Have you ever had a day like this?

I have, but I never had the nerve to take it all the way.

I've seen some of these before, but I still feel for the people who just couldn't take it another moment longer.

Bad day.

Try and unsee this one

Do You Need Protein Immediately After Your Workout

Do You Need Protein Immediately After Your Workout? By Brad Schoenfeld (via The Stack)

Finish your lift, immediately crush a protein shake. That seems to be the preferred modus operandi of athletes and fitness-minded people everywhere. The common mode of thinking says, "The quicker you get the protein in, the more effective it will be!"

But how did this idea become gospel? I partially blame EAS Myoplex and their "don't waste your workout" commercials. Those ads specifically emphasized a post-workout "30-minute window" during which their product had to be consumed to be effective. They show Brady Quinn finishing his workout and literally sprinting to the product, driving home the importance of immediate post-workout protein consumption.

The ads played on one of athletes' biggest fears—wasting their workout. After all the blood, sweat and tears you put into a grueling session, do you really want to risk throwing your progress away? That's a terrifying thought, and the ads helped create a shared mindset that protein needs to be consumed as quickly as possible after a workout to be effective.
But is this really true? Should we lug our protein shakes around all day so we will have them on hand immediately post-workout? Is the stress worth it?  STACK talked to Brad Schoenfeld, Ph.D, CSCS, and Brad Pilon, intermittent fasting expert, to get to their take on the timing of post-workout protein.

Taking in a certain amount of specific nutrients at a certain time in relation to workouts is called "nutrient timing." One of the supposed most important periods to practice nutrient timing is within the "anabolic window of opportunity," which exists for about 45 minutes following the end of your final rep. During this window, your body is in prime condition to quickly absorb and efficiently use nutrients such as protein. Essentially, your body turns protein into muscle more efficiently during this period. To the average lifter, it makes sense. Your muscles are pumped up right after you lift, and you want to get protein into them before they deflate.

But research on the anabolic window has been inconclusive at best. Although some short-term studies found a significant benefit in consuming post-workout protein in a timely manner, long-term research on the anabolic window of opportunity often painted a different picture. One study "refuted the commonly held belief that the timing of protein intake in and around a training session is critical to muscular adaptations, indicating that consuming adequate protein in combination with resistance exercise is the key factor for maximizing muscle protein accretion." That means the researchers found that eating enough protein was far more important than when you eat it.

A different study found that "collectively, the available data lack any consistent indication of an ideal post-exercise timing scheme for maximizing [muscle protein synthesis]."

Schoenfeld explains the science behind the anabolic window of opportunity: "The more proteins you synthesize, the more hypertrophy [muscle growth] you're going to have. For growth to occur, protein synthesis has to exceed protein breakdown. While you lift, you're in a catabolic state. That means your body is breaking down muscle proteins. You're body remains in this state after your workout, until you consume nutrients. Then your body goes into an anabolic state, which allows for muscle growth. Long-term studies have found that this post-workout period wherein your body more efficiently synthesizes protein is much longer than initially thought. It's not the sudden drop off people once thought, but much more gradual. The narrowness of the window that we initially thought doesn't seem to hold up."

Basically, he says chugging a protein shake a couple hours after your lift is no worse than chugging one immediately post-workout. STACK Expert Brian St. Pierre also wrote about this topic on his website: "The anabolic window of opportunity is actually a whole lot bigger than we used to believe. Recent data suggest that the total amount of protein and carbohydrate you eat, over the course of the day, is more important for body composition and performance than nutrient timing strategies."

St. Pierre says that how much you eat, what you eat and why you eat are all more important than when you eat. Pilon echoes St. Pierre's comments, saying, "Your daily protein intake seems to matter much more than the specific timing of protein intake when the goal is overall muscle growth. Focusing on specific meal timing either pre or post-workout seems to be much less important than focusing on consistent overall daily macronutrient intake."

So if the anabolic window of opportunity is not as small as we initially thought, when exactly does it end? Based on a study from McMaster University, it could last up to 48 hours, although protein synthesis levels do gradually drop over time. But it seems to be a much slower process than people used to think. "I think it's safe to say that if you're resistance training with any consistency—basically anything around three times per week or more—then every meal you eat is both a pre- and post-workout meal, as the effects of a single workout seem to last for as long as 48 hours, if not longer," Pilon says.

