No matter where you look at it, there will be always ways to save money if the person has the will do so.

If you are one of those who are trying to come up with ways to save money in this unstable economy, one of the best ways to start is developing a simple lifestyle.

Here are some simple tips:

Cut down on grocery or shopping sprees. Although buying groceries is a necessity, this doesn’t mean that there's no opportunity for you to save. The best thing that you can do before going to a supermarket is to conduct an inventory on your supplies. This will help you determine how much more you have and can help you estimate the period of time that these supplies will last. After knowing what are the things that you need, make a list to prioritize the items that are of utmost importance. The same thing can be applied when shopping for clothes and other accessories.

To save money, the key is to limit expenses on the items that you really need and keep whatever cash you have at hand. Try not to buy something that just tickles your fancy and if possible, limit your trips to the supermarket or boutiques to veer away from the temptation of buying something. If you are able to do this, you will save at least $20 every time.

Get as many coupons as you can. These days, coupons are not only applicable to just groceries only. In fact, major establishments such as restaurants, cinemas and even boutiques accept and give out coupons to its customers to offer a discount. If you keep these coupons, you can get a little discount on establishments that you usually go to.

Make adjustments to your withholding. People who are getting tax refunds every, they are the ones who are giving a free loan to the government. To save some money, you can adjust your withholding so the difference can be taken for your home pay.

Avoid using your own car. With the gas price hike, you can save lots of money if you take advantage of public transportation or even carpools. Aside from saving some money on gas, you can also save some since you won’t have to pay for the car's maintenance and parking anymore.

Take time to audit your own bills. Before, people are used to just paying whatever amount the bill states. But since there can be major discrepancies in these, it is best if you audit your charges once in a while. Auditing is best for telephone bills since some charges are being repeated, thus, making you pay for calls you didn’t actually make. Auditing can also be applied for your credit card bills since many companies add hidden charges.

Conserving energy means saving money. Many people do not realize it but one of the best ways to save money is to save energy. It is unfortunate that many people still don’t realize that leaving an electric appliance plugged to the electricity outlet means that appliance still consumes almost 20 percent of the electricity it consumes while it is turned on. So, to save money as well as energy through electricity makes it a habit to unplug cables from their outlets when not in use.

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Two weeks ago, Sarah Paasch mentioned to me she hadn’t rolled a 700 series in the ELITE Pro Shop Challenge league.  In a week she HAD to have a good performance, she rolled her highest series of the season to secure her spot into the Grand Championships.

She rolled games of 183, 167, 164, 200 for a 714 series.

Aaron Nachtwey lead the Pins over Average pot game with a fine +132 on games of 242, 190, 236, 236.

The Grand Championship playoffs are slated for 6pm Wednesday, May 9^th at Odyssey Fun Center.  The match ups for the evening are:

#1 seed Jacob Mickelson vs. #8 seed Rudy DelValle

#2 seed Frank Svacina vs. #7 seed Paul Gloede

#3 seed Jacob DelValle vs. #6 seed Sarah Paasch

#4 seed Troy Felsinger vs. #5 seed Mike LaPoint

Click here to view the final standings sheet.

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I am going to ask you to something very weird right now.  Listen to your thoughts and tell me, “What thoughts fill your head?”

Would you label them as positive, or negative?

If you are walking down the street with these thoughts, do you think anyone who would meet you would be able to tell you what’s on your mind?  Although people will not be able to tell you exactly what you think, they will more or less have an idea of how you are feeling.

Thoughts are very powerful. They affect your general attitude. The attitude you carry reflects on your appearance, too.  And it doesn't end there. Your attitude can also affect people around you.  The type of attitude you carry depends on the choice you make – it’s up to you.

Positive thoughts have a filling effect – they are admittedly invigorating.

The people who are around the person carrying positive thoughts are usually energized.  Negative thoughts on the other hand have a sapping effect on other people.

A positive attitude attracts people, while a negative attitude repels them. People tend to shy away from those who carry a negative attitude.

Studies have shown that a positive attitude promotes better health.  Those with this kind of attitude many times have more friends.  Projecting a positive attitude also helps one to handle stress and problems better than those who have a negative attitude.

A positive attitude begins with a healthy self-image. If you will love the way you are and are satisfied, confident, and self-assured, you also make others are around feel the same way.

If you want to have a positive attitude, you have to feature healthy thoughts.  If you want a healthier outlook in life, you need to think happy thoughts, and you have to hear positive things as well.

So, what can you do?

For starters, you could see a funny movie, you could play with children, spend some time telling jokes with friends.  All these activities fill you with positive stimuli, which in turn promotes positive attitude.

