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There are a lot of signs that a relationship disaster is on the cards. How many are you currently seeing?

Body Language

What does your partner’s body language say? Do they avoid eye contact with you? Do they turn their body away from you when you’re talking? Do they roll their eyes and make other signs of contempt?

Gotta Go, Bye!

Are you having a hard time holding a phone conversation with your partner? Do they always seem to have a reason to hang up early? Are they leaving you high and dry when you text them?

Sex, What Sex?

A drop in sexual activity indicates that there is something wrong with your relationship. It means there’s a lack of intimacy - and what’s a relationship without intimacy? It can also indicate contempt - because who wants to have sex with someone they don’t respect anymore?

The Future… Doesn’t Exist

If your partner is hesitant to make any sort of commitment for future activities, it’s a sign that they don’t see you in their future. If they keep putting off buying plane tickets to your parents’ for Thanksgiving, it’s probably because the day after is going to be a very Black Friday for you, indeed.

Space

The \”I need some space\” line really does mean that you’re breaking up, no matter what the other person might tell you. They’re just looking to get far enough away so that when they really cut ties, they won’t be near the blast zone.

A Not-Quite-Hug

When you go to hug your sweetie, they pull that one-shoulder hug or the quickie-pat-on-the-back hug. If they’re not making full frontal contact, they’re trying to pull away from you.

You’re No Longer Mirroring Each Other

People who are in love mirror each other’s movements. If he takes a sip of his drink, she does too. They laugh at the same time. They reach for each other’s hands simultaneously. If you are about to be dumped, you’ll feel like you’re not synching up anymore.

You Get In Dumb, Dumb Fights

If you’re fighting over stupid things like whether the saltshaker goes in the spice cabinet or on top of the stove, you’re about to get dumped. Your partner may be pressing your buttons by doing all the things they know will annoy you in an attempt to get you to dump them first.

He’s Late… Again

If your partner has developed the habit of being late for everything, then it’s a sure sign that they’ve lost respect for you. If it happens once or twice, no problem. But if it’s happening nearly every time you’re supposed to meet up, you can be sure it’s intentional.

You Find A Secret Something

When my friend Arthur was going to dump his wife for a woman he met online, the first thing he did to prepare was to buy a pre-paid cell phone. Then his girlfriend could call him without his wife finding out her phone number on the monthly phone statement.

Whether it’s a phone or a bank account, if they’ve started something new without you, it’s a big sign that you’re about to be history.

They Dress Differently

Suddenly the girl who was content in jeans and t-shirts is wearing dresses and high heels. When people are looking for a change in their life, they often start with the areas that they can control like their physical appearance.

They may not have a new love in their life, but they’re dressing in a way to attract one!

Are You Doomed?

Don’t worry if you find one or two of these signs. They don’t always mean that your relationship is heading south.

Be sure to keep the lines of communication open with your partner - talking things out and being honest with each other will keep your relationship strong.

Sometimes, being in a love relationship is so scary that we’ll destroy it just to get out.

What? Destroy your own relationship? You worked so hard to get it! That doesn’t make sense…. or does it?

On the surface, you think that being in love is the greatest thing since sliced bread, but underneath you’re flailing and kicking and trying to get back to the status quo, which is you being alone and miserable. It sucks, but you’re used to life there. If Alone and Miserable were a bar, everybody there would know your name.

Did you know that this self-destruction business is coded into your DNA? Yep, you’re hard-wired to do this stuff. (What’s up with that?) We have a flight or fight instinct. Back in the day, it was what made you either beat up the caveman who stole your cavewoman or run away because he was wearing saber-toothed tiger furs, which meant he was obviously more aggressive than you were.

Nowadays, when things get too emotionally difficult, our fight or flight response is triggered and we start doing crazy things like stalking your lover’s house at 2am to see if there’s a strange car in the driveway or hacking into their email to see whom they’ve been chatting with.

