Main > Living > Money > Saving money
Probably the biggest and most frequent "unexpected" expense is the mood-bettering treat. Often people choose expensive pick-me-ups when something simple will do, like:
sparkling mineral water: dehydration leads to fatigue, many people like fizzy drinks
waldorf salad: fresh fruit and vegies can pick up the mood
head massage: get blood circulating around the brain
walk around the block: circulation, can help to focus thought
catch the bus: take a short trip somewhere you haven't been before
relax / observe nature: deliberately stop a cycle of habitual, pointless thoughts by letting the mind wander more freely and naturally
kellyjones00 (593)
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Main > Living
You'll always pass failure on the way to success - Mickey Rooney
myxlfidian (150)
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Main > Living > Money > Social security > Australia
The nine most terrifying words in the English language are "I'm from the government and I'm here to help" - Ronald Reagan
myxlfidian (150)
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Main > Living > Living on a budget > Running a vehicle
How to reduce running costs of a vehicle: maintain good condition of the car and its parts, and so avoid or reduce necessity of repairs.
The main running costs are:
petrol, oil, antifreeze, tyres, filter, light-bulbs, other mechanical items
repairs and maintenance: labour costs of a mechanic (or DIY), windscreen repairs, wheel-truing, etc.
registration, compulsary third-party insurance, comprehensive insurance (fire and theft), mechanical inspections, automobile associations for emergency assistance.
Your national vehicle association should have a breakdown on the weekly running costs of different vehicles. Vehicle size matters.
kellyjones00 (593)
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Main > Living > Living on a budget > Running a vehicle
Vehicles are expensive to buy and to operate. If you must have an automobile, get the smallest and lightest model possible for which spare parts are common and cheap, and do most of the repairs.
kellyjones00 (593)
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Main > Living > Living on a budget > Running a vehicle
Reducing the cost of part-wear:
- Tyres: don't drive recklessly, skid around corners, or drive long distances in hot temperatures. Drive more carefully where the road has pot-holes or corrugation.
- Glass: drive slower on gravel or loose surfaces, especially with an oncoming car.
- Chassis: be aware of your car's ground-clearance, and don't go bush-bashing. Avoid excessive physical stress by using momentum, not driving strictly within the road-markings but taking a smoother line through space.
- Car body: get a light-coloured car, and avoid driving in cities or parking where everyone else parks.
- Gearbox: memorise the RPM for each gear, so you never grind gears.
- Engine: always ensure there is plenty of good quality water, coolant, and oil in the reservoirs.
- Battery: keep well-charged (run the engine in neutral at a higher RPM for 5-10 minutes before turning off the engine), don't overcharge or overheat above 70 degrees Celsius, and keep terminals free of corrosion.
kellyjones00 (593)
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Main > Living > Living on a budget > Running a vehicle
Thrifty car maintenance tips:
don't use the car for short trips or oil changes will need to be more frequent;
oil change: catch oil in a cutaway plastic drum, then reuse: carefully filter and recycle back into the motor. Or, reuse as a chainsaw bar lubricant, or as paint to preserve wooden palings and gates. Don't let car oil seep into waterways or gutters.
windshield wiper fluid: reduce wear and squeak of wipers by not using a solvent (alcohol-based) but a non-foaming type soap.
leaks: get underneath the car to examine the trunk and floorboards for holes, as fumes can be deadly (very costly).
tyres: rotate all the tyres including the spare, so as to get a bit of extra life out of them.
kellyjones00 (593)
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Main > Living > Money > Credit & store cards > Interest rates
Interest free days on your credit card: If you have, say up to 55 interest free days on your credit card purchases, it doesn't mean you have 55 interest free days from the day you make your purchase. It means that interest begins to accrue 55 days from the start of the statement period in which you made the purchase. For example, if you make the purchase 30 days from the start of the statement period, then you will only have 25 interest free days.
thesource (378)
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Main > Living > Food & drink > Food and cooking > Cooking with the Sun
Keep the reflector clean, free of dust and spilled food. Clean with a smooth cloth and window-cleaning detergent.
kellyjones00 (593)
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Main > Living > Food & drink > Food and cooking > Cooking with the Sun
Store parabolic cookers carefully, so they do not accidentally burn anything. For instance, turn them against a wall, and cover with a cloth.
kellyjones00 (593)
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Main > Living > Living on a budget > Running a vehicle
Genuine vs aftermarket: This is one of the biggest things you will do when buying parts for a car, if you know what you're doing: trying to decide if paying more for a genuine or name-brand component is better than a cheaper version or even second hand part.
