By Tracey Dowdy

The upside to having moved eleven times in the past twenty-six years is that I don’t have a lot of useless “stuff.” My husband is ruthless when it comes to packing. More than once while unpacking, my daughters and I have asked, “Where is my…?” only to be met with a “Well, here’s the thing…” from my husband. Ruthless I tell you. Ruthless.

If you’re not so <ahem> “fortunate” to have a Roy in your life, someone to continually help you purge, and you find yourself with items you want to get rid of, consider selling them online.

We’re all familiar with big names like Amazon, eBay, Craigslist but finding the best website for selling those items can mean the difference between money in your pocket and a trip to the Salvation Army. Maybe a less well-known site will be the one to help you turn your trash into cash.

VarageSale

VarageSale is the brainchild of a mom tired of the drama that often occurs when trying to buy and sell on social media sites. With over a million members in the US, Canada and around the world, VarageSale not only offers a comprehensive buy and sell platform, it’s also a blog with tips on everything from de-cluttering your space to mothering and clean eating.

Everything But The House

Everything But the House specializes in estate sales, so it’s not the best choice for selling your collection of Sponge Bob DVDs but a great option if you’re downsizing or need to sell off the contents of an entire house.

ValoreBooks

ValoreBooks promises “more cash for your old textbooks.” When you consider the average undergrad spends around $1200 a year on textbooks, the prospect of getting some of that money back is pretty alluring. Simply type in the ISBN number, receive an instant quote, and, if you’ve received a better quote somewhere else, ValoreBooks will match it. They also cover the cost of shipping and receiving payment is as easy as choosing a check or having the money deposited in your PayPal account.

Exchange My Phone

Exchange My Phone is the perfect place to sell your iPhone or Android device no matter the condition. Did you drop your phone and shatter the screen? Or maybe your toddler has dropped it in the toilet? No problem – Exchange My Phone buys new, used and broken phones, no matter the condition, and securely deletes all your data for no extra charge. Get a quote, have it shipped for free, and choose to receive payment yourself or donate the money to any US charity. How great is that? You’re keeping your device out of a landfill and doing a good deed at the same time. Now that’s a sweet deal!

Tracey Dowdy is a freelance writer based just outside Washington DC. After years working for non-profits and charities, she now freelances, edits and researches on subjects ranging from family and education to history and trends in technology. Follow Tracey on Twitter.

By Tracey Dowdy

My father faced many challenges in life but none greater than tutoring his daughters in math. God bless that man. Hours at the dining room table drilling us on times tables, explaining fractions, long division, finding the square root…no wonder he had gray hair long before he turned 40.

I was smart enough to marry a man who could do the same for our kids. He covered subjects like math and chemistry, I took care of English and History. I seriously think that should be part of parenting classes – who is going to help with what homework – but that’s an article for another day.

Until that happens, or at least while we wait, the gods of the Internet have provided several excellent web sites that can fill in when the questions asked are outside your scope of knowledge or you’ve run out of ways to explain a concept. Even better, no matter what your child’s learning style, these sites can make learning not only accessible, but fun as well.

IXL

IXL offers “dynamic, adaptive learning” so “practice feels like play. Students will find resources to help with math, science, social studies and language arts from Pre-K through Twelfth grade.  Available as a website and an app, IXL provides Common Core aligned content that will boost your child’s confidence as well as their skill set.

