Frugal Ways To Get In Shape

October 9, 2007 · Filed Under , · 5 Comments 

Box of Calorie BurnersOver the past 2 years I have lost 45 pounds and did it by being frugal (almost). You see, I made one mistake and I will get to that later. On the good side, I never paid for a gym membership and yet I am in the best shape I have been in since my college days 12 years ago. I use to be exhausted every night by 8 p.m., and had very little energy to play with my kids. I knew I had to make a change. I knew the gym membership would not be a good financial decisions for me since I work from my home office. The last thing I wanted to do after a busy work day was get in the car and drive 15 minutes to the nearest gym, fight the guy in spandex to get the last treadmill, get in the car and drive 15 minutes back home. Don’t even ask me about going before work….I am not a morning person and would need to put coffee in my CamelBak instead of water. So I did some research and found ways to get in shape that fit my frugal lifestyle.

  1. Cardio First. The first thing I had to do was get my heart rate up for at least 30 minutes a day, 3-5 days a week. I found a NordicTrack Elliptical Machine at Sears that fit into my home office. It was on sale and I got it for about $600. I needed the flexibility to work-out around our family schedule. I can go in the office after the kids go to bed or I can hit the elliptical at my lunch break when the kids are in school. Looking back on this purchase, I would have explored other options before going for the big ticket item so quickly. First, I think I could have gotten a better deal at Play It Again Sports, it seems they always have used treadmills and elliptical machines that probably have had very little use. Secondly, I find I only use the basic stuff and not all the bells and whistles mine has. I could have gotten a quality machine for half the price. I’m still learning that just because the options look cool, they typically are not worth the extra money!
  2. Cardio Can Be Free. You don’t have to go out and make a big purchase like I did. Instead, just start walking 30 minutes a day, 4-5 times per week around your neighborhood. Not only will it help to burn calories, but it will also control your blood pressure, decrease risk of heart attack, decrease risk of type 2 Diabetes, and lower your risk of stroke. For me, the biggest benefit from exercise is the way it makes me feel, it is awesome! I have more energy, my brain is less cluttered, and exercising really helped reduce my stress levels. Plus, after exercising you will sleep great! If you want something more strenuous but still frugal, try tennis, mountain biking, street biking, or jogging. Jogging was always hard on my joints so I don’t do it. The elliptical machine is very easy on joints and I have never felt sore after using it.
  3. Find Ways To Sweat. As a father of 3 active kids, I now make an effort to get involved with them when they are playing. Before, I was content to watch my son ride his bike, now I get out my bike and ride along beside him. My 3 year old daughter loves horses, before I would sit and play horses with her, now I get down on my hands and knees and pretend that I am “the horse” and she rides on my back all over the house. I am burning calories before we get down the hall. We have a tub full of balls and outside games in the garage and we dig into it often. We play Frisbee, basketball, soccer and golf on the front lawn, tennis against the garage door, all great ways to burn calories. No longer am I a by-stander in my kid’s lives, I am actually participating and they love it! When it comes to burning calories and getting your heart going, opportunities abound, you just have to spot them and get up and do it!
  4. Change Your Mind-Set. This part is totally free! Along with overeating and eating to much crap, I was a horrible procrastinator which led to my weight gain. I use to say to myself, “Oh, I will try and get some exercise tomorrow.” Tomorrow came and went and I did absolutely nothing! This all changed when I discovered the advice of spending just a few minutes each day focused on getting in shape. I typically did this just prior to working out. This could be in the form of meditating or just a few quiet moments with your thoughts. I would picture a thinner, healthier me actually participating in my children’s lives, running around with them, throwing them in the air and all that good stuff! This would always keep me focused on the reason behind the workout and made it easier to start and finish. I would suggest this advice to anyone having trouble getting started.
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The Wealthy Janitor, Part 1

October 8, 2007 · Filed Under · 4 Comments 

The Wealthy JanitorI have a friend who has worked as a janitor at a local elementary school for over 25 years. His current salary is about $36k a year, which in California, is not much. His wife does not work, he has no debt, owns his house outright, owns 2 modest cars, and will retire in a couple years with a substantial nest egg. Through many conversations with him over the past 6 years I have documented his best pieces of advice he has given me on savings and wealth building. This is part one of this new series. I will add another piece of advice bi-weekly.

Start Early, Just Do It!

The first piece of advice I remember him telling me was, “Kyle, you are young, time is your friend, start investing now.” He would also tell me that the amount invested could be small at first, just do something. I never really gave this advice much credence until I opened up my first IRA and added to it for a couple years. When I got my quarterly statements I started to see the power of compounded interest and dividends. More than what mutual fund or stock you invest in, the age at which you start determines how much wealth you will be able to accumulate through your working years. Start now if you have not already!

