Money Talk: Miel Moreland on the Financial Rules She Never Breaks

Money Girl Laura Adams: When did you decide that you wanted to become an author (or other career)?

Miel Moreland: I knew I wanted to write books from a very young age, five or six at the latest. I committed to it in a serious way when I was about sixteen.

MG: Do you write full-time?

MM: I do not write full-time! I have a full-time administrative position at a university. I make more money from that job than from writing—and my job also comes with paid time off, employer-sponsored health insurance, and other benefits. It can be tricky to balance, time-wise, but the stability afforded to me by having a day job means I’m less anxious about my writing, because I’m not counting on writing books quickly in order to be able to pay rent. Since I’m both a slow writer and someone with anxiety, it’s much better to have this pressure taken off.

MG: Did you study writing (or something else) or has it always come naturally to you?

MM: I did not study writing—I was a double English/Politics major in college, but the English program at my school was focused on literature. I only took one creative writing class in college, and that was a mixture of poetry, fiction, and creative non-fiction. Writing comes naturally in the sense that the love for writing comes naturally, but the skill requires significant and ongoing practice, and of course lots of revision. I read a lot (or, at least I thought I read a lot until I realized how much bloggers read!), and I’m always trying to learn from other writers.

MG: When you first started writing (or something else), were there any financial challenges? If so, how did you manage them?

MM: When I first started writing It Goes Like This, I’d just finished my teaching assistant contract in France and was back in the United States, living with my parents while I applied to jobs. Ultimately, during the year in which I wrote, revised, and queried It Goes Like This, I had a constantly changing job situation, while simultaneously applying to grad school: unemployed, working more than full time, working part-time... If I hadn’t been living at home, I wouldn’t have been able to write during periods of unemployment and part-time work—because it would have been urgent for me to work more. Instead, because much of the money I earned that year went into savings for my move to the East Coast, I was able to make the choice to work less and write more at certain times.

MG: What advice would you give someone who's creative or wants to change their lifestyle about balancing passion for their art and earning an income...

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What You Need to Know About Inflation

If you've been hearing a lot of experts talking about whether inflation will rear its ugly head, you might be wondering if you should do something different with your money. 

Many economists believe that the recent higher-than-normal prices of goods and services will be temporary. When the economy is fully open, and manufacturing and shipping bottlenecks get cleared, we should see the inflation rate drop to pre-pandemic levels.

However, no matter if inflation in the U.S. is temporary or long-term, it's wise to consider what it means for your finances. This episode will review what causes inflation and tips to keep it from causing you to lose money now and in the future.

What is inflation?

First, here's a quick primer on inflation. It's a rise in the prices of goods and services over time. You've probably heard numbers like during the 1940s in the U.S. you could buy a loaf of bread for $0.15 and a new car for less than $1,000!

Here's a handy inflation calculator that allows you to adjust any amount for inflation from 1800 to the present. 

The most well-known measure of inflation is the Consumer Price Index or CPI. The CPI reveals changes in retail prices of specific consumer goods such as food, clothing, and cars. The index compares the value of the same items each year to calculate the level of inflation for that period. It's published monthly by the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

As inflation causes prices to rise, every dollar buys a smaller percentage of a good or service. For example, if the inflation rate is 4%, then a $2 loaf of bread will cost $2.08 in a year. After inflation, our money doesn't buy the same amount of goods or services that it did before. That's why people fear inflation so much. 

As of June 2021, the prices of certain products and services have gone up the most since 2009, which was about the last time I wrote about inflation! 

Over the past year or so, the pandemic created some unusual economic conditions. And while the recovery is underway, it's not happening smoothly or equally across industries. For instance, car manufacturers are still behind, but restaurants and hotels are poised for a post-vaccine boom this summer. 

The critical question is whether the current inflation rate hike will last or even increase? And how can you protect yourself from getting hurt financially by it?

What causes inflation?

Let's take a step back and talk about what causes inflation in the first place. One factor is increases in the money supply of...

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Nutrition Around the World: Filipino Cuisine

This is the fourth in a series of episodes in which we're talking to nutrition professionals from around the world about their culture's traditional cuisine. Please check out our previous episodes on traditional Indian, Colombian, and Japanese food and culture.

Thanks to all of you who have written in to suggest other countries and cuisines you'd like to explore. Katie wrote:

"I’m loving your series on the nutrition of different traditional cuisines around the world. I’d love to learn more about Filipino cuisine. I lived in the Philippines for about a year and fell in love with the food! I’m curious as to which parts of a traditional Filipino diet are healthy and which might be modified to be more nutritious."

Joining me to talk about Filipino culture and cuisine is Levin Dotimas. Levin was born in the Philippines and now lives in the United States. Although he originally planned to study nursing, he was fascinated by the coursework on biochemistry and eventually switched paths to study nutrition instead. Levin has now completed his Master's Degree in Nutrition and is currently completing a dietetic internship, which will eventually result in his becoming a registered dietition/nutritionist.

Below are a few highlights from our conversation. Please click on the audio player to hear the entire interview. 

Tell us a bit about traditional cooking style in the Philippines.

Every Filipino meal has two main parts: the rice and the ulam, which is a general term for whatever is eaten with the rice. An ulam is often a melange of a protein such as pork, chicken, or fish, and a variety of vegetables. Filipino flavors tend towards salty, sour, and pungent (which, believe me, is actually good once you acquire a taste for it).

How have neighboring cultures in Southeast Asia influenced Filipino cuisine?

The main Asian influence on Filipino cuisine is Chinese and you can see this in our noodle dishes, stir-fries, and use of soy sauce and fish sauce. Like our Southeast Asian neighbors, we use coconut and shrimp paste as well.

How have foreign or colonial powers influenced Filipino cuisine?

The Spanish introduced cured meats, dairy, and dishes like embutido, paella, and even those of Mexican origin like tamales and chicharron. Americans brought convenience cooking to the country and also favorite American staples...

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5 Ways to Use a Personal Planner to Maximize Success

Why are there so many planners in the world? You’ve probably seen them piled on shelves at your local office store or even at Walmart and Target. Go online, and you will find hundreds for sale on Amazon plus a wide variety of specialized planners with unique tracking systems.

There are planners for writers, planners for students, planners for mothers, and planners for business executives. Name a category of the population, and there’s probably at least one planner dedicated to their organizational needs.

If you usually walk right past the planners because you don’t see the point in tracking every detail of your life, it’s time to stop and take a longer glance. Not all planners are used for obsessive tracking and detailing. You can use one to reach your goals faster while reducing stress and overwhelm. There are five ways to do just that.

1. Implement time management strategies with a simple daily planner.

You’ve heard about time blocking. You know that some people create daily, weekly, monthly, or even quarterly and yearly schedules that they follow religiously. There are so many other time management systems from simple to-do lists to eating the frog.

Did that last one grab your attention? It’s a strategy that requires you to tackle your most important tasks first thing in the morning, starting with the biggest, hardest, or most intimidating one. It’s a concept that started in a book, but has gained considerable popularity around the world.

The problem with many time management strategies is the lack of consistency. You need a planner to fully commit and make them work.

Here’s how a planner might work for a couple of the most popular strategies:

• Time Blocking — Take everything you need to do in a day and assign it to a specific block of time. Commit to doing that and only that in each block. By the end of the day, you will have accomplished all of your daily goals or at least given them all some effort. Choose a planner that has daily calendar sheets with the times of the day listed out. Use those sheets to put boxes around your blocks for each day.
• Batching — Group similar tasks from all areas of your life together and do them at once. For example, read and respond to email at select times of the day or do all reading for school assignments and your professional life in one block of time. Your planner will help you look at everything you need to do and find creative ways to batch them together...

