Financial Tip of the Week.

Earn More Than You Spend / Spend Less Than You Earn.

The key to any successful financial plan is to earn more money than you
spend. The only way to do this is with a family budget. But once you know where
you are and where you want to go, you'll have a roadmap to get there and the
confidence to know that anything is possible. Only a workable family budget can give
you that confidence.
Everyone knows they need a budget. In fact, you've probably heard this a
thousand times! The good news is that setting up a workable family budget is simpler
than you think. This first step to financial freedom will motivate you to use your
finances as a tool to increase your happiness and pursue your dreams.
Good Luck!

Natural Beauty Secret Of The Week.

Honey

Honey will not only sweeten your beverages and cereal but will go a long way to boost your energy levels and immune system immune system.
It is excellent for your skin and hair.
It is anti-bacterial and antifungal.

Add some honey to your shower gel for smooth glowimg skin.

Use in for deep conditioning treatments or simply add to your regular shampoo.
Honey is a humectant- it will help retain moisture and prevent dry brittle hair that can lead to breakage.

Sufering from acne? Use honey as a face mask or add some sugar or salt to make a face scrub for smooth flawless skin.

A tablespoon of honey taken before a workout will boost your energy levels and help you go that extra mile.

As with all good things please enjoy in moderation. Remember too much of a good thing can be bad for you.

Stay Blessed.

you are what you eat

Nina Simone - Ain't Got No...I've Got Life

Swimming as a Stress Buster

Life can be stressful at times when you consider everything we endure every day. Find one particular activity which is beneficial to you not only physically, but to bust the stress right out of your day.

One suggestion for a fantastic stress buster is swimming. Not only is swimming a great stress reliever, it’s a perfect recreational and fitness outlet as well. Most cities have at least one indoor swimming pool, or at the very least you can find one in a neighborhood not far from your home. Indoor pools allow you to keep up with your stress-relieving activity even in inclement weather.

During the warmer months you can swim outdoors as well, although swimming in a smaller pool may result in disruptions from your children wishing to swim as well. While it’s great for them to want to exercise, it may not be the ideal situation for your personal stress relief.

As with any type of exercise, be sure to do your warm-up exercises. Start with a few stretches before hitting the water. Once in the pool, take an easy lap to get those muscles prepared for your more demanding laps to follow. Neglecting warm-up exercises can result in pulled muscles or other injuries which will in no way help your stress levels.

If need be, you may choose to sign up for swimming classes at your local recreation center. They are usually available from beginner to advanced swimmers. The instructors will be able to assist you in choosing the level appropriate for you. If you don’t need lessons you can consider joining an aquatic program such as aqua-fit, or simply going to do laps on an as-needed basis.

During times of more prominent stress, why not add some extra pool time. Break away from your usual swimming routine while using different techniques. Changing it a bit, switching from breast stroke to back stroke for example, will result in your laps giving you more of a workout. It also gives you the opportunity to be more aggressive as you push those stressors out of the way and into the water, so to speak.

Paying attention to the way you breathe while you’re swimming is another challenge. When you become stressed about something, your breathing tends to be more rapid. Making a conscious effort to breathe at a slower but regular pace will help reduce those feelings of stress and anxiety.

Once you have fulfilled your personal quota for stress-busting laps, take one or two last laps at a slower pace to start your cool-down exercises. This will allow your muscles to return to a more relaxed state. This part of the process can decrease the likelihood of sore muscles the following day.

After leaving the pool area, repeat some stretching exercises for optimum relaxation of your muscles. You may also want to leave a day of rest between any stress-busting routines in order to permit your body to rest.

As you can see, swimming can be the perfect stress-busting activity. Not only will you be working those stressors and anxieties out of your system, but you will get a great physical workout. There’s nothing like taking care of two important parts of your day at the same time!

Natural homemade beauty recipes

Nature is the newest trend in skin and hair care. For years, we’ve been putting toxic chemicals into our bodies that build up and make us feel tired and sick, regardless of whether we eat them or if they seep though our pores. And people are finally catching on that natural is better.

Most stores now have a line of “natural” beauty products. Unfortunately, they often come with a big price tag attached too. Often times many of these products are not actually “natural” so it does pay to do your homework to ensure you are getting what you pay for.

