How Going To The Gym Saves Me Money

by Stacey Carroll, Contributing Writer

There’s no denying that going to the gym improves strength, agility, stamina, and mood, but I have found that it also saves me money. The savings comes in various forms including food, health care expenses, clothing, and impulse shopping.


Food

Typically, I go to the gym within two hours of waking up, and the last thing I want to put in my stomach is greasy fattening food. This means that I’ll make a pot of coffee and eat two pieces of toast and a banana for breakfast. The cost is minimal. A loaf of low calorie whole grain bread is $2.14 and bananas are .52 cents a pound. Both items last me more than a week.

Prior to my morning gym routine, I would stop by Dunkin Donuts and buy an extra large coffee and two doughnuts for $6.50. Since I no longer want the fast food, I am saving over $40 dollars a week in out to eat food expenses.

Grocery shopping is the same way. I no longer stop by the snack food aisle. I don’t buy chips, cookies, or boxed meals. Instead, I buy bananas, bread, egg beaters, soy milk, and various other fresh fruits and vegetables. The cost difference to my weekly grocery bill is $20 which means between my lack of fast food and junk food, I am saving myself $60 a week.


Health Care

Prior to my weekly gym routine, I’d frequently catch colds and sinus infections multiple times a year. I was also plagued with bladder infections. The sinus and bladder infections would send me to the doctor for antibiotics. The cost of a doctor’s visit ranges from $100 to $250 or more not including the cost of the prescription, and I’d visit the doctor two or three times a year.

Since I started my gym routine, I have less colds and sinus infections, and the sheer amount of water I drink prevents the bladder infections. Not to mention, I no longer want to drink four Cokes a day. I’m down to two Cokes a day. I estimate the cost savings at $500 a year.


Clothing

Clothing is expensive. There’s no getting around it, and prior to going to the gym, I’d grow out of my clothes every year. That meant buying a new wardrobe every 12 months because I was too fat to fit into what I wore the year prior. I started going to the gym regularly a year and a half ago and have lost 20 pounds. The result is that I can fit into clothes that I haven’t been able to fit into in years. It’s like buying a new wardrobe except I don’t have to spend money on it. I just have to look in my closet. My shrinking body easily saves me $500 a year in clothing costs.


Impulse Shopping

My impulse shopping is directly related to my mood. When I’m upset or agitated, I go shopping. I’ll hang out for hours in clothing stores and bookstores and buy whatever is on sale. The purchases would improve my mood, but they were devastating to my finances. More than once, I’d come home with $200 worth of blankets and bedding and $50 worth of new books. It was money I didn’t need to spend, and items I don’t need.

These days going to the gym improves my mood and makes me feel productive about my day. I no longer buy items I don’t need. It saves me $1000 dollars a year in impulse buys.

My gym membership costs me $150 dollars a year. Going to the gym saves me over $2000 dollars a year in miscellaneous expenses. That’s incredible to me, and one of the reasons I will continue to go to the gym seven times a week.

Author Bio:

Stacey Carroll is the author of the thriller series - Avia.  She also authors the paranormal erotica series - The Blooddoll Factory. Stacey grew up in Indianapolis, Indiana. she went to college at Indiana State University (ISU) and graduated with a Bachelor's degree in aerospace in the professional pilot program. She has flown Cessna 152s, Cessna 172s, the Pipe Seneca and the King Air. She also graduated with a minor in computer science that specialized in web design.

She has always been interested in reading and writing, and the first book she was ever read was the Grimms Brother's Fairy tales. From the ages of 6 to 11, she read the Nancy Drew series. By the age of 11, she had graduated to Stephen King novels. A few of her favorites include Carrie, Tommyknockers, The Dark Tower Series up to book 3 (That's where it stopped in the late 80s/ early 90s), Pet Semetary, The Shining, Night Shift, The Stand, It, Cujo, Christine, The Eyes of the Dragon and Thinner (Richard Bachman). In her teen years, she moved on to Anne Rice and got through about four of those books before they degraded. If you've ever read Anne Rice, you know book 5 isn't readable. Stacey has read a couple Harry Potter books as she was introduced to them in the early 2000s, and she's never read or watched anything Twilight or 50 Shades. Sorry. I'm a vampire purist, and nothing needs to be said about the latter. You already know.

She is currently an author and freelance writer. She received an honorable mention in Alfred Hitchcock's Mystery Magazine in 2008 for a short story entitled The Field. In 2014, she was published in 13 Stories by Us by MacKenzie Publishing.

Other books by Stacey

• AVIA II
• AVIA Memories
  

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