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How to Throw an Impromptu Cocktail Party

As the summer approaches, it's exciting to think about entertaining friends and family — but the thought of hosting a big gathering can be downright overwhelming. So my suggestion? Stop planning.

One of the best parties I ever went to was an impromptu cocktail party held on December 23rd. Yup, that's right — the day before Christmas Eve! We were invited just the day prior, and by that point in time, everyone was either ready for the holidays or so far behind they didn't care, so the temptation of a cocktail party was too good to pass up!  It was very fun, mainly because our hosts didn't sweat the small stuff. They didn’t have time to worry or obsess, and that ended up being the best thing.

Want to throw your own last minute get-together? Here are 4 secrets to hosting an incredible cocktail party:

Own the basics

Make sure you already have a basic bar set-up on hand. Start with a good set of wine glasses and a set of all-purpose drink glasses, then add on specialty glasses, for drinks like margaritas and martinis, as needed. But starting with something to serve wine, beer, or mixed drinks in is important.

If you want your party to be memorable, do not serve drinks in disposable plastic cups!

A large serving tray or board is another handy kitchen accessory to own. I like to serve very simple and basic foods, so a tray is the perfect serving piece for party snacks, and a few good cheeses and some crackers are a snap to display on a wooden board. Make sure you own 1 or 2 good cheese knives, too, so guests can help themselves. Try serving a nutty cheddar, a warmed Brie, and a rich, buttery Havarti.

Beautiful small bowls filled with olives and nuts complete my food selections. Remember, you're not feeding a football team here! The object is for your guests to enjoy a drink and nosh on a few simple snacks. You might be thinking, "How about a bowl of potato chips or pizza rolls?" The point here is to keep it classy and memorable. Who really remembers a bowl of potato chips? (If you’re really concerned about food because most of your friends are former football players, ask everyone to bring a little something — either an appetizer or dessert. My friends are always down for bringing some party food.)

Finally, keep an ample supply of cocktail napkins handy. so guests can use them for both drinks and snacks. Believe it or not,...

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How to Make Your Life Effortless

Essentialism is the discipline of choosing the right things to focus on – the things most vital to your success. Effortlessness is the art of doing those things well – simply and efficiently “so that you can sustain the effort and not just achieve success, but to be able to be successful at success.”

So began my conversation with Greg McKeown, author of Essentialism: The Disciplined Pursuit of Less and Effortless: Make it Easier to Do What Matters Most, and host of the What’s Essential podcast. Greg has dedicated his career to discovering why some people break through to the next level—and others don’t. He is an author, a speaker, and an active social innovator, having worked with clients such as Adobe, Apple, Google, Facebook, Pixar, Salesforce.com and more. In this conversation he shared his wisdom around why we tend to get in our own way, and how we can better focus on identifying what’s essential and making it effortless.

Listen to the full conversation on Apple, Spotify, or your favorite podcast platform, or just click the audio player above.

Essential things aren’t always the most difficult

“There are two kinds of people in the world: those who are burned out and those who know they’re burned out," Greg shared.  Some of this comes from our collective instinct that for something to be essential, it must be difficult. 

“There is this assumption that the more essential a thing is, the harder it's going to be. And there is a kind of Puritan type logic that reinforces that…It’s like a distrust of the easy. If something’s easy it must be trivial.”  

“There are two kinds of people in the world: those who are burned out and those who know they’re burned out."

So, he explains, we fall into the traps of perfectionism and overachieving – but often we’re just making things harder than they need to be. The essential thing may be as simple as taking a moment of silence to process what you’ve learned. It may be sitting with someone important to you as they experience a challenge. 

Sometimes what’s essential is the simplest thing we can do.

But sometimes essential things are difficult or complex – and our job is to make them as effortless as...

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Should You Exercise in the Morning, Afternoon, or Evening?

I am one of those smug people who get up early, down a cup of coffee, and immediately get active. I hit the gym, run the trails, cycle the path, splash the pool, or whatever tickles my fancy that day. Not necessarily because I think it is the ultimate and optimum time to work out, but rather because I like it. I like how it feels. I like how it sets up my day. I like the boost of energy I get from it.

I am also one of those spur-of-the-moment exercisers who will find himself in the middle of the afternoon staring at a blank page (where a blog article or workout plan is supposed to be) and instead of buckling down, suddenly gets up and goes for a walk, rides his bike to the pool, or puts on a yoga video before diving back into work.

Am I doing myself more harm than good by doing those early morning sessions? Should I stop giving into my afternoon exercise whims and simply get my work done instead? Well, let’s take a closer look.

The Optimum Workout Time

The other day, I got into a brief discus-gument with a friend of mine (who is also a fitness coach) about when exactly is the best time of day to work out. And while I didn’t disagree with his very scientifically-backed assessment, I am not one of those people who moves heaven and earth each time a study suggests that I am "doing it all wrong." In fact, I believe I concluded our conver-greement with the statement, "I think I am doing just fine."

Sure, science says that your body temperature peaks in the afternoon, which means that I might be able to do my hard workouts even harder later in the day. Sure that could theoretically result in me getting a bigger fitness boost from that workout, but you know what else gives me a bigger fitness boost? Getting the actual workout done.

And sure, my protein synthesis (the ability to use dietary proteins for muscle repair) also peaks later in the day, which means that I could maximize my body’s ability to recover from that workout, but I also find it easier to recover from workouts when I am not stressed out. Feeling rushed, pressured, or under the gun to get my workout done and get back to work or off to dinner is not my idea of a worthwhile cool-down.

If you are purely exercising to achieve the absolute highest possible intensities during your workout, then the optimal time to exercise is in the afternoon or early evening.

That is just me. I am not trying to convince you all to become morning exercisers. On the contrary! If you are able to make afternoon/evening workouts work for you, then that is great. You actually have science on your side. But if you are like me, don’t sweat it.

...

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6 Hidden Costs of Starting a New Business in 2021 + How to Reduce Them

If the upheaval of the past year has taught us anything, it's that there are no guarantees in business. But one hidden benefit of mass closures and unexpected downtime at home is the opportunity to reevaluate our careers. Many have taken this time to rethink what life and work really mean to them and decided to start their own businesses.

The thought of going out on your own may bring a mixture of fear and excitement. Maybe it's something you've been thinking about for a while, and now fate has forced your hand. But before you take that step, there are some hidden costs you may not have considered. It’s important to know your market and understand the costs you’re up against when starting your own business

Hidden costs for new businesses

Anyone who has ever worked long hours at a dead end job may have dreamed of being their own boss someday. Maybe you have a side hustle or a hobby you've wanted to expand into a business.

However, being your own boss is challenging, and it’s definitely not for everyone. The reality is that working for yourself often means working harder than you ever have before — not to mention barely breaking even for quite some time.

Costs like office space, equipment, and payroll are to be expected and may be easier to calculate. But, there are many expenses that might take you by surprise when you launch your startup. Everything from the hidden costs of website maintenance to acquiring the right kind of insurance can set you back if you don’t plan for them.

Before you take the leap, here are six hidden costs that you should know about, plus some tips on how to make them more manageable.

Startup funding

You might think that you can just start your business small and build upon it. But even a stellar business idea requires some capital to get it off the ground. Unfortunately, this is also one of the hardest parts of starting a company.

Some new business owners don’t understand the finances behind starting a business well enough to present their financial information to loan officers or potential investors. What’s more, women, persons of color, and other minorities underrepresented in the startup space face additional bias and challenges. For example, one study found that black business owners were 10% more likely to apply for startup...

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Announcing a New Chapter: Project Parenthood

In 2012, I was fortunate to join the Quick and Dirty Tips podcast network as the host of the Mighty Mommy show. For the next nine years, I created over 450 podcast episodes, covering nearly every parenting topic possible. We discussed how to handle a defiant toddler and how I raised eight kids without losing my mind (hint: routines!). Every episode stemmed from my firm belief that every child is an individual and deserves respect.

