Category Archives: Health & Lifestyle

The stress of living month to month financially.

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payday loans available online to help with emergencies

That monthly bill grind

Tangling with the month-to-month monster is about as much fun as hugging a porcupine.

There are ways to manage the month-to-month grind, and to even get out of it. One of the most interesting (and after I sat down and thought about it myself, obvious) ways was something I came across while I subscribed to the YNAB (You Need a Budget)10-day course.

Live on last month’s income.

The founders of YNAB were married college students, struggling to make it from month to month, just like us and many of you out there. They say,

“When my wife and I first married (it’s been a few years now), we worked part-time at the university where we were attending school full-time. Part-time work on a university campus equals, well, not a lot. I wasn’t TOO worried about things, but the fact that our finances would be tight did inspire me to construct a spreadsheet to help us track our spending. Eventually I built it so it would also track our income.

The income was where the problems started arising though. Julie would work anywhere from 15-22 hours per week, depending on exams and homework. I would do my best to get between 18 and 24, but again, that could changed based on other uncontrollable factors. We were living on a variable income.”

Sound familiar? Not knowing exactly how much your next paycheck is worth makes it near impossible to budget accurately, unless you can see the future.

Of course, the answer is to live on the money you made last month. This allows you to save more, set up a fixed budget, and have adequate time to monitor your finances and prepare for upcoming things. Things get more complicated when you rely on payday loans to meet monthly needs in emergencies,

But, I don’t have last month’s money – I already spent all of it!

Now, the YNAB guys were recently married and withdrew wedding money to get them through a month. While using their wedding money, they saved every penny they made, and then when the next month began, they were ready.

I didn’t happen onto this gem of financial knowledge until we’d been married for a while, so we decided to save all of our ‘unplanned’ income (money we were, ironically, planning on getting, but wasn’t directly from work so we didn’t include it in our budget) until we had one month’s expenses, and then work from there. So far we’re halfway there, and adding more every time. Tax returns, birthday presents, and money from side jobs and hobbies is a great way to get started saving one month’s expenses. They even offer 18 money saving tips to get your fund started.

So are you one of those people who is always spending money they havent even earned yet? Using payday loans online more than once or twice just for genuine emergencies? Start planning better, live off the money you have already earned and find ways to put more of it aside for the future. You will be less stressed – guaranteed!

New metals being used in wedding bands.

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You may not realize it, but the metal used in making rings and wedding bands is so much more important that simply choosing based on color.  I myself didn’t realize there was so much involved in choosing a material until I started doing a little research about metals on my own.

Stunning platinum rings
I found that besides the typical gold and silver, one of the best decisions is to buy a ring made out of platinum.  That is because platinum rings are not only gorgeous but platinum is a metal that is durable and guaranteed to last a lifetime on your finger.  It has long been popular for its durability and strength, but also because platinum has the power to transform even the most simple of rings into something majestic.

 
The hue of platinum is so pure that it is almost white in color.  The quality of the color of platinum allows for it to be easily paired with almost any stone and any skin tone and it will still look beautiful.  This fact alone for me was very crucial because I have always felt with my skin tone that gold just flat out looks weird on me.  I won’t have to worry about that with platinum.

tungsten wedding bands on dispaly
Another thing is the sheer strength of the metal.  It is almost impossible for platinum to corrode because it is thirty times stronger than gold.  For those of you looking for a metal to use for wedding rings, keep this fact in mind because you will be wearing that ring for decades to come.

 
I also found that a great idea is to buy tungsten wedding bands. Tungsten is similar to platinum for its durability and strength.  It too is quite resistant to damage, corrosion, and wear.  There are other things though, that make tungsten a very attractive material to use.
First of all, tungsten is on the cheaper end of the spectrum, especially compared with platinum and white gold.  During the tough times we are all facing due to the economy, saving a little money here and there is not such a bad idea.

 
Secondly, tungsten is quite a popular metal, especially among men.  It is a heavy metal, especially when compared with its titanium counterpart.  Men like feeling the heftiness and the weight of the ring on their hands.

 
To be honest with you I don’t love the idea of women wearing as heavy a ring as tungsten would require.  However, for those of you who are looking at wedding bands and engagement rings, a good compromise would be for the woman to get a sparkly and spectacular ring made out of platinum, whereas the groom would receive a heftier and more “manly” ring from tungsten.  Don’t be plain and simple by keeping with the tradition of silver and gold.  With the help of science making advancements on alloys, as well as the market being more open, there are a wide selection of alternative materials out there.  Tungsten and platinum are just two I listed, but there are plenty more.

Scariest food-borne disease – Botulism?

