How to save to afford keeping your health.....

Gyms can cost $1000s of dollars to get the same program my Beachbody programs offer.  I did the calculations for somebody doing the same program with a personal trainer, plus gym costs, meal plan, gas to and from the gym, etc which came out to be approximately $17,500 in Southern California.  Yet when people are offered a program that can cost as little as $50 that have been proven to work they can't afford it.  As a money pincher myself I consider myself a resource to saving a lot of money so that we can all do what is most important to living this life fully, which is keeping our health and feeling good.

I spent 10 years in college, 3 college degrees and loans paid off by the time I was 30.  I now have my very own sportscar paid off.  Live in my dream apartment on the beach, and guess what I don't have one penny of debt.  You know what the key is to making this happen?  Simple!  Don't buy things that you don't have the money for!  Unless it is food, water, shelter, healthcare, or gas we probably don't need it!  Everything after that is a want!!!!!  Lets discuss ways to cut corners.

College
People are probably the most broke in their life during this time.  No real job to pay the outstanding tuition bills!  There are millions of scholarships of which students never apply.  Scholarships are easiest to get if you have never received a college degree before or are a single parent.  I went to a community college after graduating with a bachelor's degree.  Every spring after taxes were done there was an online application to fill out for scholarships.  I'd fill out the information, and I'd be submitted for whichever scholarships I was eligible.  Guess what?  4 year degree, more difficult to get scholarships, and I got scholarships to cover that tuition.

When it came to textbooks I almost always bought them online.  Bigwords.com is a website that you can enter in your textbook's ISBN and it will tell you which website has it the cheapest.  I'm a big fan of Half.com a division of ebay.  I once bought textbook/lab book package on there that were $180 at my college bookstore.  I bought them for $150.  At the end of the year my classmates only received $39 for the textbook, and the lab book in the package had no cashout value.  I sold my textbook and lab book for $110.  I put a little note that some of the labs were filled out, but I'd send them along.  I only lost $40.  My classmates lost $140.  To a college student $140 is a lot.  That was 2 months worth of groceries for me, which brings me to the next category.....

Groceries
I shop at Sprouts Farmers Market which has stores all over Texas, Arizona, California, and Colorado with some new stores in other states.  It is cheaper then the regular Kroegers, Albertson's, Ralphs, Von's, Hy-Vee grocery stores.  It's like Whole Foods but much cheaper and more items than Trader Joe's.

Save those coupons from the Sunday register.  I once bought $42 worth of groceries at Ralphs for $12. I have got 4 tubes of toothpaste for free.  10 salad dressings for $10 which at regular price would have been over $40 together.  People tell me all of the time that they can't afford to eat healthy food.  Eating healthy food doesn't have to be expensive.  When you are eating cheap or junk foods it requires more of those foods to get the same nutrients that nutrient dense foods have.   You can drink one Shakeology replacement meal and get all the nutrients you need for $3 or spend $6 at McDonald's on the Happy Meal that doesn't even make you happy or fulfill your nutritional needs.  I spend a lot of time blogging on nutrition, because food is a major factor in determining how well I feel.  I spend a lot of time breaking the myths.  My diet I'm sure seems crazy too many people, but  if you are eating foods that aren't in purest form, such as foods loaded in gluten, sodium, sugar, dairy, or even meat you may be adding to your grocery bill and doctor's bill.  Americans waste $2400 a year on food that went bad.  Be responsible with your resources and plan out your meals so the food doesn't go bad, nor buy extra foods that you don't need.  My favorite couponing website is couponmom.com.  Every week the coupon mom has all of the grocery stores nationwide as well as drug stores, and lists discounts in descending order of being 100% free to the smallest 1% discount and which coupons are available to get even bigger discounts.  For instance this week you can get a FREE McAfee Internet protection program at Staples after mail in rebate.  I also have an application on my smart phone that does this called Grocery Smart Lite.

Clothing
For all of my LA people all I can say is LA Fashion District.  I lost my new $20 earbuds and got new $5 buds there.  My friend got a I phone USB for $3.  H

In the past I've got a pair of purple ankle boots with bling on them and a pair of silver sequin pumps at Arden B that were each originally $80 for $5.  Everybody that shops at Arden B knows that usually the cheapest you can get shoes off the clearance rack there is $30.  It was my day!  Make an A line for clearance section.  If you want to really challenge yourself make no shopping for clothing for a year your New Year's resolution and vow to give the saved money to charity or save it or pay off your debt.  It was my NY resolution 3 years ago.  I did go shopping a few times that year only complete essentials.  I had enough coupons to get $40 worth of Victoria's Secret merchandise for $2, so I felt it was justifiable.  I also bought a dress to wear to a friend's wedding.  It was originally $150, it was the only dress that I had seen that I couldn't stop thinking about.  I was looking and looking and couldn't find another cheaper dress.  One day I went to the clearance rack at Macy's and there was a size 10 (I'm a size 3 to 5) for $80, plus they gave me a discount for opening a card, which I turned around and paid right off.  Then I had the dress altered down to my size.  You may find that perfect dress too large in the clearance section, and you can take it to a seamstress or do it yourself as I have before.

