With cold and flu season almost here, one of the thriftiest and best tips is to avoid getting sick. You save money on doctor visits and medications and, most importantly, you stay healthy and productive.
After being very sick several winters in a row, I started to look around for easy, frugal, and green ways to stay well. What I found I could improve at work surprised me, but (knock on wood) but by following these 10 simple steps, I have gone two seasons without getting sick:
By Pghgirl40 from Pittsburgh, PA
Dear pghgirl40 from Pittsburgh, PA . I hope people listen to you. You have said everything I have been saying for 50 years or more. Wash those hands! Plus all the the other hints you have suggested. If everyone stayed home when they first start feeling bad and have that touch of sore throat or temp. They wouldn't spread it to others.
I agree with the washing hands, but don't you think not touching any of the buttons on anything is a little bit obsessive-compulsive? And sneaking off to wash your hands after shaking hands? I taught school for 35 years, and no one is germier than children, but all I did was wash hands before lunch and after using the washroom, and I was sick maybe once every 3 years.
You probably wouldn't think it was OCD to not want to touch buttons & to wash your hands if you do, if you really thought about how many dirty hands touched that stuff! I've seen people not wash their hands after: going to the bathroom, changing dirty diapers, coughing/sneezing into their hands, sticking their fingers into their mouths, picking their noses (adults too), scratching their butt, letting the dog lick their fingers after it licks its butt, etc! My step-dad almost never washed his hands after doing any of the above plus working outside on his little farm getting dirt, fertilizer, oil, antifreeze & weed poison on his hands -gee, he shared a whole cornucopia of stuff every time he went to town to buy something or have a cup of coffee at the corner cafe!
I hate to be graphic, but imagine a man, who has to touch himself when he urinates, not washing his hands, then touching everything before you do!! Or someone who changes a dirty diaper,gets poop on their hand & wipes it off with a paper towel! That is how people get staph infections!
I wish these people who don't think they need to wash their hands (can't see any germs after all, so what harm is it) & the people who think that it strengthens your immune system to be exposed to those germs could see what kind of affect is has on someone with a weakened immune system! Make them sick or cause an infection at best, put them in the hospital or kill them at the worst!
I wasn't so paranoid until my son was diagnosed with Leukemia at age 2 & we found out that what was more dangerous than the cancer was what could happen to him when he had no immune system! Just going to the store or to dinner, or letting him play on a playground could put his life in danger! He had to be hospitalized on antibiotics from fever if he got sick. Staph infection was our greatest enemy, and that is a direct result from people not washing their hands after going to the bathroom! I watched a little boy nearly die & spend nearly 3 months in the hospital because he got an infection he picked up at school!
My mother had a life-threatening illness & kidney disease.She had to take massive amounts of steroids-reducing her immune system. For a year she had to battle the illness & infections from what she caught from other people-on top of battling her disease.
I used to work at my children's school & was hardly ever sick also. Then I began catching everything that went around, it seemed like I was always sick, even after I quit working at the school to babysit my grandkids. I noticed that after I went grocery shopping, I nearly always got sick within the next few days-of course,look at all those germs & bacteria that people so generously share with me. I began santizing the cart handles before using it, then cleaning my hands after I loaded everything into the car,then again after unloading it at home. I don't touch any button with my finger unless I have took, I use the a knuckle or my key. I don't touch the keys on the card swiper (I use the corner of my card) & I don't use the pens at the store & most especially the doctor's office that they give you to sign your credit slips, I use my own. I always wash my hands as soon as I get home & make my family also.
I was eventually diagnosed with diabetes, something else that weakens your immune system. I follow the precautions above & hardly ever get sick. When I forget, sure enough.
There are people all around you who look healthy but have weakened immune systems for various reasons. I for one am very grateful not just to people who wash their hands, but also to the people who don't like to touch things other people touch & clean their hands if they do because by doing that, they aren't sharing the germs & grime from every single person who touched that object before them!
So maybe I have become a little OCD myself-but only because I know what can happen to me & someone I might not ever meet,but pass those 'creepy-crawlies' on to!
And now, I'll step down from my soapbox! LOL!
Also, as I taught my kids; wash your hands before and after using toilet. Who knows what may be on your hands before you touch yourself especially for females. Also hand Sanitizer is nothing more than alcohol in gel, So why not put the alcohol in a small mister purse sized bottle.