A Great Example:

My friend Jim is 23, just out of college, and starts putting away $100 a month in a retirement plan and it grows at 9% annually. When he reaches 33 years of age he decides to stop investing money in his retirement and instead puts money into his Alpaca farm. Another friend, Linda, is 33 years old, and just recently got out of credit card debt. She opens up her first IRA and adds $100 a month until retirement. Linda’s IRA also grows at 9% per year.  For this example, both Jim and Linda retire at age 65. At that time, Jim will have $313,000 and Linda will only have $215,000. Amazing! Start early, start early, start early! Even if you have credit card debt, try to budget some monthly income to your retirement account. Think it is impossible? Check out 7 Ways To Reduce Monthly Costs to free up some money for your retirement planning.

 Look for Step 2 in a couple days!

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Fall Season Means Good Food

October 5, 2007 · Filed Under · 4 Comments 

TurduckenAhh….the smell of pumpkin pie is coming from the kitchen and stuffing from heaven fills the nostrils with pure joy! I love autumn, or I should say I love eating my way through autumn. For me, setting the clocks back is always a reminder to hide the scale behind my shoes in the closet. So delicious, so fattening, such a shame. As a public service announcement of what foods to avoid this fall, at least avoid going back for thirds, here are the 8 most unhealthy foods for fall according to Newsweek.

  1. Halloween Candy – 4 Pieces of “Fun” sized candy is approximately 320 calories. Wow, I am in trouble, I need at least eight pieces to have anything close to fun.
  2. Mashed Potatoes - 1/2 cup servings can have up to 200 calories. Of course this depends how much butter and bacon you put in. Personally, I like the double stuffed potatoes that have cheddar cheese with the butter and bacon. Ay Caramba!
  3. Venti Pumpkin Spiced Latte – This bad boy weighs in at 510 calories with 20 grams of fat. Starbucks Coffee should be renamed Starbucks Milkshakes!
  4. Apple Pie – The All-American dessert packs 400 calories and 20 grams of fat. This one surprises me, is it the shortening that makes the calorie count so high? Pumpkin pie would seem to be a healthier alternative.
  5. Cider – Hot cider on a cold fall afternoon, sitting by the fire with a good book. Need I say more? Forget that it has some sugar in it and enjoy it anyways!
  6. Stuffing - I love stuffing, more than the actual turkey. It does pack some butter and is high in carbs, thus 1 cup of this goodness packs about 350 calories. Ahh, forget about it, who can eat just 1 cup of stuffing anyways? 
  7. Candy Apple – Never big on the candy apple, always so much work to try and eat it and not end up with sticky stuff ALL over your face. A candy apple will cost you about 540 calories this fall.
  8. Turducken - John Madden first introduced me to the idea of Turducken a few years ago during halftime of the Lions game on Thanksgiving Day. It contains turkey, duck and chicken wrapped together. One servings is said to contain 750 calories and 34 grams of fat. Never ate one of these deformed fowls. Anybody out there every tried Turducken?

This post has nothing to do with what I usually blog about. You know how they say to never grocery shop when you are hungry? Well you can add to that never blog when you are hungry, you tend to ramble on about scrumptious food! 

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Time To Say Thanks!

October 4, 2007 · Filed Under · 4 Comments 

Thank You!If you are considering starting a blog of your own, I only have two words of advice, “STAY PATIENT!” When I started this blog a few months ago, I was only talking to myself, which I’ve been known to do anyways. But this past month I have been mentioned on some fantastic blogs and carnivals dedicated to both Personal Finance and Frugal Living that have brought me some great new readers. I wanted to use this post to say, “Thank You, Thank You!” You helped me keep my head in the game and continue to work hard on putting up posts that I thought might actually be interesting and useful. So I wanted to “call-you-out” in public to say thanks! I’m also including a post from your blog that I enjoyed.

Top Referrers For September 2007

  1. Stop The Ride! (135) – I found Stephanie’s post Shopping For Babies to be very well done. My wife and I have a 4 month old baby and we can really relate to her advice.
  2. Frugal For Life (127) – Staying on the same theme, Dawn just put up a post today, Living On Less – Children, where she discusses frugal advice on children’s clothing, music, groceries, sewing, babysitting, and more. Great advice.
  3. The Happy Rock (113) – Check out 4 Reasons We Rush Into Replacing Our Cars, great advice on getting the most out of your car.
  4. Clever Dude (105) – A great example of his writing style is Want Vs Need: Stacie got a new car, an insightful post detailing a very big buying decision!
  5. Frugal Hacks (75) – Frugal hacks lists a bunch of great frugal websites and also has posts by a wide variety of authors. An excellent read.
  6. NCN Blog (73) – No Credit Needed always has posts about how to reduce debt and save money. I enjoyed Remember Due Dates, some great advice on staying organized when paying bills.
  7. Money, Matter, and More Musings (62)- Golbguru also sent me some traffic through a carnival he hosted. Check out 12 Things I Will Never Spend A Dime On, a funny and insightful post he authored about the stupid stuff people spend (er…waste) money on.
  8. Paid Twice (52) – Check out An Idyllic Afternoon for a feel good post about enjoying life the frugal way. One of my favorite reads this past week.
  9. Lazy Man & Money (46)- Another member of my blogroll, I find Lazy Man’s writing style a welcome relief from the mundane. A good example of this is Some Ways That We Are Thinking Small, a great post about his thinking process.
  10. Miserly Moms (43) – A website with a bunch of great articles on saving money, dedicated to frugal families and stay-at-home moms. I wrote an article for their website about ways to find deals when shopping online.

