Try These Super Simple Ways To Beat Holiday Weight Gain Before It Beats You

I LOVE the holidays... the food, family and friend togetherness, presents, cozy weather, and of course, the traditions. And by "traditions" I mean, Halloween candy, Thanksgiving dinner and Christmas cookies.

What I don't love is how every year at the end of December, some asshole elf sneaks into my closet and shrinks my fu*king clothes.

In other words... It's time for a 30/30 Challenge!

So what is the 30/30?

Spending 30 days (in a row) being mindful of your health and physical activity.

Why do it?

In 30 Days you can lower heart attack risk, lose weight, add years to your life, sleep better and of course, better your overall health and mood. Don't believe me? Here's the actual clip from the Doctors Show:

How much will it cost?

NOT A DAMN THING! 

I love that the 30/30 Challenge requires no gym membership, diet or personal trainer screaming at you. No excuses. Just you and a short 30-day goal focusing on a problem area or areas.

Just think... in two weeks you could be sleeping better, reducing your cholesterol and chances for a heart attack, losing weight, and become a healthier, happier person. How could you not want to at least try?

Where to start?

For a FULL mind, Body and soul makeover, do the 30/30 walking challenge. It's the ultimate 2019 weightloss resolution jumpstart. All you have to do is walk for 30-minutes for 30-days in row. 

The key is to find a way easily incorporate 30-minutes of walking into your day- You can walk twice for 15-minutes or 3 times for 10 if that's eaiser. That will help make the walking stick after the 30/30 is over.

TIPS:

1. Take public transportation to work? Leave 15 minutes early and walk to the next stop or station. (I know, for those non-morning people this is a stupid suggestion)
2. At lunch walk 15 minutes away from your desk, eat, then walk back--maybe even the long way back.
3. On the weekends, go explore a new (historic) town or nature trail with the family.
4. New mothers on maternity leave, make it a point that this challenge is CRUCIAL for you. Go for a walk by yourself every evening when your partner gets home.  Of course, you can take the baby, but getting out for some alone time will kill two birds with one stone for you!
5. Only need a couple things from the store? If one is close enough, walk there!
6. Walk the kids to school for the month.
7. On rainy days, clean or organize a closet for 30 minutes, better yet, go to an indoor mall for some retail therapy--Again, kill two birds with one stone!
8. Go walk through an outdoor mall.
9. For a week straight, walk out of your front door and take a different street or path and see what you find!
10. Download an awesome mystery ebook to listen to while you walk. TIP: Only let yourself listen to the book when walking, this might get those walks stretched out well past 30 minutes.

Once you decide to commit to the 30/30 Challenge, tell as many people as you can that you are doing this to add accountability.  Get a support group to help encourage and hold you accountable!  YOU CAN DO THIS!  It's just 30 minutes for thirty days.  It's not hard, or an on going commitment.  This is a challenge that you know you can do.

     YOU CAN DO THIS!

Don't need a full body workout, but have problem areas? Try a 30-day targeted challenge for but, thighs or abs. Below are a few of my favorites!

If you want to target more than your butt and core, the following 30-day workouts will give you all over results, inspire you to work out every day and only take a minute a day!

Want a Brazilian Butt?  Try this:

 Thighs keeping you down? Try this:

Do your abs make you sad? Try this:

 Are your arms causing your self-esteem harm? Do this:

Butt AND Gut have you in a rut? Never fear, help is here!

Looking for a whole-body 30-day tone every ounce challenge plan? Look no further...

If you already have a workout routine, here's a more advanced program that starts Day-1 with higher reps. 

or, this one:

Here is a four-month plan you can follow each month, or combine into one month:

If you have injuries or physical limitations, and none of the above will work, here is a 30-day food challenge. If it's too restrictive for you, break it up and try to avoid one-or-two foods for the day or week... 

Don't forget to Pin or print your favorite challenges!

                                

Life-Saving Tips To Keep Your Family, Pets + Home Safe In Cold Weather

To reach as many people with this article as possible, I'm going to avoid using all of the colorful four-letter words I prefer to use when describing cold temperatures, brutal wind chills, and deadly winter forecasts, but just know, I'm screaming, FU*K THIS SH!T, on the inside.