There is a drop-off in muscle protein synthesis levels as post-workout protein consumption is delayed, but it seems to be very slim for the first 3-5 hours. That small drop-off certainly doesn't equate to "wasting your workout." While other nutrient timing strategies, such as those applied to caffeine and carbs, have been supported by science, it seems that the anabolic window of opportunity is not the holy grail for protein consumption it was once thought to be.

To read more from Brad Schoenfeld, check out his book The M.A.X. Muscle Plan.

A quote from the Dalai Lama

I find this worthy of repeating... and passing on.

Gross Things Most People Do Without Realizing It

This article ran in Yahoo and I thought it was worth passing on. Some of the things in this list are unavoidable, while others are not. The thing to remember is anything you intend to put in your mouth will (in one form or another) be touched with your hands. Remember this. Using a hand sanitizer can help alleviate some of these issues. Wash your hands often. Do the things that will keep your immunity high. Be thoughtful with the way you handle items. These will minimize your risks, which is actually the most you can hope  to do.

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Gross Things Most People Do Without Realizing It

Use Dirty Makeup Brushes

Makeup brushes are incredibly dirty with bacteria from your skin, old makeup and bacteria from the environment, such as fecal matter. Dirty makeup brushes have the ability to cause pink eye, skin irritation and acne. If you share makeup, beware that makeup brushes have the ability to spread diseases like herpes.

Let Dogs Lick Their Faces

You probably heard that a dog's mouth is cleaner than the mouth of a human, so you welcomed the sloppy kisses your dog gave you. However, a study from Archives of Oral Biology proved that allowing dogs to lick your face is dangerous. The study found multiple bacteria types that cause diseases such as periodontal disease.

Leave Toothbrushes Exposed

You keep your toothbrush in a container at the sink next to the toilet. Although you are unable to see it, every time you flush your toilet the contents spray in the air and land on the toothbrush. This same effect happens when a male pees standing up and the urine causes toilet water droplets to splash in the air. 

Pump Gas

Kimberly-Clark Professional performed a study to find the dirtiest places people interact with on the way to work. The study found gas pump handles to be the dirtiest. Two of the biggest reasons for this are that drivers with dirty hands constantly touch the handles and no one ever cleans them.

Wear Backpacks

Your backpack travels to dirty places all day, like gym floors, bathrooms and bus seats. Classroom experiments at Kansas State University found the bottom of a backpack to be dirtier than the top of a toilet seat. A big reason is that you rarely wash it, possibly due to its material. Find a backpack that is safe for the washing machine and wash it weekly.

Use Loofahs

Loofahs allow you to scrub away dirt and dead skin cells to reveal glowing skin underneath. However, those germs and dead skin cells continue to live in the loofah. Relying on your body wash to sanitize a loofah is insufficient. Try to use the same loofah for only a few weeks, and remember to soak the dirty loofah in water and peroxide regularly.

Use Shopping Carts

Take a cleaning wipe with you the next time you head to the grocery store with plans to use a shopping cart. During a University of Arizona study about the cleanliness of shopping carts, researchers found that 72 percent of shopping cart handles had traces of feces on them.

Talk on Cell Phones

People take their cell phones everywhere from the kitchen to the bathroom. Cell phones are often stored in warm places that promote bacteria growth, such as purses. Cell phones have more bacteria on them than a public toilet seat or doorknob. This massive amount of bacteria pressed against your skin increases your likelihood of acne.

Step on Bathroom Mats

One of the dirtiest place in your bathroom is the first place you step after cleaning yourself. Because the mat is wet and left to dry on its own, it often houses mold and bacteria. This is especially true for bathroom mats shared by family members because the mats are frequently wet, prolonging their drying times.

Go To The Swimming Poo...l

The Center for Disease Control has stated that every person who jumps in a swimming pool adds 0.14 grams of fecal matter into the water!

Eat Fast Food

Although fast food is extremely convenient for people on-the-run, it is calculated that a frequent fast food eater will ingest around 12 hairs per year.

Breathe

Everyone releases gasses from time to time (whether you admit it or not). What most people don't know is that the average human inhales one liter of other people's anal gasses on a daily basis!

Blow Candles

It's your birthday. People come over, they give you gifts and they make you laugh. Then, the cake comes and you fill it with your saliva and bacteria before giving them a piece. That's a great way to say "thanks"!

