The Twitter chat with Funky Monkey snacks will take place tomorrow from 4-5 pm EST.

Come chat about Healthy Summer and of [Read more…]

There’s nothing worse than throwing away expired food when you’re living on a tight budget. If you can
plan your meals and shopping lists around the timeline in which you’re going to use the food, you can save
money on your groceries. Below are some tips on staying stocked up on foods with a longer shelf life to
help you save on food costs for your family.

Fresh fruits, vegetables, and meats have the shortest shelf life but also are where the best nutrients are
found. When planning out your grocery lists, it’s best to have a constant supply of foods with longer
shelf lives and rotate in the fresh items. You can also consider freezing these fresh foods though the
freezing process can take away from the nutrients but will make it much easier to prepare and fresher and
healthier dinner every night having to go to the grocery store too often.

Freeze-dried and dehydrated foods have the longest shelf life but since you aren’t planning for the
apocalypse just yet and your family most likely won’t want to eat freeze-dried meals, you won’t want to
spend your money on these. Foods that are generally usable indefinitely are sugar, flour, and honey. These
items will never go bad if kept in appropriate conditions, away from heat, moisture, and bugs.

The shelf life of a food depends on moisture, oxygen, temperature, and light. When kept in the right
conditions in regards to these four things, food will stay good for much longer. Canned goods can often
stay edible for many, many years; you just need to look at their “best if used by” dates that are legally
required [Read more…]

Houseware Deals has a Mikasa

During their early days, both the PS3 and the Xbox 360 had known hardware problems of total system
failure. For the Xbox 360, the system failure is called the Red Lights of Death or the RLOD while for
the PS3, the problem is called the Yellow Lights of Death or the YLOD. The errors on the respective
consoles are represented by different colors. However, they both mean the same thing; the end for your
console’s functional days (hence the scary name).

Nevertheless, if your console is newly bought you need not worry too much about the thought of
total system failure. These cases were known to have significantly dropped with the release of the
PS3 Slim and the Xbox 360 Jasper model. Nevertheless, the RLOD and YLOD have not been completely
eliminated. You would not want to be one of the few unlucky ones to experience this. So here are some
tips:

Keep It Cool
One of the primary reasons for the consoles’ system failure is due to overheating. The case is more
severe for the first release of the Xbox 360 wherein the motherboard is known to get deformed due to
the excessive heat. So my main advice is to keep it cool. This can be mainly done by using the system
moderately, providing a 30 minute rest for every 2 hours of use. Placing it in an environment with good
air circulation will help as opposed to placing it in an enclosed shelf. Do not position your console on top
of a glass or metal surfaces as the surface, itself, can become very hot. Try to place it on top of a wooden
surface. If you are unsure about [Read more…]

What could possibly be better then hanging out with me on twitter? Not much, I admit (LOL) but when you add the Family Travel Blogger Association and The Benjamin Hotel in New York City? It’s a party you don’t want to miss. There will be lots of fun, prizes, and info on the fabulous Benjamin! (Review HERE)

Twitter Party Tues [Read more…]