Although it is impossible to keep ourselves from the negative things around us, you can still carry a positive attitude by focusing on the good things, the positive things in life.

And this positive attitude you now carry can be of benefit to other people. Sometimes when other people feel down, the thing people mostly do is try to give them advice. But sometimes, all they need is somebody to sit by them, and listen to them. If you have a positive attitude you may be able to cheer them up without even having to say anything.

As always, if you are beset by troubles, even in your darkest hour, focus on the good things in life, you will always have hope. Problems become something you can overcome.

What's not to like about a positive attitude? Adopt one today.

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Everything that happens to us happens in purpose and sometimes, one thing leads to another.

Instead of locking yourself up in your cage of fears and crying over past heartaches, embarrassment and failures, treat them as your teachers and they will become your tools in both self improvement and success.

So, when does self-improvement become synonymous with success?

Take these tips, friends…

• ► Stop thinking and feeling as if you’re a failure, because you’re not. How can others accept you if YOU can’t accept YOU?

• ► When you see models on TV, think more on self improvement, not self pitying.  Self acceptance is not just about having nice slender legs, or great abs.  Concentrate on inner beauty.

• ► When people feel so down and low about themselves, help them move up. Don’t go down with them.  They’ll pull you down further and both of you will end up feeling inferior.

• ► The world is a large room for lessons, not mistakes.  Don’t feel stupid and doomed forever just because you failed on a science quiz.  There’s always a next time.  Make rooms for self improvement.

• ► Take things one at a time.  You can’t expect doghouse-to-penthouse in just a snap of a finger.  Self improvement is a one day at a time process.

• ► Self improvement results to inner stability, personality development and dig this …. SUCCESS.  It comes from self confidence, self appreciation and self esteem.

• ► Set meaningful and achievable goals.  Self improvement hopes and aims to result to an improved and better YOU.

• ► Little things mean BIG to other people.  Sometimes, we don’t realize that the little things that we do like a pat on the back, saying “hi” or “hello”, greeting someone “good day” or telling Mr. Smith something like “hey, I love your tie!” are simple things that mean so much to other people.  When we’re being appreciative about beautiful things around us and other people, we also become beautiful to them.

• ► When you’re willing to accept change and go through the process of self improvement, it doesn’t mean that everyone else is.  The world is a place where people of different values and attitude hang out.  Sometimes, even if you think you and your best friend always like to do the same thing together at the same time, she would most likely decline an invitation for self improvement.

• ► We should always remember that there’s no such thing as ‘over night success’.  Its always a wonderful feeling to hold on to the things that you already have now, realizing that those are just one of the things you once wished for.  A very nice quote says that “When the student is ready, the teacher will appear.”  We are all here to learn our lessons.  Our parents, school teachers, friends, colleagues, officemates, neighbors… they are our teachers. When we open our doors for self improvement, we increase our chances to head to the road of success.

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Life isn’t the sweetest candy.

Sometimes, when I feel like the world is just too heavy, I look around and find people who continued to live fascinating and wonderful lives.  Then thoughts come popping into my mind like bubbles from nowhere – “How did their life become so adorably sweet? How come they still can manage to laugh and play around despite a busy stressful life?” 

I pause and observed for awhile… I figured out that maybe, they start to work on a place called ‘self’.

So, how does one become genuinely happy? Step 1 is to:

Love Yourself.

A theology professor once said that “loving means accepting.”  To love yourself means to accept that you are not a perfect being, but behind the imperfections must lie a great ounce of courage to be able to discover ways on how to improve your repertoire to recover from our mistakes.

Genuine happiness also pertains to contentment.

When you are contented with the job you have, the way you look, with your family, your friends, the place you live in, your car, and all the things you now have – truly, you know the answer to the question “how to be genuinely happy.”

When we discover a small start somewhere from within, that small start will eventually lead to something else, and to something else. But if you keep questioning life it has never done you any good, you will never be able to find genuine happiness.

I believe that life is about finding out about right and wrong, trying and failing, wining and losing. These are things that happen as often as you inhale and exhale.

Failure, in a person’s life has become as abundant and necessary as air. But this should not hinder us from becoming happy.

How do you become genuinely happy in spite all these?

Every time you exert effort to improve the quality of life and your being, whether it is cleaning up your room, helping a friend, taking care of your sick dog, fail on board exams and trying again, life gives you equivalent points for that.

Imagine life as a big score board like those which are used in the NFL.  Every time you take a step forward, you make scoring points.

Wouldn’t it be nice to look at that board at the end of each game and think to yourself “Whew! I got a point today. I’m glad I gave it a shot.”

