• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to footer
  • Shop
Medicinal USA

Medicinal USA

CBD Oil Online

  • My Account
    • Orders
    • Account details
  • View Cart

Blog

The Endocannabinoid System and How It Influences Our Lives

August 23, 2019

Have you ever given a thought – What causes you to feel sleepy? Why do you experience mood fluctuations – happy at one time or totally depressed at another? What regulates your appetite? Why do you sometimes feel ‘high’ even when you aren’t on marijuana?   

It is because your body’s Endocannabinoid system functions that’s a way.

What is the Endocannabinoid System?

The Endocannabinoid system (ECS) is an integral physiologic system in the human body that modulates different bodily functions and is known to maintain optimum functioning of the endocrine, immune tissues, and the brain.

It is also likely to play an integral role in regulating the release of hormones pertaining to stress response and reproductive functions.

According to NCBI, the endocannabinoid system consists of endogenous cannabinoids (endocannabinoids), endocannabinoid receptors, and the enzymes that aid in optimal breakdown and synthesis of the endocannabinoids.

Endocannabinoids and the receptors are present throughout the human body: in the organs, brain, glands, immune cells, and connective tissues.

Performing integral functions, endocannabinoids bridge the mind and the body, connecting brain activities with different states of health and wellbeing.

How Does the Endocannabinoid System Work?      

The endocannabinoid system has three components: endocannabinoids, enzymes, and receptors. With these components, the system controls different bodily and mental functions.

  • Endocannabinoids

Also known as endogenous cannabinoids, these are key molecules that our body secretes naturally. They have earned its name from “cannabinoids” – a component of marijuana or hemp – because the effects are quite similar.

There are two types of endocannabinoids produced in the human body naturally – anandamide (AEA) and 2-arachidonoylglyerol (2-AG). These two components aid in the smooth functioning of the body’s internal functions. 

The role of enzymes is to break down the endocannabinoids once their purpose is fulfilled.

The two primary enzymes in the ECS are monoacylglycerol acid lipase (breaks down 2-AG) and fatty acid amide hydrolase (breaks down AEA). 

Endocannabinoid Receptors  

Receptors occur naturally throughout the body, and endocannabinoids bind these receptors together to signal the endocannabinoid system to function.

The two main types of endocannabinoid receptors found in the body are CB1 – found mostly in the central nervous system, and CB2 – found commonly in the peripheral nervous system and immune cells.

The endocannabinoids may bind with any of these two receptors to signal the ECS to take an action. For instance, they might bind to the CB1 receptor in the spinal cord to reduce relief or target CB2 receptors in the immune cells to signal that the body is undergoing inflammation.    

ECS Functions

While studies are still in their nascent stage to understand the system, but research suggests that the ECS can help control a wide range of psychological and physiological functions, including:

  • Mood
  • Sleep
  • Memory
  • Appetite and digestion
  • Fertility and reproduction
  • Metabolism
  • Inflammation or other immune system disorders
  • Chronic relief
  • Formation of muscles
  • Stress
  • Motor control
  • Memory and learning
  • Bone growth and remodeling
  • The Functioning of the cardiovascular system
  • Liver functions

Nerve and skin functions

All these functions aid in homeostasis – achieving stability of the body’s internal environment – both physical and mental.

In fact, the endocannabinoid system is an association of 6 broad dimensions of the human body and mind. These include your physical, emotional, spiritual, occupational, intellectual, and social aspects of life.

How THC and CBD Interact with the Endocannabinoid System?

Tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) and Cannabidiol (CBD) are two main cannabinoids found in cannabis. However, unlike CBD, THC gets you “high” and binds both CB1 and CB2 receptors a way that cannabidiol does not.

THC has a wide range of positive effects on the mind and body, such as it helps boost your appetite and reduce relief. But in some cases, it can also cause anxiety and paranoia since it has a tendency to make you feel high.

On the other hand, researchers believe that CBD helps prevent breaking down of the endocannabinoids, facilitating enhanced bodily and psychological functions.

It can help alleviate the conditions of nausea, relief, and others associated with different health conditions.

An article was published in 2016, based on several types of research conducted to study the effects of endocannabinoid deficiency.

It suggests that lack of naturally-existing endocannabinoids in the body might be the reason why people experiences physical conditions like irritable bowel syndrome, migraine, or other treatment-resistant conditions.

It may also cause major psychological effects such as stress, anxiety, fear, etc.

Any deficiency in the body’s endocannabinoids can be fulfilled with high-quality CBD products available in our shop that can help reduce the impacts of clinical endocannabinoid deficiency (CECD). 

  

Filed Under: Blog Tagged With: CBD Oil, CBD Oil For relief, Endocannabinoid System

5 Amazing and Unusual Tricks to Use CBD Safely

July 31, 2019

Cannabidiol, popularly known as CBD, has picked up tremendous demand nowadays as a natural remedy for a wide spectrum of healthy lifestyles. It is derived from the marijuana plant, Cannabis sativa, but does not have any psychoactive effects like its THC counterpart. However, Cannabidiol offers an earthy taste to the mouth that many do not prefer.

So, here are some fantastic tricks for you to use CBD in a safe and effective manner.

Topical CBD Cream

Want to experience the benefits of Cannabidiol but dont like how it tastes? Use it in the form of a topical cream. In fact, topical creams that contain CBD and 0% THC have the same effectiveness as pure natural CBD oil and are considered to have remarkable anti-inflammatory and relief-relieving properties. When you use cannabis cream topically, it bypasses the complex metabolic process. This ensures better absorption and greater efficiency of Cannabidiol.

Topical CBD cream is most effective in people suffering from arthritic conditions and can minimize the harmful side effects that come with using Organic drugs.

CBD Edibles

CBD edibles – a great mix of health benefits and superb taste! These tasty treats make consuming Cannabidiol sheer fun. There is a wide variety of CBD edibles available in the market today. These include CBD-infused brownies, CBD cookies, CBD chocolate chips, Cannabidiol nut bars, peanut butter cups with CBD, gummies, and numerous others.

But why are CBD edibles so popular? These aren’t just tasty, but also have several benefits that make them a preferred choice to take CBD in comparison to other varieties. The edibles absorb faster and provide long-lasting effects. Moreover, taking edibles may reduce the risk of liver irritation. These make it easy to monitor your CBD dosage and are well-tolerated against potential side effects. Furthermore, you have the flexibility to buy CBD edibles online or make it at home.

 

Imagine a situation where you or a close friend could not resist the temptation of delicious CBD-infused brownies, eating up too much only to pass out. To avoid such embarrassing situations, make yourself mouth-watering CBD gummies at home. Cannabidiol gummy bears have a huge fan following as you can easily keep a tab on your CBD dosage.

Here’s a great recipe of homemade Peach Chamomile CBD Gummies:

To make this, you would need 1/cup sliced peach fruit, 1 teaspoon fresh chamomile buds, 8 teaspoons gelatin (unflavored), CBD oil extract (as per recommended daily dosage), and ½ cup water (filtered).

Puree together with the peach slices and chamomile buds in a food processor. Set aside a ½ cup of this mixture in a small bowl. In a saucepan, add the water and mix gelatin over it. Allow it to sit for 2 minutes. Then stir consistently on medium-low heat until the mixture liquefies at 165-degree temperature. Pour this mixture hot on the peach puree and stir well.

Add your recommended CBD oil dosage and mix well. Pour the mixture in any desired mold and refrigerate for around 30 minutes. Once set, pop the gummies out and store in an airtight container. You can use the gummies for up to 7 days. Keeping in mind how many gummies you have made will make it easier to monitor your CBD dosage.

Vaping with Cannabidiol

This is another way wherein you can vape in cannabidiol, and enjoy the effects of smoking. CBD oil with a vaporizer is available in the form of cartridges and refill packs, and can be bought across the U.S.

infusing CBD with your daily food can be a fun way of having your recommended dosage without having to taste its earthy flavor. You can make yummy CBD smoothies, Cannabidiol milkshakes, a fermented tea, sandwiches, and anything you can imagine. However, using CBD in cooking is not recommended to treat acute conditions where you need instant relief.

Administering CBD into your daily diet need not be intimidating. Spruce up the process with these awesome tricks and stay hale & hearty.

Filed Under: Blog Tagged With: CBD Cream, CBD Oil

16 Health Benefits Of Drinking Warm Lemon Water | FOOD MATTERS®

May 8, 2020

Lemons are vitamin C rich citrus fruits that enhance your beauty, by rejuvenating skin from within bringing a glow to your face. One of the major health benefits of drinking warm lemon water is that it paves the way for losing weight faster, thus acting as a great weight loss remedy. 

Lemon Water Flushes Out Toxins And Is Extremely Beneficial For The Body

Warm lemon water serves as the perfect ‘good morning drink’, as it aids the digestive system and makes the process of eliminating the waste products from the body easier. It prevents the problem of constipation and diarrhea, by ensuring smooth bowel functions.

Nutritional Value Of Lemons

A glass of lemon juice contains less than 25 calories. It is a rich source of nutrients like calcium, potassium, vitamin C and pectin fiber. It also has medicinal values and antibacterial properties. It also contains traces of iron and vitamin A.

Lemon, a fruit popular for its therapeutic properties, helps maintain your immune system and thus, protects you from the clutches of most types of infections. It also plays the role of a blood purifier. Lemon is a fabulous antiseptic and lime-water juice also works wonders for people having heart problems, owing to its high potassium content. So, make it a part of your daily routine to drink a glass of warm lemon water in the morning and enjoy its health benefits. Read on for more interesting information on the benefits of warm lemon water.

