Moving right along in our Wellness Series, this week’s focus is on how your finances can affect your health and well-being. For so many of us, just the thought of this “F” word causes anxiety. Most of us have either had money issues, are currently experiencing money issues or know of someone going through this. It is a part of life, and unfortunately, it is all too common for so many right now.
As you may or may not know about me, I am a firm believer in the power of small changes and the impact that these can have in our own personal lives or on the life of another. There are many small things that we can all do to help manage our money – in turn creating a sense of peace while reducing anxiety. Stress will impact us. It will affect us and our health, and there is no way around this fact. What we can choose though is to change those things that we do have control over. Here are some suggestions on small changes we an all do everyday that can help to reduce financial burdens.
1. Buy generic vs name-brand
2. Make a list before shopping
3. Shop clearance racks (after season sales for the following year)
4. Pay with cash, if you don’t have the cash – you cannot afford it
5. Pay your bills on time to avoid late fees
6. Use your library for items such as videos, books, CD’s and magazines
7. Do not buy a brand new car that depreciates dramatically the moment you drive out of the dealership lot, instead purchase one that is preowned with low mileage
8. Control your electric by unplugging appliances that are not in use and getting in the habit of turning off the lights. The sun is free!
9. Decrease your water consumption by installing low flow aerators on your faucets
10. Have a garage sale and get rid of anything you have not used in 6 months or more
11. Stay at home – while going out is fun, reduce the urge to go out on the town and opt for entertaining at home
12. For carnivores – eat less meat! Reduce the portion size of meat on your plate or get really crazy by going meatless one night per week
13. Get rid of cable – you might want your cable for your internet, but do you really need all of those movie channels? Again – use your library for movies and shows or purchase DVD’s off of Ebay
14. Swapping: If you want to trade products or services, look into places like Craigslist or Freecycle which promotes “green” trading
15. Trade with friends – Find others who are interested in similar things and do a trade, such as kids clothes or toys
16. Create a monthly budget and stick to it
17. Ride your bike or carpool
18. Use coupons or wait for promotions
19. Do not join the gym – instead, find ways to exercise at home with a DVD, Wii Fit, walk or ride your bike
20. Pick up “gifts” on clearance and store them in a “gift bin” for future celebrations
21. Make your own coffee
22. Hang your clothes to dry
23. Stock your pantry with bulk staples (rice, flour, vinegar, olive oil, beans etc)
24. Cook homemade meals and snacks rather than purchasing the more expensive pre-packaged stuff
25. Paper Towels – use old socks or stained clothes cut into squares instead of paper towels
26. Cleaners – Make your own! Baking Soda and Vinegar may become your best friends! They work and they are cheap
27. Skip the juice and pop – give up all that sugar and go for an ice water! Add a little lemon in it for extra flavor
28. Cut your own hair – seriously, I do it for the smiling green boys of the family and we save tons of money! If I can cut hair – anyone can!
29. Use your freezer – purchase clearance meats and fresh produce (Farmer’s Market preferred) and freeze
…and if all else fails:
“Save on heating costs. Turn off the heating in all your rooms in the house, except for the bathroom. Live only in the bathroom. You can sleep in the bath, can’t you? You’ve got waste facilities, fresh running water, what more could you need!?
Make love standing up. Keep your feet in the exact same spot every time. Less wear and tear on your bed means you won’t have to replace the mattress as often.
Learn to levitate. Another great tip which saves on wear and tear on carpets. It’s really not as difficult as you might think.
Train mice. Mice are pretty smart. Train teams of them to do basic household tasks such as washing the windows and vacuuming. That way you can get rid of the expensive Swedish maid. REMEMBER – mice are cheaper than maids.”
Thank you Bargainmoose for these funny frugal ideas – go check them out for a good couple of laughs! Hey? It’s cheaper than going to a comedy club!
The World’s Longest List of Ways to Live Green and Simple
Can you think of more??? Please add your comments on more ways we can spend frugally, live Green and really simplify our lives! Let’s see how long we make this list!! If you help me create the world’s longest list of ways to simplify your life and finances – I will not only STUMBLE and TWEET you, but I will create a list of participants with links back to your blog or site. Just brainstorming here… but maybe we can get a list for the Guinness Book of World Records ” The World’s Longest List of Ways to Simplify and Go Green” Now that would be crazy!!! I will keep you posted – but until then – let’s just see how many all of us greenies can come up with!
*Disclaimer: These must be relevant, green, eco-friendly and cannot include humorous, spammy or off-topic ideas. No p@rn@graphy or otherwise inappropriate material. SGM has the right to modify or exclude any comments deemed inappropriate*
Make love standing up? But what about the wear and tear on the flooring? How ’bout combining that one with the levitating?
