Some of the items for <blank> are as follows:

exercise
lose weight
cook meals at home
do another task at work
find a new job
learn to write computer programs
travel

I assure them I have just as many hours in the day as they do, but I have done all of the things listed above.  I do them on a regular basis.

My secret? I have a superpower able to slow down time while I get things done at supersonic speeds.

No, not really.  Alas, I am a mere mortal.  However, I have learned the art of time management and prioritization.

I admit.  I said I don’t have enough time to do <blank> on occasion.  In some cases, this was correct.  I was overwhelmed and overburdened with too many tasks.  I have friends who legitimately are overworked and understaffed.  The most competent people get more and more work piled on them.  If this is you, of course you should talk with your boss about it.  Unfortunate as it is, in many cases, you’re going to have to deal with it.

On the other hand, I’ve seen more than a few coworkers not use their work time effectively, then have to scramble with overtime to catch up.

The truth is, I’m somewhat lazy.  I don’t want to work nights and weekends.  I like to spend my evenings goofing around, and my weekends exploring fun places.  Sure, I like overtime pay.  I reserve it for when I absolutely need it, though.

I value my free time.  I’m still young (mid thirties).  I want to enjoy my health and my youth while I can still climb mountains (if I wanted to).  I don’t want to wait until retirement to live life.  I don’t want to burn away my pretty years in a cold cubicle, scrimping for every minute of overtime I can get to pay bills.

This is why I life a debt free life.  I’d rather live lean now, so I can have more freedom now.  I don’t want to live paycheck to paycheck.  I’d rather have more time, than work overtime.

I structure my work days following the Getting Things Done* methodology.  I bought the book five years ago, and I reread it every year.  It’s a time management system that absolutely fits me, and how I organize my tasks.  The most important rule I learned is the “2 minute rule”.  If I have an item on my ‘To Do’ list that takes less than 2 minutes, do it right now.  That one seemingly simple rule lead to my reputation among my bosses and associates as being ‘on top of things’.  Or, “competent”.

When I became serious about eating out less, the most important thing I did was to make meals at home.  Like most young people starting their adult lives outside of college, I didn’t know how to cook.  I had to learn, but I had “no time”.

This wasn’t true.  I didn’t make the time.  It wasn’t important to me.  When it became important to eat at home, I found the time.

My mom was a stay at home housewife until I started school.  Both my parents worked full time every day after that.  My mom worked anywhere between 30-50 hours 4-6 days per week as a housekeeper for a hotel.  Yet we always had a clean house, clean dishes, and home cooked meals every night. 

My mom, obviously, is a superhero from whom I inherited my time stopping powers.

My mom is a superhero.  This is true.  However, she has no time stopping powers.  She has just as many hours in the day, and wishes she had more time, just like everybody else.  Home cooked meals was important to my family, so she made time.

When asked about home cooking, many people think of their grandmothers toiling all day in the kitchen making the ultimate pasta sauce and Bundt cake, and every dish in the house dirtied.  This isn’t necessary.  You can make a delicious all day cooked pasta sauce in a crockpot, and you don’t need to use every bowl and pan you own.  I can do without desserts, so I skip the Bundt cake altogether and opt for a fresh, sweet apple.

Something I learned from my mom was how to take advantage of ‘make ahead’ meals in large batches.  Immediately after going to the grocery store, she washed and chopped all veggies, and put them in containers.  She bought bulk quantities of meat and marinated them in the fridge.  She set a rice cooker in the morning before work for a fresh pot of rice by the time she came home.  After a hard day of work, she threw the marinated meat in a frying pan, and put the chopped veggies in a salad bowl.  A scoop of rice on the plate, and voila – we had home cooked meals every night.

As an adult, I do the exact same thing.  I plan and prep my weekly meals on the weekend when I do have time, so I don’t have to muddle with it in the week.  While the frying pan is heating up, I throw all pre-chopped veg in salad bowls.  On average, I spend 30 minutes a night prepping and cooking dinner.

