HEALTH AND WEALTH; save your money while improving your health

This week’s topic is ways to improve your health while also improving your finances.

Health and Wealth

Most people think of health as something only wealthy people are concerned with. After all, when you’re poor, do you really have time to worry about getting fit? Are you really concerned with a proper diet when you’re worried about where your next meal is coming from? Plus getting fit is so expensive. With gym memberships, personal trainers, exercise equipment, organic foods and vitamin supplements, folks don’t think they can afford to be healthy. That’s where this week’s topic comes in. We’re going to discuss ways to be healthy AND save money.

A Healthy Commute

The first and most important money saving and health oriented change you can make is your transportation. With the price of gas rising, we spend quite a bit of money on our commute. Why not save this money while getting a good workout by changing to walking or biking?

My commute to my old office was around four miles. Driving there in my car meant about .4 gallons a day. Doesn’t sound like much, but let’s do a little bit of math. .4 gallons a day at California prices of $3.40 a gallon works out to around $1.36 a day. That’s a $1.36 I’m paying to be less healthy.

Does that make sense? I was actually paying money to be less healthy. And that doesn’t even include the price of maintenance on the car. Instead, I could have bought a cheap mountain bike. They cost around $200 new and you can buy them used for around $50 to $100. So my payback period would have been 2 to 4 months. Plus I would have been getting a good workout every morning of those months. Commute time would have gone from 10 minutes in a car, to 20 minutes on a bike and I’d have saved a bit of time by not having to look for a parking spot.

Walking, Oldest and Best Exercise

That’s just one example of how alternative transportation methods can save you money and improve your fitness. Here’s another, walking. The simplest and best exercise ever created. Walking isn’t just for fitness. Thousands of years of history consist of little more than people walking to get from place to place. Guess what, your feet are just as good for transportation now as they were then.

This weekend I had a few errands to run. I needed to go to the bank and then pick up some duct tape at the local hardware store. Driving would have taken about 5 to 10 minutes each way. Walking took about 20 minutes each way. Again, I did lose a bit of time, but I saved money. I didn’t spend on gas, I didn’t put any more miles on my car and I got a decent workout.

Walking for about 40 minutes total at an easy pace meant an expenditure of about 200 calories. It’s not much but it makes a difference. Plus the constant motion and movement of walking is a great way to boost your metabolism. I try to walk to my errands as much as I can, but I also try to walk to lunches or dinners when possible. A brisk walk after a meal is perfect to avoid that food coma, plus knowing you have to walk home will help you prevent overeating.

Bonus Effect!

And here’s another little way in which this can help you save money. When I walk or bike, I make it impossible for me to make those bad purchase decisions that always end up costing me money. On the way to the hardware store I stopped by a local electronics store. I’m usually tempted to buy a few things while I’m there but that day I didn’t because I knew I would have to carry them back. Same for the hardware store. Rather than buy that new tool box I didn’t really need, I stuck to the duct tape I did need because my carrying capacity is limited.

Longer Commutes

Walking and biking are two excellent exercises that can be used as a means of transportation. For short errands or short commutes, they’re great ways of saving money. If you have a longer commute, you may want to consider walking or biking down to your local public transportation. Most public transportation systems allow bikes and you’ll find that your commute is a lot less hectic and a lot more productive when you’re not in your car. You have time to read, work or just get a bit of extra sleep. All that while getting some good exercise AND saving money.

Summary

This week, try some alternative transportation. Besides walking and biking, there’s skateboarding, roller blades and even those little razor scooters you see everywhere. Don’t think of them as a slower commute that wastes you time. Think of them as a time saver that lets you get to work while you exercise and saves you money as a bonus.

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HEALTH AND WEALTH; The shopping list

This week, we’ve been talking about saving money while getting healthier. We covered a very simple alternative yesterday, walking or biking instead of driving. Today, we’re going to get a bit more complex and talk about your food shopping habits.

