Whenever I make my 15-mile drive to the grocery store, even traveling at the posted speed limit of 55 mph, I am constantly being passed (via the oncoming lane), or tailgated until the highway splits to 2 lanes after 10 miles. While I understand the concept that “time is money,” this behavior just doesn’t make sense to me.

I admit to a somewhat wreckless time in my youth when the speed limit seemed like a nuisance that kept me from getting where I wanted to go as quickly as I wanted to go. But some time in my mid-twenties, I began to see how stupid I used to be and shudder at the chances I used to take.

Financial Reasons to Slow Down

• Save Gas
  According to the California Energy Commission, “Vehicles lose roughly one percent in fuel economy for every mile per hour driven above 55 mph.”
• Speeding Tickets
  In my aforementioned wreckless youth, I have been the recipient of 2 speeding tickets. My first (1999), for going 50 mph in a 35 mph zone, cost me $67. My second (2002), for going 30 in a 25 zone, was around $70. I don’t know how much speeding fines are these days, but I know they cost a lot more.
• Auto Insurance Rates
  Traffic violations and accidents, even if you’re not at fault, will raise your auto insurance premiums.
• Risk of Accidents
  Even if you’re insured, an accident will most likely cost you money in the form of repairs and deductibles. If you injure someone or damage someone’s property, it could potentially cost you a fortune in legal and liability costs.
• Auto Maintenance
  The less wear-and-tear you put on your car, the longer it’ll last and the fewer repairs it’ll need.

Health Reasons to Slow Down

• Reduce Chances of Serious and Permanent Injury
  Is the risk of an injury that will impact many years – if not the rest – of your life worth getting wherever you’re going 5 minutes faster?
• Reduce Stress
  Driving at high speeds is stressful. Whenever I drive at speeds over 55 or 60 mph – even when within the speed limit – I find my body tension level significantly increased. My back and legs are often sore when I arrive at my destination. We already have enough stress in our daily lives, why add more?

Moral Reasons to Slow Down

• Injury to Others
  This includes other motorists, pedestrians, children and pets. Injuring, or worse, accidentally killing, someone or someone’s pet would affect more than your own life.
• Your Loved Ones
  What would happen to your loved ones – children, spouse, parents and others who care about and depend on you – if you were seriously injured or killed in an accident?

Maybe because I drive very little these days – a few times a month to run errands – I am more conscious of the dangers of driving. Every time I leave my house, I am acutely aware of the fact that anything can happen. I don’t have human children, but I have a dog that I care about more than anything, and I remind myself that getting to the store 5 minutes faster is not worth the risk of my not being here to take care of him.

I know we live in a busy age where everyone has 30 hours’ worth of things to get done within a 24-hour day. But is it really worth it to jeopardize our safety, risk accidents, fines and more to get there faster? Try to leave earlier. If you can’t get everywhere you need to without speeding, then maybe you need make some changes. Easier said than done, I know, especially if it’s work related, but speed limits are there for a reason.

When I was younger, I used feel like I was being rude if I was holding people up, even if I was already going over the speed limit. But, not anymore. I drive the posted speed limit not only because it’s the law, but because it’s the smart and responsible thing to do. I will not be made to feel guilty or like a “prude” for driving the speed limit. I won’t increase my risks just so others behind me can satisfy their need for speed.

Recommended Reading

• Yahoo Finance: Slow Down a Little, Save a Lot of Gas
• California Energy Commission: Slow It Down to Save Gas and Money

Related posts:

• Interesting Reads From Fellow Personal Finance Bloggers #19
• Economical Pet and Child Safe Ways to Repel and Kill Ants, Spiders and Other Insects
• When “Free” Things Aren’t Free: Beware the Hidden and Indirect Costs
• Interesting Reads from Fellow Personal Finance Bloggers #6
• Interesting Reads From Fellow Personal Finance Bloggers #15

Whenever I used to hear this quote, my reaction would be something like “Yeah, okay.” I’d figure that it was probably true but never really gave it much thought, and it pretty much went in one ear and out the other. But now that I’m getting a little on in years (the big 3-0 inching eerily closer), I’m beginning to see why this quote is so-oft quoted.

Some of you may have noticed that my posting has been a little inconsistent lately. As I explained in my recent roundup of personal finance articles, our cousin has been visiting us since April (and will be here until July 8th). Because most of our relatives live overseas, when we do see each other, it is usually after a span of several years. Despite the physical distance between us, we have always been very close to most of our cousins, and consequently, there have been a lot of late nights of catching up on the last half decade or so – chatting about other family members (there are a lot of us), reminiscing and laughing about our childhoods and complaining about the “grown-ups” who still treat us like children even though most of us are now in our late twenties and early thirties.

While these late night chats have been priceless, they have also taken a toll. We often all stay up together till about midnight, and after the others turn in for the night, I usually spend several hours catching up on work (for our other businesses or this blog), and it isn’t unusual for me to go to bed at sunrise. While it’s great to have these quiet and uninterrupted hours in which to work, there is also a price.

In the past couple of years of working at home, Madoline and I have gone through several periods of reversed sleep cycles. These reversals are often triggered by a few days or weeks of staying up late to work on holiday and seasonal rush orders for our dog clothing/horse costuming business, resulting in habitual late bed- and rising times. At the worst of these times, we go to bed around 8 or 9 in the morning and wake up in the mid- or late-afternoon. On these days, even if we get 8 hours of sleep, we are not much better than zombies, and needless to say, our productivity is greatly inhibited.

We have found that “Late to bed and late to rise” (despite getting 8 hours) often results in:

• Unrestful sleep due to light and noise
• Waking up headachy or dizzy
• Inability to function without coffee
• Dizziness or headache persisting through the entire day
• Difficulty concentrating
• Mental slowness such as taking a lot longer to do math in my head
• More mistakes – mental and physical
• Getting less work done

When our sleeping schedules reach this point, usually about twice a year, we have to perform a major overhaul which involves a couple of miserable days of forcing ourselves to stay up as long as we can and going to bed as close to nighttime as possible, gradually shifting our sleep cycles back to waking up in the morning. When we finally succeed at waking up around 5 or 6 in the morning, there is a complete change.

The results of “Early to bed and early to rise”:

• Waking up without feeling sleepy or tired
• Mental acuity
• Better energy and mood throughout the day
• The day feels longer (in a good way)
• Better control of mind and body (working faster and making fewer mistakes)
• Getting more work done

So, I can now attest that Mr. Franklin’s statement is true and correct to the best of my knowledge. And based on my experience, going to bed around 9:00 or 10:00pm and getting up around 6:00am reaps the best results health-wise (studies have found that sleeping at night is healthier because the body requires sleeping in complete dark in order to completely rest and build defenses against diseases), wealth-wise (because you can get more done in less time), and wisdom-wise (because your mind works better when your body is feeling better).

Off to bed I go. : )

Related posts:

• Life Is Too Short to Sleep On Low Thread-Count Sheets
• Interesting Reads from Fellow Personal Finance Bloggers #5
• Frugality to the Extreme: Would You Eat Out of the Dumpster?
• Funny Money Lessons from Fiddler on the Roof: If I Were a Rich Man
• Make Your January 1, 2009 Home Mortgage Payment Today to Cut Your 2008 Taxes

Originally posted 2008-06-15 06:33:18.

What does exercise and weight loss have to do with saving money?

Well, frugal living means living prudently, and preventing weight gain can save your health, and therefore potentially save you a lot of money, in the long run. Obesity is the leading cause of disease in this day and age, and disease costs money, even if you have health insurance. So while cliché, the saying that “prevention is the cheapest cure” really is true.

Tips for Burning Extra Calories in Your Day

These are suggestions of things you can do in the course of your day to help keep off excess weight. Some of these suggestions may not work for everyone – but there should be at least a few that can help you.

• Wear exercise shoes where and when you can
  I find wearing exercise shoes with proper foot support and air-cushioning encourages me to be more active in my daily activities (both at home and out). I tend to walk faster and with more energy. Needless to say, the more active you are in your movements, the more calories you will burn. If you don’t wear your outside shoes in your house, I would recommend having a pair of indoor exercise shoes for wearing at home.
• Stand instead of sit
  Whether you’re watching TV or playing games, standing instead of sitting can help you burn a few extra calories. While the number of calories might not be huge, standing after a meal can help aid in digestion.
• Park in the first space you find
  Not only does this save gas, but you can get a little exercise walking to and from your car.
• Fidget
  Our parents taught us when we were kids that it was rude to fidget, but the truth is that fidgeting can help you burn a lot more calories and separate fat from fit. But fidget with discernment; obviously there are times and places where fidgeting is not appropriate, but when watching TV or sitting in your office (where no one can see you and as long as it doesn’t affect your work), move around a little – wiggle your feet, shake your leg or bounce your knee once in a while.
• Drink tea
  Research has found that drinking tea before a workout helps increase calorie burn during the workout. Drinking tea during the day increase your metabolism by 4%. Also, green tea is full of antioxidants and has been found to help prevent a myriad of diseases such as stroke, heart disease and cancer.
• Exercise in shorter intervals
  Research has found that separating workout sessions into shorter intervals (like 20 minutes) helps to burn more calories than a long session. This is when a home gym can help you do this.
• Exercise while watching TV
  Pedal on an exercise bike, mini cycle or pedal exerciser (a much smaller device that you can easily move around the house), lift some hand weights or stretch while watching TV.
• Put down the remote control
  Get up to change the channel or volume on your TV set.
• Do yard work or garden
  Get rid of the yardman, save some money and get more exercise. Raking, mowing, digging, etc. can be very good exercise.
• Make exercise fun
  If you’re one of those who just can’t stand exercising purely for the sake of exercise, consider taking up a fun hobby or sport that you can enjoy doing while getting your necessary physical activity. Here are a few examples. Some may cost a little money, but if it’s not too much and in the interest of your health, it may be worth it. A few fun ways to get exercise are:
  • Ice skating
    Ice skating is a great low-impact, aerobic sport. Go skate a public session, and if you really enjoy it, consider signing up for lessons. Ice skating lessons may not be as expensive as you might think. Beginner lessons are often offered in groups and include skate rental.
  • Tennis
    Many community parks have tennis courts that are free to the public. You can pick up an inexpensive tennis racquet (around $20) and a can of tennis balls and go and bat it around a court. Even if you don’t play well, you will get a lot of exercise simply chasing the ball down (based on personal experience).
  • Basketball
    Pick up an inexpensive basketball (around $10) and go to the park and practice shooting. If you haven’t played for a while, it won’t be long before you start feeling the workout. If you can get a friend to go with you, you can play horseHorse to make it more fun, or one-on-one to get some cardio.
  • Martial Arts/Self-Defense
    Consider taking up a martial art such as karate, tae kwon do, tang soo do, etc. These classes usually include aerobic and strength building exercises, and you can learn a little self-defense, which can always be a good thing to know.
• Get a dog
  Of course, this is a major commitment and not for everyone. But if you have room in your life and live in a nice area with good places to walk and dog-friendly parks, having a dog to walk or play with regularly would help you get out of the house for some fresh air and exercise.

