Guest Post: 6 ways to keep your body – and your wallet – happy

This is a guest post from Jonathon at Master Your Card. If you enjoy this post, why not subscribe to his feed!

I once read a very interesting article about a man who was late into his seventies and boasted about the fact that he had fewer prescriptions than his dog.  This guy was quite healthy and he made the claim that the reason he was enjoying such good health so late in life was because he and his wife only shopped in the outside aisles of the grocery store.  That means lots of fresh produce, meats, and dairy items while staying away from anything heavily processed.  He added daily moderate exercise to this regime, and what he got was good health late in life.

Eating healthy can save you money in the long term because of the benefits your healthy eating will have on your body.  You’ll pay less for medical care and you’ll have fewer missed days at work because you’re healthy…and that’s half the battle.

Here are six ways to keep your body – and your wallet – happy:

1.    Eat pure foods.  The fewer processed foods you eat, the better.  This will certainly take some getting used to if your usual dinner fare is frozen pizza and boxed mac & cheese, but by sticking to natural foods
you’ll wind up saving a lot of money on your grocery bill as well as get a little healthier while you’re at it.

2.    Pick and choose your organic items.  Organic foods are great, but they can get awfully expensive.  Figure out what you absolutely need to purchase as organic and what you can get away with getting that isn’t
organic.  Organic strawberries? That makes sense.  Organic shampoo? You can probably do without that.

3.    Buy local.  If your town has a farmers market then try to buy vegetables and fruits there.  The food is usually pretty healthy and the prices are sometimes less than a grocery store.  Just be sure to stay away from the booths offering crafts and other things that will cost much more than the person spent to produce them.

4.    Forget the gym.  An expensive gym membership may help you to stay healthy if you actually use the facility, but you can do most of the same exercises at home or in a park without the machines.  Spend a couple of dollars on a book that explains how to get fit without machines and then cancel your membership.  You’ll save the money and might even find that you enjoy working out in the great outdoors.

5.    Ditch your car.  How much money would you save if you didn’t have a car payment, car insurance, or needed to buy gas? How much healthier would you be if you walked or rode a bike to work? You might not be able to give up your car altogether, but if you can scale back on your car usage then you’ll wind up saving money while also getting more physically active. That’s a win-win.

6.    Drink water.  Instead of drinking coffee or soda throughout the day, drink water.  Drink it straight out of the fountain instead of buying bottled water.  You’ll save a bunch of money, and you’ll make your body happy.

When you’re trying to keep your wallet healthy there are some things you just probably won’t be able to do in the name of healthy living.  More than likely you won’t be able to indulge in detoxification treatments or cleansing rituals or membership fees to the trendy yoga studio downtown or whatever else it is healthy people are doing in your city.  Try to keep it simple. You can be healthy without breaking the bank.