16 Health Benefits Of Drinking Warm Lemon Water

Packed with all the goodness, make it a point to begin your day with a glass of warm lemon water. Its cleansing and healing effects will have positive effects on your health in the long run. However, it is very important to note that when lemon juice comes directly in contact with the teeth, can ruin the enamel on the teeth. Hence, it is advised to consume it diluted and also rinse your mouth thoroughly after drinking lemon juice.

Curious about what other healthy morning rituals could set you up for a perfect day? Discover 7 things happy people do every morning.

What Are Your Favourite Ways To Use Lemons?

This content was originally published here.

Filed Under: Blog

26. Start Investing With Just $10, and Grow Your Money 83 Times Faster

May 7, 2020

Sponsored Content Disclaimer

DISCLOSURE:

Some of the links in this post are from our sponsors. We’re letting you know because it’s what Honest Abe would do. After all, he is on our favorite coin.

If you needed extra money, like, yesterday, you’ve come to the right spot.

Our team has compiled a list of creative ways you can fatten your bank account this month. Certainly, there’s something here that fits your needs.

50 Ideas to Help You Make Extra Money

Feeling pumped? Feeling ready? Feeling like a million bucks (or like you need a million bucks)?

This is a long list, so don’t get overwhelmed. Go ahead and start now, but be sure to bookmark this post so you can easily return later. We’ll keep it updated as offers change or expire.

Without further delay, here are 50 ways to make money:

1. Watch Movie Previews

Carmen Mandato/ The Penny Hoarder

Most of you already know about InboxDollars, but did you know that it will pay you to watch movie previews, celebrity videos, the latest news and dozens of other videos? Plus, you’ll get a bonus $5 just for signing up.

You need to watch all of the shows in a specific playlist to earn your bucks, so be prepared. InboxDollars lets you know how long the playlist runs before you start watching, and playlists range from a few minutes to about a half hour.

The availability is subject to change, but it’s possible to earn up to $225 a month watching these videos!

2. Stop Deleting Your Emails

How to make money as a stay at home mom
DGLimages/Getty Images

It turns out deleting your emails could be costing you money. Intrigued?

One of our secret weapons is called Paribus — a tool that gets you money back for your online purchases. It’s free to sign up, and once you do, it will scan your email for any receipts. If it discovers you’ve purchased something from one of its monitored retailers, it will track the item’s price and help you get a refund when there’s a price drop.

3. Scratch off Free Lottery Tickets

A young couple buying lottery tickets at a kiosk.
urbancow/Getty Images

There’s something so satisfying about those gas station scratch-off tickets, but it’s better to avoid them because, well, that’s not Penny Hoarding.

Instead, try scratching for free using an app called Lucktastic. Each day, it releases a new assortment of digital scratch-off tickets. Lucktastic says instant wins range from $1 to $10,000. You can also earn tokens, enter contests and play games.

The app is supported by advertising, which allows it to keep the payouts high and the games free. For more info, check out our full review.

4. Take a Picture of Your Receipt and Earn a Free $10

Ibotta review
Tina Russell/The Penny Hoarder

We know it sounds strange, but Ibotta will pay you cash for taking pictures of your receipts.

Before heading to the store, search for items on your shopping list within the Ibotta app. When you get home, snap a photo of your receipt and scan the items’ barcodes.

Some cash-back opportunities we’ve seen include:

  • 25 cents back for any item.
  • 25 cents back on strawberries.
  • 50 cents back on frozen fruit snacks.
  • $1 back on a box of tea.
  • $5 back on a case of Shiner Bock beer.

Notice a lot of those aren’t tied to a brand — just shop for the staples on your list and earn cash back!

5. Fill This out While You Watch Scary Movies

Scared young women hiding in a blanket while watching scary movies at night.
shironosov/Getty Images

Surveys aren’t our favorite way to make money, but if you’re just vegging out on the couch — or shielding your eyes while being forced to watch “Final Fantasy 113” — why not click a couple buttons and earn a few bucks?

6. Invest in Real Estate Around the Country for Just $500

a home in St. Petersburg, Fla.
Tina Russell/The Penny Hoarder

Want to get into real-estate investing without spending hundreds of thousands of dollars or playing landlord? We found a company that helps you do just that.

Oh, and you don’t have to have hundreds of thousands of dollars, either. You can get started with a minimum investment of just $500. A company called Fundrise does all the heavy lifting for you.

With a minimum investment of just $500, Fundrise will invest in its Real Estate Investment Trust (REIT) that offer expected returns of 8% to 11% per year.

This isn’t an obscure investment. You can see exactly which properties are included in your portfolio — like a set of townhomes in Snoqualmie, Washington, or an apartment building in Charlotte, North Carolina.

Fundrise does the heavy lifting of buying million dollar properties and pays you dividends quarterly plus extra periodic distributions if properties are sold.

You’ll pay a 0.85% annual asset management fee and a 0.15% annual investment advisory fee.

Remember investments come with risk. While Fundrise has paid distributions every quarter since at least Q2 2016, your payment is never guaranteed.

7. Get Your Paycheck 2 Days Earlier

Hands counting change into a piggy bank.
kwanchaichaiudom/Getty Images

Want to get a jump on payday? Let Chime be your secret weapon.

Unlike most financial institutions, this online bank account doesn’t wait until your pay date to give you access to your money. As soon as it receives notification of a direct deposit from your employer, it immediately posts those funds to your account.

That means you’ll get your paycheck early — like Samuel Demeny, who recently switched to Chime. He uses direct deposit. His company technically pays everyone on Fridays, but Chime gets him access to that cash two days earlier than his co-workers.

“The fact that I’m paid on Wednesday versus Friday… helps me budget before the weekend even starts,” Demeny told The Penny Hoarder.

Not everyone is guaranteed the two-day head start Demeny has. That depends on your employer and its financial institution. We talked to another Chime account holder, Lee Best, who gets his paycheck one day ahead of his co-workers — on Wednesday instead of Thursday.

Plus, Chime offers some other unique features other banks haven’t caught on to yet, such as:

  • It doesn’t charge overdraft fees, monthly maintenance fees, foreign transaction fees or minimum balance fees.
  • You can open an easy-to-access, connected savings account. It allows you to automate your savings with features like the round-up tool, which will round up your transactions to the nearest dollar and dump the change into savings.
  • It has a “Pay Friends” feature, so you don’t have to mess with cash, math or other apps to split the bill.
  • Chime customers have access to thousands of fee-free MoneyPass ATMs around the country and mobile check deposit.

Who doesn’t want to get paid early?

8. Earn up to $60/Hour as a Part-Time Bookkeeper

Neustockimages/Getty Images

Can you open an excel spreadsheet? Does earning $60 an hour sound appealing? How about the freedom to work remotely while helping others succeed?

Those are the perks of working as a bookkeeper, says Ben Robinson, a certified public accountant and business owner who teaches others to become virtual bookkeepers.

You don’t have to be an accountant or even really good at math to be successful in this business. In fact, all you need are decent computer skills and a passion for helping business owners tackle real-world problems.

The ability to stay moderately organized is helpful too.

Median pay is around $19 per hour, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics — and you have no commute. It’s a great opportunity for parents who want to work part time, recent college grads and anyone who wants to bring in real money working from home.

9. Snag a Free $10 Walmart Gift Card

Walmart store sign
Tina Russell/The Penny Hoarder

One of our favorite ways to bank a little extra money is with Ebates, a cash-back site that rewards you nearly every time you buy something. For example, Ebates gives you 10% cash-back on purchases at Walmart.

Plus you’ll get a free $10 gift card to Walmart for giving the site a try.

  1. Sign up for Ebates with your email or Facebook account.
  2. Use the Ebates portal the next time you need to buy something. It’s connected to thousands of stores, including Walmart, Amazon and Target. You’ll need to make your first purchase through the site within 90 days and spend at least $25.
  3. Your account will be credited with rewards points you can cash in for your $10 Walmart gift card.

10. Get a Free Assistant to Negotiate Your Bills

A couple sit together on the floor of their bedroom as they analyze paperwork.
mediaphotos/Getty Images

On the phone with your cell phone or internet provider, trying to haggle a lower monthly bill?

Go ahead and hang up. (We know you’re probably listening to crappy music while sitting on hold, anyway.)

Download TrueBill, an app that’ll negotiate your bills, cancel unwanted subscriptions and refund your bank fees.

After downloading the app, create an account and link your bank account and/or credit cards. Turn on the bill negotiation and outage protection features. Boom. TrueBill is already searching for potential refunds — it might get you a refund even when you didn’t know an outage occurred.

On average, Truebill customers get $12 in credits off their cable bills each month.

The app will also remind you of all those sneaky subscriptions you’ve signed up for through the years, so you can cancel what you don’t use and reclaim your monthly budget.

Signing up and using the service is free, though there are some paid premium services that are totally optional — but could totally be worth it.

11. Start Investing Without Even Noticing — and Get $5

woman outdoors looking at phone
Carmen Mandato/ The Penny Hoarder

If you’re like most of us and wish your money would just take care of itself, consider starting an investment account through Acorns.

You can start small and stack up change over time with its “round-up” feature. That means if you spend $10.23 at the grocery store, 77 cents gets dropped into your Acorns account.

Then, the app does the whole investing thing for you.

The idea is you won’t miss the digital pocket change, and the automatic savings stack up faster than you’d think. For example, we reviewed how Penny Hoarder Dana Sitar was able to save at a rate of $420 a year!