You may be thinking, “Cathy, how do I have time to goof around?  Aren’t there still a pile of dishes? I hate doing dishes!”

I’m with ya.  I hate dishes too.  A dishwasher, my friend, is a marvelous invention.  My tricks? 

1. Don’t wait until the dishwasher is full.  I run it half full, and frequently.  My dishwasher is usually run twice a day.
2. Empty it asap.  If my dishwasher is empty, as soon as a dish gets dirty, it goes straight in.
3. Wash while cooking. Don’t wait until you have a huge pile in the sink.  If I see a huge pile, I get overwhelmed and gravitate towards, “I don’t want to do this”.  While my steak is cooking in the frying pan, I’ll take the cutting board I used to prep and drop it straight in the dishwasher.  The key is, step #2 above must have been complete.
4. Start the dishwasher after dinner.  Put your used plates in and start it, even if it’s half full.  See #1.

Some of you out there – I’m reading your mind.  You’re thinking, “Doesn’t running half loads of the dishwasher waste water and cost more electricity?”.

Modern electric dishwashers use less water than hand washing.  Machine is better than human.  Don’t believe me? 

With traditional hand washing, you typically fill a sink basin with soapy water, then rinse in a second basin.  Most people leave the tap running while they wash and rinse.  Think about how much water is running down the drain if you have a full load of dishes.

Turn your dishwasher on.  Stop it while it is in the wash and rinse cycle.  See the water at the bottom?  There’s probably about an inch of water in there.  The dishwasher is recirculating it during the cycle.  Plus the water temperature is hotter than most of us can handle hand washing.

If you can wash your dishes in that little water by hand, and get it clean, you, my friend, are a freaking superhero.  I don’t know how you do it.

As for the cost of electricity, it’s miniscule.  My laptop probably burned more electricity while I wrote this story.  Even if it was costly, the truth is, if I didn’t have a dishwasher, then I probably wouldn’t eat at home regularly. 

I don’t have time not to run the dishwasher.

Until next time…

* Affiliate link

The date: March 22, 2001. I spent the following in a single month:

It is incredibly embarrassing looking at this. The restaurant bill is startling. At the time, I honestly believed I wasn’t spending that much eating out.  I believed it was a better ‘value’ than eating in.

This bill was a little higher than the ‘average’ for the time. I didn’t spend $1000 every month on travel. I honestly can’t remember where we went.  Can’t have been worth what we paid if I don’t remember it.  I’m not sure why the pet costs were so high. I’m certain we spent $500 average on the restaurant meals, though. I estimate our total ‘average’ per month around $1500-$2000, not including rent and utilities.

Looking at the details, it’s clear why I ended up overweight and deeply in debt.

Subsequent statements show that I paid off the bill in full.  I didn’t accrue debt at this time. My boyfriend and I had the income to support this with our combined incomes, and I paid off the balance in full. Except we weren’t saving anything. When we both lost our jobs during the tech crash in 2002, I accumulated debt paying for our bills because we had nothing in savings.  I suspect we didn’t change our spending habits much. With no income to pay it off, it accrued at an astronomic rate.  We didn’t think we would be out of work for so long.  Stupidly, I followed advice from financial experts telling me to have a credit card for emergencies, not cash.

In March 22, 2001, I had a good income, was young, and never really thought anything bad could happen. I didn’t save for a rainy day. I paid a dear price for it.  In 2003, I was 40 pounds overweight, and $35,000 in debt. Debt I accrued in one year with a partner who left me to pay for it on my own.

There is a happy ending, though. It took me five years to recover from this, and I did it on an income of $40,000 per year.   I did it on my own, without defaulting, and never declared bankruptcy. It took being brutally honest, disciplined, committed, and willing to live less than the ‘good life’ to get it done. I already lived enough of the ‘good life’ of spending wrecklessly, and wanted no more to do with it.

I’ll contrast my current spending in a follow up post.