Wear Perfume

Everyone likes to spray a little perfume every now and then; they smell nice and give a good impression. What you probably don't realize is that most perfumes contain ambergris to make the scent last longer. What is ambergris, you ask? It's whale vomit!

Share Headphones

Many people completely forget to clean their ears regularly. If you share your headphones with someone else, you're letting them infect them with all of the germs their ears carry. Don't do it!

Eating while Bowling

There's no doubt about it, bowling alley food is downright delicious: greasy fries, greasy pizza, greasy...fingers. Sticking your digits into those mysterious bowling ball holes then into your mouth is pretty gross when you think about it.

Using Old Sponges

Have you ever smelled a dirty old sponge? Yuck! How could you possible consider using it to clean your dishes? That thing is saturated with bacteria, food, grease and who knows what else.

Shaking Hands

While refusing to shake hands is probably rude, you might want to think about discreetly hitting the bathroom after exchanging pleasantries to give your hand a good scrub.

The Copycats: How Christianity Steals The Best Ideas

Seth Andrews describes how Cristianity takes the best ideas of others and morphs them to appeal to the younger crowd and maintain their relevance. If something earns popularity, it's a sure bet  Christians will pirate the idea to suit their own purpose.

Check this out.

Holy crap... it's Monday again.

It seems like the same scenario... like a personal Ground Hog Day.

It's Monday again and the alarm wakes me up reminding me it's time to go to work.

The next I do is...

Less Obvious Causes of Weight Gain

This article comes from a friend of mine, but I find it very enlightening, and I have to admit I am probably, but unknowingly guilty of a few of these. Read through the list and see if some of them belong to you too. I'm going to rethink the way I eat if I intend to get in better shape and reduce the pull of gravity on me in the process. 

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Less Obvious Causes of Weight Gain

Taking care of your body, staying fit, and eating well are top priorities for having a long healthy life. And whether you are in the process of losing weight, maintaining your current weight, or just trying to stay healthy and fit, the goal is not to gain fat. One day, we may step on the scale and see that the number has increased. It doesn’t make sense. We’ve seemingly been eating properly, working out regularly and trying to stay fit. But, sometimes there are reasons for weight gain that go unnoticed. 

These less obvious reasons people gain weight happen more often than you might think. To compile the list, four experts on the subject were consulted; Bob Wright is the Director of Education Hilton Head Health, a leading weight loss resort. Sports medicine RD, Dr. Jackie Buell has extensive knowledge on the subject of nutrition and wellness. Nutritionists and trainers Franci Cohen and Minna Herskowitz also weighed in on the subject of weight gain.

1). Dehydration: Dehydration can seriously affect the mechanics of your body. It affects how your body burns fat and can encourage excessive calorie consumption. Also, dehydration can slow down your metabolism, cause fatigue, digestive disorders, and the energy needed for your body to maintain or lose weight.

2). Liquid Calories: It is often overlooked that liquids have calories. Calories from juices and soft drinks can quickly add up and at restaurants where free refills are a norm, the calorie build-up can go unrecognized. Wright also explains that liquid calories have no sateity factor. “Sateity relates to how long we stay satisfied after we consume something. If you ate 500 calories of healthy solid food, he/she would be full and unlikely to eat anything for quite some time, but after drinking the same amount of calories in orange juice, cola or root beer, you might be hungry minutes later.”

3). Depending Mostly on Exercise: There is no doubt that a major aspect of losing weight and staying in shape is exercising properly. But, it’s a balance between exercise and calorie intake that is the healthiest way to lose fat or prevent weight gain. “However, to create the caloric deficit required to see consistent weight loss, we have to address the input side of the equation,” Bob Wright explains. “For example, if your goal is to create a caloric deficit of 3500 calories through exercise alone during the course of a week, you would have walk or jog 5 miles every day of the week. You could create the same deficit by reducing your caloric intake from 2000 calories a day to 1500. Neither change is easy, but it is far more efficient to create the deficit by reducing your caloric intake.”

4). Sleep Deprivation: Without a solid night’s rest your body can not function properly. “When we don’t get the proper amount of sleep that our body needs, a hormone is secreted that actually makes us feel hungry all day when in fact we’re just tired,” says Herkowitz. Studies have also shown that sleep deprivation can cause lower resting metabolic rates. It also impairs brain activity in the frontal lobe, which controls behavior and choices (such as choosing what to eat).