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If you’re making a list of some of the scariest food borne disease, botulism should top the list.  Unlike food poisoning, botulism doesn’t just give you nausea and cause you to never want to eat that food again – it actually attacks your nervous system.  This is why it is such a deadly disease and something that you need to be aware of in case you ever get it.  Without recognizing symptoms of botulism, you can put yourself at great risk of not being treated which can be a death sentence.
botulism canning

Often the result of poor canning technique

The important thing to know about this disease is that it is typically the result of poor food storage or food canning practices.  Canned goods and badly stored food are the perfect breeding ground for the botulism bacteria, because it needs an anaerobic environment to produce the toxin that can kill you.  Anaerobic just means the absence of oxygen which is exactly what you have in any canned good.  Be sure to not eat any food out of cans that look bloated or distended in any way because that gas buildup is a major sign that botulism bacteria are present.  It’s best to just throw away cans that are past their expiration date to be sure that you don’t accidentally eat tainted food without knowing it.  Lastly, paying attention to how you store food is definitely going to lessen the chances that you get infected.

Even if you are hyper vigilant about what you eat, sometimes you can come down with the toxin anyways.  In this case it is smart to learn all of the botulism symptoms so you can quickly identify the affliction and get medical assistance as soon as possible.
Botulism is a neurotoxin that takes over your body’s nervous system and shuts it down.  It starts in the face with all of the muscles that control smiling, frowning, laughing and even swallowing.  These are crystal clear signs that you have been infected with botulism and should call emergency medical services immediately.  If you don’t get treatment the paralysis will spread throughout the body and eventually leave you completely paralyzed.  That’s not the worst part though – the toxin also attacks muscles that you normally have no control over – your lungs.  This is the point where it gets fatal.  Without control of your lungs you will suffocate in a matter of minutes, despite the fact that from a structural point of view they are working just fine.
The most common group of people affected by botulism is infants because they do not have an immune system strong enough to deal with the bacterial infection appropriately.  Usually there are enough beneficial bacteria in the gut to stave off any botulism infection, but infants simply have not had enough time to develop these so the infection has an all access pass to spread through the body very rapidly.  If you make sure not to feed your child any expired food you should be safe.  Avoiding honey and foods containing corn syrup will also go a long way to protecting your child because these are known to carry the botulism bacteria at a much higher rate than other foods.
It is always said that prevention is worth a pound of cure and this couldn’t be truer than when dealing with botulism.  It’s a nasty disease that fortunately doesn’t affect too many people these days due to most people following the tips outlined in this article.

Is losing weight as simple as calories in/calories out?

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A weight loss calculator measuring apples

Calculate how much you need to eat.

Weight loss is something that always weighs heavy on our minds (pardon the pun).  Western cultures seem to have some sort of mild obsession with beauty, health, and fitness, and going along with those themes is the idea that being thin is beautiful. Even though I don’t necessarily agree that beauty is directly correlated with the size of your jeans, the important thing is to be healthy and maintain an active lifestyle.

Many people, and most especially women, who are trying to lose weight seem to focus on how fast they can shed the excess weight they are carrying.  Instead of trying to move slowly and effectively by working out hard at the gym and watching what they eat, many are expecting that weight loss will come easy, without any work involved.  The main point is to focus not on how much one should weigh or how quickly the weight can be lost.  The idea is to lose weight as a steady and healthy pace.
The right way to do this is to work on being at a healthy weight for your height, age, gender, and body type.  One of the tricks that is most helpful in calculating how many calories you will need to eat and burn in order to lose weight at a safe yet steady pace is a weight loss calculator.  It will take into account all of the special factors that make you you, instead of just giving you a generic number of pounds you should aspire to weigh.  After all, not everyone can be as thin as a model, and you really shouldn’t want to be.  Just because someone is thin does not mean that they have healthy bodies.  You can still be completely unhealthy and out of shape even if you are thin.
The best thing about a weight loss calculator is not only that it is personally tailored just for you.  Studies have shown that using a weight loss calculator helps more people reach their goals because you can count exactly how many calories you have consumed and burned, and the calculator adjusts how many calories you need to eat daily in order to keep on track with your goals.  It makes it substantially easier to maintain an accurate record of your eating and exercise habits on a daily basis by using a calculator to do it.
I want to emphasize how important it is to not focus on being a certain weight or having a certain size waist.

Everyone is built differently, so what may be healthy for them may be dangerous for you; or vice versa.  Instead of focusing on how much weight you have to lose, or how fast you want to lose it, take baby steps and make small changes every day.  You will notice the differences in how you feel and how you look in time, and you won’t have to stress over every single morsel of food you put into your body.  In the end, your body will thank you and your health will improve substantially.