Access to a limited number of exercises is free, but membership is required for full access to resources like unlimited practice activities, analytics, awards, and certificates. (Membership fees: $9.95/month or $79.95/year)

Bookopolis

Bookopolis recognizes that readers are leaders and wants to instill a lifelong love of reading in kids aged 7-12. The web site tracks reading and writing accomplishments and encourages kids by awarding badges and points for adding or recommending books to others, writing reviews and reports, or inviting their friends to join. Kids practice persuasive writing, reports, keyboarding skills, comprehension, and keep an online reading log. There are contests, suggestions for reluctant readers – a lifesaver for parents when book reports are assigned – and links to fun pages like “Doodle with Tom Gates”, hero of Liz Pinchon’s series of books. (Free)

Khan Academy

Khan Academy provides thousands of educational video tutorials covering a broad range of subjects including math, science, history, English, art, and computer programming for students K-5 through university. Tutorials are available in English, French, Spanish, and Brazilian Portuguese and are Common Core aligned. Recognizing that each student learns differently and develops skills at different times, students have unlimited access to resources to ensure they achieve mastery through “conceptual understanding, procedural fluency, and real-world application.” (Free)

Google Scholar

Google Scholar “provides a simple way to broadly search for scholarly literature.” Ad free and limited to scholarly works such as abstracts, articles, books, and court opinions instead of the entire scope of the Internet, Google Scholar is ideal for students just starting in academic research. Keep in mind that articles are automatically sorted by topic, not date, so just as with Google, students will need to be mindful of relevance and the date information was published. (Free)

Tracey Dowdy is a freelance writer based just outside Washington DC. After years working for non-profits and charities, she now freelances, edits and researches on subjects ranging from family and education to history and trends in technology. Follow Tracey on Twitter.

By Tracey Dowdy

Are you wearing a fitness tracker? A new study published in the American Medical Association Journal concluded that activity trackers may not be living up to all they promise. Researchers found that individuals wearing activity trackers in fact lost less weight than those that didn’t.

The results were surprising as researchers “anticipated that those with the activity trackers would lose more weight across the 24 months,” said study co-author John Jakicic, a weight-management researcher at the University of Pittsburgh. “When we found just the opposite this was very surprising.”

The study followed 471 overweight or obese individuals aged 18-35 years over a two-year period. Each participant followed a program of exercise, ate a healthy diet and participated in weekly support meetings. Six months into the study, one group started utilizing a website to track calorie intake and exercise, while individuals in the second group were given fitness trackers commercially available and designed to be worn on the upper arm.

Fast forward two years. The individuals using fitness trackers lost an average of 8lbs while those tracking diet and fitness goals online dropped 13lbs. Note: The study did not include a control group of individuals that were offered no online or wearable tech weight loss interventions.

While the study may be disheartening for anyone using an activity tracker, it’s important to consider several things not documented by the study results. One, participants still lost weight. Losing less weight than another individual is less important than the impact a healthier lifestyle will have long-term. Speaking of long-term, it is yet to be seen which group maintains their fitness goals and lifestyle changes over time. Will those logging on to a website be more inclined to continue or will it be the individuals who are seeing “results” in real time as their tracker logs steps, heart rate, and calories burned?

Furthermore, “the importance of examining effective weight loss strategies for young adults is supported by a recent report showing that this age demographic has a prevalence of obesity (32.3%) higher than the prevalence in youth 12 to 19 years of age (20.5%) but lower than that found in middle-aged adults (40.2%). This may suggest that young adulthood is an important transition period for weight gain and the development of obesity.” In other words, developing a healthy lifestyle when you’re younger bodes well for avoiding obesity in middle age regardless of the methods used. Again, focus on the bigger picture. Both groups improved their overall health.

Regardless of your approach, it takes more than diet or exercise on their own to maintain a healthy body. Exercise can be undermined by a poor diet and inadequate nutrition hinders peak physical ability. Food should be seen as fuel, not a reward.

Obviously, whether you choose wearable tech is a personal choice. If it motivates you and helps you stay on track, by all means get one. There are a lot of great options available. As Jakicic said, “Regardless, if you wear a device like this and it helps you to become more active and manage your weight better, by all means keep doing that.”

Tracey Dowdy is a freelance writer based just outside Washington DC. After years working for non-profits and charities, she now freelances, edits and researches on subjects ranging from family and education to history and trends in technology. Follow Tracey on Twitter.