5). Justifying Indulgent Eating: It’s common to want to reward yourself after hard work at the gym. But, surprisingly, many people turn to an indulgent food as that reward. Cohen says that people often fool themselves by thinking something along the lines of, ‘hey, I did a double workout this morning, I earned this 600 slice of pie a la mode’. “This just isn’t the case,” Cohen continues, “remember the good old saying ‘you are what you eat?’ Well that’s the truth. Exercise (even lots of it) cannot erase the effects of poor eating habits.”

6). Too Much Healthy Food: Too much of a good thing, can still be too much. Studies have shown that when people think they are eating healthy, they tend to eat much more. Wright explained one study that named this the “health halo." Wright explains that Dr. Brian Wansink found that those who thought they were eating a low fat granola bar ate 49% more than those who thought it was a regular bar. “When people were given a food labeled ‘organic’ they estimated the calories to be 15 – 20% lower than when it wasn’t labeled organic. When given either a fast food burger or Subway sandwich of the same calories, those having the sub assumed it had significantly fewer calories. They then rewarded themselves by having more cheese, mayonnaise and cookies,” continued Wright.

7). Stress: Stress is often associated with a temporary loss of appetite, but chronic stress can actually be tied with an increase of appetite and weight gain. A study by Dr. Elissa Epel found that often the activity that relieves stress becomes eating, and since with depression your neuro-endocrine system does not work properly it sends a hormonal signal which makes you feel hungry.

8). Fooled by Food Labels: Don’t fall for the fat-free and low-fat labels. Cohen finds that many people take the term ‘fat-free’ as an invitation to pig out. “On the contrary, generally, when fat is totally removed from a cookie like product, the fat is replaced with high amounts of sugar to lend more flavor to the taste.” she says. “As a result, insulin levels peak in the body, which of course in turn leads to weight gain. In savory food products, when the product is "fat free", lots of salt (sodium) is usually added to enhance the flavor profile.”

9). Not Recognizing The Difference Between Muscle Gain and Fat Gain: Many people do not realize that weight gain is not just fat gain, it can also mean a desirable gain in lean mass (muscle weight). Weight training can increase your muscle mass, therefore increasing your weight. When you gain muscle faster than you lose fat, your body mass is increasing.

10). Undereating: Skipping meals may keep your calorie count down, but your body may not react happily. Dr Jackie Buell explains that all bodies are different, “When we restrict calories, some people lose weight as they should and others will plateau or even gain weight. If you are eating less than about 1600 calories per day and not losing weight, you might consider if you are eating enough to allow your body to support your metabolism.”

11). Overtraining: Over training is also a common reason that people tend to gain weight. Long workouts, particularly long endurance workouts, can take a toll on your physical, emotional, and psychological well being, all very important to weight loss. Pushing to complete longer workouts can also put unnecessary pressure on yourself leading excessive stress, both mentally and physically.

You are not alone

This clip comes from Seth Andrews and his The Thinking Athiest web site. If you are wondering if you alone in the world with your views of religion and your place in it, watch this. It should reassure you that this life is what YOU make it. Ask questions. Hearing something thousands of times does not make a fact.

These are people who have done it. You are not alone.

Veteran's Day 11-11-2014

This was me 41 years ago.

So much time has passed, but I was 

proud to do my part to make a difference.

Do you remember the Ventures?

I grew up listening to the Ventures. My parents were fans, so we kids got to hear them a lot. Here is a link to them on Wiki, and here is the band's web site. I invite you to check them out.

They started out being just a bunch of kids who wanted to make some great music, and wound up being a role model band for many that followed.

One big suprise came from their original 17 year-old drummer, George Babbitt. He left the band after eight months with them to join the Air Force. He came back for a reunion to play "walk Don't Run" with them one more time. The big surprise is what he did with all of those years inbetween.

Click hear to see what he had become. You done good, George!

Seven Sketchy Marketing Strategies Used by Supplement Companies

Seven Sketchy Marketing Strategies Used by Supplement Companies - by Andy Haley, Associate Content Director at STACK Media, certified strength and conditioning specialist (CSCS).



Browse through a supplement store and you’ll see common themes: bottles plastered with 6-pack abs, huge biceps and generic slogans, such as “Get Ripped,” “Build 100% More Muscle,” and “Cut Weight Fast.” The products claim incredible results, usually in a crazy-short time. So, if you purchase the supplement, you’ll end up looking like the guy or gal on the bottle, right? Maybe, if it’s a quality supplement and you commit to a sound training and diet program. Many supplements are helpful, but there are bad apples that rely on gimmicks to appeal to consumers.
To help you make informed supplement choices, we spoke to three experts in the nutrition and supplement field to identify common marketing strategies that you should be wary of when choosing a supplement.



