Have a Better Life

Last week I posted Stretch Your Grocery Budget #1 and, as promised, here are more Shopping Tips with Strech Your Grocery Budget #2. Enjoy!

This is a guest post by www.allergybegone.com

There is a tremendous amount of research proving that the water we drink is actually unhealthy. With substances ranging from chemical toxins to pharmaceutical pollution, we are now at a point where what we drink, eat, and the air we breath can be detrimental to our health.

According to an article at Mercola.com, residues of pharmaceuticals such as antidepressants, painkillers and even birth control pills have been found in the streams, lakes, rivers . . . all the waterways of the United States. It has been an ongoing problem for years.

This originally came about from human and animal waste moving along through the sewer systems. But, Mercola explains, “Now it’s becoming clear that drugs are entering drinking water supplies from other sources as well, including the drugs you toss into your trash bin.”

Instead of finding a remedy to this problematic situation, the pollution has gotten worse and continues to do so.

A broad survey of the U.S. drinking water uncovered that the most often found dangerous pharmaceuticals are: atenolo (a beta-blocker); atrazine (an organic herbicide); carbamazepine (a mood-stabilizing drug); estrone (an estrogen hormone); gemfibrozil (an anti-cholesterol drug); Meprobamate (a tranquilizer); Naprozen (a painkiller and anti-inflammatory); Phenytoin (an anticonvulsant); Sulfamethoxazole (an antibiotic); TCEP (a reducing agent); and Trimethoprim (an antibiotic).

If this is not bad enough, traces of bleomycin (a cancer chemotherapy drug) and diazepam (a sedative are also in our drinking water.

For those with allergies or sensitivities to particular chemicals or pharmaceuticals this can be deadly. Multiple chemical sensitivity and allergies are on the rise. More and more people are becoming allergic and extremely sensitive to substances such as antibiotics. Being bombarded on a daily basis by trace amounts of chemicals and toxins in our foods and water is playing havoc on our immune systems, leading to even more allergies and sensitivities.

So, what can you do to protect your family?

One of the best strategies for reducing pollutants in the water you drink is to purchase a water filter or water filter system. You should purchase a high-quality filter that will protect your home drinking water. It is also advisable to use a filter for your shower water since skin can absorb toxins from the water.

According to ewg.org, “There are six kinds of filters: pitcher/large-dispenser, faucet mounted, faucet integrated, on-counter, under-sink, and whole house.

To find out what contaminants are in your water, check out: http://www.ewg.org/tap-water/whats-in-yourwater.

The name of my blog reflects what I am searching for: a Better Life. I worked full time for 22 years and this last couple years were a nightmare. I wrote about this in the past weeks so I’m not going to write again.

I’m jobless, I have no income but I’m happy. I already increased some weight (I was underweight), people say I look great, I’m calm, no stress and I’m happier. However, I’m taking some medication on my journey to cure my depression.

Getting rid of my job and abusive bosses were the biggest action I could take but my depression was already here and no natural sleep aids seemed to help me. I’m taking antidepressants but I’m sure it won’t be for a long time because I really am looking for a new future.

I would like to work from home and follow my kids closely, I hope I can get some income at home and be able to make my dream come true: be a WAHM.

I’m 40 and I really never bothered about my skin. I look younger than I am (everybody says that) but now that I look at my face I realize I have several sun spots. I then realize that my mother also has a lot of sun spots, also called aging spots, a lot more than I have of course, but I guess I will become like her. I also have some aging spots on my hands.

Some time ago I saw a TV program related to a radical Makeover and they used a age spot removal that removed the sun spots making the skin more uniform and clear. I checked www.agespotsremoval.net for more information but I’m afraid of using any type of product on my skin without an dermatologist opinion.

I would like to receive some comments on this type of products. Have you ever use them? Are they a permanent solution?

Here is a screenshot of my laundry room where I also have some shelves with groceries and related items.

On our journey to save money, we take advantage of all the discounts we get to bring home extra products we need. When we get a 50% discount for instance, instead of buying 3 packs of cereals we buy 6 or more and store them on these shelves for future use. On another cabinet I have one item of each of those in the photo for daily use.

Today I went to the supermarket to get some bread and I notice that a new 50% discount promotion is taking place there. From cleaning products to the best eye cream, from wine to milk. Yes, milk is with a 50% discount and, once we drink so much milk at home, I’m going to take advantage of this promotion and buy some extra packages.

Of course we have to take a close look to expire dates and on this milk case, the expire date is September 2010 so no problem getting a lot of them and store them at home.

Do you have a grocery storage plan?

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Many of us have the desire to cut back on our energy bills, whilst also positively contributing to a greener lifestyle. We often hear many tips which show us how to do this around the home, but these tips don’t often delve into the world of your computer. So apart from turning your computer off when you aren’t using it, how can you save energy while using it?

According to recent reports, scientists in Germany believe they are able to utilise an energy efficient method of data processing, which would reduce the amount of energy being consumed through PCs in the home. This new method was a system dreamt up by researchers from the Goethe University (Frankfurt) and the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology, and is supposed to work even for processing large amounts of data. But until something like this makes its way to your PC at home, here are some tips to save on your energy bills.

Power settings

You should be able to change the power settings on your computer to meet your needs, which can help if you often leave your laptop or computer on during the day. Generally you can select a certain amount of minutes until a screensaver comes on, or your computer goes into hibernate mode. The hibernate option is especially good for people who take breaks away from the machine as it reduces the amount of power used while protecting whatever is being used.

Electricity drain

It isn’t just your monitor and computer being off that saves energy; this isn’t exactly easy to implement if you need to use it! Try turning down the brightness down on your screen; just make it at a level which doesn’t cause your eyes to strain. USB devices are also culprits of electricity draining; ensure that you don’t have any drives unnecessarily plugged in.

Surfing the web

It may not be the first thing we think about when surfing the web, but search engines do require a certain amount of energy to perform the search queries. However, there has been a succession of eco-friendly search engines come to life which could be suited to you if you do lots of searches. Blackle is an example of this; it uses dark colours as these are thought to use less power during the search[1].

Once you’ve given your computer the once over, you can use it to check that your energy is coming from cheap gas suppliers and electricity suppliers that care about reducing the cost of your energy, whilst also putting great efforts into seeking and developing green technologies of the present and future.

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About the author: Lucille Groutadge writes a number of articles involving energy efficiency, with cheap gas suppliers in mind.

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[1] Blackle. (2010). About Blackle. http://www.blackle.com/about/