These are just a few examples of the ways you can get a little extra physical activity or calorie burn into your day. Be creative and have fun.

Diet and Habits

How and what you eat is up to you and depends on your preferred regime. However, keep these few simple things in mind that can make a huge difference in aiding in weight loss or preventing weight gain.

• Watch the sugary drinks
  Either skip the sugar altogether and use a no-calorie sweetener like Splenda (our preferred sweetener) or at least mix a little of both. If drinking juice, dilute it with water.
• Graze or eat smaller meals throughout the day
  Eating smaller portions spread throughout the day keeps the metabolism up, is easier on your stomach, and recommended for prevention of acid reflux and low blood sugar.
• Get enough sleep
  One of the many side effects of lack of sleep is weight gain.

Related posts:

• Interesting Reads From Fellow Personal Finance Bloggers #18
• The No-Budget System
• Frugal Thermodymics Part I: Limiting Sources of Heat in the Home
• Motivating Children to Practice Music (Part 3)
• Tips to Avoid Overeating at Thanksgiving Dinner

While cold weather has it charms – pretty white snow (for some of us), excuse to drink lots of hot chocolate, Thanksgiving, Christmas, etc. – with it comes some less charming side effects: colds, flus, etc. Not only is it no fun to get sick, it can be expensive. When one is not feeling well, one is often willing to spend whatever money it takes to feel better as quickly as possible, so the best medicine for you and your wallet is to avoid getting sick altogether.

When our cousin Mabel visited us this past spring, she had the misfortune to catch cold on the flight over. The first few weeks of her visit were spent buying and taking all sorts of medication for her cold. She began by spending $30 on Theraflu on her first day here. A few days later, she spent another $30 on more Theraflu, lozenges for sore throat, vitamin C and Zinc drops. After suffering cold sores for a couple of weeks, she spent another $20 on cold sore medication. And then about 3 weeks after her arrival, she gave in and went to the doctor – another $110 for the office visit and another $20 for antibiotics.

While we are very fond of our cousin, one thing that bothered Madoline and me to no end during her 3-month stay with us was her lax food safety and hygiene habits, which we believe contribute to her frequent illnesses. I’m not talking about showering and teeth brushing (though also important), but something even more basic – hand washing. (Something about which I talked a great deal in Warm Weather Food Safety Tips.)

Mabel does not have a habit of frequently washing her hands, a habit we developed in our days working food service and maintain to this day. She might take out the trash or water the yard and then come back inside and not wash her hands. She might touch the floor or play ball with the dogs and then eat without first washing her hands. Sometimes she would have a certain food for breakfast and leave what she couldn’t finish on the table, where it would sit all day until she would heat it up and finish it for dinner. (Read my Warm Weather Food Safety Tips for why this is not good practice.)

Mabel gets seriously ill several times a year; her illnesses start as colds or flus with severe sore throat, and always advance to bronchitis, at which point she must get prescriptions for antibiotics. It could be that she is just naturally susceptible to illness, but we believe her lax habits play a part.

So here I will offer a few tips for helping to stay healthy (and therefore happier) this winter. These are things I’ve learned over the years from food services experience, reading news articles online and common sense.

Tips to Prevent Getting Sick (Especially in Cold Weather)

While these habits should be observed year-round, you should be especially careful when the weather is cold and your immune system is more susceptible. Call me obsessive compulsive if you will, but I haven’t had a cold in 3 years, and you will decrease your chances of catching something if you follow some or all of these suggestions. Also, you never know what the people went before you might have touched or what germs and viruses they might be carrying and leaving in their wake.

Hand Washing

As mentioned before, hand washing is one of the most basic ways to prevent illness through ingestion. You should always -

• Wash hands with antibacterial soap and hot water before eating or handling food.
• Wash hands after going outside, shopping and getting home.

Wash or sanitize hands after:

• Pumping gas and/or using windshield cleaners at the gas station
• Using ATM machines
• Using a public pay phone
• Handling cash
• Touching a public doorknob
• Touching a public service counter i.e. post office, library, bank, etc.

Environmental Precautions

• Carry your own pen for signing credit card slips or writing checks when shopping.
• If your grocery store offers sanitizing wipes, wipe the handle and basket of your shopping cart before use.
• Carry hand sanitizer in your purse and car so you can clean your hands before eating while you’re out.
• Regularly clean the contents of your purse and wallet – wipe things like cell phones and credit cards (be careful of the magnetic strip) with rubbing alcohol and wash whatever is washable – keys, lotion bottles, makeup, etc. – with soap and warm water.
• Regularly wipe down your workspace: wipe phones, computer (keyboard, mouse, power switch), contents of your drawers with rubbing alcohol, especially if you apply lotion on your hands regularly, as the residue sticks to things and vice versa – including germs.
• If you use the library, wipe down books with rubbing alcohol before reading, especially if you like to read in bed.

Health & Nutrition

• Observe food safety guidelines.
• Take Vitamin C and Zinc to help boost your immune system during stressful times when it might be more susceptible.
• Wear a hat. Almost 50% of your body heat is lost through the head. Wearing a cap when you sleep can help you stay warm more easily.
• If you exercise, cool down properly and put on a dry sweatshirt or jacket afterwards to prevent catching a chill.
• Get enough sleep. Sleep is one of the most important elements in preventing illness.
• Don’t overtax yourself. If you’re tired, don’t push yourself. Stress is one of the main contributors to illness.

These are good habits to keep in mind and practice if you are concerned with your health. Your body may be able to resist a few viruses or illness, but it can get worn down and more susceptible over time if it must constantly work to fight them.

Bacteria and viruses can be anywhere – a pen, a doorknob, a counter, including the dreaded Staph virus. They may not be able to survive for long on a surface, but in busy times and locations, such as during the Holidays when public places are full of people, a bacterium wouldn’t have to stay in one place for very long before being picked up by a hapless person. And that hapless person could be you. A few precautions could save your health, money, and perhaps even life.

Related posts:

• Interesting Reads from Fellow Personal Finance Bloggers #9
• No-Air Conditioning Summer Part 2 – How We Stayed Cool Without A/C
• Interesting Reads From Fellow Personal Finance Bloggers #13
• The Benefits of Deprivation: 10 Days Without Air Conditioning and Counting! Plus Tips for Staying Cool
• No-Air Conditioning Summer Part 1 – How It Started: No-Heat Winters

You may not know it, but you may be waging long term biological warfare on yourself and your family. There is increasing awareness about the harmful effects of exposure to chemicals such as pesticides and household cleaners, but did you know that air fresheners are also poisons?

History has taught the human race that bad smells mean disease and infection, so naturally we all want our homes filled with good smells. Unfortunately, chemicals used to carry these good smells into your home may give you lung problems and cancer. You should be especially vigilant about uses of air fresheners if you have cats because cats can be fatally poisoned by airborne substances absorbed through the skin.

Here are some alternatives you might consider to aerosol or plug-in air fresheners. You can make or purchase these items made with natural plant oils.

Scented candles

Scented candles are ideal for bathrooms as they are resistant to humidity. Light these whenever needed. They are great for eliminating odor from strong smelling foods after cooking or eating. I like to read and write by candlelight and always have votive candles in wine glasses on my desk.

If you are afraid of fire, place short, fat candles in heavy glass jars. Small flames usually extinguish themselves when a candle is dropped, but if you want to be extra safe, place candles in sturdy glass jars taller than the candle, so that the flame is contained should the jar tip. Light sunken or hard to reach candles with a burning spaghetti noodle.

Potpourri

Keep in bowls, pouches, out of reach of pets and small children who might eat sweet smelling things. You can even pull out the poly-fill of a stuffed animal, mix potpourri into the fluff and re-stuff. A scented stuffed animal can be placed on shelves, in drawers, or near your bed if it contains sleep enhancing herbs. Do not give an herbal toy to children or pets unless you are sure that the ingredients are safe.

Cloth Sachets Filled With Dried Herbs

Good for keeping your clothes fresh and bug free. You can make or purchase very pretty ones. Add scented oils if desired for a stronger scent. We use cedar filled pouches for closets and inside the piano.

Pomanders

These are scented balls made with oranges and cloves (instructions below) that last for years. They are natural, very fragrant and deter insects. Pomanders can be decorated and hung in your closets, around your home, and in your car. They can also be placed in drawers and storage boxes. You could make a bunch for Christmas ornaments and then redistribute them for use around the house after the holidays.

Fresh flowers

These don’t last as long, but are not expensive if you have a garden.

Pet Perfumes and Colognes

If your home has pet odors, you might consider using colognes and perfumes formulated for pets. If your pet is prone to allergies, ill, very old, or very young, you should get your vet’s recommendation for a product. Remember that not all products marketed for pets are entirely safe and that products formulated for dogs may be harmful to cats. The best air freshener may be a bath for your cat or dog. If odors are cause by skin conditions, herbs with antibacterial and anti-fungal properties may be helpful. But always research ingredients so that you do not accidentally poison your pet.

How to make a pomander

You might want to make a dozen or more at a time because a pomander will last forever (unless they get wet).

1. Take an orange, lime, or lemon.
2. Prick holes in the skin with a large needle and insert whole cloves until you have a prickly ball. For a neat appearance, space the cloves like longitudinal lines on a globe.
3. Cure the pomade by rolling it in powdered herbs and letting it dry for several weeks.
4. During the drying process, coat regularly with powdered herbs to prevent mould. Pomander will shrink as it cures.
5. Decorate with ribbons and flowers if desired.
6. To renew scent after long use, treat with essential oils and roll in powdered herbs.

Powdered Herbs for curing pomanders (use one or more)

• Cinnamon
• Ginger
• Clove
• Myrrh
• Nutmeg (toxic to cats and dogs)

Some Common Fragrance Herbs

• Lavender
• Lemon
• Rose Geranium
• Rose
• Orange
• Cinnamon
• Allspice
• Bayberry
• Pine
• Citrus
• Sandalwood
• Mint

Recommended Reading
Air Fresheners: Are they bad for my health?

Related posts:

• Interesting Reads from Fellow Personal Finance Bloggers #10
• Free Printable Gift Accessories by Madoline Hatter
• Tricky Treats for Trick-or-Treaters: Healthy and Useful Alternatives to Halloween Candy
• 7 Cost-Cutting and Safer Alternative Household Tips
• Life Is Too Short to Sleep On Low Thread-Count Sheets

Originally posted 2008-10-02 06:00:38.

Before we begin, I want to make it clear that I am not advocating for you to live without A/C.  It can be very dangerous, not to mention extremely unpleasant.

Here are our personal circumstances and living conditions because some of these tips won’t work for everyone depending on where you live or what sort of constitution you have.

