PeterMollenburg Senior Member AustraliaRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 5482 days ago 821 posts - 1273 votes Speaks: English* Studies: FrenchB1
| Message 345 of 451 14 April 2015 at 12:07pm | IP Logged |
Jeffers wrote:
That does make it a lot clearer. I have also been in difficulties with a lot of credit card debt
so I can feel your pain. The company has no interest in you getting out of debt because you have become a
nice steady source of income, so it's up to you to do it. Well done taking the first step.
I do see one language related positive to your plan to work on and flip houses. When you are doing mindless
maintenance/improvement tasks (e.g. painting) you could listen to stuff in French. You might need to avoid
that when doing something noisy or more dangerous like electrical work!
Good luck with your research and your plans. |
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Thanks Jeffers. You're right, I have even thought of that one too (listening to French while working). This is a
long-winded project I must say, but the way I see it if I apply myself like I do French (set a certain amount of
time day in day out, surely I'm bound to get somewhere, and if not... I dunno... ). I'm still aiming to check out
that book you suggested... unlikely to purchase tho as you know I have tooo many French books, but
perhaps a time will come when it is relevant and is worthwhile. Oh and I just did the biggest rant in history
before deleting it and rewriting my reply (your comment on the banks set me off)... I thought i prob don't need
to rant so much. All in all I couldn't agree more.
Cheers,
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Jeffers Senior Member United Kingdom Joined 4915 days ago 2151 posts - 3960 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Hindi, Ancient Greek, French, Sanskrit, German
| Message 346 of 451 20 April 2015 at 12:07am | IP Logged |
Have you heard of Freakonomics? I had heard of it, but never read any of their stuff, listened to their podcasts, etc. A friend of mine was telling me about it on Friday, and mentioned that they have had a lot to say about housing (e.g. if you want to know when to buy or sell a house, find out when real estate agents buy or sell a house). I couldn't find exactly what he was talking about, but I found an excerpt from their book about things in an advert which are associated with higher and lower selling prices.
http://freakonomics.com/books/freakonomics/chapter-excerpts/ chapter-2/.
I hope you find this interesting and even useful.
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PeterMollenburg Senior Member AustraliaRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 5482 days ago 821 posts - 1273 votes Speaks: English* Studies: FrenchB1
| Message 347 of 451 20 April 2015 at 2:19am | IP Logged |
Jeffers wrote:
Have you heard of Freakonomics? I had heard of it, but never read any of their stuff,
listened to their podcasts, etc. A friend of mine was telling me about it on Friday, and mentioned that they
have had a lot to say about housing (e.g. if you want to know when to buy or sell a house, find out when real
estate agents buy or sell a house). I couldn't find exactly what he was talking about, but I found an excerpt
from their book about things in an advert which are associated with higher and lower selling prices.
http://freakonomics.com/books/freakonomics/chapter-excerpts/ chapter-2/.
I hope you find this interesting and even useful. |
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Thanks Jeffers,
For taking the time to share sth like this which illustrates you've considered my situation/goals- I honestly
appreciate that Jeffers. It certainly points out how important it is to pay attention to detail, read between the
lines, see through the marketing strategies and don't let yourself be fooled. Food for thought indeed. Cheers.
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Clarity Groupie United States Joined 3528 days ago 85 posts - 107 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Spanish
| Message 348 of 451 20 April 2015 at 3:01am | IP Logged |
Hi Peter. I just wanted to stop by and wish you the best of luck on flipping houses! My boyfriend unexpectedly lost his job during the recession and began remodeling a fixer upper that he bought. He absolutely loves it! I think he finds it a nice change from the office work he did before. I hope you have a similarly good experience with it.
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PeterMollenburg Senior Member AustraliaRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 5482 days ago 821 posts - 1273 votes Speaks: English* Studies: FrenchB1
| Message 349 of 451 20 April 2015 at 3:43am | IP Logged |
Clarity wrote:
Hi Peter. I just wanted to stop by and wish you the best of luck on flipping houses! My
boyfriend unexpectedly lost his job during the recession and began remodeling a fixer upper that he bought.
He absolutely loves it! I think he finds it a nice change from the office work he did before. I hope you have a
similarly good experience with it. |
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Thanks Clarity,
Nice of you to stop by and share your boyfriend's experience with 'flipping'. I have quite a bit of ironing out of
my daily routine before I get there, and although battling some person demons of late I'm positive I will (get
there).... little by little.