At that rate, you could set aside $1,000 in about two and a half years — without trying.

The app is $1 a month for balances under $5,000, and you’ll get a $5 bonus when you sign up.

12. Share What’s in Your Fridge

A woman stands in front of an open refrigerator with a bowl of salad in one hand and a plate of fried chicken in the other.
YinYang/Getty Images

Remember the Nielsen company? The one that’s always tracked TV ratings? Well, now it wants to know what’s in your fridge.

Once you sign up to be on the Nielsen Consumer Panel, you can either use your smartphone, or the company will send you a free barcode scanner. Every time you go shopping, you simply scan the UPC codes on the back of each product and send your data to Nielsen.

Nielsen will reward you with gift points, which you can redeem for free electronics, jewelry, household items or even toys for the kids.

The longer you stay on the panel, the more opportunity you have to earn points toward prizes. You’ll also receive entries for the panel’s many sweepstakes. Prizes include vacations and brand new vehicles.

13. Play the Slots — and Bank $5 for Your Savings Account

need money apps
Carmen Mandato/The Penny Hoarder

Are you more of the “sit at home and play video games” type of person but you’re making yourself read this because you’re determined to get this adulting thing down?

The folks who created Long Game have you covered with a game that’s fun and helps you achieve your financial goals.  

As you save and accomplish missions you’ll earn coins to play mini games for cash prizes! We’re talking the classics, like slot machines, scratch-offs and spin-to-win wheels.

Once you link your bank account, you’ll earn 300 coins, so you can start playing while you wait for payday. If you sign up before November 30, 2018 and enter the code PENNY5, you’ll also get a bonus $5 in your account!

Penny Hoarder Carson Kohler uses Long Game to save money. Every two weeks, it sneaks $5 out of her bank account and rewards her with coins.

In two months, she’s saved $35.70, just by playing games on her phone. Plus, her winnings amount to a gain of about 2% — way higher than interest on any other savings account she has.

14. Play Your Own Version of ‘Supermarket Sweep’

Woman holding piggy bank
Carmen Mandato/ The Penny Hoarder

Back in the ’90s, David, the host of “Supermarket Sweep,” claimed to have the only grocery store that paid people to shop.

Well, welcome to the 21st century, baby. We’ve got Instacart.

Instacart, a grocery-delivery service, is looking for part-time in-store shoppers, who simply shop and bag orders.

  • Be 18 or older.
  • Be eligible to work in the U.S.
  • Have access to an iPhone 5 or Android 4.4 (or newer).
  • Be able to lift 30 to 40 pounds.

You choose the hours you work (up to 29 hours a week) and get paid per order weekly. Rates will vary by location.

If you want to get real adventurous (or work more hours) you can also sign on as a full-service shopper, meaning you’ll deliver the groceries, too.

Once you sign up to become a shopper, Instacart will reach out about an orientation. Complete the orientation, and you’re on your way to producing your personal “Supermarket Sweep” reboot.

15. Hang out With Pups

A dog sits on his heels and stares into the camera, smiling
Carmen Mandato/ The Penny Hoarder

If you’re looking for a flexible, independent way to earn money — and you love hanging out with dogs — Rover might be your perfect gig.

The online network connects dog walkers and sitters to local dog owners through its 4.9-star-rated app, so you don’t have to staple flyers on every utility pole across town.

Rover says sitters can earn as much as $1,000 a month.

Rover dog-sitter requirements vary by location. In general, you must:

  • Be 18 years or older.
  • Pass a background check.
  • Have access to the Rover app (iOS or Android).

Here’s how it works: You’ll create an online sitter profile where you’ll answer questions about your experience with puppers and your schedule availability.

You can choose to offer a variety of services, including dog walking, overnight boarding at your home or theirs, and daycare. Boarding is the app’s most popular service, so offering it can get you more gigs. You set your own rates. (Rover keeps a small percentage as a service fee.)

Dog owners will reach out to you. Accept which gigs you want, then start snugglin’ pups. As soon as you complete a service, you’ll be paid within two days.

16. Clear Your Closets

A woman on her couch surrounded by clothes.
Tinatin1/Getty Images

Do you still have a prom outfit from, like, 10 years ago?

It’s never going to fit — or come into style — again, but something just keeps holding you back from sending it to Goodwill.

Maybe money could change your mind. Instead of storing clothes indefinitely, try selling them.

One app we especially like is Letgo. You can literally list your clothes in less than a minute.

17. Close the Gender Investing Gap

Carmen Mandato/ The Penny Hoarder

Traditional investing companies have never really considered the fact that women statistically get paid less, yet live longer. That’s why Sallie Krawcheck, a former Wall Street CEO and an adamant proponent of women’s financial power, founded Ellevest.

It’s an investing platform designed for women, by women and in support of other women. It uses a unique algorithm designed to help you better plan for the future.

Once you sign up for free, Ellevest will issue you a free personalized investment plan. Plus, if you sign up before Dec. 31 through The Penny Hoarder, you’ll get a $25 bonus in your Ellevest account.*

Ellevest’s “digital” plan is designed to be accessible. There’s no minimum balance, and you’ll pay an annual fee of 0.25% of your assets under management to Ellevest. For context, that’s $25 on a $10,000 account.

*The Ellevest The Penny Hoarder promotional offer is valid from July 25, 2018 to December 31, 2018 for the first 1,000 new clients of Ellevest who enter through this designated landing page. Clients who enroll and fund their non-retirement account will receive $25 added to their highest priority goal in their Ellevest account. Clients who enroll and fund their retirement account will receive a $25 Amazon gift card which can be redeemed by visiting www.amazon.com. Please review Amazon.com Gift Card Terms and Conditions prior to redemption. Ellevest is not responsible for lost Amazon Gift Cards. Ellevest’s processing time for depositing $25 into a client’s Ellevest account or delivery of a $25 Amazon gift card may be up to 60 days.

18. Hang at Home With the Ones You Love

Michael Krinke/ Getty Images

Have you ever considered doing customer service from the comfort of your home? An increasing number of companies are hiring work-from-home customer service reps, instead of running call centers.

For some people, working from home offers the most perfect scenario. Maybe it cuts your one-hour commute down to, well, nothing. Maybe it allows you to see your kids more often.

Whatever it is (even if it’s that you get to spend more time with your cat — valid reasoning), the most difficult part can be landing that perfect work-from-home job.

We recommend starting your search with ZipRecruiter.

When you click here to search, ZipRecruiter sends you to a list of geo-tailored work-from-home job openings. (Because, yes, even some work-from-home job opportunities have location restrictions.)

As soon as you start your search, you’ll see the average salary for work-from-home jobs in your area. This will help you know what to expect. Peruse the listings to find information about the company, pay and type of employment. You’ll find details about requirements as well as information about how to apply.

19. List Your Bedroom (or Backyard) for Rent

guest room
piovesempre/Getty Images

If you’re a good host with a desirable space, you could add hundreds — even thousands — of dollars to your savings account with Airbnb.

A few simple steps can make the difference between a great experience and a less-than-satisfactory one.

  • Make your space available during high-demand times in your area. Think: concerts, conventions and sporting events.
  • Be a good host, and stock your place with the toiletries you’d expect at a hotel — toilet paper, soap and towels.
  • Be personable. A lot of travelers turn to Airbnb for the personal touch they won’t find at commercial properties.

(Hosting laws vary from city to city. Please understand the rules and regulations applicable to your city and listing.)

darrensp/Getty Images

RV owners: When’s the last time you hit the open road?

If you’re attached to your motorhome but don’t use it as much as you’d like, why not turn it into a money-making machine?

Rent it out through an online peer-to-peer rental marketplace, like Outdoorsy. Think of it like Airbnb… but for RVs.

In addition to the nice stream of passive income, other perks to renting your RV out through the marketplace include:

  • Free 24/7 rental roadside assistance, so you don’t have to worry about a renter calling you up for a tow.
  • $1 million in insurance, covering both you the owner and the renter.
  • DMV checks on all potential renters.

To see how much you could earn each month by renting your camper out, snag a free estimate in just a few minutes. Then snap photos of your RV, upload your insurance and boom — you could be making money.

21. Rent out Your Car

vintage rental car location
Jupiterimages / Getty Images

If you own a reliable vehicle, but leave it sitting in your driveway all the time, you could turn it into an income stream by renting it!

With the Getaround app, you can safely rent out your car to people in your community and neighborhood. The company insures your car for each trip, offers 24/7 roadside assistance and screens drivers for a safe driving record.

That’s more assurance than you get when your teenager gets behind the wheel…

  1. Sign up with your Facebook account to rent out your car here.
  2. Set your own rates and availability.
  3. You’ll get a notification when someone books your car.
  4. Your car will be equipped with a Getaround Connect™, so renters will be able to locate, unlock and lock your car from their mobile phone during the trip period. No need to meet in person to exchange keys.

Like many side gigs that involve your car, some car owners worry about the costs for things like gas and wear and tear on the vehicle. With Getaround, renters are responsible for refilling the fuel used on the trip.

We also checked in with the company to see what it’s doing to address car owners’ concerns, and the CEO Sam Zaid told us, “Fortunately, customer feedback is one of the best ways we can learn and grow. We take feedback seriously and prioritize product updates based on our conversations with owners and renters.”

22. Start Investing — and Get $5 in Free Stocks

martin-dm/Getty Images

It’s no brilliant secret that investing can be a smart way to make money.

Sometimes, though, it feels restricted to a few wealthy elite.