Today, my kids range from 15 through 28, and I'm loving my new role as a grandmother to a two-year-old grandson. (Yes, being a grandparent is even better than being a mom!) So with a grateful heart, it's time for me to pass the torch. Starting next week, psychologist Dr. Nanika Coor will take over this podcast as the host for its next chapter. And to accompany this transition, we're changing the name! From here on out, the show will be called Project Parenthood. 

This week, I had the pleasure of chatting with Dr. Coor and getting to know why she's so passionate about helping families stay strong and build respectful, loving relationships.

In our interview, you'll learn:

• Dr. Coor's philosophy of Respectful Parenting and what makes this approach different from others
• The surprising connection between Mighty Mommy and Dr. Coor
• Dr. Coor's goals as the host of Project Parenthood
• Mighty Mommy's favorite and most heartfelt piece of parenting advice

Thank you for nine amazing years. Until next time - happy parenting!

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A Simple Guide to Planning Your Cross-Country Move

For the most manageable, stress-free, and affordable interstate move, use the following guide to navigate the process.

Find a moving company

As soon as you’ve made the decision to move, it’s time to start asking for price quotes from cross country movers. Don’t put it off! The farther in advance that you book your moving dates, the more money you can potentially save on your move. Additionally, make sure you conduct thorough research and choose a moving company with a great reputation for quality service and communication.

If you’re overwhelmed with quotes from multiple companies vying for your business, or you’re worried about falling victim to a moving scam, then you have the option of using a brokering service like Moving APT, which has already verified the best in the business.

Declutter and purge

Even if you don’t plan to downsize when you move across the country, it’s generally in your best interest to move only what you absolutely need. The more weight you load into a moving truck, the more you will have to pay your movers. Do a detailed walkthrough of your home and identify items or furniture you can sell, donate or take to the dump in order to scale down your household goods.

Decluttering can be overwhelming, but a good rule of thumb is to throw out anything you haven’t worn or used in the last year. You can use your savings from your cross-country move to upgrade and replace anything you need.

Get organized

If you opt for a full-service move, your packers will label each box with the name of the room they’re packing so they’ll know where to put the boxes on the other end of the move. It can be tempting to move items from room to room during the organizing process, but unless you’re willing to go searching for your bathroom towels all over your new home, you’ll likely benefit from leaving everything in its place.

Ahead of your pack-out date, use a moving checklist to keep up with your preparation to-dos. This way, you’ll be able to answer any questions the movers have about your household goods, and you’ll be prepared for a smooth and simple process.

As your pack out progresses, you and the movers will create a written inventory of your items. Once you reach your destination, you’ll use this list to verify you’ve received everything they moved from your home. If any items are missing or damaged, you may be able to file an...

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5 Psychological Benefits of Walking

Recently, I had gone through a bout of stress - I had taken on too much work, injured my back, and was generally feeling out of touch with myself. I’ll admit that there were times when I was preaching the importance of self-care to a crowd...in the middle of a 60-hour work week. And the clumps of stress in my body were getting tighter.

This might sound familiar to you. Many people have been experiencing burnout for the past year and a half, and the mental health effects are starting to catch up. I’ve been hearing from many Savvy Psychologist listeners about experiencing poor sleep, having short fuses, feeling exhausted but also bored at the same time...what a hot mess we’ve all been!

Guess what pulled me out of this spiral?

Walking.

That's right, I took my dog on a long walk along the Eno River. When I started, I was mentally planning work projects and stressing out. But then, a great blue heron landed in the water right beside me, and it was so beautiful that I burst into tears. After that, I allowed myself to breathe, to feel the movement of my body, to smile at my dog…and so began my lift out of burnout.

I want to share the magic of walking with you, too. For today’s episode, let’s do something a little different. In addition to listing science-based benefits of walking, I’ll also informally talk you through a mindful walk.

So, if you’d like, you can take this podcast episode for a walk and follow along. Let’s lace up those sneakers and get going!

Start with breath. Wherever you’re walking, let’s start to become mindful by noticing your breath as you walk. No need to change it in any way. No need to count or manipulate the way you breathe. No need to judge whether you’re breathing too fast or wonder what this means. We’re just here to follow along with what the body naturally does.

Walking makes you less angry

Have you ever had an explosive argument with someone and felt so angry you had to just leave the house and start walking? Well, that’s a good instinct! Walking does actually calm anger.

One simple study that put people on a four-week daily walking plan. Not everybody actually walked as much as they were supposed to, but still, participants’ heart rates slowed, and they were feeling less anger and hostility by the end.

Notice your feet. Now that you’ve settled into your breath, let’s expand our attention to the feet. No need to move any faster or slower, or change their movement in any way. Simply notice the ground underneath...

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Up with Which I Will Not Put!

Here’s a famous grammar joke about Winston Churchill. You’ve probably heard it. This version is from a 1946 story in the "Washington Post": 

[A] stuffy young Foreign Office secretary … had the job of “vetting” the then Prime Minister’s magnificent speeches. The young man disliked the P.M.’s habit of ending sentences with prepositions and corrected such sentences whenever he found them.

Finally, Mr. Churchill had enough of this! So he recorrected his own speech and sent it back to the Foreign Office with a notation in red ink, “This is the kind of pedantic nonsense up with which I will not put!”

According to Fred R. Shapiro on his website “Quote Investigator,” versions of this story go back at least to 1941, and Churchill only got added to the story in 1943. But the story is still a good demonstration of how ridiculous your writing can end up sounding if you follow the rules you’re given too rigidly. 

Of course, the idea that you shouldn’t end a sentence with a preposition has always been a bad fit with the way English grammar actually works. We’ve covered this topic in previous episodes, particularly episode 800. The fact is that English allows you a choice of what to do with a preposition when the noun phrase that would normally follow it is missing. For example, if you’re asking about your upcoming vacation plans, you could ask either “What hotel are we staying in?” with the preposition “in” at the end of the question, or “In what hotel are we staying?” with “in” moved to before the noun phrase “what hotel.”

Prepositions and particles

The complications come when we’re dealing with more than one preposition. In the Churchill joke, he moves not just the “with,” but also the “up,” away from the end of the sentence. If he had moved just the “with,” he would have ended up with: “This is the kind of pedantic nonsense with which I will not put up!” That sentence is still somewhat awkward, but not laughably so in the way that “up with which I will not put” is. 

To understand why not, we need to take a closer look at phrasal verbs. Here’s what we said about phrasal verbs in episode 608, written by Marcia Riefer Johnston:

[A] phrasal verb (such as...

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'Discreet' vs. 'Discrete'

English has a lot of homophones, words that sound the same but are spelled differently, and "discreet" and "discrete" are just such a troublesome pair.

"Discreet" means “tactful” or “cautious,” as in "I want to talk to you about changing jobs to something in your department, but we need to be discreet." 

"Discrete" means “separate,” “distinct,” or “unconnected,” as in "We detected three discrete signals with the radio telescope."

A quick news search will demonstrate how shockingly often people confuse the spellings of these words. Don't be a writer or editor who makes this mistake! 

Unfortunately, "discreet" and "discrete" have the same Latin origin, so that won't help us remember the difference, and according to Etymonline, the two spellings were used pretty much interchangeably until after the year 1600; so you could cop out and say you embrace a Renaissance method of spelling, but I don't recommend it.

The way I remember the difference is to associate the D-I-S-C-R-E-T-E spelling, the one that means "separate," "distinct," or "unconnected," with the Greek island of Crete, which is spelled the same way — and because it is an island, it is also separate, distinct, and unconnected.

More examples of 'discreet' and 'discrete'

'Discreet'

She discreetly gave her sorority sister the secret handshake.