Fortunately actually making beauty products yourself isn’t too difficult. So if you want beauty products that you know are natural and are also inexpensive, just make them yourself. Here are 5 quick and easy recipes you can make at yourself.

Face Mask
Eating good food helps give you the right nutrients you need to look good. You can get more of these vitamins and minerals by putting the good stuff right on the skin.

Combining a mashed carrot, mashed avocado, and a beaten egg with a half cup a few tablespoons of honey creates a great face mask that provides vitamins, and improves the tone and texture of your skin. Just stir well, apply, let sit for about 15 minutes, and then wash off with cool water.

After you’re washed and nourished your skin, you can use grated cucumber or diluted lemon juice as a toner to help tighten your skin and close up your pores to close your pores and keep your skin looking great.

Hair Conditioner
Many people pay a lot of money for a conditioner that actually makes your hair look and feel good. Here’s a great natural recipe to save you money and help your hair.

Just mix an egg yolk with a tablespoon of castor oil and apply to hair. Let sit for about ten minutes and rinse out. You can use this every so often as a conditioning treatment for healthy shiny hair. If you like being experimental, you can try mixing other kitchen items, herbs, and natural items with eggs for healthy, shiny hair.

Hand and Foot Cream
A quick face mask will help make you look great in not a lot of time, but hands and feet require extra care.

Use ½ cup of olive oil mixed with natural sea salt and massage into your hands and feet. Leave a few minutes to soak and then rinse off with warm water.

When it comes to natural beauty products, these recipes are just the start. You can find hundreds of different combinations in natural beauty books, magazines, and on the internet. Or you can go to your kitchen cabinet and make your own special creations.

Easy Ways to Make your Home More Eco-Friendly

We all want to do our part to protect the environment, but without a large paycheck, that can be seem difficult, if not impossible. But doing your part doesn’t have to be hard. Small steps add up to a big difference, you just have to know which ones to take.

Use less water.

Saving water is all about small steps, here are a few that will help save big.

- Shut off the water while you brush your teeth
- Take showers that are a minute or two shorter
- Only flush the toilet when you need to
- Only run full loads of laundry and dishes
- Buy from sustainable producers. These are farmers, ranchers, and other producers that use techniques that pollute less and use less water. You can do some research online or ask at your local organic market to find these products.

Use less energy.

If you don’t have the money to buy a hybrid car or convert your house to solar power, you can make a big difference with small changes.

- Buy energy efficient appliances. They may be more expensive, but make up for the increased cost in lower energy bills.
- Unplug chargers when you’re not using them. Cell phone and other chargers use up powers even if there’s nothing attached to them.
- Put devices with remotes, like T.V.s, VCRs, and stereos, on a power strip and turn it off when you’re not using them. These devices use a lot of power to run the remote receiver even when the device is off.
- Walk or ride your bike for short trips.
- Buy local products. It takes energy to transport food and other products across the country. Buying local not only supports your local economy, it helps them use less energy.

When it comes to saving energy and water, it’s a great idea to get the kids involved. You can even make it a game. Have them track how much water and electricity everyone is using. You can compete to see who uses the least water. You can often count on your kids to help keep you on track when given the task.

Reuse.

Most of us know the three R’s: reduce, reuse, recycle, but when we work on conserving, we often leave reuse out of the picture. While you can often find tips on how to reuse common products from other people, what you need most is creativity. With a little thought there are many items around your home that can be reused – toilet paper holders can be used to sow seeds for the vegetable patch. And old yogurt containers can be cut into strip to make plant labels. Old food jars can be refilled with homemade foods or can make great impromptu vases.

Use environmentally friendly products. When you go to the grocery store, you probably see more and more “natural” or “eco friendly” products every time. There are generally two big problems with these products: 1. Just because they’re more natural than regular products, doesn’t mean they’re entirely natural. 2, They’re often expensive.

If you want inexpensive, natural, safe products, why not just make them yourself. Vinegar is a great way to clean and disinfect glass and other surfaces. Need to remove stubborn stains? Just add some baking soda to your vinegar cleaner. Some quick searching online will lead you to hundreds of other natural safe home-made cleaning products.

We all knowing that going green means better for the environment, but it’s also better for you. Conserving resources also helps save you money, which is something most of us are happy to live with.