Natural Cleaning on the Frugal

Going to be a little more blunt about this since I was pretty shocked when I started learning about different cleaning supplies, costs, and effectiveness.

First thing read labels. Not all ingredients are listed but it made me feel like I was participating in some money grab scheme where all the money companies make goes into marketing rather than making any type of superior product. A lot of the chemicals are toxic and extremely over priced.

Second, buy vinegar (white or apple cider) and baking soda in bulk as it's considerably less expensive that way. Also get a bit of cheap table salt.

Vinegar: disinfectant, general purpose cleaner, spot remover, deodorizer (sometimes overly powerful and will need diluted) adding a little salt to vinegar makes it more effective at removing tough stuck on things
more vinegar uses:
Vinegar Tips
Homemaker Vinegar

Baking soda: deodorizer, water softener, polish and shiner (great for coffee pots), alkaline properties, carpet cleaner
more baking soda uses:
Care2 Greenliving
All You Live Green Save

Lemons are also easy to come by and smell amazing. Wouldn't personally use oranges as the sugar can attract pests.

I've personally noticed that the air quality in the house improves especially if you live in a cold climate and don't get a lot of air flow from outside. The toxic levels of vinegar and baking soda are extremely lower than things like bleach and triclosan (common anti-bacterial agent)

As a side note don't just start eating/drinking baking soda. A lot of people recommend this and many brands (arm & hammer included) contain traces of aluminum which can cause all kinds of side effects. If you want to alkaline your body simply eat a good amount of green veggies or make a kale shake.

If your skeptic run your own effectiveness tests and, of course, the costs aren't even comparable.

Sleeping Better

The general consensus is that most people need 7-9 hours of sleep per night. Myself, other biohackers and various sleep researchers feel this is a rule that cannot be broken but can be bent. On average we spend a third of our lives sleeping and while many people sleep less than that, they aren't taking relatively simple steps to do so effectively.

Most important is the quality of sleep over quantity. 1-2 hours of deep (restorative) sleep. 2-3 hours of REM (rapid eye movement, which is the stage which you do the most active dreaming) and to my knowledge there hasn't been quantifiable data on how the 'light sleep' is necessary except to assist your body in moving into the deeper stages of sleep. With that in mind the faster you can move into these stages the less total sleep you need.

Most effect ways to improve sleep quality:

1. Sleep in a pitch black environment (eye masks seem to work pretty well)
2. Don't eat a large meal 2 hours before bed
3. Wind down and stay away from LEDs (fluorescent, etc) an hour before bed or use flux
4. Have a certain routine you do before bed
5. Take a small dose of melatonin if you aren't able to consistently sleep at the same time
6. Sleep in an area where all you do is sleep or have sex
7. Use biofeedback to quantify you really are getting enough sleep (I use zeo and there are other alternative, here's a good adjustment as you hack your quantity) note that they can be expensive
8. Actively use your mind and body so you're not fighting yourself to get to sleep

I've been doing this for several months now and actually have more energy then when I'd sleep ten hours simply because I could. Average 6-7 hours giving myself a half hour window to wake and get out of bed with ease!

Walking My Talk

Everything I recommend I've done and had positive results with personally. Although my experiments and quantified self research is not totally about physical things and body improvements, being able to have the body work as well as possible opens the door to endless possibilities. We now know the fairly obvious which is that the mind and body are connected.

Before:

After:  

Decided to enter a "Body Transformation" bodybuilding competition to further quantify my results. Came in 3rd, not bad considering I've heard the trick of the trade is to become grossly out of shape on purpose then use the bodies muscle memory and tendency to want to return to it's old state which is the exact opposite of what hinders so many people that try to lose weight. Considered this my "Geek to Freak" (semi-inside joke). Not quite as stylish nowadays (ha) and eat paleo but I'll do a run through on what I did to achieve these results using the 80/20 rule, also known as the Pareto principle.

Belly fat - high cortisol - low inflammation minimally processed (low-carb) diet
Muscle gain:

1. weight lifting (lift heavy things) - 5/5 technique, five seconds up, five seconds down one set to failure, three minute rest between sets
2. Increase protein - protein from whole foods (best results) and whey/hemp shakes (for convenience)
3. Bench press, bent over row, bicep curl, palm-up wrist curls, pull ups three times a weeks. High load, high intensity
4. 1/2 mile run daily for tone and cardiovascular benefits

Diet and supplementation overview:

1. 175g protein, cycled off for one day per week
2. 2,000IU Vitamin D
3. 2,000IU Calcium
4. Optimum men multivitamin
5. 300mg alpha-lipoic acid morning and after carb meals
6. 900mg omega 3 fish oil

There are things I would now change but for the most parts results don't lie. In my teenage years had spent endless hours lifting weights and pounding protein shakes with limited results. Having a game plan with end goals and quantifiable variables cannot be underestimated.

Hack Reading

Some people, myself included, have learned the skill of speed reading. I prefer to simply hack the whole process.

If it's on the internet in digital format and can be copied, put it into here: http://spreeder.com/app.php?intro=1
Sit comfortably, relax, don't attempt to read inside your head and simply let the words flash in front of you at a word per minute pace that makes the inner monologue impossible. After a small adjustment period you will become an accomplished digital speed reader.


For hard copy reading:

1. Use a finger or even better pen to eliminate back-skipping and keep your eyes from fixating to long
2. Begin three words in from the line rather than the beginning, use your whole line of vision
3. Let yourself practice without overly concerning with comprehension at first, most people need a little time to adjust.
4. Use basic variables (i.e time yourself, later test your comprehension) to insure you're making improvements