Recent comments

  • 9 Helpful (and Weird) Uses for Hair and Excess Pet Fur   14 years 47 weeks ago

    My mom leaves dog hair out on the back porch for birds to pick up and use for their nests. They love it!

  • 13 Natural and Easy Ways to Lower Your Blood Sugar   14 years 47 weeks ago

    I would respectfully refer you to bloodsugar101.com. It contains all sorts of useful information about Type 2 diabetes, including studies which indicate that weight gain among Type 2 diabetics isn't as much a cause of diabetes as it is a symptom. This is a widely misunderstood aspect of Type 2, even among physicians.

    Specifically, read this page: http://www.phlaunt.com/diabetes/14046739.php

  • 13 Natural and Easy Ways to Lower Your Blood Sugar   14 years 47 weeks ago

    I'd suggest that the phrase be changed from "for some people" to "for almost everyone". The few people who don't get diarrhea from most of the sugar alcohols are able to metabolize them, and thus get a sharp uptick in blood sugar.

    Most sugar alcohols suck. The only one I can handle is erythritol.

  • Ask The Readers: Do You Have An Emergency Fund?   14 years 47 weeks ago

    Yes we do have an emergency fund. Our goal is to pay off the car (last debt we owe besides the house) and then have 6 months expenses in cash as our big emergency fund.

  • 13 Natural and Easy Ways to Lower Your Blood Sugar   14 years 47 weeks ago

    It's far more common than you might think, particularly with certain types of diabetes.

    Remember, the only thing all the types of illnesses known as "diabetes" have in common is one symptom: unregulated sugar in the blood. There are numerous causes of diabetes which are not yet well understood (and may never be understood, unless some research foundation is formed to study and cure every kind of diabetes, not just Type 1... and if you think the American Diabetes Association will do it, keep dreaming). Whether a disease destroyed your pancreatic beta cells, you had insulin resistance, or you experienced some other genetic mutation that sent your blood sugars spinning off into space, the medical community calls the result of all these problems "diabetes." Part of the insanity here is that we're trying to treat a disease when we don't even know with certainty what causes it or why.

  • The 9 Secrets of Highly Successful Craigslist Sellers   14 years 47 weeks ago

    I can't even count how many things I've sold on craigslist and these are all really great tips.

    I Actually made a website called mycraigslistadvisor.com that is solely for the purpose of sharing tips and information to help people sell stuff on craigslist and make more money then they otherwise would have. I encourage everyone to check it out because even if it makes you only an extra twenty bucks it's still worth your time. A link in the article would also be appreciated and would be a good resource for your readers!

    Keep up the good work!

  • 8 Personal Finance Basics to Tackle NOW   14 years 47 weeks ago

    Good simple tips! Yet it's amazing to me how few people actually follow them. I think the problem is that when most people think of "budget" they think restriction, when in actuality a budget can be quite liberating, as you don't have the guilt of spending when you know that you can afford it.

  • Volunteer to Travel: 11 Opportunities for Free or Very Cheap Travel   14 years 47 weeks ago

    Hey Steve, love your site, just quoted it as a resource in an interview actually! Ill plug another site too, set up to help volunteers side step ridiculously expensive volunteer agencies, its www.volunteeringforfree.org and lists hostels worldwide that will accommodate volunteers and link them, for free, to projects. If anyone has any info on projects, hostels with links to projects, or general volunteering & travelling tips, please feel free to mail it to us and we'll add it. Cheers! Sarah

  • 5 Bridesmaid Dress Ideas From a Bridesmaid   14 years 47 weeks ago

    I did this too, only in black. My exact requirements were: long, black and formal since it was a more formal, evening wedding. The girls loved it and everyone could buy a dress they liked and could afford. Everything else was up to them with the one request that they stick with the wedding colors or match the color of their bridesmaid gift. One bridesmaid had really awesome, bright purple shoes to match. Another made a feather fascinator with some extra feathers and did retro pinup style hair and makeup. Everyone matched, but was still totally themselves. I loved it.

    And I second number 3. I've worn two bridesmaid dresses again. One was entirely my choosing, the second was picked from a number of styles and the bride also took into consideration my plea for a blue-green and not a yellow-green. She ended up with a very pretty bright grass green with blue undertones. I've worn that and gotten compliments on it. I have another dress that is statue of liberty green and let's just say that it's never seen the light of day since that wedding. I had to spend 6 months lightening my hair to something closer to a natural red just to pull it off in the first place.

  • Secret Lawn Tonic Recipe From Golf Course Groundskeeper   14 years 47 weeks ago

    OK, I'm finished and will be waiting for the results. The weather looks like it is going to cooperate this time. We had a good rain this morning and clear sky's now. Temperature in the upper 80's.

  • Make-Ahead Food: 10 Things to Cook on a Sunday   14 years 47 weeks ago

    I would also add soup. I try to make a batch on the weekends and stock to store in my freezer.

  • Secret Lawn Tonic Recipe From Golf Course Groundskeeper   14 years 47 weeks ago

    Well this is going to be my 3rd application, First two in may, I haven't noticed any difference yet. we did have several heavy rain showers a day or so after initial application so maybe the solution was deluted down by the rain. I'm applying this over a 2000sq ft area. Well I'm headed out the back door now with solution in hand.

