For those of us who enjoy driving our own car, coming and going as we please and not having to rely on anyone else for transportation, our vehicles offer us freedom and flexibility we wouldn’t have otherwise.

But driving can be expensive. By the time we pay for gas, auto insurance and maintenance—along with making a car payment and paying all our other bills—that cheap used car may suddenly not seem so cheap after all.

But if, like me, you’re determined to keep driving despite the cost, there are ways to spend less so you have more resources for other things.

For instance, one way to save is to consider sharing a ride. By being flexible enough to carpool with a co-worker or neighbor who works near you, the two of you can split the cost of gas—and you can use the extra time when you’re not the one driving to talk, read or finish getting ready for work. What a time-saver!

Another secret to cutting the cost of driving is to shop close to home and plan shopping trips to avoid wasting gas. By mapping out your destination ahead of time, you’ll know where you’re headed next—and avoid driving any further than necessary to get what you need.

For more secrets to cutting the cost of driving, check out our article on cheaper driving. You might be surprised how much money it can save you!

With housing prices at an all-time low these days in many areas, some families are bypassing renting completely in favor of owning instead—or moving up and purchasing homes of their own.

And why not? With low prices and tax credits combined, home ownership makes more sense than ever before—as long as you play it conservative and don’t get in over your head.

But before you pick out that perfect home in what you think is the perfect neighborhood, here’s some food for thought: The neighborhood you choose has a lot of influence on what you pay for homeowners insurance. In fact, factors like location, neighborhood makeup and amenities all play a part in home insurance rates in any particular area.

Neighborhoods used to be one of two types: urban or suburban. But as times have changed, neighborhoods have changed along with them, evolving to meet the growing needs of several different types of family structures: young couples with families, yuppies without children, middle-aged empty-nesters and the senior, retirement crowd.

Since each of these groups has needs and desires uniquely its own, new types of neighborhoods have sprung up all over the country to serve those purposes. For instance, those who tend to go everywhere on foot would rather live within walking distance of their hangouts and the places they frequent than hassle with driving or taking public transportation.

For someone like that, a pedestrian neighborhood fits the bill, offering everything they need only a short distance from home—whereas a family with a particular ethnic heritage might prefer to live in a neighborhood made up of others with a similar background.

An older, retired couple who are finished raising their children might be ready for the resort lifestyle…and who could blame them, after a lifetime of working and saving for their later years?

Each of these situations presents its own lifestyle and financial dilemmas, including the cost of home insurance. So before you go with that berg near downtown or that little country town you love so much, find out what you’re likely to pay for insurance once you get settled.

It’ll help you decide which place fits your tastes and lifestyle best—with a side of insurance thrown in.

Do your kids eat a healthy diet at home, or are burgers and fries more like standard fare? What kind of snacks do they pop in their mouths when they get home from school every day?

If they’re like most of their peers, high-calorie foods like hot dogs and chips are preferred over healthier ones, like leafy greens and fresh fruit. But what’s happening at school, when we’re not around? Are our schools working to cut the incidence of childhood obesity and change our kids’ eating habits or simply catering to their desire for unhealthy, obesity-causing foods because they’re cheaper and easier to serve? 

School meal programs provide 40 million meals daily and more than half of students’ food and nutrient intake during the school day, according to an Institute of Medicine report referenced in today’s Reuter’s News.

The obvious conclusion: Lunchroom meals, which represent a large part of our kids’ diets, are at least partially responsible for rising obesity rates among U.S. children—which have doubled in the last 20 years.

So why do the majority of schools choose to serve junk food over healthier, more nutritious fare in the first place? Because fattier, processed foods are much cheaper to buy, enabling them to hold the cost of lunches down so more kids and their families can afford to eat in.

Problem is, it’s compromising our kids’ health in the meantime, reinforcing bad eating habits and leading to heavier, unhealthier kids.

So what can be done about that? How can we prompt schools to take action with regard to our children’s health and well being, and change their approach to nutrition for kids?

Set realistic maximum caloric limits and serve more fruit and vegetables, says the Institute of Medicine. Asking for a revision of current guidelines that set only minimum caloric levels for school lunches, the Institute favors more servings of vegetables with a focus on leafy greens and orange vegetables rather than starchy vegetables like potatoes.

Though doing so could increase the cost of breakfast by as much as 25 percent and lunch by 9 percent, “This will be a very wise investment in children’s health,” said Virginia Stallings, chair of the group that conducted the study.

What do you think? Would you be willing to pay more to ensure your children eat healthy meals at school? Do you think the extra expense would cause financial hardship for the majority of American families, or would they (like you?) welcome the chance to help keep their kids healthy?

Read the entire article here: More Fruit, Fewer Calories Urged for School Lunches.

An abnormal warming of Pacific ocean waters in the equatorial area, El Nino is well known for causing strange weather phenomenons throughout the U.S., especially during the winter months.