I didn’t realize that an average American restaurant portion is 2-3 times larger than it should be.  After learning how to cook for myself, I discovered I can put together a gourmet steak dinner complete with grass fed beef, mashed potatoes, steamed vegetables and a glass of wine for about $12.  Total calories is about 400-500.  An equivalent meal at my favorite steakhouse costs $38, and weighs in at over 1000 calories!

My partner and I still enjoy dining out.  We do it economically, and stay slim.  This is how I did it, while still enjoying an occasional dinner out.

1. Take advantage of happy hour prices.  Seattle is blessed with numerous late night happy hour menus at top quality restaurants.  We have two chances daily to catch happy hour.  We enjoy two appetizer sized plates. This can be any two of the following: tacos, shrimp cocktail, chicken wings, nachos, hamburger sliders, salmon/crab cakes, wontons, bbq ribs, small pizza, beef/chicken satay, sashimi/sushi rolls, salads, or soups.  While not ‘health’ food, the portions are small and we’re sharing, so it’s not nearly as bad as eating it on our own. 
Average Saved: Our bill usually tops $24, including drinks at Seattle’s top restaurants.
Calories Saved: 400-1000

2. Share a plate.  Sometimes we’ll order an appetizer and a single main course, then share our plates.  Some restaurants frown on this and charge a $1-2 plate sharing fee.  This is still much cheaper (and fewer calories) than getting two entrees. 
Average Saved: $40
Calories Saved: 400-700

3. Don’t eat bread rolls or chips and salsa.  You’ll have plenty to eat with your meals.  Skip it, and you’ll avoid mindless snacking.
Average Saved: No cost savings here.  These are usually free items.
Calories Saved: 200-1000

4. Take leftovers for lunch.  I order my own entree plate, split all the food in half, then get a take home box.  That effectively gives me two meals for the price of one, and I’m eating closer to a single serving size. 
Average Saved: A $25 entree becomes a $12.50 dinner, and a $12.50 envy-of-the-lunchroom gourmet lunch.
Calories Saved: 400-800

5. Skip the alcohol.  Here’s a secret: restaurants almost never make money on the food.  The margins are very difficult to balance.  Most restaurants make a profit and pay their bills on the alcohol you buy with your meals.
Average Saved: There’s a bottle of cheap Washington red wine that my boyfriend and I frequently buy at Trader Joes’s for $4.99.  A typical bottle of wine has 4.5 glasses in it.  When we go to restaurants, I frequently see a glass of this particular wine for $5.  That’s $17.50 profit on a bottle.  If they bought it with a bulk discount, the profit is greater.  So buy your favorite bottle from Trader Joe’s and enjoy it at home after your dinner.
Calories Saved: For the weight loss portion of this tip, drink wine or beer instead of hard liquor.   It’s typically cheaper, saves calories, and saves strain on your liver.

6. Skip the dessert. My partner and I aren’t much for desserts, so this is an easy one for us.  Desserts are cheap, but the biggest savings is to the waistline.
Average Saved: $3-10
Calories Saved: 800-1600

After you’ve lost weight and paid off your debt, the trick is you have to keep doing it.  You can’t eat salads for a year, lose 30 pounds, then go back to eating double quarter pounders every day.  You can’t eat at home every night for however long it takes you to pay off debt, then go back to eating out every meal. 

I used these tips and trick to help me lose weight and eliminate my debt.  I lost 30 pounds 5 years ago, and have kept it off.  I paid off $35,000 worth of debt 2 years ago, and haven’t had a day of negative net worth since.  Now that I’m 30 pounds lighter and debt free, I continue to eat out like this.  I cook at home, and brown bag lunches six days a week. I eat happy hour snacks or dinner employing these tactics one day a week.

Save money and lose weight.  Two of the most popular new years resolution goals ever!  You can do it!

I finished paying off $35,000 worth of consumer debt in April 2008.  Since that time to present, I worked aggressively to save, save, save.

