Being Frugal Can Make You Healthierby Mary Ann Romans | More from this Blogger 18 Mar 2008 06:12 AM Some people think of frugal zealots as poor, miserable wretches. Of course we know better. But just in case you want one more reason to feel proud about being frugal, here you go. Frugality can lead to a healthier lifestyle. And now, here is my explanation. As a frugal person, I tend to avoid things that aren't necessary and are expensive. Take cigarettes, for example. They are astronomically expensive, never mind extremely hazardous to my health. None of my frugal friends smoke. By the same token, we avoid soda and alcohol as well. We drink plenty of water. It is free, plentiful and good for our bodies. Even if you pay for your water, it is a miniscule fraction of the cost of other drinks. As a frugal family, we probably get more exercise than most. We spend a lot of time outdoors enjoying free activities and less time on expensive indoor entertainment, from television to movies. Since we strive to use less purchased electricity, we exert more physically, such as hanging clothing to dry, scrubbing floors by hand instead of with a fancy machine and walking when we can. We also rely on our own manual labor around the home when we have the basic skills and safety. This includes everything from painting to hauling wood. Because eating out and convenience foods are more expensive than homemade, we make as much food from scratch as we can. This leads to more nutrient-rich meals. Our meals are not filled with preservatives, and I can include healthy fats such as olive oil and healthy nutrients such as flax seed in our cooking. Being frugal contributes less stress in our lives. We don't have to worry about living paycheck to paycheck. We can afford a home in a safer neighborhood with a better school system because we live frugally. We don't have mounting credit card debt to worry about. To some degree, we can slow down and enjoy the simple things that life has to offer us without worrying about the next big purchase or paying for it. Do you believe frugal living is healthy? Please let me know. Mary Ann Romans writes about everything related to saving money in the Frugal Blog, technology in the Computing Blog, and creating a home in the Home Blog. You can read more of her articles by clicking here. Related Articles: Learn more about Mary Ann Romans  Mary Ann Romans is a freelance writer, wife and mother of three children. She lives in Pennsylvania with her husband, the kids and a 16-pound cat. Relevantfrugal tags User Comments MegfromAllAboutAppearances (330) 18 Mar 2008 10:44 PMWell said! My husband and I are giving up our gym membership next month when the contract is up. We've probably walked more around the neighborhood now this month than we did on the treadmills in two years. Because whereas we used to go see a movie or eat out, nowadays we spend our quality time on walks. We're getting healthier, and having better quality time. He's even started giving up all but the occasional soda and has switched to drinking a lot more home brewed tea. And now he's buying a lot fewer snacks (though he's still a big meat eater, but at least that's got some nutritional value). I kicked the soda habit years ago, but this year I gave up lean cuisines. Turns out, real food is just about as easy to prepare and a lot healthier. We recently came across a weekly grocery receipt from last year this month. It was over 10 times what we paid this week. FrugalGreenMama (10) 20 Mar 2008 01:33 PMBravo! There is a misconception that a thrifty lifestyle will bring less happiness, entertainment, togetherness etc., when in reality it brings great richness in all areas of our lives. If I won the lottery tomorrow, I would still want to use our resources on making memories rather than on needless "stuff" and mindless entertainment. We live in a 1,000 square foot house, but the limited space enables us to spend less on utilities and forces us to get out into our community more often. I wrote a blog entitled "How Much House Does Baby Need" at http://greenbabyguide.com, where we believe it's possible to save time, money and the planet. Community Tags frugal, healthy, thrifty, Tips Discuss this article
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