Electronics
One of the big reasons Best Buy is gradually going out of business is because people go window shopping there, find what they want and buy it on Amazon.  However I'm going to tell this only to people who can responsibly pay the balance off their credit card each month get a credit card with some kind of rewards system.  It works in your favor if you pay your card off every month, otherwise you aren't saving when you pay the interest.  Make sure there is no APR either.  I have a Best Buy Rewards Zone Mastercard.  I use it to pay for EVERYTHING, then pay it off each month.  I got my $700 tv on sale for $600, except Best Buy sent their rewardzone customers a $50 off coupon for anything over $500, and I had $310 saved up in points from using my Mastercard.  $460 off my tv, and after my purchase Best Buy turned back around and gave me a $50 certificate for making the purchase.  I can use my points to pay for everything before taxes.  This week I bought a Bluetooth enabled speaker originally $80 for $5.44.  I get almost all of my stuff there for free I just use my points.  I am always needing new USB cords, chargers, bluetooths, cds, any electronic necessity you can think of I get free from there.  Electronics can add up!  Wait for sales too!  A couple weeks ago my laptop broke down and it was off of its warranty, so I bought a new Apple.  It was on sale with $300 off, which Apples never go on sale from what they tell me.  It doesn't hurt to make the proper investment the first time either.  I had an HP for 5 years.  I had the laptop completely replaced after 11 months, 2 hard drive replaced, the motherboard replaced, and the electrical outlet.  Between the purchase of the HP and the warranties I ended up spending the cost of my new Mac with lots of lost data.  I have heard several stories of people never getting their Mac repaired.  One person told me he had used his for 12 years and no problems.  It also doesn't require virus protection because there are only a couple viruses out there for Macs and even if you had virus protection it probably wouldn't protect from those viruses.

Automobiles
All I can say is do your research before buying a car.  Make sure it's a reliable brand.  I bought a used car, and I have ran all over the country without problems 50,000 miles later with the exception of the previous owner taking out her ipod connector wired into the main wiring system of the car, which caused my computer system to go out several times until the mechanics figured it out.  But that wasn't the maker's error.  Keep up the oil and fluid changes.  If you can't afford to have it done, do it yourself.  They do make devices that will suck all of the oil out of your car then you can put new oil in yourself.   If you don't know how to check the antifreeze or transmission oil then look for tutorials on YouTube.  I know how to check my own oil, fluids, and jump my own car.  Basic skill that can save a lot.

Time
Time is money and is going to be a huge money saver.    If you haven't read Stephen Covey's book the The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People I would suggest so.  The first habit is proactivity.   Plan your life don't let it plan you.  Every week sit down and write out the plan for your week.  Schedule when you will work, shower, eat, prepare meals, brush your teeth, grocery shop, run errands, do laundry, grocery shop etc. Plan every single detail.  Plan your grocery list.  A written out grocery list will save you time and gas on runs to the store because you forgot something.  Infact why don't you save yourself on gas by planning those errands that are on your way home from work.  I plan my grocery shopping after church on Sunday.  My church is 9 miles away, and the grocery store and Target are by there.  It saves me an additional 18 miles later in the week, and 8 miles roundtrip if I were to run to the  next closest Target.  When you plan then you don't have overdue bills with late fees.  Like I said earlier, when we plan our meals then we don't have food that goes bad before used.  Planning your time gives you 2 extra hours on average a day.  2 hours to workout?

Health
If you can't afford your health bills and medications then you must make getting healthy your priority.  I am convinced there are few illnesses out there that can't be cured or modifiable.  Obesity, diabetes, hypertension, sleep apnea, high cholesterol, heart disease, etc can all either be eliminated or improved.  A Challenge Group is one of the cheapest ways out there to getting fit, and getting fit could actually make you some money.  If it didn't work for me then I wouldn't be doing it.  My pictures are proof enough that it does work, and there's plenty of proof out there that it can and will work for you if you give getting fit and healthy your all.  Let me know when you are ready for the Challenge.

If you still need help with ideas on how to save to get fit, please let me know so I can toss around more ideas with you.  Dave Ramsey's Total Money Makeover or his Financial Peace University course are also great to managing your finances.  Please share any money savers you have.