Month: July 2021

In the United States, there were over 550,000 people who tested positive for COVID-19. A number that reached 180,000,000 people worldwide, according to the CDC. While symptoms varied, a common (and weird) symptom became loss of smell. Afterward, some people noticed after their smell came back, it was distorted, making some food smell and taste rancid. This phenomenon spiked thousands of Google searches for the term “Parosmia”. I was one of those who dealt with Parosmia, and while it’s nearly gone. I wanted to talk about Parosmia after COVID and how Parosmia is changing people’s food budgets. I’ll start with I’m one of those unlucky few with jacked-up smell and tastebuds. I can no longer eat my favorite foods as they now taste like rancid trash. My go-to budget food like peanut butter and jelly sandwiches are now a pipe dream as peanut butter tastes like Styrofoam. It’s a rough life, but smells and tastebuds do come back.When our smell first started to go south for Parosmia, we tried everything to get it back. Including home remedies on Tik Tok which included eating a burnt orange. It did nothing except taste like a burnt orange.Parosmia Is Just Screwed Up Smell and TasteParosmia is common after a viral infection like colds but became more popular due to COVID-19. WebMD says perhaps up to 7% of the people who had COVID-19 developed a distorted sense of smell called “Parosmia.” People discover it about 2.5 months after the initial COVID-19 infection, and it can continue for at least six months.What’s frustrating is how closely your sense of smell is tied to taste. When your smell and taste are off, it’s surprising how much it affects your entire life. Imagine 30% of Food Tasting Like Garbage, That’s ParosmiaHere’s the deal. Having a screwed-up sense of smell is terrible, but Parosmia takes it to a new level. For most people, it takes the scent of specific food profiles and replaces them with the smell of rancid garbage.Weirdly, the smell is of the same rotten garbage. Like my brain forgot what 30% of food smells like and replaced it with a generic smell of rotten garbage. For example, I’ve noticed that everything from Pizza to a McDonald’s Big Mac to a moldy wet towel has the same horrible garbage smell. When things smell like rotten garbage, they also taste like rotten garbage. This has significantly changed my weekly grocery list!Everyday Foods That Smell & Taste Terrible With ParosmiaHere is a list of foods that smell and therefore taste terrible, taken from my personal experience and the numerous Parosmia Facebook/Instagram Groups that have popped up since 2019. Each person seems to have slightly different degrees of how bad foods are and what causes their rancid smells, but here are the common culprits.Foods That Smell & Taste TerribleChickenEggsBaconOnions (bye-bye Pizza & Pasta)GarlicFishBeansPeanut ButterCoffeeFrom personal experience, these foods taste terrible. Even if you force yourself to eat through the terrible rancid taste, I’ve learned your body still finds a way to reject it. I won’t go into more detail there but think bathroom. Bacon was terrible with Parosmia. I could immediately tell while cooking, but I had to try. I can confirm the normally delicious bacon tastes awful with Parosmia. Life Sucked.Most of this is trial and error, as the Parosmia community cannot find a common denominator for what makes certain foods smell rancid.Even if you remove all of these items from your house, it’s still a challenge ever going out with friends.I find myself at restaurants going through the ingredients of each dish and trying to avoid those mentioned above. A tedious process where onions and garlic make most dishes impossible to avoid. Then the process of explaining the complex nature of Parosmia to your waiter in hopes of substitution is enough to make me want to crawl under the table. Foods That Seem To Be OK With ParosmiaI’ll start that most food will always taste a little off with Parosmia. There is no way to get around it. Simply your nose is broken so that food will feel a little off. The best you can hope for is food tasting tolerable because asking for food to taste good again is like asking to fly.Here is my weekly grocery list with parosmia. It’s nothing special but has become a safe haven for my deteriorated taste buds. It’s heavy on fresh fruit, ramen noodles, and protein shakes. When we first got parosmia, we did a lot of charcuterie boards. We incorporated lots of fresh fruit and experimented with different combinations to see what worked for our smell and taste buds.Here is my Parosmia grocery list for my family:BreadMilkApplesStrawberriesGrapesCutiesDiced TomatoesMozzarella CheesePotatoesEggsMac & CheeseGround BeefCerealProtein Shakes Ramen NoodlesThese have seemed pretty safe for my family, but I’ll add that anything sugary like cereal is also OK. It appears that sugary foods mask any rancid taste. I know most people will balk at the surgery cereal, but it