Think Healthy Equals Expensive? Think Again!

It's tax season...no matter how much we wish it wasn't. We are faced with our income or lack thereof in stark black and white and we start thinking about earning more money in the future or how to pay those stinkin' taxes!

I am in the category of thinking about how to increase my earnings and because of that, I live extremely frugally. I am also kind of a health nut unless I eat something sugary and then I become a voracious eating machine, but that is the subject of a different post! Can being frugal and healthy co-exist?

Many folks think that living a healthy life is expensive. They are sure that eating healthy food is pricey. They are sure that they can't get in or stay in shape without a membership at a fancy (meaning costly) gym. With those assumptions, a lot of people just give up or they blow their budget at the grocery store and don't have money for much else.

When I am faced with prevailing thinking such as, "It costs a lot of money to be healthy," I take it as a personal challenge to see if that school of thought is true or not. Let me encourage you that giving up a large portion of your budget to groceries to have quality food is not necessary if you are willing to change your mindset just a bit. Isn't that good news?

What do I mean by changing your mindset? You have to be willing to buy marked down items at the grocery store. These items are marked down because the packaging has been damaged, the item is about to go past its sell-by date (which isn't its expiration date, by the way), or the store is clearing out the item because it wasn't a good seller. Generally, these items will have large orange stickers on them showing the original price and the new, reduced price and the savings is anywhere from 25-80% off of the regular price. I also use coupons and oftentimes I can use a coupon on a marked down item for the maximum savings possible.

This nice California mix made a delicious
addition to our healthy stir-fry. 

I don't know about you, but I would rather get the best and most items I can for the least amount of money and have some funds left to put towards other items I have to buy.

Recently I made a nice pot of vegetarian chili. It made 7 1/2 cups of chili, which was about seven 1-cup servings. I often serve my chili over rice so we don't need huge portions of chili that way. This pot of chili cost me a shade under $2.00 to make and I got two dinners and a lunch out of it. Right now, you are thinking that can't possibly be correct. I can feel your skepticism coming through the computer. I will explain so you can do similar feats of financial alchemy yourself.

My husband, who wasn't frugal when we married but has been a good student, purchased two cans of pinto beans that were marked down because the cans had been dropped and dented. The regular price of these beans is 72 cents per can, but in this instance, one was reduced to 36 cents and the other to 18 cents.

He also bought a bag of black beans that had been torn open and re-closed with tape that had been $3.00 but was reduced to 25 cents. I had some Northern beans in the cabinet from an earlier purchase to add to the mix of beans and I had a can of diced tomatoes. I had purchased some cans of seasoned tomato sauce that was originally intended to make meatloaf the store was clearing out because it hadn't been selling (I am always thinking of multiple ways to use items). Each can was marked to 24 cents and I bought a dozen cans (when you see a great deal, buy as much as you can). I had onions and the seasonings for chili already on hand that I had used for other dishes so the cost of these ingredients had already been paid. The total of all items used in the chili was $1.77! And it was no-meat chili which is healthier.

It may say Dinner Starters for Meatloaf
but the way I think, that is merely a suggestion.

We scour every store where we shop for clearance items or hugely discounted items. Because of this unique acquisition method, I do not make a menu prior to going shopping. Once we get our goodies home, then I proceed to create a menu and see if I will need to buy any additional items. We eat a good variety of foods due to this creative way of procuring groceries.

I carry this way of thinking to just about every budget category as much as possible. Anytime I have to spend money, I see if I can reduce the expense somehow. I pretty much live in hyper-frugal mode. 

 Because I am interested in living a healthy lifestyle, I also am into exercising. Exercise equipment, workout clothes, and gym memberships can really take a big bite of a budget if you allow it. I work out at least three times a week and I can safely say that I haven't spent more than $50.00 in the past two years on anything fitness related.  

I have purchased my gym clothes at the thrift store or found them at retail stores deeply discounted. I received an exercise bike from my brother-in-law for free because he was tired of it and all my free weights were given to me by people who no longer wanted them. My yoga mats were gifts as were many of my exercise videos. Some videos I purchased I found at the dollar store. I also found great exercise programs on my local PBS station. Working out doesn't have to be expensive any more than eating healthy does, especially if you work out at home.

Perhaps you don't need to watch your spending as much as I do. But, what if you did anyway and you saved the difference? What could you do with those saved dollars? Travel? Fund a retirement account? Buy a vacation home? 

Don't Give Up on Your Goals!

We are three weeks into the New Year and people are already getting tired of going to the gym, counting calories, budgeting, sticking to a routine, or any number of resolution related activities.