Our Environment

• Geography: Desert
• Temperature: as high as 112º F, lows usually 60’s-70’s, mid 80’s during heat wave
• Humidity: low for the most part except for extreme heat waves
• House: 1-story, 3-bedroom single family home

Us (Madoline and Penelope)

• Ages: 29 and 30
• Health: strong immune systems (haven’t had colds since Jan. 2006)

Water is Your Friend for Staying Cool

Almost all our tactics for staying cool this summer involved water. We won’t deny that water usage costs money, but it is a lot less than electricity usage. Our city bills us twice a month for water at a flat rate for up to 2,000 cc’s which we rarely exceed so we’re paying for it anyway.

Obviously, there is really no way to cool an entire house with an internal temperature of 95º-100º F without air conditioning, so we focused on cooling ourselves and the rooms we were occupying.

• Drink lots of water
  As basic as this tip is, it is basic for a reason: It is vitally important to stay hydrated. So drink lots of water, but be moderate; don’t guzzle a gallon at a time and give yourself water poisoning. Keep a glass with you all day and sip from it.
• Ice
  We talked about this in Madoline’s post, A Simple Cooling System, from earlier in the summer. While we received some comments telling us that our system didn’t work, it did for us on days with high temperatures of up to about 101-102º F. Despite our freezer having to work a little harder, our electric bill of $45 was much lower than bills from previous years when running our central A/C which averaged $150-$180 per month.

  Each night, when the temperature had cooled (down to 60’s-70’s), we placed bottles of water in the freezer to freeze overnight. Around mid-morning when it started getting hot, we took out the ice and placed them in front of fans in the room where we hung out and worked (100 sq. ft.)

• Ice water jugs
  Freeze bottles/jugs of filtered water to use to cool your room and to serve as cold drinking water as it melts. Staying hydrated is very important and nothing feels so good as a cold glass of water when you’re hot.
• Wet or damp towel, bandanna or shirt
  This is one tactic which should be used carefully. As stated above, we’re young and in good health and not prone to catching cold. A wet or damp towel draped over the shoulders or head, and a wet/damp shirt keeps you cool for a good while. But if you’re prone to catching colds, I wouldn’t recommend this as having a cold when it’s hot would be really un-fun. If you’re prone to headaches, I would advise against draping a wet towel over your head.
• Water spritz
  Keep a plant sprayer filled with water and spray yourself occasionally. The water evaporating off your skin gives a cool sensation. Again, if you’re prone to colds, exercise caution, but this one is less risky than a wet shirt.
• Ice packs
  One of those ice gel packs for coolers held over points with major arteries – neck and wrist – can help cool your circulation a little.
• Damp sheet
  When the heat wave hit in full force and I couldn’t sleep, I would wet a sheet or towel and drape it over my legs. This helped me cool off quickly and get some sleep.

  A note on Wet vs. Cool: I found a completely wet towel, shirt or sheet a little too cold for comfort, but when damp, it was perfect.

Other Tips for Staying Safe in High Heat

• Wear light-colored, loose and natural-fiber clothing
• Eat smaller meals more frequently
• Avoid strenuous physical activity during the hottest time of day
• Avoid drinking diuretics such as tea, coffee, etc. that can make you lose water

Visit the Red Cross website for more information on Heat Wave Safety.

For more on staying cool without air conditioning, refer to this post I wrote last fall when our A/C first broke: 10 Days Without Air Condition and Counting! It includes other tips on cooling your home.

Cooling Tips for Pets

Because our dogs are large (hotter than small dogs) and long-haired, we also had to take measures to keep them from getting too hot and risking heat stroke.

Note: small dogs are not as hardy as large dogs and may be prone to catching cold very easily.

• Haircuts
  We trimmed their 3-4 inch long coats down to about 1-2 inches. The bag of hair off my dog weighed a lot!
• Wet bandanna or shirt
  As with ourselves, we either tied a web bandana around their necks or put on a wet shirt. The parts of their bodies under the wet or damp clothing stays cool for a good while.
• Water spritz
  Spritzing them with water also helps. Wolfgang especially loves this one.
• Cold treats
  Give them cold snacks and meals as much as possible – mozzarella cheese sticks, ice cubes, chicken flavored jello (yum), and refrigerated food prepared the night before. Don’t give too much ice as it can cause stomach upset.
• Lots of water
  Make sure your pets have lots of fresh water. I would be careful about giving ice water, though, which may cause an upset stomach.
• Keep it down
  Dogs are enthusiastic creatures and might run and jump around too much for their own good. Keep them occupied with treats that take a while to eat and toys that keep them in one place.

Well, this about wraps it up for our tips on keeping cool. These tactics helped us get through 3 months — from the end of April when we usually turn on the A/C to the end of July.

Come back soon for how and why “No-Air Conditioning Summer” came to an end.

Related posts:

• The Benefits of Deprivation: 10 Days Without Air Conditioning and Counting! Plus Tips for Staying Cool
• No-Air Conditioning Summer Part 1 – How It Started: No-Heat Winters
• Interesting Reads from Fellow Personal Finance Bloggers #9
• Under the Weather – Recommended Reading
• Frugal, Fun and Productive Summer Activities

As some of you already know, I am the worst of procrastinators. And taxes being so unpleasant, I naturally tend to procrastinate when it comes to filing my taxes every year.

First of all, I do put off filing my tax return for one valid reason: we owe each year so I prefer to wait till April to file and pay in order to earn more interest in  savings. But this also gives me an excuse to put off working on our returns.

This year I was worse than usual, and my procrastination and 2 unforeseen events almost got me in trouble.

My Taxing Experience

• Dec. 31, 2008–April 11, 2009 — Procrastinated
  We have a few different sources of income so there are a lot of elements involved in our tax returns – calculating various types of expenses and almost 20 different forms between the two of us. Needless to say, this takes a lot of preparation, which I just kept putting off.
• April 11 9:30PM — Started to panic
  3 days, 2 hours before April 15th, I finally realized just how little time was left and kicked myself into action.
• April 12–13 — Worked like mad
  Pulled an all-nighter and finished my “first draft” of the PDF forms.
• April 13 11:00PM — Crisis #1: Printer wouldn’t print
  After double- & triple-checking the forms and calculations, I was ready to print and be done with it — only to find that the printer wouldn’t print. I re-filled the ink cartridge but print quality was awful. Thinking the ink needed time to settle and let the air bubbles work their way up, I called it a night.
• April 14 5:45PM — Crisis #2: Power outage
  After more ink re-filling and printer maintenance, it was printing properly again, but half-way through approx. 40 pages, our power went out due to wind storms in the area. the outage was all over town and lasted until 11:00PM, so I didn’t finish compiling and packing everything up till around 1:15AM.
• April 15 — Phew!
  Got to the post office and got everything mailed out. Thoroughly exhausted.

I was extremely lucky that I was still able to get everything done by the 15th. Had I delayed just one more day, I probably wouldn’t have made it. When the power went out on the 14th, I started contemplating all the other things that could possibly go wrong, such as:

• What if my car won’t start when I need to go the Post Office tomorrow?
• What if the wind storm gets worse tomorrow and I can’t drive?

Any number of things could have prevented me from being able to get our returns postmarked on the 15th. The amount we owe is high enough that a penalty and interest charge would be quite unpleasant.

This experience got me thinking about other ways procrastination can set back your financial health. I have been thinking about this for the last 2 days and here are my conclusions.

Other ways procrastination can lead to financial disease (and possible eventual death)

Putting off . . .

• Contacting service providers, insurance companies, etc. to lower your bills
• Canceling services you no longer need
• Minor maintenance and repairs on your home or car until they become major repairs
• Paying off credit card debt by just paying the minimum payment
• Refinancing loans when interest rates are low
  

I have to admit I have been guilty of all but one of the above (I don’t have credit card debt). When I was in college, my fellow students and I often joked about how we procrastinated studying for our exams or writing term papers. The fact is, I’m the type that works better under pressure. Oftentimes, when I sat down to write a paper that wasn’t due for a few more days, I would get writer’s block. But the night before the due date, I would get serious and the ideas would start flowing.

Thus, I have always operated under the premise that this is just how I work so it’s O.K. to procrastinate. But now that I’m a grown-up dealing with grown-up matters where it’s no longer just a grade at stake, I’m beginning to see just how self-destructive this type of behavior can be. While this past week has been torture, I have learned a valuable lesson, so perhaps it was good for me that I had this harrowing experience.

It seems the tax gods were with me this time and let me get by with a lesson learned and no harm done. I shouldn’t expect to be so lucky again and must start getting things done ahead of time. Not only could it save me potential financial penalties, but keep the stress and blood pressure levels to a minimum.

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In the past year, propane cost has inflated so much that our bills do not decrease even when we conscientiously use less fuel. So Penelope and I have learned that it is more efficient to heat water in the microwave before using it to cook on the stove or other appliances. Because a microwave oven heats water much faster than other means, we can cut the costs of cooking with our stove, slow cooker, or oven by taking this step.

In cooking rice, for example, we start with microwaved water which comes to a boil in less than a minute, allowing us to turn the stove to low for the remainder of the cooking process. Usually, a large pot of rice takes five to ten minutes to come to a boil–or longer if it contains chicken and vegetables (our dogs’ food).

Our new slow cooker also takes several hours to bring a pot of chicken to a boil. If we had thought to begin with heated water, it would have cost very little to maintain that temperature, whereas heating is the most expensive use of electricity.

A microwave oven works by exciting water molecules to motion and the water produces heat. This is significantly more efficient than other appliances which produce heat and then transfer it to your food by diffusion, losing much energy along the way. Water is especially resistant to temperature change, making heating by diffusion very expensive.

A water molecule has a positive end and a negative end (like a magnet). A microwave is an electromagnetic wave which causes the molecules to turn—like passing a strong magnet over a group of weaker magnets.

While some people have concerns about potential health risks associated with microwave ovens, the levels of radiation emitted by a microwave during operation is rated by the FDA as being safe for humans. It is also a non-ionizing form of radiation which is not associated with cancer risk. Microwaves are also used for wireless internet access, broadcasting, cable TV, and mobile phones. Like television and computer screens, which we all know to emit radiation, I definitely think the benefits of using microwave ovens outweigh the risks.

Some Non-Pecuniary Benefits of Using a Microwave Oven

• Less risks of burns—A microwave oven only heats the food it cooks and not its own parts, so you do not have dangerously hot surfaces to mind during and after cooking. Cookware in the microwave is heated by the food they contain and are not as hot as cookware removed from stove or oven.
• Less risk of food poisoning—A microwave is the fastest means of bringing food temperature from the safe cold zone (below 40˚ F) to the safe hot zone (above 170˚ F). By reducing the time your food spends in the in-between temperature which germs love, you consume less bacterial toxins (which may remain in the food even after the bacteria are killed).
• Less cancer risk—A microwave oven cooks by heating water contained in foods and so does not form carcinogens from charring as cooking on stove or oven.

