Don't Waste Your Health Care Dollars

If you think you have the flu, don't waste your time or your money badgering your doctor for a prescription for antibiotics. Flu, including the current swine flu, is caused by a virus.

Antibiotics only work against bacteria. If you do develop a secondary bacterial infection as a result of your body being weakened by influenza or another viral infection, antibiotics will help those secondary infections. Until then, taking antibiotics will not help keep you well, and in fact may lead to worse sickness. First, the excessive or incorrect use of antibiotics can lead to the development of resistant strains of bacterial illnesses, so that the antibiotics won't work when you really do need them. Secondly, antibiotics purge all the bacteria in your body indiscriminately, including the helpful bacteria that are normally resident in your gut and help you gain nourishment from your food.

So save your money for medicines that will actually help you get and stay well.

Staying Healthy in Hard Times

You've probably been hearing about the swine flu outbreak that's spreading around the world from Mexico. Especially if you're without health insurance or afraid you soon may be losing your employer-provided health insurance, the thought of rapidly spreading deadly illness will be particularly terrifying. How will you pay for care if you get sick?

First and foremost, don't panic. Fear can lead us to do counterproductive things, even harmful ones. Remember that even if you have no money, there are still ways to obtain essential medical care. Most cities have free clinics that can provide some basic health care, and there is at least one hospital at which the emergency room will treat anyone with a life-threatening illness or injury, no matter their financial situation.

Second, remember that prevention is the best medicine. There are many ways to avoid becoming infected in the first place, including such basics as regular hand-washing and avoiding people who are ill. You may already have cut back on driving in order to reduce gas costs, but it will also help you avoid being exposed to people who are ill.

Eating healthful foods and keeping rested may seem easier said than done. After all, it seems like crap carbs and fats are always cheaper than good, solid fruits and vegetables, and if you're working three part-time jobs in an effort to keep ahead of your bills, sleep's one of the first things to get sacrificed. But this is a good time to jettison the junk foods you piece on without even thinking about and cut back to only those foods you actually eat as part of a meal, with a plate and silverware. And you may want to re-examine some of your non-work activities and see if some of them can go by the wayside without too much pain.

And you might just find that you feel better even without a looming pandemic to spur you on.

Penny Wise and Dollar Foolish

When times are tough, it's tempting to cut down on everything. However, cutting out some expenditures can actually cause bigger expenses in the long run.

For instance, don't skimp on the routine maintenance on your vehicles. It may make sense to take your car to the cheap oil-change place instead of the dealership, but don't stop getting the oil changed altogether, unless you want to risk ruining the engine altogether.

Protect Your Glassware -- and Your Hands

There are few things more frightening when washing dishes than discovering that a glass has broken in the sink -- the hard way. One of my brothers still has a scar on his hand where he cut it on a broken glass while doing dishes.

To protect your glassware from being broken in the sink, fold a soft towel into the sink before you drain water into it. The towel will cushion the glassware as it is moved around, and will help protect it should one piece slip from your hands and fall back in.

Too Convenient

One way to save is to avoid making purchases in the convenience stores attached to gas stations. The merchandise in them are often grossly overpriced compared to the same items sold at mass-merchandisers such as K-mart or Wal-Mart. For instance, the two-pound bag of sugar at the local convenience store may well cost as much as a five pound bag in the grocery store. They count on making their money on people who don't plan ahead and find themselves short of some necessity without the time to get to the grocery store.

If you find it excessively tempting to buy a bag of chips or a candy bar as you pass by the convenience store shelves to pay for your gas, use pay-at-the-pump whenever possible. Then all you will be buying is the gas you actually need.

List-ease

Making a list beforehand and sticking to it while in the store is an excellent way to control impulse spending on shopping trips. However, there's no need to buy expensive pads of list paper. You can make your own list paper simply and easily.

Simply take a sheet of scratch paper that has one side still blank. Fold it in half. Fold it in half again, then fold the resultant rectangle in half. Cut along the creases, and you will have eight small, narrow sheets of just the right size to make a shopping list.

Life after Death for Pantyhose

Don't throw away pantyhose that have seen better days. Unless they've completely disintegrated, you can cut away the panty section and braid the leg parts around a metal coathanger. This will provide protection from staining or rough spots for fragile garments such as silk blouses. Because nylon knits dry quickly, you'll be able to hang a damp garment on such a hanger without worrying that you'll cause the metal to rust.