For many, including myself, the Polar Vortex Express is already barreling in. Deadly, brutally cold temperatures are about to ravish the USA. Unprecedented temps are hitting damn near all of us. Please, take every necessary precaution to keep your family, pets and home safe.

Below are a few essential Life-Saving Tips To Keep Your Family, Pets + Home Safe In Brutal Cold Temperatures:

1. Load up on layers. Wear layers of lightweight clothing while inside to stay warm. When you go outside, go all out! Cover all exposed skin and wear warm waterproof shoes. Parents, if you're not covered in sweat and feel like you've had one hell of a workout after bundling up the kids, then you're doing something wrong. Do not mess with this cold. Frostbite hits fast and hard. NEVER go out without gloves and a hat, they prevent the loss of essential body heat.

2. Protect your pets: I don't care if Cujo is chained in your backyard, bring his ass in! Ok, fine, if Cujo must stay outside, provide shelter, blankets, fresh UNFROZEN water and extra love.

The ASPCA recommended during cold spells:

• Massaging petroleum jelly or other paw protectants into paw pads before going outside can help protect from salt and chemical agents. Booties provide even more coverage and can also prevent sand and salt from getting lodged between bare toes and causing irritation. Use pet-friendly ice melts whenever possible.
• Bring a towel on long walks to clean off stinging, irritated paws. After each walk, wash and dry your pet’s feet and stomach to remove ice, salt, and chemicals—and check for cracks in paw pads or redness between the toes.
• Pets burn extra energy by trying to stay warm in the wintertime. Feeding your pet a little bit more during the cold weather months can provide much-needed calories, and making sure she has plenty of water to drink will help keep her well-hydrated and her skin less dry.
• Remember, if it’s too cold for you, it’s probably too cold for your pet, so keep your animals inside. If left outdoors, pets can freeze, become disoriented, lost, stolen, injured or killed. Also, don’t leave pets alone in a car during cold weather, as cars can act as refrigerators that hold in the cold and cause animals to freeze to death.

3. Don't space out on space heaters. Space heaters are dangerous AF, take all necessary precautions when using one; Place it on a level, hard surface and keep anything flammable AT LEAST three feet away. ALWAYS turn off space heaters and unplug them before leaving the room or going to bed-- Children may turn them on without you knowing, unplug them for extra protection.

5. FIRE IN THE HOLE! If you are using a fireplace, use a glass or metal fire screen large enough to catch sparks and rolling logs. Make sure embers are completely out before going to sleep or leaving the house. Smokers, that nasty-ass can of butts by your backdoor? That can is a fire hazard, it causes many, many house and apartment complex fires when a lit ciggy is tossed in resulting in a ciggy-butt bonfire disaster. Move those butts at least three feet from your house.

6. Protect your pipes. I know running water, even at a trickle, looks like money slipping down the drain, but it's nothing compared to the plumber's bill. Remember, you are riding out a storm, not making life changes. Bite the bullet and open the taps. Another great way to protect the pipes is by opening the kitchen and bathroom cabinet doors to allow warm air to reach the plumbing hiding behind them. NOTE: Move harmful cleaners and chemicals out of the reach of children and pets.

7. Hardcore heat the house. Turn up the heat and keep it there day and night. It may cost a few more dollars on your bill, but, a broken pipe bill will make you throw up. NOTE: Creativity is not key. Never use a stove or oven to heat your home. DO NOT light a small fire in a safe space. DO Layer on the blankets and phone a friend.

8. Care for the car- Check tires, wipers, antifreeze and never go below a quarter of a tank.  Keep a winter safety kit in the trunk that includes a flashlight, battery-jump box, water and a blanket.

9. GENERATORS ARE NOT FOR GARAGES! Never operate a generator inside the home, including in the basement or garage. NOTE: Don’t hook a generator up to the home’s wiring. The safest thing to do is to connect the equipment you want to power directly to the outlets on the generator.

