Lately, I have been thinking about mine and my family’s eating habits. I have come to realise that our lifestyle is making us unhealthy and costing us a lot of money.
I should have realised this sooner but better late than never.
For the past 2 years I have put on a bit of weight and so did other members of my family. If I look at our lifestyle critically, it is very clear that we are sedentary people who like to stay indoors. The kids are a little different, they have lots of energy and are always running around.Whilst they eat a lot, and boy they don’t stop eating, because they are always active doing something they don’t put on a lot of weight. Having said that, if they continue with the habit of eating a lot and they change their lifestyle as they get older, they will certainly put on a lot of weight very quickly.
So I researched the web and came up with 5 tips for a healthier lifestyle and, at the same time, to save your money as you go.
1 – Eat at home
This one is a bit obvious, as life is very busy and we have less and less time to cook at home we have a tendency to stop by the fast food shop and get a quick bite. As a matter of fact, for the past two years, we have eaten out almost every Sunday. If the average cost of the Sunday take out is $20 and we ate out, say 40 out of 52 weeks of the year, in 2 years we have spent $1600 (that’s 80 times $20).
Wow that hurts even to write it down.
If we stop, or at least reduce the amount of Sunday’s take out, we can not only save money but also get healthier. This is because the take outs are full of fat. All of the fat is transformed into energy which is never burnt, because of the sedentary lifestyle, and tuned into fat. That simple!
2 – Change your shopping list
Children are amazing, we love them to bits and always want to do something nice for them. That includes buying things in the supermarket that they like. Ice creams, chocolates and many other things.
You know, the funny thing is that we are eating those things with the children. We often catch ourselves eating the children’s ice cream once they have gone to bed.
That is really bad. The answer is obviously, stop eating that stuff and buy only the amount that kids will eat in one go. Perhaps give them to the kids as a treat only on the groceries day. This should help us to stop eating them and to reduce the amount of unhealthy things the kids eat.
On the other hand, if we reduce the amount of packaged food that we buy we can also save lots of money on the way. It is important to note that these packaged sweet things we buy for the kids are not only unhealthy but also very expensive. So there is an opportunity to save money by buying different treats that are healthier and cheaper.
3 – Stop dieting
Are you spending your money on expensive shakes or dieting programs? If you are then I encourage you to take a look at their effectiveness. Are they really working?
These diet programs often encourage you to eat healthier in order to help the effectiveness of the program. If you put in practice the first two tips it is likely that you can ditch the diet, save your money and continue to loose weight.
4 – Stop going to the gym.
Gym is very, very expensive. Not to mention that many people have gym membership but don’t go to the gym as often as they should.
For about two years my wife and I had a gym membership that was only used about once or twice a month. As we got towards the end of the second year of our membership we decided to stop and replace it we walking three times a week (that was before we had kids).
We saved a lot of money and lost more weight because we were walking more often than before.
The gym was a waste of money and was not delivering the expected results. Having said that, if you use your gym as often as you should, it can be a great tools to help you to get fit, loose weight and live a healthier life style. The trick is in taking a critical look at how often you use your gym and evaluate that against the membership cost and the results you are getting.
5 – Quit bad habits
We are living today in a very stressful world. Credit cad debts, the threat of unemployment, financial crises, unemployment for some of us and, if you are in Australia, the increase in interest rates and the cost of living.
As a result of all of those stresses, we may have some habits to help us to relax. they may be smoking, drinking or any other form of activity to take our minds out of those things that stress or upset us.
Trying to deal with some situations once and for all will not only help us so solve our problems but will also save us lots of money. Cigarettes and alcoholic beverages are very expensive and could be costing you thousands of dollars every year. not to mention that they don’t actually help you to solve the problems you are trying to solve.
In conclusion
Taking a critical look at your financial situation and habits is the first step for a a better life style and some extra money in the bank. It doesn’t take long for you to review your shopping list, or to calculate how often you spend on take outs.
Give it a go, you may get a pleasant surprise.