Safety Reminders

• NEVER EVER cook with the microwave door open. Most ovens don’t allow it, but there may be a rare exception or old model. You might end up cooking yourselves. Make sure your kids know this.
• Never allow small pets near or in the microwave oven.
• Metal utensils in the microwave may cause sparking, changing normal air into harmful gases. Check teabags for metal staples before putting in the microwave. Also Watch out for foil-lined packages and metallic paints on ceramics.
• Beware of excessively heated water and liquids. Overheated contents may explode when surface tension is broken. Always hold microwaved containers of water far from your face (and other people) and drop in your first spoonful of coffee at an arms length. If you think you have heated something too long, let it sit and cool undisturbed in the oven for a minute or two.

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I know this seems strange considering that I am currently holding a 2009 Financial Resolutions Blog Contest, but I don’t do new year’s resolutions anymore. Sure I still make general decisions/goals/plans/etc. for my life, but I no longer pin them down to specific years.

In years past I have set new years resolutions only to forget them within a month, and have come to the belief that, unless you’re one of the rare breed that always succeeds exactly where and when you say on a whim, setting specific goals with “reach-by dates” might be more of a pitfall than a step forward. The act of failing repeatedly at too-ambitious goals could cause you to give up on self-improvement altogether.

So I have resolved to not set specific “new year’s goals” for myself as I might have done in previous years. For example, I have been known to resolve to lose 20 pounds by my birthday, which is in March. You can easily guess how that always turned out. Can anyone healthily lose 20 pounds in under 3 months? In fact, I haven’t weighed 20 pounds less since the 8th Grade, so it may not even be an improbability.

I can’t remember what some of my other resolutions have been, which in itself must say something. But I do remember at least a few years when I have written down an impressive list of resolutions on New Year’s Eve, only for them to fall by the wayside by the end of January, if they even lasted that long.

New Year’s Resolutions Aren’t for Everyone

Does this reek of underachievement-ism? Perhaps. But this comes after almost 30 years of overachievement-ism and extremism. I am one of those people who have a tendency for the extreme. I’m not talking bungee jumping or skydiving, but simply that I tend to go all out when I decide to do something, often to my own detriment.

For example, if you read my No-Budget System post, you will see how extreme I can be when it comes to dieting. There have been times in my past when I have starved myself in an attempt to lose weight. These spurts of starvation never lasted very long, but they weren’t healthy. So, for someone of an extreme nature, like myself — Type A, perfectionist — new year’s resolutions aren’t the way to go. In fact, my constant goal should be maintaining moderation in all things.

Now, when it comes to resolutions, I follow in the fashion of our No-Budget System and not set specific limits or achievements, but simply resolve to do better. There is no rule that everything be perfected or completed by December 31, 2009 or some other significant date, but simply that I will make improvements.

Fitness Goals

One of my biggest goals is to exercise regularly. Unlike years past, I no longer set a goal to lose n pounds by a certain date, because that can lead to unhealthy behavior such as undereating or overexercising. I simply plan to exercise regularly and eat moderately, but I don’t dictate what I cannot eat or exactly how many hours per day I must exercise. I look at extra hours of exercise I get in as a bonus and not a requirement.

Personal Goals

I will continue to try to further my studies and abilities in languages, music, work-related skills and others.

I have been wanting to learn Italian for some years now, but have never gotten around to it. Last week, I discovered a website for learning languages and have signed on to study Italian. The fact that it coincided with the new year was a coincidence and I’m not setting a goal for fluency by the end of the year, but simply that I will do my best to learn as much as I can and without a “complete-by” date, because there is no such thing as a point where there is nothing more to be learned.

In fact, while I consider myself to be a native English speaker, a status some might view as knowing everything there is to know about the language, only last night did I make a new connection and realize the origin of an English word. So, learning a new skill, such as a musical instrument or language is not something that can be wholly completed by a set date.

Financial Goals

For the most part, we will continue to live as we did last year, living as frugally as we can, saving as much as we can for the future and looking for more ways to save.

* * *

In conclusion, I am of the belief that New Year’s Resolutions are a bad habit of the general populus. There shouldn’t be just one day of the year on which goals are set (January 1) and by which goals should be completed (December 31), as it leads to a cycle of planning and failing.

When one falls off the resolution wagon, one is likely to give up on all resolutions instead of just the one — an image of the list of resolutions crumpled and tossed in the trash comes to mind — until next Jan. 1 when it’s time to set new resolutions. One should feel free to set goals at any time of the year, with or without a “reach-by date,” with reasonable time for completion, if at all.

Of course, this isn’t true for everyone. I’m sure there are many out there for whom it works, and perhaps is necessary, to set new year’s resolutions. But everyone is different. What works for one person doesn’t necessarily work for another.

So if you’re one of those for whom it doesn’t work to set new year’s resolutions, look for other ways to achieve your goals. Some people need deadlines in order to get things done, some work better without them. Some might require a system of self-reward or self-flagellation (in other words “the carrot or the stick.”) Don’t give up on goals entirely, just look for a system that works for you.

What are your thoughts? Do you set New Year’s Resolutions? If so, do you stick to them? If not, why?

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One of the regimes we tried when we were still living in Hawaii was getting up very early in the morning and riding our bikes (which we bought for this very purpose) to feed our horse who was stabled 3 miles away. We pedaled as fast as we could there and back before going to work in the morning. This worked great for about a week until one morning when we got caught in a rainstorm of biblical proportions, with winds that reduced our speed to a crawl, and I was sick for a week. We never did this again.

We also spent a few months, from December 2002 through April 2003, running 5 miles a night after work. We lost a lot of weight, but oftentimes it was extremely unpleasant as we did this at night and the Hawaiian winter weather was highly unpredictable (well Hawaiian weather all year round is) with high winds and sudden rain. After moving to California, we decided the best way to get our exercise would be to be able to do it at home any time of day or night, regardless of the weather, and also because the first neighborhood we lived in wasn’t somewhere we wanted to be walking or running outside.

Our Mini Home Gym

We went to Walmart and picked up an foldable motorized treadmill for $200. For a motorized treadmill, this machine is very small and easy to store. When we’re done working out, we just fold it up and push it into a corner. It also has adustable incline and speed, and progress display of distance and calories. Unfortunately, this kind of treadmill is no longer available for $200 as that was 5 1/2 years ago, but more advanced models of the same brand are now available for around $400 (Weslo Cadence C44 Treadmill), still a decent price for a treadmill. Manual folding treadmills (without motors) like the one pictured to the left are also available for a little over $100 these days.

The winter after buying our treadmill, we also bought one of these pedal exercisers for under $30 (nowadays around $36). As can be expected from the price, it was simply constructed but it had adjustable resistance and worked extremely well; I could feel a difference in my legs within hours. We took this pedal exerciser on a trip to visit relatives and our grandmother liked it so much that she asked us to leave it for her.

A couple of years later, we added a recumbent stationary bike with magnetic resistance which we bought for $100 (again from Walmart) to our home gym. We love this bike and have pedaled thousands of miles on it while watching movies at home. This bike has lasted amazingly long, considering it has worked days as long as 10-12 hours during our Horatio Hornblower movie marathon last Christmas. The belt finally broke a few weeks ago after years of hard service, but we can still pedal without resistance, which means very fast pedaling (something I have find more fun than pedaling slower with resistance). Nowadays, it looks like these can be had for around $160: Phoenix 99608 Magnetic Recumbent Exercise Bike

We added this more advanced fitness mini cycle to our home gym this winter so that we can have resistance pedaling again, and we can both pedal when we don’t feel like getting on the treadmill. What we like most about this bike is that it doesn’t take up much room and we can easily move it where we want to so we can pedal while reading, watching TV or playing games at the table. This mini bike can also be set on a chair or table for working the arms. It comes with an LED monitor for counting calories, reps, time and distance, which is helpful.

For our anaerobic exercise, we have a few hand weights which we use while watching movies to work our biceps, triceps, deltoids, transverse abdominals and forearms.

Saving Money, Time and Gas

So, for an initial investment of a few hundred dollars, you can end up saving thousands from gym membership fees and get your exercise whenever you want without having to leave your house. If you drive to go to a gym, you can save gas as well. Watching movies is one of our hobbies, so we can feel justified in buying some new DVDs once in a while because they help to keep us entertained during our exercise sessions.

Getting More Exercise

Some may argue that exercising artificially on a machine and in front of the television isn’t as healthy or beneficial as doing so in the open air. This may be true if the open air isn’t near traffic and smog emissions. But it definitely is better than no exercise at all. I know that I get a lot more exercise with our home gym because having the equipment right here makes it so much easier to just jump on and work out. If it weren’t here, I’d probably be lying in bed reading or sitting at the computer all the time instead of just some of the time.

When you don’t feel like leaving the warmth of your house to go running, or to drive to the gym, consider investing in some modestly priced exercise equipment. Having exercise equipment conveniently at home will help you stay in shape because:

• it eliminates a step or two of preparation that you would have to take in order to workout outside of your home
• you can space out your workouts for maximum calorie burn without having to squeeze everything into one time slot, and
• you don’t have to worry about how you look while working out and can do so in your underwear if you so desire.

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The Thanksgiving and Christmas dinners are no doubt the 2 of the most looked forward to occasions in America. I know they’re my favorites. But over the years, I have to come find that while I very much enjoy the dinners, they are not without consequences – mainly the side effects of overindulgence: an “enhanced” figure and sometimes acid indigestion.

One serving of turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes, gravy, cranberry sauce, yams, a roll and pie (which is what we usually have) is often more than my stomach can comfortably hold, and I am full in 5 minutes. Yet, it all tastes so good that I often can’t help going back for seconds, which I inevitably regret. And I am sure I’m not alone in this.

So I thought I would offer a few tips for those not opposed to a little deviation from the regular sit-down Thanksgiving dinner. I am not suggesting substitute foods – like mashed cauliflower for mashed potatoes or adding heaps of bran to the dressing, both of which we have tried in the past (while the latter wasn’t so bad, the first was rather disastrous as I believe we also mashed yam in with the cauliflower – yuck).

What I am suggesting is a different way of eating. It is easy to overeat when you’re sitting around a table heaped with goodies because you don’t really feel how full you are when sitting down. Also, it takes about 20 minutes for your brain to receive the signal from your stomach that it is full. So here are a few suggestions to help you save your waistline and avoid the need for Tums or Alka-Seltzer.

Tips to Prevent Overeating and Weight Gain at Thanksgiving or Christmas

• Have a buffet style dinner

  Having to stand up to get second helpings will help you to gauge how full you are.

• Use smaller plates

  Using smaller plates will help avoid the “eyes are bigger than your stomach” syndrome. Also, if you take less on the first helping, you can justifiably go back for seconds and feel satisfied that you got to have 2 helpings without over-stuffing yourself.

