An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure, including when it comes to your money, your health, your comfort and your convenience. It makes good financial and common sense to do your best to stay healthy. Fortunately, there is much in the form of DIY efforts that can help you do just that either for free or very little expense. While you know your physical and medical state best, the following is a list of great DIY prevention steps worth investing in:

Stay up-to-date on vaccinations. Whether you’re charged a small copay or not, the financial expense and small inconvenience of obtaining a vaccination is far less expensive and inconvenient than getting ill would ever be. As soon as a vaccination is available, make sure you’re first in line to get it.

Stay hydrated and eat well. Maintaining good physical health means making sure you’re getting the nutrients and fluids your body needs. You’ll significantly decrease your chances of experiencing ill-health, and if you do, you’ll increase your chances of bouncing back faster. Do your body and your bottom line a favor, take care of it.

Stay physically active. You needn’t run any marathons, but do make an effort to remain physically active. If you don’t use it, you’ll lose it, so the saying goes. Keep your body in prime working order by making sure you give it a chance to get working once in awhile. (First, do no harm, however, and make sure to check with your physician for appropriate exercise suggestions.)

Stay mentally active. Your brain is as much in need of exercise as any other part of your body, so don’t ignore it.  Fortunately, exercising your mental health is both enjoyable and inexpensive. Investing time in hobbies you enjoy, reading books on topics of interest and working to solve a variety of mentally challenging puzzles are all great ways to both have fun and keep your mental skills sharp.

Get and Stay knowledgable. Stay current on annual physicals, and be sure to take advantage of this time to consult with your doctor regarding any supplements or maintenance medications you should be taking. Aging doesn’t have to mean a decline in health, but it does mean a responsibility to change as our body’s needs do. What worked years ago, may not continue to work today or tomorrow. Your doctor—courtesy of your annual physical—can help guide you to continued good health and that translates to peace of mind and substantial savings!

Let your health and your budget be the beneficiaries of your stealthy, saving ways. By thinking outside of the healthcare box, you’ll be able to keep more money in your wallet while ensuring good health at the same time. Forget healthcare solutions that nickel and dime you and don’t even think about skimping when it comes to your well being. Utilize the tips and solutions above and you’ll be fit as a fiddle while your wallet stays fat and happy.

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As we put the holidays behind us and the new year greets us, most of us turn our thoughts to resolutions. And whether it’s a personal desire to do so or the realities of the economic climate that have forced our hands, this means a renewed commitment to contentment for many of us. Fortunately, though, there are a plethora of ways to fall in love with the space you already have and literally rediscover space you never even knew was there. How? It’s simple. Uncover the hidden “hogs” that are currently robbing you of space.

Homes can feel unnecessarily cramped when there’s not an adequate amount of storage space. But the term “adequate” is relative. Are your closets and shelves cram packed with what you need or what you have? If you’re tired of constantly shoving stuff into already tight quarters, consider basking in the beauty that space breath-ability can bring. Keep two complete sets of sheets for each bed in the house and donate the rest. Go through your clothing – closets and dressers – and purge any duplicates you may have. While there, keep an eye out for clothes that are out of date, no longer fit or you’ve simply forgotten about. Chances are you’d enjoy the extra space far more than those extra shirts or sweaters you probably forgot you even had anyway.

Next, tackle floor space. Wide open spaces are not only easy on the eyes, they’re far less accident prone, too. An added benefit, cleaning becomes a snap when you can breeze through an unobstructed room. So reclaim some of your indoor square footage by purging furniture. Do you really need that small table in the corner? Could you shrink your dining table’s everyday footprint by removing the optional leaf (and storing it in a closet or under the couch for use only when it’s truly necessary)? What about lamps? If a room is cluttered with lamps in an effort to bring in the light, consider downsizing to only one or two that are specifically made to brighten rooms. Whenever possible, opt for furniture that can do double or even triple duty. Furniture should not only be beautiful to look at and comfortable, but should accomplish tasks, too.

Shelves – wall-mounted or free-standing – are wonderful tools that help us take advantage of vertical space by getting stuff up and off the floor, but too many of us use them as a free license to hold on to extra stuff. Books and knick knacks are all too easy to keep, but how many of those don’t get looked at or picked up again until it’s time to dust? Instead, consider investing in your own free time (less time spent cleaning) and freeing up your indoor space by letting go of some of that superfluous stuff and letting someone else enjoy the pleasure you once had from the items.

