Archive for December, 2006
Dec
29
Posted by Mary
After seeing the commercials on tv, I thought it might be a good idea to go to the website and check out the pparx.org What I found there is a list of companies that help take care of prescription drug costs. Here is the link, at the top is a bunch of companies I am guessing that help all over the country, and then the companies are listed by state.
With so much of the country not having health insurance I am sure this site can help someone. Good Luck!
Dec
29
Posted by Mary
This post is specifically for mothers of kids ages 0-5 years old. There is an organization called MOPS (moms of preschoolers) and it is international. They have periodic meetings, where often there is childcare so that moms can spend some time together going over topics relative to moms. Unfortunately the meetings are held during the week, but contact your local mops group to see if you can get a meeting together for moms who may have full time jobs.
I have been a part of mops for almost 2 years and love it, it gives you the opportunity to find other kids your kids ages and set up play dates, plus you can meet moms just like you, and make new friends with common interests, such as your children. Check this site for local chapters MOPS
Dec
29
Posted by Mary
I found a great site that lets you fax for free. It is called faxzero. All you have to do is scan your paper that needs to be faxed into your computer and then save it as a .doc or a .pdf file to fax it. Of course you could use your own computer if you want to set it up with the phone line and all of that, but this is just another option. For the pdf file, you would print to a pdf file by downloading a pdf converter for free. Here is a link. But I think it would just be easier to scan to microsoft word and save as a .doc
Hope this is helpful. I know it is a lot easier for me to just scan and use this site than to go through the whole shebang with the fax facilities on my computer that come preinstalled.
Dec
29
Posted by Mary
Over the past couple of years I have become very interested in home remedies, natural cures, and other hints and tips that have been used for maybe centuries and are actually good for our bodies, instead of chemicals to take care of our health, illnesses, and diseases. I have found many great sites, that will be listed below. But please remember to discuss these with your doctor before you try them, just to make sure it is safe for your body.
Cure Zone
Miracle Home Remedy- Apple Cider Vinegar, Garlic, and Honey
Safe Natural Cures
Mother Nature- online health books, and all doctors home remedies books, kids to seniors
News Target
These are just some of my favorites, I have more that are more for the wellness subject, which I hope to post on soon enough.
Dec
29
Posted by Mary
There is a new search engine called Cha Cha. It is a really great site that you go to and have a guide help you find what you are looking for, this is actually a person somewhere out there who is going through different search engines, links, sites, maybe their favorites, or other online searching techniques and finding exactly what you are looking for. No more having to sift through the results yourself, just tell your guide just what it is you need to find and they will do it for you.
Here are a couple of articles on it:
Michigan Daily
Macleans
Go ahead and try it out, but remember it is new, so there are still a few clitches, and guides are still training, so you might get transferred to another more suitable guide for your search. Either way come back and visit it a while later to see if it is better and can give you what you need, more time to enjoy online cause you have less time searching.
Chacha.com
Dec
29
Posted by Mary
Today I found an awesome site about weight loss and fitness. It is just like ediets and other diet sites, but FREE! It helps you figure out your goals for weight loss, and dates for your goals. You also go step by step instead of just jumping in. There is a meal tracker and calorie tracker, and you can join teams, groups, chat on the forums, there are tons of resources and articles. I know I just started, but this is just so much fun so far, I think I might actually go with it all the way. If anyone has any trouble let me know. Just email me.
Dec
29
Posted by Mary
Paypal is now offering free equifax monitoring for 12 months, so if something (atleast from my understanding)happens with your credit you will get an email about it. With identity theft and how important our credit is, this is a nice tool to use to make sure all is well with your credit. So go search on paypal to find the offer for your account. As long as you dont enter payment information you will not be charged after 12 months.
Free Annual Credit Reports- the government said we have to be able to get a free report every year, so each of the three credit bureaus are on this site. I check one of them every 4 months and buy the score to go with it, the scores is about $6. This is just another way to monitor your credit and stay on top of your score. Very helpful if you plan on making large purchases in the near future.