Showing posts with label saving money. Show all posts
Showing posts with label saving money. Show all posts
Tuesday, December 7, 2010
Wednesday, December 1, 2010
Top ten savings tips
Want to save your money but don’t know where to start? Or perhaps you are have already gone through the process of cutting your expenses but it has not been enough?
Whatever your circumstances, I have compiled ten easy ways save on your daily expenses.
1 – The first tip to me is the most important and it is key to achieving your financial goals. If you have a partner, wife or husband, make sure that both of you agree with the financial decisions you make and that you are both committed to achieving the same goal.
2 - Establish a budget, then set up your pay so it automatically goes into separate accounts. You can have different accounts for different purposes, home loan, savings or anything can helps you to keep your finances in control.
3 - Keep a record of all spending. This way you know where your money is going and you can find more ways to cut your expenses. Reconcile your expenses with your budget as often as you need to keep your finances in control.
4 - Write down your goals and place this somewhere you can be always reminded of them. Commit them to memory and when you are considering spending your money weight the expense against your goal. This can help you to keep motivated and to make decisions that you won’t regret in the future.
5 - Take 10 minutes to consider your meals for the week and plan your grocery list. It curbs 'impulse' buys and throwing away unused food!
6 – Your weekly groceries can sometimes be a bit of a surprise unless you walk around the supermarket with a calculator adding up everything that goes into the trolley. Doing your groceries online helps you stick to your budget by checking the total cost prior to purchasing.
7 – Eating out can add up quite quickly. Have breakfast at home and bring your lunch to work. As a reward budget yourself to buy lunch once a week. I am always appalled when I have breakfast out and pay almost $20 buckets for a fried egg and a cup of coffee. No more!
8 – Never pay your bills late. Set reminders 1 month before a bill is due – this should give you time to arrange your budget and make payments on time.
9 - Work out how much you want to spend for next Christmas, open a separate account and auto deposit over the year. This way you avoid doing your Christmas shopping on credit and working half of the year to pay that off, or even longer depending on your circumstances.
10 - Don't deprive yourself completely. Factor in the odd treat, otherwise you may never stick to your budget.
Whatever your circumstances, I have compiled ten easy ways save on your daily expenses.
1 – The first tip to me is the most important and it is key to achieving your financial goals. If you have a partner, wife or husband, make sure that both of you agree with the financial decisions you make and that you are both committed to achieving the same goal.
2 - Establish a budget, then set up your pay so it automatically goes into separate accounts. You can have different accounts for different purposes, home loan, savings or anything can helps you to keep your finances in control.
3 - Keep a record of all spending. This way you know where your money is going and you can find more ways to cut your expenses. Reconcile your expenses with your budget as often as you need to keep your finances in control.
4 - Write down your goals and place this somewhere you can be always reminded of them. Commit them to memory and when you are considering spending your money weight the expense against your goal. This can help you to keep motivated and to make decisions that you won’t regret in the future.
5 - Take 10 minutes to consider your meals for the week and plan your grocery list. It curbs 'impulse' buys and throwing away unused food!
6 – Your weekly groceries can sometimes be a bit of a surprise unless you walk around the supermarket with a calculator adding up everything that goes into the trolley. Doing your groceries online helps you stick to your budget by checking the total cost prior to purchasing.
7 – Eating out can add up quite quickly. Have breakfast at home and bring your lunch to work. As a reward budget yourself to buy lunch once a week. I am always appalled when I have breakfast out and pay almost $20 buckets for a fried egg and a cup of coffee. No more!
8 – Never pay your bills late. Set reminders 1 month before a bill is due – this should give you time to arrange your budget and make payments on time.
9 - Work out how much you want to spend for next Christmas, open a separate account and auto deposit over the year. This way you avoid doing your Christmas shopping on credit and working half of the year to pay that off, or even longer depending on your circumstances.
10 - Don't deprive yourself completely. Factor in the odd treat, otherwise you may never stick to your budget.