The two candidates had a discreet meeting to work out their problems.

Angered by the display, she asked if he could be more discreet.

'Discrete'

There were two discrete choices.

Five discrete business units contributed to the increase in profits.

Image courtesy of Shutterstock.

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The 5 Essential Ingredients for Baking, Explained

For having just a few ingredients, dough is a pretty complex thing. Understanding a few fundamentals will educate your baking technique.

1. Flour

Cake and pastry flours

These have a lower protein content, meaning they contain less gluten, giving them a more delicate crust. Think cakey, not crispy.

All-purpose and bread flours

These are higher in gluten. Think pizza dough, pasta and baguettes.

How to measure flour

Always transfer your flour from the bag to another container to aerate it. It has probably traveled across the country to get to you with literal tons of flour on top of it. You’ll get the most accurate volume measurement from fluffed flour. A cup of flour scraped out of a packed bag could actually be a cup and a half if it isn’t fluffed up. King Arthur Flour is my all-around favorite. It has been around since 1790 and is a fully employee-owned company; even more important, they are passionate bakers consistently delivering a superior product.

How to flour your surface

Use a sifter or a shaker, or hold a handful of flour in your hand and shake it like dice.

When you’re kneading dough, you want as little flour as possible to avoid offsetting the recipe, but go for the flour when you’re rolling because you do not want that baby to stick to the counter!

You can always brush off any excess flour; flour not mixed into anything and cooked just tastes bitter and sad.

2. Salt

If you forget salt, the dough will taste a bit flat and stale.

Kosher salt

I prefer kosher salt for almost everything I make, whether sweet or savory. Kosher refers to the size of the crystals. It’s the salt that’s packed onto a kosher slaughtered animal to draw out impurities.

Remember this if you ever buy a kosher chicken or turkey! They’ve already been salted.

Table salt

Table salt is too fine: the crystals are much smaller, so more salt will fit in the teaspoon, making things ultimately too salty. If your recipe calls for 1 teaspoon of salt but all you have is table salt, then reduce the amount to 2⁄3 teaspoon or it will be too salty.

3. Butter

There is no industry standard for how much salt actually gets added to butter, so always use unsalted butter so you can control the amount of seasoning.

European-style butter

I like to use this butter because it has a higher fat percentage, resulting in a more tender final product.

Cultured butter

This butter is made with a soured cream that can have a slightly tangy flavor. It is great for toast, but the expense and flavor impact rule it out for baking for me.

Butter actually coats the strands of gluten, keeping...

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Should I Get a Traditional or Roth IRA?

If you plan to have a financially comfortable retirement, there's no getting around the fact that you should use one or more tax-advantaged retirement accounts. I'm a big fan of the Individual Retirement Account or IRA because it's available to anyone with some amount of earned income, no matter if you're a teen or a retiree.

Unfortunately, I've found that many people have questions about IRAs that keep them from opening one up. For instance, they're unsure how IRAs work or whether they should have a traditional or Roth account.

This post will clear up any confusion you may have about IRAs. Keep reading to find out if a traditional or Roth is best for you, where to open your account, and how to invest IRA contributions wisely. 

What is an Individual Retirement Account (IRA)?

An important concept to understand about an IRA (or any retirement account, for that matter) is that it's not an investment. An IRA is an account where you put your investments. 

I think of a retirement account like your house or apartment. It shelters and protects you, but it isn't you. Similarly, an IRA is just a shelter that protects your investments from taxation while you own them inside the account.

You can put just about any investment in an IRA, such as stocks, bonds, exchange-traded funds (ETFs), mutual funds, index funds, certificates of deposit (CDs), and money market funds. If you open a self-directed IRA, you can even own less mainstream investments, such as real estate or businesses in your account. But we're just going to focus on traditional and Roth IRAs here.

What is a Traditional IRA?

First, let's cover a traditional IRA and its benefits. A traditional IRA is available to anyone with earned income, including wages, salaries,...

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Is Leaky Gut Syndrome a Legitimate Diagnosis?

Several times a week, I get emails from listeners asking me to dedicate an episode to leaky gut. Is this a real thing? How do you know if you have it? How can you heal or prevent a leaky gut?

To help me sort through what has become a veritable mountain of myth and misunderstanding on this subject, I’ve invited Tamara Duker Freuman, a registered dietitian nutritionist who specializes in digestive disorders, back to the Nutrition Diva podcast for an encore appearance.

Earlier this year, Tamara joined me on the podcast to talk about her book, The Bloated Belly Whisperer, in which she explains the many different causes of belly bloating and how to tailor an approach to your particular situation. If you heard that episode, then you know that Tamara really knows her stuff. And I can’t think of a better person to help us understand the mysterious (and, according to some people, extremely common) phenomenon popularly referred to as leaky gut syndrome.

The basic idea is that something— it might be a food, additive, environmental toxin, or even stress—causes the cells that line the digestive tract to become inflamed and irritated. As a result, the normally tight connections between these cells become more permeable (or “leaky.") Allegedly, this permeability allows toxins, bacteria or partially digested food to “leak” out of the intestines and into circulation, where they cause all kinds of havoc. Symptoms attributed to a leaky gut include fatigue, headaches, joint pain, and an entire range of digestive symptoms. 

Alternative medicine practitioners (or popular websites) might base a diagnosis of leaky gut syndrome on your symptoms. Or, they may recommend various lab tests— such as urine, blood, or stool tests—to confirm the diagnosis.

The next step is a protocol to heal the gut. These typically involve fasting or eliminating various foods and food groups that are thought to be inflammatory from the diet. Leaky gut protocols may also include introducing probiotic foods or probiotic supplements, along with a host of other dietary supplements. Often, but not always, people following these protocols experience relief from some of their symptoms, which would seem to validate the approach.

There's only a drop of truth here surrounded by an ocean of misinformation and misunderstanding.

But, as is so often the case, there's only a drop of truth here surrounded by an ocean of misinformation and misunderstanding.

In our interview, Tamara and I discuss:

• What intestinal permeability is (and isn’t)
• The potential causes of intestinal permeability
• What symptoms might be caused by intestinal permeability
• How researchers determine if...

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7 Ways to Keep Your Sink Drain and Garbage Disposal Clean

Vinegar deodorizes

Keep your garbage disposal running properly and odor-free with this simple once-a-month trick: Fill an ice-cube tray with white vinegar, and when frozen, grind about a dozen cubes. The ice sharpens the blades while the vinegar deodorizes the drain.

Is Vinegar + Baking Soda the Ultimate Cleanser? Ask Science investigates. 

Use mouthwash to freshen the scent

Odors coming from your garbage disposal? Pour about 4 ounces of a minty mouthwash down the drain. Rinse and repeat as needed.

Deodorize the disposal with lemon

A quick and easy way to deodorize your in-sink garbage disposal is to grind a lemon peel inside it every so often. It will get rid of grease—and smell wonderful!

Salt as a de-greaser

Pour ½ cup salt down the drain of your kitchen sink with warm running water. This simple step will freshen your drain and keep it from getting bogged down with grease.

Make a drain volcano

Most people know the old science fair project of mixing vinegar and baking soda to cause a chemical reaction worthy of a model volcano, but not many know that this powerful combination is also a great drain cleaner. Baking soda and vinegar break down fatty acids from grease, food, and soap buildup into simpler substances that can be more easily flushed down the drain. Here’s how to do it: Pour 2 ounces baking soda and 5 ounces vinegar into your drain. Cover with a towel or dishrag while the solution fizzes. Wait 5 to 10 minutes, then flush the drain with very hot water. Repeat until your drain is clear.

Your oven is probably coated in grease, too. Check out Who Knew's guide to degreasing your oven.