Dec
29
Posted by Mary
The one thing about being a homemaker is there is only one income, which means you have to make the most of it. Over the past few years I have learned a few things about shopping, groceries, bills, saving money, and being as frugal as possible. When it comes to shopping I do a lot of it online, because there are great sites, like bizrate that will find and compare prices for the merchandise you are wanting to buy. I also search the internet for coupon codes (keycode is great for this- however not the only one). Another tip for shopping online is if you know you can deal with it being used, ebay, yahoo auction, live deal and ioffer are great places to check for the item. I try to find the cheapest price possible. I like to make my dollars stretch as far as I can, because that is more I have to spend elsewhere, imagine that a homemaker with a shopping problem, lol!
Anyways for the groceries, I shop at BJ’s for toilet paper and things like that, things that will last a long time, and I only have to do it a couple of times a year. But a great site I ran across once is called the grocery game. The author of the site tells you exactly how to use your coupons from the Sunday paper, when to save them for later, and how to make the most of rebates also. It is very informative and helpful if available in your area.
For frugality, I have found an awesome site for information on keeping and saving your money. It is called allthingsfrugal.
There are many other sites about saving money, but this one is one of my favorites so far. Another though is thefrugallife.
If you have any other sites that help you track and save your money, please contact me to let me know.
Dec
29
Posted by Mary
I have only been married for 1.5 years. But it is to a great man. However no matter how great a person is, marriage can be hard, have bad times, and not always be great. There are a couple of books I have read on marriage that teach you how to best get through your “down times”. The one I like the most is The Five Love Languages. Basically it just teaches you how to show your spouse love the way they would like to be loved. The other book that I like is Lies at the Altar. This one is by a friend of Oprah’s and is actually for people before they get married, it lists many questions couples should ask each other, before getting married. I probably like this one so much because my husband doesn’t talk much and this helps us have more conversations.
Other than books I have come across some pretty good sites, like Your Romance Guide which has information about many loving relationships. And Loving You is another. If anything at all we can forward these to our husbands, those of us who have those husbands with no ideas about romance. Lol!
I just thought I would add that the author of the five love languages, also has a site called Marriage Vine, you can sign up for emails to get to learn how to make the most of your marriage. I got them for months, and saved all of them, so many are just very practical helpful advice.
Dec
29
Posted by Mary
Freecycle is a great idea that when you want to get rid of something you just post it online and someone in your area may want it and will come pick it up. And you can also ask for things online from others in your area and ask for the other free things posted. Everything on this site is free, you can not ask for money for the things you post. Just go to Freecycle and search for your area.
Other things you can do to save money, or get things free is to join Yahoo or Msn groups for your area. There are either classified groups, or community groups, where you can find out about other things in your area. WIC is great for mothers and children, Co-ops help you get groceries for cheap, or free, and heck if you can get Hud help or foodstamps when you need to go ahead, the help is out there if you need it.
One co-op that is in many areas is the angel food network. You go to a church to sign up for it and pay $25 a month for the food, there are specials that go with the package each month for additional money.
Dec
29
Posted by Mary
If children live with criticism, they learn to condemn.
If children live with hostility, they learn to fight.
If children live with fear, they learn to be apprehensive.
If children live with pity, they learn to feel sorry for themselves.
If children live with ridicule, they learn to feel shy.
If children live with jealousy, they learn to feel envy.
If children live with shame, they learn to feel guilty.
If children live with encouragement, they learn confidence.
If children live with tolerance, they learn patience.
If children live with praise, they learn appreciation.
If children live with acceptance, they learn to love.
If children live with approval, they learn to like themselves.
If children live with recognition, they learn it is good to have a goal.
If children live with sharing, they learn generosity.
If children live with honesty, they learn truthfulness.
If children live with fairness, they learn justice.
If children live with kindness and consideration, they learn respect.