Besides revealing the “extra” space in your home, making some of these tough decisions to let things go can also bring financial relief as well. Extra items can either be donated to charity in exchange for a charitable donation tax receipt to help increase your deductions come tax time. Items can also be sold on ebay or on Craig’s List for a bit of extra cash. More space in your home. Less time spent cleaning “stuff.” And more money in your pocket. That’s truly what I call a win-win-WIN!

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Yes, it looks like we have been using the “wrong” kind of cooking oil for the past 6 years at least. No, there isn’t really anything wrong with the oil itself that we use to prepare our food. It’s just that it may not be as healthy as I thought and I only found that out after listening a program on NPR last week on my way home from work.

I don’t remember the kinds of cooking oils we used before, but since becoming a Costco member in 2004, we always bought the 2.5-gallon Mazola corn oil for our cooking needs, except once in a while that we got other brands of cooking oils, mostly vegetable oils, from grocery stores when there was a sale. I don’t know why we started using corn oil (maybe because of the price? 2.5 gallons for less than $18 and it usually lasts a long time). All I know is that the corn oil is cholesterol free, which is the only nutritional fact I remember I checked (well, that’s hard to miss because Cholesterol Free is printed in big font and displayed prominently). Other than that, I basically know nothing about corn oil and what it containds and doesn’t. Since we cook our own meal with lots of vegitables and almost don’t eat processed food, I thought our diet is pretty healthy. Thus, I never bothered to learn about cooking oils, until I listened the NPR program.

I only listened about 10 minuts of the NPR program, which was talking about omega-6 and omega-3, two fatty acids that are both essential to our health, and the ratio between the two in our diets. From the program, I learned for the first time that the balance between the two fats is actually more important than the amount of intakes. Nowadays, we consume so much omega-6 fatty acid, mostly from processed foods and cookies and cooking oils used to prepare them, that the balance is tilted heavily toward omega-6. Though I am aware of the benefits of omega-3, I never paid any attention to omega-6 and the ratio, which should be around a more healthy level of 2:1 to 4:1. However, the actual ratio from fats we consume everyday is about 10:1 or even 20:1 because we get a lot of omega-6 fats from vegetable oils such as soybean oil, chicken and processed foods. The heavy intake of omega-6 fats isn’t good for our health because the linoleic acid in omega-6 competes with omega-3 when our body converts the α-linoleic acid (ALA)  in omega-3 into eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) and docosahexaenoic acid (DHA), two important nutritional ingredients for brain development (remember those infant formulas that contain EPA/DHA?). This means that the more omega-6 we take, the slower the process our body converts omega-3 ALA into EPA/DHA.

When I got home, I did a search on omega-3 cooking oil and found that corn oil, which we have been using for years, is actually a good source of omega-6, the “bad fat”, not omega-3, the “good fat”, because corn oil contains much more polyunsaturated fat than monounsaturated fat. For example, for one serving (14g) of Mazola corn oil, it contains 8g of polyunsaturated fat and 4g of monounsaturated fat. There are scientific studies shown that monounsaturated fat can reduce LDL, the bad cholesterol, and increase HDL, the good cholesterol. Therefore, cooking oils with high monounsaturated fat content is better than cooking oils with more polyunsaturated fat, which is associated with omega-6 fats.

Last weekend I went to Costco to check out other cooking oils. For the Kirkland brand Canola oil, which claims to be a good source of ALA omega-3, I found that for one serving of 14g, it contains 9g of monounsaturated fat and only 4g polyunsaturated fat, exactly the reverse of the corn oil. And with price under $8 for 1.25 gallons, it’s not more expensive than the corn oil. Of course, cooking oil with the higher amount of monounsaturated fat is olive oil, which is considerably more expensive than canola oil. For now I guess we will just give up corn oil and start to use canola oil

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I’ll be the first to admit that eating out is nice. Not only can you savor yummy food, you can sit back and enjoy not doing a thing, including not cleaning up! Problem is, though, that eating out rather than in can leave a real dent in your budget. Let’s face it, eating out is often the epitome of convenience and, as such, you’ll pay for it. There is a way, though, to have your cake (or entrée) and keep your cash, too. Make ahead meals enable you to harness the convenience of eating out while savoring the money-saving power of creating the meals yourself and dining in.

If you’re new to the idea, start simple. Each time you make a homemade soup (sans noodles, pasta or rice as they don’t freeze well) or casserole, make extra and throw it in the freezer. Before long, you’ll quickly build up a freezer full of ready to heat-and-eat homemade meals with very minimal effort. If you’re sold on the concept, however, and the idea of a bit of extra upfront effort doesn’t scare you off, consider maximizing your savings by purchasing ingredients in bulk and prepping and packaging multiple meals at the same time to stash in the freezer for a later date. A bit more work and extra planning required, but you’ll immediately reap added savings now and invest in substantial convenience you can take advantage of later.