DON'T GIVE UP!

I get really tired, at times, of being vigilant with my eating and exercise. But then I remind myself of the results I obtained by not giving up. I lost 60 pounds! It didn't happen in one day. It happened as a result of many days of good decisions and efforts and by not beating myself up for a slip here and there.

Are you feeling frustrated with your weight loss/health improvement plan? Do you want to quit because it is too difficult? Perhaps reading the posts, Low-Cost or No-Cost Weight Loss Resources That Worked for Me, New Year, New You?  will encourage you. I have maintained this weight loss for 4 1/2 years now by sticking with my eating and exercising plans.

Just last night I had to remind myself that I wasn't really hungry at 11:00 p.m. so I made myself a cup of herbal tea instead of eating something. I sat down with the tea and an interesting book and relaxed. I got sleepy after about ten minutes and went to sleep. I should actually have gone to bed earlier because staying up too late is a prime cause of overeating. But, if I do stay up too late, I have a strategy to keep me on track.

Having this book as a
resource was like having
a personal coach at my
disposal!

Having a set of plans in place is the most important piece to achieving goals, in my opinion, because when faced with a difficulty, you already have the key to overcoming it. A 20/20 show I watched a few years ago stated that the reason people survive disasters such as plane crashes or fires in large public places is due to the information they acquired prior to the tragic event. In the case of a plane crash, survivors are usually those people who know how many rows they are from an exit and who pay attention to the safety briefing.

In meeting goals, knowing what some of the pitfalls that can happen and how you will deal with them in advance is as useful as knowing how many rows you are from the exit in a plane. This information will help you to survive.

I am currently working on improving the way I manage my income and outgo. It's two steps forward and one step back at times, but I am not giving up. I have already seen improvements because I am not quitting. This month I am going to pay my property tax in the month it is due and in full! I have not been successful at doing that in about eleven years due to a low income and poor management of that income in the past. I set myself some financial goals and I am seeing them come to fruition because I kept going instead of throwing in the towel.

I am planning to add quite a few of these to my bank account
this year! How are your financial goals doing? 

You owe it to yourself to keep going because you are worth it! You are deserving of the time and effort required to reach your goals.

If your family isn't supporting you in your goals, find some like-minded people who are also trying to achieve similar results. We will not change if we do not surround ourselves with positive, uplifting influences.

If you can't find people to be with, look for podcasts, Facebook groups, online classes, books, videos, television shows, Pinterest pages, or Twitter feeds on the area of your goal to inspire and educate you.

No excuses in 2014 is my motto! What is yours? What are your goals for 2014 and how will you achieve them? Let's help each other by continuing this conversation below in the comments section!

New Year, New You?

Unless you have been under a rock, you have noticed that a few moments after 2014 began, the barrage of weight loss commercials for diets, diet aids, gyms, and the like took over the air waves.

We were encouraged to eat tons of treats during the holidays; every women's magazine and every morning news shows rushed to share recipes for all sorts of foods. Then, one minute into 2014, they pull the rug out from under the partiers and start hitting them in the stomach and wallet.

Well, my friends, if you over-indulged during the holiday season or the past 20 years, don't go crazy and do something drastic to fix your problem. Be kind to yourself and formulate a plan.

I suggest that you begin with walking...consistently. When I decided I wanted to lose weight and reclaim myself in February 2009 , I started walking at a gym. At first, I just walked a mile and I walked it kind of slowly. But I did it and I did it three times a week. I didn't change my eating at first. So, I didn't lose weight at first either. But that was okay, because I was working on building a habit.

After a few weeks, I decided that I needed to kick it up a notch, so I tried running. I nearly keeled over after just 30 seconds of running. Seriously. No, really! It was embarrassing to be that out of shape.

The next day, I walked a mile, and ran for 30 seconds of that time. I was still about to keel over but each day when I went to the gym, I made sure to run for a bit of the time I was on the treadmill. I upped my running by 30 second increments and I also began to alternate walking with running (this is called doing intervals and it burns lots of calories). Eventually (it didn't take all that long) I could run a 5K on the treadmill in about 45 minutes. I know that isn't super fast but I am very, very short and I was running as fast as my little legs could do.

Within two months of beginning to work out, I had lost 15 pounds. By late 2009 I had lost 40 pounds using the principles in Bob Greene's book, Total Body Makeover, and doing interval training.