The Problem

If you’re like me, you go food shopping for one of two reasons. Most of the time, you run out of something crucial, like laundry detergent, so you go to the supermarket to pick up that item. The rest of the time, you go food shopping because you notice that your fridge is empty and your cabinets contain nothing but dust. So you decide to go to the supermarket and restock on food. Either way, you get to the supermarket, you load up on the items you need but you also pick up other items you don’t really need. You pick up that extra bag of peanuts because it looked good. You add a bit of cheese to your cart because you remembered how much you like pepper jack. Eventually, you get to the checkout with a cart full of goods, telling yourself “well, this should keep me fed for a month!” Two weeks later, you’re back at the supermarket.

So what are you doing wrong? What’s going on here that’s affecting both your thighs and your wallet?

First, supermarkets are designed to make us buy more. There are a variety of ways they do this. For example, the put the necessities like bread way in the back. That way you need to walk past all the other isles just to get to them giving the supermarket plenty of opportunity to entice you into extra shopping. They also put cheap impulse items at convenient locations like the checkout or the end of the isle. That way you walk by, spot what looks like a good deal and pick it up. So there’s your first mistake, you’re buying items you don’t need.

Second, you’re buying items you won’t use before they spoil. I tend to do this with fruit and cheeses. They all look so enticing so I buy a lot, telling myself that I’ll eat them all before they spoil. That never happens. I always end up throwing spoiled things away because I forgot to eat them.

Third, you’re buying too many snacks and unhealthy items. Again, the supermarket knows what it’s doing. It designs things so you buy them and the easiest things to sell on impulse are snacks and other unhealthy additions to your diet. That’s why all those candy bars are there at the checkout. Because they know you’re going to spend a few minutes standing there and what better time to sell you on some chocolate?

Finally, you’re simply buying too much. When you go into the supermarket planning to restock the kitchen, you usually end up with a lot more food than you need. I know that I do this on a regular basis. I always justify it by telling myself that this food will last a long time. Instead of buying for two weeks, I just bought for four, and that’s good, right? I saved money by buying in bulk. Well, not exactly.

Those of you who shop at places like Costco, pay attention to this part. When you buy large quantities of food, you tend to eat large quantities. So if you buy four weeks worth of food, you’ll probably eat them in two to three weeks. Why do we do this? Well, because that’s how our brains work. We see a lot of food and assume we should eat it now. It’s just instinct going back to the days when we didn’t have so much food available. Our bodies tell us to gorge now while this time of plenty lasts so when the famine comes, we’re prepared. Of course, the famine never comes because we just go back to the supermarket to buy more food.

The Solution

So how do we fix this?

Simple, shop weekly, come up a with a shopping plan, schedule a limited amount of time, bring limited carrying capacity and research.

Shop Weekly - Ideally, you shop on a daily basis, always picking up what you need for that day. However, that’s pretty unrealistic. No one has the time to go shopping every day, at least no one I know and certainly not me. What I’ve found instead to be the best shopping interval, is one week. One week is enough time to know what you need in advance. It’s enough time to plan for, but not too much so you end up with huge quantities of food. It’s also a good interval for vegetables and fruit to allow you to eat them before the spoil.

Shopping plan - This is a must. Do NOT enter the supermarket without a shopping plan. Note that I say plan and not list. A list is just that, a list of stuff to buy. A plan is more detailed. A plan is what you make when you really think about what you’re going to eat. Take a look and your next week’s schedule. Are you going to be home a lot? Are you going out a lot? How often will you be eating at home? How many meals should you plan for? Based on this, come up with a plan for how much food you’ll need. Come up with the ingredients for that food if you plan on making it yourself. Now that’s a plan. When you get to the supermarket, STICK TO YOUR PLAN! It doesn’t matter how good that sale looks or how cheap that box of cereal is, stick to the plan! Buy what you need, not what the supermarket wants you to buy.

Schedule your shopping time - Know when you’re going shopping and know when you have to leave. You want to schedule a limited amount of time for your food shopping. This reduces the chance of you buying stuff that’s not on your plan. When you know you have to be somewhere soon, you tend to stick to your plan. You’ll be in and out of the supermarket quickly and efficiently.

