Mereja

Author: Sherry Brooks

  • Travel tips that save time and money

    luggage

    Checked bags often trigger a fee from the airline, especially if the bag is over 50 pounds. Checking bags may add a long wait on the check-in line and then again upon landing.

    Often, after you collect your bags, the thought of taking an inexpensive bus to your destination can be overwhelming. It’s a scenario that may well entice you to pop for a cab or town car, where lines may be long and rates a bit high.

    Less baggage means more freedom: Freedom to move quickly and effortlessly, and freedom from long lines and too many clothing decisions.  Economy of scale can also free you from the extra time and expense of packing and unpacking unworn clothing as well as wasted resources to get needlessly crushed surplus clothing dry-cleaned.

    Tips to pack your bags light and smart:

    • Lay out pants, jeans, skirts, tops, swimsuits, shorts, and a really warm sweater stacked by category in their full open position on your bed. Fold in any sleeves and then roll each stack into a tight bundle.  This will prevent wrinkles and save space in the suitcase.
    • Select a couple pairs of shoes and place any underwear or small items inside each shoe and wedge them between the rolls of clothing.
    • Pack toiletries in small containers in clear, quart-sized bags inside your tote.  Your laptop, chargers, and other electronics should also be packed in this way to comply with TSA security inspection.
    • If your destination is somewhere cold, wear your coat and boots onto the plane to save room in the suitcase.   Gloves, a warm hat, scarf, and an umbrella are best placed in the suitcase outer pockets for easy access upon landing.
    • More than one destination? If you are touring many cities, pack all your hanging clothes on lightweight plastic hangars. Grab the hangers at the top and accordion-fold this set of clothing into the suitcase right before you zip it closed.  At each destination, you will save precious time because you can hang your clothing in one motion, rather that placing them on and off each hotel hangar, which can be tedious.
    • In your tote, pack an empty water bottle and fill it at a water fountain near the departure gate after you have cleared security.  You can feel good about not paying top dollar for bottled water. You will also reduce plastic refuse from bottles and from those ubiquitous plastic cups onboard the flight.
    • Pack fresh fruit, an avocado, crackers, trail mix, or any of your favorite non-liquid snacks in your tote.  Bringing your own set of headphones for the in-flight movie is another resource-saver (and can be more comfortable than the headphones airlines provide!).
    • You might want to invest in one of the new TSA-accessible locks. You can lock the suitcase to deter theft when your bag must be checked on a full flight or when leaving your things unattended in your hotel room.

    Relax and enjoy the flight. Once you try this drama-free system of packing, which works equally well for car travel, you will be hooked, especially now that airlines are charging baggage fees.

    Sherry Brooks is a healthy, happy, and trim “frugalista” living the lean and green life near Malibu in sunny southern California.

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  • Is white vinegar green?

    clean-laundry.jpg

    A bottle of white vinegar is probably sitting somewhere in the back of one of your cabinets. Perhaps forgotten, there has never been a better time to put this inexpensive and non-toxic cleaning product to work.

    After your half-marathon training runs or Zumba workouts, are you faced with sweaty, smelly exercise clothing that never seems fresh again, even after several washings?  How about the stubborn odor of your teenage son’s t-shirts or socks?

    It pays to keep a big bottle of white vinegar in the laundry room.

    Vinegar is terrific for restoring the fresh scent to your clean clothes and linens. Simply add ¼ cup of white vinegar with the detergent in the washing machine and offensive odors will be banished.

    For cleaning your house, car or boat interior: Fill a spray bottle ¾ with water, add a drop of liquid dishwashing detergent and top it off with white vinegar.  You may also want to add a few drops essential oil for fragrance, peppermint or grapefruit work well here.

    This all-purpose cleaner is great for glass and virtually any surface, even hardwood floors.

    If a dirty surface needs a little grit to remove the dirt, sprinkle some baking soda on the area before you spray the vinegar solution and rub to release the dirt.

    If you have a sluggish drain, pour about a cup of baking soda into the drain, follow this with a “chaser” of about ½ cup of white vinegar.  Cover the drain with a plug or damp dishcloth to form a seal so the “volcano” can do its work inside the pipes.  After about 20 minutes, remove the plug and pour a kettle of boiling water down the drain.

    Sherry Brooks is healthy, happy and trim “Frugalista” living the lean and green life in and around Malibu in sunny southern California.

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  • Make your greens last longer

    lettuce

    To be lean, eat lots of greens and follow these tips for keeping them fresh and spending less of your “green” on them.

    At the market:

    • For loose greens: Put your hand down into the plastic bag and
      then grab the greens with it.  Pull the bag from the top down over the
      greens and release your hand. It’s a quicker, drier way to get wet
      or over-sized bunches of greens into the bag.
    • For prepackaged greens or salad:  Choose greens packaged in a
      plastic clamshell container as they last much longer if purchased in
      these than in the bags.