But there’s a light at the end of this tunnel! You’re not stuck at the Alone and Miserable bar forever. In fact, once you become aware of the things you’re doing to sabotage your relationships, you can work toward stopping those behaviors and saying goodbye to Alone and Miserable and hello to Happy and Attached.

Find Your Fears

What are you afraid of in this relationship? Do you have any deep-seated beliefs about love relationships that have influenced how you view this one?

Do you love yourself? Are your fears based on current facts or speculations based on horrible past relationships? Are you engaging in \”Worst Case Scenario\” thinking? What usually motivates you to start acting crazy and doing self-destructive things? Do you feel better after doing them or worse? (Most likely, you feel worse and have only exacerbated the problem! Does that tell you anything?)

Are You Causing The Problems In Your Relationship?

Look inside. It’s a tough question. A lot of people have problems admitting when they are the one in the wrong.

Think about the bad experiences you had in your relationship. Did they all start after you triggered them?

For example, did you always fight when you were drunk? Did arguments start up because you wanted to wake her for sex at 3am when she had to be at work by 7? Do you throw a fit when he forgets to take out the garbage?

Ouch. Maybe you are the problem.

It doesn’t make you a horrible person. (Okay, it might, but even horrible people can learn from their mistakes and become better!)

Remember that humans are very easily conditioned to behave in certain ways based on their past experiences. (If you remember back to Psychology class, there was that guy Pavlov who conditioned dogs to drool at the sound of a bell. It’s the same for you except you’ve conditioned yourself to freak out and get super possessive whenever you’re in love. Personally, I’d rather drool.)

You can totally re-condition yourself to avoid these relationship destruction tendencies! It will take a while and it will take being 100% honest with yourself, but it’s do-able.

The key is to focus on the moment. Do not project thoughts into the future or drag up memories of the past. Live in the right now.

It might be time to seek help so you can work out your emotions with someone who has helped others through similar problems. It may seem like an impossible dream, but if you fix yourself, you could very well salvage a relationship you thought was doomed.

The current state of the economy has been a wake-up call for many people and it’s causing them to get serious about saving money and eliminating debt now.

In order to increase your savings, pay off debt, or just stop living paycheck to paycheck you have to do one of two things. You can either earn more money or spend less.

For many of us, it will take a while to earn more, but we can start spending less right now.

Track Every Dime Spent

The best way to start living on a budget is to start tracking everything you spend for a couple months. Carry a small notepad with you and log every purchase. If you have a spouse make sure he or she does the same. Soon you will have a good idea of your spending habits, and you can start trying to find items on your list that can be eliminated or reduced.

Once you add up how much you spend each month, compare it to your monthly income. Hopefully you earn more than you spend. If not, you must be using credit to get some things paid. If this is the case, you need to start making cuts in your spending, so that you don’t have to borrow to finance your spending.

Here Are Some Budgeting Tips That You May Consider:

You may find that you are paying too much for telephones, internet, and television.

Your cell phone provider may offer a cheaper plan that still offers you enough minutes to get through the month.

Do you still use your land based phone line? Many people are getting rid of their land line and going with cell phones only for their communication needs in order to save money each month. You might even try that new Magic Jack phone service. We just switched to Magic Jack and it works great. And best of all, we are saving about $920 per year on phone services, now that we have switched phone providers.

Many internet providers offer different prices for plans based on the speed of the service. Maybe slowing it down would be worth the money saved.

If you are subscribing to cable or satellite television, you can probably find a cheaper package by reducing the number of channels you receive.

If you don’t want to cut out any of these services, maybe you can buy them all from one company and save by bundling them all together.

Utilizing The Envelope System

Once you have your list of your usual spending, start working on a budget. Some people find it works best to assign every dollar they make in a month to a certain category.

One method that a lot of people use to try to stay within a budget is to use an envelope system. You get an envelope for different items on your budget and place the amount of money you expect to spend that month in the envelope. Once you spend all the allotted money, you can’t spend any more in that category.