Use Alka-Seltzer

Kitchen sink clogged up? Skip the commercial drain cleaners, which contain harsh chemicals that can destroy your pipes. Instead, slip three Alka-Seltzer tablets down the drain and turn on the hot water for just a few seconds. The tablets will fizz up and get to work on the clog. After 15 minutes, run the water again and the drain should be clog-free.

Baking soda hack

Instead of throwing away baking soda when it’s finished its 30-day stint in your fridge, dump it down the garbage disposal with running...

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What Happens When You Foam Roll

A few years ago, I wrote the episode called The Many Benefits of Foam Rolling where I taught you how to foam roll your body into a happier, healthier, and higher-performing version of itself. Well, the research and science around foam rolling have progressed since then, and companies like TriggerPoint are creating more and more interesting ways to foam roll, so I thought it was time to revisit this topic, with the guidance of a true foam rolling expert named Michael Cummings. 

Michael Cummings has been a professional in the sports and fitness industry for more than 20 years. He has owned and operated gyms, yoga studios, and wellness centers. He has designed and built the infrastructure for several successful health club. He has consulted for many of the industry's top brands on product development, education, and programming. He created the sport and fitness training line of products for SKLZ and he has over 50 patents in his name. Michael also consults with governments, Olympic committees, and the military.

In this article, Michael (or “MC”) is going to give us a master class in one of my favourite things to do pre, post, or even during a workout -- foam rolling! 

How foam rolling affects our bodies

When we foam roll, two things happen to our bodies: shearing and compression.

The difference is with compression. Imagine pushing your thumb into your forearm. So you're pressing through your skin, the superficial deep fascia, and through your muscle. With shearing, it's basically like gripping your wrist and turning. What that's doing is taking the top layer of tissue and moving it in one direction, while the lower level or the deep layer goes in the opposite direction. In other words, two different components moving parallel with one another but in different directions. If you put your hands together and move one back in one forward, that's shearing.

One of the things that explains the effects of shearing is this pretty simple study done by Helene Langevin. In the study, she asked participants to bend over and touch their toes. She then did an ultrasound of the backs of all the participants. In the people who had back pain while bending forward, she saw what she called the "Velcro effect" on the ultrasound. That's when their soft tissues basically adhered or gripped together and didn't move, whereas in the people who were able to touch their toes without pain, these layers slid and glided over one and there was no stickiness.

After adhesion is...

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6 Ways My Daily Walk Drives My Success

In my line of work, each day looks totally different. Some days may be all meetings, others all research, and other days are spent with clients. And then there’s the pile of everything else it takes to keep a business running.

The guts of my days don’t offer much consistency. So I create my own with a handful of non-negotiable daily practices. For me it’s Bulletproof coffee, my Bullet Journal, a workout, and my daily walk. Whatever else may be screaming for my attention, these are my untouchables. 

You may grimace at the thought of butter in your coffee (that one took me a minute to get used to), or you may prefer one of a million different planners out there. But if you’re looking to add something to your day that will inch you further into your zone of success, you may want to consider a daily walking practice.

Here are six ways I use my daily walk to keep me winning:

Why Walking Works #1:  It offers a mental break 

Whether preparing to deliver a tough client message, researching a complex challenge, or just juggling too many things at once, my instinct is always to push through. In this sense, my instinct is typically wrong.

I’ve learned that when the dial gets turned up to 11 for me, the mental break of a walk – a few minutes to clear my head and refuel my tank is just the thing I need to make the creative break. I always come back to my desk more ready than I was before to get the hard thing done.

Why Walking Works #2:  It improves stamina

Doing what I do – supporting clients, running my business, staying connected to my kids – takes boatloads of energy. I can’t do it with an empty tank. So that daily walk is not only an opportunity for mental recharge, but it’s part of what keeps my body strong, my stamina up. 

Ironically, I’ve learned, that running a 90-minute meeting on Zoom can be more energy-depleting than running an eight-hour in-person session. It’s a different energy drain. But I need to keep mine high, and the walks really help. I return to my desk feeling stronger, tougher, and like I’m in control of my day rather than a slave to it.

Why Walking Works #3:  It offers rehearsal space

I use my walking time to rehearse anything giving me pause or anxiety. I pop in my headphones (so I look like I’m on the phone!) and I use my walking time to practice difficult conversations, upcoming presentations, or an anticipated coaching moment that may be hard to deliver.

Can I rehearse these things at my desk? Sure. But I find the combination of working my mind while I’m moving my body leaves me freer to experiment with the approach I ultimately take.

Why Walking Works #4:  It boosts...

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Car Sharing: Money-Saving Tips for Your Car

When you have a car, the primary purpose is to serve your family and help take care of your needs. While owning a car is a blessing, it can also be a struggle because of repair and maintenance costs. However, a car can be a source of income and help you save money through car sharing. You might be wondering "how do I share my car and save money?" Here is how.

How does car sharing work?

Car sharing is when people jointly use the vehicle as a part of a co-ownership program. The people involved don’t claim possession of their vehicles, but instead just use them when they need to. Car sharing works with a single vehicle or a fleet of vehicles in a group of people. There is always an agreement between the members in addition to a fee for the mileage usage. With car sharing, you only have to look for the closest vehicle near you and make a reservation for the day or a week. There are no restrictions on how far you can go by using a car, but there are rules and regulations to follow, especially if it belongs in a group.

Friends, family members, and colleagues can participate in car sharing. You can start car sharing by asking or talking to such parties and reaching an agreement. Car sharing works best in towns and cities when using a car is among the key needs.

When you consider car sharing, you save money because you only use the car when you need one and for a specific reason.

How car sharing helps you save money

You avoid repair and maintenance expenses

Owning a car also means being obligated to handle the repair and maintenance costs. There is a high chance of digging deep into your pocket to handle such expenses. With car sharing, however, repair and maintenance costs are a collective responsibility and everyone involved must contribute. This becomes effective because you save money in the long run.

You can use it for private businesses

Instead of your car sitting in the parking lot the whole day when you're not using it, you can make more money through car sharing. Whenever you are not using a car, you can rent it for other private business reasons. In the long run, you can make and save money that can be used for other household expenses. Some businesses that might rent your car are delivery, taxi, and transportation businesses.

There is flexibility

If you belong to a car-sharing group, you won't have to worry about being late for work or spending money on bus fares if your car breaks down. You only have to call or...

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5 Coping Strategies When You're Sick of Parenting

In the nine years I've had the pleasure of being the host of the Mighty Mommy podcast, I've shared the joys and hardships of parenting. Although I stand by my tagline, "It's the toughest job you'll ever love," I am also honest in admitting that as much as I love my kids, there have been plenty of days I have disliked everything there is about parenthood.

Taking care of a family (especially one with eight kids!) is a 24/7 job, and on those days when we get overwhelmed and think "If I have to wipe one more runny nose or pick up another tossed plate of mac and cheese..." well, on those days our kids still depend on us and the show must go on.

I've been at this parenting thing for 28 years now and I couldn't count the number of times I've wanted to throw in the towel and take a massive time-out. But that wasn't an option. So instead, I found coping mechanisms to help me through the tough times. Here are the five ways I survived the challenges of parenting: 

Strategy #1: Figure out why you're down on parenting

During the quiet moments when our baby sleeps, when our first grader is quietly playing with blocks, or when our tween is studiously working on homework, parenthood seems like a piece of cake. But in a blink, that same baby develops colic, our first grader is now throwing his blocks at the colicky baby, and our tween hates school and refuses to pick up a book. Unfortunately, there is no rhyme or reason to each day and oftentimes parenthood becomes a game of wits.