Technorati Tags: financial independence,saving money
Monday, August 9, 2010
Financial Independence Compilation
Welcome to the August 8, 2010 edition of financial independence.
Your free gift
We are offering you a free gift that we are sure that it will inspire you on your road to success. The book the Science of getting rich has inspired me and started me on my road to financial independence. I encourage you to download the book and join the SOGR network. You have nothing to lose. Click here to download your free book.
Teaching children how to manage their money.
For those of us who have children, I am included in this lot, I have been thinking what is the best way to teach them about money. I was talking to my 6 years old daughter the other day and she asked why we are poor. I nearly fell off my chair because we are not poor at all. She started mentioning how this friend at school went overseas for holidays or how the other friend has a big house and the list went on.
I tried to explain to her that we are not poor but I tried to talk about the things that are really important rather than money and other material things. Quite honestly I think that I failed because in the head of a 6 years old being rich probably means having lots of things.
The challenge for me remains, how to teach our children about how to manage finances. I will do a bit of research on the topic and hopefully I can learn from it.
Call for submissions: If you have published any good articles on how to teach children about finances, please submit them to my next edition of Your Financial Independence carnival. The next edition will be published on Wednesday, 11 August 2010.
Reader's Sponsored Articles
MoneyNing presents Three Reasons Stay at Home Parents Should Consider Working Part Time posted at Money Ning, saying, "Working part time is not as bad as it seems, even for stay at home parents!"
Silicon Valley Blogger presents Use A Debt Consolidation Calculator, See How To Erase Debt Faster posted at The Digerati Life, saying, "Thanks!"
wvphotoj presents Point....Click...Shoot: Making Money with Your Photography with Jim Zuckerman posted at Point....Click...Shoot.
Nabil Gulamani presents Why you are having a hard time saving your money every month! posted at SuccessAtReach — SuccessAtReach.
BWL presents How to Build a CD Ladder posted at Christian Personal Finance, saying, "This article lays out the basics of creating a CD ladder.."
Lauren Mendel presents Pay Now, Play Later posted at Richly Reasonable - Successes and failures, all in the name of living reasonably., saying, "Putting something in layaway is no different than setting up an automatic saving plan, but it may provide that extra incentive to save if you are in need of a little motivation. Maybe you like knowing the exact TV that is in Sears waiting for you. Maybe you like going into the store an making a payment; each time knowing you are a bit closer to that riding lawnmower and sweet victory. Whatever the reason, if layaway is what you need to achieve your savings goal, minus the credit card interest, then I am all for it."
Michael presents What is a Credit Freeze or Security Freeze? posted at Identity Theft Wall, saying, "Freezing your credit can be a vital play in the attempt to prevent identity theft."
Michael presents IDENTITY GUARD® 30-Day Free Trial Review posted at Identity Theft Wall, saying, "Identity Guard boasts the best id theft protection service in the business. Does it hold up?"
Ray A Johnson presents Milwaukee posted at The Debt Crisis.
Susan Kilroy presents 10 Foods With a Really High Price Tag posted at CriminalJusticeDegreesGuide.com.
Achola presents Forex Mechanical System Trading - How You Can Quickly Get Forex Software And Start Making Money Immediately! posted at Forex Mechanical System Trading | Simulated Forex Trading | Best Forex Software.
Sun presents What to Let Go to Get to Know Wealth posted at The Sun’s Financial Diary.
Jennifer Meyer presents 50 Excellent Twitter Accounts Every Public Administrator Should Follow posted at Master of Public Administration, saying, "It is possible to find and follow a wide variety of people with good public administration insights. Here are 50 great Twitter accounts for public administrators."
nissim ziv presents How to Find a Job after College: When you have No Experience posted at Job Interview Guide, saying, "Job markets all over the world are changing and becoming more competitive as the days pass. Even the simplest of jobs require a particular level of work and subject experience."
That concludes this edition. Submit your blog article to the next edition of financial independence using our
carnival submission form. Past posts and future hosts can be found on our blog carnival index page.