But Stash is different. This app lets you start investing with as little as $5 and for just a $1 monthly fee for balances under $5,000.

Stash curates investments from professional fund managers and investors and lets you choose where to put your money.

But it leaves the complicated investment terms out of it. You just choose from a set of simple portfolios reflecting your beliefs, interests and goals.

Bonus: Right now, The Penny Hoarder is teaming up with Stash to fund your first investment — so you’ll get a $5 bonus when you enter the code PENNYH

23. Optimize Your Credit Card Use

funstock/Getty Images

If you’re not using a rewards credit card for everyday purchases, you’re missing out on free money.

You just have to be sure you don’t get too carried away with those purchases — and that the card is paid off at the end of each billing period.

Here’s an option we like: It’s the Chase Freedom Unlimited card. Its claim to fame? You’ll earn an unlimited 1.5% cash back on all your purchases. Plus, if you spend $500 in your first three months of opening the card (hi, groceries), you’ll pocket a $150 bonus.

There’s no annual fee, and the cash-back rewards don’t expire.

Get signed up — and 0% intro APR for 15 months — here.

*The information for the Chase Freedom Unlimited card has been collected independently by The Penny Hoarder. Opinions expressed here are the author’s alone, not those of the credit card issuer, and have not been reviewed, approved or otherwise endorsed by the credit card issuer. The Penny Hoarder is a partner of Credible.

24. Earn $36/Year for Shopping on Amazon

packages that were delivered using Amazon Prime in St. Petersburg, Fla.
Chris Zuppa/The Penny Hoarder

Calling all Amazon shoppers!

This is such an easy, passive way to rake in an extra $36 a year. ShopTracker, one of the leading public opinion research companies, wants you to share your Amazon purchase history. And you’ll be paid for every month you share!

When you sign up for ShopTracker, it keeps your private information, well, private. All it wants to see is your order information.

To earn your first gift card today:

  1. Open the app and log in to your Amazon account to automatically share your purchase history. You’ll receive your Visa e-gift card code for $3 via email within 48 hours.
  2. Take a couple of minutes to share your purchase history to earn another $3 each month.

25. Get Paid to Drop a Few Pounds

Ways to exercise
Heather Comparetto/The Penny Hoarder

Bottom line: HealthyWage will literally pay you for losing weight.

Not only are you getting more healthy, you’re also making some money. How’s that for motivation?

  1. Read more about HealthyWage, and sign up.
  2. Define a goal weight and the amount of time you’ll give yourself to achieve it.
  3. Place a bet on yourself ranging from $20 to $500 a month.

Depending on how much you have to lose, how long you give yourself to do it and how much money you put on the table, you could win up to $10,000!

Wondering if it can really work? We talked to one woman, Christina Castro, who lost 84 pounds — and made $1,191.

26. Start Investing With Just $10, and Grow Your Money 83 Times Faster

lovelyday12/Getty Images

Where you stash your money is almost as important as how much you have. Believe it or not, you don’t need to start out with a lot to be a smart investor.

With a free app called Worthy, you can start investing with just $10.

No matter how much, that money is yours. You want to grow it safely, right? Your first thought is a savings account, which will earn you an average of 0.06% interest, according to CNN Money. That’s practically stagnant.

You’ve got to think outside your bank.

Worthy is a microinvesting app that pays out a fixed 5% annual interest rate — around 83 times more than what you’d get from the bank.

It invests in bonds that act like a savings account — you can deposit or withdraw money at any time with no fees or penalties. You can even set up a recurring investment or use Worthy’s round-up program to invest your spare change.

27. Start Investing (Even If You’re Not Rich)

A couple sits together on the couch as they look over information on paper and on their laptop.
gradyreese/Getty Images

Investing. It’s how you make your money make more money. Awesome, right?

But you typically need to have seed money. How much — $5,000, $10,000 to get the ball rolling?

Nope. With Wealthsimple’s Roundup feature, investing can be as easy as taking the change you don’t really want and turning it into investments that can grow into your future.

Here’s how it works: Simply connect your credit and debit cards to your Wealthsimple account, and every time you make a purchase, the spare change is put to work in your investment portfolio.

For example, when you buy that new sweater — because the office is always cold — for $17.34, the extra 66 cents will shimmy on over to your Wealthsimple account. You won’t feel the pinch, and that money will work harder than your acrylic blend sweater to heat up your future.

28. Take a Walk Around Downtown

Khiem Nguyen earns gift cards through Shopkick by simply running his weekly errands
Heather Comparetto/The Penny Hoarder

No extreme physical activity or pulled muscles required for this money-making trick. All you need to do is download the Shopkick app.

Once you sign up, the app pays you in “kicks” for walking into certain stores (including Walmart, Target, TJMaxx and more). These can be redeemed for gift cards to a number of retailers, including Amazon, Target, Walmart, Starbucks, Sephora and Best Buy.

It pays you even more “kicks” for photos of receipts that include qualifying items you purchased in-store with a connected credit or debit card. You can also earn kicks for online purchases. Bonus: You don’t have to do anything; your linked cards will automatically apply your kicks.

29. Cash in on Internet Outages

internet connection with wlan router in home office
deepblue4you/Getty Images

Internet go out? Yeah, that’s annoying — especially if you work from home.

But you deserve a refund. No need to sit on hold with your provider, though. Use Trim, a little bot that’ll do the work for you.

All you have to do is sign up for free and upload a PDF of your recent bill. (Grab this from your online statement.) The process takes about two minutes, and Trim will get to work on your behalf.

If you’re eligible for any savings, you can guarantee Trim will get them for you! We’ve seen users on Twitter reporting earning $100 and $200 back. Nice!

30. Earn $5/Month for Installing This App

woman holding money over her face
Tina Russell/The Penny Hoarder

A number of companies will actually pay you for downloading apps on your smartphone or computer —  this is a great way to boost your passive income!

One we love is called SavvyConnect. Earn $5 per device (phone, tablet, computer) for each month SavvyConnect is installed, up to $180 per year.

The app collects data and helps companies better understand web and mobile usage — such as what times of day people browse, how long they stay on websites and use apps, and what types of sites and apps are popular (or not).

31. Turn Gaming Into Saving

A young woman sits on the ground outside in a woodsy area. She is laughing and playing on her cellphone.
Carmen Mandato/ The Penny Hoarder

Blast is a savings app for Android made by gamers for gamers. It allows you to save, earn and win cash for playing games.

It works with every game in the Google Play Store, as well as top PC games, including Counter Strike Global Offensive.

The app is free, with no hidden fees.

While you play, the app works in the background and transfers small sums from your checking account into a high-yield Blast savings account based on “triggers” you set — things like the number of opponents you defeat or enemy bases you destroy. You can earn extra cash by completing “missions” that allow you to test new games or take familiar games to the next level.

Your Blast savings account earns 1% interest, is FDIC-insured and is secured by bank-level encryption. You can withdraw your money anytime or just let your savings grow.

32. Sell Your Extra CDs, DVDs, Blu-rays, Video Games and Electronics

Decluttr/Facebook

Have a bunch of movies or CDs collecting dust on a shelf? Decluttr will pay you for them!

Decluttr buys your old CDs, DVDs, Blu-rays and video games, plus hardware like cell phones, tablets, game consoles and iPods.

We talked to one user, Gil Flores, who sold about 100 DVDs and 75 CDs and made $275 — an average of $1.57 each.

Just download the app and start scanning the barcodes on your media to get immediate quotes. It’s completely free to use, you won’t pay listing or seller fees, payment is super fast and even shipping is free.

Plus, enter PENNY5 at checkout to get an extra $5 for your trade-in order!

33. Download This App (That’s Literally It)

young woman in a hammock listening to music on her phone
Carmen Mandato/ The Penny Hoarder

A number of companies will actually pay you for downloading apps on your smartphone or computer —  this is a great way to boost your passive income!

One we love is called MobileXpression. After you’ve installed this app on your smartphone for one week, you get to play an instant rewards game for a prize (everyone wins something). We’ve seen users win a $25 Amazon gift card, but some of the other prizes include iPads and Samsung TVs.

The app collects data and helps companies better understand web and mobile usage — such as what times of day people browse, how long they stay on websites and use apps, and what types of sites and apps are popular (or not).

34. Teach English as a Second Language

Angela Brumbaugh of Fort Worth, TX tutors online in her home for QKids.
Photo courtesy of Angela Brumbaugh

If a classroom full of grimy squealing kids isn’t your scene… we get it. You can still work as a teacher. Better yet: You work as a teacher, set your own hours and work from home.

There are several online-learning platforms focused on teaching English as a second language to students in other countries.

Angela Brumbaugh is a QKids teacher. She teaches 36 half-hour sessions a week and makes up to $20 an hour.

“The curriculum is set for you before class, and your job is to simply guide the children through the lesson, offering guidance, smiles and tons of encouragement,” she says. That’s a big perk for many: No lesson planning.

“The students are hard-working, curious and light up the classroom with their smiles,” she says. “Class time actually goes by fast, and the only con I can see is sometimes I wish I had more time to spend with them!”

35. Get $50 to Invest in Causes You Care About

Vinoy Park in downtown St. Pete, FL.
Aileen Perilla/The Penny Hoarder

Investing can be a great way to grow your money, but have you carefully considered which companies you’re willing to back? Their morals and values? You probably wouldn’t want to invest in a company that’s destroying our oceans or cheating the system.