• Use smaller serving utensils

  Use regular tablespoons (or teaspoons if you’re really serious) instead of large serving spoons. This will help avoid huge helpings.

• Picnic-style instead of sit-down dinner

  Instead of eating everything in one sitting, keep the “buffet” open and everyone can graze and hang out over the course of an afternoon and/or evening.

• Break before dessert

  Instead of segueing directly to dessert, take a little break. Even just sitting around and chatting for a while to let your stomach digest a little helps. Or consider a few of the following:

  • Going for a slow, relaxing family walk
  • Going early Christmas caroling
  • Playing a game like charades that encourages mild movement

Again, these suggestions deviate from the traditional sit-down family dinner. If you’re a stickler for tradition, they might not work for you. Rather, they’re for those open to a little change and wish to avoid overeating, which is so easily done at these occasions, this holiday season.

Happy Thanksgiving!

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The Holidays are fun, or they’re supposed to be, but sometimes it gets hard to remember that when you have people coming over and a hundred things to get done on time. A good way to take some pressure off when hosting a large Holiday dinner party is to have a Party-Preparation Party the day or a couple of days before the actual event.

When you issue an invitation to your home for a Holiday dinner or party, friends and family usually ask if they can do anything to help. If you have your hands full, take them up on it to relieve some of the stress of hosting a dinner or party. Close friends and family usually won’t mind lending a hand or seeing your house a little messy; in fact, they would probably prefer to help out than not, so they don’t feel guilty for letting you do all the work.

To make things easier for you on the day of the main event, ask them if they would be willing to come over the day before to help you prepare by cutting vegetables and preparing things for cooking or baking the next day. They could also help put up decorations or tidy up the house a little.

One year, our cousin was having a Thanksgiving dinner party and Madoline and I went over and spent an evening cutting vegetables and straightening up for him (he lives with a brother and they were a little messy). We had a good time hanging out in the kitchen, something we didn’t get a lot of chance to do because we all had busy lives, so it was fun and the work didn’t feel like work.

If you’re hosting dinners and parties this year and feel a little overwhelmed, give it a try. Most of us already have our hands full during non-Holiday seasons, so don’t be embarrassed if you need a little help around the Holidays. And you can make the preparation fun by turning it into a party of sorts.

Instead of making it just a cook and clean session, schedule in a little rest and relaxation too. Remember, the point of all this is to help relieve stress in preparing for the main event, so it’s not supposed to be a fancy to-do. If you’re not hosting a dinner or party this year but someone close to you is, suggest the idea to them.

Hosting a Party-Preparation Party

• Choose a few close friends and relatives that you are comfortable having around when the house isn’t perfect, who are comfortable with each other, and whom you are comfortable asking for help.
• Put on fun music to listen and sing to while you’re working.
• Have some snacks and drinks around (easy snacks that don’t need preparation – i.e. cookies.)
• Take breaks to chat and enjoy each others’ company.
• When you’ve finished your preparations, have a drink – tea, coffee, hot chocolate or eggnog – and some dessert to unwind a little before they go home.

Everyone will probably be busy and in a hurry to be somewhere or do something from now through New Year’s Day, but it’s important to take some time to relax.

Research has shown that heart-related illnesses claim more lives during the Holiday Season than other times of the year. Researchers attribute this to changes in diet, increased alcohol consumption and emotional stress; they also speculate that people tend to delay treatment because they’re busy. (Deaths Peak During Hoiday Season)

So remember, the Holidays are meant to be a celebration. If you’re feeling stressed, don’t be afraid to ask for help. After all that’s what friends are for. And friends are what the Holdays are all about.

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Life is too short to sleep on low thread-count sheets.

- Leah Stussy

I came across this thought-provoking quote the other night while looking up quotes for my Tumblr page (where I am collecting sayings I come across or that describe my mood on a particular day) and thought it would make a great topic for a blog post.

This quote addresses the frugal-liver’s age-old dilemma of price versus quality. Oftentimes, we are so used to saving money that we automatically go for what costs the least. But with experience, we learn that there is a price to pay for low-priced things. And that price is quality.

So most of us learn to balance price and quality and learn when it is prudent to pinch pennies, and when it’s not. The question of thread-count, however, had never really crossed my mind. In the past several years, whenever shopping for bed linens, we’ve always stuck to the Mainstay and Martha Stewart section of the department and picked out the most affordable (but attractive) sets.

When we moved to California from Hawaii (where we reluctantly disposed of our 12 year old childhood mattresses), in the name of frugality, instead of buying mattresses we opted for a foam mattress top pad wrapped inside a comforter. This “mattress” was set on top of a pallet we constructed of slats of pine boards spaced 4 inches apart and fitted into our bed frames. We were quite pleased with ourselves for having solved our mattress dilemma for a mere $30 per person.

As you can no doubt guess, this isn’t the most comfortable set up for an optimal night’s sleep. After a while, our “mattresses” began to sink between the slats, which can sometimes make for uncomfortable sleeping. (This arrangement is, however, very convenient if you move a lot as it is light and easily disassembled for DIY moving.) As we have accumulated comforters over the years, I have added an extra layer around my foam pad, and when the slats begin to feel very prominent, I lift up my “mattress” and give it a little fluffing to revive it.

While we never meant for this arrangement to be permanent, we have slept in this fashion for over 5 years now. I have complained more than once about this slightly uncomfortable arrangement over the years and talked of buying a real mattress. But I always come to the same conclusion: that we have done with it for x years and are doing just fine, so why spend all the money and go through the hassle of shopping for, purchasing and arranging delivery of actual mattresses?

I wrote a post several months ago titled Early to bed and early to makes a man [or woman] healthy, wealthy and wise wherein I talked about the effects of a good night’s sleep on one’s productivity and health. So this quote got me thinking that perhaps spending more on higher quality bedding that promotes better rest could enhance and improve one’s quality of life, work and health.

For example, think about the last time you slept in a nice hotel bed with a firm mattress, fluffy pillows and crisp, heavy linens and how relaxing and restful it was to lie and sleep on it. If every night’s sleep at home could be like that, imagine how much better you could feel, and as a result be more productive and feel better throughout the day.

I’m not saying that I’m going right out and buy myself some fancy Cloud 9 (or whatever they’re called) mattress, 900 thread-count sheets and feather pillows. But the next time I shop for bedding, I will consider the possibility that spending a little more for quality might pay for itself by giving me a better night’s sleep so that I can be optimally rested and alert for a good day’s work each day.

How about you? What are your thoughts on the quality of sleep and its effects on your productivity? Would you justify spending more on bedding in the hopes of being able to work better and earn more? Or forget it and just stick with the double shot of espresso for breakfast?

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Tiny leaks and evaporation put a constant drain on your resources. As discussed in our previous post, From Pennies One Million Dollars Grow, a few cents saved here and there can add up to be a significant amount. Here we offer 101 suggestions for plugging expenditures in various aspects of your life – around the house, in your personal care, transportation, recreation and more. Most of these ideas we currently use or have applied in the past.

101 Drops in the Bucket

Saving on Utilities

• Minimize electricity use during peak hours (weekdays during work hours). Do laundry, use hot water, etc. in the evenings.
• Cook enough for several meals at once.
• Turn off the tap when brushing your teeth.
• Turn off shower when shampooing and soaping.
• Work or read in the same room with family members or roommates to consolidate light usage.
• Take advantage of natural daylight to get your work done. Sleep when it’s dark, get up as soon as it is light (before sunrise).
• Hold off on personal phone calls that can wait until evenings and weekends when rates are lower or free.
• Wash things on the lawn to water the grass at the same time.
• Water the lawn or garden in the early morning or after sundown. Skip watering on windy days.
• Use curtains to keep your house cool in summer and warm in winter.
• Keep thermostat lower in the winter and wear extra layers.
• Don’t separate colors in your laundry; instead, hand wash items that bleed. This way, you can reduce the number of loads. Saves water, electricity and soap.
• Keep thermostat as high as can be tolerated in summer without harming your pets, antiques and musical instruments.
• Drink lots of cold water to keep cool and reduce need for air conditioning.
• Turn off air conditioning in late afternoon, open doors and windows and turn on fans.
• Using ceiling fans in summer and winter (reverse directions to push warm air down).
• For laundry, set a shorter dryer time. It’s better to have to do a touch up instead of using unnecessary gas or electricity. You’d be surprised how little time some clothing need to dry. If taken out still warm, damp things can still air dry quite quickly.
• Cancel cable, purchase a few DVDs a month (which cost less than cable and leave you with an asset) and watch current shows online at Hulu or network channel websites.

Saving on Food and Health

• Eat smaller portions to avoid waste and overindulgence.
• Eat foods of substance that hold you over longer (i.e. proteins).
• Take baking soda instead of over-the-counter antacids (unless you have other health conditions that are affected by sodium intake).
• Put away leftover food immediately to prevent spoilage.
• Do not overfill refrigerator as food goes bad faster due to poor air circulation.
• Do house and yard work for exercise.
• Get an exercise bike for $150-$200 or pedal exerciser for under $20 and some hand weights instead of a gym membership.
• Water down juice to reduce caloric and sugar intake as well as make the juice last longer.
• Make a pot of tea with a teabag instead of just one cup.
• Opt for stainless steel silverware and cookware without plastic parts as they last indefinitely.
• Use a hand whisk instead of electric egg beater to burn calories and save money.
• When baking – cakes, casseroles, etc. – use a cookie sheet instead of aluminum foil to cover the pan or casserole dish.
• Combine a box of Jell-O with a pack of unflavored Knox Gelatin for lower sugar content and cost.
• Buy quart-size yogurt instead of individual serving cups. They often cost $2.00 per container and save a lot.
• (Cont. from #78) When finished with the yogurt, save the container for storing food, cut fruits and leftovers, or use for various projects around the house such as mixing paint.
• Bring treats home. For example:
• (Example 1 for #80) Instead of going out for ice cream, buy a gallon and a pack of cones and enjoy several ice cream cones at the same cost.
• (Example 2 for #80) Instead of ordering delivery pizza, bring home a frozen pizza. The most deluxe frozen pizza such as Freschetta still costs a lot less than delivery plus tip.
• If you cannot decide between a low-carb and low-fat diet, low-fat is usually cheaper.