I have lost about 60 pounds altogether since that cold February day when I nervously stepped into a gym with a friend and her mother. I didn't buy a costly program and I didn't have a lot of support at home. I did pray and ask God to help me to change. If I wanted to eat something I knew would not help me in my goals, I would ask God to help me not to eat it. I would tell myself that I could that food the next day if I wanted to eat it.

I am not going to lie to you and say it was easy because it wasn't. It was a lot more emotional than I had expected. I realized that a lot of my over-eating had its roots in not dealing with my feelings and emotions. If I was annoyed with someone, instead of getting the problem resolved, I would just go to the refrigerator.

As I started to realize what I had been doing, I began to change the way I dealt with anger, disappointment, loneliness, and other emotions and emotionally charged situations. During the time I was working on my weight loss and myself, my mother got very sick with terminal cancer, went into hospice, and died. I was very vulnerable at this time to fall backwards on my weight loss journey, but I leaned heavily on God, threw myself into my work, and kept going.

If you want a new you this new year, you can do it! You just need to decide that you are worth all the work you will have to do physically, emotionally, and spiritually to see the change you want. If I did it and at the age of 45, anyone can do it!

Let me hear about you and your plans. I want to help. And you can help me to reach my goal of losing 10 more pounds. Let's succeed together!

After Thanksgiving Course Correction

Thanksgiving dinner was so yummy this year. The turkey was moist and tasty. There were lots of vegetables to eat so I was able to make healthy food choices...until I started eating the gluten-free brownies my mother-in-law had made and the gluten-free dairy-free pumpkin pie! Then, fueled by the influence of sugar, I went CRAZY eating too many portions of these treats.

How did you do with your Thanksgiving eating? Did you eat mindfully or did you do what I did?

I have a habit of weighing myself daily so when I go off the skids, I can see pretty quickly the effect it has on my weight and I pull myself back into good behavior within a day or two.

After enjoying the tasty treasures and gaining a couple pounds I upped my activity levels and signed up for a new challenge on LoseIt! This challenge encourages the participants to walk at least 4,000 steps each day this December.

In years past, if I over-indulged and gained some weight, I would beat myself up with recriminations. Then I would feel worse and eat badly. Now if I go on a food bender, I just resume my healthy eating habits, work out a bit more for a week or two, and get back to my "fighting" weight. I don't get too crazed about it.

These little off course events happen less and less often the longer I have been on the healthier path that I began in 2009. I have built up many good habits that keep me out of temptation.

I usually carry appropriate foods with me when I leave the house each day, including at least 16 ounces of water. I have at least an apple with me to help stave off hunger pangs until I can get home to eat something nutritious. I also exercise at least three days a week and usually work out five days a week.

It is hard to get too far off course sticking to good habits consistently.

What do you do if you get off course in your eating or exercising?

Low-cost or No-cost Weight Loss Resources That Worked for Me

The old Holly around September 2000.

Four and a half years ago, I was a size 16 squeezing into size 14 clothes! Today, I wear size 4 and 6 clothes. At the start of my journey to lose weight and become healthy I wondered if getting to my current size was a realistic goal for me. Along the way I found some really helpful low-cost or no-cost resources that you may also find as helpful as I did.

Me with my grandson in Sept. 2012.

Bob Greene's book Total Body Makeover was a huge help to me. It gave me very concrete ideas of how to structure a workout program and also helped me to deal with the emotional part of my weight loss journey. This book came out in 2005 and I still go back periodically to read it and encourage myself to keep up my efforts in maintaining my weight loss. There are many personal stories in the book that gave me faith that I could do what the other people in the book did!

Planet Fitness was the gym I joined when I began my steps to fitness. It was a wonderful place to go for someone who hadn't been working out because it is billed as "the no judgment zone" and that is truly what it was for me. A variety of people of all shapes, sizes, and fitness levels go to Planet Fitness (www.planetfitness.com). It has a nice variety of exercise equipment there as well: regular and recumbent bicycles, treadmills, elliptical machines, stair-steppers, free weights, and weight machines, and a circuit training area. It is VERY affordable with no-commitment plans starting at $10/month!

If $10/month is not in your budget, I have great news for you! PBS stations have fitness shows on their line-up several times each week. In my area, I enjoy doing Classical Stretch workouts up to five days a week (http://www.classicalstretch.com) and Wai Lana yoga (http://www.wailana.com) from the comfort of my home. My husband bought me a pretty pink yoga mat, I found some really cute workout clothes at the thrift store, and I was ready to get fit! I started doing these exercise shows last year after I lost a job I had had for seven years and I could not afford a gym membership. I am still doing these workouts at home because I have gotten great results from them and enjoy them very much. 