It's a difficult area to negotiate, because you will always save something over the long term with a genuine part than a non-genuine or second hand, but the initial capital outlay is higher. You can only justify it if you keep the car long term (4-5 years) usually. If you try out two second hand parts within 6 months (because the first failed) you can be pretty sure that the failure rate makes buying a genuine part more sensible. The other rationale is that the more new genuine parts in your car, the less other cheaper parts will be placed under stress by inferior accompanying parts, and so the longer they will also last, saving you money. There is some validity to that, because a car with a certain threshold of new parts will last much longer than one that is below that threshold. The equation is linear to a point where you reach about 80% new quality parts. At that point, the car's performance and durability are enhanced exponentially (i.e. almost like a new car, which in fact it pretty much is). So my recommendation is to keep old, broken, under or non-performing, rusted, damaged and even cosmetically ugly parts down to a low minimum. An 80% new car can live with them but go under that and problems start occuring. With cars, a few problem parts can really balloon into a serious issue (i.e. a broken engine mount can ruin a gearbox, or a too-thin set of disc rotors can ruin brake pads and caliper parts).
myxlfidian (150)
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Main > Living > Food & drink
If there aren't any creamsicles available you can make your own by adding vanilla ice cream to your favourite juice and mixing them in the blender.
Greg Shantz (1)
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Main > Living > Survival > Food
If you hold your chickens when they are young they will be easier to catch when they escape, but when they grow up they will try to follow you more and will give you lots of chicken-friendly pecks that are not too comfortable to most humans.
To hold or not to hold - it's your choice. Wisdom involves being aware of the consequences.
Elizabeth Isabelle (2)
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Main > Living > Relationships
To be attractive to women: Focus on some particular activity and excel at it. This will automatically make you attractive to women without your having to do much else. However, you will need to make sure that whatever you excel at is valued by both women and society. If you excel at something that only you appreciate, or that very few people appreciate, this will not make you attractive to women. So you may need to decide between the values of others and your own values.
Kevin Solway (173)
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Main > Living > Survival > Resource wars
General tips for coping with resource wars:
Move to a remote area with access to plenty of clean water. Try to find a climate less prone to the chaotic weather fluctuations, and grow all your food.
Simplify life so as to prevent busyness or tiredness.
Put your harvest surplus and wastes back into the soil.
Help out with communal gardening schemes to turn the vegetation around human habitats into edible produce.
Help intelligent, healthy, selfless folk to move to your area, especially thinkers with masculine psychology and skills. Resist schemes by city-dwelling food-sourcers who will try to put you into debt to maintain their supplies.
Help to cultivate a culture of reason, non-attachment, and freedom from superstition and fatalism.
Hold atheist meetings, and speak out against churches and religious gullibility.
Help people to think to solve problems, not fall prey to depression or other emotion wallows.
Minimise reliance on machinery that is not made with or that can't use plant-based oils for lubrication.
Learn to repair your own machinery and tools.
Minimise non-renewable energy use, ie. try not to create what you cannot use. E.g. walk or use animal-based transport; build passive-heated shelters (heated by the sun); cooking by black-outside, reflective-inside solar boxes; use wind- or turbine-powered electricity. Create community power schemes.
Minimise processing and reliance on energy-intensive foods or artifacts.
Entertainment: musical instruments, sports, writing, reading, reciting scriptures, theatre and stand-up comedy, and animal-training competitions.
Look after books and terrestrial libraries, and improve health education, since the internet may be far less accessible in future.
kellyjones00 (593)
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Main > Living > Money > Credit & store cards
Getting a home loan: Something you might not realise is that credit cards are treated as liabilities, even if they have a zero balance. The reason being, at any given time you could max out the card. So if you have a $10,000 credit limit, your lender is likely to treat that as a $10,000 debt when assessing your application.