Saving on Household

• Use old clothing to make rags, pillows, blankets and pet beds.
• Use a home dry cleaning kit instead of a professional dry cleaner.
• Use less laundry detergent unless your clothes are very dirty to extend the life of your clothing.
• Turn clothing inside-out when washing to preserve the appearance.
• Use rubbing alcohol to sanitize doorknobs, exercise equipment, refrigerator handles, etc.
• Hold the insecticide. When you see an ant or other little bug, wipe it away with a soapy sponge and discourage further visits by cleaning thoroughly and caulking any cracks and entry points.
• Use rubbing alcohol to kill insects such as ants, spiders, gnats, silverfish.
• Use vinegar to kill tougher and larger insects. Vinegar in a spray bottle is also the best and cleanest fly swatter.
• Use vinegar in place of more expensive cleaners.
• When the oven is on, set dishes or other items to dry on top of or near the oven (keep safety in mind).
• Repaint or varnish furniture you already own for a new look or to give it second life.
• If throwing or cutting up old clothes, salvage buttons, zippers, drawstrings, bows and re-usable trims for mending other clothing.
• Rinse dishes before soaping to save dish detergent.
• When doing dishes, put the dirtiest at the bottom so that soap and water can run over them while you’re washing other easier dishes first.
• If you dry your hands or face on a paper towel, set it aside for cleaning floors and other things.
• Use cold water to clean on hot days to prevent getting overheated and save electricity or gas.
• Follow the The Life Stages of a Dish Sponge not only for sponges, but towels, clothing and anything else that applies.
• Use plastic shopping bags instead of buying trash bags. The small size will also encourage you to take the garbage out more often.
• Use small holiday buckets that can be purchased half-price (around 25¢-50¢) after a holiday for trash cans/waste baskets or cleaning buckets. These small buckets can be set on the counter near the kitchen sink to keep dogs out of the trash.
• Water down dish and hand soap. You often pump out more than you need.
• Learn to perform minor repairs around your home such as lighting a pilot light, replacing a thermocouple, etc. (We once saved $70 by changing the thermocouple on our water heater ourselves instead of calling a repairman.)
• Redye color-worn clothing to give a second life. Fabric dyes can be purchased in the laundry section.
• To save your septic system, instead of pouring cooking oils down the drain, pour them into empty glass or plastic bottles, close tightly and throw away.
• To extend the life of your septic system and reduce frequency of pumping, throw toilet paper in a trash can lined with shopping bags (and take it out everyday).
• Instead of replacing your pillow, launder in hot water and dry on thoroughly on high heat (to kill dust mites). You can even cut one seam open, fluff the material by hand, and sew it shut. No one will notice if your stitching is untidy. Consider a pillow cover if you suffer from allergies.
• Use pillow and mattress covers to prolong the life of your bedding and facilitate easier cleaning especially if you have pets or children.
• Use a push reel lawn mower. It is cheaper to buy, efficient to store, requires no fuel, has fewer parts to maintain and repair, and provides for refreshing and fun exercise.
• Use a wind-up clock instead of a battery or electric clock.

Saving on Personal Care

• Opt for a low maintenance and shorter hair style to save on shampoo and hair products.
• Make bar soap last longer by unwrapping and letting it dry for about a week before using it. (You could set it in your closet during this time to make things smell fresh.)
• In personal grooming, wherever practical, pluck instead of wax as a one-time purchase of a good pair of tweezers lasts for years.
• While using a facial scrub, exfoliate your hands (and maybe even your elbows) before rinsing off.
• Accept free samples of products that you use and would purchase – soap, deodorant, shampoo, lotions, etc. – so long as it doesn’t require you to pay money or register for some sort of membership. A sample is usually enough for several uses and can put off need to purchase them.
• Dry your hair naturally to save electricity, heat damage to hair, and sweating. In cooler weather, wear a small towel, scarf, or flannel cap until hair is almost completely dry.
• Curl your hair without electricity. Cut rectangular strips from an old t-shirt, roll up sections of damp hair and tie in a knot. This method has been used for many centuries and gives a very charming style of curl. Mousse can be applied before curling if desired.
• Keep good quality ribbons from gift wrap and packaging (such as for candy, food, and cosmetics) and use these as hair ties for securing the ends of braids, tying a bow over a plain rubber band, or stitching hair styles on your head (with a blunt needle).

Saving on Hobbies, Recreation and Entertainment

• If there are 2 or more of you, wait for the DVD release of a film instead of going to the theater, especially if you like to watch a film more than once. The purchase of 1 DVD is less than the cost of 2 movie tickets.
• Buy DVDs instead of renting. You may see fewer films in a year, but will have assets to reuse or resell.
• If you have a piano, consider learning to tune it yourself, which can save about $160 a year. The one-time purchase of a good tuning kit and manual is about $110. Tools could be had for less, but good tools will better prevent damage. Refer to: Tuning Your Own Piano: A Skill With Many Unexpected Benefits
• Use the library to borrow books, audiobooks and music and rent movies for $1-$2 a week. See The Library Card: Your Other “Rewards Credit Card” for more ways your library can save you money.
• Buy a small potted Christmas tree instead of a large “dead” one. When Christmas is over, plant it in your yard to increase your property value or keep it for next year.
• If you need paper for crafts and projects, request paper at the grocery store checkout. We used to use paper bags for testing clothing sewing patterns. Horse feed bags are great for patterns, too.
• Use reading as a frugal leisure activity that will improve your writing, grammar, and vocabulary which is advantages in all walks of life. The Frugal Literate’s Guide to Affordable Reading.
• Stop paying for classes, lessons, and activities if you or your children do not attend, practice, or enjoy them enough. A break might revive motivation or provide a chance to discover new interests and talents.

Saving on Shopping

• Shop online whenever possible and take advantage of free and low shipping costs to save gas and time.
• When shopping, always check unit prices. Don’t be deceived by packaging size.
• Don’t buy junk food if you’ll regret it eating it.
• Use cash back rewards credit cards wherever and whenever you can.
• Try to limit purchases to things of lasting value such as books, classic literature, reference books, classical music, conservative fashions and acoustic instruments instead of electric.
• Purchase furniture made of real wood and not laminate or particle board. If items contain particle board, at least make sure the framing is constructed of solid wood. Particle boards will bow, causing shelves to collapse, and swell and become permanently damaged when wet.
• Choose latex and rubber toys for your dogs. They outlast plush toys by several years and are more sanitary.

Saving on Miscellaneous

• Use online postage printing and carrier pickup for mailing packages.
• Turn of wrist watches when not wearing them to save the battery.
• Pick up all loose change.
• Use open source software.
• Resist pressure from peers and solicitors to donate to causes you do not feel strongly for or cannot afford.
• Close your bank account and open a credit union account with higher dividends, no minimum balance, unlimited free teller visits and checks, and fee-free accounts. Why Credit Unions Instead of Banks
• Choose credit cards with no annual fees. You could be spending or earning interest on that money.

Saving on Transportation

• Walk wherever and whenever you can.
• Consolidate errands.
• Plan your route to avoid left turns when driving.
• When driving, take your foot off the gas when anticipating a stop ahead.
• Park in the first vacant space you find.
• Plan downhill routes to and from your destinations.

Hurrah! We made it!

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Food safety practices should actually apply all year round, but in summer and any time of warm weather, regular precautions might not be enough. For example, you might be able to leave food unrefrigerated for several hours in February without seeing any major effects, but the same practice may not work for you in August when the environment is warmer and bacteria multiply faster. Also, just because you can’t see any change, it doesn’t mean it’s not there.

Everyone knows that food goes bad, but it occurs to me that the average person might not be privy to all the specific details. Madoline and I worked in the very non-glamourous industry of food services for about 10 months in 2003 (more details in Our Family Financial History). When first hired, we had to go through food safety training and learned a lot of things that we otherwise may never have known had we not happened to get jobs in the industry.

Practicing safe food handling and storage will not only save you money by preventing food waste from spoiling, but more importantly, it will protect your family’s health. For some of you, it might be common sense, but my experience with the general public and relatives is that these are things the average person is simply not aware of. I won’t go into detail about bacteria and all that fun stuff; this is just a basic introduction to food safety.

Hand-Washing

These hand-washing practices should apply everywhere, not just in the kitchen, and especially when using the restroom – and even more importantly, when using a public restroom.

• Before handling food – be it preparing, eating or storing – wash your hands.
• Wash your hands in hot water and with an anti-bacterial soap.
• When finished washing your hands, do not use your hands to turn off the tap. Whatever bacteria was on your hands (and the hands of every other person who used the sink before you) is also on the faucet handle.
  • When in your own home and you are able to control the cleanliness of the facilities, this may not be as vital as opposed to a public facility. When at home, I often use my wrist or forearm to turn off the tap after washing my hands.
  • When in public, use the paper towel with which you dry your hands to turn off the tap – after drying your hands on it. Yes, it leaves the water running for a few seconds longer, but it keeps your hands germ-free. I also use the same paper towel to open restroom exit doors before disposing of it. This may seem overly paranoid, but you never know when you’re in public what other people have touched and left on a door handle or faucet for you to pick up (and later ingest).
• If using a towel, make sure the hand-drying towel is clean and used only for hand-drying. Change them frequently as damp towels in warm weather can mildew quickly. If using paper towels, make sure the paper towel roll is clean – hasn’t fallen on the floor, isn’t often handled when hands are dirty or used for cleaning around the house.

Some people may call this behavior paranoid or obsessive-compulsive, but it is important to be aware that bacteria is transferred by touching. This is an important factor when it comes to safe food handling. When working in food services, we were taught that if your hands touch anything that has not been sanitized, they are dirty and must be washed again before handling food.

Food Preparation & Storage

• When preparing hot food, it should be heated to above 170° F (77° C). If you don’t have a food thermometer, a good way make sure it is sufficiently hot would be to heat to boiling point, which is 212° F (100° C).
• Try not to leave hot food sitting out for longer than 2 hours.
• Try to keep hot food above 140° F (60° C) if not being consumed within 2 hours to keep bacteria from multiplying too fast.
• Cold foods and meats should be stored at temperatures below 40° F (60° C).
• After 2 hours, store the food in the refrigerator.
• Always wash your hands before and after handling raw meat, poultry, fish and dairy.
• Use an anti-bacterial dish detergent – at least for items used in preparing meats.

We’ve probably all left food out for more than 2 hours and have never gotten sick from eating it. I myself have done it and still do it sometimes, despite knowing the rules. But I feel is important to be aware of the correct practices and keep them in mind when dealing with food.

And remember that bacteria multiply faster in warm environments. So try to take more precautions than you usually would when handling and storing foods in warm weather. Teach your family the importance of good hand-washing and food safety habits. For the whole family to be healthy, it is important for each member to do his or her part.

One Last Tidbit – Grocery Shopping Carts

Shopping carts are one of the germiest things to be found in public. According to an article on ABC New, shopping cart handles have more germs than a public restroom. People touch it after handling food and money; kids stand or sit in them and teethe on them; food, raw meat juices and milk leak in them; birds poo on them in the parking lot; etc. It seems grocery stores have become more aware of cleanliness issues in recent years and some now offer sanitizing wipes for shopping carts.

When we lived in L.A. there was only one store in our neighborhood that offered cleansing wipes for shopping carts. Their prices were higher, but we often opted to shop there just because of it. If your grocery store doesn’t offer sanitation wipes, suggest it to the manager. Our local grocery store offers them and I always wipe down my shopping cart upon entering. The amount of black gunk that comes off it really quite frightening.