pretty much saved me when my smell and taste first started to skew. It was the only thing I could eat without gagging. I used sugary cereal as a base and started to branch out and experiment with other foods from there. However, as you may expect, the sugary cereal was KILLER on my diet, and my workouts had to compensate heavily, which was great for walking with Stepbet. So learn from my mistakes for your grocery list. I’ve added a protein shake to most of my meals to get my daily protein since I can’t eat chicken like I used to.Bland Food Is Your Friend, But So Is SpiceAt first, I only ate bland food with simple ingredients. I figured I could swap out ingredients to find which foods caused the worst reactions. Learning from trial and error became second nature during Parosmia. HOWEVER, as you may expect, my family had a short tolerance for bland food. It was safe, but the monotony was draining our morale. So we discovered an unexpected craving, spice.Let me preface, myself and my family is NOT a fan of spicy food. We were total wimps when it came to any heat levels. Yet, spice became a welcome addition to all our meals that breathed new life into our meals. We used bottles of spices like red chili pepper for the first time since we bought a spice rack. It was an incredible discovery!Our Favorite Meal During ParosmiaIn addition to buying Ramen noodles in bulk for their bland, safe flavor, we practiced with different recipes at night to find new flavors that friendly to our pallets. Here is one of my family’s favorite recipes. Homemade Pizzas – Take Nann Bread as your crust. We usually top with store-bought pasta sauce, but it’s packed with onions and garlic. So we create a homemade sauce with a can of diced tomatoes and blend them into a sauce with red pepper flakes. The heat helps with the bland flavor. Then add fresh mozzarella and oven-bake for 12 minutes. It’s great!BONUS Tiramisu Crepes – I honestly don’t know the recipe because my girlfriend did them as a surprise and they were amazing. However, if you message us on Twitter I’ll see what I can do.My girlfriend made these amazing tiramisu crepes. The sugary treat was perfect for parosmia but perhaps a little unhealthy. However, it tasted wonderful, and that’s a rare luxury for when everything else tastes terrible.Expect Your Food Budget To IncreaseOne of the most significant ways my food budget has increased is that meal prep has become significantly more complicated. It seems that anytime I reheat meals in a microwave or oven, the reheating causes food to have more pungent rancid tastes. So we no longer do many leftovers. Most of our meals are cooked the night off.  Also, purchasing all the ingredients from scratch makes food taste a little fresher but comes at a premium price. It’s not terrible, but something to be aware of. Luckily we have a couple of different income streams that make this easier. Parosmia Makes Eating Healthy Difficult, but Not ImpossibleAdmittedly Parosmia initially caused me to gain significant weight because the foods I’m used to eating, Pizza, Pasta, Chicken, became intolerable.I clung to the sugary foods that provide some sense of flavor. Eventually, as I learned more, I introduced more fresh fruit and learned to cook meals from scratch to control all the ingredients. So I turned a horrible Parosmia experience into a learning experience teaching new skills and introducing more fresh ingredients into my diet. Wallet Squirrel is a personal finance blog by best friends Andrew & Adam on how money works, building side-hustles, and the benefits of cleverly investing the profits. Featured on MSN Money, AOL Finance, and more!Join the AwesomeWallet Squirrel List!Join our mailing list to get helpful money ideas & encouragement to do cool things!I will guard your email with my life. […]

Your entire life changes the moment you have kids. While most of us understand that becoming a parent will mean less sleep and lots of diapers, we drastically underestimate the amount of kids shows we will watch. Show let’s explore the 9 best Disney Channel shows that us parents won’t hate!Your favorite shows will be replaced first by cartoons, then live-action kid’s programs, and finally by tween and teen sitcoms. The good news is that The Disney Channel has several kid-friendly shows that parents won’t dread watching too.Watch these 9 Family-Friendly Disney Channel Shows to Bond with Your KidsIf your family is like mine, one of your favorite ways to relax at the end of a long day is to gather on the couch, turn on the TV and watch our favorite family-friendly shows. And before you start worrying about screen time, you can take a deep breath and relax. Shared viewing experiences, in moderation, can actually be a positive thing.There are many benefits to watching TV with your kids, including opportunities to discuss your family’s values, having some family bonding time, and turning screen time into quality time with your child.According to The Child