Thank You Kindly!

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What I Learned About Frugality from Ken Burns, ‘The War’

October 3, 2007 · Filed Under · 7 Comments 

Poster From World War IILike many of us, I have been completely enthralled with the Ken Burns, World War II documentary, “The War”, airing this week on PBS. Having been born in the early 1970′s, I only knew the big facts of WW II but few of the details. I have not missed a minute and would like to thank Mr. Burns for his dedication to this project so future generations will know the true meaning of sacrifice. In particular, I found the dedication to the war effort by U.S. families and civilians very powerful. Almost every person on every street in America lowered their standard of living for the greater cause. Here are some thing I learned about frugal living from Ken Burns as well as conversations I had with my Grandpa who was in the Army during the War.

  • Auto makers stopped producing passenger cars and started producing trucks and tanks for the war. There was gasoline rationing and Americans starting carpooling, walking more, riding bikes, and public transportation was heavily used. No one complained, it was just what had to be done.
  • Very little flour, sugar, and baking supplies were available. Women understood the conservation effort and created new recipes for foods that were readily available. Streets and neighborhoods created community gardens where everyone pitched in and shared the fruits and vegetables.
  • Recycle and Reuse….Very little was wasted. Recycling campaigns all across the U.S. encouraged the recycling of oils, metals, aluminum, plastics, paper, and rubber tires, all of which went to help the war effort. From talking to my Grandpa, there was a great sense of personal responsibility when it came to conserving and recycling everything possible. Aluminum and metal was turned into airplanes to fight the Nazis and Japanese. An old shirt had the buttons cut off and then was used as a hand towel. From the big things to small things, American citizens pitched in and did their part.

During World War II, most Americans lived a simple life without many of the thrills and frills we have today. They did it for a greater cause, to help insure victory in Europe and in the Pacific. In terms of conservation and frugal living, hopefully we can take something from this powerful documentary that we can put into practice in our own lives. I think the world would be a much better place if we could. Godspeed Mr. Burns.

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Weekly Round-Up: The ‘Sacrifice and Dedication’ Edition

October 2, 2007 · Filed Under , · Comment 

Anyone who has struggled with debt knows the sacrifice and determination that is required to overcome it. Not only does it require you to change your spending habits, but in many cases it requires you to change your overall lifestyle. It is with this in mind that I present some excellent posts that I have bookmarked this past week in order to pass them along to you. Hope you get as much out of them as I did.

  • Golbguru at Money, Matter, and More Musings wrote a post yesterday titled Crossing Generations: Being Grateful For What We Have And Some Reflections On The Future that I thought was very insightful. In it, he discusses how his parents struggled through tough financial times early in their marriage yet still made the most of their lives. When you think it is too difficult to get your finances in order just look at the many blessings in your life. It is very hard to wallow in self-pity when you are being thankful for what you do have.
  • Do you find it hard to cut back on your spending and become more frugal? Stephanie at Stop The Ride! has a post titled Frugality Sometimes Requires Perseverance that can be of assistance. She talks about being persistent when it comes to reducing debt. She makes the point that eventually frugal living will become a habit. Often the “frugal option” takes more time but will cost less in the long run. Stick to your guns and stay dedicated.
  • Fire Finance has an article titled Top 5 Money Mistakes! that breaks down the big mistakes that people make with their finances. I found #2 – No clarity about what is and is not important to us, to be the biggest reason why I got into such large credit card debt. I never really examined where I wanted to be financially and where I currently was. I clearly had my head buried in the sand.
  • Matt over at One Million and Beyond had a very introspective post titled Accepting Financial Responsibility. He explains the benefits of accepting responsibility for your debt as your own mistake and dealing with it. Matt says “living in fear of your debts is not a way to live.” Very true!  Instead, admit to your mistakes and dedicate yourself to not making the same ones again.
  • Also remember that while cutting back costs you have many resources to aid you. Two posts this week provided excellent tips for dressing the part while not breaking the bank, one was authored by Mrs. Micah as a guest post on my site, titled Frugal Wardrobes for the Style-Impaired, and the other by Plonkee Money titled Fake It Till You Make It. Both excellent reads.

That’s all for now, happy reading!

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