Some people make an envelope for several categories like groceries, eating out, gas, clothing and entertainment. Some people don’t need to make envelopes for every expense. Maybe they find the thing that is making them spend too much each month is that they eat out too often. Making an envelope for eating out would help them keep track of how much they spend at restaurants and let them know when they are at their monthly limit.

The main goal of most budgets is to lower spending so that there is more money to put toward savings. The amount you intend to save should be included in the budget so that it is not neglected. Treat savings as you would any other expense in the budget. Also, remember that if you end up spending less than the budget, you should apply that extra money to savings or paying off debt.

Handling The Management Of Infrequent Expenses

The thing that probably gives people the most problems when it comes to making a budget is that a lot of expense don’t occur on a monthly basis. Homeowners insurance and property taxes are often due once a year. Auto insurance is usually due every six months. Auto maintenance fees are often unpredictable, but the oil changes and tires are fairly predictable.

You might not buy clothing every month, but if you keep track of your spending you’ll soon figure out roughly how much you spend per year for new clothing. For the expenses that don’t happen every month, just calculate how much you spend on those categories each year and divide by twelve. This will give you a monthly amount that you can budget. If you save that amount every month you’ll have the cash to pay those bills when the time arrives.

Some financial experts even suggest opening a separate bank account for these types of expenses. You might not feel that is necessary, but you’ll want to keep track of these categories with either a notebook or a spreadsheet.

Never Get Angry or Give Up

The last thing to remember is that you shouldn’t get upset if you can’t stay within the budget the first month. It takes a while to get the budget adjusted to match what you need to buy. Just keep making a little progress each month and you’ll be much better off than those who follow no budget at all.

We have heard a lot of news recently about the alarming statistics on child obesity in the United States. Studies show that as much as 30 to 40% of children are obese. Health professionals report that they are seeing increasing numbers of children with health concerns that used to only affect adults, such as high cholesterol, type 2 diabetes, high blood pressure, sleep apnea and hip problems.

By participating with your children in a regime of exercise, healthy eating and modeling good choices, you can help to keep them healthy for a lifetime.

Physical Activity

One of the most important things you can do to help your child lose weight or prevent them from gaining weight, is to start an exercise regime. Get them started in a sport they like or take lessons after school. Consult your local parks and recreation department or do a search for children’s sports in your area.

Take everyone out for a neighborhood walk after dinner, or for a hike on the weekend. Before starting any exercise, began with a warm up session of approximately 5 minutes of stretches or jumping jacks. Then head out for a walk or bike ride. Afterwards, have a cool down period of about five minutes to get the heart rate back to normal.

Have children help you with household chores and yard work. Take the stairs rather than the escalator or elevator whenever possible, and choose parking spots further out from the store to sneak in extras steps throughout the day.

A Healthy Diet

Slowly introduce healthier choices in to the family diet. Switch from white bread to 100% whole wheat bread, and exchange white rice up for brown rice for example. Let children help you with the cooking. They will be excited about eating something they helped to prepare. Limit their snacks to healthy choices. For example offer, baby carrots, sliced apples or grapes and do not have chips or candy around the house.

If kids do not take well to eating in the healthier foods, don’t give up. It can take four or five times of trying a new food before kids will begin to eat them. Serve the foods that are naturally more sweet such as sweet corn or mandarin oranges.

Sit down together as a family for meals. Turn off the TV and do not allow other distractions. Switch to smaller plates to encourage eating smaller portions. Have mealtime be family time where everyone shares events from their day.

Model And A Healthy Lifestyle

Exercise and eat right to serve as a role model for a healthy lifestyle for your children. Have them exercise with you and play games that involve physical activity. When you sit down to eat a meal, don’t just tell them to eat their fruits and vegetables but eat those healthy foods yourself.

Do not use food as a reward for your children or yourself. Keep lots of healthy foods on hand such as fresh fruit and cut vegetables. Have a picture of water in the refrigerator and do not purchase a sugary soft drinks. Limit the amount of time children are allowed to watch television and use the computer.

