frugal underground

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Photo by KRob2005

Not everyone can afford a gym membership or a personal trainer to help them get in shape. As a matter of fact, most people just don’t have the money or the time to travel to the gym before or after their full time jobs. How can a person on a budget lose weight and not lose money?

You can find basic dieting tips and health or fitness information on the web, in the library or at the book store. You can surf and skim for ideas without spending a penny. Get as much information as you can, and apply what you learn.

Here are some quick and easy money-saving weight loss tips:

• Walk as much as possible.
• Drink water instead of soft drinks.
• Use the stairs, not the elevator.
• Stand instead of sit.
• Do sit-ups, leg lifts, or arm curls while watching television.
• Eat less junk food and more fruits and vegetables.
• Eat less meat.
• Never go for seconds.
• Eat slowly, and stop before you are totally full.
• Always get a good night of rest.
• Try to find at least 30 minutes a day to relax, clear your mind and reduce stress.

These tips will help you to increase your metabolism and lower your calorie intake, without the membership fee and special food costs. If you commit to a healthier lifestyle you can lose weight while keeping your wallet fat.

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My husband and I have long dreamed of being able to quit our respective jobs and spend time working on various open source projects and personal interests. (I know we’re not the only ones!) We’re on track to pay off our house in not too many more years, but one of the things we’ve been concerned about is health insurance. Subsidized by an employer (as it is now), the premiums are relatively low and all is well. But the rates we’ve seen when you go it alone are brutal. Good news, though! Recently I’ve discovered two potential solutions.

The first is eHealthInsurance. Using this free, online service, I can find out what plans are available to me as an individual and compare coverage, rates, and deductibles. I found one that would probably work well for my husband and I that runs just over $100/month. It has a high deductible but is an eligible plan for HSA (which I care a lot about). This makes sense for our family because we don’t go to the doctor very often, but when we really need medical care, it’s likely to soar well above the deductible (this is based on our lifestyle—prime example being the rock wall accident that broke my husband’s back and ended up costing $100k+—yay, insurance!).

The other option that interests me is Ebay’s Health Insurance Plan as reported by Jim. It’s a little more work (you have to do something to qualify for it) but as the time gets closer, I’ll definitely be looking into it to find out if it’s substantially better than my other options. It would be pretty simple to qualify (at least at the lower tiers), so this will certainly be something to consider.

Are you insured through an employeer or on your own? I’d love any tips you might have to offer, either way.

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