By Tanisha Williams

Staying in shape and looking great has become a staple in most women’s lives today. Whether it’s keeping the weight off, losing that stubborn baby weight or just staying fit and healthy to keep up your daily routine,  I want to show you how to save a buck while you shape your butt.

We know it’s not easy – or cheap – to stay in shape. Gym membership costs have soared in some areas and then there are the many exercise crazes we want to try – Pilates, Zumba, spin classes, kickboxing and boot camps … how do we choose without going broke?

Let your fingers do the walking …through the Internet. With the explosion of coupon and daily deal sites, some specifically geared toward exercise, you have no excuse for paying full price for any workout ever again.

Sign up for Groupon, Livingsocial and Bloomspot and indicate you’re looking for exercise and healthy living deals. The savings will land right in your inbox.

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By Ashley Watson

Budgeting for meals can be easier than you think if you remember that saving money will also encourage healthier eating habits. You already know that whole foods are more healthful than processed foods, but did you realize they were cheaper, as well?

Here are some tips to remember when creating your grocery budget and shopping lists:

Plan Your Meals

Planning your meals for the week may feel a little too ambitious, but it will save time and money in the end. Think about how long it takes to decide what you want to eat after a long day at work when you are already tired and hungry. You don’t have to sit down and write a detailed menu for every night of the week, but it’s a good idea to have a general sense of which meals you want to prepare.

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As the economic times seem to get leaner, it’s getting more difficult to afford the groceries we need to keep up with the nutritional guidelines. Whether the cost of food has gone up or the income of the average American has dropped, shopping for optimal health isn’t as simple as it once was. There are options and ways to avoid throwing in the towel in the battle for better health.

The numbers were crunched and the cost of meeting the recommended daily requirements of “My Plate,” the new U.S. nutritional guideline, will cost an extra $7.28 a week. This dollar amount is factoring in that “My Plate” calls for more consumption of potassium, dietary fiber, vitamin D, and calcium rich foods.

Most of these nutrients can be obtained from healthy foods that tend to cost more at the grocery store. Let us help with some easy cost-cutting suggestions that do not cut the quality of your food.

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For years, we’ve heard that the way to stick to a budget at the grocery store is to avoid paying with credit and go to a cash only system. Now, a new study has shown that paying for groceries with cash may be good for the waistline as well.

The study, which was published in the Journal of Consumer Research,  found that shoppers were more likely to buy items considered “unhealthy” when they paid with credit or debit cards than if they paid with cash. You might think that a person who paid with a debit card would be as conscious of spending as a person with cash, due to the fact that a debit card drafts money from your account immediately. The study showed the opposite, even when the subjects completed their shopping in a computer simulated task.

When you are trying to eat healthy, sticking to a budget and a well planned out grocery list can be one of your greatest tools. Grocery stores are designed to part you from your money, and the areas that are on eye level are often full of the foods that are the least diet-friendly. Companies often pay extra for the “prime real estate” and they place the foods with the greatest income potential in those sections.

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Turn on the television or pick up a magazine and you can’t avoid seeing the latest craze – Extreme Couponing. It’s a full time job for many women and it’s become the next big thing. TV shows spotlight shoppers who pay next to nothing for cart after cart of merchandise, and cameras focus on closets of toothpaste and basements full of toilet paper. You can’t help but be interested; after all, who among us hasn’t fantasized about being paid to shop and bring home food for free?

Having a larger than normal size family, I’m always interested in trying to cut my large food bill. The most I’ve ever been able to save is about $25, and although I’m happy to accomplish at least that much of a savings, I’d love to do better. I’ve thought for quite a while about trying to use coupons more successfully, but having spent some time cutting coupons from my local paper I’ve noticed that there’s just one small problem: The vast majority of the coupons I’ve seen have been for heavily processed, high fat or high calorie foods that my family just doesn’t eat. Is it just the reality of extreme couponing that you will have to sacrifice eating healthy in order to save money?

Stephanie Nelson, the Coupon Mom, has a philosophy she refers to as strategic shopping to help save money at the grocery store. “Strategic shopping is not changing the way you eat, it is about changing the way you buy the food that you like. If you are working on losing weight, improving your health, improving your family’s health or all of the above, it is possible to do that while saving money on groceries when you know how to be a Strategic Shopper.”
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