Could it be Because you are Rusty?

Sometime back i was asked to collect some data at work then analyze it. During that time i was given the task i didn't know how to go about the task. After i had gathered all the information i needed it was time to put it in summation and come up with figures that would help draw some inferences on. Previously, I had used excel but not in the magnitude that the work required me to be knowledgeable on. Lucky for me Google provided answers on various functions on excel to simplify my work. That was like a year ago. Today morning i needed to make a template to aid in data input and this proved a difficult task.

I had not used the functions on excel since the last task and with that become rusty. I needed a refresher course to make a good template. Functions that i had mastery on proved difficult to configure today. It was a frustrating exercise but i was finally able to see where i was going wrong after trying several times.

Which brings me to today's lesson for the day. In life there are things we learn and spend so much time on to get. However , the more we do not use the skills the more we become rusty. Talk of showing those we love how much we love them. If we don't remind ourselves how it is loving someone we shall become rusty in love. Even driving if we don't practice and remind ourselves how to drive our skills deteriorate.

Married people need to remind themselves how to love each other or their love will become rusty. In most areas if  we don't spend time reminding ourselves of how we acquired or learned the good, we shall become rusty and lose that which we acquired. Has your relationship become rusty because you stopped doing those fun things? Has your body become rusty because you stopped doing the things that revitalize you? Think about it.

Tricked into Pregnancy

I didn't want to get pregnant! That man made me pregnant then abandoned me. How could he do this to me? How heartless can he be to make me pregnant then not even take me in? She tricked me by getting pregnant. She just wanted me to marry her. All she was after was my money that is why even now she is demanding for the child's up keep. So who tricked who here?

Last time i checked , when a sperm meets an egg  it gets fertilized. This only means that any fertile being who willingly agrees to get intimate with a person of the opposite sex they should be ready to be parents. Yes every time you unzip your trousers and remove your undies be ready to be a parent. There is nothing like that lady tricked me and became pregnant. Or that man impregnated me and didn't care at all.

I know i will touch a raw nerve on a few people but that is the plain truth. If you are not ready to be a parent then you are not ready to have sex. Choices have consequences and if you decide to have sex be ready to be a parent. All these pregnancy preventive measures can fail that is what we all need to understand. The only sure way to not be a parent when you don't want to be a parent is zipping up and wearing your undies.

How about we all take the consequences of our pleasures in sex. Pay up that child support as a father. If you are eating you should spare some to feed your child. After all you did unzip your trouser. As a mother clean up after your child without complaining how you are too young to be a mother. Each time we give in into the pleasures of our body we should be ready for the consequences. So NO there is nothing like being tricked into pregnancy.

Thoughts of Expiration

Someone asked me this morning where i get my inspiration from. Sometime back if this question was posed to me , I don't think i would have had an answer. Lets just say i was just living; going about my duties just as life expected me to. Actually there was a timetable of what to do at a certain time. Someone somewhere used to make decisions for me.But you see as time passed the timetable was no longer there. There was no routine to follow as dictated by another. I grew up and started living on my own. So now an inspiration was needed.
 There have been times when I needed motivation. I tried to look at my mother so that she would motivate me. She did a good job but there would be times when I needed the inspiration but she too needed it and it wasn't possible for her to inspire me. I turned to my friends and you see the story was the same. I turned to my job but then that too didn't work for me.

So I called me, myself and I for a meeting to deliberate on life. As the three of us sat I realized that the only things that are constant in my life was myself and God. This meant if i was to remain inspired and not run out of inspiration I had to draw it on the only two constant things in my life; God and myself. We have friends but as hard as it is to accept they too have a life to live and may not be always there for us. So yes I made a decision to inspire myself. Each day I take it upon myself to think positively and ask God to guide me.

It sounds easy when said but believe me its not . There will be times when i feel so down needing some wise words to cheer me on and as hard as it is I make the decision to change my focus. I make a decision to choose and think right. The reason most of us walk expired instead of inspired is because we encourage thoughts that are expired within ourselves.

You will never get a good job, You are not smart, You are a failure, You are Alone , You are not good enough. How about you start inspiring yourself instead of taking yourself to expiry. Last i checked we never go to the supermarket to buy expired things. So Why should you continue to encourage expired thoughts?

Might you be having a small god?

We serve a jealous God!!

It's not until few minutes ago that i have come to really understand what this phrase truly means.Not once have I asked why its taking so long for some of my prayer items to be answered. There have been times when I have prayed for something and it was answered or prayed for someone and their prayer item was answered. However in my human nature i will wonder why this one thing is taking too long to answer.Well , today i know why...I serve a jealous God.

