Create Your Own Cash Safety Net

Even in the most stable of times (great economy, good health, and a steady job) it’s wise to create a cash safety net. Your emergency fund should cover at least six month’s of living expenses. Living expenses include rent or mortgage, debt and car payments, medications, groceries and any other fixed expenses you incur each month. You can get an excellent estimate of your living expenses by keeping a simple budget in a personal finance computer program such as “Quicken” by Intuit.

Your emergency fund should be liquid and immediately accessible. Keep the money in a CD, savings account, or money market account (if you want higher interest). It is not for impulse buying or vacations. You can target the money for emergency car repairs, medical bills, or a short spell of unemployment, but remember to make repayment a top priority.

Look for a bank account with zero maintenance fees. Many banks will eliminate maintenance fees if you maintain a set minimum balance. You can also avoid bank charges by linking a checking account to a savings account or interest-bearing checking account.

Can Optimism Make You Healthy?

In a study of first year law students at the University of California at
Los Angeles, psychologists discovered students with positive attitudes and expectations had stronger immune systems and overall good health. Researchers drew blood from “declared optimists” and a control group. They then measured levels of key immune cells at the beginning of the semester. At that time there was no difference, but well into the stress-filled semester the optimists showed significantly higher levels of key immune cell activity than their less-than-positive counterparts. Keep smiling—you’ll live longer!

Benefits of Slow Cooking

Researchers at the Mt. Sinai School of Medicine found that cooking at high temperatures – frying, grilling, and micro-waving – creates dangerous chemicals in foods called “advanced glycation end products,” or AGEs. High levels of AGEs have been linked to heart disease and can worsen the damage from diabetes, such as blindness and nerve and blood vessel damage. They also may interfere with the body’s ability to heal wounds. Food steamed or boiled at lower temperatures contains fewer AGEs.

Do You Suffer From Chronic Headaches?

Headache pain is one of the top ten reasons for absenteeism in the workplace and schools. The migraine headache strikes 18 percent of women, 6 percent of men and (surprisingly) 8 percent of children. Migraines are throbbing headaches that affect only one side of the head and can be accompanied by vision complications, nausea, and sensitivity to light and sound. The duration of a migraine can last from a few hours to a few days.

A variety of foods, the body’s own hormones, and environmental stimuli can trigger migraines. Migraine sufferers should avoid beer, red wine, monosodium glutamate (used liberally in Chinese foods), certain cheeses, yogurt, and smoked fish. Sodium nitrate, found in bacon, cold cuts, and hot dogs is also a known cause. Caffeine and chocolate also may be connected with migraines.

Fluctuations in hormones can cause migraines. It can affect men, but it especially affects women during their monthly cycle – possibly due to fluctuations in estrogen and serotonin levels in the body. Sixty percent of female migraine sufferers have them in relation to their monthly cycle.

People on long-term prescription medications or painkillers like aspirin and acetaminophen can experience a “boomerang” effect when medications are stopped. The body may go into withdrawal, triggering a massive migraine. A magnesium deficiency may also trigger migraines, and has been correlated to the migraine-like symptoms of early fibromyalgia.

Can anything be done for sufferers of migraine headaches? The answer is yes. There are new prescription medications for treatment of migraines, but simpler natural solutions may effectively eliminate or lessen migraine suffering with less cost and side effects. Here are a few suggestions:

1. Watch what you eat. Keep a food diary, and notice the effects of the food listed above. If symptoms appear up to 18 hours after eating, avoid the food.

2. Try the herb “feverfew.” This potent herb reduces the release of serotonin and the production of an inflammatory substance known as prostaglandins. Both of these events in the body are associated with migraines. Taken regularly, it has been shown to prevent future attacks.
3. Take 800 mg. of L-carnitine a day. The amino acid L-carnitine decreases the sensitivity of the body’s nervous system to fluctuating oxygen levels, one of the key migraine triggers.
Take a calcium and magnesium supplement daily. These two minerals work in tandem to reduce the duration and severity of migraine attacks.

Be A Volunteer

Looking for volunteer opportunities? Go to www.volunteermatch.org

Dig Deeper For A More Effective Internet Search

If you’re only using traditional internet search engines to look for specific information, you may just be scratching the surface. You can expand your search and get more of the information you need by accessing the “Deep Web,” a vast amount of content in searchable databases that can only be accessed by direct query. Here’s how to get to this data:

• Use a specific site’s search engine. Google, for example, will not find all the information in the Library of Congress web pages (and if it did, it would bog everyone down). Instead, do your search on the Library of Congress web site directly at: www.loc.gov.

• Add the word “database” to your regular search. For example, if you’re searching Yahoo for information on toxic chemicals, you may find more specifics by searching “toxic chemicals database.”

• Use a “Deep Web” subject-focused search engine or directory. Traditional search engines are working on accessing all this data (Google Scholar already searches scholarly literature, books and reports) but, in the meantime, try a site such as www.completeplanet.com, which captures more than 70,000 searchable databases.

There are many specialty search engines. To name a few, check out www.pubmed.gov for health and medical information; the Librarians' Internet Index at www.ipl.org, a collaborative research directory; or www.artcyclopedia.com, which lists 9,000 artists and 2,600 art sites.

• Get a library card. Many public libraries offer access to research databases for users with a library card (some of these databases are subscription only or password protected). Some city or county Public Libraries, for example, subscribe to services you can access through your home computer such as NetLibrary eAudiobooks, Film and Television Literature Index, Computer Source and Consumer Health Complete.

Get Ready for That Big Move

Q. We’re planning to move to a new home soon. What steps can we take now to make our move go more smoothly?

A. Moving can be very stressful, but there are ways to help you tackle the task. Here are six quick tips to make your next move go more smoothly:

1. Have a garage sale well before you begin packing. That way you won’t be taking unnecessary items to your new home. (Here’s your chance to unload all the things you don’t want or don’t need any longer. You’ll be glad you did.)
2. Use sturdy, reinforced boxes. Go to a professional moving company to get the right boxes. Your grocer’s boxes just won’t do. Remember to pack your boxes carefully.
3. Use towels, blankets and pillows to separate pictures and fragile items. Pack all your glass items and dishes vertically and with packing materials to prevent any breakage.
4. Label all your boxes. Mark boxes with FRAGILE ITEMS on the outside.
5. Pack one box with essential items: coffee, tea, soap, toiletries, flashlight, plastic ware, snacks, paper towels that you can open when you arrive. Mark this box OPEN ME FIRST...that way you’ll have the essentials when you arrive at your new home.
6. Lastly, work with your moving company. Be sure to have your shipment’s registration number, and let the company know how to reach you at all times.
If you are in the market for a buying or selling a home and need competent and caring representation, please call me at 206-226-0565.