These were just a few basics garnered from from memory of training I received 5 years ago. For more information on food safety, visit FoodSafety.gov.

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f this is your first time here, please have a look around and consider subscribing to our RSS feed. Be sure to also check out

Madoline and I have a fondness for history and all things old, so the theme for today’s carnival is “Old Money.” While credit cards, online banking and checks are great modern commodities, they just don’t have the charm of good, old fashioned money – in other words, cash. We hope you enjoy this tour through United States Treasury history and the art to be found in currencies of the past.

1934 $100,000 USD Bill (Woodrow Wilson)

Editor’s Picks

• PT presents 9 Tips For Going To One Income.
• Twenties Money Magazine presents My College Sold Me Out.
• Toni presents Happy with What We Don’t Have.
• The Investor presents How a boring broker will make you richer.
• Karen presents Spending money can save your money.

1918 $10,000 USD Bill (Salmon P. Chase)

Frugality & Saving Money

• FIRE Getters presents Top 5 Freebie Websites!
• Amy Hobbs presents How to turn three slices of turkey into brunch.
• Ryan Suenaga presents Can a GPS Pay for Itself?
• Wilfrid presents Air Leak Detection – Leak Testing – Leak Stopping.
• Grey presents Making the CFL Switch.

1918 $5,000 USD Bill (James Madison)

Shopping

• Pamela Grundy presents Best Buy Coupons, Promotions and Savings.
• mbhunter presents If you love Amazon, you’ll really love Amazon Prime.
• Amy L. presents Getting a Good Deal on Your Car Insurance.
• Tom Tessin presents The Secrets to Cheap Airline Tickets.
• Aryn presents New Strategies for Using Double Coupons.
• APFB presents Four Items to Buy Used.
• Madison presents Free Money From the U.S. Mint.

1928 $1,000 USD Bill (Grover Cleveland)

Money Management

• Ariel Ozick presents 3 Dumb Ways to Waste Your Money.
• Todd presents Budgeting Games (Finance Games #6).
• Curt presents Avoiding the Most Common Financial Mistakes.
• GBlogger presents My Personal Finance One Step, Two Step.
• Nickel presents A Peek Inside Our FNBO Direct Online Savings Account.

1928 $500 USD Bill (William McKinley)

Debt & Credit

• Silicon Valley Blogger presents Best Cash Back Credit Cards: Your Rewards For Spending.
• Mr Credit Card presents What to Do When Your Credit Card Debt Has Been Charged Off?
• Andy presents Too expensive to file for bankruptcy.
• CreditAddict presents No Fee 0% Balance Transfer Credit Card Offers.
• DMH presents 0% Balance Transfer Credit Card Offers.

1880 $100 USD Bill (Abraham Lincoln)

Economy

• Tejvan presents Why Boom and Busts are common in Housing Markets.
• Livingalmostlarge presents Perfection Guaranteed.
• RC presents Do Government Bailouts and Payouts Mean Higher Taxes in the Future?

1891 $50 USD Bill (Edward Everett)

Career

• Heather Johnson presents Guest Post: When Should You Quit Your Job?
• VH presents A$king and re¢eiving.
• Dorian Wales presents No Salvation from Productivity Improvements: The Failed 35 Hour Work Week Experiment and Work-Life Balance Examined.
• Kevin Surbaugh presents Making 401(k)’s Part of Your Job Hunt.

1905 $20 USD Bill (George Washington)

Investing

• Dividends4Life presents The MMA Rate Mystery Solved.
• Writers Coin presents Adding to the Mock Portfolio.
• Kevin presents Rebalanced My Roth 401k.
• Dividend Growth Investor presents Year-to-Date changes in Dividend Aristocrats’ annual payments to shareholders.
• The Financial Blogger presents Shifting Your Investments According To Your Tax Rate.
• RothIRA presents Roth IRA for Teenagers.
• Sandy Naidu presents Behavioral Finance – Investor Psychology – Behavioral Finance Stock Market Investment.
• FMF presents Using Your Health Savings Account as a “Super Roth” Investment Vehicle.
• Zach Scheidt presents MasterCard Incorporated (MA) – Growth Slowing.

1901 $10 USD Bill (Meriwether Lewis & William Clark)

Book Reviews

• Clare Kierans presents Money is What You Trade Your Life Energy For.
• Jim presents 547 Ways to be Fuel Smart by Roger Albright.

1886 $5 USD Bill (Ulysses S. Grant)

Other

• Steward presents A Frugal Shopping Tip That Leaves Everyone Smiling.
• J. Money presents 3 Things you should always keep in your wallet/purse/clip.
• Raymond presents How To Generate Valid Credit Card Numbers.
• Jamie presents Custom Wallet Giveaway from TheTrendySpot.com.
• Mr. Banker presents ABA Routing Codes to Link Online Accounts Together.

1862 First official $1 Bill of the United States (Salmon P. Chase)

This concludes the 26th Edition of the Money Hacks Carnival. Submit your blog article to the next edition of Money Hacks Carnival using our carnival submission form. Past posts and future hosts can be found on our blog carnival index page.

Technorati tags: money hacks carnival, blog carnival.

Related posts:

• Finance Blog Carnivals of Late
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I am also hosting the Money Hacks Carnival tomorrow, so be sure and check back for more great reads! If this is your first time here, please look around and consider subscribing to our RSS feed.

Now on with the carnival!

(AP Photo/Mark J. Terrill)

Editor’s Picks

• Silicon Valley Blogger presents Lost Money: How Money Drains Add Up To $175,000 In 10 Years.
• MoneyNing presents Frugally and Happily Back to School 9 Different Ways.
• Kevin Brink presents “Sale” Can Sometimes be Just Another Four Letter Word.
• ISPF presents 10 Tips to Get Anyone into the Habit of Cooking at Home (Even if You Have Never Stepped into the Kitchen Before).
• Savingadvice presents Reached Financial Independence. Now What?

The Frugal Lifestyle

• David presents 25 Frugal Ways To Reuse Everyday Household Items.
• Kate presents Time Well Spent.
• HowToMe presents How To Make a Washing Stick to Pamper Ones’ Hands.
• RC presents Making the Conscious Choice to Get By With Less.
• Anna presents Not by Bread Alone.
• Kacie presents Frivolous or frugal to outsource tasks?

(AP Photo/Itsuo Inouye)

Frugal Family Activities

• Joanne presents Make Stuff Your Kids Can Play With.
• K presents Five Frugal Toys Using Food.
• Aryn presents 10 Frugal Anniversary Ideas (That Are Also Romantic).
• Ryan Suenaga presents Frugal, Fun, and Healthy: Five Outdoor Activities.
• DJ presents Camping on a Dime.
• Faron Benoit presents 10 Cheap Date Night Ideas.

Saving on Food: Groceries, Cooking & Dining

• Tiffanie presents 13 tips on how to maximize grocery shopping.
• FIRE Getters presents Top 5 Ways To Trim Our Grocery Bills!
• Jamie McIntosh presents Save Money With Organic Produce.
• Grey presents 5 Breakfast Ideas for Brown Rice.
• Todd presents Save 20% On Restaurant Meals.
• Adam Berry presents The Frugal Approach to Cooking.
• Megan presents Saving the Economy by Dieting?

(AP Photo/Mark Baker)

Shopping Tips: Sales and Coupons

• Karen presents Does a tax holiday really equal savings?
• Erin Gifford presents 5 Ways to Save Money While Shopping Online.
• Briana presents Surviving the Checkout Lane with your coupons is a breeze if you arm yourself with knowledge.
• Amy Hobbs presents Coupon Myths Debunked.
• Lisa Spinelli presents Six Money Saving Websites With Ongoing Big Fat Deals.

Spending and Budgeting

• Emily Starbuck Gerson presents Young British couple has ‘credit crunch wedding.’
• Rich Leverage presents How to Avoid Nickel and Diming Your Way to the Poorhouse.
• KCLau presents How a medium family can retire comfortably (Real Life Case Study).

(AP Photo/Mark J. Terrill)

Back to School Saving Tips

• Kris presents If I Had Known Then: Food and Financial Advice for the College-Bound (Also, a Story).
• Tom Tessin presents Shopping Tips for College Students.
• Madison presents Back to School Savings Challenge.
• Ben presents College Dorm Room Decor Ideas – How to Decorate Your Dorm on a Budget.
• squawkfox presents Printable Dorm Room Essentials Checklist.

Saving on Transportation

• Jim presents 547 Ways to be Fuel Smart by Roger Albright.
• Steve Faber presents Top 12 Cars With the Best Gas Mileage That are Actually Fun to Drive.
• Steward presents Bike Commuting Is Tough on the Tush.
• Curt presents How to Minimize Your Automobile Total Cost of Ownership.
• Penny Nickel presents The true costs of driving– how much could you save on transportation?
• Pamela Grundy presents Unbelievable Car Rental Deal! Thanks Alamo!

(AP Photo/Mark J. Terrill)

Personal Financial Journeys (Stories)

• Amanda Milne presents You Can Have Frugality and Quality of Life.
• NtJS presents What Is: The Smartest Advice You Ever Got – Mrs. NtJS’s Turn.
• The Happy Rock presents The little things…starting to trim the budget.
• APFB presents A Lifelong Money Lesson.

Miscellaneous Savings Tips

• J. Savings presents Avoid Overdraft Fees by Tying your Checking to your C/C.
• Chief Family Officer presents Money Saving Tip: Check the address for recurrent online payments.
• Amy presents 13 Uses for Vinegar.
• Shaula presents Finding Free WiFi.
• Livingalmostlarge presents Frugal Tip – Use CC to buy Gas.
• Randy presents 12 Free and Fantastic Windows Applications.
• Abby Freedman presents How to get something for nothing.
• Joseph presents Saving Money At Garage And Yard Sales.

(AP Photo/David J. Phillip)

Other

• Michael Geoffrey presents What Do You Believe About Money?
• Dorian Wales presents How to Invest Wisely In a Bear Market?
• Sandy Naidu presents Emergency Fund Savings – Emergency Fund Tips.
• Nina Smith presents Five Things Not Worth Repairing.
• Kevin presents Should You Invest in Visa? A 5 Month Update.
• Michael Cintolo presents In sickness and health (insurance).
• VH presents Is the Layoff Boom about to Fall?

(AP Photo)

That concludes this edition. Submit your blog article to the next edition of Festival of Frugality using our carnival submission form. Past posts and future hosts can be found on our blog carnival index page.

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While generic brand items, especially groceries, seem to have improved in recent years, there are still many things that you need to watch out for that may seem to save you money at the time of purchase but may end up costing you more in the long run.  With the advent of the Dollar Store, it has become very easy to find “bargains” on everyday personal and household things, but as we all know, cheapness and quality don’t always come hand in hand. Save yourself – money, time, aggravation and, most importantly, your family’s health – by not saving on the following things

9 Things to Not Skimp On

• Cheese

  A few cents per ounce can be the difference between delicious and gross. Luckily for us, the generic brand at our grocery store is really good. A lot of cheap brands of cheese are bulked up with potato starch which has a horrible texture.