Impact investing is a simple fix. It adds a new layer of transparency to investing. Take Swell Investing, an SEC-registered investment adviser committed to supporting sustainable companies.

Its Impact 400 portfolio features companies whose products and services align with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. They consider everything from gender equality to ending poverty to clean energy.

You can start with just $50 and invest in this or other portfolios committed to clean water, zero waste, renewable energy or disease eradication, to name a few. Plus, you’ll get a $50 bonus with the code PENNY after making your initial investment.

Swell doesn’t have any trading fees, price tiers or expense ratios. It charges a 0.75% annual fee — that’s about the cost of one coffee ($3.75) per year if you invest $500.

Disclosure: We have a financial relationship with Swell Investing LLC and will be compensated if consumers apply for an account and/or fund an account with Swell through links in our content. However, the analysis and opinions expressed here are our own.

36. Get Paid to Drive Around Town

Photo by Jessica Kourkounis for The Penny Hoarder

Enjoy finding the best route around town? Why not try to get paid for it?

If you want to give it a try here are a few things to keep in mind: You must be at least 21 years old, have at least one year of licensed driving experience in the U.S. (three years if you are under 23 years old), have a valid U.S. driver’s license and pass a background check.

Also, your car must be a four-door, seat at least four passengers (excluding the driver), be registered in-state and be covered by in-state insurance.

Because it’s simple to switch between apps, many Uber partners also sign up to drive with Lyft.

To be eligible, you’ll need to be at least 21 years old with a year of driving experience, pass a background check and own a car made in 2007 or later.

37. Cash in on Your Smartphone Addiction

make extra money appkarma
amenic181/Getty Images

Let’s be real: That phone habit is hard to break. So you might as well make some money while you’re scrolling instead of totally waste your time.

Download AppKarma, a free rewards app that lets you earn cash and gift cards when you try out gaming apps and watch videos.

iPhone users: AppKarma is not in the app store, but you can use it from your mobile browser. Click on the link from your iOS device to access the AppKarma web app. Complete the first offer (and earn 100 points!) to get started.

Bonus: Penny Hoarders will get 500 extra points when you sign up, plus you’ll get an email shortly after signing up with a special promo code worth another 750 bonus points.

You can exchange your Karma Points for gift cards to Amazon, PayPal, iTunes, Target, Starbucks and Walmart, among other retailers.

38. Earn $50 a Year to Surf the Internet

Women looking at a smart phone at a market in St. Petersburg, Fla.
Chris Zuppa/The Penny Hoarder

You know Nielsen, the company that tracks TV ratings? It also measures the popularity of websites and online videos. To do that, Nielsen wants to pay you to let it anonymously collect information from your favorite web-surfing device.

And best of all, this won’t slow down your phone or computer.

Of course you have a laptop, tablet or smartphone. You’re a human being in the 21st century, after all. Shoot, you’re probably reading this on one of those devices right now.

If you have a smartphone or tablet, the Nielsen Panel will pay you $50 a year to keep its app on your device and browse the web like you normally do. The information it collects remains totally anonymous.

If you have a desktop or laptop computer, you’ll receive entries into the company’s $10,000 monthly sweepstakes for every month you keep Nielsen’s software installed on your computer. Every month, 400 people win prizes, with the two top prizewinners taking home $1,000 each.

39. Earn Rewards While You Shop

A woman shops for a bag of salad at Aldi.
Sharon Steinmann/The Penny Hoarder

The best kind of savings are the kind where you don’t have to do a thing. That’s what makes the Drop app so appealing.

What’s special about Drop is all you have to do is link your credit and debit cards (no coupon clipping or hoarding receipts!). When you make a Drop-qualified purchase, you’ll automatically earn points, whether you’re grocery shopping at Walmart, hailing an Uber or ordering a pizza.

The points will add up, and you can exchange them for gift cards in the app to popular retailers like Amazon and Starbucks.

40. Become a Professional Pooper Scooper

Mark Guarino, who runs Mr. Dog Poop Inc.
Scott Sullivan for The Penny Hoarder

You could actually get paid to pick up dog poop.

“The dogs really do the selling for us,” says Mark Guarino, who runs Mr. Dog Poop Inc. in Florida. “Most people contact us saying, ‘I’m up to my neck in dog poop. I’ve had it. I’m done. Please help me.’”

41. Pick up Babysitting Gigs Whenever You’re Available

PeopleImages/Getty Images

Ever overhear your co-workers mumbling about needing a night off from little people at home? You’ll be surprised to learn how hard it is to find a sitter!

Keep your eyes and ears peeled, and offer to babysit while friends or co-workers go out for the evening — you could earn $50 to $100 in a night

If you like hanging out with kids, babysitting could make a fulfilling full-time job or just a fun way to make extra money in your free time.

42. Do Odd Jobs

g-stockstudio/Getty Images

TaskRabbit helps you connect with people in your area who need help getting things done — anything from picking up dry cleaning to calling customer service and tolerating the hold music.

Keep an eye out for virtual tasks, which are mostly centered around personal assistance, administrative work or research help. You can do those an earn money without even walking out your door.

43. Work for Disney — From Anywhere

woman on a couch working on a laptop with child nearby
Carmen Mandato/The Penny Hoarder

Obsessed with Disney? And want to work from home?

One Penny Hoarder contributor caught up with Kari Bonnes, who is a big fan of Disney and the founder of Marvelous Mouse Travels, a travel agency that specializes in (you guessed it!) Disney vacations.

Although the business is based in North Carolina, work-from-home agents are based across the country as independent contractors. The pay depends on dedication and hours.

“I offer generous commissions to my agents, plus referral bonuses,” Bonnes says. “I have some agents who make $35,000 to $40,000 a year working part time. But I also have others who just book a trip here and there and bring in some side income.”

44. Get Paid to Tutor Kids Online

mother working at home on laptop with daughter
martinedoucet/Getty Images

Love kids but don’t want to commit to the classroom?

You can get paid to tutor students online. Take notes from this former teacher, who makes up to $75 an hour.

45. Sell Your Smartphone Photos

Tim Snell under Creative Commons

If you have a smartphone and a photographic eye, making money may have just gotten a lot easier. Oh – you’ll also need access to marketable scenery.

1. Download the free app and create an account.

2. Take a quality photo and upload it to Foap’s marketplace.

3. Someone buys the license to your photo for $10. You make $5.

If your photo sells 20 times, you make $5 each time and end up with $100 in your pocket — all for about five minutes of work. Pretty cool, right?

46. Rent out the Clothes That Make Your Friends Jealous

prime wardrobe
kupicoo/Getty Images

Are your friends always complimenting your great sense of style? Try making money off that killer taste!

You can rent out your clothing online through a peer-to-peer site like Style Lend.

Make sure to read the fine print on rental sites. Some don’t charge any fees to the buyers and sellers, but some charge a rental commission per order. You’ll need to price your wears accordingly to account for any commission handed over to the company.

47. Rent out Your Old Baby Gear

Woman walks through a store pushing two babies in a double stroller.
Sharon Steinmann/The Penny Hoarder

You’ve probably got a lot of baby gear. Think: a crib, a car seat, a playset. Don’t let them collect dust when your kid starts growing out of all that stuff. You can rent out those old baby necessities to traveling parents. Because it costs how much to check a stroller on a plane?!

And you can make some money. Sounds like a win-win.

48. Write Slogans for Major Companies

A man sitting on his bed wears pajamas and works from home on his laptop
Carmen Mandato/ The Penny Hoarder

Can you sum up a product in a sentence? Think of something funny — and not another joke about too many candles — to put on a birthday card? Make a point in few concise words?

Companies sometimes need new corporate taglines, advertising slogans and jingles. Bumper sticker and greeting card makers want cute, endearing or funny thoughts to put on their products.

When these businesses need help, they sometimes collect submissions from freelance writers or run contests anyone can enter — including you.

Try one or more of these platforms to get started:

49. Work from Someone Else’s House

A woman lies back comfortably on a brown, leather couch. She listens to music through the use of headphones.
kupicoo/Getty Images

Working from home is wonderful, but sometimes it’s nice just to experience a new space — perhaps in a new town or a new country.

Consider house sitting. You can make big bucks by keeping someone’s house company. There are tons of websites out there that’ll help you find the perfect gig, too. Check out a few of these house-sitting marketplaces.

50. Deliver Convenience Store Necessities

Woman driving car
MilosStankovic/Getty Images

Don’t feel like stinking up your car with the (tantalizing) scent of pizza or fried food? You can still make someone’s day — and earn cash — by delivering another late-night necessity: beer.

This and other convenience store goods — from tampons to ice cream novelties — are available for delivery through goPuff, an app we’re sure was literally made in heaven.

For you, that means an opportunity to make money driving your car around town — and goPuff’s stocked warehouses mean you don’t have to waste time strolling actual convenience store aisles to locate the right flavor of emergency Jolly Ranchers.

Ready to stop worrying about money?

Get the Penny Hoarder Daily

This content was originally published here.

Filed Under: Uncategorized

The Super Food We Should All Be Eating – Moringa Oleifera

May 6, 2020

Popular in the traditional medicine of many South East Asian countries, the Moringa Oleifera is now becoming famous in the rest of the world for the numerous health benefits it offers. Every single part of the plant from the roots to the fruits can be consumed and is absolutely packed with nutrients and anti oxidants. Keep reading to learn more about the advantages of eating the Moringa plant, all of which are now backed by science.

1. Stuffed With Nutrients

Just eating a few handfuls of the Moringa leaves can supply you with proteins, vitamins A, B and C, iron, riboflavin and magnesium.

