Beautiful Life

Beautiful things in life that inspire you to live and makes you feel fortunate

Mother I Owe my Success to You – Happy Mother’s Day!

May 13, 2012
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Mother I Owe my Success to You – Happy Mother’s Day!

This is a small tribute to my mother on occasion of mother’s day. The lady whom I recall spending entire day to look after us. She never worked to earn a living, she was a housewife, a home maker. Someone who loved to control everything home related and did so efficiently and passionately. She had the final say at every decision we took as family, be it choosing the next vacation destination or deciding if we needed new dresses. She maintained family budget and spending. She kept track of household inventory, she maintained supply needs. She prepared the grocery list. She was on top of everybody’s need, amazingly she knew our needs much before we realized them as our needs. My father is a lucky man to have him as wife. If he taught me the early lessons of investment and money. My mother taught me other human behaviors. My mother taught us how money can be saved by doing things yourself. She sew clothes because getting them ready made was costly. My father had to take care of his elderly parents, his brothers and sisters, along with us. He didn’t have enough money. She took it upon herself to finish things

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20 Tips To Be Productive And Happy At Work

March 19, 2012
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20 Tips To Be Productive And Happy At Work

Let me start with a disclaimer, I am not pretending that I am a guru of some sort who knows how to handle work pressure in any situation. I am writing this as I think this may help you if you are in similar situation as I once was. It was becoming difficult for me to increase productivity, I wasn’t able to concentrate and wasn’t producing results I wanted to produce. Then I made these small adjustments. It’s not that I practice all of them day-in and day-out, but I follow most of them every day. In a way this is similar to the other projects I mentioned before, how to be a better person in 15 ways and how to feel good and increase productivity. Believe me if you are happy with your work environment, you can get things done fairly quickly and feel more satisfied. Needless to say, you get noticed for your work and dedication. It is utmost important that you increase your money earning potential to take better care of your finances. Ultimately it’s your work that pays your bills. 20 tips to be productive at work 1. Cleanup and decorate you cubicle – A clean and uncluttered

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Be A Better Person in 15 Days, 15 Ways

February 24, 2012
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In January I did a little experiment with my life. I started doing one good thing a day to become a better person than I am now. Not that I hate who I am still, no harm in getting better. I did mention earlier that I am not a goal person. I don’t set goals. Earlier whenever I set goals i failed, multiple times and eventually I stopped setting goals. I find it perfectly well to not set a goal. Goals never made me do extra work (not that I am suggesting you not to set a goal). My boss requires one at work, so I reluctantly put some goals in. Since our year-end appraisal depends on fulfilling those goals, we do put in a lot of effort in to setting it. Although down the line, I tend to forget those goals and work only on making my current assignments successful. You might not agree with my goal-less approach, but believe me this works great for me when I am off pressure. I excel when pressure is not there and task is to make things better. My boss knows that very well, he’s a good manager and use me the way I

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How To Feel Good and Increase Productivity

December 22, 2011
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How To Feel Good and Increase Productivity

The purpose of our lives is to be happy. - Tenzin Gyatso, the 14th Dalai Lama I blog here at OCAAT not only to make myself and yourself monetarily richer. I also want you and I to feel richness in every aspect of our lives. An important part of this is emotional richness. Emotional richness is a state of mind when you feel happy about being you. It is a state when you love and cherish your existence. When I am happy, I finish a lot of tasks, I complete long pending assignments and I do my things faster. In other words my productivity increases when I am happy and I feel good. In every job you do, every work you do, your mind needs to be happy about it or you don’t get a joy out of your work. It’s very difficult to be always happy, at least I don’t know anyone who does that, I do believe that many a times we just don’t know  the exact reason behind our unhappiness. Sometimes it is just thinking about your sorrow that is enough to realize how silly the cause was. Whenever you are worried, feeling sad or depressed think about

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Never Cut Back On Things You Cherish For

November 4, 2011
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Never Cut Back On Things You Cherish For

This article is part of the yakezie blog swap event where bloggers swap articles with each other in order to reach out to new audience. This is good for readers as well, as they get to taste a different perspective on personal finance from a different writer. This article is written by Shanendoah at The Dog Ate My Wallet, a blog about managing your personal finances in a world full of easy excuses. If you wish, visit her blog to read my story. The truth is, there are probably a number of things I never go cheap on- things like tires or high end kitchen gadgets –things that I expect to last a number of years, and the reason I don’t go cheap is that the pricier items actually last longer than the cheaper ones, making them, in fact, cheaper in the long run. But I actually want to talk about something where there’s not a “cheaper in the long run” benefit, something that I honestly, always choose to pay more for, and it’s also something I buy on a regular basis, Tea. Now, tea is not a high end expensive item to begin with, and yet, I generally choose

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16 Ways to Show Your Wife You Care

October 17, 2011
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16 Ways to Show Your Wife You Care

