Keeping Healthy Can Be Frugal Too
When someone says they subscribe to healthy living, expensive organic foods, funny tasting drinks and custom made gym wrist bands come to mind. We have over time come to associate a healthy lifestyle with money and bourgeois living, while in most cases, healthy living can actually save you money!
Today we look at 5 simple fixes you can make in your life to end up healthier, and with more change in your pocket.
1. Use your car less: I believe I’ve written about this time and time again in the past. Most of us drive distances shorter than 10km to work. Worse still, as my grandpa likes to say, Nairobians drive 5km to the gym, to jog 7km on a machine, which they pay to use. It may not be practical to take public transport to work every day (or even walk), but make a point of taking public transport at least once a week. Using a matatu forces you to walk more, and walking is good for your health.
2. Avoid exotic foods: Eating unhealthy is very expensive. For example, the last time I checked, a packet of sausages cost about Kshs 400. While most of us like to believe sausages are a protein fix, they actually contain more starch and fats, than they do proteins. A sausage on average contains 50% fat, about 30% starch, 10% protein and 10% chemicals (my first job was in a sausage factory). In addition to this, sausages by themselves hardly make a complete meal, you have to pair them up with equally expensive, and sometimes as unhealthy accompaniments (bacon etc), which just add more fat to your body.
With your 400 bob, you are better off buying 1kg of arrow roots (Kshs 80), another of sweet potatoes (Kshs 60 ), some eggs and vegetables, giving you breakfast for a week, much more healthier,and cheaper.
3. Ditch the soda: It’s no news that soda is just sugared water, and a lot of sugar for that matter, if the photo below is anything to go by. Fresh juice is slightly better, though most juices have sugar and other artificial components added to them.
How about carrying your water bottle with you even when you go out for lunch, instead of drinking soda? Most restaurants will allow this, in fact some will serve you a glass of filtered water with your meal free of charge. It is ok to take soda once in a while as a treat, but if you have a soda habit, quit today, you will be healthier and richer.
4. Eat out less: If you have been tracking your expenses, how much did you spend eating out last month? Is it reasonable? If you’re like me, it’s more than you would want it to be. How about taking a 30 day restaurant fast, and instead cooking and eating at home?
It’s cheaper, and healthier because you get to dictate what goes into your food. You could argue it takes more time to cook, but eating at home means less time in traffic, or even less TV time, so you cook. Win win!
5. Quit smoking: I don’t have much experience with this, but my understanding of smoking is: you are paying someone to kill you. It is a costly habit, and it slowly damages your lungs (and if you’re unlucky, other body parts too).
What do you do with the savings? Use it to build your snowball, and if you’re debt free, let it go towards your emergency fund, something we will be talking about soon on this blog.
What other simple fixes save you money and are healthy at the same time? Are there alternative ways to socialize, other than meeting at restaurants and handing over our money?
Share your views in the comments section below.
