. However, many may find that not a low fat diet but a low carb diet may work for them. What is important is to see what really works for a particular person and work with that.

Source: The Examiner

Bad hygiene, wherein link, dead skin or other debris getting caught can be the reason for the odor.

Then again it could be caused by obesity, wherein, there are folds of skin at the bellybutton and the area does not get enough fresh air.

The belly button is a dark and warm place and could also be moist, which is an ideal breeding ground for a number of fungal infections. And infection or an abscess could be because wherein the multiplication of bacteria can give off an offensive odor.

A yeast infection in the belly button could also be the cause of a bad smell. There could be itching in the area and vigorous scratching could well cause some bleeding in the area.

What however may be worrisome is if there is a discharge from the navel due to a urachal cyst or a previous surgery such as Patent urachus. This is a rare but potentially problematic condition, which would typically require surgery.

Awhile back I (a bit ironically perhaps) tweeted this message:

Consider what you give your attention to each day. It’s a precious resource, & determines the shape of your life.

This seemed to strike a chord with many people, who I think are feeling overwhelmed these days. Our attention is being pulled in too many directions, leaving us feeling overloaded, distracted, chaotic, spread thinly, without focus.

There are a million blogs, people, services, media, competing for our attention. Our attention is limited, and valuable, making it one of the most precious resources we have.

The world wants that attention. Only you can decide where it goes.

And it does determine the shape of your life: what you pay attention to becomes your reality. If you watch and read the news all the time, you will become obsessed with the latest crises. If you watch and read about celebrities, your life will revolve around them. If you socialize on social networks all day long, this will become your world.

If instead, you choose to give your attention to work you’re passionate about, that you feel is important, that will change your life and the world in some small way … this will become your life.

If you choose to give your attention to your friends, family and other loved ones — really give your attention to them instead of only half-heartedly while also checking text messages and emails and other updates — your life will be rich in many ways.

And so I urge you to reclaim your attention.

Here’s how:

1. Limit your friends. Not real-life friends, but social network and blogging and forum friends. Not that these can’t be good relationships, but having too many makes them meaningless. And each friend will take up a little bit of your attention — when you read their updates, click on their links, reply to their messages, look at their photos, and so on. The more you have, the more attention they’ll require. Limit them to just the essential.
2. Limit your feeds. Blog subscriptions, newsletters, other updates and news subscriptions and so on. Limit them to a handful of essentials, and let the rest go. The more you have, the more attention they require.
3. Limit your communication time. Going into your email inbox? Just give yourself 10 minutes to read, reply, delete, and get out. Going to do Twitter? Give yourself 5 minutes. Seriously, set up a timer. Don’t let these things take up all your attention.
4. Give up on news. It’s a never-ending cycle. And if you’ve paid attention to the news as long as I have (I’m a former journalist), you know it’s all the same, year after year. Unless your job depends on it, the news is usually a waste of your attention. Let go of the need to stay updated. Even if your job does depend on it, keep it limited.
5. Be brief. Write brief emails, tweets, updates, blog posts. With some exceptions, of course. But make brief your de facto. Read more.
6. Give your attention to the important. This is the crucial part: choose what you give your attention to, and do this choosing carefully. What is important to you? Writing? Photography? Design? Coding? Creating a new business that helps others? Your kids? Figure this out, and give this the majority of your attention.
7. Become conscious of your distractions. Once you’ve decided to focus your attention on the important, become more aware of distractions as they come up. Make note of them, and as you get the urge to be distracted, learn to pause, breathe, and return to the important.
8. Surround yourself with the positive. If you want your life to be positive, let the positive have your attention. This applies to blogs, people, projects, and more.

For more, read my new book, focus: a simplicity manifesto in the age of distraction.

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The most common kinds of hernia are those of the abdomen, followed by those of the spinal discs and sciatica.

There are different kinds of hernia, which have different causes and indications:

Inguinal Hernia: This is the commonest kind of hernia (an estimated 70% of abdominal hernias may be of this type).

Usually this kind of hernia happens when a portion of the intestine protrudes through the abdominal wall. This could be because of muscle weakness or a tear. This forms a noticeable and painful out-pouching.

Sometimes, the cause is congenital, in which case the hernia could occur in babyhood. Other causes include old age, obesity or pregnancy.

Inguinal hernias can also occur due to strenuous activities such as heavy lifting, or due to chronic conditions such as constipation, repeated episodes of sneezing and coughing (as observed in the case of smokers). Obesity also could cause this kind of hernia.