Mind Institute, watching your kids’ favorite show along with them not only “brings you closer to your child at a time when they are becoming less likely to confide in you, but watching together can spark conversations about subjects or issues that they otherwise might not feel comfortable discussing with you.”Many kid-friendly shows lack storylines or characters that adults can connect with. As a mom of two kids, I’ve had great luck finding fantastic family-friendly shows on The Disney Channel that the whole family can enjoy.The Best Disney Channel Shows for Families: SitcomsWhile the Disney shows that you knew and loved as a kid, like “Boy Meets World” and “Doug,” are long gone, there are now plenty of series that are ready for the next generation to enjoy. No Disney Channel? No problem! Many of these shows are on other platforms like Disney Plus, Netflix, Prime Video, and the Disney Now app.Here are nine shows from The Disney Channel that are kid-tested and parent-approved! So grab a bowl of popcorn and enjoy some couch time with your kids.1. TrickedBest for families with kids of all ages.Who doesn’t love mind-blowing magic and hilarious hidden camera pranks? Well, this series combines both of them in one program that your entire family will enjoy. Watch as YouTube personality, and magician Eric Leclerc amazes kids and adults through his magic on the streets of New York and Canada. You’ll be in awe of his creative and amusing antics like floating popcorn, a chalkboard that solves math problems and creating friendship bracelets in his mouth.2. Raven’s HomeBest for families with kids age seven and up.This Disney Channel gem stars Raven Symone in a spinoff of “That’s So Raven.” This show shares the story of two single moms, who are also best friends, as they move in together to raise their children. The two moms have very different parenting styles, which pay off when dealing with three kids under one roof.The show does a great job of incorporating modern challenges to allow families to discuss their values and priorities. Kids and adults will enjoy the hilarious antics and realistic scenarios.3. Liv and MaddieBest for families with kids age seven and up.Liv and Maddie Rooney are teenage twins who are complete opposites. Maddie is a student-athlete, while Liv is a famous actress and singer. Dove Cameron from “The Descendants” fame plays both characters, amazingly. However, Liv and Maddie aren’t the only reason that your entire family will love this show. All of the characters in the series are hilarious and loveable.The storylines are lighthearted, relatable, and totally entertaining. While Liv and Maddie are the stars of the show, their mom’s character will leave you all laughing hysterically with her comedic delivery.4. Coop and Cami Ask the WorldBest for families with kids age seven and up.Coop and Cami Wrather are a brother-sister duo who have created the successful online show “Would you Wrather.” The savvy tweens harness the power of social media as they poll the show’s audience with this or that questions to make all of their decisions. From what they will eat for dinner to whether their mom should date the school principal, they always follow through with the results of their surveys. With a strong emphasis on family relationships and friendship, kids will enjoy the show’s events and characters, while the heartfelt and funny content will amuse parents.5. Just Roll With ItBest for families with kids age seven and up.Part sitcom and part improv, this family comedy series on The Disney Channel is like no other. The actors on the partially scripted show have arrived to film with their lines memorized in front of a live studio audience. Everything goes along as planned until the foghorn blast, and the audience gets to choose what happens next. No matter what the audience decides, the actors have to just roll with it and make it happen without any preparation.The scripted portion of the show includes a heavy emphasis on themes that include blended families, step-parents, and other relatable issues that parents will appreciate. The series takes inspiration from “Whose Line Is It Anyway” and “Choose Your Own Adventure” books, and the result is an entertaining and engaging show that you’ll all enjoy.6. Bunk’DBest for families with kids age eight and up.This popular series is the type of show that Disney is famous for. “Bunk’D” occurs at Camp Kikiwaka, where the CIT’s (Counselors in Training) are the main characters in the show. As you can imagine, a kid’s summer camp provides the perfect backdrop for tons of family-friendly episodes covering topics like roommates, rival campers, and mysteries in the woods.7. RideBest for families with kids age eight and up.American teenager Kit Bridge’s entire world changes when her family moves to England. Her father’s been hired at Covington Academy, an elite boarding school that she now attends. “Ride” is a funny, heartfelt series that focuses on the relationships