Comments on: Reader Mailbag: Notes and Some Questions on the “Getting Things Done” Series

By: Leszek Cyfer

Leszek Cyfer — Tue, 10 Aug 2010 07:30:36 +0000

“Do you have the energy to go to the gym? If you do, I’d go to the gym. If you don’t, I’d go home and do household chores.”

I’d do exactly opposite – it’s amazing how wrecked, tired person go enters the gym, and exits vibrant and full of energy.

Your frustrations, worries etc. get washed off with a good workout

By: Katie

Katie — Tue, 13 Jul 2010 22:26:19 +0000

I think the GTD series is the best thing you’ve ever put on The Simple Dollar. I haven’t read everything on the site, but I have read a lot (email subscriber for 2 years, read a few archive entries a week from the selection in the Time Machine).

I haven’t inplemented the whole series yet, so I haven’t commented to say how its going. But I think the post is the best thing you’ve done.

By: Heather

Heather — Tue, 13 Jul 2010 19:07:57 +0000

I have read and reread the GTD posts. They are very helpful but I need time to try out the advice before commenting. Unlike other posts where I can weigh in right away. Thanks so much for these posts!

By: Courtney

Courtney — Tue, 13 Jul 2010 18:38:14 +0000

I don’t think the turnaround time is necessarily a bad thing, just something to be aware of – especially when you are trying to please both kids and adults. That means only one group gets an age-appropriate DVD at a time, so if you decide to alternate turns you’re actually going a week between watchable discs.

By: Jackie

Jackie — Tue, 13 Jul 2010 16:45:26 +0000

When I had netflix, the 2 day turn around didn’t bother me at all. I don’t want to watch movies or TV every single day, nor could I find the time if I wanted to.

By: sewingirl

sewingirl — Tue, 13 Jul 2010 11:49:13 +0000

I think Ellen should RUN, not walk away from getting serious about this guy, however….I think that you missed a good point her question kind of danced around. The part about him having to get a pretty good paying job because he would have to start paying on the student loans. This happened to my daughter. She finished her degree, and is job hunting big time, because her student loan monthly payments are more than a minimum wage job will pay, and have anything left over for living expenses. She got a deferral on part of them, but that won’t last forever. She moved back home, and her two room mates lost the apartment because they couldn’t find anyone else in time. This is a big mess!

By: Rachel

Rachel — Tue, 13 Jul 2010 10:42:32 +0000

Can you clarify on taking ingrained habits off your calendar?

I can understand that if taking a shower and brushing you teeth is part of your morning routine, it doesn’t have to be on your calendar/to-do list.

On the other hand, even if you take a 3-mile walk every day, and you don’t need a daily reminder to do it, I can understand you might not need to put it on your to-do list, but surely you need to block some time on your schedule to do this? Or at least reduce the amount of time you consider available daily for doing the things that do warrant being on your list?

Also, how do you balance the time spent on routine habits and time left for unique/ad hoc activities?

By: deRuiter

deRuiter — Tue, 13 Jul 2010 10:01:38 +0000

Dear Ellen, Don’t marry this man! You’ve got three unemployed adults all living off student loans and seeking vague “educations” but really using the education as a way to get student loans to support themselves. The parents owed back taxes for several years, they accepted money from their son for Christmas gifts instead of asking him to pay on their debts? They are peole who specialize in bad financial decisions. Tell your friend to get a job delivering pizzas five or six nights a week or working for a cleaning company nights, and to pay his bills and take whatever courses he needs to graduate. If his majors are something vague and useless like poly sci, English lit or history, things are not going to get better. This sounds like a family of dreamers who have engineered their own financial collapse, don’t get sucked in. People who do not speak English come to America, start peddling stuff off a blanket in a city, start businesses and succeed. You’ve got to make a plan and work, not be constantly looking for loans off of which to live. This family is financially toxic, and it is possible your friend can improve, but it’s not likely, don’t be sucked into their debt vortex.

By: Molly

Molly — Tue, 13 Jul 2010 03:58:13 +0000

I too am loving the GTD series. For me each post is intresting by itself but it’s when I go back and consider the last 3-4 posts all together that really gives me the a-ha moments. Then I try to incorperate some of it into my life, re-read some of the posts, tweak, re-read. It really does read as a series rather then individual posts around a topic so maybe that’s part of the reason for low comments.

By: Amanda

Amanda — Tue, 13 Jul 2010 02:31:28 +0000

Kevin, 6.8 % is a lot to be paying on a student loan. I would aggressively pay off that portion of your student loan at least! Also, I think it is a bad idea to take on a mortgage when your student loan debt is so close to your yearly salary. Pay off at least some of those loans before you start saving for a house, then you’ll be able to enjoy your home more knowing that you really can afford it!

By: Kerry D.

Kerry D. — Tue, 13 Jul 2010 01:40:30 +0000

For Julia, on deciding between: finishing up at work, attending to a task at home, or going to the gym… One part of the advice really concerned me–”If you have the energy to go the gym” means for most of us that we will rarely if ever make it. And if we don’t make it on a regular basis, we’ll probably have less energy and inclination. So, I would recommend a specific commitment to oneself, barring disaster, to stick with a specific workout schedule. Then the decision is whether it’s a gym day, and at what point to leave work. A little simpler.