Limited carrying capacity - This tip isn’t going to work for everyone but it works for me, so I’ll mention it. Yesterday I talked about walking or biking to the supermarket. This is a great way to limit your buying. Again, you’re unlikely to deviate from your plan when you can’t carry a lot. How likely are you to add that extra bag of chips when you have to walk home carrying it? Plus you get a nice workout from the walk or ride.

Research - Last but not least, look at what you’re buying and make the right choice. For example, I like fajitas. They’re one of my favorite ways to make a healthy lunch. Take a fajita, pile some veggies, maybe a bit of cheese or hummus, and you have a great meal. When I go to the supermarket, I have my choice of fajitas. I can pick the ones that are easily available, right there on the end isle. They’re on sale so they must be good, right? Well, if I do a little research, I can find the low fat fajitas that are 90 calories instead of 190 calories, and they’re the same price. Remember, the supermarket sets up its displays to get you to buy what the supermarket wants, not what you want. So do your research.

Those ingredient and calorie boxes on the food are there for a reason. Read them as you shop. Look for items with a low amount of calories and a low amount of fat. Make sure you’re not consuming too much salt. Don’t buy the cereal with 10 times more sugar in it even if it does have a pretty box.

Remember, make a shopping plan, set a limited amount of time, have a limited carrying capacity and STICK TO YOUR PLAN! Don’t let the supermarket set your shopping schedule.

I’m going to include a link to one of my favorite blogs, The Simple Dollar. They have an excellent post on what to do and not to do at the supermarket if you’re concerned with money. Just keep in mind that your health and your wallet are connected. Be a smart shopper and improve your fitness while you save money.

The Simple Dollar Article

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HEALTH AND WEALTH; Sodas, coffee, bottled water and you!

We’ve been talking about health this week, both physical and financial. Most people think only the rich have time to be healthy, but that’s completely untrue. There are many ways in which being healthier could actually save you money. Today, we’re going to be talking about one of the easiest ways in which you can save money and get healthier, drinking water.

The Problem

If I look at the drinking habits of the people around me at work and at home, I see coffee, tea, soda and bottled water. I see people spending between $5 to $20 a day just on their drinks. That’s a morning coffee, a lunch time soda, a couple of bottles of water and another coffee in the afternoon. Weekend drinking habits can be worse, even if you don’t include those seven beers you have Friday night. On the weekend, we typically don’t have access to the free beverages most offices supply so we spend even more. You might spend upwards of $50 to $100 a week on drinks. That’s $2600 to$5200 a year. Does this make sense to you? You’re paying to be unhealthy. Let’s take a look at these drinks and see what you’re getting.

A Host of Bad Options

Coffee - Completely empty calories. Includes caffeine which is bad for you since it spikes your metabolism and then crashes it. If you add the usual Starbucks crap to it, you can end up with more than 500 calories in a single grande. That’s the equivalent of a big mac right there, only less nutritious.

Soda - Worse than coffee. Same problems with calories and caffeine, with extra chemicals for bonus fun. Did you really need those three cans of coke today? Because they just added 300 calories to your diet. Plus sodas typically come in packages which are environmentally harmful if you want to feel even worse.

Bottled water - Not much that’s harmful in here, but it does cost money and cause waste. By the way, most bottled water is just tap water in a bottle, so if you think you’re getting better quality water, you’re wrong.

Tea - The least bad of a number of bad options. Herbal tea is not too bad, it’s cheap and doesn’t cause much waste. However, it still costs you money. Also, make sure to stay away from the caffeinated brands.

The Solution

So what’s a better option? Simple, it’s water! Yes, that stuff that comes out of your tap is your best option. It’s cheap, has zero calories and no caffeine. If your areas has issues with tap water, I would recommend investing in a filtration system. They can be had these days for only a few hundred dollars. Far cheaper than paying for bottled water every day.

Summary

Take a close look at your drinking habits. If you add up the soda, the coffee, the tea and the bottled water, you’re probably adding at least 300 calories a day to your diet and $5 a day to your budget. That’s 31lbs and $1825 every year. Are you ok with this? Are you ok with paying $1825 a year to be 31lbs heavier? Switch to tap water, it will take you two weeks to break the caffeine addiction and after that, you’ll never look back.