• Shampoo and Conditioner

  Occasionally I fall for those 97¢ bottles of shampoo and conditioner because they smell like strawberries or coconuts. But experience has taught me that these yummy hair products promote an increasingly scruffy appearance. The difference in the quality of your hair after a single wash with a good shampoo is worth $3-$5 dollars a bottle. And a 40 oz. bottle of Pantene or Herbal Essence is very economical.

• Electronics

  Cheap electronics may save you money at the time of purchase, but it adds up when you have to make the purchase 3 or more times within the period that a well-made product would have served you. Not to mention the time lost and significant inconvenience. $20 or $30 more spent on a reliable brand will infinitely pay off in the long run.

• Batteries

  Cheap generic brand batteries don’t last as long as brand name batteries and may not be as well-constructed. Battery fluid is toxic so it is worth spending a few more dollars to make sure yours are leak proof, especially if you have children or pets.

• Household cleaners

  Kill germs, not your family. Cheap and little-known brands may cut corners and not list harmful ingredients. Overexposure to certain toxins lead to things like skin irritation, respiratory problems and cancer.

• Bakeware

  If you grease your pans and still have to pry out your food with a knife and spend more time scrubbing the pans than eating, upgrade your bakeware and you will be able to eat more of your baking.

• Dollar Store Pencils

  Dollar store brand pencils like “A+ Homework” will find you spending more time trying to sharpen the pencils than actually writing. The wood and lead are of such poor consistency that they splinter from beginning to end. If you are lucky enough to achieve the likeness of a sharpened pencil, it doesn’t write as well. And we won’t even go into the eraser.

• Pet Food

  Better quality pet foods will keep your pets healthier, improving your finances and quality of life. A pet with kidney disease, cancer, or other illness may cost you $1,000 or more a month. Poor diet in young animals may affect the development of joints, immune systems, and intelligence. I have also read that certain artificial food colors causes aggression in both people and animals.

• Human Food

  For the same reasons as pet food.

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I came across an interesting article on MSN Money last night titled Does money make you mean? which described a study conducted on a group of subjects who had been preconditioned to have money on their minds when various experiments were conducted. The study found that those with money on their minds tended to be more indifferent and less helpful toward others, preferring to do things on their own and waiting longer to ask for help when help was needed.

The Study

The “money primed” group was preconditioned by doing puzzles with money-related words, reading essays containing references to money, being shown posters of money and given play money and tokens to handle. This group was then combined with the control group (not preconditioned to think about money) in several staged situations. In one test, the group was assigned to complete a puzzle and told that help was available if asked for. Money-minded subjects waited longer to ask for help than the control subjects did. In another situation, a passer-by “accidentally” spilled a box of pencils on the floor and the test subjects were asked to help; those who had been “money primed” picked up fewer pencils. When asked to donate to a university student fund, “money primed” subjects gave less.

The researchers concluded that the money-minded subjects weren’t consciously being rude or selfish, but were simply indifferent, as if they didn’t know how to help out or couldn’t see themselves as having a role in someone else’s life.

This Sounds A Lot Like Me

When I read this, my first thought was that this sounded a lot like Madoline and me. Ever since moving to California and needing to live frugally, we have become very independent and tried to be as self-sufficient as possible. When something in our house breaks, we always try to fix it ourselves. When we find that we can’t do it on our own, we usually procrastinate a while before finally calling someone in to fix it. This is, of course, due to the fact that we are money-conscious and try to save whenever we possibly can. While we do not dislike being around other people, we also don’t actively seek to get involved socially.

At this time in our lives, most or all of our behavior is influenced by money. We do not have close family or friends whom we could go to for help if we needed it (because we have moved so much, we have lost touch with childhood friends and most of our classmates now live all over the world and have their own families). Because we don’t feel as if we can rely on people, money is the only thing that can guarantee our health and security.

Money Can Buy Happiness

My second thought after reading about this study was that this is natural survivalist behavior. In this day and age, one simply cannot survive without money. True, money can’t buy “Happiness” bottled and ready to go. But, money buys food, pays the mortgage and doctor’s bills. Money makes sure that our pets, who are our family, are well fed and taken care of. Money is what will keep us healthy and comfortable throughout our lives. And health and comfort play a big part in one’s happiness.

So, at this time, I’m afraid we are just as the research finds – indifferent and unhelpful (with the exception of this blog, hopefully) – not out of hate for others, but out of necessity to ensure our own future survival. As many others do, we dream of one day being financially free. We hope to one day be able to give to causes we believe in and even start charitable organizations of our own. But in order to be able to help others, we have to be able to help ourselves first.

Recommended reading: Does money make you mean?

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With the charms of summer also come not-so-charming and unwelcome visitors. With consistent 100+ degree weather in the desert we call home, 6- and 8-legged visitors (or really more like trespassers) are almost a regular part of life. But we have discovered a few safe and relative effective ways to keep the trespasser traffic under control without endangering our health or that of our children/pets Ludwig and Wolfgang.

Ways to Safely Repel and Kill Ants

Ants are the largest problem for us. In this desert, there are more types of ants than we have seen anywhere else we’ve lived – there are tiny red ants, medium ants, and jumbo ants (luckily the jumbo ones don’t see fit to come inside).

Prevention is the Best Medicine

The most basic, safest and easiest way to keep the ant traffic down is simply keeping the kitchen as clean as possible.

• Avoid leaving dirty dishes in the sink.
• Wash pots and pans immediately if you cook anything with meat or a lot of oil.
• Wipe the counters several times a day with soap. A minuscule crumb or little drop of something sweet can quickly bring a hoard of ants.
• Take out the kitchen trash everyday. Take out trash immediately if it contains meat, bones, greasy paper towels and napkins, meat packaging and sweet things.
• Avoid eating in bedrooms, and be careful of dropping crumbs in other rooms of the house.
• I’ve also found that having the air conditioner on helps.

Creepy Fact: When you dispatch an ant on duty, you are in fact killing a “she” and not an “it” (or “he”). Worker ants are all female. The males are only used for breeding.

Ways to Safely Kill Ants

Sometimes keeping clean doesn’t keep them away completely (scouts sometimes explore squeaky clean counters), or if you miss a crumb or two. If you have children or pets as we do, the fewer poisons you use around the house the better. Even if you don’t have children or pets, it is best to avoid using toxins as they will affect your health.

• Vinegar
  Vinegar is our preferred ant killer. It kills small ants almost immediately and is completely safe. Simply spray the ants and wipe them away.
• Yeast and Sugar
  Mix some dry yeast and sugar and leave it out in a place ants frequent. The sugar will attract the ants to the yeast, which once brought back to the nest and consumed, will expand in their bellies and kill them. This method might cease to work after a few times as the ants might wise up and avoid the yeast. Caution: Make sure the yeast is in a location that can’t be reached by your pet(s). It’s not poisonous, but ingestion can be dangerous.
• EcoSmart
  I recently discovered a natural and effective insecticide called EcoSmart, which is made of organic vanilla, cinnamon and rosemary oils. It kills ants and other insects on contact and smells nice while at it. It is also affordable at $3.87 per can at Walmart. This is the only commercial insect repellent and killer we use in our house.

Keep reading for tips on repelling and killing other insects (spiders, roaches, silverfish, etc.)

To Repel and Kill Other Insects (Spiders, Roaches, Silverfish, etc.)

Our main non-ant pest here is the black widow spider, which flourishes during the warm months. When we moved into our house in 2005, we were ecstatic to find that there were no roaches here. However, since then, many new houses have sprung up in the area and people moving in seem to have brought more than their kids and furniture with them. Starting late spring of this year, we have begun to see the first signs of cockroaches in the yard. Argh!

Really Creepy Fact: After a single mating the female cockroach may continue to produce multiple egg capsules for many months. The male cockroach may give the female an edible gift as part of courtship.

To prevent insects from frequenting or nesting in your home:

• Keep clutter down. Insects like hiding in boxes and among paper.
• Keep your yard free of dead leaves under which they can hide.
• Keep all food sealed tightly.
• Keeping humidity level down by having your air-conditioner on can help reduce cockroach population as they like humidity.

Ways to help repel insects:

• To keep them out of the house
  Spray EcoSmart (or your preferred repellent) around doorways, windows, and any other points of entry.
• To Keep them out of cabinets, drawers and closets
  • Remove the contents of your cabinet, drawers, etc. and spray EcoSmart into the storage space. Let it air-dry for a few hours and put contents back in the drawer when dry. There may be a little oiliness so be careful with delicate things.
  • Pouches filled with dried lavender flowers or cedar shaving (you can pick up a large pack in the pet section at Walmart fo $3.00) in your drawers can help keep insect population down. We like to use cotton, polyester, linen, and burlap fabrics, and you can get creative with your cedar pouches to make them look nice in your closets. For extra protection, you could spray the pouches with EcoSmart or some other safe repellent before putting in in your drawer. We also put a few pouches inside the bottom of our piano to discourage insects from nesting.

Creepy Fact: The average spider has eight eyes.

A few ways to safely kill insects:

• Vinegar
  Keep a spray bottle of vinegar handy. Not only is it a good safe cleaning agent but, it is also very effective for killing small to medium-sized insects.
• Isopropyl Rubbing Alcohol
  Rubbing alcohol (also kept in a spray bottle) is surprisingly effective on small to medium-sized bugs and spiders. We have not tried this on roaches though.
• Cleaning Agents
  For larger insects, spraying them with cleaning agents such as 409 and Lysol can kill them. While cleaning agents aren’t always the most eco-friendly things, I still prefer them over outright poisons such as Raid. My favorite is the 409 Multi-purpose Antibacterial Kitchen Cleaner, which we use for everything including floors, because I figure if it is designed for kitchen use, it should be a little safer than those not designed for kitchens. Be sure to completely wipe the area clean after to prevent children and pets from getting any on them.
• EcoSmart
  When the above don’t work quickly enough and that giant spider looks like it’s getting away, I pull out the EcoSmart, which does the job straight away. As with the cleaning agent, clean it up when you are done. It is child and pet safe, but because it is made of vanilla, rosemary and cinnamon oils, it is oily and you don’t want your child or pet getting it in their eyes.

You might ask “Why not just bust out the EcoSmart on every creepy-crawler I see?” The vinegar and rubbing alcohol come much cheaper than cleaning agents and EcoSmart, with distilled white vinegar at just $2.50 a gallon at our local supermarket. Rubbing alcohol is a little more expensive at $2.29 per quart at our supermarket, so that is my second choice. Also, they are the safest and most natural alternatives.

Creepy Fact: Houseflies can only ingest liquids. To eat solid foods, they first spit out saliva to predigest the food before sucking it in.

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