Not that I am getting to everything on my list by any stretch of the imagination. I have a ton on my to do list and have learned a lot reading this series. But, what I do know is that I (emphasize ME) don’t even feel like going to the gym even though I am a dance/pilates instructor, and even though maintaining my workouts clearly helps me to do my job more effectively and with more ease. But, once I get there and begin, I am virtually always glad I did.

We’ve gotta schedule it.

By: Courtney

Courtney — Tue, 13 Jul 2010 00:52:17 +0000

Anna, if I mail a DVD from my house on Monday I’ll have a new one on Wednesday too. But I would have had to receive that DVD on Saturday at the latest. That’s up to three DVD-less days in between. Two DVD-less days in between movies if it’s not over the weekend, which is the example I gave in my #7 comment. I have not tried dropping it off at the post office, but that kind of defeats the convenience of getting DVDs in the mail. At that point I could probably just drive it to the processing center.

By: Anna

Anna — Mon, 12 Jul 2010 23:40:48 +0000

@ Courtney,
3 day turn around? I live in a large city with a Netflix processing center and I have a 1-2 day turn around. If I mail the DVD from my house on Monday I’ll have a new one on Wednesday, if I drop the DVD off at a mailbox or the post office on Monday I can get a fresh DVD in my mail on Tuesday.

By: DiscoApu

DiscoApu — Mon, 12 Jul 2010 17:50:25 +0000

Nick needs to find out who is in the syndicate. Then if he is able he would have to open an investment account with one of the members of the syndicate. Then he would ask to be placed shares of that company. Some brokerages have seniority for IPO placement which would mean Nick would get 0 shares. Some would have random allocation with means Nick might have a shot. But with such a small account Nick would probably get 0 shares.

On the day the IPO opens he could send a Market On Open order through his brokerage(does not have to be part of the syndicate at this point) and he would get the openning pice. The opening price is not the IPO price. Sometimes the opening price is higher then the IPO price, sometimes not.

There are about 3 IPO’s a week. Most of them suck and go down. Hottest IPO of the year TSLA is trading at its IPO price. Messing with IPO’s is like playing Keno.

By: brent

brent — Mon, 12 Jul 2010 17:39:03 +0000

trent,

regarding the netflix idea, i have been without cable for over a year now with 1 blu ray out at a time with netflix and we survive just fine. I can get the main channels (ABC, NBC, CBS, and FOX) and a couple others over the air. between netflix streaming, tv shows streaming on their respective channel’s website, and hulu we get to watch everything we would with cable except for sporting events.

By: Julia

Julia — Mon, 12 Jul 2010 17:39:02 +0000

Courtney,
I cancelled my cable months ago and haven’t missed it.
I primarily watch Netflix Instant viewing options. They don’t have a lot of new releases available for streaming, but they do have a lot of tv shows that I like and have been catching up on.
If somebody is thinking about cancelling cable and switching to just Netflix, go for the 1 disc at a time, unlimited streaming option. You can always upgrade if 1 at a time doesn’t cut it for you.

Trent,
One reason I send questions directly to you by email instead of in comments is that after a couple days the comments peter out and it seems like people stop reading them. It’s frustrating to post a comment and never see a response to it.
Sometimes questions don’t come to mind in the timeframe when it will get a response in comments.
And, yes, I am LOVING the GTD series. It’s very helpful.

One final thing:
“Do you have the energy to go to the gym? If you do, I’d go to the gym. If you don’t, I’d go home and do household chores.” I never have energy to go to the gym. That’s why I go. Trying to get more energy. I suppose I should reverse it. If I don’t have energy to do chores I should go to the gym.
One point I forgot to mention in my email is that I’ve previously had some workaholic tendencies where I was working late every night for several weeks in a row. When I do this I don’t work out, don’t clean my house, don’t cook my own meals – everything suffers except the specific project I’m focused on in that time. I guess I’m really trying to find a balance of when I should keep working and when I should let it wait until tomorrow. Thanks for taking a shot at this one.
I greatly appreciate your perspective and your readers’.

By: Sabrina

Sabrina — Mon, 12 Jul 2010 17:30:31 +0000

The GTD series is extremely helpful! I followed along as the articles were published, and have been completing tasks that were on my list for years. Parts of the system remind me of two of my other favorite books, Wishcraft and The Power of Full Engagement. Great job, and thanks for sharing the information and how it impacted your life.

By: Michelle

Michelle — Mon, 12 Jul 2010 16:39:28 +0000

Trent – you didn’t answer Nick’s question. He specifically asked HOW he should invest in a new stock, not IF he should.

By: chacha1

chacha1 — Mon, 12 Jul 2010 16:39:05 +0000

Re: the LW with retired parents who are selling their home. These parents need to speak with a fee-only certified financial planner.

Stock accounts, bonds, and savings accounts are not their only options. Unemployed (“retired”) older people with a cash windfall *may* be better off purchasing an annuity than doing almost anything else.

But the LW didn’t even mention (in the portion quoted) the most important question: where do the parents propose to live now? That “nice chunk of change” will not go very far if it has to pay for their new living situation.

They are still pretty young. $300K (and that’s the high estimate) divided by 20 years (average life expectancy for those who make it to their early 60s) = $15K a year. What’ll that get you?

By: Ruth

Ruth — Mon, 12 Jul 2010 16:27:49 +0000

@AdamP:
I agree with you, that he would be a non-resident and not getting the standard deduction, however, filing a non-resident return is very easy and shouldn’t cost anything (except for mailing it).