If children live with security, they learn to have faith in themselves and in those about them.
If children live with friendliness, they learn the world is a nice place in which to live.
By Dorothy Law Nolte
Dec
29
Posted by Mary
Being pregnant is so great, lol, putting on those extra pounds. But when I was pregnant I worried about all the weight I was gaining, and could not find much help for it online, because the sites were only geared to people who were not pregnant, and it would say to talk to your doctor and all of that. Well now I am not pregnant, and I need to lose weight so I went to Spark People, a free site for people trying to lose weight, and saw that there is also a site like it called Babyfit, it is also free and helpful and informative about your pregnancy, what your babe is up to in there and keeping you both healthy. It is free so it is atleast worth a try if you are pregnant and worry about eating right and taking care of yourself while you are carrying your wonderful bundle of joy.
Dec
29
Posted by Mary
I was visiting some family tonight and we got on the discussion of family time, and how important it is. And I guess you can say I have forgotten about that some, but I am going to make it better this week, while my husband is on vacation. I want to get back to playing with my kids, and spending some good quality time with my family. There are some great sites I have come across in my online searching about family fun, one of which is called Family Fun and is from disney. Ivillage has a calendar that shows you activities for the day, and what is special about the day, and what family things you can do. With so much always going on in the life of a parent it is sometimes hard to come up with these things on our own.
Dec
29
Posted by Mary
When thinking about working at home there are many things to consider. Where you are going to do, what you are going to do, the benefits, such as being at home, and working hours you want, and the consequences of doing it, having to have all quiet for phone calls, less social interaction than the work place, how it affects your taxes, and if you will get any benefits. Most work at home jobs, are through companies as independant contractors instead of employees, so you are considered self employed which can affect your taxes, also because you are not an employee there may not be health benefits, vacation, or any other kinds of benefits that you may get with an on site job.
Be careful when searching online for work from home, there are many scams out there, but the most important rule to go by is you do not have to work someone to work for them. What I usually do is try things out, send my resume, email information etc, and if I get asked for money I just delete the information and/or tell them I am not interested. There are a few websites that help to find scams. Ripoffreport is one, and the better business bureau is another. It might also be good to join a few forums on the subject of work from home, great forums I have used are WAHM and work place like home.
Dec
29
Posted by Mary
Customer Service
Work At Home Agent.
Live Ops
1800 Flowers- search in jobs
Uhaul
Willow
Acd Direct
A great article was recently done by Good Morning America. It is about online opportunities to make money from home, legitimate ways to do it, and watching for scams. Here is the link.
Dec
29
Posted by Mary
All of us have had ideas, dreams, thoughts, goals. But as homemakers they sometimes seem to get put on the back burner. Although keeping our families fed and bills paid are very important it is also important to put your mind to your ideas, dreams, and goals and make them happen. If you think you have a great business idea, start making contacts and researching it to see where you can start.
What would you set out to do if you knew you couldn’t fail? This is a great question I came across on the internet a few months ago, and it has really made me think. I have had so many ideas, that I have just never done anything with. But that is old news now, I am not sure what exactly I am going to do but it will be something, after reading that article.
You should too. If you have something you have waiting to do start now. Come up with something if you dont already have something to start with. I really believe where there is a will there is a way. And us homemakers we are busy people, we have stress, but we have learned to deal with it, and we can most certainly handle the stress of doing something we want to do.
Dec
29
Posted by Mary
PCNames Domain Search is a great site to use to check and see if a website name you want to use is available, whats more is that it also searches other names like it to see what is available out there, it is somewhat a computerized imagination for you to use, and makes it much easier to get your site started.
