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Sunday, January 29, 2012

  • Health: Adopt a healthy eating plan that allows for gradual weight loss (1 to 2 pounds a week).
  • Wealth: Continue paying a loan. If you’re about to pay off a loan (e.g., for your car), make the monthly payment – to yourself! You won’t miss the money because you never had it available to spend before.

Monday, January 30, 2012

  • Health: Keep a food diary for a short period of time. A food diary will help make you more aware of what you’re eating. Write down every food and beverage that you consume and the estimated serving size.
  • Wealth: Bank a windfall. Whenever you receive unexpected money – an inheritance, bingo winnings, retroactive pay, an insurance dividend, etc. – put at least part of it into savings.

Tuesday, January 31, 2012

  • Health: Set goals that are realistic, specific, and achievable. For example, if your long term goal is to lose 30 pounds in one year, short term goals might be to eat smaller portions and walk 30 minutes a day.
  • Wealth: Save your “extra” pay. If you’re paid bi-weekly, in two months each year you’ll receive three paychecks. Employees paid weekly receive five checks in a month during four months of each year.

Wednesday, February 1, 2012

  • Health: Be creative. If eating 5 fruits and vegetables a day is difficult to achieve, consider trying recipes that incorporate more fruits and vegetables in the dish rather than just eating them separately.
  • Wealth: Save coupon savings money. Set aside the amount you “save” by using coupons at a supermarket or drugstore. If you save $10 per week, you’ll have about $500 in a year.

Thursday, February 2, 2012

  • Health: Get support for your health goals. Ask family and friends to join your health improvement efforts and make plans to exercise together, attend weight loss meetings, and/or share healthy recipes.
  • Wealth: Collect loose change. At the end of every week (or more often), empty out your pockets and wallet and put the change in a jar. As savings accumulates, deposit the change into a savings account.

Friday, February 3, 2012

  • Health: Limit processed snack food purchases. Chips, cookies, candy, and ice cream are high in saturated fat and calories. Better choices would be fruit, vegetables, yogurt, and whole grain foods.
  • Wealth: Arrange to have regularly recurring income (e.g., paycheck, Social Security, and pension benefits) automatically deposited into your checking or savings account.

Saturday, February 4, 2012

  • Health: Choose healthy drinks. Eliminate sugary beverages including soda pop, juice drinks, sports drinks, and sweetened teas. Instead, buy reusable water bottles and fill them with tap water (filtered, if necessary).
  • Wealth: Put saving and investment deposits on autopilot. Sign up to have a portion of each paycheck deposited into mutual fund shares and/or a retirement savings account at work.