How I Saved the Bacon
- Lived well below my means.
- Spent no more than 40% of my income on living expenses (food, rent, gas).  I could afford a pricey luxury apartment; I choose to live in a simple, modest apartment.
- I cook quality meals at home and brown bag lunch most days of the week.  I eat a lunch with coworkers and a dinner with my partner once a week.
- Opened a Roth IRA and a health savings account.  Contributed maximum limits.
- Put the rest into an emergency fund and various targeted savings account.
- Traded in my 18mpg Jeep Grand Cherokee for a fuel efficient 45mpg 2010 Honda Insight.  I’m still debt free.  With the trade in on my Jeep and cash saved, I paid off the Honda in 3 months.

This year hasn’t been without its setbacks.  If I hadn’t squirreled away all that cash, things would have been far, far different.

How I Lost the Bacon
- I took a 7.5% paycut. 
- I was on the layoff chopping block 3 times this year.  My end dates were scheduled to be July, September, and October.  My employment status past March doesn’t look good if the first quarter doesn’t improve, though.
- I hadn’t been to the dentist in many years due to lack of dental insurance and big debt. The result when I finally went to the dentist: early stages of periodontal disease.  Paid over $2000 in cleanings and follow up appointments.  Hopefully, it’s enough to reverse the damage.
- My company eliminated 401K matching contributions.
- My dad was hospitalized, and I had to pay for an emergency ticket to fly home.  Thankfully, things turned out fine.
- My partner lost his job and has been out of work since September.  Job prospects are grim.
- My cat developed asthma, and requires pricey vet check ups and medicine.  When we leave town, we can’t leave her with friends anymore due to her medical needs.  We have to pay for vet supervised boarding.
- My brand new car was hit by a guy who ran the red light.  Insurance is covering it, but I still had to pay out of pocket until my insurance company could recover from the other driver’s insurance company.

I paid for all of these things in cash.  Well, truthfully, I purchased them on my credit card to capitalize on cash back or frequent flier rewards.  Every dime spent was backed by cash in the bank.  At no time did I go into debt spending.  In years prior, all of these events would have been catastrophic on their own, nevermind all at once.  I could not have foreseen any of these things.  I didn’t save because I knew they would happen.  I saved because I knew something could happen.

Each time bad news struck, I was angry, sad, or disappointed.  I cried.  I grumbled about bad luck.  The one thought that didn’t go through my head like pre April 2008:  How am I going to pay for this?

If you haven’t started an emergency or rainy day fund, make this your top priority for the new year.  My emergency fund was $100 when I started.  I had approximately $25,000 in debt at that time.  Why bother with $100?  Because that $100 turned into $200, $400, and $2000.  I didn’t have my first major emergencies until I had $2500 in my account.  My car battery died, and I got very ill with a stomach virus.

I kept growing my emergency savings at the same time I paid down credit card debt.  When my savings exceeded my debt, I paid it all off in one lump sum.

The extra dollars I put away didn’t hurt my debt repayment at all.  If nothing else, the psychological safety of having a growing bank account that I could tap into was worth an extra month or year.  If I lost my income, I knew I could continue to pay the minimums on my credit card.  That’s something you cannot do if you pay only debt, and don’t retain a cash reserve.

We’ll chat soon!

Women are cutting back on visits to the nail salon.  This isn’t surprising; manicures and pedicures are a luxury we can forego.  It is surprising, however, that nail polish sales have not increased, indicating that women aren’t doing it at home.  They are going cold turkey on the manis and pedis.  

Giving up manicures is understandable. Highly sculpted nails are tough to do on your own.  But pedicures?  Easy!  Are women too intimidated to scrub their feet and paint their toenails themselves?  Do they think it can’t be as luxurious when you do it at home?

Whatever the reason, ladies, I’m going to show you that you do not have to forego taking care of your feet.  It’s the height of summer, and you don’t want calloused, stanky, unpainted toenails in your sexy sandals, do you? 

Heck no!  Let’s go!

Fortunately, home pedicures are incredibly cheap.  You can make it as luxurious or as simple as you want.  If you go to spas to pretend you are an Egyptian goddess for foot pampering, you’ll have to coerce or bribe your significant other to massage your feet for you.