If you don’t use your credit card much, or pay off the balance in full each month, it would be worth getting as low a limit as possible on it if you’re looking to get a home loan approved.
myxlfidian (150)
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Main > Living > Living on a budget > Shopping
Best time to shop: Like many things, this is a delicate balancing act if you want to get it right. If you go shopping on the way to lunch, and you are fairly hungry but not too much, you will want to get in and out as soon as possible. You won't notice product superfluous to your mental list and you will be glad to leave. But if you go shopping when you are seriously hungry, your mental judgement will be impaired and you will buy more food in an overcompensation binge.
If possible, shop in an outlying and cheaper/lower socio-economic status suburb (waterside are best) just before you go to a seafood cafe for lunch, as long as its a lunch you really need hunger-wise. You'll get your mind off buying what you don't need and feel like you did more than just shop. You will also offset fuel costs with cheaper products, as the more run-down suburbs have cheaper grocery shopping.
myxlfidian (150)
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Main > Living > Living on a budget > Running a vehicle
Tyres: You will get over 15% more kilometres per tank of fuel with new tyres (all four) than older, more worn tyres. If you have good suspension parts and 6-month wheel alignments and tyre balancing/rotation, you may get 18 months of high performance life (i.e. high fuel economy) out of your tyres. If you save $12 a tank on fuel, you will only need to fill up some 35 times to pay for your new tyres.
Keep tyres inflated to 36psi by checking them every week. Buy a new tyre pressure gage and use that only when pumping up tyres at a gas station, as their gages are very overused and inaccurate.
Note: This is based on a medium-size 1988 Magna sedan that had four tyres worn down to illegal tread replaced with four new Goodyear tyres. The car drove 370km per tank when it previously managed only 320km, a 15% increase. The Goodyear tyres were Japanese made.
myxlfidian (150)
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Main > Living > Annoyances > Liars, conmen
It is certain of the "pathological liar" that he nearly "has no memory" at all. (Weininger)
kellyjones00 (593)
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Main > Living > Annoyances > Jehovah's witnesses
You cannot reason with a Jehovah's witness. They are very simple-minded people with simple values: be calm, believe in God, be happy, everyone can believe what they like, thinking gets you nowhere, truth is what you make it.
kellyjones00 (593)
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Main > Living > Annoyances > Liars, conmen
There is nothing more shocking for a man than when he, catching a woman in a lie, asks her: "Why do you lie?" and then must observe how she does not even understand this question and, without
comprehending, gapes at him, or smilingly seeks to calm him - or even breaks out in tears. (Weininger)
kellyjones00 (593)
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Main > Living > Relationships
Someone crying: There is usually not much to do. Quietly wait for them to master themselves. You can offer some tissues. It's often possible to distract them with something interesting, at which point they can see the situation in a different light.
kellyjones00 (593)
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Main > Living > Relationships
Someone ranting: They just need to get it off their chest. If you interrupt, they will go on longer. Be patient, and they will eventually mention their real interests.
kellyjones00 (593)
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Main > Living > Food & drink > Food and cooking > Rice Cookers
General tips:
Rice cookers will cook nice rice every time - nice and fluffy, instead of gluggy.
The rice absorbs all the nutrients from the water, so you don't waste anything.
Use a steamer tray above the rice to cook vegetables, eggs in their shells, fish, or bits of chicken. This method also saves energy, by making use of the heat of the steam before it escapes. Steaming food keeps it moist.
Make sure you clean the rice cooker thoroughly after each use, with a soft, damp cloth. Use hot water, washing up liquid and sponge to clean the bowl and the lid. Scouring powders and metal sponges are not recommended. If food sticks to the bottom of the bowl, soak it for a while before washing it. Dry the bowl carefully and do not immerse the appliance in water. Only pour water into the bowl.
You can slow-cook stews in a rice cooker by leaving it on "warm" for several hours.
Different types of rice require different amounts of water, so you may need to experiment a bit. Long-grain rice such as Basmati tend to require less water.
After cooking, stir the rice, then leave the cooked rice in the cooker for a few minutes, with the lid sealed, to allow moisture to become evenly distributed through the rice.