2. Prevents Oxidative Stress

Oxidants in the body can cause a chemical reaction called oxidation which produces free radicals. This can cause a lot of damage to our cells. The leaf of the Moringa plant is full of antioxidants which can prevent this from happening. Consuming an extract from the leaf or even taking it in powder form can increase the levels of antioxidants in your blood.

3. Anti Inflammatory Benefits

While it is a defensive measure against infection, inflammation can cause a variety of issues like increase in blood sugar levels, cardiac problems and morbid weight gain. From research on animals, experts have discovered that the Moringa leaf can significantly decrease inflammation as it suppresses inflammation causing substances within the body.

4. Reduces Risk Of Diabetes And High Cholesterol

Various studies have shown that the isothiocyanates present in the Moringa leaf can reduce the level of blood sugar in the body thereby reducing the risk of getting diabetes and all its complications. Consuming Moringa can also reduce the level of cholesterol in the body and consequently bring down your chances of suffering from cardiac problems.

5. Keeps The Liver Healthy

The liver filters impurities from the blood, metabolizes drugs, synthesizes proteins and performs a host of other important functions. All of this is only possible when the liver enzymes are at stable levels. The polyphenols in the Moringa plant can prevent oxidative stress, reduce the risk of liver damage and even stabilize the enzyme levels.

6. Improves The Functioning Of The Brain

With all its nutritive benefits, the Moringa plant prevents oxidative stress from causing degenerative diseases in the nervous system, stabilizes the production of various important hormones like dopamine and noradrenaline, and has even proven useful for treating patients suffering from Alzheimer’s.

7. Reduces The Effects Of Exposure To Arsenic

Most of us are heavily exposed to arsenic as most of what we eat and drink is contaminated in one way or the other. In the long run this could lead to the growth of cancerous tumours and cause various cardiac issues. Researchers working with animals have seen that the leaf of the Moringa plant as well as the seeds are effective in reducing the risk of developing these problems but this has not been studied in humans.

Moringa Oleifera can be consumed in various ways. For example, you can blitz it into healthy shakes in powder form or use it like tea. However, like everything else this should be eaten in moderation or it can cause indigestion.

This content was originally published here.

Filed Under: Blog

15 Simple Money Management Tips to Get Your Finances Under Control

May 3, 2020

DISCLOSURE:

Some of the links in this post are from our sponsors. We’re letting you know because it’s what Honest Abe would do. After all, he is on our favorite coin.

When you finally do sit down to think about it, you immediately become overwhelmed. Which goal do you attack first? You need a budget, a savings plan, a debt-repayment strategy, a better credit score, a plan for retirement and… oh, you’re running away again, aren’t you?

Calm down and come back. To tackle big goals, you have to start small.

Simple Money Management Steps to Take Today

Here are a few simple tips you can take today to get your finances under control and start working toward a healthier financial future.

1. See How Your Finances Stack up to Your Peers’

Picture this: You’re sitting across from your longtime friend at the local diner. You catch up on life, then, because you’re curious, you ask your friend about her income, her student loan debt and her savings.

How many of you just cringed?

Most of us don’t have friends — or even family members — who are willing to talk explicitly about these numbers.

Status Money is an app that allows you to anonymously compare your financial situation with your peers without asking those awkward, prying questions. Link an account to tap into this database and you’ll be able to compare your income, debt, interest rates, credit score, spending… you name it.

By seeing how others are doing, you can see what you need to work on — or where you can sit back a little and just breathe easy.

2. Find out Whether You’re Paying Too Much for Car Insurance

You’re probably overpaying for car insurance. And how would you know, really?

Have you shopped around lately? Have you compared rates from the 20 largest auto insurers that do business in your area? That sounds kind of difficult and time-consuming, doesn’t it?

Fortunately, a service called Gabi will do it for you, and you don’t even have to fill out any forms. Simply link your insurance account and provide your driver’s license number, and Gabi will go to work.

Once you link your insurance account to Gabi, it will:

Gabi says it finds an average savings of $720 per year for its customers.

It is a true apples-to-apples comparison at the same coverage levels and deductibles you currently have. Once you sign up, you never have to shop again. Gabi’s software has your policy on file and keeps on monitoring for savings as your life changes.

3. Have a Cup of Coffee and Assess the Damage

Did you know that around 20% of consumers have an error on their credit report that is likely bringing down their score? And those poor scores can hinder every part of your financial wellness.

Banks and credit card companies aren’t the only ones that look at your credit score. You’ll have to authorize a credit check when you want to move into a new apartment, rent a car with a debit card or buy a new phone.

That’s why we always suggest starting with a peek at your credit score — specifically from somewhere that can let you know if there’s anything to be concerned about.

Even better if it’s free.

The credit report card from Credit Sesame does all that, and it’s free. The report lays out all your unpaid debts, any delinquencies and steps you can take if you want to improve your credit score.

You can also opt to receive alerts when your your credit score rises or falls so you can take necessary action (or celebrate with a happy dance).

4. Take 10 Minutes to Protect Your Family’s Future

Many of us would rather not think about death — let alone life insurance.

However, securing life insurance is an important financial move, especially if you’re married, have kids or are in your prime earning years. It pays your dependents when you die, which can help pay for your funeral, mortgage or other debt.

So if “get life insurance” has lingered on your to-do list far too long, take the next 10 minutes to figure it out. Don’t worry — it’s way easier than you think.

A company like Policygenius offers you an easy way for anyone to compare and buy life insurance. The search engine allows you to compare policies and get instant quotes. Once you find the right fit, you can apply right online.

If you’re young and mostly healthy, consider purchasing term life insurance online from Ethos. It partners with a major A-rated life insurance carrier to provide policies for a low price. For example, $30 a month could get your family $1 million of coverage.

Anyone, including independent contractors, can secure term life insurance through Ethos without a medical exam or extensive paperwork; just fill out a digital application.

5. Invest in Real Estate (Even If You’re Not Wealthy)

Want to try real-estate investing without playing landlord? We found a company that helps you do just that.

Oh, and you don’t have to have hundreds of thousands of dollars, either. You can get started with a minimum investment of just $500. A company called Fundrise does all the heavy lifting for you.

Through the Fundrise Starter Portfolio, your money will be split into two portfolios that support private real estate around the United States.

This isn’t an obscure investment, though. You can see exactly which properties are included in your portfolios — like a set of townhomes in Snoqualmie, Washington, or an apartment building in Charlotte, North Carolina.

You can earn money through quarterly dividend payments and potential appreciation in the value of your shares, just like a stock. Cash flow typically comes from interest payments and property income (e.g. rent).

(But remember: Investments come with risk. While Fundrise has paid distributions every quarter since at least Q2 2016, dividend and principal payments are never guaranteed.)

You’ll pay a 0.85% annual asset management fee and a 0.15% annual investment advisory fee.

6. Lower Your Interest Rates

Have you ever considered consolidating your debt? It could substantially lower payments you’re already making and help you save more money each month.

A lot of us are being crushed by credit card interest rates north of 20%. If you’re in that boat, consolidation and refinancing might be worth a look.

A good resource is online lending platform Upstart, which can help you find a loan without relying on only your conventional credit score.

Unlike traditional underwriting models that use only the common FICO scoring model, Upstart’s technology looks at factors like your education and employment history to determine your creditworthiness (though it does require a 620 credit score).

It can help you borrow up to $50,000, potentially with better terms (e.g. lower interest or lower monthly payments) than traditional lenders. If managing many different bills and credit lines is a hassle, you can also use an Upstart loan to streamline all of your loans into one.

7. Snag $10 — Plus Cash Back — for Shopping Online

One of our favorite ways to save is with Ebates, a cash-back site that rewards you nearly every time you buy something. For example, Ebates gives you 10% cash-back on purchases at Walmart.

Plus you’ll get a free $10 gift card to Walmart for giving the site a try.

To earn your gift card:

8. Get Your Paycheck 2 Days Earlier

Want to get a jump on payday? Let Chime be your secret weapon.

Unlike most financial institutions, this online bank account doesn’t wait until your pay date to give you access to your money. As soon as it receives notification of a direct deposit from your employer, it immediately posts those funds to your account.

9. Make More Money — Without More Time

We’ve got no shortage of smart ways to earn extra money without doing extra work, but here are some you can actually start right now.

Sign up for these sites to start earning extra money every month — without any extra work!

Now you’re on the right track and saving money. Sweet! Keep it up by tracking your spending. Empower is an app that helps you organize and track your financial goals. Simply link your various accounts, and you can review your spending and make adjustments as needed to stay on the right track.

10. Invest Your Spare Change — and Get a $5 Bonus

If you’re like most of us and wish your money would just take care of itself, consider starting an investment account through Acorns.

You can start small — with $5 — and stack up change over time with its “round-up” feature. That means if you spend $10.23 at the grocery store, 77 cents gets dropped into your Acorns account.

Then, the app does the whole investing thing for you.

The idea is you won’t miss the digital pocket change, and the automatic savings stack up faster than you’d think. And the sooner you start, the more you could potentially make. For example, Penny Hoarder Dana Sitar was able to save at a rate that would let her stash $420 away per year.

At that rate, you could set aside $1,000 in about two and a half years — without trying.

But the beauty is you can set your own pace with Acorns’ features, so if you want — and can afford — to invest $1,000 faster, go for it.

The app is $1 a month for balances under $5,000, and you’ll get a $5 bonus when you sign up.