Basic Tools Needed

1. Nail polish in color of your choice.  $2.99
2. Clear base and top coat. $4.99
3. A foot file. $3.95
4. A loofah sponge. $3
5. Luxurious hand and foot lotion. $22
6. Nail clippers.  $1.99
7. Nail polish remover. $2.99

You can use your everyday $3 bottle of pharmacy hand lotion if you want.  I highly recommend splurging on the luxurious spa lotions if you can.  It will enhance the illusion of luxury.  I like the Body Shop Africa Spa Hand and Foot Butter.

Optional Equipment

1. A wash basin to soak your feet.
2. Favorite candles for luxury lighting.
3. Favorite soft, relaxing music.
4. A bathrobe.
5. Anything that will make you feel relaxed and pampered.  Chocolate?  Bon bons?  Cucumber infused water?  Go ahead, girlfriend.  You’re worth it.

Your Home Spa

First step is to wash your feet.  This is not the luxurious part.  Depending on how long it’s been since your last pedicure, and whether you’ve been splashing around in mud puddles, this could be quite nasty.  Scrub away in your bath tub first.  Wash your feet with soap, and scrub under the nails if you have a nail brush.  When you’re satisfied with the cleanliness of your feet, you can move on to the relaxing part.

Get in your bathrobe.  Light the candles.  Fill your wash basin with warm, but not hot, water.  (Optional: You can just soak your feet in the bathtub instead.)  Add a little lotion to the water.  It might not dissolve completely – that’s ok.  Soak your feet for about 10 minutes to soften the calluses and nails.  Read your favorite girly magazine.  Watch Oprah.  Take a nap.  Call your best girlfriend and gossip.  Do whatever it is that you normally do at a spa.

After about 5-10 minutes (not too long – no pruned feet!), take the loofah sponge and start scrubbing at the ball and heels of your feet.  Try to scrub off as much of the hard calluses as possible.  After the bulk of the hard bits are removed, scrub with the foot file to fine tune.  Pat dry.

Rub your hand and foot butter all over your feet.  Do you have your candles and spa music going?  Ahhh!  So nice!

Your nails should be soft by now.  Trim with nail clipper.  Make sure not to trim too far, especially at the edges, or you risk painful ingrown toenails.  Use a nail file to smooth rough edges.

Take nail polish remover and swipe your toenails with it to remove any of the residual lotion.

Apply a base coat to all nails with the clear nail polish.  Wait approximately 2-5 minutes for the polish to dry.  Apply the nail color.  Allow the polish to dry.  I usually wait 5-10 minutes.  Apply the clear polish as a top coat.  Allow it to dry.  Use a blow dryer on low setting to dry quicker, and make the polish hard and long lasting.

Finished!  Now your feet are ready for your favorite pair of sexy open toed shoes.

The Cost Savings

A pedicure costs about $18-30 per visit.  The cost of the materials for a home pedicure (excluding the optional components) is $41.91.  Let’s say the nail polish and foot butter will last 100 pedicures.  It costs approximately $0.42 per home pedicure at that rate!  The paint on pedicures tends to last a long time(manicures wear much faster.)  I wash, scrub and lotion my feet weekly in the summer months to keep them soft.  I reapply the paint whenever I get tired of the color, or when it starts to lose its shine.

There’s no reason to give up the pedis, ladies.  The embarrassment of gross feet is just not worth it.  If you can afford $0.42 a week, do it in your home spa!

1. My company is indirectly hurt by the instability in the financial sector.  Thus, many of us took a paycut.  I took a 7.5% paycut.

Impact: Disappointed, but my goals are marginally affected.  I can still meet the minimums on all my fixed obligations (rent, food).  I can still max my retirement funds.  Some of my short term goals will be trimmed back by about 7.5% proportionally. 

2. My company is eliminating the employer match portion of my 401K in May.

Impact: Disappointed, but I will fully fund my Roth IRA first, then contribute to my 401K instead of the other way around.  Amount contributed remains the same. 