Hiatal Hernia: This kind of hernia involves the diaphragm, the stomach and the chest cavity. Here, the stomach pushes up and into the chest cavity through the opening in the diaphragm.

While the underlying causes are not fully understood, these hernias are thought to be caused due to an injury in the area or perhaps a congenital defect that created a larger than normal hiatal opening or weak or defective muscles in the area.

Extreme pressure on the abdomen could also cause this kind of herniation as also other activities that create pressure such as heavy lifting, constipation, chronic vomiting or coughing. Pregnancy could also be a cause.

Incisional Hernia: This kind of hernia occurs when there is a surgical wound that has not healed properly. These hernias are usually very difficult to treat.

Umbilical Hernia: This kind of hernia occurs due to a weak area of the wall of the abdomen which causes the umbilical cord to protrude.

Usually this kind of hernia is seen in babies; however adults can have it too and is usually caused by a congenital defect.

Other causes include extra fluid in the abdominal area, obesity, multiple pregnancies and other pressure such as lifting, coughing etc.

According to a report, environmentalists have filed a suit contending that fish oil may not be so good for us after all.

The claim is that the PCBs and other toxins contain in fish oil supplements and that consumers are unaware of this. The consumers should be made aware of these contaminants contained in the fish oil.

The fish absorb environmental toxins and chemicals, and those same chemicals are extracted into the fish oil which is then sold as a health supplement. Since the supplement seeks to offer in concentrated form, the goodness of Omega 3 contained in fish oil, the toxins are also being concentrated, the plaintiffs are alleging.

The defendants claim that their product meets are industry standards and regulations and labeling meets the requirements of the law.

It does make sense to place some credence in what the plaintiffs say; we are often made aware of the possible dangers of having farmed fish; pregnant women are advised to eschew certain kinds because of their mercury content. So it is not unreasonable to look more closely at fish supplements; particularly if they claim to be good for you and they may actually not be so!

Source: myfoxdc

Here’s a financial lesson for anyone who participates in online social media of any sort. It’s a cautionary tale about online privacy; not the stalker-type issues that most people are worried about; instead, it’s about how you have to be careful to reveal too much online about business dealings.  I was catching up with some relatives who sold their house a couple of months ago, and they told me an amusing story that showed how they “made money” using Facebook…on their home sale.

My cousin Stan and his wife Elaine listed their house about six months ago. They had remodeled it and priced it to sell in a market that had been hit very hard by the collapse in real estate prices.  Fortunately, they weren’t in any hurry to sell; the mortgage was paid off, they were already living in their new empty-nest retirement digs, and the old house had no association fees and only minimal costs (low property taxes, some minimal lighting and heat for the winter, etc.)

They finally received a good but not great offer, accompanied by the earnest money check. No issues came up, and the usual back and forth of the negotiating process went on.  Stan and Elaine are older than I am but (like me, I guess) have stayed right on top of “the internets.”  After they received the check – with the prospective buyers’ names and address on it – it took Elaine about 5 minutes to find the buyer on Facebook.  She was simply curious whether they were serious buyers or not.

What did she find? Posts on their Facebook wall about how they had found their dream home.  How they would pay anything to get it.  Links to pictures – gushing comments from their friends and family.  In short, drool splattered (electronically) all over Facebook.  The buyers were even inviting all of their friends over for a big party the weekend after closing.  Elaine found all of this – before the final price had even been agreed on!

As you can imagine, this gave Stan and Elaine (a) confidence that the sale would go through but also (b) a gargantuan advantage in the ongoing negotiations.  Instead of being tentative and worrying about offending the (still potential) buyers, they were able to become far more resolute about refusing any concessions, changes in the contract or even agreeing to make changes based on (relatively minor) inspection issues.  They didn’t become jerks about it, but they realized that they had an advantage over the buyers.  That advantage translated into a financial gain when they were able to push back on every change not in their favor.  Presumably the buyers never knew about Elaine’s visit to their Facebook page – maybe they assumed she was “too old” to be on Facebook – but more likely they simply never thought of Facebook being used that way.  Maybe they just assumed Stan and Elaine were tough negotiators.

Of course, a similar situation can arise outside of social media – I once made the mistake of being a little bit too complimentary while viewing a home with owners present – Bubelah’s done it, too. But we knew they knew in that situation.  Maybe someone more Facebook-savvy than me could tell me that there are ways of monitoring who views your wall/profile/whatever.  I’m not sure I’d trust that, though, because a more tech-savvy person always lurks around the corner, who can hide themselves from that monitoring, and on and on ad infinitum.