11. Get Help Paying off Medical Debt

Got a big tax bill? Medical expenses? Moving to a new state?

Wondering how to pay for it? Well, it’s probably way easier than you think to apply for a personal loan — just make sure you know you can repay it.

A good resource is consumer financial technology platform Even Financial, which can help match you with the right personal loan to meet your needs.

Even searches the top online lenders to match you with a personalized loan offer in less than 60 seconds. Its platform can help you borrow up to $100,000 (no collateral needed) with fixed rates starting at 4.99% and terms from 24 to 84 months.

12. Get a Free Assistant to Negotiate Your Bills

On the phone with your cell phone or internet provider, trying to haggle a lower monthly bill?

Go ahead and hang up. (We know you’re probably listening to crappy music while sitting on hold, anyway.)

Download TrueBill, an app that’ll negotiate your bills, cancel unwanted subscriptions and refund your bank fees.

After downloading the app, create an account and link your bank account and/or credit cards. Turn on the bill negotiation and outage protection features. Boom. TrueBill is already searching for potential refunds — it might get you a refund even when you didn’t know an outage occurred.

On average, Truebill customers get $12 in credits off their cable bills each month.

The app will also remind you of all those sneaky subscriptions you’ve signed up for through the years, so you can cancel what you don’t use and reclaim your monthly budget.

Signing up and using the service is free, though there are some paid premium services that are totally optional — but could totally be worth it.

13. Build Your Savings Without Trying

Saving money is tough. So what if you could do it in a way where you wouldn’t even notice?

Digit makes that possible.

This innovative app automates saving for you. Simply link it to your checking account, and its algorithms will determine small (and safe!) amounts of money to withdraw into a separate, FDIC-insured savings account.

Additionally, savers will receive a 1% bonus every three months.

Using this set-it-and-forget-it strategy, one Penny Hoarder saved $4,300 without noticing — read his Digit review.

If you need that money sooner than expected, you’ll always have access to it within one business day.

Digit is free to use for the first 30 days, then it’s $2.99 per month afterward.

14. Get Paid When You Swipe Your Credit Card

If you’re not using a rewards credit card for everyday purchases, you’re missing out on free money.

You just have to be sure you don’t get too carried away with those purchases — and that the card is paid off at the end of each billing period.

Here’s an option we like: It’s the Chase Freedom Unlimited card. Its claim to fame? You’ll earn an unlimited 1.5% cash back on all your purchases. Plus, if you spend $500 in your first three months of opening the card (hi, groceries), you’ll pocket a $150 bonus.

There’s no annual fee, and the cash-back rewards don’t expire. We checked Credible’s annual rewards calculator, and it estimates $417 in annual rewards based on our spending habits.* (You can enter your unique spending habits and see what you’d earn, too.)

Get signed up — and 0% intro APR for 15 months — here.

*Annual Rewards amounts will change based on the amounts you enter. The monthly spending category names and definitions may vary among issuers, and categories may not align one-to-one.

The information for the Chase Freedom Unlimited card has been collected independently by The Penny Hoarder. Opinions expressed here are the author’s alone, not those of the credit card issuer, and have not been reviewed, approved or otherwise endorsed by the credit card issuer. The Penny Hoarder is a partner of Credible.

15. Play the Slots — and Bank $5 for Your Savings Account

Are you more of the “sit at home and play video games” type of person but you’re making yourself read this because you’re determined to get this adulting thing down? 

The folks who created Long Game have you covered with a game that’s fun and helps you achieve your financial goals.  

As you save and accomplish missions you’ll earn coins to play mini games for cash prizes! We’re talking the classics, like slot machines, scratch-offs and spin-to-win wheels.

Penny Hoarder Carson Kohler uses Long Game to save money. Every two weeks, it sneaks $5 out of her bank account and rewards her with coins.

In two months, she’s saved $35.70, just by playing games on her phone. Plus, her winnings amount to a gain of about 2% — way higher than interest on any other savings account she has.

Once you link your bank account, you’ll earn 300 coins, so you can start playing while you wait for payday. If you sign up before November 30, 2018 and enter the code PENNY5, you’ll also get a bonus $5 in your account!

Bonus: Avoid Mayhem by Having Insurance

Your home is probably your largest, most valuable asset, so you’ll want to protect it with homeowners insurance.

If you don’t have homeowners insurance (or don’t love the insane rates you’re paying), you can save up to 10% for switching to Allstate.

Here’s how it works:

The Penny Hoarder Promise: We provide accurate, reliable information. Here’s why you can trust us and how we make money.

Ready to stop worrying about money?

Get the Penny Hoarder Daily

This content was originally published here.

Filed Under: Uncategorized

The Secret Life of Trees: The Astonishing Science of What Trees Feel and How They Communicate – Brain Pickings

April 15, 2020

Trees dominate the world’s the oldest living organisms. Since the dawn of our species, they have been our silent companions, permeating our most enduring tales and never ceasing to inspire fantastical cosmogonies. Hermann Hesse called them “the most penetrating of preachers.” A forgotten seventeenth-century English gardener wrote of how they “speak to the mind, and tell us many things, and teach us many good lessons.”

But trees might be among our lushest metaphors and sensemaking frameworks for knowledge precisely because the richness of what they say is more than metaphorical — they speak a sophisticated silent language, communicating complex information via smell, taste, and electrical impulses. This fascinating secret world of signals is what German forester Peter Wohlleben explores in The Hidden Life of Trees: What They Feel, How They Communicate (public library).

Wohlleben chronicles what his own experience of managing a forest in the Eifel mountains in Germany has taught him about the astonishing language of trees and how trailblazing arboreal research from scientists around the world reveals “the role forests play in making our world the kind of place where we want to live.” As we’re only just beginning to understand nonhuman consciousnesses, what emerges from Wohlleben’s revelatory reframing of our oldest companions is an invitation to see anew what we have spent eons taking for granted and, in this act of seeing, to care more deeply about these remarkable beings that make life on this planet we call home not only infinitely more pleasurable, but possible at all.

But Wohlleben’s own career began at the opposite end of the caring spectrum. As a forester tasked with optimizing the forest’s output for the lumber industry, he self-admittedly “knew about as much about the hidden life of trees as a butcher knows about the emotional life of animals.” He experienced the consequence of what happens whenever we turn something alive, be it a creature or a work of art, into a commodity — the commercial focus of his job warped how he looked at trees.

Then, about twenty years ago, everything changed when he began organizing survival training and log-cabin tours for tourists in his forest. As they marveled at the majestic trees, the enchanted curiosity of their gaze reawakened his own and his childhood love of nature was rekindled. Around the same time, scientists began conducting research in his forest. Soon, every day became colored with wonderment and the thrill of discovery — no longer able to see trees as a currency, he instead saw them as the priceless living wonders that they are. He recounts:

Life as a forester became exciting once again. Every day in the forest was a day of discovery. This led me to unusual ways of managing the forest. When you know that trees experience pain and have memories and that tree parents live together with their children, then you can no longer just chop them down and disrupt their lives with large machines.

The revelation came to him in flashes, the most eye-opening of which happened on one of his regular walks through a reserve of old beech tree in his forest. Passing by a patch of odd mossy stones he had seen many times before, he was suddenly seized with a new awareness of their strangeness. When he bent down to examine them, he made an astonishing discovery:

The stones were an unusual shape: they were gently curved with hollowed-out areas. Carefully, I lifted the moss on one of the stones. What I found underneath was tree bark. So, these were not stones, after all, but old wood. I was surprised at how hard the “stone” was, because it usually takes only a few years for beechwood lying on damp ground to decompose. But what surprised me most was that I couldn’t lift the wood. It was obviously attached to the ground in some way. I took out my pocketknife and carefully scraped away some of the bark until I got down to a greenish layer. Green? This color is found only in chlorophyll, which makes new leaves green; reserves of chlorophyll are also stored in the trunks of living trees. That could mean only one thing: this piece of wood was still alive! I suddenly noticed that the remaining “stones” formed a distinct pattern: they were arranged in a circle with a diameter of about 5 feet. What I had stumbled upon were the gnarled remains of an enormous ancient tree stump. All that was left were vestiges of the outermost edge. The interior had completely rotted into humus long ago — a clear indication that the tree must have been felled at least four or five hundred years earlier.

How can a tree cut down centuries ago could still be alive? Without leaves, a tree is unable to perform photosynthesis, which is how it converts sunlight into sugar for sustenance. The ancient tree was clearly receiving nutrients in some other way — for hundreds of years.

Beneath the mystery lay a fascinating frontier of scientific research, which would eventually reveal that this tree was not unique in its assisted living. Neighboring trees, scientists found, help each other through their root systems — either directly, by intertwining their roots, or indirectly, by growing fungal networks around the roots that serve as a sort of extended nervous system connecting separate trees. If this weren’t remarkable enough, these arboreal mutualities are even more complex — trees appear able to distinguish their own roots from those of other species and even of their own relatives.

Wohlleben ponders this astonishing sociality of trees, abounding with wisdom about what makes strong human communities and societies:

Why are trees such social beings? Why do they share food with their own species and sometimes even go so far as to nourish their competitors? The reasons are the same as for human communities: there are advantages to working together. A tree is not a forest. On its own, a tree cannot establish a consistent local climate. It is at the mercy of wind and weather. But together, many trees create an ecosystem that moderates extremes of heat and cold, stores a great deal of water, and generates a great deal of humidity. And in this protected environment, trees can live to be very old. To get to this point, the community must remain intact no matter what. If every tree were looking out only for itself, then quite a few of them would never reach old age. Regular fatalities would result in many large gaps in the tree canopy, which would make it easier for storms to get inside the forest and uproot more trees. The heat of summer would reach the forest floor and dry it out. Every tree would suffer.