Everyone needs pampering, and everyone likes to feel appreciated. After 7 years of marriage, every once in awhile I take my wife for granted (especially since I started blogging). I thought she accepted me putting numerous evening and weekend hours into blogging. Also, my frugal ways don’t really match with hers. We were raised in contrasting lifestyles – I never had plenty of things in my life, whereas she got whatever she wanted. We both know that marriage is a bond of love with mutual compromise keeping the bond intact. Lately I’ve doing my part of the compromising a little less. Although I have amended this in the last month, I still have so many things to catch up on compared to other husbands! I have read a few articles on relationships and marriage in preparation for writing this article. Here is what I learned – I hope the list will add spark to your life as well. Let me start by asking, do you know your wife/girlfriend’s birthday? 16 Tips to make your wife happy Don’t forget special occasions. I track important days with Birthday Alarm. I set it up some 10 years ago. Since then, the website has

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What Makes You Feel Rich And Wealthy?

September 20, 2011
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On my Google Analytics report, I see a few search terms that contain “how to become rich” in one form or another. Basically, they all go to these two posts: How to become rich by saving 1 hr of your daily wage and How to become rich, find time to be rich. I don’t know if those readers get the inherent message that, to become rich, we need to be disciplined and use our limited time effectively. There’s no shortcut, my friend. Unless you inherit a fortune by some means, the only way to become rich instantly is by stealing or gambling. What you can easily do instead is just feel that you are rich and wealthy, and always remember that ‘being wealthy’ or ‘rich’ is a relative measure. The money I have accumulated in just 6 years of living in America is enough for me to go back to India and live a happy retired life. I would be known as a rich man in my neighborhood. When I see myself around fellow Americans, I am a middle class non-homeowner. No one can say I am rich. If you ask me whether I feel rich? I would say ‘yes’,

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Make Saving A Fun, Be A Motivated Saver

September 12, 2011
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Make Saving A Fun, Be A Motivated Saver

We spend money in an attempt to gain happiness. Big vacations, dream homes, and happy kids make us happy. Then why do personal finance experts advise us to save money in order to feel happy? We can just spend money and buy happiness to remain happy always, can’t we? I know you will start counting the benefits of investing and making money grow. You will tell me that the same money can bring more happiness tomorrow (compared to today) if I let it grow and earn interest. Last evening my wife wanted to go watch a movie at the theater, and I, being frugal, tried convincing her how costly a theater ticket is as compared to overnight DVD rental. She asked me, “Why are you working so hard?” I said, “To earn more, and to have more money so we can have a better life.” Her: “When?” Me: “A few years from now.” Her: “Exactly how many?” Me: “I don’t know, but pretty soon. Let me save enough to have a home and blah blah blah…” (my usual wish list) Her: “Then, what exactly will we do with those things?” Me: “We will have a happy life and lots of

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Enrich Inner Soul, Enjoy Finer Things In Life And Feel Richer

August 11, 2011
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Enrich Inner Soul, Enjoy Finer Things In Life And Feel Richer

The motto of my blog is to get rich in four ways Monetarily, Emotionally, Spiritually and Socially. So far, most of the time, I have only written about getting richer monetarily. In this post I will describe the finer things in life which make you richer emotionally, and make you feel content and satisfied. When we meet other people, mostly we talk about these finer things which make us happy and we share these with others to make them happy. We don’t talk about how much money we have in bank or how much debt we paid off lately; and when we do, they are generally a serious discussion sans all the fun. It is essential to be truly rich that you do feel richness from your inner soul, otherwise, money alone can’t buy you lasting happiness.   When I experience these simple things in daily life, they bring a sense of fulfillment to my otherwise thirsty soul stuck in a competitive world. These are for free, and available every where, if you look for. Smell of soil after first drops of rain Seeing a droplet of water on grass Smelling morning coffee Smiling wife opening the door, when I return home from work Listening

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Enjoy Life, Save Money, Take Staycation

June 17, 2011
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Enjoy Life, Save Money, Take Staycation

Summer is here, but alas, for me there is no summer vacation. I do not have a child, my wife does not attend to school, summer vacation to us holds no extra excitement. It used to be one of the most cherished days during my school years. But that is 15 years back! During childhood, every summer vacation, I used to visit some distant relative’s place, or to some colder places to enjoy better climate for few days, along with my parents and elder brother. My home town was not exactly an ideal place to be in summer. Winter vacations were more fun-filled and full of activities, tours and rides. We used to go to hills, seas, Mountains and historical site seeing. We never really felt that money for vacation is a constraint, at least dad didn’t let us feel that way. We were never a big spender either, always stayed in budget hotels, and opted for cheaper meals, bought our stuffs after a lot of bargaining. My horizon has now expanded beyond my own family, I know there are people with a dozen of BMW’s and Mercedes’s, also there are people who has to take help of coupons to

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