Blog Posts by Oprah.com

Photo: ThinkstockBy Amy Shearn

Check Your Data Plan
Your company might be able to offer you up to a 25 percent discount on your cell phone bill--and it's possible your boss doesn't even know about it. All you have to do is enter your corporate (or school) email onto your cell phone carrier's employee discount page to see if you qualify.

ATT: wireless.att.com
Verizon: verizonwireless.com
Sprint: sprint.p.delivery.net

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Ask for the Leap Year Bonus
Sometimes your company won't consider a raise because that will make you more expensive forever. But if you feel like you are really deserving, ask for a one time raise. Tory Johnson, workplace contributor for Good Morning America and business consultant at Women For Hire, recommends asking for a "spot bonus." Johnson told me, "You can say, 'I know it's not time for my annual review or I know salary budgets are frozen. Based on this significant contribution, I'm hoping you'll consider a spot bonus for

Photo: ThinkstockBy Jenna Pincott

Keep a Messy Table

A meal's carnage--for instance, leftover bones, fatty scraps and rinds--acts as an "environmental cue" to stop eating. When diners at an all-you-can-eat chicken-wing buffet chowed down at unbussed tables, they ate significantly less food than those whose tables had been cleared between courses. The sight of empty beer cans and wine bottles may also reduce alcohol consumption, say the study's authors, Cornell University's Brian Wansink and Collin Payne.

Dine with a Man

Eat a meal with a male companion, and you'll likely consume fewer calories (720 versus 833 for women), found a study led by Molly Allen-O'Donnell at Indiana University. "Unconscious scripts" drive women to eat less in the company of men because they want to appear "more feminine," and men eat more with women to appear more "masculine," Allen-O'Donnell writes.

Inflate Your Calories

Feeling full depends on "mindset--what one believes and expects to be eating," write

Photo: ThinkstockBy Jena Pincott

It May Freak You Out (a Little)
Yes, you can inhale fear--and it changes your brain, found a German study in which "fear sweat" sniffers showed increased activation in neural circuits associated with empathy (not so for sniffers of normal sweat). After breathing it in for at least five minutes, you may feel more anxious (and not know why), as volunteers did in a study at the Monell Chemical Senses Center.

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It May Geek You Out
In an experiment led by Denise Chen at Rice University, female volunteers scored higher on a word-association test after smelling sweat from the armpits of horror-movie watchers (compared to neutral or no sweat). Through learned association, inhaling "fear" or "stress" sweat may make us more alert and vigilant--which translates into a cognitive boost.

It Can Trigger Your Sexual Sixth Sense
We've all heard about the power of smell and its role in choosing lovers who are

By Adam Glassman

By Lynn Andriani

Photo: ThinkstockBy Candace Braun Davison

Juicers and Personal Blenders

Between the rise of cleanse diets and the April 2013 release of Gwyneth Paltrow's clean-eating cookbook, It's All Good, juicers are one of this year's most sought-after appliances. New, used or refurbished, the highest demand is for Norwalk models. "It seems to be the Cadillac of juicers," says eBay Dean of Education Jim Griffith. Bids for Norwalk's styles range anywhere from $493 to $2,795. Along with juicers, single-serving blenders (like the Magic Bullet) make up six of the top 10 bestsellers in Amazon's Kitchen Small Appliances category.

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Michael Graves for Target Kitchen Gadgets

From 1999 to 2012, designer Michael Graves crafted functional-meets-modern kitchenware for the company and attracted a cult following in the process. Almost any item can be sold for a profit, says Griffith, but the white Pop Art Toaster--in great condition--is worth about $200,

Photo: ThinkstockBy Corrie Pikul

The De-Frazzler You Already Have in Your Purse
That pack of gum you carry around in case of a yellowtail-and-scallion emergency can freshen your mood as well as your breath. Researchers from Australia and England found that when agitated people chewed gum, they felt less anxious, more alert and had 18 percent less cortisol (the stress hormone) in their saliva. The study authors hypothesize that chewing increases blood flow to the brain, which helps with alertness and may also distract us from irritants.

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Aromatherapy That Could Work Even When Your Nose Is Stuffed Up
Many people swear that dabbing on essential oils help relax them. For times when this isn't practical, CalmAid supplements contain 80 milligrams of lavender oil in a gel-pill form. We wondered how the odorless softgels would work, but clinical studies (sponsored by the manufacturer) showed that taking them daily for 10 weeks helped decrease anxiety better

Photo: Chris CraymerBy Henry Vierra

Prep the soil.
Whether you're growing herbs in a planter on your windowsill or outdoors, Vierra recommends using a well-mixed combination of peat moss, compost and dirt. "It should be loose enough for water to drain and for the plant's roots to grow and pull nutrients from the soil," he says.

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Plant seeds no deeper than half an inch.
The finer the seeds, the shallower they should lie in the soil. Pack them too far into the earth and the weak sprouts won't have enough energy to break through to the surface. Plus, the warmer soil near the top helps spur growth. (Just make sure your plants get six to eight hours of sunlight daily.)

Water wisely.
Herbs will rot and die in soggy dirt, says Vierra, as the swampy conditions overwhelm the roots. To check if you're over- or under-watering, grab a tiny chunk of soil just beneath the top layer and squeeze it in your hand. If it starts to crumble, water more often. If it