and challenges that we all face as we navigate changes in our lives. Filmed in an actual castle in Northern Ireland, you will enjoy the scenery as much as you enjoy the series. Chosen by Common Sense Media as one of their top picks for families, this Disney Channel show is sure to become one of your family’s favorites too.8. Secrets of Sulphur SpringsBest for families with kids age nine and up.A new original series, “Secrets of Sulphur Springs,” is full of family-friendly mystery and drama. Set in the fictitious town of Sulphur Springs, Louisiana, the show tells the story of middle-schooler Griffin Campbell. The boy and his dad have moved into the supposedly haunted Tremont Hotel, which is full of adventure, including time travel, ghosts, and an unsolved disappearance.The mildly spooky show has enough suspense and mystery to captivate adults and kids at the same time while avoiding blatantly scary scenes. The veil of secrecy surrounding the story’s events provides a sounding board for discussing the importance of forgiveness and honesty.9. Sydney to the MaxBest for families with kids age nine and up.This modern family comedy series follows the lives of tweenager Sydney, single father Max, and grandma (Caroline Rhea) as the three generations navigate life together. The plot follows outgoing Sydney as she struggles to understand why her overprotective dad throws down so many rules and guidelines for her to follow.Embedded into the show are flashbacks to the 90’s showing Max and his mom navigating many of the same situations that Sydney is currently experiencing today. The show’s premise helps kids see that parents faced the same challenges growing up and that they really do understand what they’re going through.ConclusionWhile parents traditionally tend to avoid kids’ shows due to annoying songs and cheesy actors, these Disney Shows are actually enjoyable to watch together and present a comfortable way for parents and kids to talk about sensitive topics.With a wide variety of options from sitcoms, mysteries, dramas, and reality shows, you’re sure to find something that your family will love and perhaps become part of your family’s weekly routine.This post originally appeared on Your Money GeekWallet Squirrel is a personal finance blog by best friends Andrew & Adam on how money works, building side-hustles, and the benefits of cleverly investing the profits. Featured on MSN Money, AOL Finance, and more!Join the AwesomeWallet Squirrel List!Join our mailing list to get helpful money ideas & encouragement to do cool things!I will guard your email with my life. […]

June was an amazing month for Andrew and me! First off, we traveled together out to Maine to visit our best friend Tristan. Tristan surprised us with a sailboat trip! What fun that was!Secondly, we had the best month, income-wise, ever! In June, Wallet Squirrel brought in over $1,200! How amazing is that?!?!Our monthly income reports are an opportunity to share exactly what it’s like to run Wallet Squirrel. These are a transparent look at what we make, all the struggles/successes, and perhaps most importantly, how we build from an audience of zero to 17,000 this last month.If you’re curious about our progress, we share these income reports every month.What We Accomplished in JuneAndrew finished the make-over on our Affiliate Website which makes it more Amazon Affiliate.Adam started the execution of a new social media campaign through Instagram (more about this soon).We worked with many great partners to continue syndicating amazing new content on Wallet Squirrel.We worked on several projects that will help gain wider brand exposure for Wallet Squirrel.Our June Website TrafficIt is still a little crazy we share our website statistics, but we sincerely hope those reading get an idea of what it’s really like to run a blog. It’s very tough, but incredibly rewarding when we see people appreciating our content.A majority of our traffic comes organically from Google. Strong SEO tied with the perfect keyword really does work! Here’s what the month’s traffic looked like!Our June Website IncomeSorry, I already spoiled the good news. I still can’t believe we jumped to over $1,200 in income this month! Our switch to Ezoic for Website Ads continues to prove to be a winner. This move has almost tripled our ad revenue. We tend to take this money, immediately reinvesting in us and Wallet Squirrel.A big contributor to our high income is our How To Start A Blog page which continues to be one of the best on the internet (in terms of design). These affiliates are great, but we hope that our website ads and additional affiliates will become bigger contributors as we grow!Plus two awesome high-quality sponsored posts brought in some nice income! That’s the “Additional Income” tab.Every month we continue to try different ways to make money, and these passive income experiments continue to boost our potential income. Every day these grow and will eventually replace