Worried about draining your cupboard of all your baking dishes? You needn’t unnecessarily employ the use of all your casserole and baking dishes and relegate them to the deep-freeze. Instead, carefully line a dish with aluminum foil, place the casserole inside and then place it in the freezer overnight. Once fully frozen, carefully lift the casserole from the dish. Return the dish to the cupboard and the casserole to freezer shelf, sans baking dish. (A silicone or thin plastic spatula can help make lifting out the frozen casserole easier without damaging the aluminum wrapping.) When it’s time to heat and enjoy, simply place the casserole back into the original dish prior to thawing and cooking.

Shelf space is often at a premium the freezer, especially in fridges of the side-by-side variety. Take advantage of the make-ahead concept despite minimal space by employing the use of resealable freezer bags. Quart and gallon sized freezer bags can be filled with everything from homemade soups to pasta sauces to stocks, laid out flat until completely frozen and then stood up on their sides and stored like books on a shelf thereby maximizing horizontal storage space.

The make-ahead concept doesn’t just apply to meals, either. Consider creating your own convenience snacks and small meals as well. Burritos, for example, can be a snap to quickly make in bulk, assembly-line style and wrap in foil to freezer for later enjoyment. Another great way to make your own meal convenience in advance is to consider prepping and freezing meal components. Brown, season and freeze your own taco meat for immediate use later on in a multitude of meals is just one key example. To get your own creative culinary juices flowing, take a walk down the frozen food aisle to get an idea of what specific ingredients freeze well. If food manufacturers can make money off making it in advance and freezing it for your future use, chances are so can you!

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Whenever I can help the environment and my bottom line, I consider it a win-win. When I can do both of those as well as make my life easier, well, that’s a hands-down homerun! Thankfully, there’s a plethora of ways to do just that when it comes to keeping the house sparkling clean. Another benefit? Green cleaning tactics are not only easier on the environment and my wallet, they’re easier on sensitive skin and those with respiratory challenges, too. So, hang up the rubber gloves and put away your cash because you simply won’t need them when you employ the following supplies and tactics to keep your house sparkling and clean for far less green.

What you’ll need…

• White Vinegar (5% acidity)
• Microfiber clothes or old rags
• Empty spray bottle
• Baking soda
• Essential oils (for scent, if desired)

Vinegar cannot be beat when it comes to multipurpose cleaning. Cheap, cheap, and, oh, did I mention cheap? It can’t be beat when it comes to cost effectiveness either! Simply pour it straight (undiluted) into an empty spray bottle and you’re ready to clean. It cuts grime and can make overall clean up a snap on counters and sinks and the like. And, while it does not completely disinfect, it does help cut the number of germs lingering around your home significantly in a safe way. Don’t like the smell of vinegar? Don’t worry, once it dries the smell dissipates. Additionally, if you don’t care for the smell, add a few drops of an essential oil to sweeten the aroma a bit while you’re cleaning. Vinegar is also great for cleaning microwaves (bring ½ cup of water mixed with ½ cup of vinegar in a microwave-safe bowl to a rolling boil in the microwave and baked on, dried on food will wipe away in snap!) and cleaning and deodorizing garbage disposals (pour ½ cup baking soda and ½ cup of hot white distilled vinegar down the drain, let sit for 5 minutes and then run hot water down the drain to flush it clean). For even more great tips (1,001 tips, to be exact) on how to use vinegar around your home, visit VinegarTips.com.

Baking soda makes an ideal economical, safe and gentle abrasive cleaner. Make your own scouring cleanser by mixing a bit of baking soda and white vinegar together to create a paste. “Wait!” you may be thinking. “What about the foaming reaction between the two?!” All the better, use it to your advantage to lessen the amount of elbow grease you’ll need to employ. Baking soda is a great way to keep tubs and sinks sparkling clean and free from soap scum without compromising the enamel in the process. Additionally, baking soda is a phenomenal natural deodorizer. It doesn’t simply mask smells with fake perfumes or overpowering, not to mention expensive scents, it actual absorbs and neutralizes them. Sprinkle it in garbage cans, kitty litter boxes and use it to keep your fridge and freezer smelling, well, like nothing at all.

While any ordinary old rag will do, microfiber clothes are the Cadillac of green cleaning. They take a little bit of elbow grease and amplify the cleaning results. They minimize streaks, pick up more grime and grease and can be washed and reused again and again and again. Add a few to your green cleaning arsenal and you won’t be disappointed.

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