As tornado season passes and we move into fall and winter, some weather forecasters are predicting that El Nino will strengthen and persist through the winter months,  leading to lower-than-average temperatures in some parts of the country and higher-than-average in others.

Though forecasters disagree on the impact it will have this winter in various U.S. regions, they’re agreed on this fact: Unusual weather patterns will prevail from December through February.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) predicts we’ll see warmer-than-average temperatures across much of the western and central United States and below-average temps in the Southeast and mid-Atlantic this winter.

AccuWeather.com, another leading weather source, disagrees, predicting El Nino will weaken, leading to the stormiest and coldest U.S. winter in years.

Whatever happens weather-wise, it’s time to prepare our homes and families for severe weather (just in case). So tend those pipes, blow out those sprinkler systems (if you haven’t already), seal leaks around doors and windows, and have a professional check your heating system to make sure it’s functioning properly.

As tornadoes and hail give way to snow and ice, it’s also important to check your home insurance coverage to make sure you have the coverage you need. Depending on where you live, this could turn out to be one crazy winter!

Here in Colorado, rock slides are nothing new. With the Rockies (the mountains and the baseball team) only minutes away, many of our state’s residents hit the road weekends and holidays to hike, ski, rock climb or take part in one of many other physical activities widely available.

But sometimes, mountain passes can be dangerous. (And I’m not just talking about ice and snow here.) It seems we’ve all heard stories or read accounts of rock slides occurring suddenly and causing accidents and injuries, as the rocks rolled down the mountain and into the path of oncoming cars.

Some of us even know people who have rounded corners and watched falling rocks smash into the roadway just ahead.

Hopefully, this hasn’t happened to you, whether you live in Colorado, Nevada, Washington or one of the other mountainous states where rock slides threaten. But the real question is, if it did, would your insurance cover it?

As with any other ‘act of God’ that’s not specifically listed as uninsureable in your car insurance policy, damage by falling rock falls under the comprehensive portion of your auto policy as an unexpected, uncontrollable, unpredictatable event.

But many people don’t realize comprehensive coverage is optional and neglect to buy it when they’re negotiating insurance rates.

Sure, rocks falling off mountains and onto your car may seem like a random event. But it happens all the time, so it’s really not advisable to bypass comprehensive insurance if you live in a rocky or mountainous area.

If you’re not sure whether you have comprehensive coverage as part of your auto policy, pull it out and read the details. If you don’t see it listed there, we recommend giving your insurance agent a call and asking him or her to add it.

Cost is minimal—but the security and peace of mind it offers is unmistakable.

Yes, you read correctly. Along with the never-ending debate over the health risk of secondhand smoke vs. smokers’ right to smoke, recent research reveals that smoking can actually save lives—as long as the smoker inhales a different kind of cigarette.

Already tested in the Big Apple and proven to save lives there, New York has seen a marked decrease in smoking-related fire fatality since adopting sale of what’s known as fire-safe, or low-ignition, cigarettes statewide in 2004.

But how could switching to a different type of smoke save lives? Because this type:

1. Spares millions of dollars in property damage and saves thousands of lives annually
2. Keeps smokers from lighting up so often, and
3. Reduces home insurance claims

Here’s how they work. Containing two or three layers of porous paper called “speed bumps,” fire-safe cigarettes are designed to sense when a minute or more has passed since a smoker last inhaled—and self-extinguish automatically.

That means smokers must puff faster to stay lit-up—or they’ll end up smoking less. And that’s good news for everyone’s health and well being, smoker or not.

Now, legislation is being proposed that could pull traditional cigarettes off store shelves in many more states and replace them with the low-ignition variety.

For more information on the subject, check out our article titled, Save Lives, Smokers: Puff Faster! And watch for low-ignition cigarettes at a store near you.

If your kids enjoy playing sports, you probably watch and worry that they’ll break a bone or suffer some other horrible, debilitating injury.

But before you lie awake at night worrying, you might want to consider the risks of a costlier alternative: couch surfing.

As Jeb so aptly explains in his article on The Risks and Rewards of Physical Activity, playing sports doesn’t come without some injuries. But experts say leading a life of inactivity is much worse, doubling the chance of heart disease in adulthood.

And where did most of us learn those unhealthy patterns of behavior? From our parents.

Most of us are the way we are because of learned behavior patterns. And if we were active as kids, we tend to be more active as adults. If we sat around a lot when we were young and participated in mostly sedentary activities, it’s more likely we’ll do the same as adults.

That’s why it’s important to establish good habits with your kids while they’re young. Of course there’s a chance they’ll get hurt playing baseball, soccer, football or whatever their sport of choice happens to be. But sports injuries usually pass, whereas an unhealthy heart and body is much harder to reverse.

As Jeb points out, just make sure you take preventive measures to help ensure your kids don’t get hurt unnecessarily. Use your head, insist on them wearing safety equipment, and get up and move together! You’ll both be a lot healthier.