By taking an active part in getting your children involved exercise and healthy eating, as well as serving as a role model, you can help your children avoid obesity and help them live long and healthy lives.

It’s unbelievable when I see the torture and misery one puts themselves through after a break up.

The steps you take after a break up is going to carve the future of your relationship. Basically, there are two paths you can take from here.

One - stuff things up completely and continue your downward spiral, or two - take affirmative action to pull yourself together and get your ex back.

The ball is in your court… so now is the time to decide on how you will play it.

Here I’m going to talk about why it’s important to keep your mind and body healthy after going through a break up.

1. The Lowdown On Eating

Healthy eating habits are usually the first to go after a break up. If you’re thinking, \”Who cares? That’s not such a big deal compared to wanting to get my ex back,\” then you’re dead wrong.

Failure to eat a well balanced meal will lead to depression, high blood pressure, high cholesterol, heart disease, stroke and the list goes on.

Trying to copy with a break up is one thing, but then being burdened by eating disorders and diseases as a result of a break up is like a double unwanted whammy.

Maintain your health by following a well-balanced meal at all times.

You’re just not going to function well if you don’t eat right. You’ll likely be less alert and less articulate if the chance for patching things up does pop up. In fact you might not even notice when you’re getting that chance.

Keep your mind and body in top nic at all times by eating a well-balanced meal.

2. Sleep Like A Log

Your eating habits aren’t the only things that might change for the worse.

The image of the depressed insomniac, who stays up all night staring at the tube or reading a trashy novel, red-eyed and possibly with a bottle in hand, is pretty much a stereotype.

But as with most stereotypes, there is some truth to this. In fact, there’s probably a little too much truth!

By taxing your sleep, you will become less alert and lose your concentration.

If you don’t get a proper night’s sleep, you’ll be less mentally and emotionally able to deal with the challenges in your day.

When you’re hoping to fix a relationship, you definitely want to be up to all mental and emotional tasks. So sleep like a log.

Sleep deprivation can drastically affect your mood. As a child, you’ve probably had the experience of staying up until you got tired and giddy. As an adult, however, the opposite is more likely.

Your lack of sleep can add to or cause depression. It makes your problems seem much worse than they really are.

And how does sleep deprivation directly affect your chances of getting back with your ex? Well, due to being less alert, it may make you misinterpret any \”go\” signals you might get.

So what can you do to make sure you eat and sleep right? The answer is tied in with the third hurdle you might face after a break up: complete physical inactivity.

3. It’s Time To Exercise Like A Champion

It’s easy to try and numb yourself to your feelings by sitting around and watching television, reading cheap paperbacks, or communing with your favorite bottle of spirits.

Throw a lack of sleep and bad eating habits into the mixture, and you’re sure to send yourself into a spin that will make your life null and void.

Lack of activity is not what you need right now. The great thing is that not only is exercise good in itself, it’s also a great curative for sleeplessness and an out-of-whack appetite.

Exercise can do wonders for your mood. It’s hard to explain how much so, except to say that it’s almost like a magic pill. You just have to give it a go - even 20 or 30 minutes of it a day and you’ll see a marked change in your attitude and mood.

You’ll feel better and more able to deal with the things that you do feel bad about.

Getting some vigorous physical activity will help you regulate your appetite. Half an hour of cardio-vascular exercise, even something as simple as walking, can improve your appetite for the better.

And if you’ve been eating the wrong foods, you’ll be less inclined to do so with a little physical activity. You’ll be more in the mood for healthy foods, and less for foods that weigh you down and clog your arteries.

Take up yoga to help you relax, and sleep better at night. Bicycling, hiking, or even just regular long walks can tire your body enough that you’ll get a good nights sleep.

Make no mistake about it. Your actions from this day forward will determine your chances of getting your ex back. Don’t stuff it up, look after your health and before you know it, your mood will make a turn for the better.

