Personal Finance Blog, Your Guide to Financial Fitness
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Heather Levin
Heather Levin
According to a 2010 government report, over 45 million Americans don’t have dental insurance. Many health insurance plans charge so much for dental insurance that people just reject the coverage.
I’m one of them. Every time I go to the dentist’s office, I worry about how much the visit will cost. You may share my concerns about the high cost of dental care. Although you must take care of your teeth to avoid paying for dentures or expensive dental procedures, it can get expensive.
Heather Levin
If you buy name brand laundry detergent, it probably contains toxic chemicals. According to an article in Science Daily, researchers from the University of Washington tested all top-selling laundry detergents and found that every single one of them contained at least one chemical regulated as “toxic or hazardous.” However, the ingredients did not list the hazardous chemicals.
The Environmental Protection Agency provides a breakdown of the common chemicals found in most detergents. Many of these chemicals may cause cancer, reproductive abnormalities, and disruptions in endocrine, which controls the metabolism, reproduction, and growth.
Heather Levin
In the summer months, my husband and I like to sit out in front of our fire pit almost every night, talking and watching the sun go down. Here in Michigan, however, we have a high number of mosquitoes, and they almost always drive us inside.
Luckily, I’ve developed some unique solutions to fighting off the mosquitoes. I don’t use conventional strategies, since I hate the thought of using chemicals to rid the yard of mosquitoes, and I don’t want to expose my family and friends to the toxins in bug bombs.
Heather Levin
Do you dream of coming home from work and having a wonderful, delicious hot dinner waiting for you? That is, a dinner you didn’t have to cook yourself?
Most of us identify with this fantasy. It can be difficult, if not downright impossible sometimes, to find time to cook a healthy, delicious dinner for you and your family. This is one of the main reasons why organizing neighborhood dinner swaps and potlucks are coming back in a big way.
Heather Levin
As I write this, I’m munching on a square of roasted nori seaweed. It’s crispy, lightly dusted with spicy wasabi powder, and delicious! Seaweed has become one of my favorite snacks. The tasty and low-calorie snack has many healthy vitamins, minerals, and cancer-fighting phytochemicals.
In the United States, seaweed seems like a “foreign food.” You can’t find it in the regular grocery stores, and you don’t usually cook with seaweed. For most of us, we only see and eat seaweed, and other sea vegetables, when dining at a sushi restaurant.
Heather Levin
The statistics are sobering; more than two-thirds of the American population is overweight or obese, and one in three children is now overweight or obese. To make matters worse, the number of obese Americans keeps climbing.
As a result, many people want to start eating healthier foods, but some think that to eat healthy, they have to spend more money. Believe it or not, you can eat healthy on a budget. I do it every day.
Here are some tips you can use to eat healthy on a budget.
Heather Levin
Several years ago, I became friends with a young woman who was just getting started in real estate. She became a real estate agent, and then started learning about renovation. She bought her first house, flipped it, and made a ton of money. Thanks to some exceptionally lucky circumstances, and some serious persistence on her part, she ended up on an HGTV show about flipping houses. She appeared in several episodes of the show, because she was part of an often-featured investor team in Atlanta.
Heather Levin
Do you wear glasses or contacts? If so, you might dream about getting laser eye surgery. The thought of crawling out of bed and just seeing, without putting on a pair of glasses, may seem tantalizing to anyone with poor vision. I was born with astigmatism, and I wore glasses for years. A few years ago, however, I made a dream come true: I had LASIK eye surgery.
There are a number of ways to save money on laser eye surgery. On average, it costs $2,500-$5,000 to have the surgery, and for me, LASIK eye surgery was worth the cost. The surgery provides you with substantial peace of mind. You can also factor in the cost savings associated with no longer needing glasses or contact lenses and annual eye doctor appointments.
Heather Levin
Did you know that the average person in the United States generates around 4.5 pounds of waste every single day? Multiply that by around 300 million, and you can see why garbage has become a serious problem in this country. This is just one reason why recycling is so important.
Recycling not only saves valuable space in our landfills, but it also helps reduce greenhouse gas emissions. And when we recycle, we also have to use fewer resources like water and energy to turn that item into another usable item. Recycling is good for us, the planet, and it can also save you money. If your waste management company charges you monthly based on how much garbage you throw away, you will save money by recycling.
Heather Levin
Did you ever see the movie, The Holiday? In it, Cameron Diaz is fed up with her busy Los Angeles life and decides to swap her mansion with an anonymous stranger. The stranger, Kate Winslet, lives in a tidy cottage in England and the two spend the Christmas holiday in each other’s homes. They both fall in love and get to experience life in a foreign country as a local instead of a tourist.
Heather Levin
We have an unprecedented overweight and obesity epidemic. The condition continues to worsen, striking younger and younger age groups.
In fact, the UK Department of Health has issued new physical activity guidelines urging parents to make sure their toddlers exercise. The UK, just like the U.S., struggles under an obesity epidemic. In the United States, one in three children are either overweight or obese.
Not only does obesity result in significant health issues for children, it can also lead to crippling, financial devastation in the form of massive, never-ending health bills.
Heather Levin
Planning a vacation can seem daunting, especially when you have an entire family to consider. Packing efficiently thus makes traveling less stressful. In addition, an organized approach to packing can save you money.
If you plan for every eventuality, and pack your bags accordingly, you can eliminate stress, and enjoy your travels. Use these packing tips to make your next vacation less expensive and less stressful.
Before you travel, learn more about the weather forecast for your vacation destination by visiting Weather.com. If you don’t check the weather before you begin packing, you may end up spending money on clothing and assorted sundries during your travels.
Heather Levin
The cost to go “back to school” keeps increasing. In 2010, the National Retail Federation (NRF) estimated that the average American family would spend more than $600 on back to school supplies. That’s only for an average student; college-age students, who often require many more supplies, especially if they’re moving into a dorm, may spend even more. That also represents an 11% jump from the year before.
Does this sound like you? Many parents begin eyeing the back to school fliers and ads in August. Whether your kids start kindergarten or head off to the university this year, you can buy them everything they need without breaking your bank account. Here are several tips to help you become a savvy back to school shopper this year.
Heather Levin
Before I became a full-time writer, I owned a professional organizing business. Clients often complained about the constant influx of paper into their homes. Credit card offers, catalogs, bills, insurance forms, charity solicitations, and more show up in your mailbox daily. In addition, you have a lot of other paper you have to review and keep, including medical records, receipts, coupons, articles, and magazines. Paper has a way of piling up into insidious piles just minutes after you’ve sorted and filed everything away. It’s maddening, and it never seems to end.
Heather Levin
You’ve probably heard the saying “you are what you eat” more than a few times. And when you think about it, it’s true. The food you put into your body in large part determines the kind of life you live. Eating healthy foods, along with sneaking a workout routine into your day, means you have better health, more energy, and a brighter outlook on life.
These decisions, in turn, help you to save money because you drastically decrease your healthcare costs. In addition, these foods are mostly inexpensive, which can also impact your spending and saving goals. Following a healthier lifestyle also gives you more of the energy and focus you need to be more productive at work.
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