Dec
29
Posted by Mary
Just found this site while I was searching online, thought I would share it with whoever reads my blog. It gives you over 100 finance tips to teach you to keep your money, how to save it, etc. It covers everything from college, to taxes, and credit, and retirement, homeowning, furniture and investing. So check it out, with tax season right around the corner it couldnt hurt to get some ideas to lower your tax liability. And actually here is a link to H&R block for new people to print out a coupon.
www.yourcreditadvisor.com/blog/2006/10/102_personal_fi.html
Dec
29
Posted by Mary
Water
1. We all know that water is important but I’ve never seen it written down like this before.
2. 75% of Americans are chronically dehydrated. (Likely applies to half world population)
3. In 37% of Americans, the thirst mechanism is so weak that it is often mistaken for hunger.&
4. Even MILD dehydration will slow down one’s metabolism as much as 3%.
5. One glass of water will shut down midnight hunger pangs for almost 100% of the dieters studied in a U- Washington study.
6. Lack of water, the #1 trigger of daytime fatigue.
7. Preliminary research indicates that 8-10 glasses of water a day could significantly ease back and joint pain for up to 80% of sufferers.
8. A mere 2% drop in body water can trigger fuzzy short-term memory, trouble with basic math, and difficulty focusing on the computer screen or on a printed page.
9. Drinking 5 glasses of water daily decreases the risk of colon cancer by 45%, plus it can slash the risk of breast cancer by 79%, and one is 50% less likely to develop bladder cancer.
Are you drinking the amount of water you should every day?
COKE
1. In many states (in the USA) the highway patrol carries two gallons of Coke in the truck to remove blood from the highway after a car accident.
2. You can put a T-bone steak in a bowl of coke and it will be gone in two days.
3. To clean a toilet: Pour a can of Coca-Cola into the toilet bowl and let the “real thing†sit for one hour, then flush clean The citric acid in Coke removes stains from vitreous china.
4. To remove rust spots from chrome car bumpers: Rub the bumper with a crumpled-up piece of Reynolds Wrap aluminum foil
dipped in Coca-Cola.
5. To clean corrosion from car battery terminals: Pour a can of
Coca-Cola over the terminals to bubble away the corrosion.
6. To loosen a rusted bolt: Applying a cloth soaked in Coca-Cola to the rusted bolt for several minutes.
7. To bake a moist ham: Empty a can of Coca-Cola into the baking pan, wrap the ham in aluminum foil, and bake. Thirty minutes before the ham is finished, Remove the foil, allowing the drippings to mix with the Coke for a sumptuous brown gravy.
8. To remove grease from clothes: Empty a can of coke into a load of greasy clothes, add detergent, and run through a regular cycle. The Coca-Cola will help loosen grease stains. It will also clean road haze from your windshield.
For Your Info:
1. The active ingredient in Coke is phosphoric acid. Its Ph is 2.8. It will dissolve a nail in about 4 days. Phosphoric acid also leaches calcium from bones and is a major contributor to the rising increase in osteoporosis.
2. To carry Coca-Cola syrup (the concentrate) the commercial truck must use the Hazardous material place cards reserved for highly corrosive materials.
3. The distributors of coke have been using it to clean the engines of their trucks for about 20 years!
Now the question is, would you like a glass of WATER
or COKE ?
Dec
28
Posted by Mary
This is an email forward I received.
Over and above these items, you can take peroxide, put it on a clean
white cloth, rub it on any stain on any carpet and it will take the
stain out of the carpet but not the color.
Peroxide:
“I would like to tell you of the benefits of that plain little old
bottle of 3% peroxide you can get for under $1.00 at any drug store. My
husband has been in the medical field for over 36 years, and most
doctors don’t tell you about peroxide, or they would lose thousands of
dollars.”
1. Take one capful (the little white cap that comes with the bottle) and
hold in your mouth for 10 minutes daily, then spit it out. (I do it
when I bathe )
No more canker sores and your teeth will be whiter without expensive
pastes. Use it instead of mouthwash. (small print says mouth wash and
gargle right on the bottle)
2. Let your toothbrushes soak in a cup of “Peroxide” to keep them free
of germs.