Last October I realized that I needed a little help as I continued reaching towards my goal weight. I read in Fitness magazine of a lady who used a free app on her smartphone called Lose It! I began using it and have lost 7 pounds since then. ; )

Lose It! allows people to track calories of the foods they eat and calories they expend through exercise. I had tried to do this on my own but found it very difficult to do. Another feature of Lose It! that I enjoy are the various challenges in which I have participated. The challenges are very motivating. One such challenge to weigh in daily just ended after 278 days! I have established the habit of monitoring my weight every day which helps keep me from getting too far off track in my eating and exercising. 

One other fitness resource that I really enjoy using are the walking/running trails in neighborhood parks. Even in my small town, we have several of these trails. The hospital near my house installed walking trails all around it that are marked so people can track how much distance they cover. My husband and I enjoy walking on the trails at the hospital because it is

a safe place to walk, there are restrooms available, we can go inside to get a drink of water, and they have free Wifi to enjoy once we are done walking. 

What have you done in your journey to better health and fitness?

How to Build a Wardrobe on a Budget

Those of you who have known me a while know that I lost a lot of weight over the past few years. I weigh about 60 pounds less than I did most of my adult life.

This photo is from my driver's license and was taken about 15 years ago.

I lost the majority of my weight by late 2010 through portion control and exercise and then I had some health issues that sidetracked me from working out from April 2011-January 2012. I maintained the weight I had lost but still wanted to lose more. 

In the spring of 2012, I began exercising again and found a program on television that started me on the path to additional weight loss and increased physical fitness. Within a month of beginning to do essentrics (http://www.essentrics.com/ and  http://www.classicalstretch.com/), I had lost a clothing size! I also lost 6 more pounds and am still working on about ten more to finish my weight loss goal from four years ago. 

I now weigh within two pounds of my high school weight and I feel great!

All this recent weight loss and improved shaping of my body has caused me to need all new clothes. I know, it is hard to sympathize with my problem! I have almost no budget for clothing so I did what I always do when confronted with a challenge. I prayed for wisdom and then formulated a plan of action. 

I decided to hit up the thrift stores but to focus on only buying from their daily sale promotions. At my local thrift store, a certain colored tag is chosen each day to receive a 50% discount if purchased.

I recently bought a pair of khaki Dockers, a pair of black crop pants, a Crazy Horse purse (division of Liz Claiborne), an exercise top, a top for work, and a casual top for fall for $13.00! I also received a sweater for free because it has a tiny pinhole in it and the store won't sell items with holes so they gave it to me! 

My recent purchases minus the khaki Dockers. 

I still need more clothing to round out a full wardrobe but I have a good start. I have made an concentrated effort to go to the thrift store at least once a week. I go to the racks and look for items in my size with the discounted tag and march off to the dressing room to try on everything I found that meets a need in my wardrobe. Sometimes I only purchase a single item. 

Just about every thrift store I have frequented has a daily sale of some sort. If you need clothing or household items I encourage you to give your local thrift store a shot at helping you fill your need without breaking your budget. 

Let me know of your deals, steals, and tips for building your wardrobe on a budget. 

I am off to the thrift store...talk to you soon!

Do You Feel Achy and Tired?

Life got really busy last week for me. For reasons I can't seem to remember right now, I didn't get to work out for five days. I woke up on Monday feeling achy and tired.

I have been doing lots of cleaning and organizing lately. 

My right shoulder ached from a job I did on Thursday (oh, yeah, that is one day I didn't work out because I was working, which is not the same as working out). My feet are sore from wearing some sandals that have seen better days. My lower back aches from sleeping on the couch (hubby has restless legs, a gigantic fan going 365 days a year, wears a noisy C-PAP at night, and is a bed hog, so if I actually want to sleep, the couch is where I go). So, the poor 50 year-old body was griping and complaining.

I finally got in a workout this morning and my body was so thankful. People are always telling me that they don't have time to work out. I reply that they don't have time not to work out. It seems that I need to take my own advice!

I will be resuming my practice of rising around 6 a.m. in order to exercise before I leave for my various jobs. I have felt the results of neglecting to exercise on a regular basis.

If you are tired, achy, and wonder what you can do to feel better, I would encourage you to find some exercise to do that you enjoy and start doing it. I highly recommend Classical Stretch (www.classicalstretch.com) which is also called Essentrics (www.essentrics.com) and yoga. These are great exercises for people of any age but are especially good for those of us in the forties, fifties, or older age brackets. Flexibility, balance, and strengthening are very important in avoiding many of the ailments that are considered to be age related.