1). All Natural: “This term tends to lead people to believe that the product is inherently healthier, when in fact, it is utterly meaningless,” states Brian St. Pierre, MS, RD, CSCS, sports dietitian and nutrition coach at Precision Nutrition. “Natural is a mostly unregulated term with no real teeth to it.” For example, a compound like arsenic is "all natural," but consuming it could kill you. That’s an extreme example, but the message is the same: "All natural" doesn’t necessarily make a product good or better for you.



2). Before-and-After Photos: Before-and-after photos are synonymous with supplements. You see a poorly lit photo of a pasty-white, flabby guy who transforms himself into an Arnold lookalike. Problem is, these photos are often complete lies. Tim Ziegenfuss, CEO of the Center for Applied Health Sciences (Stow, Ohio) and global education director at the International Society for Sports Nutrition, says, "Bodybuilders will purposely get out of shape for the before photo, and when they focus on their diet and start training, they look like a competitive bodybuilder again.” Even worse, sometimes the "after" photos are taken before the person gains weight 



3). Clinically Proven: “Just because it is ‘clinically proven’ doesn't guarantee that it will benefit you, in your particular circumstances,” says St. Pierre. “While a study may be conducted that seems to suggest an athlete may benefit from a particular supplement, it may be taken completely out of context and not be applicable to the person purchasing it.”



4). Effective: A supplement may be effective, but that doesn’t make it OK to consume, says Sara Haas, a registered dietitian and chef. “The word 'effective' can sometimes be a red flag in terms of safety.” For example, steroids are effective, but they’re not safe or legal. She recommends referring to websites like SupplementWatch.com to ensure the supplements you consume are both effective and safe.



5). Guaranteed: “Be wary of any supplement that makes a promise that sounds too good to be true, because it probably is,” says Haas. It's impossible to guarantee that taking a supplement will lead to a specific fitness result. Supplements help you achieve results, but they only support a training and diet plan. Supplement companies can only guarantee the ingredients in the product and how those ingredients affect the body. If you see a product that makes grand claims, Haas advises you to “call the company and ask them for studies (ones that they have not funded) that prove their claims.”



6). Percentage Gains: Claims that a supplement may, for example, "burn 50 percent more fat" or "promote a 100 percent gain in lean muscle mass," are all too common. Although the claims may be technically true, you need to look deeper. Ziegenfuss explains that a study may have one group that loses 1.5 pounds and another that loses 3 pounds. Yes, it’s a 100 percent improvement, but that’s not the entire story. “You need to look at the actual change,” Ziegenfuss advises. “The change may be very small or possibly irrelevant to body composition or performance.” The moral of the story? Don’t get caught up in claims of crazy percentages.



7). Proprietary Blend: Supplement companies often brag about their "proprietary blends," which are more innovative than other products. In some cases, this may be true. In others, it's a ploy to hide the truth. Ziegenfuss explains that in the supplement industry, the "proprietary blend" label is used primarily to keep trade secrets without going through an expensive and lengthy patent process. That’s OK, unless a shady company produces the supplement. Ziegenfuss says, “Companies that misuse the proprietary blend strategy are promoting a pixie-dust approach to the ingredients in their formulas,” in an effort to "wow" potential buyers with the number of ingredients or a  specific combination of the them that will supposedly support their goals.

These ‘vampire appliances’ may be wasting your money

I saw this article posted the other day by Catey Hill on Yahoo, and thought it is still worth repeating. We've seen articles like for many years, but as we collect more and more smart appliances in our homes, the more "leaking" electricity we are going to be paying for. It may be a new fact of life, but if we are aware, maybe we can do little things to minimize it. There are actually more than what is on this list, but these are the major offenders.

How many can you spot in your home? 

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These 11 ‘vampire appliances’ may waste $250+ a year

Even when you’re not using electronics and appliances, they may still be sucking up energy — and that can cost you hundreds of dollars each year.

The average American household spends between about $895 a year on electricity (in New Mexico, where it is least expensive) to $2,438 a year (in Hawaii, where it is most expensive), according to government data.

