Noone likes to be stuck in traffic. The phone number 866-698-7232 can be called anytime, from anywhere. It’s the phone number for Traffic.com. When you dial in you can give the name of a major city and get a report of traffic delays. Traffic.com also offers a website that powers the phone number I gave you. Listings keep visitors informed of traffic incidents, events and roadwork and monitor traffic hotspots. The site is easy to use but I think it needs to cover more areas to be truly helpful.

I was surfing and found a website with a product called Sock Sacs. A Sock Sac is a big washable mesh bag. There are give colors available, so members of families can each have a different color. At the end of the day the user puts dirty socks and underwear into the Sock Sac. On wash day the Sock Sac, with the socks and underwear still inside, goes through the washer and dryer. Once the clean garments are taken out the Sock Sac is empty and ready to use again. In our house this would be the perfect thing to manage weekly laundry because we always seem to have socks missing and because hubby and my oldest son are almost the same size and my son doesn’t have any interest in sharing his underwear. Sock Sacs are located at SockSacs.com. I’m sure there’s a way to make your own version of this too. This was not a paid post. It’s just something I thought was neat to help separate, wash, dry, sort socks and underwear.

Do you keep track of your fuel mileage? Do you ever wonder how it compares to other people’s? Fuelly is a website that lets users track, share, and compare gas mileage. It’s free to sign up for an account. After registering add your car and keep track of your mileage and gas purchases. Fuelly will analyze this information and show where money can be saved by making small changes. Tips on getting better gas mileage are offered, as is a member discussion forum and the ability to browse by vehicle. Considering the price of gas, this site could be helpful for some.

Dry loads of clothing one after another to make use of leftover heat. Loads will dry more quickly this way.

Don’t add wet or damp clothes to a partially dry load already in progress.

Make your own fabric softener. Add a teaspoon of fragrance free natural conditioner onto a cloth and place it in the dryer with the clothing.

Clean the lint trap in the dryer after every use to keep good circulation and reduce energy usage.

Remove clothing from the dryer before it’s completely dry and let it finish drying on a line.

Use a drying rack or a clothes line either inside or outside of your home instead of using the dryer.

Don’t underfill or overfill the washing machine. Make your loads of wash close to machine weight capacity, which you can find either on your machine or in it’s documentation.

Separate colors before washing. Wash like colors together.

One half cup of baking soda added in with your detergent will help boost cleaning power and will neutralize odors.

One quarter cup of white vinegar added during the rinse cycle will reduce static cling, removing the need for dryer sheets.

Wash clothes in cold water wash unless they are heavily soiled. All detergents work in cold water.

Whether you’re driving across country, taking a train to the Midwest or going on a domestic flight, if you’ve got an illness you need to be prepared no matter where you are. Here’s a few tips for long domestic journeys if you take medications.
Before beginning a long journey check the label on how to store meds. Be aware if meds need to be kept cool, shaded or kept cold before storing them in a bag for a long flight, drive or rides.
Be prepared for delays, no matter how you’re traveling. People always think of flights getting delayed, but road trips can also get delayed for extreme weather. The best way to be prepared is to keep your medications in a carryon or purse.
Be familiar with your medical coverage, and what to do if an emergency arises while you’re traveling.
Store your medication in the original labeled containers. Bring a few more than you need in case of delay or a decision to extend the trip.
Check with your pharmacist about what foods, if any, may have an effect on your prescription. We all tend to indulge a little more when traveling when it comes to foods and beverages.
That’s the tips my family uses. If you have any to share I’d love to hear them.

If you don’t know how to prepare yourself and your home for the first 72 hours after a disaster, you should visit 72hours.org. 72 Hours is a website run by the City of San Francisco but offers valuable planning tips that would be useful to anyone.

There are two main areas to the site.  The first area is How To Prepare. This area teaches you to create an emergency plan, and what you’ll need ready and waiting for you to get through the first 72 hours after the disaster strikes. For each of the different topics discussed there are helpful tips included on how to help make your home safer on a day to day basis. The different topics include home safety, children, seniors & the disabled,  pets, utilities, food, water, first aid, go bag, phone, volunteer, training and community. I never realized how helpful it could be to have an out of state emergency contact in case of a natural disaster. The suggestion there that I want to do in our home is to create a “go bag” for all of the members of our home.

The second area of the site is the What To Do If section. This area instructs you on what to do in certain types of potentially disastrous situations.  The different topics included here are earthquake, storm/flooding, terror, contagious disease, transit safety, evacuation, fire, no power, tsunamis, sirens and shelter in place. I found the evacuation tips very helpful.

I found this site to be a very valuable resource that anyone could benefit from visiting. Are you and your home ready if a natural disaster strikes? Would you be able to get through the first 72 hours? Check out 72Hours.org and see if you’re ready. Let me know which idea you found most helpful.

If there are any beds in your home, this contest is for you. Metropolitan Mama joined forces with Protect A Bed to offer a contest with a fantastic prize – a cruise!

If you aren’t familiar with Protect A Bed, they make ultra thin mattress protectors in every size. These help protect your mattresses from liquids and solids, leaks and spills, and incidents and accidents. That means your house smells better and looks cleaner and that the hard earned money you spent on bedding doesn’t go to waste.

This contest will be running from June 1, 2008 through September 1, 2008. The grand prize winner will receive an all-expenses-paid trip for two to a three-night, four-day cruise to the Caribbean (including airfare). There will also be one additional winner every week and one monthly winner every month of the promotion. The weekly winners will be drawn will each receive two Protect-A-Bed pillow protectors. The monthly winners will each receive a $200 gift card to Outback Steakhouse. All weekly and monthly winners remain eligible for the grand prize drawing.

There are three ways to enter.
1. You will receive 1 entry for every protect A Bed cover that you buy from myprotectabed.com, no limit on number of entries.
2. Linking to Protect A Bed and the contest, you can blog about the contest OR you can blog about any experience you have with a Protect A Bed product.
3. Complete and submit the online entry form.

What a terrific contest. I’m in! Since I have a child that’s still potty training, I’d be happy to even win a monthly prize. And I’d love to review the product on my review blog too.

I always recommend people travel with disposable toilet seat covers and a small package of wipes. The seat covers are particularly for those who have bad legs or knees, or if they have children. There are some people that have a hard time hovering. The wipes are because sometimes there is just no toilet paper where you are. These items are inexpensive and you can keep them in your glove box, travel bag or purse. You can buy low count packages of them in department stores and drug stores, and they can be bought online. I always keep a package of each in the pocket in the side of my truck door.

We’ve been reading up on mailing someone in the miliary, because my brother is in the Navy. The US Post Office actually recently came out with flat rate boxes just for shipping to an APO/FPO box. So here’s the scoop, in case you were wondering.

You can mail anyone in the US military servie for the same price as mailing to that person if they were here in the US. Miltary mail is processed through large post office boxes, so to speak. APO stands for Air/Army Post Office and FPO stands for Fleet Post Office. Military locations are assigned a unique zip code, no matter where in the world they are located. Mail going to an APO or FPO address usually travels overseas via international commercial passenger services and international cargo services. When the planes land, the mail is handed over to a representative of the Military Postal Service, who in turn
transports it to another station where it is processed for delivery to the service member’s unit. Letters mailed to someone in the military typically take between seven and ten days to be delivered depending on country of destination. Priority Mail will take 10 to 15 days and Parcel Post will take about 24 days. Of course, all transit times vary depending on conditions of the unit the mail is going to. Every country has its own restrictions on
incoming mail, so check with your local Post Office if you’re not certain an item can be sent.