  • netSpend: The Story of the Visa Debit Card We Did Not Apply For   14 years 47 weeks ago

    I want to thank you for writing this article. I just received the same card and I did not apply for it. I tried calling the company and I could not talk to anyone unless I activated my card. It just did not feel right. You helped me with my decision to put the card through my shredder and spead the word about this company. I am going to file a complaint right now!!!

  • 8 Personal Finance Basics to Tackle NOW   14 years 47 weeks ago

    Good advice! The best thing I ever did was start a budget. Now I'm a budgeting geek! I will NEVER go back!

  • Make-Ahead Food: 10 Things to Cook on a Sunday   14 years 47 weeks ago

    Hi TK,

    Glad you enjoyed the post! My granola "recipe" is a bit loose. I mix 3-4 cups of old-fashioned rolled oats with a handful of chopped nuts, a bit of salt, and a few shakes of cinnamon. Then I drizzle a couple of spoonfuls of maple syrup over it, mix, and spread on a baking sheet. I toast this in a 375-400 degree oven for about 20 minutes, or until everything starts to get brown and toasty. It doesn't develop lots of big clumps like some people might look for in granola, but I enjoy it. I also love adding it to pancakes -- after you put batter on the griddle, you can sprinkle granola on the batter-up side before you flip it.

    In the past I've also made variations on this recipe from Epicurious: http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/Maple-Walnut-Granola-with-D...

    It uses egg whites to help the granola clump instead of oil.

    And if anybody else has a great granola recipe, please share!

  • 8 Personal Finance Basics to Tackle NOW   14 years 47 weeks ago

    Simple and clear 8 personal finance practice basics. I am practicing 7 of 8. Where is the 1 i left?. The coupon. Looks like i am gonna plan using coupons more often in the future so that i can save some money.

  • Eating Frugally With MyPlate   14 years 47 weeks ago

    Unfortunately, potatoes are carbohydrates and not grains (sweet potatoes and yams are very good for you though and not full of fat-producing carbs!) I am trying (not wholly successful yet to go vegetarian and eventually becoming vegan, as I feel vegan is more in line with my ethical beliefs. My palate is more attuned to dietary habits I have developed over a lifetime of unconscious food selection, however, so that kind of major change is an on-going challenge and learning process.

  • Ask The Readers: Do You Have An Emergency Fund?   14 years 47 weeks ago

    I do have an emergency fund but often times it gets treated more like a slush fund and I pull from it for non-emergency items more than I like. I always make it a priority to replenish it but I need to do better about leaving that money for true emergencies.

  • 10 Gardening Lessons Learned the Hard Way   14 years 47 weeks ago

    I agree with all of your 10 tips. I've had to fight off predators that wanted to indulge in my organic veggies on many occasions. To save money, I start a lot of veggies from seeds. This way I know where they came from, whether they were treated with pesticides or not. Eating organically out of my garden has saved my wallet, especially as food prices have been rising over the past year. Yesterday we picked a pound of peas and they were better tasting than anything we could get in the supermarket.

  • 6 Sites Every Car Owner Needs to Bookmark Now   14 years 47 weeks ago

    One thing you DON'T want to do is order from USAutoparts.com. They are horrible. They will send you the wrong part, charge you to ship it back, charge you a 're-stocking fee', and then double ship/double charge you for the right part. They did it to me! Find ANY other car parts web site if you are going to buy parts online.

  • Ask The Readers: Do You Have An Emergency Fund?   14 years 47 weeks ago

    For sure. It may be smaller than I'd like, but I add to it with every paycheck.

  • Make-Ahead Food: 10 Things to Cook on a Sunday   14 years 47 weeks ago

    Hi Meg, I enjoyed this post very much and am going to try the muffin recipe this weekend. I was wondering if you would share the granola recipe as well. Thanks for the great ideas!

  • netSpend: The Story of the Visa Debit Card We Did Not Apply For   14 years 47 weeks ago

    Got the same thing today in the mail for both my husband and myself. I called NetSpend and they wanted the card numbers so they could take us off their mail list. Refused to give the numbers because I didn't want an 'accidental' activation issue. So... cutting them up and filing a complaint with the attorney general's office in Texas.

  • The 9 Secrets of Highly Successful Craigslist Sellers   14 years 47 weeks ago

    I use a cool (and free) Android app called Craiglist Seller Tool, which notifies me when my listings expires. It saves me time cause I never have to check on my listings any more! And when my listings expire they are immediately relisted because I get notified. I wish everything would auto-notify me when they expired.

  • Eating Frugally With MyPlate   14 years 47 weeks ago

    As a mom of 6, I'm always working to keep our grocery budget in check. There may be flaws in the MyPlate idea but I think it's a LOT better than the pyramid. I always thought having the grains on bottom was a very bad idea and we never followed that guideline. We prefer more veggies and fruit and I would almost guess that OurPlate is very similar to this guideline.

    So how do we keep the costs down? We try to buy locally from farmers markets or from roadside stands. We try to buy in season stuff. We also buy at a local place that is actually a produce supplier for stores and restaurants. Many of them have sections that are "open to the public" and you can buy cheaper items that way. If a case is too large for your family, try going in with another family to share the costs. It's working for us.