What I have learned from podcasts...this week:

As usual I have been busy, but I am able to listen to podcasts while driving or working out, so here is what I have learned this week, which mostly came from Oprah:

According to Rabbi Shmuley:
60% have the television on during dinner
70% of people answer the phone during dinner

• My husband does both of these things and I didn't grow up this way, so we are learning to meet somewhere in the middle. The studies done regarding families who eat at the table are astounding, so this is something that is important to me. I don't think he understands what the big deal is, but he plays along anyway. So Rabbi Shmuley has a campaign to make Friday family night, but I think just about any night will work. We use Friday as family movie night, but Shmuley seems opposed to any kind of TV or movies on this family night as well, so I think I will try for Sunday night instead. Friday is Family Night

The Coupon Mom was on Oprah's podcast as well. Some of the following sites were from a recent episode of the Today Show as well as from the Mighty Mommy podcast, but Coupon Mom's site seems to be mentioned a lot, so I think I will check them out. I haven't yet. Some sites let you register your frequent shopper card to get extra coupons:

• Couponmom.com
• smartsource.com
• coolsavings.com
• coupons.com
• shortcuts.com
• thegrocerygame.com

Another thing I learned about from Oprah was getting rid of waste and reducing the amount of trash you use, which is important when we have limited resources, so one interviewee suggested this site: http://www.freecycle.org/groups/unitedstates/ for getting rid of clutter and allowing others to reuse the things we don't use any more. One book I just read (Maurer: One Small Step that Can Change Your Life) talks about the Kaizen theory. Essentially I learned that one way to make a change is to think small. Due to our biological make-up, human beings are programmed to react with a fight or flight mechanism when they are given a daunting task to do or if they are confronted with anything their brains might categorize as being dangerous. The Kaizen technique recommends tiptoeing around this area of the brain (the amygdala) by using small changes to a new behavior. One particular method or example that stood out for me was the method of throwing away the first bite of a dessert in order to slowly stop eating as much. I also liked the idea of having the waiter put half of your food into a to-go container so you do not even know what you are missing, as well as the resolution exercises; specifically the one that talked about saving a dollar a day, which would eventually total $365 a year! Back to getting rid of waste though... the interviewee on the podcast talked about how you can just start with one thing, such as water bottles. One place to start is by buying the metal canteens from places like Target instead of buying water bottles. I did this a few years ago and have found that I am addicted to my canteen/water bottle now and can't leave home without it. I have also noticed such a huge reduction in my recycle bins just from bottles alone and I don't have to carry those bottles home to recycle anymore (although my work has added bins now too!).

Another guest talked about this site: ToyTips.com. She is a psychology/marketing major, so she has come up with a practical website regarding toys. I haven't checked this one out yet either.