Technorati tags:
financial independence, blog carnival.
Your free gift
We are offering you a free gift that we are sure that it will inspire you on your road to success. The book the Science of getting rich has inspired me and started me on my road to financial independence. I encourage you to download the book and join the SOGR network. You have nothing to lose. Click here to download your free book.
Teaching children how to manage their money.
For those of us who have children, I am included in this lot, I have been thinking what is the best way to teach them about money. I was talking to my 6 years old daughter the other day and she asked why we are poor. I nearly fell off my chair because we are not poor at all. She started mentioning how this friend at school went overseas for holidays or how the other friend has a big house and the list went on.
I tried to explain to her that we are not poor but I tried to talk about the things that are really important rather than money and other material things. Quite honestly I think that I failed because in the head of a 6 years old being rich probably means having lots of things.
The challenge for me remains, how to teach our children about how to manage finances. I will do a bit of research on the topic and hopefully I can learn from it.
Call for submissions: If you have published any good articles on how to teach children about finances, please submit them to my next edition of Your Financial Independence carnival. The next edition will be published on Wednesday, 11 August 2010.
Reader's Sponsored Articles
MoneyNing presents Three Reasons Stay at Home Parents Should Consider Working Part Time posted at Money Ning, saying, "Working part time is not as bad as it seems, even for stay at home parents!"
Silicon Valley Blogger presents Use A Debt Consolidation Calculator, See How To Erase Debt Faster posted at The Digerati Life, saying, "Thanks!"
wvphotoj presents Point....Click...Shoot: Making Money with Your Photography with Jim Zuckerman posted at Point....Click...Shoot.
Nabil Gulamani presents Why you are having a hard time saving your money every month! posted at SuccessAtReach — SuccessAtReach.
BWL presents How to Build a CD Ladder posted at Christian Personal Finance, saying, "This article lays out the basics of creating a CD ladder.."
Lauren Mendel presents Pay Now, Play Later posted at Richly Reasonable - Successes and failures, all in the name of living reasonably., saying, "Putting something in layaway is no different than setting up an automatic saving plan, but it may provide that extra incentive to save if you are in need of a little motivation. Maybe you like knowing the exact TV that is in Sears waiting for you. Maybe you like going into the store an making a payment; each time knowing you are a bit closer to that riding lawnmower and sweet victory. Whatever the reason, if layaway is what you need to achieve your savings goal, minus the credit card interest, then I am all for it."
Michael presents What is a Credit Freeze or Security Freeze? posted at Identity Theft Wall, saying, "Freezing your credit can be a vital play in the attempt to prevent identity theft."
Michael presents IDENTITY GUARD® 30-Day Free Trial Review posted at Identity Theft Wall, saying, "Identity Guard boasts the best id theft protection service in the business. Does it hold up?"
Ray A Johnson presents Milwaukee posted at The Debt Crisis.
Susan Kilroy presents 10 Foods With a Really High Price Tag posted at CriminalJusticeDegreesGuide.com.
Achola presents Forex Mechanical System Trading - How You Can Quickly Get Forex Software And Start Making Money Immediately! posted at Forex Mechanical System Trading | Simulated Forex Trading | Best Forex Software.
Sun presents What to Let Go to Get to Know Wealth posted at The Sun’s Financial Diary.
Jennifer Meyer presents 50 Excellent Twitter Accounts Every Public Administrator Should Follow posted at Master of Public Administration, saying, "It is possible to find and follow a wide variety of people with good public administration insights. Here are 50 great Twitter accounts for public administrators."
nissim ziv presents How to Find a Job after College: When you have No Experience posted at Job Interview Guide, saying, "Job markets all over the world are changing and becoming more competitive as the days pass. Even the simplest of jobs require a particular level of work and subject experience."
That concludes this edition. Submit your blog article to the next edition of financial independence using our
carnival submission form. Past posts and future hosts can be found on our blog carnival index page.
Technorati tags:
financial independence, blog carnival.
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