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Tips for everyday living
The Costco Household Almanac—a little of everything
LIFE IS SUPPOSED TO be easier these days, thanks
to conveniences such as electronics. For example, to
talk with a family member in a different town, you
don’t need to ride a horse for three days over the
mountains. You can use your cellphone—or send a
text message.
Nonetheless, living today seems to be more
complicated. Helping you navigate these complexi-ties is what the 2008 Costco Household Almanac is
all about. Featuring 200-plus information-packed
pages, the almanac is published with the support of
Costco’s valued suppliers. It will be handed out in
warehouses over the Father’s Day weekend and will
be posted at costco.com (see sidebar).
Here’s a sample of what you’ll find
in the Household Almanac.
Choosing the right
office chair
Finding the best
office chair entails
seven simple measurements that
you can do on your own.
For example, here’s how
to determine whether
a chair is too deep:
With your back
against the backrest
and your bottom all the way back in the seat of your
chair, lean forward and try to pass your clenched
fist between the back of your calf and the front of
the chair. If you can’t do this easily, the chair seat is
too deep. You’ll need to adjust the backrest forward;
insert a lower back support such as a lumbar support cushion, a pillow or a rolled-up towel; or consider buying a different office chair.
The water-saving toilet
You probably don’t know it, but the toilet is
the biggest water-user in the
house. Installing a water-saving
toilet can save thousands of
gallons of water a year.
Older toilets use
about 3. 5 gallons per
flush (gpf). New toilets
use 1. 6 gpf—which could
save 12,000 gallons over
the course of a year.
Even more savings
are offered by dual-flush
toilets. They feature two
buttons: one for liquid waste, which uses a partial
flush (0.8 gpf); the other for solid waste, using a
full flush ( 1. 6 gpf).
Knocking years off your age
When it comes to aging, we tend to think that
frailty and forgetfulness are inevitable. And we
assume that, thanks to our genes, we’re locked into
a certain path. In truth, we can control more than
70 percent of how well and how long we live.
One healthy step is eating foods rich in fla-vonoids, vitamin-like substances that have been
shown to decrease the rate of arterial and immune
aging. Eating a flavonoid-ri ch diet can knock 3. 2
years off your age. Eat 31 grams a day to do so:
• Apples ( 1 cup)
• Broccoli ( 1 cup)
• Cranberries ( 8 ounces)
• Cranberry juice ( 8 ounces)
• Grape juice ( 5 ounces)
• Oats ( 1 cup)
• Onions ( 1 small)
• Red wine ( 5 ounces)
• Strawberries ( 1 cup)
• Tomato juice or tea ( 8 ounces
of tomato juice or brewed
non-herbal tea)
Unleashing your camcorder
Your camcorder is not only for vacations and
parties. It can be used throughout the year for a
variety of projects well beyond preserving memories. Some examples are:
Safeguard your possessions. Videotape your
possessions for insurance purposes in case of theft.
Improve your public speaking. Tape yourself
making a presentation as a way to critique and
improve your performance.
Perfect your golf swing. Have a friend tape
your swing at the driving range to improve your
technique.
Help your child at school. Tape your child
reading material that will be tested at school.
Watching the tape is a great memorization tool.
This also works well for learning a
new language. C
So how do
you get an
Almanac?
ALMANACS WILL be
distributed in Costco
warehouses on Father’s
Day weekend (June 13
to 15), on a first-come,
first-served basis, free of
charge. If you don’t happen to get a copy in your
local warehouse (supplies
are limited), an online
version will be posted at
costco.com on June 16.
Just enter “almanac” in
the search box. You can
download a PDF version
to your computer.