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HEALTH AND WEALTH; The Farmers’ market, your place for healthy bargains.

We’re talking about ways to save money while improving health this week. We’ve covered alternative modes of transportation, better shopping plans and healthier drinking habits. Today, we’re going to talk about an alternative source for your shopping, the local farmers’ market.

What Is It?

A farmers’ market is a place for local producers of food to sell their products. These products usually consist of fruits and vegetables, but can sometimes include items as varied as meats, pastries and breads. My local market has the usual selection of fruits and vegetables, but it also has a stand that sells fresh cheeses, another that sells fresh meat and several that sell baked goods of various kinds.

Where Do You Find It?

Farmers’ markets used to be relatively rare, but as the organic and local food movements grow, farmers markets are expanding in size and number. They can now be found in almost every metropolitan area, as well as some small towns and communities. If you’re looking for a market near you, check out Local Harvest, a site that shows markets in your area. For you readers outside the US, this site is unfortunately US only. However, I’ve been told various countries have their own version of Local Harvest which you may want to look up.

Local Harvest contains information on when and where a market takes place. Most of these markets are only up for one day a week, and are not always a year round affair. I’m lucky to have a year round market near me which occurs every Saturday, but you may want to check the site for your location. Also, Local Harvest contains information on local farms and stores that sell farmers market type product. This is also useful since these stores are just as good as a farmers market. There’s one near me that’s open six days a week and sell fresh produce at farmers market prices.

Why Is It Cheap?

It’s cheap because the farmers and other food producers are selling directly to you. They don’t have to go through a distributor and then a retailer who each want to make a profit. They can sell to you at the same price they would have sold to the distributor and still make a profit. Also, selling at the farmers’ market doesn’t have the high overhead that selling through a store does. There’s no rent, no setup, and usually no sales tax.

Why Is It Healthy?

First, a farmer’s market is healthy because most of the products are fresh fruit and vegetables. So if you’re planning to make a meal of it, it’s hard to come out with too much junk food. Second, produce sold at the market rarely has as much chemicals and preservatives on it as the stuff you find at the local supermarket. Finally, it’s healthy because you get fruit and vegetables that were picked ripe, not too early like most supermarket goods.

It’s a little known fact, but most fruit and vegetables you find at the supermarket were picked before their time. That’s because ripe produce spoils quickly and would not last through the multi day trip to the supermarket. At the farmers’ market, the food that you buy was usually picked that day or perhaps the day before. It’s literally right off the tree. In fact, many farmers will do their normal picking to send to the distributor and then take the ripe stuff and sell it at the farmers’ market. They need to sell this stuff quickly or else it will spoil, so they sell it cheap. So you get fresh produce, that was picked ripe, at low prices. Since produce that was allowed to ripen naturally usually has more vitamins, you get a meal that healthier and cheaper.

What To Do?

Find your local farmers’ market or store that sells local produce - You can use Local Harvest for this or you can go online and search. Many cities will now list markets on their official sites.

Make a shopping plan - It’s a bit harder to make a detailed shopping plan before going to a farmers’ market because the food selection may change from week to week, but give it a shot. Have at least a good idea of what you’ll buy before going.

Walk if possible - We’ve already talked about this. Walking is good exercise and will limit your carrying capacity, eliminating the temptation to overbuy.

Compare - Go from stall to stall. You’ll usually find the same food at multiple stalls. Compare prices and quality.

Prepare - Prepare a meal from just the stuff you bought at the market. It doesn’t even have to be a very complex meal. Last week, my lunch consisted of:

• Tomatoes
• Cucumbers
• Onion
• Cheese
• Orange for dessert.

All bought at the market. Every single one of these items was fresh, cheap and high quality. Total money spent was around 4 dollars, and most of that was the cheese which I didn’t finish and so took home. I also ended up with some fresh strawberries, fajitas and mangos. As you get to know your market, you’ll have a better idea of what’s available and when. You’ll also start getting to know the vendors who might give you a better bargain. You may even want to make a social event out of it. Get a friend or two and walk down to the local market. Each person can find the items they want to eat for lunch, then you can all find a place to sit down and munch on your fresh goods.

