Jeff  Yeager

Nearly all of the talk these days about economizing focuses on how to get what we want but pay less for it. It’s all about how to get more for less.
For those of us who are longtime advocates of the “simple living” movement, it seems as if most Americans are missing what could be the golden opportunity of these tough times — coming to appreciate that less can often be more. In other words, we shouldn’t be worrying so much about “How can we afford it?” Instead, we should be asking ourselves, “Do we really need it?”
Here are five lifestyle changes to consider. They may seem fairly radical to you when you first think about them — but if you adopt even one or two, you’ll not only save some serious money, you just might be happier in the end.

1. Cancel your cell phone.
Yearly savings: $1,000 per phone.
The idea is surprising, I know, but just consider it for a moment. Only 20 or so years ago, cell phones were virtually nonexistent, and the world seemed to work okay. Now cell phones are considered a necessity, even though surveys show that we dislike our cell phones more than any other device that we own (including the alarm clock). So if that’s truly how we feel, how can giving them up be a bad thing? The average cell-phone plan costs about $80 a month, and a study recently released by Utility Consumers’ Action Network found that the actual average cost of using a cell phone is more than $3 a minute if you don’t use up most of your minutes and about $1 per minute even if you do use all of your minutes. As a fairly successful author and national media personality, I am the poster child for this cause — I have never owned a cell phone, and I get by just fine.
If you can’t imagine not having a cell phone, consider a prepaid phone plan. Watch for sales at such stores as Target, Wal-Mart and Radio Shack.

2. Get rid of your second or third car.
Yearly savings: $9,000.
The average American household now owns two or three vehicles. That compares to about one per household in 1960. AAA estimates that it costs $9,369 per year to own and operate a medium-sized sedan that is driven 15,000 miles annually. The national average cost per mile is 61 cents by the time you factor in depreciation, insurance, repairs, gas, taxes, etc. If your family owns more than one car, what’s the worst thing that could happen if you give up one? You could easily save thousands of dollars a year by sharing a single car, coordinating trips, taking public transportation and so on. And Mother Earth will thank you.

3. Prepare more meals at home.
Yearly savings: $2,000.
According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the average US family spends $2,668 each year eating out. I would estimate that you could prepare the same meals at home for about 80% less, or an annual savings of roughly $2,134. The other upside is that old-fashioned family time around the dinner table may make a comeback. An article in Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine reported that frequent family meals are associated with a lower risk for smoking, drinking and using marijuana among adolescents, as well as a lower incidence of depressive symptoms and suicidal thoughts. And the kids were more likely to have better grades.

4. Wear out your clothing.
Yearly savings: $1,800 per family.
A small fraction of the clothing we throw away in the US is truly “worn out,” meaning that it’s threadbare, torn or badly stained. Many of us donate unwanted clothing to charity, but even charities have more donations than they can handle, and much of the clothing eventually ends up being thrown away. The problem is that we rarely wear out our clothing — or much of anything else — these days. According to some government reports, the average American family spends roughly $1,800 on shoes and clothing per year. Clearly most of us have more than enough in our closets to go for six months to a year, or even longer, without needing to buy anything new.

5. Give up college room and board.
Yearly savings: $9,000 per student.
The average cost of student room and board at colleges and universities is about $9,000 per year. A generational shift has occurred here in the US over the past few decades when it comes to kids living with their parents while they attend college. Back in my college days (the 1970s), lots of us — myself included — lived with our parents and attended a local university or community college. Today that arrangement is fairly rare — it’s just not “cool” to live with your folks. Of course, in my day, student loans were uncommon, in part because we didn’t need to borrow money to pay for room and board. The irony is that these days, many kids graduate with so much debt — tens of thousands of dollars in student loans — that they have no choice but to move back home with their parents after college. Now, back in my day, living with your parents after you graduated really was uncool.

Source(s):
Bottom Line/Personal interviewed Jeff Yeager, dubbed “The Ultimate Cheapskate” by NBC’s Today show. Yeager honed his cheapskating skills during 25 years of working with underfunded nonprofit agencies. He lives in Accokeek, Maryland, and is author of “The Ultimate Cheapskate’s Road Map to True Riches” (Broadway). www.ultimatecheapskate.com.

Do you worry that coffee could harm your health? Relax. Studies suggest that, when consumed in moderation — meaning two to four eight-ounce servings daily — coffee may in fact be good for you.