Kevin Solway (173)
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Main > Living > Environment
Cooling your home. General tips:
- Open the windows in opposite walls to create a breeze-way. One opening should be much larger than the other to create suction.
- Reduce heat from the sun by having eaves or awnings over windows.
- Hang light-coloured curtains over windows.
- Use evaporative cooling in dry climates by spraying sheer curtains with recycled water. Trees do a much better job of evaporative cooling, so plant trees around your house.
kellyjones00 (593)
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Main > Living > Negotiations
How to end an emotional relationship:
General:
"it is more blessed to give than to receive, but it is also more blessed to do without than to have."
Make your mind up alone. It is your decision to be in a relationship, never someone else's. It is also your decision not to be in a relationship, never someone else's.
Set a time when you and your partner will be rested, healthy, calm, and in a reasonable mindset. All that is necessary is to state your decision, your reason, and then to listen to any issues that might need to be resolved, e.g. how to divide mutually purchased property, or how to arrange care for children.
Be calm and reasonable, and don't fall into an emotional argument. Love for another person is not "forever", contrary to the fairy tales. Using love as an argument is, realistically, a form of emotional manipulation.
Detach your emotions.
If you cannot avoid becoming emotional, set another time, and leave the scene. Don't try to argue from emotions, as your partner may see that you are weak and manipulate that.
If your ex becomes unreasonable, and/or manipulative, first give them one more chance, and arrange another time to talk. Let them know if they blow it again, you will have to use a lawyer to arrange an agreement for any financial or family arrangements instead. Again, keep any emotions or vindictiveness out of your mind.
Don't treat the other person as an enemy. Negotiation should end with mutual satisfaction.
Once you have made your position known, don't reneg. Don't go back for sex or cuddles. It is truly best to have as little as possible to do with your ex. If you start to feel lonely and compelled to SMS, email, phone, or write, then distract yourself until it fades. There is great freedom to enjoy in being a single person: make the most of it.
Learn from your mistakes. Don't get involved again in that kind of mess.
kellyjones00 (593)
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Main > Living > Food & drink > Food and cooking > Meat tenderisers
Soften meat by cooking it in vinegar. The flavour is slightly sour, like mild natural yoghurt, and can be heightened with mixed herbs or curry-type spices, or else softened with tomato paste. Some vinegar varieties include: balsamic, apple cidar, rice wine.
kellyjones00 (593)
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Main > Living > Survival > Health
Hypothermia = Heat retention + Heat production < Heat loss
Retaining heat: Increase body mass (Eskimo vs. Masai), use insulation layers, and increase body fat.
Producing heat: Shiver, be fit and exercise efficiently (low fluid loss). Also, consume food, rehydrate, and store glycogen.
Losing heat: Cold temperature, getting wet (rain, sweat, water), and wind (blowing, or moving, e.g. biking)
Symptoms: The "-umbles"
"Stumbling, fumbling, grumbling, mumbling."
Recovery Techniques
(starting with mild hypothermia and progressing to serious hypothermia):
Put on dry clothing, more clothing, find shelter, exercise, consume glucose.
Drink warm sugary liquid (not coffee or alcohol), and get into a dry sleeping bag with a non-hypothermic person.
Wrap in multiple layers, be very dry, insulate the body from all sources of cold, urinate to remove cold water from body, and apply warm towels, packs or hot water bottles to the neck, underarms and groin.
External rewarming techniques dilate blood vessels in peripheral parts of the body, which sends the cooler, acetic blood to the heart and major organs, which lowers body core temperature. So only internal rewarming is used for serious hypothermics, and includes inhaling hot air, and flushing the bladder, stomach, thorax with a warm saline solution.
A profoundly hypothermic person is clinically dead, but still warm. Their muscles will still contract when a limb is bent, the skin is blue, a very slow pulse (2-3 beat/minute), and the pupils are dilated and fixed.
kellyjones00 (593)
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Main > Living > Living on a budget > DIY
Vacuum-sealing: To store small items in a low-oxygen environment, use normal ziploc sandwich bags. Seal but for a small gap into which you insert a straw, and suck out the air. Works reasonably well for freezing food portions, like meat or tofu.
kellyjones00 (593)
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Main > Living > Clothing > Shoes
Shortening long laces (shoelaces): Purchase some "heat shrink tubing" of appropriate size, either from your local home store, or online, to use as aglets (the ends of the laces that prevent fraying). Then you can slip small pieces of the tubing onto the laces, to the correct length, then cut off the ends of the laces and apply heat to the pieces of tubing to make them shrink.
