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Heather Levin
Heather Levin is a freelance writer based in Detroit, MI. She's passionately committed to living green, saving money, and helping others do the same in their life.

5 Tips On Proper Unwanted Gifts Regifting Etiquette

Heather Levin

There’s no doubt regifting is a contentious issue.

Some people wholeheartedly embrace regifting. Others think it’s tacky, and they’d never consider doing it. According to a survey done by Consumer Reports, 36% of people regifted last holiday season. And surprisingly, the higher your income, the likelier you are to have engaged in regifting.

Personally, I’m really into regifting. I’m always trying to downsize my home and life, so when I get an unwanted gift, why keep it? This is especially true if I happen to know someone who could really benefit from whatever I’m not using. Even better, it saves me a significant amount of money as well.

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8 Homemade Christmas Decorations And Ornaments

Heather Levin

In just a few short weeks, we’re going to enter what retailers call “The Golden Month.” It’s the month that falls between Thanksgiving and Christmas, when our consumer spending habits can get out of control. We shop, we decorate, and we entertain far more than we do the rest of the year. And as we all know, it adds up.

There are plenty of ways to have fun yet cheap family holidays this year. And one of them revolves around our holiday decorating.

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The 15 Best and Most Unusual Creative Gift Ideas

Heather Levin

When it comes to giving, most of us opt for a physical gift. Something that will delight our loved ones, something they can use, or something that makes them smile.

But, how often do we give a gift that just ends up as another piece of clutter that gets thrown out when the giftee is downsizing his or her home? Sure, we may think it’s fabulous, but to someone else, that expensive gift might just be another thing they have to store and clean around.

The reality is that most of us already have too much stuff. Take a look at these statistics from the National Association of Professional Organizers (NAPO):

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9 Tips On How To Sneak A Workout Routine Into Your Day

Heather Levin

According to the Center for Disease Control (CDC), almost 70% of Americans are either overweight or obese. And according to a poll conducted by USA Today and Harris Interactive, 30% of overweight adults thought they had a “normal” weight, and 70% of those classified as obese felt they were merely “overweight.”

It’s clear from this poll that “overweight” is becoming the new norm. After all, if 7 out of every 10 people we see on the street is overweight, it’s easy to lose sight of what a healthy adult should look like.

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7 Tips to Save Money on Your Thanksgiving Day Dinner Menu

Heather Levin

If you’ve ever hosted Thanksgiving for friends and family, then you know how easy it is for costs to spiral out of control. Turkeys and pies and casseroles and cakes can all add up to an enormous grocery bill. And if you decide to decorate, well…you see where this is going. It can get expensive!

To help you out this Thanksgiving, I want to give you seven easy to save money this Thanksgiving:

1. Have a BYOD (Bring Your Own Dish) Celebration

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What Detroit Has Taught Me About Saving Money

Heather Levin

Can you imagine living in a city without a single chain grocery store? Can you imagine living without a Target, a Walmart, a Home Depot, or Best Buy? No TJ Maxx or Marshall’s or Bed Bath and Beyond? Or without a Costco to buy things in bulk?

I know it might be hard to picture. Big chain retailers have permeated our culture so much that the thought of living in a place without them is hard to imagine.

But I do live in a place without them. And I’m more grateful every day that I do.

Why?

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How to Prevent Food Poisoning In Restaurants

Heather Levin

Have you ever had food poisoning? Chances are, on some level, the answer is yes. I have, and it really stinks.

Health experts say that the majority of time, food poisoning occurs when we’re outside our homes. That is, when we eat at restaurants, delis, or cafeterias, or when we buy a quick bite from a street vendor.

But is there any way to avoid getting food poisoning when we go out? Well, yes, but only if we know what to look for.

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Remedies to Prevent Various Types of Food Poisoning

Heather Levin

Did you know that each year, over 76 million people get sick from food poisoning?