    When you get home:

    • Take a second to remove the twist-tie from your bunches of greens when you bring them home to prevent damage and aging caused by the metal wire.
    • It’s worthwhile to rinse the greens, shake them to remove some of the moisture, and then roll them in a clean cotton dishtowel or a clean cotton pillowcase.  The fabric will become damp, which is good.  Put this rolled setup into the vegetable crisper for quick and easy, access to prepped greens.  This will extend the freshness for many days.
    • If you purchase a single or multi-pack of romaine lettuce, break off the core at the bottom of each head, wash the leaves, and put them into a white cotton pillowcase and into the crisper.   Again, damp is good.  This works for any lettuce, but you will be amazed by how the flavor of romaine improves when stored this way.
    • To extend the life of salad greens in plastic clamshell containers, add a dry paper towel to the greens to absorb the moisture, which collects over time inside the container. I usually put the towel at the top because that’s where the
      condensation tends to form, but sometimes the greens begin to go
      soggy toward the bottom, and I’ll add a fresh one there.
    • Recycle large plastic clamshell containers within your kitchen. They are perfect for storing prepackaged salad greens. The greens will last days longer in hard containers like this or in any glass or hard plastic container than they will in plastic bags.

    For meals:

    • Prepare crisp salads with simple dressings such as, lemon juice
      and olive oil, or use large leaves of chard to wrap up healthful
      fillings instead of tortillas.

    Adios soggy, spoiled greens!

    Sherry Brooks is a healthy, happy and trim “frugalista” living the lean and green life near Malibu in sunny southern California.

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  • Running shoes … the naked truth

    bare feet

    On any given day in Manhattan, you will find people walking.  Walking for blocks, walking for miles, uptown, across town, twenty-two blocks to meet for lunch and three miles round-trip to catch the latest Tim Burton film.

    Wearing button-down shirts, cashmere sweaters, suits, skirts, and chic coats — what are they walking in? Regular footwear, often without socks. Not sneakers, not walking shoes. Not a good idea?

    As it turns out, we may not doing ourselves any favors by wearing athletic footwear, and a growing body of research suggests that going barefoot may actually be better. For most of history, humans have run in either lightweight shoes or bare feet.

    According to Daniel Lieberman, a professor of human evolutionary biology at Harvard University, “People have been running barefoot for millions of years, and it has only been since 1972 that people have been wearing shoes with thick, synthetic heels.”

    Research published in Nature, the international weekly journal of science, compared the impact generated by runners with running shoes versus barefoot. Daniel Lieberman and colleagues studied the biomechanics of shod versus barefoot runners and found that the way barefoot runners typically land is more comfortable and may help avoid repetitive impact stress injuries.¹

    Many studies suggest that modern running shoes may in fact increase the risk of injury and that runners wearing cheap running shoes have fewer injuries than those with more expensive trainers.

    According to a study published in the British Journal of Sports Medicine, athletic footwear has been associated with frequent injury thought to result from repetitive impact. The researchers found that the more expensive athletic shoes claim cushioning impact, yet account for 123% greater injury frequency than the cheapest ones.²

    As more research suggests that naked feet are preferable to high-tech trainers, minimalist footwear like Nike Free and FiveFingers is gaining popularity. Nike Free footwear is designed to strengthen the muscles in the foot by providing less constriction. Vibram, a leading manufacturer of high-performance rubber soles, has developed a line of ‘barefoot performance footwear’ known simply as FiveFingers®.

    vibram-five-fingers.jpgVibram Five Fingers® looks more like a ‘foot glove’ than a running shoe and represents a radical departure from the look and function of traditional shoes.

    So the next time you get a moment to take an invigorating walk or jog, don’t reach for those running shoes. If you decide to take off those shoes and go “au natural” or try out the new biomechanical wonders, break into the shoe gradually to prevent muscle cramps or other discomforts.

    A brisk walk or light jog outdoors can be one of the best forms of exercise. It is health-supporting, cost-effective, and energy-saving because the sidewalk is your treadmill.

    Sherry Brooks is a healthy, happy, and trim “frugalista” living the lean and green life near Malibu in sunny southern California.

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    Sources

    1. Lieberman, Daniel E., Venkadesan, Madhusudhan, Werbel, William A., Daoud, Adam I., D’Andrea, Susan, Davis, Irene S., Ojiambo Mang’Eni, Robert, Pitsiladis, Yannis. Foot strike patterns and collision forces in habitually barefoot versus shod runners Nature 463, 531-535; 2010
    2. S Robbins, E Waked. Hazard of deceptive advertising of athletic footwear.
      Br J Sports Med 1997;31:299-303