Wednesday, May 11, 2011

Starting New Habits and Saving Money

Well... it seems peer pressure has been in full swing at my church on Hill Road! Almost everyone and their brother are posting on facebook and chatting in the aisles about their running, their fitness training, their P90X workouts, their new Zumba classes... it's hard to be a couch potato these days!

So ~ I've been trying to start new healthier habits. Why oh why is that so difficult?

I'm in my last week of the No Boundaries program (sponsored by our local Fleet Feet store) and it has been a short (sometimes grueling!) time of learning about running and trying to get into shape for a 5K, although I did not start this in order to do a 5K. I have actually walked the Susan G. Komen 5K race each year in Kingsport since Mom's cancer diagnosis. For those of you interested in numbers, it takes me an hour to walk the 3.1 miles.

For me, the program was to be a kick-start to doing regular, weekly activity. I felt like I needed the accountability, someone who would miss me when I missed, and perhaps some helpful information to get me on the right track. I needed a healthy choice that I can maintain in order to combat the osteoporosis that I have since suffering from early menopause at the age 36.

But another phenomenon was going on at my church about the same time all this healthy stuff was happening: the crazy coupon addiction!

Ladies at church talking about the best deals, their great savings, and even posting pictures of their treasures. While I love a good deal and I don't mind using coupons for items that I actually use, I much prefer freebies and giveaways!

I was the dorky kid who always filled out the mail-in forms and sent $1 shipping to the cereal company for whatever cool item was being advertised. I place the blame squarely on my Mamaw Ketron's shoulders because she was forever mailing things out and getting things in. It was like Christmas every day in her mailbox!

That is why I love this site - The Giveaway Scout www.giveawayscout.com/.
It searches the world wide web and looks through blogs to find what the coolest giveaway is! Now isn't that something? Take a peek - and I've added their widget to my blog to make it easy for you.

If we would each take advantage of all our resources, think of what an impact we could make by sharing the surplus with those in our community who are in need. Because one healthy choice can lead to another!

By the way, here's a neat coupon/deal site to help in your quest to save money - Southern Savers www.southernsavers.com/ and here's a fitness teacher that can get your too comfy tushy up and moving - archerfitness.blogspot.com/2011/05/group-fitness-isnt-limited-to-classroom.html - May we all continue or renew our New Year's resolution to get healthy with our money and our bodies as we start the summer season!

1 comment:

cajunsis said...

LOVE couponing... when I had the kids at home, we usually spent less than $400 on groceries and I sent a TON of them to the food pantries in town. I also had around $200-400 in rebates coming in - so in essence, they paid US to eat! What fun! Hope you are still doing it! Will be doing it again very soon. We are buying a house again - finally!