If you find yourself struggling to enjoy your role as a parent, do some soul searching and see if one of these situations could be the culprit:

• Loneliness: Many parents go it alone and don't have external support systems in place. This leaves them feeling depleted and alone.
• Exhaustion: Sleep deprivation and physical needs not being met, including proper nutrition and exercise.
• Loss of Purpose: Taking a career break to raise your child can leave you feeling nonexistent and even resentful. Not pursuing personal hobbies and interests also has negative repercussions.
• Relationship Issues: Single parents, marriage difficulties, strains with...

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Pregnancy Anxiety? Here's How to Keep Calm and Carry On

If you're pregnant and experiencing anxiety, you're in good company. Approximately 60% of women will feel significant pregnancy anxiety at some point. This includes both mental components, like worrying about worst-case scenarios and riding extreme mood swings, and physical components like feeling tension and having a hard time relaxing into sleep.

Pregnancy is amazing. In 40 weeks, two cells go from just meeting each other to having turned into a tiny human. For some, having a baby is a surprise, and for others, the result of a long and arduous journey to conception. For some, it’s a terrifying prospect; for others, it's something they were born ready to do. For everyone, the experience is unique. 

Pregnancy is amazing. In 40 weeks, two cells go from just meeting each other to having turned into a tiny human.

The weeks when you're expecting a child are a special time full of change. For a pregnant woman, the amount of physical, mental, and existential changes that happen in such a short time can be dizzying. I'm expecting my first baby in February 2020. For me, it’s been a mix of emotions all happening on top of seismic changes in my body. During a process as life-changing as this, it's easy to feel overwhelmed.

It's normal to have anxiety during pregnancy

You may be particularly at risk for anxiety and other mood problems during pregnancy if you:

• Have a high-risk pregnancy
• Have had a mood disorder in the past
• Had previous difficulties with pregnancies or fertility
• Have high levels of stress in your life and relationships. 

That doesn’t mean you’re doomed to have a bad pregnancy experience. Even if you do experience anxiety, know it's totally normal to be nervous—after all, you're going through one of the biggest life changes there is.

To help yourself enjoy this time and take it all in stride, here are four tips for keeping calm so you can carry on:

Tip #1: Educate yourself about pregnancy

A healthy amount of knowledge and preparation can go a long way toward easing anxiety about pregnancy and childbirth. Often, the things we worry about are scary because we don’t know exactly what we’re scared of. Ever notice how, in horror movies, it’s always the lead-up to opening the door that’s the worst part? As the music is getting tenser, dread is building because you don’t know when the monster is going to leap out...

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What Does 'Subpar' Mean?

One of our listeners asked us this week about the term “subpar.” She said that in Phoenix, Arizona, where she lives, golf is very popular. She’s tried “taking a swing at the phrase ‘subpar,’” but wasn’t sure she was using it right. 

Kerry, here’s the scoop.

'Par' means equivalent currencies in economics

The first thing to know is that “par” comes from classical Latin, where it meant "equal," or "equality." Over time, it came to have a specific meaning in economics. It refers to the value of one country’s currency in relation to another. In terms of US currency, we could say that par is $1 US dollar for $1.3 Singapore dollars. Or that par is $1 US dollar for 72 Indian rupees.

“Par” also has a meaning on the stock exchange. It refers to the face value of a share, as distinct from its market value. If a share is priced above the face value, it’s said to be “above par.” If it’s smack dab at face value, it’s “at par.” And if it’s on sale, below face value, it’s “below par.” (1)

'On par' means at the same level

“Par” also has a general meaning outside of economics. It refers to anything that’s on the same level as something else.

If your mom is a great cook, you could say that her cooking is on par with that of any famous chef. If you’re a particularly proud parent, you might say that your daughter’s pitching is on par with that of any major league baseball player. 

In contrast, if her favorite baseball team lost, you could say that they were not quite on par with their opponents that night. You might even say their hitting was subpar. In other words, worse than usual.

'Under par' means you’re winning, in golf

So far, we’ve talked about things that are “under par” as being bad. This leads us back to Kerry’s question. Because “par” has another meaning related to golf, and in that context, subpar is good.

You see, in golf, “par” is the number of strokes that an expert player needs to complete a game. Typical golf courses have a par value of 72. That’s made up of four par-3 holes, 10 par-4 holes, and four par-5 holes. (2)

If you do the math, that means that a really good golfer should have to hit the ball 72 times to get it in all 18 holes and complete the course. 

Now, a great golfer can do even better. When Tiger Woods won the Masters Tournament in 2019—that’s one of golf’s big four tournaments—he finished 13 under par. In other words, it took him 13 fewer strokes to finish the course than even the best of golfers are expected...

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Can I Start a Sentence with a Conjunction?

Today’s topic is whether it’s OK to begin a sentence with "and," "but," or "or." The short answer is yes, and just about all modern grammar books and style guides agree! So who is it that keeps saying it’s wrong to do it? 

It’s Fine to Start a Sentence with a Coordinating Conjunction

"And," "but," and "or" are the three most common members of a group of words known as coordinating conjunctions. The question about whether it’s grammatical to begin a sentence with "and," "but," or "or" is actually the question of whether it’s grammatical to begin a sentence with a coordinating conjunction. Here’s what some of the big usage guides say on the matter. The one that seems to get quoted the most is the Chicago Manual of Style, which says:

There is a widespread belief—one with no historical or grammatical foundation—that it is an error to begin a sentence with a conjunction such as "and," "but," or "so." In fact, a substantial percentage (often as many as 10 percent) of the sentences in first-rate writing begin with conjunctions. It has been so for centuries, and even the most conservative grammarians have followed this practice.

Both Garner’s Modern English Usage, and Fowler’s Modern English Usage call this belief a superstition. Merriam-Webster's Dictionary of English Usage (MWDEU) says, “Everybody agrees that it’s all right to begin a sentence with 'and,'” and notes that you can find examples of it all the way back to Old English. 

Many People Have Been Taught That It’s Wrong

However, MWDEU also observes that “nearly everybody admits to having been taught at some past time that the practice was wrong.” So where did this idea come from? In The Story of English in 100 Words, David Crystal writes:

During the 19^th century, some schoolteachers took against the practice of beginning a sentence with a word like "but" or ...

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How to Tell When Your Dog Is Stressed

Most people who live with dogs recognize some of the “bigger” clues that a dog’s anxious, uncomfortable, or outright scared — cowering, whining, and a tucked tail, to name just three. This article discusses a few more subtle signs. These signs generally don’t reflect full-blown panic, but they tell you that all’s not quite right in your pup's world. 

If we can decode our dogs’ body language, we can bail out sensitive dogs before they get overwhelmed. And even boneheaded, happy-go-lucky types may find some situations too much for them. Come to think of it, watching them closely may reveal that they’re not such boneheads after all.

Why it’s important to notice your dog is stressed

When we recognize our dogs’ stress signals and take action to help them out, we’re taking care both of the dog and of ourselves. I often remember an aging dog named Jack whose humans noticed that he always retreated from their toddler’s approach. They thought nothing of it, so Jack’s repeated nonaggressive signals that he disliked kiddy-style handling didn’t get through. Jack finally bit. The child had to have stitches, and Jack lost his home. What a lot of preventable grief.

Of course, you don’t need to intervene every time your dog experiences stress. For instance, he might startle easily at the sound of a car backfiring, then relax and go back to sniffing the hydrant a few seconds later. There’s probably no big issue here. On the other hand, I’d be rich if I had a dollar for every client who told me a bite came out of the blue and then went on to describe in clear detail the half-dozen signs of distress her dog gave her. The human saw them all, but didn’t understand.

Heading back to the office for the first time in a while? Check out How to Help Dogs and Cats Manage Separation Anxiety When Their Humans Return to Work

What signs tell you a dog is stressed?

Looking away

A dog who’s a bit worried about a person, another animal, or a situation may turn her head...

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Anxiety, Depression, or Both?