If you’re the parent of a toddler, you are probably looking for the right signs that your child is ready to be potty trained. Potty training your child can be a frustrating time in your life. When your child is ready to be potty trained, they will provide to you clues that the timing is right. If you capitalize on these clues, and use the right tools, this can be an exciting time in your life, as well as your child’s.

One of the first clues is that your child will show an interest in the toilet. Whether it is in a small toddler size one, or the regular commode in the bathroom, any curiosity about sitting on it is a sign that your child would like to use the potty. Another signal that your child may be ready to begin potty training, is that they start to tell you when they have either wet themselves, or had a bowel movement. Even the slightest indication from them, whether they point to their diaper, or tell you, is a sign that they may be ready.

Your child may also be waking up after naps or in the morning with a wet diaper. If this is the case, then your child is exhibiting signs of a bladder that is getting stronger, and possibly ready for potty training. Now that your child is showing signs of readiness in the potty training department, you are ready for some helpful tools to accomplish this task.

One tool to use is the Potty Training in One Day, with either the Potty Patty or Potty Scotty Doll. These dolls come with training pants, bottles to feed and a parents guide to potty training. These dolls are made to help your child celebrate their big day. You begin with changing the diaper on the doll and your child to training pants. There are extra training pants, as Patty/Scotty will have accidents throughout the day, which will show your child that it is ok to have accidents, but also encourage them to try and stay dry.

Another great tool is the Potty Musical Potty Chair. This chair is designed to help encourage potty training by playing \”Old McDonald\” once your child urinates in the chair. There is a built in sensor in the chair that is located in the front panel, and as your child goes potty, the sensor detects the moisture and begins playing the tune. The built in reward system of the music persuades your child to continue to try and use the potty. This seat has smooth sides and is specially made for your 1 to 3 year old.

Many children enjoy the encouragement of an outside source, other than a parent, to promote potty training. These tools are designed to reinforce and strengthen your words of affirmation while potty training. While potty training can be a frustrating experience for you, with a little help and support, and maybe a little music, too, your child will be using the potty in no time.

Today’s economy is especially hard on middle-class families and others who basically live week-to-week. Without careful budgeting and tending to finances, it’s getting easier and easier to end up short of money at the end of each month. Ironically, it seems the tighter your money gets, the more expensive necessities such as utilities and food become.

In this article, we offer seven tips that if used can help the average American family reduce their living expenses by at least $100 per month.

Reduce Food Expenses, Without Giving Up Good Food

Fortunately, with a little discipline and work, there are ways to decrease your spending without sacrificing too much. Having said that, there is one area where most people can dramatically cut down on their expenses, and that is eating out. \”Eating out\” includes eating in restaurants, grabbing food from the fast-food drive-throughs, or ordering take-out food to eat at home. Even a simple fast-food meal for a family of four costs twice as much as eating at home.

Buy A Sunday Newspaper: Shop The Grocery Ads and Clip The Coupons

To get started on saving on your food bill, you need a little organization. Start by carefully reading your grocery store’s weekly ad in the newspaper or online and making note of which items are on sale. Many stores seem to be having a lot of buy one/get one free sales, and you should take advantage of these items. What you don’t use this week, you can use in the coming weeks.

In this way, you can also build up a store of extra items so that you are never caught without food for a meal. If certain meats are on sale, buy double portions and freeze half.

Another sure-fire way to save money at the grocery store is coupons! If you don’t get a newspaper on Sunday, you should start. You will save a lot more money by the coupons you can clip than the paper will cost. Cut only the coupons for items you actually use or can substitute for your usual brands.

Plan Your Meals In Advance and Reap The Savings

The next step takes the most time but brings the highest rewards: make a meal plan for the week, with an eye on the sale items at the grocery store and the items for which you have coupons. If your family eats breakfast, make a list of the items you will need to provide seven breakfasts. If you or your family eat lunch at home or pack a lunch for school or work, list what will be needed to provide seven lunches - be sure to include the weekends.