It is not clear whether the benefits come from coffee itself or its caffeine. Even decaffeinated coffee may have some caffeine, and there is limited research on other caffeinated beverages, such as tea. Per cup, coffee has about 100 mg of caffeine… black tea has about half as much. Studies show that coffee may…

• Reduce risk for some cancers. An analysis of nine studies found that drinking two cups of coffee daily lowered liver cancer risk by 43%. Coffee also may protect against colorectal cancer.

• Help prevent diabetes. Among 200,000 study participants, those who drank four to six cups of regular or decaffeinated coffee daily were 28% less likely to develop type 2 diabetes than people who drank two cups or less daily.

Possible reason: Chlorogenic acid, an antioxidant in coffee, slows sugar’s release into the bloodstream.

• Protect memory. In a study of 7,000 seniors, women who drank more than three cups of caffeinated coffee or six cups of caffeinated tea daily had less memory loss than women who drank two cups or less.
• Prevent gallstones. In a study of 80,000 female nurses, drinking two or more cups of caffeinated coffee daily cut gallstone risk by about 20%.

Why: Caffeine may aid the digestive fluid bile, reducing formation of cholesterol crystals that become stones… and stimulate gallbladder contractions, flushing away crystals.

• Lower Parkinson’s disease risk. In the nurses’ study, women who drank one to three cups of caffeinated coffee daily were 40% less likely than nondrinkers to develop Parkinson’s, a movement disorder caused by loss of brain cells.

• Improve physical performance. The amount of caffeine in two to five cups of coffee boosts endurance… helps the body burn fat instead of carbohydrates… and eases muscle soreness.

Reassuring: Coffee drinkers are no more likely to have heart attacks or chronic high blood pressure than nondrinkers. Coffee oils can raise cholesterol, but paper filters remove these oils. Coffee doesn’t appear to increase risk for ovarian or breast cancer. Some women say coffee worsens premenstrual syndrome and fibrocystic breast disease (benign breast lumps), but research does not support this.

Cautions: Both regular and decaf coffee can cause digestive upset. Caffeine can trigger migraine or cause insomnia. Animal studies suggest that at high doses, caffeine may weaken bones by blocking calcium absorption. Moderate amounts of caffeine do not impair fertility or cause birth defects, but consuming more than 200 mg daily may double miscarriage risk — so limit caffeine to 100 mg per day while pregnant.

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Bottom Line/Women’s Health interviewed JoAnn E. Manson, MD, DrPH, a professor of medicine and women’s health at Harvard Medical School, and chief of the division of preventive medicine at Brigham and Women’s Hospital, both in Boston. She is one of the lead investigators for two highly influential studies on women’s health — the Harvard Nurses’ Health Study and the Women’s Health Initiative. Dr. Manson is the author, with Shari Bassuk, ScD, of Hot Flashes, Hormones & Your Health (McGraw-Hill).

Sheila Buff
When was the last time you bought a really good-tasting tomato from the grocery store? Weather permitting, you can grow a bumper crop of your own, much more delicious tomatoes this year and use them for salads, sauces and other recipes — and give them to grateful friends. Almost anyone can do it, even if you don’t have enough space for a garden. How to go about it…

CHOOSE THE RIGHT VARIETIES

The typical garden catalog might offer 10 to 20 tomato varieties — a specialty catalog might offer several hundred.

Not every tomato variety will grow well in every garden, but there are some stalwart varieties that are easy to grow, disease resistant and produce large crops of delicious tomatoes just about anywhere. Some top choices found in catalogs and garden centers…

• Small fruits — cherry tomatoes. Riesentraube, Sugary, Sun Gold (yellow), Sweet 100.

• Medium fruits — salad or slicing. Better Boy, Big Boy, Box Car Willie, Celebrity, Early Girl, Flammé (orange), Lemon Boy (yellow), Matina, Paul Robeson (black), Sioux.

• Large fruits — beefsteak. Brandywine varieties, German Johnson, Goliath, Mortgage Lifter.

Most tomato varieties will do reasonably well anywhere, but if you have a short, cool growing season — or a long, hot, and humid one — choose varieties that are best for your area.Good medium-sized red choices for short seasons — Early Girl, Jetsetter, Stupice. Good medium-sized red choices for long, hot seasons — Homestead, Porter’s Pride, Solar Fire, Sunmaster.

PLANT METHODICALLY

Tomatoes like good soil with lots of organic material (humus) in it, a fair amount of room, and plenty of warmth and sunshine.

Tomatoes hate the cold, so plant them after the last frost for your area (check with your local county extension or farm bureau to find the date for your area). Also, choose a spot that will get at least six hours of full sun every day.