What’s more, roughly 10% of the average household’s energy bill is thanks to so-called “vampire appliances” — items that suck up electricity even when families are not using them — says Jeff Smith, a spokesman for utility company Pacific Gas and Electric.

That means a family who spends $2,000 on electricity each year would be wasting $200 (and sometimes far more, depending on what electronics they have in the home) simply by leaving certain items plugged in when they’re not using them. “Vampire energy … can cost your home hundreds of dollars each year,” says Gene Wang, CEO of People Power. Adds Smith: “This costs consumers more than $10 billion a year.”

Here are some of the costliest — and the most surprising — vampire appliances that may be eating into your budget, according to PG&E.

Flat screen TVs

Smith says that flat screen TVs are often the priciest vampire appliance and can, in some cases, cost you $160 a year when they’re not in use. While, of course, the simple solution is to unplug the TV when you’re not using it, the reality is that almost no one is going to do this. Charles Tran, the founder of CreditDonkey.com, offers up another solution: the advanced power strip, which prevents electronics from using power when they’re not in use; these range in cost from about $15 to $30 and thus can save you money in the long run, he adds. (Note that your DVR will not record if it is turned off, so Tran recommends connecting it to another power strip so you can leave it on (this is much less costly than a “vampire” TV).

Potential annual cost: up to about $160.

Video game consoles

Your XBox or Playstation could be costing you up to about $75 per year when you’re not using it, says Smith. But because they’re often positioned right near your television, you can use that advanced power strip to plug on both your television and video game console (as well as any other electronics you have in that area like a DVR). Or if you don’t want to go that route: “Try to group energy vampires, like your TV, game console and cable box together on one power strip — that way you can easily turn all the devices on and off with one switch,” says Wang.

Potential annual cost: up to $75.

Computers

When you leave your home computer plugged in when you’re not using it — especially when it’s not in sleep mode — you could waste up to about $40 a year, Smith estimates. And while laptops eat up less energy, you still waste nearly $20 a year leaving it on while not in use. He notes that adjusting your computer to ‘sleep’ mode after 30 minutes or less, disabling screensavers and setting the monitor to shut down after 10 to 15 minutes can save up to $40 per year.

Potential annual cost: Up to $40 for desktop computers, $19 for laptops.

DVRs and cable boxes

DVRs and cable boxes aren’t nearly as energy-sapping as your TV or video game console when they’re not in use, but plugging them into an advanced power strip (along with your TV and video game console) could save you up to about $22 a year. In general, if you aren’t sure if one of your appliances is an energy vampire, Wang recommends looking at their power supply. “Appliances that use a remote control or have a continuous display (clocks, screensavers) … are almost always energy vampires,” he says. Note that DVRs and cable boxes can take a while to reboot, so weigh the cost with convenience.

Potential annual cost: Up to $11 apiece.

Tablets and cellphone chargers

While these aren’t huge energy sucks, leaving your chargers for phones and tablets plugged in even when you’re not charging them does cost you. Smith estimates that these could set you back about $4.25 apiece per year. Considering that many families have multiple chargers plugged in at any given time, this could add up quickly. Also note that in some states you can now shop around for electricity, says Katie Brewer, a certified financial planner and owner of Your Richest Life. “Many states have deregulated electricity, which means that you may be able to get a lower rate on your electricity bill,” she says.

Potential annual cost: Up to about $4.25 per charger.

Kitchen appliances like coffee makers, toaster ovens and microwaves

Most American kitchens contain things like coffee makers, blenders, toasters, microwaves and other devices. Since each device can cost you up to about $5, you could easily be wasting $15 or more a year by leaving those appliances plugged in when you aren’t using them. It’s also important to note that for all appliances -- kitchen and otherwise -- you may want to inspect them for damage as this can mean they suck up more energy, says Chris Zeisler, appliance repair specialist RepairClinic.com.

Potential annual cost: Up to $5 per device.

Laser printer

While these aren’t major contributors to your electricity bill, the reality is that most of us don’t use our home printers very much, so there’s almost no reason to leave them on. Furthermore, homeowners may want to consider using an energy usage meter — this is basically an electricity monitor, which can be bought online or at a home improvement store for around $30, that connects to an appliance to track energy consumption — “to monitor energy consumption and discover inefficiencies to determine what needs to be unplugged or replaced,” says Zeisler; this applies to all appliances in the home that use energy.

Potential annual cost: Up to $5.