ROTFL!!! Oh wait – LITAL – that would be “levitating in the air laughing” great way to conserve carpets!
lol! So, where’s the Guiness list? Am I missing it? *going to look again*
Ohhhhhh….*light dawns on marble head* I get it now. Reread your fb comment. Duh.
Must contact Guinness and wait for a reply!!! *bouncing with excitement*
How about being more careful with groceries? I read somewhere that in the west, we throw out a third of what we buy. That’s disgusting. Be more creative and diligent about leftovers and things that are just past perfect ripeness.
Telling wait staff not to put out water glasses for everyone…unless someone’s ACTUALLY going to drink it.
Ask wait staff to not automatically put straws in every glass. Only people with sensitive teeth need straws – too many end up on the beach.
Make love standing up! Love it!! Here is my addition for the list:
Buy items such as herbs and spices from the bulk bins(so much cheaper!)
Cathy
Hey Cathy! Thanks for the awesome tip on herbs and spices! So true
Awww…I never knew that! Thank you for helping us better understand this issue – yikes! I can’t imagine how awful that would be for the little sea creatures and our planet!
I love love love your blog!
Some other things to the list –
~Not original since bulk bins have been mentioned, but I always buy nuts, oat groats, oat/wheat bran, rices, other whole grains, etc. from the bulk bins. Cuts down on packaging and is also so much less expensive.
~ Join a CSA if you can, helps to eat in season and is less expensive. Plus, eating local (and in season) helps cut down on your carbon footprint
~ Don’t buy plastic toys. We stay away from these as much as possible, opting for wooden toys and less of them
~ Make your own play-doh (can you tell I have a preschooler?)
~ Get your kids to help in the kitchen from a young age so that they grow up learning how to cook. Less fast-food consumption for the future!
~ Plan your meals – this is a big thing for us. Not only has it helped save money because we know what we are eating every day, we are eating more healthfully, eating more things from scratch, and have less waste
~ Speaking of from scratch, try to make things from scratch when you can ~ crackers, ketchup, bread, etc. It’s very easy and the cost is mere pennies by comparison to the money you are essentially paying for packaging.
~ On my to-do list is to compost. Decrease waste, decrease your carbon footprint.
~ Consider a hybrid or electric vehicle. We drive a hybrid and are on the list for an EV when they are mass-produced. And (gasp) we only have one car.
I could go on, but will shut up now.
Hell, I totally forgot my favorite one: use cloth napkins!
WOW!!! You are so amazing
Thank you so much for helping us create our list!! This is fantastic 
Oh – and thank you very much for your sweet words on my bloggy!!
Ok so I haven’t done this personally yet but you can apparently make your own laundry detergent from castile soap and boax and a couple of other things. I use Charlies Soap, so it would be similar to that. Alternatively, you can buy homemade laundry detergent from a number of sellers on etsy.
While we’re on that, support etsy – a lot of their artisans have upcycled products (like the cutest notebooks made from old cereal, cracker, cookie boxes, etc.
OH, and I heard about a great book on NPR called Living Cheap and Loving It that talks about various things one can do to live “frugally,” though I am not sure there is a “green angle” there that is overt. It seems, however that most living cheaply items are just by default green.
Plant herbs and small vegetables if you can – growing yourself is inexpensive. I admit that is something I have not yet tried but would like to.
-Get your produce from your local farmers market.
-Turn lights out in rooms your not using.
-Unplug appliances when they are not in use.
-Use cloth bags – not just at the grocery store, but for all shopping.
-Use things like emply paper towel rolls, toilet tissue rolls, cereal boxes, etc for crafts with the kids.
-Sell or donate your used kids items.
-Reusable water bottle instead of disposables.
Such fantabulous ideas! Thanks so much for adding to our list
have a “sit in” in front of major chain restaurants/ call the press for the story of those who continue to use massive amounts of styrofoam and plastic for all their dine in customers then throw it all away!
AH! Thanks Laurie for your greenie tip!!! So glad you stopped by
I know this is completely missing the point of the post, but I’m so happy that you said ‘pop’ instead of ‘soda’. I know it’s a silly argument, but even people who grew up in the same city as I did have started saying soda. It’s pop! lol.
LOL – that is so hysterical! I didn’t even realize that until now. Hmmm – wondering if there’s been any “soda” people who read and thought “pop”???? That is weird! hehehehe.
I love this list and all the fantastic frugal and eco-friendly advice, some are too funny!
*Try meatless monday. It’s good for you, your wallet, your health and reduces the carbon footprint. I am meatless everyday but all you have to do is agree to one day a week!
That is such a great idea! Thanks for contributing
I bet we could all do one day a week, right!?
Hi there I like your post