Keep your mouth shut online while the deal is ongoing. I can’t think of any reason that blabbing about potential deals online can help you.  From the other party finding out and being annoyed (prices being revealed, locations being outed) to simple financial loss, how can you benefit?  I am not a social media junkie, but I keep a low-key presence on Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn (as well as two forums, 48days.net and a blogging forum).  I have learned from Stan and Elaine’s amusing recollections of their home sale that it never hurts to assume that every single person on the planet may be reading your posts/tweets/wall messages, no matter how unlikely you might think that could be, and even the most harmless comments can have effects you couldn’t predict.

photo by kaibara87

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how to make money on Facebook is an original article from the website brip blap.

You probably don’t need me to tell you that there’s a global recession at the moment. People all over the world are feeling the pinch and the travel industry is suffering because we all have less money to spend these days on luxuries like travel.

But not being able to afford it doesn’t stop people from wanting to travel. Apart from general happiness, I think dreaming of travel, visiting new places and seeing new things is probably one of the most universal life goals.

Travel is also one of the most popular search engine terms and the more we see of the world on TV and read about in books, or on the Internet, the more we want to explore planet earth ourselves.

Yet although many of us want to travel more we don’t. There are so many excuses for not traveling: the expense, the kids and the job are all commonly used to explain to ourselves why we can’t travel right now.

But what’s the point in deferring your dreams? To me you should be able to follow your dreams even if you do have limited funds, a growing family and a demanding career. All you need to do is change your mindset, make travel one of your top priorities and get on with it. These are my ideas on 10 ways you can travel more with less.

1. Start Local. First try changing your mindset. The purpose of travel is to see new things and experience new cultures. Many people think that in order to see things they’ve never seen before they need to travel far afield but that’s not true. Find out more about your local area. Anywhere within a two or three hour drive should be fair game for a weekend trip. If you’ve got longer you can extend your range further.

First head to your local library or get on the Internet for ideas of things to see and do close to home. There are probably some walks, caves, rivers, lakes, forests or waterfalls that you’ve never visited before but have always wanted to. Pick one and make sure you check it out as soon as possible.

When I lived on the beautiful Waiheke Island in New Zealand I was amazed by the number of Aucklanders who, on hearing where I lived, would wistfully say:

“What’s it like? I’d love to visit some time.”

But Waiheke is only a 35 minute ferry ride from downtown Auckland so I couldn’t understand why they didn’t just jump on the ferry and check it our for themselves.

2. Accommodation. Think outside the box. For me, travel isn’t about staying in boutique hotels or luxury spas. Travel is about getting out of your comfort zone and experiencing things you’ve never tried before.

Cheap sleeps include camping and house swapping. If you want to try camping ask around and see if you can borrow some camping gear. As soon as you do you’ll be amazed at the number of people who have all the camping equipment but hardly ever use it. For a couple of nights all you really need is a tent, bedding, an icebox and a small stove so you can cook pasta or risotto. Or forget the cooking part and just grab a take away.

If you don’t want to camp organize a house swap with friends or through out of town friends. Find someone in an area you’d like to visit and swap away. The added bonus of this is that it will motivate you to clean out your house.

3. Food. Who needs fancy restaurants? Even eating out at fast food joints will eat into your precious travel budget. With a little advance planning and some basic equipment you can feed yourself twice a day for a minimal cost. Here’s how.

Take a couple of plastic plates, bowls and beakers with you and buy a picnic knife that comes with a cover so it won’t pierce a hole in your bag. For breakfast pick up some local seasonal fruit, yogurt and muesli bars. One of the healthiest breakfasts is a thin layer of peanut butter on bread and you can’t get easier than that. Just buy a plastic jar of peanut butter to carry round with you and pick up bread, chapati, tacos or rolls fresh.

For lunch fresh bread, tomatoes and cheese or ham are simple, nutritious food. Eating outside is a real pleasure and you’ll have more time to explore because you won’t be stuck inside or limited to places with restaurants. If you’re staying in a hotel ask if they can include breakfast at no extra charge.

When it comes to the evening meal watch where the locals eat, don’t head straight to the touristy restaurants. Street food can be excellent and extremely cheap too. I ate lots of street food from stalls in India and never got sick once. In fact, I may be the only person in the entire universe who went to India for three months and put on weight. My secret is to pick stalls that are poplar with the locals, watch what they order and get the same.

