The Good Things In Life Are Free (or almost free)

The good things in life are free.  I mean... almost free.  Friendship, love.... but what about health?  Everyone thinks that being healthy is expensive.  It's so much easier to order off of the dollar menu than to go to Subway with the entire family- or to buy enough groceries to cook a healthy meal at home for that matter. And although we have already talked about "Making the Investment" it is hard to live your life spending every last dime on being healthy.  Trust me- I've seen my last dime time and time again.  So here are a few tips both for eating healthy on a budget and for exercising on a budget!

First, Eating Healthy:

1.  Make a "smart" grocery list and stick to it.  By "smart" grocery list I mean that you eliminate processed foods.  I talked about this some in my blog "Making the Best of What You've Got"- but the main thing that you need to focus on is buying less processed foods and more whole foods.  Whole foods would be the basic food groups: fruit, vegetables, dairy, and grains.  This will immediately eliminate some of the pricier things on your list.

2.  Stock up!  A lot of the reason that people think that cooking healthy meals at home can be so expensive is because every time you want to make something you have to go buy every single item it takes to make it (which can sometimes be 15 or 20 different items.)  However, if you stock up on the basics you will cut your grocery list in half.  Some of these items may include:  spices, herbs (preferably grow your own!), pasta noodles, different seasoning sauces (teriyaki, soy, tamari etc.).  Even potatoes and onions will last quite a while and are always great to have on hand.  If you can get rid of the items that are in many recipes from your grocery list you will be able to cut down on your list immensely.

3.  Make up a weekly grocery list planning out each dinner meal (and even lunch meal).  This is kind of two rules in one.  The first part of it is to make up healthy meals and write them down including every item that it takes to make them.  The second part is to go grocery shopping weekly.  This will do several things for you: 1. cut down on any food going bad before you have a chance to get to it.  2.  Save you money on your grocery list by narrowing down groceries so that you won't be buying unnecessary items.  

Example: I used to go grocery shopping every two week for my boyfriend and I.  I would spend anywhere from $150- $175 every two weeks on groceries (Totaling $300-$350 a month).  However, now I go to the store every Monday with a budget of $50.  At first I thought this was going to be impossible- and $75 was the original budget but I decreased it down to $50 because I wasn't coming anywhere close to spending $75 once I made my weekly meal list.  So now my budget is $50 a week for groceries- and so essentially I have cut our grocery bill down by $100 - $150 a month! And we have not noticed one difference- in fact, when I told my boyfriend that I had saved so much money he was amazed because we eat the exact same! (Just less junk!- but don't tell him because he hasn't noticed the missing junk food yet and it's been 4 months.)

4.  Try to have at least one to two meatless meals a week.  Meat tends to be an expensive part of a grocery bill- so by cutting down on your meat consumption you will not only save $15- $20 a week- you will be helping your waistline (not to mention those adorable little animals!)  If you can do more than good for you! But try for at least one or two meatless meals to start out.

5.  This is my favorite budget trick and my favorite winter time meal: soups, stews, and chilies! Making a big batch of one of these will account for at least two- possibly three- meals a week. It's just like eating leftovers from a restaurant- except that when the soup or chili has sat it has time to absorb more flavor and always ends up tasting better the second or third time!

And duh- don't shop with an empty stomach.  

________________________________________________

Now that we have covered the groceries- lets move on to exercising on a budget.  Many people can't afford gym memberships - and thats OK! That does not mean that you have to stop working out all together.  There are lots of things that you can do that will cost you little or no money at all- and will be just as good of a workout!

Here are some tips for staying in shape (or getting in shape) on a budget:

1.  Make use of your surroundings.  Take advantage of parks- use the monkey bars to do some great arm work.  You can also use them to do pull ups or even some ab work.  And while you are at the park you can do some running or bike riding as well.  One of the great things that we have in Tulsa is the bikes at River Parks.  You can rent a bike for free! For FREE! What a great thing to do in the evening before it gets cold- or on a Saturday afternoon even!  There are a ton of opportunities that you can find around different cities that are absolutely free and would be great exercise!

2.  Buy an exercise ball.  I have wanted an exercise ball forever- but never bought one because I thought they were so expensive.  I finally went to Walmart one day and found one for $5.  Thats it?! I couldn't believe it!  You can find lots of a great deals on simple workout equipment (including yoga mats).  Start doing some sun salutations at home- or get online at yogajournal.com and find different yoga poses that seem worthwhile.  Or buy a jump rope to do some at-home cardio!  

3.  Find exercise videos for free! On Demand has lots of free workout videos that you can do right in your own living room.  They can just be simple guidelines - follow them for awhile and then go from there! You can do whatever you want.  It's your workout!

4.  Google at home exercises.  There are a million ideas out there of different moves that you can do at home including squats, lunges, pushups and even crunches (on your new workout ball).  Use canned vegetables as small weights to increase your resistance.  

5.  Find little ways to exercise throughout your day.  Take the stairs instead of the elevator.  Park farther away from a store entrance.  Walk your dog twice a day (or even once).  Make a lap around the grocery store before you start shopping.  Ride your bike to work, or to the store if you have to just get one or two things.  Little things like this will help you to increase the amount of work that you are doing! Just do it! Before long you will feel bad parking too close to the grocery store entrance.  Even when I'm in a hurry I park far away from the door- I always picture this cute little old lady and I think about how she needs the closest spot to the door- so I drive a little farther, walk a little farther, and hope I helped a stranger by giving them the "good" spot!

Hopefully all of these have helped you to save a few dollars on your groceries and your workouts :)