I never thought I would be a yoga person but I love yoga! 

Let me know what you do for regular exercise or what you start doing if you are just getting started. I love hearing from you!

Stretching Everything!

Was chatting via text with a dear friend who lives far away from me so we have to catch up as we can. She shared that life is really stretching her as she has started several new businesses recently.

I also have been going through the stretching process. I have been working for quite a variety of people doing quite a variety of tasks through TaskRabbit (www.taskrabbit.com). I am never sure how much work I am going to be able to obtain so when jobs are available I take them. One day earlier this month found me working for over 8 hours cleaning two different places. I realized exactly how the phrase "I worked my a** off" originated! My booty felt like it was going to fall off from all that squatting down to scrub things.

I have had to stretch our income because in the summer I have less earnings and in the winter, my husband has less earnings. Hmm, that is two out of four seasons where we are earning less income! You are probably thinking that something should be done about that. I agree, which is why today I was stretching in a new area.

I applied to be an Amazon Associate so that I can earn additional income for me and my family. Now I have to figure out how to get the thing up and running on my blog, which is stretching my limited tech abilities. ; )

I have been doing Classical Stretch most weekday mornings (http://www.classicalstretch.com/) so I am stretching my body and making it stronger. Another division of this exercise is called Essentrics (http://www.essentrics.com/). I am contemplating becoming an instructor. Stay tuned!

So far being fifty is all about expanding and stretching in many areas of my life. What is stretching you these days? I so enjoy reader comments so please take time to share!

Summer Daycation Plans

Nothing says summer more to me than a cold drink and sunshine!

Summer is about to begin and I am all aflutter with plans to have a fun summer. It doesn't matter that I have little to no money to throw at my summer plans! I have a philosophy that I can enjoy my life without spending a lot of my hard earned money I am very fortunate in that the area of the country where I live abounds with many opportunities for free or very little cost.


There are area lakes, rivers, and dams within an hour's drive from my home. Staying cool when our Texas temperatures rise above 100 degrees will be easy when lounging on an inner tube floating lazily down a spring fed river. There are also many tree covered 
parks where one can hike, lounge, picnic, or barbecue inexpensively. A park near my home is comfy even at 100 degrees. My husband and I enjoy walking there in the summer on the pink granite paths and enjoying the shade of large pecan trees. 

There are museums about a 20 minute drive from me that are either free or offer reduced price admission. I hope this will be the summer I finally take time to enjoy these resources and stimulate my mind. I have my choice of history, art, and science museums for my self-development activities. 

I plan to read many of the books I have downloaded for free on my Kindle. I love taking time during the summer to escape by delving into novels or a novel series. In 2011, I read The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo series; it was the perfect distraction for what was an
otherwise bummer of a summer. So far this summer reading list has the following on it; The Chronicles of Amber, Anne of Green Gables, and perhaps some works by C. S. Lewis. 

I will be spending time working on my landscaping and seeing what I can scrounge for free to add beauty and interest to my yard. I need to finally fill in the garden area I carved out during spring break. It will be a restful spot to linger with those novels on a summer evening. 

Just recently we have been enjoying the light flickering from our fire pit and tiki torches in the seating area near the new garden bed. It is so relaxing having our dinner al fresco and following it with a dessert of roasted marshmallows or s'mores.We feel as if we are on vacation each time we get that fire pit going. 

What will you be doing this summer? How do you relax and entertain yourself on a budget?

Adulthood, part two

My youngest son is graduating from high school in May! I feel like I am graduating too!

I am on a quest to get my home back into an adult status. I feel somewhat like when I moved into my first grown up place and wanted to decorate and organize it for my maximum enjoyment. I think I am entering Adulthood, part two.

I find myself eradicating the Captain Underpants books that are somehow still showing up on the bookshelves in unexpected places. I am not as patient when my daughter leaves my grandson's rattles and baby seat strewn all over the living room.

Just today I turned a bookshelf that was housing some home school curriculum that hadn't been used in four years into a storage for my exercise equipment. My kettlebell, jump rope, free weights, exercise videos, yoga mat, and more are now all housed in one place.

I don't want tons of responsibilities these days...I have elected to work part-time instead of full-time (see my previous post Full Time Job No Thanks). I want to take French classes, write and submit articles, and enjoy an adult beverage in the evening.

Don't get me wrong- I love my five kids and two beautiful grandsons. I just want to enjoy time with my husband and time for myself. Adulthood, part two is something we all should aspire to enjoy and explore!