Quick update:
I couldn't handle limiting my French so much, so I resolved to once again aim for 3 hours a day of 'desk
study'. I've been alternating between courses (intensive- once again adding as many flashcards as I like) and
extensive sources (subtitles, reading mainly websites lately). I've resolved to focus on the 'financial' aspect
with whatever 'free time' I find I have left. Once again I don't know if this will 'work' but it's my current situation.
I've been once again battling 'sugar' issues, some procrastination and other health issues which I'm working
on.... this is adding to my busy schedule...
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Stelle Bilingual Triglot Senior Member Canada tobefluent.com Joined 4150 days ago 949 posts - 1686 votes Speaks: French*, English*, Spanish Studies: Tagalog
| Message 350 of 451 20 April 2015 at 3:51am | IP Logged |
We're also working our way out of debt.
Debt is like weight - it's easy to accumulate mindlessly, and it requires a lot of soul-searching and conscious effort
to commit to getting rid of it. I find small goals much more motivating than looking down the long road to get
where I want to be, both financially (financial independence that would allow me to work at a job with lower pay and
lower stress) and health-wise (40 pounds to lose...yikes!). So I'm just setting myself a series of smaller goals, and
celebrating each success.
Do you ever read reddit? I get a lot of inspiration from /personalfinance, /simpleliving, /financialindependence and
/frugal, among others.
Bonne chance! On est capable!
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PeterMollenburg Senior Member AustraliaRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 5482 days ago 821 posts - 1273 votes Speaks: English* Studies: FrenchB1
| Message 351 of 451 20 April 2015 at 7:48am | IP Logged |
Stelle wrote:
We're also working our way out of debt.
Debt is like weight - it's easy to accumulate mindlessly, and it requires a lot of soul-searching and conscious
effort
to commit to getting rid of it. I find small goals much more motivating than looking down the long road to get
where I want to be, both financially (financial independence that would allow me to work at a job with lower
pay and
lower stress) and health-wise (40 pounds to lose...yikes!). So I'm just setting myself a series of smaller goals,
and
celebrating each success.
Do you ever read reddit? I get a lot of inspiration from /personalfinance, /simpleliving, /financialindependence
and
/frugal, among others.
Bonne chance! On est capable! |
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Thanks for sharing Stelle. Yeah consist bite-sized chunks are much more inviting than fretting over the big
picture, which can render oneself overwhelmed (myself included). In terms of debt, we're getting there- the
situation has largely improved from 12 months ago, but still a way to go yet.
I've not used reddit before. On your reccommendation I've got it bookmarked for later reference. Thank you :)
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PeterMollenburg Senior Member AustraliaRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 5482 days ago 821 posts - 1273 votes Speaks: English* Studies: FrenchB1
| Message 352 of 451 22 April 2015 at 7:34am | IP Logged |
Things of late....
* I reintroduced flash cards (15minutes of reviews per intensive hour of study)
* I am now officially studying (and sticking with it too) every second hour instensive
study and every other hour extensive study.
* Intensive hour = 15min FC reviews + 45min Coursework in which i add EVERY new word
to my flashard deck (these intensive hours cater to my over analytical perfectionist
style)
* Courses predominantly in use and aiming for completion in near future:
Assimil NFWE 99eme lecon (really love this course, it's taking a loooong time to get
through it but i'm almost done with passive wave- 2nd wave will go much quicker as
passive hasn't been overly passive for me)
TY Get started in French (slower going than I thought as adding many new words to FC
deck)
All other courses I was working on will be reintroduced where I left off when I finish
the above courses.
* Extensive hour = no FC reviews but one full hour of an extensive activity in which i
add usually 1 (sometimes 2) new words to my FC deck, no more. This extensive activity
makes up for the extremely slow intensive work with my courses.
*Extensive materials- books, websites, subtitled English TV series
* Still battling sugar issues...
* Trying to get sleep back on track (seem to be very distracted by myself easily at
night reading and watching things late often in English unfortunately)
* Even though not doing quite as much French as my best months I'm very consistent
lately.
* Still working on trying to implement the financial changes... The above issues
(routine) needs to become smoother and well oiled for this to really take shape with
the extra time and energy I create
Edited by PeterMollenburg on 22 April 2015 at 7:36am
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