3. Clean your counters, table tops with peroxide to kill germs and leave
a fresh smell. Simply put a little on your dishrag when you wipe, or
spray it on the counters.
4. After rinsing off your wooden cutting board, pour peroxide on it to
kill salmonella and other bacteria.
5. I had fungus on my feet for years - until I sprayed a 50/50 mixture
of peroxide and water on them (especially the toes) every night and let
dry.
6. Soak any infections or cuts in 3% peroxide for five to ten minutes
several times a day. My husband has seen gangrene that would not heal
with any medicine, but was healed by soaking in peroxide.
7. Fill a spray bottle with a 50/50 mixture of peroxide an d water and
keep it in every bathroom to disinfect without harming your septic
system like bleach or most other disinfectants will.
8. Tilt your head back and spray into nostrils with your 50/50 mixture
whenever you have a cold, or plugged sinuses. It will bubble and help to
kill the bacteria. Hold for a few minutes then blow your nose into a
tissue.
9. If you have a terrible toothache and cannot get to a dentist right
away, put a capful of 3% peroxide into your mouth and hold it for ten
minutes several times a day. The pain will lessen greatly.
10. And of course, if you like a natural look to your hair, spray the
50/50 solution on your wet hair after a shower and comb it through. You
will not have the peroxide burnt blonde hair like the hair dye packages,
but more natural highlights if your hair is a light brown, faddish, or
dirty blonde. It also lightens gradually so it’s not a drastic change.
11. Put half a bottle of peroxide in your bath to help rid boils,
fungus, or other skin infections.
12. You can also add a cup of peroxide instead of bleach to a load of
whites in your laundry to whiten them. If there is blood on clothing,
Pour directly on the soiled spot. Let it sit for a minute, then rub it
and rinse with cold water. Repeat if necessary.
13. I use peroxide to clean my mirrors with, and there is no smearing
which is why I love it so much for this.
Dec
28
Posted by Mary
Stains… we all get them, luckily there is a guide on about.com that has helpful information for different stains. http://housekeeping.about.com/od/laundry/a/10stainremovtip.htm Remember to check about.com when looking for guides to do different things, this is a great resource site.
Dec
28
Posted by Mary
I really love to use organic products for cleaning my home. I like to make things on my own and not to have to use all those chemicals, because it is healthier for my family. I am big on the vinegar, lemon juice, salt and water mix as an all purpose cleaner. And I especially love learning about other ways to clean house organically. So today’s site of the day is Clean Tip. It has each room categorized and tells you how to clean the different parts of that room without spending a bunch of money on chemicals that aren’t good for your family, it will explain exactly what ingredients and tools you will need. Enjoy!
Dec
28
Posted by Mary
These are specifically for atletes, but why wouldn’t they be just as good for the rest of us, right?There are many other topics on this site also, it is a health site. There are healthy eating guidelines, pre work out snacks, 5 healthiest foods, heart, cancer, gout and acid reflux diets and much more. Nutrition is a very important part of our lives considering the more attention we pay to it the longer our bodies will be made to live.
http://www.healthcastle.com/sports_super_foods_athletes.shtml
An awesome addition, I just found 10 tips for easy weight loss on this site health castle, it looks great!
http://www.healthcastle.com/easy-weightloss.shtml
Dec
28
Posted by Mary
Today site is actually just a page on the reader’s digest site. It is the 50 habits of thin people, and it tells you how to lose weight forever. There are obvioulsy 50 tips to follow, and some of them seem easy. It is hard as it is to lose weight so hopefully this site can help someone.