3. My dad got sick and was in the hospital in March.  Flew home the same day to help.

Impact: Spent $590 borrowed from my emergency fund for an airplane ticket.  Happy my dad is healthy and back home.  This is what emergency funds are for.

4. Didn’t read parking zone signs correctly on two separate occasions.

Impact: $45.25 in parking fees.  Avoidable, and my fault.  Still lame.

5. Bad ear infection in February.  Minor concussion bumping my head at the gym because I’m a klutz.

Impact: $160 in doctor office visits. 

I withdrew $795.25 in the past 4 months on unexpected expenses.  It was very scary with my dad briefly, but everything is ok for now.  I borrowed from myself when I needed it most, and didn’t have to worry about it later.  I paid back what I owed myself, not a creditor.  The only thing I had to worry about was what I needed to do right when I needed it.  To help my parents, I just paid for the ticket. I didn’t think whether I would be able to afford it. I just got a ticket and went.

The outlook for the rest of the year still looks pretty shakey. We’re still preparing for the worst, that we hope won’t come.

How has your emergency fund helped you recently?

The first thing to know is the flu is always a serious illness.  Pneumonia complication from a flu is the 8th leading cause of death in the industrialized world.  If you’ve ever had a stuffy, running nose and felt pretty miserable, chances are you just had a really bad cold.  If you had the flu, it would have knocked you off your feet. Literally.

A couple of years ago, my boyfriend and I were moving into a new apartment.  I felt fine when we started. Maybe a little fatigued that could be explained by lack of coffee or an early morning.  During the course of the move in the afternoon, I suddenly felt really tired.  Then I felt woozy, liked I had been drugged.  Then I felt really bad, and strangely cold.  I felt like if I didn’t sit down right that second, I wouldn’t be doing it voluntarily.  He finished loading up the moving truck on his own.  When we got to our new apartment, I grabbed a thermometer and laid in bed.  My temperature registered 102F.  It happened that fast, and completely incapacitated me.  My poor boyfriend finished moving the rest of our stuff by himself.

Usually if I was sick, I worked from home to take it easy and prevent infecting anyone else. I called in sick for a week, and could not even check email.  With 102 fever, I was near delirious and found it impossible to concentrate on anything.  I didn’t read a book, surf the internet, or make food.  I didn’t do anything except sleep.  The last time I felt that bad was when I had chicken pox at 19.  My doctor said it was too late to give me Tamiflu, and I would have to suffer through it.  I was told to go to the ER if my fever went above 103 or had pain in my back when I breathed (a sign of pneumonia).  Other than that, the only thing I could do was take ibuprofen and rest.  I stayed in bed and slept for 4 or 5 days until my fever broke.

Even after my fever broke, I still felt very ill.  I telecommuted for a week because I was wrecked.  I had an awful, powerful, dry cough that would not go away.  I went to my doctor again.  He said I had symptoms of asthma and gave me an inhaler.  I used the inhaler until my cough disappeared 2 weeks later.  I still felt weak and didn’t return to 100% of my normal activities for a month afterwards.

So if you’ve never had the flu, that’s what having the flu is like compared to a nasty cold.  You get a fever that knocks you flat suddenly; it is not subtle.  You don’t get a little sniffle, then a couple days later stronger symptoms appear.

How to know if you have a mild flu or severe flu. 
Mild flu: You’re at home bed ridden. 
Severe flu: You’re in the hospital bed ridden.

While this new flu that has emerged does not yet seem to be any worse than a ‘normal flu’, the concern is because it is new, we don’t have a natural resistance to it.  It can spread very rapidly because no one in our community has yet been exposed to it.  Consider the case of the school children in New York.  A student went to the school nurse with a fever.  Then suddenly, there was a line of children with a fever.  With normal influenza where communities have some resistance, it does not happen that fast.  You see groups of people getting sick in larger numbers gradually.