Kevin Solway (173)
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Main > Living > Funerals
What to say at funerals:
- Express your sympathy to the family by saying how sorry you are for their loss.
- It is always nice to share a fond memory with the family at a funeral. Nothing too humorous and certainly not vulgar. "My favorite memory of your loved one is …".
thesource (378)
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Main > Living > Food & drink > Food and cooking > Preserves, pickles, fermenting, etc.
Tempeh: A tasty, healthy way to process soy beans. To make four flat "steaks" (20 serves):
- Cooked, dehulled, split soybeans need to be well-dried before inoculating with rhizopus oligosporus. E.g. 3-5g culture to 600g beans.
- Incubate for 24-36 hours at just under body temperature (about 30°C). A dense, white mycelium will pack the gaps between beans.
kellyjones00 (593)
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Main > Living > Relaxation
Making a hammock: Do not use straight sticks on either end of the fabric, nor a tight-weave or net-like open-mesh fabric. They will make the hammock uncomfortable, (1) by preventing the spine from curving naturally in "hammock sleeping position" and (2) by being inelastic or digging into flesh.
kellyjones00 (593)
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Main > Living > Relaxation
Sleeping comfortably in a hammock: Lie diagonally with the head slightly below the level of the feet, then bend the knees. A pillow is not needed.
kellyjones00 (593)
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Main > Living > Relaxation
Sleeping in a hammock in winter: sew a blanket flat to the fabric to keep the back of the body warm, then tuck the bedclothes around the body like a cocoon.
kellyjones00 (593)
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Main > Living > Food & drink > Food and cooking > Pressure Cookers
Don't fill more than half of the pot, to avoid food-stuffs from rising and blocking steam vents. Adding oil to legumes and rice can help, as does only using a minimum of herbs and spices. Always pre-soak and wash beans and rices well before cooking. Red lentils are particularly prone to boiling over.
kellyjones00 (593)
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Main > Living > Relaxation > Psychological cross-breeding
Principle of opposites: Samuel Butler recommended for anxiety and ennervation to visit a zoo and watch elephants, rhinoceros, and hippopotami. Similarly, for hard-to-shift depression, watching the easy come-and-go of beachside wavelets, or the wind in the trees, or the play of flames in an open fire, can be both stimulating and calming.
kellyjones00 (593)
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Main > Living > Socialising
Small talk: These superficial verbal handshakes are designed to keep human beings in frequent and close contact from getting to know each other's moral and mental flaws.
kellyjones00 (593)
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Main > Living > Food & drink > Food and cooking > Eggs
Omelette tips:
- Don't add cream or milk, or flour, or it will be leathery.
- An omelette of six eggs for two persons should not be cooked for more than 45 seconds.
- It should 'collapse' softly when fully cooked and not be solid enough to roll or fold. It should never be browned.
- Mix six eggs well, omitting two whites, but no beating. A little salt and pepper and finely chopped chives and parsley can be added. Heat a dry, clean shallow pan for a minute, and add 15g butter, increasing the heat. When the butter stops fizzing and bubbling, pour in eggs. Immediately where the omelette sets, tip the pan and lift the omelette with a spatula allowing unformed solids to run underneath. Tip back to the opposite side and repeat. The pan should see-saw back and forth a few times and then give a final shake. Turn the omelette into a hot serving plate before the whole surface is set.
kellyjones00 (593)
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Main > Living > Food & drink > Drink and drinking > Soft drinks
Save money on soft drinks by buying soda water and adding your own flavouring.
kellyjones00 (593)
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Main > Living > Food & drink > Drink and drinking
Make cheap "vitamin water" and fizzy vitamin drinks by steeping a tea bag in soda water, and stirring in a ground-up multivitamin tablet. You could also add spices like powdered ginger, cayenne pepper, cinnamon, nutmeg, mint, etc.