Every tree, therefore, is valuable to the community and worth keeping around for as long as possible. And that is why even sick individuals are supported and nourished until they recover. Next time, perhaps it will be the other way round, and the supporting tree might be the one in need of assistance.

A tree can be only as strong as the forest that surrounds it.

One can’t help but wonder whether trees are so much better equipped at this mutual care than we are because of the different time-scales on which our respective existences play out. Is some of our inability to see this bigger picture of shared sustenance in human communities a function of our biological short-sightedness? Are organisms who live on different time scales better able to act in accordance with this grander scheme of things in a universe that is deeply interconnected?

To be sure, even trees are discriminating in their kinship, which they extend in varying degrees. Wohlleben explains:

Every tree is a member of this community, but there are different levels of membership. For example, most stumps rot away into humus and disappear within a couple of hundred years (which is not very long for a tree). Only a few individuals are kept alive over the centuries… What’s the difference? Do tree societies have second-class citizens just like human societies? It seems they do, though the idea of “class” doesn’t quite fit. It is rather the degree of connection — or maybe even affection — that decides how helpful a tree’s colleagues will be.

These relationships, Wohlleben points out, are encoded in the forest canopy and visible to anyone who simply looks up:

The average tree grows its branches out until it encounters the branch tips of a neighboring tree of the same height. It doesn’t grow any wider because the air and better light in this space are already taken. However, it heavily reinforces the branches it has extended, so you get the impression that there’s quite a shoving match going on up there. But a pair of true friends is careful right from the outset not to grow overly thick branches in each other’s direction. The trees don’t want to take anything away from each other, and so they develop sturdy branches only at the outer edges of their crowns, that is to say, only in the direction of “non-friends.” Such partners are often so tightly connected at the roots that sometimes they even die together.

But trees don’t interact with one another in isolation from the rest of the ecosystem. The substance of their communication, in fact, is often about and even to other species. Wohlleben describes their particularly remarkable olfactory warning system:

Four decades ago, scientists noticed something on the African savannah. The giraffes there were feeding on umbrella thorn acacias, and the trees didn’t like this one bit. It took the acacias mere minutes to start pumping toxic substances into their leaves to rid themselves of the large herbivores. The giraffes got the message and moved on to other trees in the vicinity. But did they move on to trees close by? No, for the time being, they walked right by a few trees and resumed their meal only when they had moved about 100 yards away.

The reason for this behavior is astonishing. The acacia trees that were being eaten gave off a warning gas (specifically, ethylene) that signaled to neighboring trees of the same species that a crisis was at hand. Right away, all the forewarned trees also pumped toxins into their leaves to prepare themselves. The giraffes were wise to this game and therefore moved farther away to a part of the savannah where they could find trees that were oblivious to what was going on. Or else they moved upwind. For the scent messages are carried to nearby trees on the breeze, and if the animals walked upwind, they could find acacias close by that had no idea the giraffes were there.

Because trees operate on time scales dramatically more extended than our own, they operate far more slowly than we do — their electrical impulses crawl at the speed of a third of an inch per minute. Wohlleben writes:

Beeches, spruce, and oaks all register pain as soon as some creature starts nibbling on them. When a caterpillar takes a hearty bite out of a leaf, the tissue around the site of the damage changes. In addition, the leaf tissue sends out electrical signals, just as human tissue does when it is hurt. However, the signal is not transmitted in milliseconds, as human signals are; instead, the plant signal travels at the slow speed of a third of an inch per minute. Accordingly, it takes an hour or so before defensive compounds reach the leaves to spoil the pest’s meal. Trees live their lives in the really slow lane, even when they are in danger. But this slow tempo doesn’t mean that a tree is not on top of what is happening in different parts of its structure. If the roots find themselves in trouble, this information is broadcast throughout the tree, which can trigger the leaves to release scent compounds. And not just any old scent compounds, but compounds that are specifically formulated for the task at hand.

The upside of this incapacity for speed is that there is no need for blanket alarmism — the recompense of trees’ inherent slowness is an extreme precision of signal. In addition to smell, they also use taste — each species produces a different kind of “saliva,” which can be infused with different pheromones targeted at warding off a specific predator.

Wohlleben illustrates the centrality of trees in Earth’s ecosystem with a story about Yellowstone National Park that demonstrates “how our appreciation for trees affects the way we interact with the world around us”:

It all starts with the wolves. Wolves disappeared from Yellowstone, the world’s first national park, in the 1920s. When they left, the entire ecosystem changed. Elk herds in the park increased their numbers and began to make quite a meal of the aspens, willows, and cottonwoods that lined the streams. Vegetation declined and animals that depended on the trees left. The wolves were absent for seventy years. When they returned, the elks’ languorous browsing days were over. As the wolf packs kept the herds on the move, browsing diminished, and the trees sprang back. The roots of cottonwoods and willows once again stabilized stream banks and slowed the flow of water. This, in turn, created space for animals such as beavers to return. These industrious builders could now find the materials they needed to construct their lodges and raise their families. The animals that depended on the riparian meadows came back, as well. The wolves turned out to be better stewards of the land than people, creating conditions that allowed the trees to grow and exert their influence on the landscape.

This interconnectedness isn’t limited to regional ecosystems. Wohlleben cites the work of Japanese marine chemist Katsuhiko Matsunaga, who discovered that trees falling into a river can change the acidity of the water and thus stimulate the growth of plankton — the elemental and most significant building block of the entire food chain, on which our own sustenance depends.

In the remainder of The Hidden Life of Trees, Wohlleben goes on to explore such fascinating aspects of arboreal communication as how trees pass wisdom down to the next generation through their seeds, what makes them live so long, and how forests handle immigrants. Complement it with this wonderful illustrated atlas of the world’s strangest trees and an 800-year visual history of trees as symbolic diagrams.

This content was originally published here.

Filed Under: Blog

New cannabis patch for fibromyalgia pain and diabetic nerve pain treatment – Women With Fibromyalgia

April 10, 2020

Two new medications have been developed for fibromyalgia pain and diabetic nerve pain treatment by a company specializing in cannabis-based medicines. A Transdermal patch is placed on the skin and into the blood stream for the medication of fibromyalgia pain and diabetic nerve pain.

The patched promote healing to an injured area of the body. As compared to other types of medication delivery such as oral, topical, intravenous, intramuscular etc, transdermal drug delivery flight path is more advantageous.

The patch used for the diabetic nerve pain treatment provides the patient with a controlled release of the medication into the patient, it can be provided to the patient via various forms such as:

The CEO of cannabis science, Mr. Raymond C. Dabney believes that the future of cannabis science is based on the development of these two new pharmaceutical medicinal applications.  The company is striving to enhance the land capacity for growth and facilities to manufacture its own products to supply to scientists with proprietary materials to make these formulations. On the other hand cannabis company is also busy in researching more potential needs for cannabis medical applications and introducing the methods for delivery of these medications.

Fibromyalgia is estimated to affect 2%-8% of the population while females are about double as likely to suffer from fibromyalgia condition. People with diabetic nerve pain and fibromyalgia experience chronic widespread pain and alarming pain response to pressure. Peripheral neuropathy (PN) is considered as damage or a disease affecting nerves which may impair sensation, movement, gland or organ function or other aspects of health depending on the type of nerves affected.

‘’CBD is the second major cannabinoid in marijuana after THC. Without the psychoactive effects that THC brings, it has anti-inflammatory and pain-reveling properties. MR Dabney also concludes that: ‘’ as more states nationwide legislate for the legalization of cannabis and cannabis-derived medications, here at Cannabis Science, the focus is on the development of pharmaceutical medications and applications to supply the huge growing demand expected over the coming few years.’’

This content was originally published here.

Filed Under: Blog

  • Go to page 1
  • Go to page 2
  • Go to page 3
  • Interim pages omitted …
  • Go to page 6
  • Go to Next Page »

Footer

Your Cart

Buy Cannabis Triangle Broad Spectrum Premium CBD Oil_ Softgels_ Relief Cream_ here at medicinal usa picture has leaves in the background

ATTENTION: MedicinalUSA brand Cannabis Triangle uses the #1 ranked THC-free broad spectrum formula according to Alexa.com.
Also, Products on this site contain less than .03% THC complying with Federal Laws

Just In Case You need these:
Terms and Conditions | Privacy Policy | Return Policy | Site Map

Disclaimer: Products are not for use by or sale to persons under the age of 18. This product should be used only as directed on the label. It should not be used if you are pregnant or nursing. Consult with a physician before use if you have a serious medical condition or use prescription medications. A Doctor's advice should be sought before using this and any supplemental dietary product. All trademarks and copyrights are property of their respective owners and are not affiliated with nor do they endorse this product. These statements have not been evaluated by the FDA. This product is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure or prevent any disease. By using this site, you agree to follow the Privacy Policy and all Terms & Conditions printed on this site. Void Where Prohibited by Law.

© 2021 Medicinal USA, LLC
PO Box 182782 Arlington, TX 76096
All Rights Reserved
https://demo.9seeds.com/wp-content/themes/jessica/images/visa.png

Flash Sale: Now Accepting XRP Digital Currency! Free shipping with $100 or more Dismiss

We use cookies to ensure that we give you the best experience on our website. If you continue to use this site we will assume that you are happy with it.OkPrivacy policy