Five Quick Ways To Save Money By Being Healthy

Money is a common reason I hear when people tell me why they’re not healthy.  They don’t have money for a gym membership and they don’t have money for healthy food.  This is especially common these days, when everyone seems to be saving money and trying not to spend too much.  Well, I’m going to let you in on a little secret; being healthy doesn’t cost a lot of money.  In fact, I would argue that it’s the exact opposite, being healthy can save you money and not just by lowering your healthcare costs.  Here are five ways in which you can start saving money by being more healthy:

Raise / Lower The Thermostat - Your body spends more calories when the temperature isn’t exactly perfect.  It spends those calories to cool you down when it’s warm or to heat you up when it’s cold.  So rather than spending money on energy for your heater or air conditioning, why not allow your body to spend those calories for you?  You lose a bit of weight and your energy bill goes down.  All you need to do is set your thermostat to two or three degrees cooler than usual in the winter or two to three degrees warmer than usual in the summer.  Better yet, don’t use heating or AC at all unless the weather is extreme.  Believe me, 60 degrees will NOT kill you. 

Eat At Home - Restaurant food is bad for you and bad for your wallet.  You are paying too much money for too much food.  Eating at home will allow you to control what you eat, the quantity you eat and the ingrediants that go into your food.  It’s also much cheaper than eating out so you can afford better quality meals while still paying less overall.  I can buy enough veggies at the farmers market to make a really great salad that will last for two days.  That same amount of money at a restaurant will get me a single plate of lettuce covered in croutons, cheese and ranch sauce.

Eat Less - While we’re on the topic of eating, how about eating less?  Most Americans and Europeans eat too much.  We spend a good amount of time and money on snacks and meals that our stomachs didn’t need and our wallets couldn’t afford.  I know, 75 cents doesn’t seem like much, but it all adds up.  A candy bar here and a latte there will slowly amount to a huge amount of calories and a significant amount of money.  Try to control your spending and your eating by minimizing the unnecessary snacks and meals.  By the way, buying in bulk does not help when it comes to snacks.  Several studies have shown that people who buy snacks in bulk end up eating a lot more of them.  So you save no money and you eat too much.  Sounds like a losing deal to me.

Drink Water - That soda?  75 cents worth of empty calories and chemicals your body does not appreciate.  That latte?  It has more calories than a cheeseburger and costs about the same too.  That bottle of water?  No better than most tap water and yet you paid for it.  There is a perfect drink out there from both a money and health perspective and that drink is called tap water.  Sure, some of you live in areas where tap water might be bad, but the overwhelming majority of us are simply throwing our money away when we drink anything else.

Walk - Gas is expensive, as are repairs to the car.  Start walking or biking instead.  I try to walk everywhere these days.  To the store, to the park, to the post office.  It feels great and my car says thank you every time I pass by it.  My wallet is pretty appreciative of this as well since gas here in California is around $2.30 per gallon.  Every mile I walk is about 15 cents that stay in my wallet and 50 calories that leave my body.  How can you beat that deal?

Bonus Tips!

Cancel Your Cable Service - There is nothing more mind numbing and butt expanding in our culture than TV.  Do yourself a favor and cut the cable.  The extra time and money you’ll have can be better spent on almost anything.

Grow Your Own Food - Got a backyard?  Balconey?  Window?  Any of these can be used for a little food garden.  You’ll eat better, do some physical work and save money at the market.  As a bonus, studies have shown that houses with plants in them are conducive to lower stress levels.

Active Hobbies - Interestingly enough, most active hobbies are actually cheap.  Playing soccer with friends costs almost nothing, going hiking is usually free and tossing a frizbee around is relatively inexpensive.  Compare that to going to the movies and you’ll quickly see how being active and having fun can be quite cheap.

Help A Friend Move - This is just one example of the types of activities we usually pay other people to do for us.  Why?  Do it yourself, enjoy the labor and save your money.  Paying someone else to lift things for you and then arguing that you have no money for a gym membership is a bit odd, don’t you think?

###

Got any tips of your own?  Feel free to add them to the comments.

If you enjoyed this post, make sure you subscribe to my RSS feed!