Anxiety and depression go together like peanut butter and jelly, peas and carrots, or bacon and eggs. And while they don't exactly taste great together, they often go hand in hand. In fact, nearly 50% of people diagnosed with depression can also be diagnosed with an anxiety disorder, and vice versa.

Depression and anxiety are fundamentally different—depression is based in hopelessness and helplessness, while anxiety is steeped in fear of the uncertain. But even though they’re different, they overlap in many ways. Here are five big similarities:

Shared symptom #1: Irritability

Anxiety, by its very nature, puts people on edge, which makes it easier to push them over that edge. When you’re already amped up, every additional little thing seems like a giant hassle. With depression, it’s a myth that folks only feel sad. Instead, depression often manifests as irritability and grouchiness, especially in men.

Shared symptom #2: Problems sleeping 

In depression, sleep can go either way—either too much or too little. Anxiety almost always means trouble getting to sleep due to tension or racing thoughts, or waking up in the middle of the night with a 100 MPH mind. Either way, when you’re fighting depression or anxiety, exhaustion is the last thing you need. 

Shared symptom #3: Difficulty concentrating 

With either depression or anxiety, reading a book goes out the window, zoning out during movies becomes the norm, and it can even be hard to stay engaged in conversation. Trouble focusing comes in slightly different versions for depression or anxiety—with depression it’s simply impossible to sustain attention, while with anxiety you’re distracted by worries--but either way, “concentrate” is limited to your orange juice.

Shared symptom #4: Restlessness

The bouncy leg, the wringing of hands, the grinding of teeth—anxiety seldom comes without motion. With depression, some folks experience what’s called psychomotor agitation--they pace, bite their nails, or fidget. (Others feel weighed down by a ton of bricks, and some folks feel both slowed down and restless at the same time).

Shared symptom #5: No fun

It’s hard to kick back and have fun when you’re anxious, depressed, or both. In depression, this is a core symptom officially called anhedonia, which literally means “without pleasure.” Depression also saps energy and motivation, so doing what you love seems pointless and effortful. With anxiety, not having any fun is more of an result of the disorder—anxiety comes with high physical tension, which is pretty much incompatible with relaxing or...

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4 Secrets About College Admission

In slick ads and media marketing pitches, colleges hint at qualifications students need to get accepted. Too often, though, especially at the most selective colleges, the criteria are kept deliberately mysterious, confounding students trying to parse the precise measures they must meet for admission. Those seemingly unsolvable riddles have produced a Hydra-like admissions industrial complex claiming to sell certainty.

Getting into college is not the same as paying for it, as the nation’s $1.5 trillion in student debt attests. Only a few dozen colleges nationwide promise to charge what families can afford—all elite schools, with billion-dollar endowments and generous aid. They also routinely reject 90 percent or more of their applicants, admitting more students with family incomes in the top 1 percent than in the bottom 60 percent.

Money and fear drive admissions at every income level, contributing to the crippling anxiety so many teens feel about getting into college. While rates of depression, anxiety, and substance abuse are highest among affluent teens, the vast majority of high school students grapple with the fear that earning a degree is a dream beyond their grasp. That worry is real. Those born in 1980 to the highest income families were several times more likely to earn degrees than middle- and moderate-income Americans, a 2018 study in the journal Demography reported. More than half who start college drop out within six years, and only 33 percent of Americans ages twenty-five and older hold a bachelor’s degree. Students report unprecedented angst, academic pressure, and rejections from dream colleges, crushing them emotionally and financially. How did it come to this?

The Winning Formula

Given the odds stacked against them, how can families win the Hunger Games of higher ed? By making the rules work in their favor.

First, it’s a numbers game.

Too many students apply only to elite or selective colleges with acceptance rates in the single digits or low teens, without realizing how little chance they have of being accepted. The first obstacle is overcoming the academic index score. Colleges with the highest barriers to entry require applicants to meet certain academic...

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8 Micro Money Habits for Guaranteed Success

You've probably noticed that the small things you do (or don't do) every day add up. In many cases, your micro habits make the difference between success and failure in different areas of your life, such as health, relationships, career, and finances. 

Today's episode will review eight micro money habits to help you take control of your finances, feel secure, and know that you can reach any realistic financial goal you want. 

Keep reading for the details on how to use these eight habits to create massive financial success:

Money Habit #1: Review your financial priorities frequently

It doesn't matter if you're a college graduate who's just starting a career, a parent who wants to pay for college, or a pre-retiree dreaming of traveling the world, you need to identify your unique financial priorities. Your money goals don't have to be complicated, but they do require an action plan for breaking them down into manageable smaller targets.

For example, if you want to save $60,000 for a house downpayment over the next five years, you'll need to put aside $12,000 a year or $1,000 a month. If you want to retire in 30 years with $1 million, you'll need to invest approximately $800 a month. 

Knowing what you're working and saving for helps you stay focused on the long-term -- and tolerate short-term sacrifices you need to make. One trick to achieving your goals is remembering them. If you don't frequently review your financial priorities goals, it's easy to forget them. 

One trick to achieving goals is remembering them. If you don't frequently review your financial priorities goals, it's easy to forget them.

A wise micro habit is setting a daily or weekly calendar reminder to review your goals. Getting clear about what you want to accomplish with your money is the first step to success.

A simple tool I created to help you monitor your goals and financial progress is the Personal Financial Statement (PFS). It tracks your net worth, which is a crucial indicator of your financial health. You can download my PFS workbook and get started today.

And if you're not sure what your financial priorities should be, I have lots of ideas! The first box to check is an emergency fund that keeps you safe, no matter what. 

If you aren't building a cash reserve, ask yourself why. Maybe you need to cut frivolous spending, stop making...

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Is Eating Locally Really More Sustainable?

When the U.S. economy and society abruptly shut down in March 2020 due to a global pandemic, food shortages were common as supply chains temporarily collapsed.  For example, most of the beef and pork sold in the U.S. is processed in just a handful of huge plants. When a Covid-19 outbreak shut one or two of them down, retail outlets quickly ran out of meat. A shortage of long-haul truckers made things worse.

Food manufacturers and distributors recovered remarkably quickly, implementing effective safety protocols that allowed them to restore and maintain a highly functional food distribution system throughout the pandemic.  However, the early days of the pandemic revealed a suprising vulnerability in our food supply network.

The U.S. is a large country, both in population and in territory. And yet our food system is highly centralized.  It's also highly efficient, which makes our food costs among the lowest in the industrialized world. One way the food industry boosts efficiency is through various agricultural technologies that increase the yield or output of every square acre that we farm.  Another is economy of scale.  It is more cost effective for one farmer or company to farm 1,000 acres than it is for 10 farmers to farm 100 acres each.

The American food system is highly centralized. It's also highly efficient, which makes our food costs among the lowest in the industrialized world.

Another way that we keep costs down is by reducing redundancies in the networks that supply, transport, and sell our food to us.  But another word for redundancy is "back up."  When a system has no redundancies, the entire system becomes only as strong as its weakest link. 

Eating local by necessity

When our national food systems broke down temporarily, many people sought out new relationships with local growers and supplies.  Participation in Community Sponsored Agriculture -- where people buy shares in small local farms in exchange for a weekly box of whatever's being harvested -- shot up.  Small farmers and wholesale vendors quickly set up programs to deliver meat, dairy, and produce directly to consumer's doorsteps.  A local food economy sprang to life. 

One of the lessons that many people drew from the pandemic was that a less centralized food supply and delivery system would be more resilient when things go awry -- and that the benefits of some redundancy would outweigh the costs of reduced efficiency. But while the local food movement may have gotten a big boost from the coronavirus crisis, it's been around for a long time.  And one of the chief articles of faith among "locavores," is that eating local reduces the carbon footprint of our consumption and...

