FitSugar

Cool Healthy Gadget: Produce Saver

FitSugar — Thu, 19 Jun 2008 14:30:00 PDT

Sick of your fruits and veggies going bad immediately (or so it seems) after you take them home?

These new Produce Savers from Rubbermaid keep fruits and vegetables fresh and crisp up to 33 percent longer as compared to other traditional food-storage methods. The containers allow the produce to breathe while also separating it from moisture, making getting your five a day a lot more attainable when you know it's going to be fresh. I really like that I can bring one of these into work, knowing my in-season fruit will not get squished on my way and will stay fresher longer.

Source

Tax Updates and Benefits For Going Green

Emily Co — Mon, 27 Feb 2012 03:05:51 PST

Going green can save you some green during tax time. If you are attempting to improve the environment, or just cut the cost of your personal energy use, the tax law may provide a tax benefit for your good citizenship. Kathy Pickering, executive director of The Tax Institute at H&R Block, shares some potential benefits for energy-savers. There are many tax changes that have been implemented, so read on to find out what credits you're still eligible for:

Nonbusiness Energy Property Credit. Energy credits have been reduced and taxpayers may only claim energy-efficiency credits for up to 10% of the cost of various home energy-efficiency improvements. The maximum lifetime credit is $500. If taxpayers already claimed credits equal or greater than $500 in previous years then they cannot claim the credit on a 2011 return. This credit expired December 31, 2011, and so far has not been extended by Congress.
Qualified Plug-in Electric Drive Motor Vehicle Credit. The tax credit for hybrid vehicles has expired. For 2011, taxpayers may claim a credit for neighborhood vehicles, conversion kits, and plug-in electric drive vehicles, such as the Chevy Volt and Nissan Leaf. The maximum credits are $2,500 and $7,500 for a neighborhood vehicle and plug-in electric drive vehicle respectively.
Residential Energy Efficient Property Credit. A nonrefundable personal credit available for property used to produce energy in a personal residence located in the US. An example of eligible property for which the credit is allowed is qualified solar electric property (property which uses solar energy to generate electricity inside a dwelling unit; outside swimming pools or hot tubs do not qualify). The credit is also available for wind energy property and geothermal heat pumps. For 2009-2016, the credit is 30% of the cost of qualifying expenditures. There is no annual limit on the credit amount, but only the amount that equals your tax liability can be used in a given year. Any amount that cannot be used is carried forward to future tax years.

The Secret to Making Your Dollar Last

LearnVest — Fri, 24 Feb 2012 00:15:57 PST

We're thrilled to present this smart LearnVest story here on Savvy!

Research psychologists have all the best tricks up their sleeves. Maybe it’s because they study humans like guinea pigs to figure out what really makes our complicated selves tick.

Feeling stressed? Reason yourself out of it (studies show this actually works). Rushed all the time? Slow down, and you’ll be a nicer person (a famous study we cite shows that this is true, no matter who you are).

Feeling broke? Or wish you could stretch your dollar more? We’d normally tell you to head straight to My Money Center and Budgeting Tool (you can’t have enough free tools at your fingertips) - but today, we’re going to give you a break. We’re going to let you in on an easy way to stretch your dollar and enhance your happiness, and it’s also totally free. It’s called savoring.

What Is Savoring?

Savoring is the ability to prolong and stretch enjoyment or positive emotional experiences. It’s the difference between wolfing down a meal vs. lingering over every bite. It relates to how much time you spend sitting in front of a sunset (if you even stop at all).

Scientists have consistently found that the ability to savor promotes happiness (see here or here). Which makes sense. The more you can prolong positive emotional experiences, the more positive emotions are filling up your day. In fact, the tendency to savor benefits individuals across the lifespan: studies show it predicts the subjective well-being for grade-school children, adolescents, college students, and the elderly.

Read on for more.

10 Simple Ways to Winterize Your Home

Business Insider — Tue, 27 Dec 2011 09:30:25 PST

We're thrilled to present this smart Business Insider story here on Savvy!

'Tis the season to crank your thermostat. Unfortunately it could cost even more than normal. Americans will pay 15% more for heating expenses than last year, according to the EIA.

At this point you've got no excuse not to follow this simple guide for winterizing your home.

Dodge the Draft

Problem: Cold air is rushing in from underneath your door, and warm air is rushing out.

Solution: The draft snake, adopted during the Great Depression era, is one of the easiest ways to cut back on energy waste. A draft snake can be easily made by rolling up a towel or filling up a pouch of fabric with kitty litter or sand, advises The Daily Green. Or you can buy one pre-made.

Money/Energy Saved: According to the U.S. Department of Energy, drafts can waste 5 to 30% of energy use per year.

Read on for more tips.