If you grow your own seedlings, start the seeds indoors about six to eight weeks before the last frost date in your area.

Space the seedlings two to three feet apart (in all directions) or one plant per pot if you are using containers. Dig a planting hole six to eight inches deep or more — it should be deep enough to hold the roots and the stem of the seedling up to the first set of true leaves (not the small rounded leaves closest to the roots). Planting deeply helps your tomato plants develop strong roots, which will help them flourish.

Place a stake by each plant now, so you won’t disturb the roots later on when the plant is bigger. As the plants get taller, tie them loosely to the stakes with string or twist ties. This keeps fruit and foliage off the ground, making it easier to find and pick the tomatoes — and also keeps the branches from breaking under the weight of the fruit.

To keep down weeds, insects and plant diseases, and to help conserve moisture, cover the soil around the plants with a thick layer of organic mulch, such as dead leaves, grass clippings, straw, shredded newspaper — or use black plastic sheeting or landscape cloth.

Tomatoes in soil that has been enriched by organic gardening methods don’t usually need added fertilizer. If your soil isn’t as good, your tomatoes may need some help. Apply natural fertilizers, such as compost tea (soak a shovelful of compost overnight in a gallon or two of water, then pour off the water around the plants) or fish emulsion, available at any garden center, when the seedlings are first planted, again when the first blossoms appear and again when the first fruits start to turn light green. If you want to use a manufactured fertilizer, Miracle-Gro for tomatoes has the best mineral balance.

WATER DEEPLY AND OFTEN

The true secret of growing perfect tomatoes is watering them deeply and often. The best way to water is with soaker or drip hoses along the bases of the plants. These get the water down to the roots without wetting the foliage and fruit, where it can cause mildew and other diseases.

Tomatoes need to be watered on a regular basis. Check the moisture level every few days by digging down a couple of inches. If the soil is dry below the surface, you need to water.

Tomatoes need roughly two to three gallons of water applied per plant per week — more if it’s very hot and dry, less if it’s been rainy. If you use soaker hoses, let the hoses run for two to three hours. To hand water, gently apply about a quart of water around the base of the plant, let it soak in and then repeat once or twice more.

If your tomato plants start looking badly wilted or yellowed even though you’ve been careful about watering regularly, chances are a tomato disease is at work. Once these problems turn up in your garden, they’re there for good. Avoid them in the future by selecting resistant varieties. Resistance to the most common tomato diseases is indicated by these letters after the variety name on the seed packet or label on the container (if you bought seedlings)…

• A stands for Alternaria arborescens fungus.

• F for Fusarium wilt.

• N for nematodes (tiny worms that attack roots).

• T for tobacco mosaic virus.

• V for Verticillium wilt.

Check with your local county extension agent or farm bureau to find out more about specific tomato diseases in your area and for help identifying what’s hurting your plants.

HARVESTING YOUR CROP

For best flavor, pick your tomatoes when they’re still two or three days away from being fully ripe. Let them finish ripening indoors on a countertop away from direct sun. Homegrown tomatoes will often have some green at the stem end even when they’re ripe. They may also still have some green on the shoulders. Pick them anyway — by the time they turn completely red, if left on the vine, they will be overripe. Most important of all: Never put tomatoes in the refrigerator! Their taste and texture will be ruined.

TOMATOES FOR SMALL SPACES

No space for a garden? If you have a balcony, patio, porch or a sunny window, you can still enjoy homegrown tomatoes.

The secret is to choose a variety designed for container growing. These varieties are all small, compact plants with small fruits that will grow well in pots or even hanging baskets. The most popular variety is called, unsurprisingly, Patio. Other container favorites include Florida Basket, Red Robin and Sprite. For really small spaces, try Tiny Tim — the plants grow to only 18 inches — or Micro-Tom, the world’s smallest tomato variety. These plants grow to only eight inches. For tomatoes in containers…

• Use the largest container possible for the space.

• Pick the sunniest spot.

• Protect the plants from wind by putting them in a sheltered spot or putting a windproof screen around them.

• Fertilize as needed.

• Water often, daily if necessary. Plants in containers dry out quickly. Check the soil daily for moisture.

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Bottom Line/Retirement interviewed Sheila Buff, author of several books on gardening, natural history and the outdoors, including The Great Tomato Book (Burford Books). Ms. Buff lives in Milan, New York. www.sheilabuff.com.

Knowledge is power.

