Make Your Own Spice Blends

More and more ready-made blends are available on the shelf: Thai, Jerk, Cajun. Most of their ingredients are probably in your pantry already, why not just buy what you need?

For lots of blend recipes, see JoycesFineCooking.Com, OnlineCookbook.com, ButterBuds.com, DrMirkun.com.

And Paula Deen's house blend? 1 cup kosher salt, 1/2 cup black pepper, 1/4 cup garlic powder.

4th Richest Man Lives Frugally

Forbes magazine keeps track of the rich, and lists the top four as: (1) Microsoft's Bill Gates; (2) money-man Warren Buffett; (3) industrialist Carlos Slim; and (4) IKEA founder Ingvar Kamprad. Kamprad's worth is about $28 billion, according to Forbes.

What Forbes doesn'f focus upon is that Ingvar Kamprad, 79, believes in frugal living. He drives a 15-year-old Volvo: "she is nearly new, just 15 years old, or something like that." He always flies economy class. His home is furnished with his own IKEA furniture. He takes public transportation to work. He asks that all employees write on both sides of the paper.

He also avoids wearing suits, and he likes to eat at inexpensive restaurants. Rumors exist that he replaces expensive Coca-Colas in the hotel mini-bar with cheapers ones from the convenience store before he checks out, to avoid the inflated mini-bar prices.

"People say I am cheap and I don't mind if they do," Kamprad told interviewer Darius Rochebin of the Swiss Broadcasting Corporation in a rare interview recently. His goal is to lead and inspire his employees, and to keep as much money circulating in IKEA as possible, so that its low-cost product can reach the most people world-wide. His goal is always to keep IKEA prices low.

Does he offer any advice? Kamprad recommends “Divide your life into 10-minute units, and sacrifice as few of them as possible in meaningless activity.”

Sources:TheTimesOnline.com, NZZ.com, Forbes.com.

Photo: Kamprad giving a lecture at Vaxjo University in Sweden, courtesy Wikipedia Commons.

Sneezing? Allergies? Consider Dust Mites.

80% of those folk seeing a doctor about their allergies or asthma issues tested positive to dust mites. Yes, that is eighty percent, so odds are high that this info impacts you and your family.

Stephen King probably finds this entertaining, but most don't like the idea of these microscopic bugs and their (ahem) fecal material prospering in warm, humid environments. Like carpets, beds, and upholstery.

They are called "dust mites" because their food is the skin cells that both people and pets shed. Ewww.

How to fight back?

1. Vacuum often with a machine that has a HEPA filter. (HEPA = High Efficiency Particulate Arresting.) Don't forget to vacuum the upholstery, and the professors at the University of Nebraska suggest you also vacuum the mattresses.

2. Wash all the bedclothes every week in hot water, and dry on high heat, too. The hot temperature will kill them.

3. Use those anti-allergen coverings for the bed: box springs, mattresses, even the pillows.

4. Dust throughly weekly. Try those new "vaccuumy" wands, that hold the dust as opposed to moving it around.

5. Use one of the new Allergen Reducer sprays on the bed, pillows, spreads, etc. These work very well, I've found.

6. Use a dehumidifier that lowers humidity to under 50 percent, because these pesty dust mites love humidity levels above 50 percent.

7. Make sure the kids' stuffed animals can handle washing in hot water and drying in high heat. Then, wash them along with the sheets.

Sources: Care2.com, FamilyDoctor.org, UniversityofNebraskaatLincoln.com