I have come to adore the prayer item and not adore God. Some of us adore being married . Each day they wake up they think of how life would be if they are married. Even in church instead of listening to the sermon you are busy admiring other people's families and wishing it was your own. Some adore their spouses that they feel helpless when s/he isn't around. Some adore cars; they feel that because they have one they are better than anyone else. Some will adore their bodies and feel their curvaceous or well built muscles make them better than others. Some adore getting a job and that is all they think about and trust will take them out of their misery. Some are adoring getting babies.But  you know what, we serve a jealous God.

That thing that you are constantly thinking about and think you need to be complete is drawing you further from God. You have made it into your small god. You have come to adore it. If we don't change and adore the only true God it will lead to our down fall. Its not that thing or person that you have or are asking to have that will give you peace and satisfaction. God is the only person that can give you peace and satisfaction. His word is the only thing you can carry all the days to encourage you. So my dear friends isn't it time we stopped making small gods of ourselves here on earth and instead trust in God for our peace and satisfaction? Don't allow the pleasures of the flesh or expectations of the society to turn you into their slave and pull you away from God. Think about it this evening.

A Neatly Spread Bed

You will agree with me that the neatness of the bedroom always depends on the bed. Just like the neatness of the sitting room and kitchen depend on the couch and cooker respectively. Each week provides an opportunity to freshen up my bed by spreading new clean sheets. The days have been ending with so many activities over the weekend and couldn't spread my bed till yesterday .

During the cold season the duvet and two blankets came in handy. Its now the hot season and i spread the bed making no alterations. When i finally retired to bed it was too hot covering myself as i did during the cold season. To enjoy my good night sleep i had to kick out one blanket and the duvet. Its a different season and i need to adjust with it or i will not enjoy my sleep.

Which brings me to today's lesson for the day. Change happens to each of us and seasons keep changing. We may wish to remain as we were but that only means we suffer the consequences of resisting change. There will be times when we will be required to move into new locations but we resist the move and suffer the consequences of remaining where we are. There will be times we will be required to meet new people and learn from them but we continue to push for the old click of people we are familiar with. Well the truth of the matter is seasons keep changing and we need to adjust accordingly so that we fit it.

What is this change that you need to make but you keep resisting for fear of unknown? What are these duvets and blankets you need to keep away because its a new season but you keep covering yourself with them hence not sleeping peaceful. Lets all remember change is never bad its resisting change that makes things unbearable. Lets all choose to have an open mind to embrace change this year.May God give us wisdom and courage to embrace change.

 

Emergency Account

A friend of mine recently secured a job in a local NGO and from the looks of it she is happy. She has tarmacked for long before getting a job and she has every right to enjoy her money right now. Like many people she has decided to start living on her own and therefore has bills to pay. So i asked her one of those questions that are hard to answer.If you were to lose your job today would you be able to pay your bills the next three months without borrowing and her answer was No. Hence the reason for this article today.

A lot of us when we get jobs we become comfortable. We forget that we are under another person's authority and they can decide they no longer require our services and we have no choice but leave. Some employers take time to process our final dues while others don't give us money for the years of service we have offered them. Hence the reason for an emergency account.

An emergency account is an account that one can fall back on  in-case of an emergency and hence not incur unplanned debts. This money should be highly liquid, that is easily accessible. It should be an equivalent of your three months pay to ensure you are at a safer position. Below are key points to having one:

• Start by knowing the amount that totals up to your three months pay
• Draw up your budget and set aside some money each month to accumulate into the target amount
• Define your emergencies so that you don't misuse your account
• Open a separate account from your normal account. Preferably open a savings account.
• Once you attain your target  think of a way in which you could invest and increase your money. Remember as years go on so does the cost of living  so you need to be prepared

As a family the same thing should be done. A couple need to sit and plan for their expenses and start saving towards it. To ensure discipline let it be a joint account so that there is discipline and agreements on when to use the money. As a couple define your emergencies. The account will go a long way to ensure that should one of you lose their job the house hold expenses are still met with ease.


How about you begin the year with this great decision of opening an emergency account. Remember its never change that is bad its resisting change that makes things uncomfortable for you. And a journey to complete a million mile walk starts with a single step. Now is the best time to start one if you have none. All the best.

 

Without a Connector ; All Useless

Today morning for some reason i wanted to sleep more. I had picked what to wear halfway so i wasn't sure which handbag to carry. When i finally decided on the top it warranted me to pick out a different handbag. Hence had to transfer all my stuff into the handbag i was carrying.The office can get boring so i normally carry my hard drive to listen to some music as i do my duties. When i got to work upon taking out the hard drive i realized the cable to connect it to the lap top was missing. I must have dropped it without noticing when transferring my items. So in as much i have all the music stored up in the hard drive its all useless without the connection.

Looking at it in our daily life we all need a connection. Where is your connector ? Do you know your connector? Who can help you find it?Some of us have stored up so much talent but they lack a connection so the talent is all useless as its not being put into use. As a country we have so much wealth but we lack the connection to dig out the wealth. We have all been blessed in many ways but need to find the right connection to be able to use our blessings for the benefit of all.