4. Sight-Seeing. There’s a lot of store set by seeing the big sights, like visiting Disneyland, going up the Eiffel Tower or touring the Sydney Opera House. But these things tend to be expensive. They’re big ticket items so limit yourself to one at the most per trip.

Some of the best things have no entry charge and there are plenty of lesser known attractions which may be free or low cost like hanging out at Venice Beach in Los Angeles, visiting Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris or browsing the Paddington markets in Sydney. All fun, interesting and easy on the budget too. You get the idea, no matter where you’re going don’t feel you have to spend big on the main tourist attractions. That’s all they are, you can learn more by hanging out with the locals.

5. Relax. This is my top tip. Too often a vacation or travel becomes a check list of things to do. Promise yourself that you’ll stop trying to tick things off just for the sake of it.

For example, f you do make it to Paris then visiting the tourist attractions needn’t be your top priority. You won’t see many French people paying to climb the Eiffel Tower. They’re all sitting in the cafes having a short black coffee (the cheapest option) and people watching. Or you can join them wandering free of charge around the parks, visiting the local markets and walking along and over the bridges of the River Seine.

You may not be heading to Paris this trip but you get the idea. Just travel to get to your destination and then be. Stop rushing, relax, enjoy and see what happens. Travel is all about getting rid of your agenda and going with the flow, allowing a little spontaneity into your life.

That’s it! Don’t delay. Get your calendar out and write in when you’re going away for the weekend. My next trip is to the hinterland which features waterfalls and bush walks and is only about a ninety minute drive from my house. Definitely not something you’d want to do for a day trip with 3 young kids in the car so I think we’ll pack the tent, relax and make a weekend of it.

Happy travels everyone!

Read more from Annabel Candy at her blog, Get In the Hot Spot, a virtual treasure trove of inspiration, information & idiosyncrasies for people who want to live their dream. Or subscribe to her free feed to keep yourself posted on the latest articles.
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If you liked this guide, please bookmark it on Delicious or share on Twitter. Thanks, my friends.

Also see Leo’s related ebooks:

1. Zen To Done.
2. The Simple Guide to a Minimalist Life.
3. The Zen Habits Handbook for Life.
4. Essential Motivation Handbook.

Once you have an understanding of your own mortality, you either try to ignore it or you think about ways to avoid it. Ignoring it is easy for most people; the drone of American Idol or the smell of another Big Mac are probably all defense mechanisms against awareness of the end.  Avoiding it is tougher, although the most popular solution (reproduction) is easy for most people.  Feeling that part of you will live on in your descendants is a good defense against that self-knowledge.  I found it was an oddly comforting thing which I didn’t expect when having children.  That feeling intensified as I started passing down stories about my deceased relatives to my kids; you’re almost performing some sort of Matrix-like implantation of memories into the next generation.  The memories will fade away generation by generation, but the increasing ease of creating near-permanent media (pictures, videos and so on) provide the cues to spark those memories.

Setting the question of whether children satisfy the desire for pseudo-immortality, you have to turn and look at Stonehenge. Some people got together a long time ago and said “let’s build something.”  We don’t know exactly why, although it was probably some sort of place of worship or sacrifice or celebration.  But we do know someone built it, and in a way the builders put some small part of themselves into that structure which is still sitting there.

Not everyone will build Stonehenge or paint the Mona Lisa. Not everyone will even go to the effort to trace their family tree more than 100 years into the past.  Many people won’t care, and retreat to ignorance.  Many people will care, and cling to their children as proof ‘they’ will live on forever.  Many people will turn to religion and the promise of an afterlife, but even if true it will still be a different life from the life they know.  The happiest people, I think, will build.

Most of us are terrible at building our Stonehenge. I have not created anything of much permanence yet in this life.  I have not built anything, or written anything of any significance, or started anything I expect to last much past my time here.    I suppose I could prepay hosting fees to Godaddy.com for the next 100 years and hope they stay in business and bripblap.com would be here for a while.  But I haven’t started a company, or written music or a novel.

And this is why I try to remind myself to focus on creativity. It’s easy to get up, go to work, eat a sandwich, come home, watch TV and go to sleep.  I’ve been doing more of that than I should, recently.  Doing nothing is a comforting white noise masking the lack of creation in day-to-day life.  Small changes can make a difference.  Even planting a few seeds will make you feel better than your favorite TV show.  Stonehenge wasn’t built in day; the builders must have missed entire seasons of “Druid Idol.”  But we know they were here.  How will people know you were here?

photo by SKI tripper

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stonehenge is an original article from the website brip blap.