kellyjones00 (593)
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Main > Living > Food & drink > Food and cooking > Styles of cooking
Braising: This is an economical and efficient way to cook cheap, tough foods and make them very tasty and very soft. Meat is briefly seared on both sides in oil and herbs, for a chemical reaction between protein and sugars (the Maillard reaction) that produces extra flavours. Then water and an acidic liquid like wine, vinegar, beer or tomatoes is added to cover the solids as the basis of a stew. The mixture is then gently cooked for many hours, or pressure-cooked. One French method continues this for three days, adding liquid through the day and turning off the heat at night.
kellyjones00 (593)
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Main > Living > Food & drink > Drink and drinking
Create fizzy health salts, with the same ingredients as "Andrews health salts".
Ingredients commonly available.
20g Bicarbonate of soda
20g Citric acid powder
20g Epsom salts (magnesium sulphate)
40g Finely powdered sugar (Icing sugar)
Mix thoroughly, then add one heaped teaspoon to a glass of water for a refreshing drink.
thesource (378)
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Main > Living > Relationships > Making friends
Pay attention to your first impressions of a person. People try to hide their psychological flaws, with a skillful act to charm. While in vino veritas, a better way to find out the degree of their wisdom or lack thereof is to test for psychological instability by seeing how much they wish to change you. This can only work if you yourself are an individual with your own thoughts.
kellyjones00 (593)
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Main > Living > Living on a budget > Cheap meals
A high-nutrient and cheap meat is liver (lambs fry).
kellyjones00 (593)
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Main > Living > Relationships > Making friends
Don't interrupt people, unless it's an emergency or they're boring and you want to leave.
kellyjones00 (593)
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Main > Living > Survival > Food
Edible insects: ants, crickets, meal worms, bees, cicadas, dragon flies, earthworms, termites, midges, widjuti grubs and many kinds of larvae are edible. It is best to cook them first, to kill parasites that might eat you.
kellyjones00 (593)
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Main > Living > Living on a budget > Health
No refrigerator, but need to refrigerate medication? Check the advice slip in the packet. Some medications that normally need to be stored at 2 - 6°C can be held at somewhat higher temperatures for up to 21 days, but then must be totally discarded. With these types, leave the whole package in the chemist's refrigerator, except for a couple of weeks' worth.
kellyjones00 (593)
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Main > Living > Living on a budget > Holidays
What to bring to a backpacker hostel:
Sheets, towel and blankets to avoid paying hire fees.
Soap and thongs for the shower.
Knife, as the kitchen knives are often blunt or missing. Also, it's a good idea to wash the cutting board, crockery, cookware and cutlery before use, as backpackers are often sloppy washer-uppers.
Sleeping face-mask and ear plugs when sleeping in dorms.
Sanitary gel to wipe your hands. Many people do not wash their hands after using the toilets (just observe). Others may be carrying various transmissible diseases or infections.
A thermos, to drink boiled water from.
A head-torch, to avoid waking others when returning or leaving in the darkened dorm.
Living in greater numbers at close quarters can reveal more sharply the lack of consideration and hygiene typical of human beings.
kellyjones00 (593)
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Main > Living > Living on a budget > Running a vehicle > Fuel
Increase fuel efficiency in these ways:
- Not driving at >90kph (saves 10% on fuel).
- Inflating tyres to the correct pressure.
- Accelerating gently.
- Avoid idling.
- Choose a small, light, aerodynamic vehicle, and avoid bulky items like luggage pods, roof racks, bicycles and other protuberances.
- Avoid using the air conditioning system.
- Maintain the vehicle well.
- Avoid carrying excess fuel or weight in the vehicle.
- Walk or cycle instead.
- Try to avoid gravel roads or hilly routes.
- Avoid congested routes. But if a manual vehicle is stuck in slow-moving traffic, try to choose first gear and creep along at a steady pace without the accelerator.
- Maintain the fuel tank at least half full at all times, to keep the engine cool.
- Load heaviest items over the axles rather than overloading the nose or rear.
- If possible, drive with a tail wind.
- When raining, avoid driving in puddles collected within wheel grooves on the road.
- Wear clothes and shoes to suit the temperature, instead of turning on the heater / cooler.
kellyjones00 (593)
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