When you are looking to make any major purchase or take out any long term insurance the first thing you should do is arm yourself with all the facts you need and this is by no means any different with your home owners insurance. Work out the value of your home and write up a list of the personal items in your home. This list should include absolutely everything that you would need to replace in the event of it being damaged beyond repair, stolen or broken. This itinerary will not only prove useful for calculating the level of cover you require but also for making a claim should the need arise.

Calculating your cover.

Home owners insurance is a little different to other insurance. Car insurance uses book value of your car, the insurance company being safe in the knowledge that you will be able to replace your car should the unthinkable happen. Going out and buying a house is a little different to this. There isn’t a set value on a house and you can’t just buy the house itself. In order to come up with a value on your home you need to find out the market value for similar houses in a similar area. In order to reduce the cost of your monthly premium you should seriously consider excluding a small amount of the money because while you need to insure the building and outbuildings you don’t to insure the surrounding or housing land.

Shopping around.

This is the key aspect to gaining cheaper home owners insurance and is a step that has been made much easier with the introduction of the Internet. Comparison sites are regularly available that will allow you to get quotes from a large number of home owners insurance companies. This will give you a much better picture of the type of price you should expect to be paying and will let you decide which policy has the best cover combined with the cheapest price.

Selecting your home owners insurance policy.

Once you’ve got your list of quotes in you should be able to tell pretty quickly which of the offers appears the best. Check it over to make sure it offers exactly what you are looking for and if it does you are onto a winner. If there are a couple of quotes around the same price look them all over to see if any have outstanding extra services that may make you give them slight preference over the others.

Renewal time.

You will need to renew your policy or change insurance provider on an annual basis and when this time comes you should check that the policy you are applying for still has everything you need. By doing this you will be able to stay on top of the prices you are paying and the coverage you are receiving.

For more info on Insurance visit:
http://www.bruisedonion.com/guide/insurance/

“Company’s coming and my place doesn’t look right…”

You know how it goes, you have visitors coming tonight. You’ve cleaned every room in the house (well, maybe not the bedroom). You’ve planned the menu, and…it’s just not quite right. Perhaps you’ve been hankering for a change or maybe it strikes you out of the air, the room needs Something, but what?

Here’s five fast tips for when that re-decorating demon strikes and you haven’t the budget or time to do much.

You can likely do all of these ideas for significantly less than $50, but because they are simple, I’ll explain along the way what makes the difference.

1)Fresh Flowers
You don’t need a $50 bouquet to make a room, but a stale look will get an instant boost with a bit of living, breathing, greenery. Consider a $20 tropical, large enough to fill in an empty corner, and spend another $20 on a colorful bunch of fresh cut flowers (if you shop well, you can even get the vase). This will give your room instant punch!

2)Bowl of Fruit & Table Cloth
If you’re at the market anyway, don’t overlook the zest and color that a large bowl of fresh fruit lends to the kitchen, dining room, or even the coffee table. Great look that works well in all decors; fill a pottery dish with a variety, or a tall glass vase with a single fruit (ie: lemons or limes) or even line up a row of green apples along the coffee or dining table for a contemporary feel. And since fruit is inexpensive, give yourself a shot of change by selecting a new table linen in the trendiest color of the season to give your room a real lift or invest in a crisp white or cream cloth for a classic look.

3)Baskets
You don’t have to be a country girl (or guy) to appreciate the cozy look of baskets. Even the most modern room can benefit from a bit of wood or rattan. But the main purpose here is to hide clutter. You’ll feel so refreshed if you add a few baskets to fill with magazines, toys or hobby material. It’s the easiest way to contain the everyday clutter that you can’t stow away. And clearing space is always a good look!

4)Throw Cushions
I’d bet you could find two throw cushions for less than $50, so if you do, add a throw blanket as well. Cheap and shamefully easy, this is the way to go if you’re ready to make more of a statement. Great opportunity to bring some contrast into a dull room, consider light pillows for a dark room, dark pillows for a light one, and absolutely try adding a trendy color to a neutral room. And at this price, you can change it next season!

5)Paint
Admittedly for the more ambitious, this is a fantastic way to create a stunning look in little time. However, this is an article on FAST ideas, so let’s not tackle the whole room right now. If company’s coming this weekend, try a new look by painting a feature wall a stunning but complementary color (ie: the fireplace wall, that blank wall behind the couch…you get the idea.) Or even tape off a smaller section (this is called color blocking) to focus attention on a collection of pictures, or behind a mirror, or around the fireplace.

For more Interior Decorating tips and advice visit:
http://www.bruisedonion.com/guide/interior%20decorating/