This is a good area to begin eliminating eating out. It is much more economical to take a lunch that to eat out.

Good lunch ideas include sandwiches, fruit or salads. If your workplace has a microwave available, consider taking leftovers from dinner rather than the more expensive microwave meals. This is also a good chance to reduce excess calories and junk foods from your diet.

For your dinner meals, try to plan items that can be used for two dinners or for leftovers for lunch. Some good dinner ideas include a roast beef (two meals and lunch leftovers), oven-baked or fried chicken and stews. You can also make a large portion of dishes like lasagna and have enough for one or two dinners. A good alternative is to freeze half of the amount you make for a quick dinner another night.

When planning your dinner menus, it is important to plan one or two dinners that can be prepared quickly. This is where the frozen portions come in handy. They can be easily thawed and require no work or planning. Everyone has nights when they are too tired after work to cook, and that is where the temptation to eat out or order take-out food can ruin the budget. Be sure to always have food available for quick and easy meals when you don’t have the time or energy for cooking.

If you have frozen a portion of another meal, such as lasagna or a stew, just pop it in a dish, microwave it and you can put dinner on the table in a matter of minutes. Once you have made your menu planner, make a list of everything you need for each meal. Also list all household non-food items that you need or that are on sale.

Make A Grocery List and Skip The Impulse Items

Try to get everything you will need for the entire week or month in a single trip to the grocery store. It is best to limit your trips to the grocery store to once a week or less. Most people pick up one or more \”impulse items\” each time they go to the store, so the less often you go, the better.

Stick to your list - unless it’s something you actually forgot and will need for one of your planned meals, don’t buy it!

A good way not to forget anything that you use on a regular basis is to put a small piece of paper on the fridge with a magnet - when you are getting low on something you use often (salt, coffee, sugar, detergent, etc.), jot it on the list and add these items to your weekly shopping list. Be sure to stock up on freezer and storage bags so that you will always be able to easily store your leftovers. A lot of food that could easily be frozen and used for another meal is lost by being shoved to the back of the refrigerator and sitting there until it goes bad.

Several small portions of various frozen leftover dinners can be combined to give your family a \”pot luck\” dinner.

Count Your Savings To Justify The Discipline

These methods of meal planning and shopping can save you 25% to 35% off your weekly grocery bill. If it seems like a lot of work, put a dollar amount on it. A savings of $40.00 means that you are earning $20.00 an hour if you spend two hours cutting coupons, reading grocery ads, planning your menu and making a shopping list.

Reduce Your Electric Bill

Another big expenditure each month is the electric bill! There are small things you can do to cut down, such as turning out lights in rooms that aren’t being used, turning off power strips to eliminate the \”energy vampires\” that constantly suck power to recharge phones, batteries, etc., and turning off your computer each night.

Manage Your Hot Water Supply

However, to really save money, look to your hot water heater! These are a tremendous consumer of electricity. Go to your circuit breaker and find the switch that controls the hot water heater. Modern hot water heaters heat up very quickly - you simply do not need to have it running all day, keeping the water at a constant hot temperature when no one is home or using hot water. Turn the hot water heater on when you get home from work and let it run until bedtime. There will be more than enough hot water for dishes, showers and the washing machine.

If you need to do laundry during the day, turn it on for about 15 minutes - while you’re waiting for it to heat up, you can run a cold water load. Let the hot water heater run while you are using hot water, and then turn it off. And speaking of the hot water heater, invest in an inexpensive hot water heater wrap to keep the water in there hot, and check the temperature setting. There is never a need to have your hot water heater set higher than 125 degrees.

Follow These Seven Tips To Save Hundreds Of Dollars Yearly…

Following the tips in the article could easily help the average American family save anywhere from a hunred to a few hundred dollars a month. Take these tips to heart, and you will be able to live a richer life as a result.