10. Love Thy Neighbor. Check on your neighbors and make sure they are at a minimum alive. This brutal cold can be hell on the elderly. Look out for those awesome people. You do realize, not only will you be elderly one day, you too will be a twenty-year-old at heart trapped in an old-ass body, be cool to them, because they are cool AF.

BONUS TIP: New Year's Eve Party-goers, getting wrecked-ass-wasted on New Year's Eve and frolicking outside in a drunken stupor is No Bueno. Booze and cold temps= Bad news. Stay layered up and don't think because you're boozed up you're warm and cozy. Not. Even. Close. Alcohol dilates warm blood vessels near the skin creating the impression of warmth, all the while it's lowering your core body temperature!

Please share this article with friends and family in the path of brutal temps, it could save their family, pet, neighbor, pipes, sanity...

Sources:

Red Cross

NYC Emergency Managment

ASPCA

NOAA

17 Life Hacks For Mom #HappyMothersDay

I love life hacks. Anything that makes my life easier is awesome in my book. These are my favorite this week. Because I'm always on the hunt for the best life-hacks. Below are 17 I thought I'd share in honor of Mother's Day.  After all, parents need all the life hacks they can get!

16 Ways Celebrate Earth Day Every Day. #EarthDay2018

Happy Earth Day 2018!  

I've always been fairly conscious about the state of the planet, however, now that I have a child, I REALLY try to incorporate green living in everything; from eating, to cleaning, to limiting waste and overall consumption. It's imperative that I do all I can to reduce our carbon footprint. 


Below are a few tips I think are easy and eye openers to not only what we can do, but how easy it is to live green! Without further ado, 16 Ways Celebrate Earth Day Every Day.

1. Avoid the “vampire effect.” Even when not turned on, an electronic appliance that is plugged into a power source still draws energy. The Department of Energy estimates that America wastes 5% of electricity on the vampire effect. Unplug all unnecessary appliances, or consider using devices like Belkin's Conserve Energy-Saving Products that automatically eliminate the vampire effect.

2. Shower smarter. The average shower head spits out 2.5 gallons of water per minute. That means that a person who takes a 10-minute shower every morning uses over 9,000 gallons of water a year. Cut back by installing a shower head that is EPA approved. Look for the Water Sense seal of approval. Products like Evolve’s Roadrunner shower head, which flows at only 1.5 gallons per minute and conserves hot water until you are actually ready to shower.

3. ONLY run your dishwasher when it’s full and STOP prewashing. Most modern dishwashers don't need you to rinse the plates before putting them in. "That just wastes water.”

4. When away, drop the shades. Sun streaming through windows heats up space and makes an air conditioner work harder. During the day, especially when you are away, drop the shades!

5. STOP E-Waste. Did you know, when electronics are exposed to high heat they release toxic chemicals into the air, water and ground? This happens everyday in landfills. Before throwing electronics away, try selling old electronics on websites like Gazelle.com or disposing of them at proper locations around your city.

6. Shop Sustainable- By now you have heard of the trend to move to use Bamboo as a substitute whenever possible for wood. Also consider Natural home products like, stainless Steel which minimizes emissions by increasing its reuse and recyclability levels; Organic Cotton supports biodiversity and healthy ecosystems; Recycled Glass, simple, just reuse, reduce and recycle; and Cork promotes economic and social development in areas prone to desertification.

7. Recycle Old Clothes- If you’ve got something worn, torn or hopelessly out of style – don’t throw it away or let it pile up in the back of your closet. Bring it to your nearest H&M and help decrease the amount of fashion being wasted. Seriously, they will take bags of ripped, torn and stained clothes! For each bag of clothes or home textiles you hand in, you will receive a voucher with a discount for your next purchase. 

 There are three ways H&M repurposes unwanted garments:

• Rewear – clothing that can be worn again will be sold as second hand clothes
• Reuse – old clothes and textiles will be turned into other products, such as cleaning cloths
• Recycle – everything else is turned into textile fibres, or other use such as insulation.

8. Fill the freezer: Don’t let your freezer run half-empty. It’s more expensive to run it while empty. TIP: Fill an old milk container with water if necessary to keep the freezer "full". That will make your machine a little more efficient. While you’re at it, clean the coils behind the appliance for even more of an efficiency boost.