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Top 5 Tips to Extend Your Laptop's Life

More and more often, computer users are opting to use laptops over desktops. Laptops are portable, full computers (as opposed to mobile operating systems like the ones you'll find on tablets), and they are becoming almost as powerful as their desktop counterparts.

However, a laptop's strength is also one of its greatest weaknesses. Its portability also tends to bring along some risk. For example, they are more vulnerable to being dropped, spilled on, or left in a hot car. This generally leads to very short life expectancies for laptops. So. let's jump right into it and I'll give you my top tips for making sure you get the most out of your investment! 

Tip #1. Keep things cool

Here's my number-one tip – keep it cool! Whether it's a phone, tablet, or laptop, excessive heat is the enemy here. It's horrible for electronics. For example, extreme heat can lead to screen damage, short battery lives, and even certain glues melting into the device.

There's more! When metals heat up, they also expand, and then contract when cooled. This means that all of the wire and metals in your device are being stretched and compressed, which could lead to the failure of any number of key components.

So, what will it mean if you inadvertently skip this tip and heat up your laptop once or twice? Is it the end of its life? Most likely not. However, repeated exposure to heat, whether it's from being left in a hot car or in direct sunlight, could easily lead to a much shorter life. Take it from me, keep your devices cool and they will perform much better for you – and last much longer. 

Tip #2. Buy a case

The human skin is a wonderful thing, and when you get a bruise or scrape, your skin will heal itself within a couple of days. Laptops, on the other hand, are not so lucky. They show every scrape, bump, and accident like a badge of honor. So, do yourself a big favor and buy a case for your laptop. 

A good case can do a lot to pad your laptop from a life of minor scratches and bumps. I have a nice slim case that my laptop fits into like a glove. I put my laptop in this sleeve and then, from there, into my bag. This provides some padding and also keeps it super clean – added bonus.

There are also cases that are attached directly to the laptop that protect it like a shell. That's yet another layer of great protection.

For more tips on the equipment I'd recommend, check out Inside Tech Talker's Backpack: Hardware Roundup

Tip #3. Keep it clean...

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How to Choose a Home Workout Platform

I have mentioned and shown the stationary bike that I use at home in some of my past episodes and workout videos. It is a ProForm Pro 22 studio bike that features the iFit workout platform. It is pretty compact, easy to move around, and has a big tablet screen that connects to my Bluetooth headphones and heart rate monitor. Suffice to say, it does me well. 

In a time when virtual and online training is at an all-time high, I spent a lot of time looking into not only which device I wanted to have cluttering up my home but also which platform I would need a subscription for to make the most of the device. 

Beyond iFit, I have subscriptions (many of them given to me for free) to more than a few platforms (including JRNY and AloMoves). And because I am nearly 50-years-old, I have a long history with various fitness platforms, starting with workouts on VHS tape. 

When I was presented with the opportunity to chat with Colleen Logan, Vice President of Marketing at ICON Health & Fitness, I jumped at it. Colleen has been working in the industry for nearly 20 years and has seen many fads come and go. 

The Home Fitness Equipment Industry

ICON Health & Fitness, headquartered in Logan, Utah, is a company that designs, manufactures, and sells treadmills, stationary bikes, and ellipticals as well as owning the iFit brand which I mentioned earlier. 

During our conversation, I asked Colleen how she feels about booming the online fitness industry. I figured it would be a dicey and perhaps even cutthroat situation but Colleen assured me that it is not.  “That's the beautiful thing right now is that the fitness market is absolutely exploding. It's always been a growth industry but today it's an exploding growth industry. We love the competition because more competitors talking about fitness and the need for fitness and the convenience of home fitness is [good for everyone] -- a rising tide lifts all boats.”

Interactive vs. Passive Workouts

One of the reasons I chose iFit for my home was due to the fact that it is interactive, not just passive. By that, I mean that it’s not like someone just took one of my old VHS workouts and streamed it over the internet. It actually reacts and changes with and for you. 

iFit is not like someone just took one of my old VHS workouts and streamed it over the internet. It actually reacts and changes with and for you....

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How to Support Pride Month

June is known as Pride Month here in the United States. Commemorating the 1969 Stonewall Riots, Pride Month has become a recognition and celebration of the LGBTQ community. In recent years, many companies have taken to publicly celebrating Pride Month in order to honor and support LGBTQ employees and consumers through rainbow-hued marketing and storytelling. It’s encouraging to see well-intentioned companies signaling their support. But I’ve wondered – how well are these efforts resonating with the LGBTQ population? And are there ways in which companies might bump up the impact of their efforts to something more than symbols of support?

I spoke with Michelle Margulis - Editorial Manager of Podcasts at Macmillan (the parent company of the Modern Mentor podcast). She’s a member of the Macmillan Pride Affinity Group for LGBTQ employees, and in this interview she shares her experiences as a gay woman in the workplace, while offering both companies and individuals some practical advice on how to maximize the impact of their efforts during Pride (and every!) month.

Listen to our full interview here [LINK]

Here are some of the highlights:

Employee benefits

Organizations should take a hard look at employee benefits and ask themselves some critical questions:

• Do you offer equitable parental leave regardless of gender?
• Do you offer trans-related healthcare?
• Do you provide mental health support?

Cultural norms

Beyond benefits, leaders should also consider everyday norms of their company’s culture:

• Are diverse opinions and experiences welcome?
• Are people free to dress in authentic and self-expressive ways?
• Do you harness the strategic wisdom of your LGBTQ employees, inviting them to inform your outreach, your marketing, your product development?

Symbols are good, actions are better

When in doubt, begin with humility. There is no one right way to support the LGBTQ – or any – community.  The only way to know what they need is to ask them.

Margulis sees Pride Month as a wonderful opportunity for “leadership to get really humble and open themselves up to suggestions and to let LGBTQ staff speak to their concerns and needs and hopes for the future without worrying about repercussions.”

“I think it’s all about authenticity, she shared, “and the best way to drill into authenticity is to actually be hearing the voices of the affected community.”

June tends to see a lot of marketing and storytelling overlaid by rainbows. And symbolically, this is a start. But...

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7 Tips for a Successful Transition After High School

Graduating high school is an incredible milestone for kids and their parents. The 18 years of preparation are coming to fruition and they're ready to take on the next phase of adult life. (Or so we hope!) Mighty Mommy has been here six times and as her seventh child graduates high school this week, here are eight tips to guide your almost-adult across the finish line:

Tip #1: Time management is a lifelong win

I was born a natural master of scheduling and organizing. Whether it was arranging my stuffed animals neatly, keeping on task with my studies, or managing my hectic lifestyle with eight kids, I thrive on keeping a running "to-do list."

Learning to manage your time is one of the most critical skills for leading a productive life. But it's also one of the most difficult to learn. I assumed that my kids would follow suit with my organizational skillset, but I quickly learned that most of them had no concept of managing their time. 

We practiced this skill a lot in our household. We made lists, figured out how much time every task needed, and worked backwards to understand when something needed to start in order to finish on time. It takes practice, but once they hone in on the concept of being in control of their time, they will master the rest of their goals much more quickly.  

Check out the episode Time Management Tips for College Students to prepare your high school grad for adult life.

Tip #2: Understanding personal finances is critical

When I was in high school (many moons ago), the emphasis was on algebra, calculus, and geometry. I don't recall one class that focused on personal finance. That has changed a bit now, but if there is one critical skill I'd wish for every high school graduate to take seriously, it's getting a handle on personal finance. 

Learning to manage your money means understanding how to keep track of your income and expenses. This includes managing a debit and credit card, setting a budget, saving money, and investing.

Quick and Dirty Tips' financial expert, Laura Adams, has lots of practical advice for all stages of life. Her popular...

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