Think about that. 76 million of us get sick from food that’s supposed to be safe. And according to the Center for Disease Control (CDC), over 350,000 of those illnesses are serious enough to require hospitalization. Of those, 5,000 people end up dying.

Those are some shockingly high statistics from one of the most developed countries in the world.

If you’ve paid any attention to the news over the past few years, then you know that the instances of foodborne illness and contamination seem to be on the rise. More than 200 known diseases are transmitted through food, and more are being identified all the time.

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Appliances You Might Be Surprised You Can Live Without

Heather Levin

I recently wrote a post on how to downsize your life to a drastically smaller living space. I mentioned how, when I moved, I accidentally left something I thought I couldn’t live without at my old house: my microwave.

The funny thing is that it took me four days to realize I’d forgotten it. I hadn’t needed it, and my new kitchen was so much smaller I just didn’t notice its absence.

That was over a month ago. And I still don’t have a microwave.

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How to Make Your Home Energy Efficient

Heather Levin

I recently made the transition from home owner to renter. And although that transition has been a happy and fun experience, there’s one issue that has come as bit of a shock.

The loft space I’m renting is not very energy efficient at all. At all.

I have single-pane windows that are over 15-feet high (and the Michigan winter is well on its way). There’s a draft by my desk that lets in so much cold air that my hair blows back when there’s a breeze outside. My toilet runs constantly. And my faucets? Taking a shower is like standing under Niagara Falls.

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I Lost My Job Too: How to Make the Best Use of Your Unemployment

Heather Levin

During the 2008-09 recession, my freelance business took a huge hit. In the early part of 2009, business was down 70% from the year before. Clients were going out of business left and right, and the ones I had left were drastically curtailing their spending.

According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, 2009 unemployment stood at 9.5% nationally (not seasonally adjusted). In my home state of Michigan, 14% of the population was unemployed. And in my home city of Detroit, unemployment was a shocking 50%. Nevada suffered from the overall highest unemployment, at 14.4%.

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5 Things You Shouldn’t Waste Your Money On

Heather Levin

All of us want to save money right now. And hopefully, as we climb out of the recession we’ve been in the past few years, we’ll keep up with these good habits we’ve developed out of necessity.

After I bought my first house in 2007, I was gripped by a burning desire to save money (my first mortgage statement had a lot to do with that!). And my desire to cut back on my spending increased with the difficult recession, leading me to find some creative ways to save.

In this post, I want to share with you five things I’ve stopped wasting money on:

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Is Lasik Surgery Worth The Cost?

Heather Levin

If someone asked you what the best money you ever spent was, would you know the answer?

I would. For me, the best money I ever spent was on my Lasik eye surgery three years ago. The $2,500 I spent on my eye surgery has paid off a million times over in quality-of-life improvements and not having to buy glasses.

But not everyone agrees. For others, Lasik isn’t worth the investment. The high cost and slight risk for complications makes the price too high.

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How to Buy Quality Clothing on a Budget

Heather Levin

Just one look in my closet and you’ll think I spend all my money on clothing.

It’s not that it’s stuffed full of clothes. In fact, the opposite is true; I have fewer clothes than most people. But the clothes I do have are high-quality, mostly designer pieces.

I didn’t always used to be this way. Like many people, I’d see a cool shirt at Target, or a $5 flannel at Wal-Mart and I’d pick it up for something new to wear. I’d even try clothes swapping parties to save the most money. But most of the time, after a dozen washes, the seams would be frayed or a hole would be forming in my clothes.

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Why Downsizing Your Home Can Save You Money

Heather Levin

Just this week I trimmed down my living space by at least 1,000 square feet. I went from a suburban home with tons of storage to a downtown city loft with practically none. It was one of the best decisions I ever made and my life has become not only so much simpler, but also way more inexpensive!

What many people don’t realize is that downsizing and decluttering can really save you a lot of money. In addition, downsizing and decluttering can make your life considerably more stress-free.

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