Dec
28
Posted by Mary
Today while searching online I found a really great site for health. More specifically alternative medicine and home remedies. The Doctor’s Book of Home Remedies has always been a reference book of mine, because I think it has really great information in it. On the Mother Nature website they have an online bookshelf that includes in full text the Doctor’s Books of Remedies 1 and 2, for Seniors, Women and Children. There are also other books about taking care of yourself, supplements and women’s health. All of the reading is free, and it is a great site to reference when you have a problem that is in one of the books. Here is the link:
http://www.mothernature.com/Library/bookshelf/index.cfm
Dec
28
Posted by Mary
How to mend it, gives you free information on how to fix anything from boats, to glass, to air conditioners, and more. This is a great site to bookmark because of all the free help and information you can get here, we all break things, or have things broken on us, so being able to “mend it” is a great way to save money.
Dec
28
Posted by Mary
Keep a healthy weight can be difficult to do as a parent, especially with all this world is always doing, there is always one or more places to be, things to do and fast food to eat. However there is also a lot of help, information, recipes and tips to keep us all healthy. This is a great page for diet tricks.
Dec
28
Posted by Mary
This is a craft link, it is great because it teaches you how to make your own custom fabric. All you need is the picture on your computer and a printer, of course it will have to be smaller than a regular size piece of paper. Very simple directions.
http://limelady.livejournal.com/106122.html
Dec
28
Posted by Mary
Here is a site that has a whole list of birthing links, baby links, mommy links, all of those things. The main site is about choosing how to birth your baby. Everyone gets to decide if they want a home birth, hospital birth, birthing center birth, etc. You have to make the best decision for you and your baby.
Dec
28
Posted by Mary
Learn how to organize according to whether you are normally an organized person, or you are not. It isnt impossible. I am a Piler, and that works for me.
Dec
28
Posted by Mary
While surfing online today I came across a few tips to throw out there. First tip was on saving money. I go to school at a local college and it is time to buy books. The easy way for me to do this is to just use the schools bookstore. But I wanted to spend as little as possible, so here is what I did. I went to www.textbookx.com with the list of books I needed and the authors, editions, etc. I searched for them on textbookx and took the ISBN number from their site to the site www.bigwords.com There I entered the numbers and when I was done it totaled up all the stores I would have to use to get my books the cheapest. My total was 150 for 3 books. Down from 280+ at the school book store. But I still needed another book only sold by the school and that was 70+ through the school so to make it even a little cheaper I searched the schools boards for the books, and found one for $20. So with all of that sounding pretty good for books so far, I am waiting to purchase two to see if I can use older copies which is sometimes allowed, and therefore I will not have to purchase them at all because I have them free. I am also going to check with my local www.yahoo.com groups and freecycles to see if anyone has any of the books I need.
So my savings are looking to be pretty great, from close to $400 down to less than $200. Hope this helps someone who is getting ready for school.
Dec
28
Posted by Mary
I am in a Yahoo group for preschool homeschooling. I have a two year old son, and a 3 month old. My husband and I are going to try homeschooling out, because we think that it might be best for our kids. There is so much more you can do with their education to help them enjoy it more if you homeschool, is our opinion. So… back to the Yahoo Group. Ok, so today another of the parents posted a link to Barnes and Nobles, they apparently do free online classes on a variety of topics, and homeschooling is one of them. It is more for newbies to the idea, for first years, and others who just want more information. So I wanted to send the link out to any and every one who reads this so they can have a chance to sign up. It starts Sept 5th I believe.
Dec
28
Posted by Mary
There is a lot of help online for training your dog. One such site that you can get free tips from is for the e-book Sit Stay Fetch. This e-book teaches you how to train your dog. The e-book itself is not free, however you can sign up for a newsletter from the author of the book, the newsletter includes a free 6 day mini course on training, and is free. The site for Sit Stay Fetch includes many tips in itself, such as what words to use when talking to your dog, and what not to use. Also how dogs understand what we say to them.
There is a lot of free information online on training your dog, the information page for Sit Stay Fetch is definately full of a lot of it, but other online resources that are free include: Dr. P’s Dog Training, and 101 Dog Training Tips. Both of these sites have free tips about dog training.
Other great resources for training your dogs are books sold on Amazon.com this is a very popular book site, and if you spend $25 or more you get free shipping.