Save Money on Groceries Without Coupons

Kiplinger — Mon, 24 Oct 2011 15:00:14 PDT

We're thrilled to present this smart Kiplinger story here on Savvy!

I usually spend less than $100 a week buying groceries for my family of four. And I don't use coupons - ever.
Yes, there are some extreme couponers out there who manage to spend next to nothing at the grocery store. But I don't have the time it takes to be that sort of coupon pro - nor would I benefit from the effort because coupons usually aren't available for the items I regularly buy.

So I've found other ways to keep my grocery costs under control. One reason I'm able to keep my weekly spending low is because I don't live in a large metropolitan area, where prices are higher. However, these ten tips should help you score savings wherever you live.

Choose the right store. The bulk of my savings come from shopping at Walmart rather than Kroger (the main options where I live). On average, my grocery bill is 20% less when I shop at Walmart. I compared the prices at both stores on 15 items I regularly buy and found that I paid $10 more at Kroger ($53.87 versus $43.50). The bigger the shopping list, the greater the savings. Kiplinger's Personal Finance magazine writers conducted a similar experiment and spent nearly $20 less on the same basket of items at Trader Joe's than at Whole Foods (Get the Best, Spend Less).

It might seem a little time-consuming to actually run this experiment yourself. But you only have to do it once - and the savings could be substantial. Think of it this way: If you were buying a big-ticket item, such as a TV, you'd probably invest some time to shop around and research prices. Although your weekly grocery bill may not seem like a major expenditure, you're shelling out $10,400 a year if you're spending $200 a week. That's a lot more than most TVs - which you could easily afford to buy if you cut your weekly grocery bill in half.

Read on for more tips.

6 Extreme Ways to Scrimp and Save

Emily Co — Thu, 16 Jun 2011 13:40:38 PDT

It's one thing to do little acts to save such as bringing lunch to work every day or skipping the Starbucks latte, but enacting a lifestyle change to save dollars takes a lot of dedication and may seem more trouble than it's worth. CNN listed a number of real-life penny-pinching examples from super savers. Here are some of the more unique ones:

Raising pigs for food. Geoff Overland currently has 13 pigs. His family started raising pigs to save money on pork. He believes he's producing meat for about $1.50 a pound compared to the store prices of $3.50 to $6.
Live at the office. An anonymous reader is saving money on rent and commuting by sleeping in his car and office. He takes a shower in his office gym and has an office room to himself, which he furnishes with a cot and a mini fridge.
Becoming "quasi-Amish." Beaten down by a bankruptcy and foreclosure, Mike Hammack and his wife moved to the "middle of nowhere" and live in a mobile home. He farms for his own food and rides a horse to town to save money on gas. Mike makes money by selling chickens, eggs, goats, and cows. He is saving $40,000 a year.
Make kids pay for meals. In order to save money on vacations, John Synder and his wife have their kids pay for half of the cost of dinner. The child who is paying for the night gets to pick the restaurant. He says this saves him about $50 a night. On the plus side, this cost-cutting method is teaching their kids good financial behavior, John says.
Use vegetable oil for fuel. To battle high gas prices, James Bauernschmidt started making his own biodiesel from vegetable oil and he gets the oil free from restaurants that want to get rid of it. This is saving him about $600 to $900 a year.
Skip dinners. Maya Speights uses this tactic to save money and lose weight. She says she is simply "reversing how people eat" by having a normal breakfast and a really large lunch instead of an average-sized lunch and a big dinner. Her office pays for her lunches so she's saving money on her afternoon meals and basically only paying for one meal a day. She used to spend $100 every week and a half, but is now only spending $30 every two weeks.

These are all pretty extreme ways to save extra cash - can you relate to any of them?

Having a Green Thumb Could Give You a Red Rash

FitSugar — Tue, 20 Jul 2010 04:30:05 PDT

Planting your own vegetable garden is fun and rewarding, not to mention a money-saver when it comes to all the veggies it produces. If you're new to gardening, then you may want to know a surprising fact. For some people, touching the leaves, stems, or veggies of certain plants can result in a red, dotty, itchy rash known as contact dermatitis. It can happen with zucchini, cucumber, pumpkins, or other plants that have prickly hairs on their vines. The rash can appear where the contact occurred on your skin, or it can show up on other areas of your body. To see what the rash looks like, just

If this rash appears after gardening, the best thing to do is wash your skin with cold water and a mild soap.

Let your skin air-dry, and the rash should go away after an hour or so. If it doesn't, or it's really bothering you, apply an over-the-counter hydrocortisone cream to reduce inflammation and relieve the itching and burning. If the rash still doesn't go away, it's best to see your doctor. To prevent this bizarre rash next time, wear gloves when handling your plants.

Have you ever gotten a rash after gardening?

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