our entire income through blogging. Cool Right!Monthly Expenses for Wallet SquirrelWhile it’s great to talk about the money we make. We also spend money to help our blog grow. Here is how much money we spent in June.Monthly Expenses – $293Bluehost ($36) – hosting serviceSitelock ($8) – extra security add-on from BluehostDomain Name ($2) – so we can reserve the domain name WalletSquirrel.com.Bloom ($7) – our creative email signup forms.Grammarly ($12) – A necessity for any writer/bloggerNoun Project ($4)  – Unlimited Icon Downloads. It’s been great for graphics and social media.Ezoic Premium ($58) – Ezoic is our advertising network and offers a premium service, but completely worth it.Money Mix Insiders ($166) – Great mastermind group for finance & travel bloggers + Ahrefs MembershipIn addition to our monthly blogging expenses, I did purchase a few dividend stocks to add to my stock portfolio. I purchased a few shares of Microsoft and Verizon. These purchases will continue to boost my monthly dividend income!What’s Next For JulyWe look forward to continuing on pushing to new heights in July. June’s income report and a nice vacation have really rejuvenated our spirit. Adam will continue to build on top of a solid start to the social media campaign. Andrew plans on creating lots of new evergreen content. We also might be participating as guests in our first podcast appearance (the details are still in the works).Overall, we are very proud of what June provided. We look forward to what July has in store for us.Wallet Squirrel is a personal finance blog by best friends Andrew & Adam on how money works, building side-hustles, and the benefits of cleverly investing the profits. Featured on MSN Money, AOL Finance, and more!Join the AwesomeWallet Squirrel List!Join our mailing list to get helpful money ideas & encouragement to do cool things!I will guard your email with my life. […]

It is very important that you look after your financials and plan for your future accordingly to protect your financial future. There are a few ways you can go about this while keeping in mind the sort of lifestyle you are hoping to achieve and maintain.There is obviously your pension plan, which you do have to keep one eye on to make sure that it is on track for paying out the kind of money you would like it to. Despite a wealth of free information, like this from the USA Gov website, not many people know enough about their own pensions and what to do to make their financial future more secure.In addition to this, there are other things you can do to help your financial future be what you want it to be.Plan aheadMake a plan of how you want to live in the future and work out the kind of outgoings this will create. Of course, you are unlikely to be able to work out the rate of inflation accurately, though there are places you can go on the internet where a rough guestimate is available. It may give you an idea of the sort of income you will require.Start a saving fundStart a saving fund. This can be in the form of another pension or as a separate savings account or other investment, and skim off any earnings you feel you can afford into it. If you are lucky enough to have had a pay rise but could live quite comfortably on the earnings you had before, perhaps putting the difference aside into a savings account may be the first step you need. Alternatively, starting a side hustle and putting the money away can offer the same results.Make a strategy to pay off debtsStart making a strategy to pay off any outstanding debts or loans. You may find this easier to manage if you consolidate all your loans and credit cards into one, and you may save a bit of money in the process on interest payments. See this article for information on how your credit score could affect you.Create your plan for retirementCreate your plan for retirement, work out when it is you are likely to retire and how much money you will have by then versus how much money you will want to have by then so you can start working towards your financial future.Put your plans into actionPutting your plans into action is the final part, though you will have to keep track of how well you are doing and be prepared to change any of your plans as time goes on.Obviously, there will be a time in life, albeit a short period, for example, where mortgages are paid off but income from employment is still present, when you may find that you have a little more money than previously. Make the most of these times, be money wise and invest what you can for your future.Final thoughts The best way to go about your financial future is to plan it out and then work out what you want to happen. Once you have done this, you will be able to work backward to make sure that you hit every goal you need to hit to get to your desired destination. Join the AwesomeWallet Squirrel List!Join our mailing list to get helpful money ideas & encouragement to do cool things!I will guard your email with my life. […]