How Healthy Living Can Save You Money – Deciding each day to make healthy choices isn’t always easy. There’s a lot to tempt you from that path and let’s face it, those unhealthy choices can sometimes be fun–in the short run. However, tomorrow always rolls around, and with it comes the sluggishness and other bad feelings that eating the wrong food, not getting enough exercise, and other similar choices can cause. Sometimes, though, it helps to give yourself some additional motivation for healthy living. Have you ever thought about how much money you can save?
Vices Cost Money
The cost of cigarettes or a single night out drinking cocktails with friends adds up fast. Junk food isn’t cheap either. Do an experiment for a week or so and see what happens if you throw the cash you’d normally spend on these things into a piggy bank. How much is left at the end of the week? What about after a month? You may be surprised at how much you can save, and you can do something fun that’s good for you with it or, even better, put it away in an emergency fund or investments.
Cheaper Insurance Premiums
If you can demonstrate that you are healthy, you may be able to purchase both medical and life insurance policies at cheaper rates. After paying lower premiums for a couple of decades, once your kids are grown and you are not worried about taking care of dependents, you may want to consider cashing in your policy. A licensed life settlement company can make an offer for a cash payment. You can review a guide on the process and what you can expect. The payout can make a nice supplement to retirement savings or can give you a chance to splurge on something you couldn’t otherwise afford.
Lower Food Costs
It’s true that if what you’re after is the trendy health food of the moment, you could end up with a big grocery bill in pursuit of an ostensibly healthy lifestyle. However, if you avoid what’s currently the hot items and instead opt for a traditional well-balanced diet, you’ll still be getting nourishing food and you’ll save money. Fruit and vegetables such as apples, carrots, cabbage, and potatoes are packed with nutrition and don’t cost much. Furthermore, you don’t have to go completely vegetarian to eat less pricey meat and get more of your protein from beans, which are very inexpensive when purchased dried. Learning how to cook in bulk, so there’s always something you can throw in the microwave helps save on takeout and delivery costs as well.
Lower Medical Costs
Even if you have decent health insurance, it doesn’t cover everything. A healthy lifestyle doesn’t guarantee a healthy body, but it certainly increases the likelihood of it, and this can mean spending far less on medical expenses. In addition, if you do get sick, your immune system is likely to be stronger, meaning you’ll recover more quickly and may not need treatment as you would if you had a lower baseline of health to begin with.
