Fiscal and Physical Fitness

Tara's graphics

Yesterday, Tara, of the "Days Missed on a Hammock" blog, brought up an interesting topic about July 1 is the beginning of the fiscal year in many areas of finance and business. That lead her to not only wonder about how fiscally responsible she has been, in this time of rising energy and food costs, but also how physically responsible she has been now that summer should be a time of more outdoor activities.

She made a pact with herself that on July 1 she'd try to be more fiscally and physically responsible for the year, and I told her I'd join in, and blog about this also.

I have always been a walker, and I posted once before how I usually meet a couple of friends every morning to walk a walking track in a local park. We try to do three laps at a quick pace which is about three miles in a less than an hour. The nice thing about this is that we keep each other motivated to show up every morning and spend the walking time talking and enjoying each other's company.

Below is an aerial view of my local neighborhood public park and its tree-lined oval walking path:

I've seen people advertise the beginning of "walking clubs" in parks, and also for indoor air-conditioned malls, and I think that is an excellent way to gather a group of people together for the same motivation and distraction, and also a way to deter very hot weather or rain from interfering with a walking routine.

My friends and I have been walking together for over ten years, and we've walked in 100+ heat, and -3 degree cold, but as we are all aging (just a little) and some arthritis is flaring up, I have noticed a little slow down in our commitment to walking in extreme weather, but for the most part we enjoy the time we spend together and miss it when we don't.

If you read my blog regularly I'm sure you noticed that I do love to cook and also eat out and that I have a hearty appetite, so lately I've decided walking wasn't enough to help me stay in shape and my husband and I joined a nearby gym.

A gym membership is expensive in the New York area, but my husband and I decided that being sedentary and developing illnesses because of that would be more expensive, and so we made the commitment to join a gym for a year. We keep each other motivated to go, at least four times a week, and it has become an enjoyable way to spend some time together. We try to do a cardiovascular exercise to increase our heart rates, such as the bike or treadmill, and then we use the resistance machines and weights for upper body, leg and abdominal work.
While I haven't exactly felt the pounds falling away, I have felt more flexible and strong, and we often remark how good we feel in the evening after working out.

The hardest part of being physically fit is avoiding carbohydrates and increasing our consumption of vegetables and fruits, lean meats and fish, and whole grains -- and to cut back drastically on sweets and snacks! I know this is the most important part of the equation, so I am really trying very hard to commit to a full-time healthy diet and portion control.

Now to address fiscal health! It is a difficult subject in the United States when gasoline is well over $4 a gallon and milk, bread, produce and meat are all rising in cost due to high transportation costs and inclement weather.

I've always been somewhat frugal by nature. I look for sales, I buy in bulk, use coupons, I lower the thermostat in winter and put on a sweater, and only run the air conditioners in + 90's weather, walk instead of drive whenever I can, etc. But, I'm also at a fortunate point in my life where my children have been educated and are on their own and are financially independent. We've lived in the same home for almost 32 years and we have more or less finished renovations and are content to keep it as is. It would probably not be featured on HGTV but is comfortable and cozy.
We live in a middle class neighborhood, and luckily maintaining our house is relatively inexpensive, and we are able easily to take public transportation or walk to stores and services if needed. New York is an expensive state in which to live, and New York City has many extras costs such as high city taxes, high rents and housing costs, high car insurance rates, high bridge and tunnel tolls, high cost for entertainment and parking. I often dream about finding a little hamlet where all those costs were much less, but I do love my city and all the cultural and entertainment opportunities it gives, and I don't see myself moving in the near future.

So fiscal responsibility becomes a matter of choices for us, of being a little more careful with the day to day "extras" which can add up, buying only on sale if at all possible, and enjoying more free and low cost activities, while still having the security to splurge now and then on travel, which is our passion.

I'd love to know if you'd like to join the pact to get both physically and fiscally fit, and if you have ideas and tips you've found to be most effective in doing either or both. Thanks!