Fortunately, everyone seems to be recovering normally.  However, that does not mean we should take this lightly.  The vast majority of us have not yet been exposed to this.  The only way we have to contain it at this point is to follow the advice about good hygiene.

Prevention:

1. Wash your hands.  After using the toilet, before and after eating, after blowing your nose, and after coughing.  You need to wash for a full 20 seconds.  Sing Happy Birthday twice, or the ABC song.
2. Cough into your elbow, not your hands.  If you are sick, this will help prevent disease transmission.
3. Keep a hand sanitizer at your desk. Hand sanitizers must have at least 60% alcohol to be effective. If you cough or sneeze, use it.
4. Don’t touch your mouth, nose, or eyes without washing your hands first.  The only way the flu virus can get in your body is through those three entry points.  Flu can travel on particles in the air, but by far the best way for you to get sick is to touch something infected, then touch your face.
5. Brush your teeth. Seriously.  If hands are the main transportation for germs, your mouth is the main landing strip.  Keep a clean mouth so your immune system isn’t distracted fighting off silly halitosis germs (your coworkers are going to LOVE the new clean breath you!).
6. Now that you are washing/sanitizing your hands frequently, keep a bottle of lotion nearby.  All that scrubbing is going to leave your hands dry and chapped.  Dry hands are carriers for diseases, believe it or not.  Keep your hands moisturized so it can help your body replenish natural oils and natural good bacteria that live on your skin.
7. Wipe off your keyboard, mouse and desk area before you start work.  Wipe it down after you eat at your desk as well.
8. While you are still healthy, avoid crowded places for a little bit.  We don’t know yet how far this is spreading.  It takes 2-5 days for the virus to incubate.  People who might be sick right now look healthy, and don’t know they are sick yet.  We won’t know for a few weeks how fast it is actually spreading with new infections.  If you must go out, wash hands frequently.
9. Stay hydrated.  Your body fights infection the best when you are well hydrated.  Make sure you are drinking 1-2 liters a day.  Enjoy no more than 1 or 2 cups of coffee per day.
10. Be well rested.  For optimal immune system function, get 7-8 hours of sleep per night.  No more, no less.
11. Wearing a surgeon’s mask won’t help you much. So save it for your Halloween costume when you dress up as a cast member on Grey’s Anatomy.  Wearing a mask will only help if YOU are the one that is sick, by preventing your coughs and sneezes from leaving the most viral gunk load (yuck).

If You are Already Sick:

1. If you have a fever, stay at home.  Going to work will put everyone at risk.  When you have a fever, you are shedding viruses at its peak rate.  If you really have the flu, believe me, you won’t be able to make it that far anyway.
2. If you have a sudden fever and body aches, call your doctor.  See if he or she would like you to come in to be tested.  Call as soon as you register a fever. You will be contagious before you feel sick.  That’s the first 24 hours. If you have the flu, you have to go within the first 48 hours of getting symptoms for the Tamiflu shot to be effective.
3. Drink lots of water and eat what you can stomach.  Your body needs water to flush the virus out of you.  Dehydration will lead to slow recovery or worse: complications.

Is this flu going to be a serious problem, or is it all hype?  Let’s not find out it’s something serious.  Let’s assume if nothing bad happens, then we did something right.  Not say the precautions were wrong.  We don’t want to know what the outcome might have been.  So wash, wash, and wash your hands!

Give a hungry man a fish, you have fed him for a day.  Teach a hungry man to fish, you have fed him for a lifetime. – Proverb

I won’t deny it.  I wouldn’t mind being a millionaire.  But I do not want to sell my soul to do it.  I do not want to lose my empathy and understanding for those less fortunate.  Neither do I want to be a participant perpetuating cycles of poverty.  Philanthropy is not just giving money.  It is teaching.  We cannot end the cycle of poverty if we don’t teach others how to do it.