Doesn’t that seem far more helpful and productive than “Geez, I didn’t even hit a score today. I wish I had the guts to try out. We could have won!”.

Genuine happiness isn’t about driving the hottest Formula 1 car, or getting the employee of the year award, or beating the sales quota. Sometimes, the most sought after prizes in life don’t always go to the fastest, the strongest, the bravest or not even the best.

Every one has his own definition of ‘happiness’.  Happiness for a writer may mean launching as much best selling books as possible. Happiness for a basketball rookie may mean getting the rookie of the year award. Happiness for a beggar may mean a meal that evening.

So, really now, how do we become genuinely happy?  Simple.

You don’t have to have the best things in this world. It’s about doing and making the best out of every single thing.

When you find yourself smiling at your own mistake and telling your self “Oh, I’ll do better next time”, you carry with you a flame of strong will power to persevere that may spread out like a brush fire.

You possess a willingness to stand up again and try – that will make you a genuinely happy person.  When you learn to accept yourself and your own faults, you pass step 1 in the project.

For as long as you know how to accept others, you will also be accepted. For as long as you love and know how to love, you will receive love ten folds back.

“Most of us know that laughter is the best medicine to life’s aches and pain.  Most of us don’t know that the best kind of laughter is laughter over self.  When you do then you don’t just become happy… you become free.”

They say there's more than one way to skin a cat. The same goes when you start tearing your hair out with all the frustration, grief, anxiety, and yes, stress.

It's a state of mental conditioning that is like taking that bitter pill down your throat, causing you to lose your sense of self, and worse your sanity. Just thinking about it can drive anyone off the edge.

And they say that the proactive ones are already living off the edge.

As one stressed-out person to another, I know how it feels, and believe me there are many variants when it comes to stress.

Coping with life, and carrying the problems that may or may not belong to you can scratch away the little joy and happiness that you can carry once you head out that door.

You can't blame them for being like that; they have their own reasons, so much like we have our reasons to allow stress to weigh us down. They say that stress is all in the mind, well, what's bugging you anyway?

There are several ways to manage stress, and eventually remove it out of your life one of these days. So I'll try to divide it into a seven-day course for you and I promise it's not going to be too taxing on the body, as well as on the mind.

1. Acknowledge stress is good

Make stress your friend! Based on the body's natural "fight or flight" response, that burst of energy will enhance your performance at the right moment.

I've yet to see a top sportsman totally relaxed before a big competition. Use stress wisely to push yourself that little bit harder when it counts most.

2. Avoid stress sneezers

Stressed people sneeze stress germs indiscriminately and before you know it, you are infected too!

Protect yourself by recognizing stress in others and limiting your contact with them. Or if you've got the inclination, play stress doctor and teach them how to better manage themselves.

3. Learn from the best

When people around are losing their head, who keeps calm? What are they doing differently? What is their attitude? What language do they use? Are they trained and experienced?

Figure it out from afar or sit them down for a chat. Learn from the best stress managers and copy what they do.

4. Practice socially acceptable heavy breathing

This is something I've learned from a gym instructor: You can trick your body into relaxing by using heavy breathing. Breathe in slowly for a count of 7 then breathe out for a count of 11.

Repeat the 7-11 breathing until your heart rate slows down, your sweaty palms dry off and things start to feel more normal.

5. Give stressy thoughts the red light

It is possible to tangle yourself up in a stress knot all by yourself. "If this happens, then that might happen and then we're all up the creek!" Most of these things never happen, so why waste all that energy worrying needlessly?

Give stress thought-trains the red light and stop them in their tracks. Okay so it might go wrong – how likely is that, and what can you do to prevent it?

6. Know your trigger points and hot spots

Presentations, interviews, meetings, giving difficult feedback, tight deadlines…. My heart rate is cranking up just writing these down!

Make your own list of stress trigger points or hot spots. Be specific. Is it only presentations to a certain audience that get you worked up? Does one project cause more stress than another? Did you drink too much coffee?

Knowing what causes you stress is powerful information, as you can take action to make it less stressful. Do you need to learn some new skills? Do you need extra resources? Do you need to switch to decaf?

7. Burn the candle at one end

Lack of sleep, poor diet and no exercise wreaks havoc on our body and mind. Kind of obvious, but worth mentioning as it's often ignored as a stress management technique. Listen to your mother and don't burn the candle at both ends!

So having stress can be a total drag, but that should not hinder us to find the inner peace of mind that we have wanted for a long time. In any case, one could always go to the Bahamas and bask under the summer sun.