9. Meat-free Mondays: Meatless Monday is an international campaign that encourages people to not eat meat on Mondays to improve their health and the health of the planet. The United Nations’ Food and Agriculture Organization estimates the meat industry generates nearly one-fifth of the man-made greenhouse gas emissions that are accelerating climate change worldwide. Not only that, an estimated 1,800 to 2,500 gallons of water go into making a single pound of beef.

10. Bulb swap: According to the EPA, if every American home replaced just one conventional light bulb with a compact fluorescent light bulb, we would save enough energy to light more than 3 million homes a year. 

11. Wash clothes in cold water and use the fastest spin speed available - Today's clothes washers and detergents are designed to effectively clean clothes in cold water. So skip the hot water waste. TIP: If you have a front-loading washer, select the highest spin speed, which will remove more of the moisture from your clothes, so your dryer won't have to work as hard! 

12. Upgrade the aerators on your kitchen and bathroom sinks - If you have an older faucet, install a new water efficient aerator for under $5 and you can cut its water use by up to 40 percent. Simply unscrew the current one on the tip of your faucet and replace it with one that uses no more than 1.8 gallons per minute for the kitchen faucet and 1.2 gallons per minute for the one on your bathroom sink. You probably won't notice the difference but your water bill will. Check with your local water agency as some provide efficient aerators free or at low cost.

It's really as simple as unscrewing the old aerator, and then screwing the new one back on!

13. Turn off your furnace when the cold weather ends - Like many other modern appliances, furnaces use electricity even when they're not operating. According to a Home Energy article, many furnaces draw 8 to 12 watts of standby power 24/7 when not in use. To eliminate this waste during the six or more months when you don't need heat, switch off the power to the furnace.

14. Donate Dollars To The Game Changers- One of the easiest ways to show our planet some love is to support the organizations that are promoting change and making a difference on a large scale. Here are a few respected organizations:
The Wildlife Conservation Network
The Sierra Club
The Conservation Fund
Earthjustice
Orca Network

15. Compost!  I know composting sounds like a lot of work, and for those of you who don't even have a yard or house plant, really can't see the point, but hear me out. All you need is a composting bin, that traps odors, amongst other things, and then start throwing your scraps away. Your compost will save thousands of pounds of waste from going into landfills, and help return much-needed nutrients to the soil. Chances are, your city has a place you can take your compost if you don't need it.

16. When You Clean, Go Green - If there is one thing all parents have in common it's that we clean up messes. Lots of them. Daily. So imagine if all of us were using two to three paper towels or disposable wipes for each mess... Scary to think about! That's like a forest a minute! (Ok, not really. Or maybe?) No, wait!  It gets worse...Various household cleaning agents can contain toxic chemicals like ammonia, phosphorus, alkylphenol ethoxylates and petroleum. So when you wash your clothes, do the dishes and even flush toilet bowl cleaner you may be sending these chemicals back into the water supply affecting the environment and wildlife too! 

If you have any tips to share, please add them in the comments below. Happy Earth Day 2018! 

2018 Budget Planning: The Best Time To Buy Cars, Dishwashers, Baby Crap + More

As a homeowner, it never fails that every few months something leaks, squeaks, breaks or dies. For the things that can't be fixed, kicked, patched or rigged, knowing when to buy a replacement could save you hundreds of dollars, even waiting a week could make all the difference. There really is a, best time to buy a car.

According to Consumer Reports:

"In these high-tech times, you might think the days when the calendar dictated when consumer goods would go on sale are behind us. Not so. Consumer Reports' market analysts have found that deep discounts for many products are still tied to a particular month of the year: Some sales are timed to the introduction of new models, while others are long-standing traditions, such as January white sales.  Consumer Reports' market analysts have found that deep discounts for many products are still tied to a particular month of the year: Some sales are timed to the introduction of new models, while others are long-standing traditions, such as January white sales." 

Below is a list of the best time to buy various big-ticket items according to consumer reports. 

For the best time to buy a car and the free Consumer Reports Car Buyer's Guide click, here.

For the complete Consumer Reports Buyer's Guide click, here.

Happy Budgeting in 2018!