This first Thursday of the year i pray that we all find the right connection that we may bring out our gifts and talents. I pray that our leaders may enter into the right connections for our country this year. Ask God to give you your connection that His purpose over your life may come forth.
Happy New year to us all

Get Out of Debts This Year

Debts are ok to have but on the other hand they can be a nightmare. If you have asked your friend to lend you money and not repaid on the date agreed you are not credit worthy. If you don’t know the total amount of debts you owe you are heading in the wrong direction. If you have lost friends because you owed them money and failed to pay you are not credit worthy. If you no longer answer strange numbers because your creditors could be calling you are not credit worthy. If the landlord has kicked you out more than one time because of unpaid rent you are not credit worthy.

The fact of the matter is at a certain point in our lives we will have creditors and it’s not unusual to have them. However when your liabilities exceed your income then you know you have a debt problem and you need to sit down and make an exit plan of your bad debts. 

Here are the basic steps to get out of debts

•     List all the debts you have so that they sum up to the actual figure.

•  Classify them in order of priority; list in order of urgency.

•  After they are in order of priority start clearing the least debt to the highest. This will motivate you to see you can get off debt.

•   Draw up your budget to ensure all essential needs are met first; food, shelter, transport to work... In your budget cut down on luxuries as they can be used to offset the debts.

•  From your assured monthly income have a stated amount to offset the debt.

•   Talk to your creditors and commit yourself to clearing the debt little by little till it’s cleared

•   To ensure discipline you can agree on fines if amount stated isn’t paid without notice. This instills discipline

•  Plan a reward for yourself once you get off a debt. Keeps you motivated.

Above all remember a journey to a million miles begins with the first step. Just as you have over the years accumulated debts, you can over the years get out of debts. Many have done it and I want to believe you can too. In all you do don’t forget to ask God to guide your steps. If you have a family it’s important that you involve them in this exit plan so that they understand why certain luxuries will have to be forgone.

If it’s possible for you to pay off all your creditors and remain with one the easier it will be. However ensure that the creditor you chose to remain with doesn’t charge you higher interest than which you would have paid had you paid creditors individually. What I am saying is if there is a place one can borrow money that is more flexible in terms of payment plans go for it. For example a family account; one can borrow money from the family pay off all their creditors and remain paying back into the family account. Caution should be exercised on this one too so that one doesn’t become too lenient in clearing the debt as family should never lose their trust in you due to money as it can have dire consequences.

This year is the year to instil financial discipline. It is possible to live within your means.

Live Within your Means This year.

The new year is here with us!!!!!!!!
What a perfect time to make a fresh start. At the beginning of year comes resolutions and goals. It is advised to make goals that are attainable to avoid frustrations. Well have you ever wondered why its not yet end month and you have no money left in your account.? If you lost your job today, would you survive the next three months to your next pay day? Are you the kind that borrows money when an emergency arises? Are you so much in debt and badly need to get off debt?

Well i don't know if you answered yes to any of the above questions but i do know each one of us needs to live within their means. I also do know that none of us likes to be in debts and we all want to be able to pay our bills comfortably. I also do know that we all need an Emergency account whose value you should strive to make it 3times your current pay. An emergency account ensures that should you lose your job you can survive 3 months on your own through your savings. The Emergency money should be in liquid form to ensure one can take care of the emergency.

An emergency could be an accident and you have to pay excess so that the insurance can pay up the rest. An emergency could be sudden hospital admission. However buying clothes is not an emergency neither is paying entertainment like DSTV. Define what an emergency is to you right from the day you begin to budget. All that i am saying is its important to save part of your income and the only way one can save their income is through knowing their expenses and planning for it. In as much as i said an emergency account should be three times your current income one needs to know that they have to have a beginning . Its through saving a certain amount every month that one arrives at the said target. Let me break it down in a simple arithmentic

This is how one can budget:

• Tithe 10%
• Rent plus Transport 40%
• Shopping 30%
• Savings 10%
• Miscellaneous 10%

The above is standard but depending on the size of the family one will realize that when it comes to shopping and Miscellaneous one can actually be in a position to save more than the stated 10%. When it comes to Rent ensure that the location where you choose the rent and transport doesn't go beyond 40% of your income. As for Tithe whether you take the whole 10% to church or give it to the needy is all up to you. Miscellaneous could be weddings, burials, outings you decide. Under shopping note your phone allowance is in that category.

If you start the year with such a plan and instill discipline in yourself. Believe me by the end of the year you will have disciplined yourself. There may be things i didn't consider like House helps salary but I believe the above provides a basic standard for each one of us to abide in.

 Above all commit all your new year plans and resolutions to God because in as much as we plan its God who executes . I will be glad to hear on any views you may have in regards to savings. There will be more on attaining financial freedom and advice on finances. So keep it locked to this blog.