For an extra challenge, how about making your dinner that day solely from items you bought at the market?

Additional Benefits

By the way, shopping at farmers’ market and stores that sell local produce has two other benefits. First, you’re supporting the local economy. These products are from farmers and producers in your neighborhood, not three countries away. Second, you’re being environmentally conscious. Goods sold at these places are usually organically grown and travel less distance to get to you, so they waste less energy.

Summary

Your local farmers’ market can be a fun social activity that can get you a healthy meal at a cheap price while you support local businesses and protect the environment. Sounds like a perfect option to me.

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HEALTH AND WEALTH; Friday fit and fun factor

It’s the end of the week, time to end our series about saving money while getting healthy. I decided to add a bit of fun to this Friday edition, by talking about some activities that you can do for little to no money. You might recognize some of these from my previous series about active pastimes. Well, they are indeed active, but they’re also cheap, so they fit in well to this week’s series about being fit while saving money.

Unhealthy Entertainment

Take a look at what you do for fun. Is it healthy? Most people choose activities that are sedentary for fun. For example, my favorite pastimes used to be: Movies, TV, Drinking With Friends, Video Games, Reading. All of these activities require virtually no physical movement. Essentially, I would get out of work and sit on my butt the rest of the day.

Some of these activities are cheap, some are not. Let’s take a look at the money I might spend on these:

Movies - $8 to $10 a ticket, plus around $5 for food and drinks at the theater. Some minor transportation costs as well, probably around $3 for the gas it took to get to the theater. Alternatively, I might spend $10 to rent movies and buy popcorn and snacks for the house.

TV - Minor charge for the electricity used. $60 a month for the cable bill. $5,000 for a TV (I bought a huge plasma screen back when they were still very expensive. Can probably get it today for around $2,000).

Drinking With Friends - Around $40 to 50$ a night in drinks and bar snacks. Possible cover charge of around $5

Video Games - $30 to $50 for the actual game. Around $10 to $20 in monthly subscriptions. $40 a month for broadband internet access. $2500 for a gaming computer. Minor charge for the electricity used.

Reading - Around $4 per book. I usually buy used books which reduces my cost.

Out of all these, reading is the only activity that gets me multiple hours of fun for less than $5.

Healthy and Cheap Options

Now let’s take a look at some healthier and cheaper options

Walking - Zero cost. Possible investment of around $60 in good shoes or you can do what I did and pay $100 for shoes that I can use while walking, hiking or running.

Hiking - Can use the same shoes. Around $5 in gas spent to get to where I’m going to hike. $2 more if I want to include a piece of fruit to eat while hiking.

Dancing - Possible up front investment of around $60 for shoes. An additional $5 will get you into most dance lessons and halls for the night.

Biking - Some up front investment. A bike can cost anywhere from $100 to $2000, but if you’re just doing this for fun, you’re probably going to spend around $500. An additional $100 in up front costs for things like a helmet.

Playing Sports - Some up front cost in equipment, usually under $50 to $100. After that, usually no investment.

Volunteering - No cost other than $2 to $3 in gas to get there. I am a part of an organization called One Brick, which allows me to pick and choose volunteer activities I’m interested in. I usually choose the more physically active ones, but I also try to help the causes I’m interested in, like education. You can find something similar in your neighborhood.

Are you seeing the trend here? My old activities had a high ongoing cost and many of them also had a large start up cost. My new more active choices have a relatively small start up cost (with the exception of a bike, which still costs less than a TV) and then almost no ongoing costs. Plus each one of them helps me remain active and fit. Compare that to the old activities where I sat on my butt eating snacks most of the time. So while I still read quite a bit, I try to pick my fun activities from the bottom list these days. That doesn’t mean I don’t watch the occasional movie, or play the occasional video games, but these are now the exception rather than the rule.

Go over your entertainment budget. Are you spending too much? Would you like to save a bit more money? Why not do that while being more active as well. No need to spend on a gym membership when you can actually save money while exercising.

If you have your own suggestion for a fun activity that can work off the calories while keeping money in your wallet, please post it in the comments.

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