My favorite charities are not ones that many of you already know, like the Red Cross and United Way.  While worthy charities, I don’t feel that I know enough about what I am contributing to.  I donated to United Way after 9/11, and the Red Cross after Katrina.  I admit that I do not know all the things that go into the operations of a charity, but I was disappointed about reports about how the money may have been used.  Or not used.  9/11 firefighters who didn’t have proper medical care is unacceptable.  Katrina victims remained in unsafe conditions for months after the storm.  Those are things I hoped my money would have helped.

Thus, most of my charity money has gone towards a more modern system.  Social lending is worthy of a digital age.  My favorite charities are DonorsChoose.org, Kiva.org, and WomenforWomenInternational.org.

Donor’s Choose is a platform for educational projects.  Schools and education programs should be the highest priorities in our state and federal government, but often are cut during budget deficits.  Donors Choose lets you help teachers and students in your area or nationally in the US.  You choose the programs you want to support.  You choose how much you want to give.  Donors Choose takes a very small percentage of the total fee, which is disclosed when you donate.  You will see exactly how much money Donors Choose is taking for operation costs, and the rest goes to the teachers and students.  When enough people have contributed to the project, Donors Choose sends the check, and you get a very nice letter from the teachers thanking you.  Your contributions count as a tax donation.

Kiva is a lending program for small businesses in third world countries.  Your borrower makes a pitch on where they are from, their business, and how they hope the loan will help them grow their business.  Again, you choose how much you want to donate.  When enough donors have funded, the loan is dispersed.  You get your proportion back as the borrower pays back their loan.  You do not get interest on the loan, although interest is charged and collected by the loan company.  You only get back what you paid, with no interest accrued.  If you want a return on your investment, I recommend Lending Club or Prosper.  Kiva is a charity where you will get your principal, not a profit. 

Women for Women International helps women rebuild their lives after being victimized by war. Studies have shown that the key to beating poverty and stabilizing war ravaged countries is by helping women rebuild their lives.  If a woman is worried about feeding herself and her children, she will not care that her food and shelter comes from an oppressive government.  However, if you give her the tools to rebuild her home and business, she will seek to better her community.

Times are tough for many of us right now, and giving to charities may be the last thing on your mind.  If you are in debt, in danger of losing your home, or worried about your next meal, then you should take care of you and your family first.  If you do happen to be lucky enough to be ok, then please consider giving to someone or something that you believe in.

I’m really happy every time I get a letter from teachers and school children telling me about what they’re learning with my donation.  I wonder how the experience will influence those kids in the future.  I hope that in some small way, I have given them something to look forward to in tough times.

My dad bought an Oldsmobile 88 before they closed the brand in 2004.  Why?  When he was a kid in the hay-day of the American muscle cars, he remembered being smoked attempting to drag race a vintage Olds 88.  While the body style had changed quite a bit and was more sedan than muscle car, his fond memories led him to buy it.  I remember as a family, we only bought American cars.

Until last year.  My mom got into an accident and totaled my first car, an Oldsmobile Cutlass Supreme(my mom was completely uninjured).  They replaced it with a Subaru.  The first non American brand my dad ever bought.

I want to replace my 8 year old Jeep.  I bought Consumer Reports annual car reviews, and researched features, reliability and price.  When I compiled a list of cars that appealed to me, not a single American car was on my list.  I’m not going to buy something for $15-$20,000 purely for ideology or patriotism.  That would not be sending the right message to the manufacturers.  Make something I want, and I’ll buy it.  It takes me too long to earn that much money to buy for reasons other than reliability.

Not a single American car was in Consumer Reports’ top ten best cars list either.  If I had a comparable American car to what I wanted, perhaps I would favor American.  But I don’t.  I can get much better made cars for less.

What happened to the highest quality in the world made in the USA?  What happened to innovation and technology developed in the USA?

As a family that was raised, fed and educated with jobs created by the American car companies, I’m deeply wounded and disappointed.  My parents bought a Subaru because that was the best car for what they wanted.  I will most likely not be buying a GM, Chrysler, or Ford either.  I’m not happy about my taxpayer dollars funding them; if they made something that I wanted, I would buy it.

I don’t fault them for failing to see the future.  I fault them for failing to be leaders creating it.