Can Frugality Be Harmful to Your Health
It occurred to me on this morning’s drive to work over an icy patch in the road that living too frugal could actually be harmful to your health. Sometimes people tend to confuse absolute necessities with wants and desires. In other words, the champion of frugality may eat unhealthy food, drive an unsafe car, etc.
Good tires are an absolute necessity, especially in the winter. This is a case where I need to take my own advice. I drive a 16 year-old vehicle with bad tires. This is becoming a concern. Last night I noticed that metal is actually beginning to show through the tire tread. For the last several months we have been throwing a significant portion of our income at debt repayment and building emergency funds. It is important to remember that these regular maintenance items should be budgeted before they come an emergency.
Cheap foods are good for the wallet, but rarely are they good for our health. I am a huge advocate of cheap foods, using coupons, and hunting down deals in the grocery store. However, I also recognize that cheaper foods are typically processed and filled with enough sodium to start a salt water aquarium in your bathtub. Diets high in sodium can be a killer in those with conditions such as high blood pressure. The best approach to keep food costs low, and your health in tact, is to combine coupons and sales on individual ingredients and prepare your foods at home.
The other night our local Kroger ran a special on chicken breasts, soups and pasta. We stocked up and plan to make several batches of chicken and dumplings, grilled chicken salads, and chicken parmesan. Similar meals in a can or a frozen entree would be extremely high in saturated fats and sodium.
Hey! I wandered over from “The Simple Dollar” - I was curious about this article you mentioned.
I think it’s a really good point - it so easy to put necessary things off just “one more month” not realizing we could be costing ourselves more in the long run!
Last night I was talking to a friend who used to be a cheese-maker. He told me that they would make really good low-fat cheese, and companies like Velveeta and Kraft would come in and buy large quantities, melt it down, add fats and salt water, along with flavoring and colorings, and repackage it as their processed cheeses (Cheez-Whiz, anyone?)
I remember eating Cheez-Whiz as a child because it was cheap. Ish! Definitely not a frugal skill!
Oh, man - I walk that same fine line. My car is 15 years old - I absolutely hate to put any money into it but I know I need to buck up and replace the wipers and a couple other bothersome things that could make it worse down the road. It’s safe - did enough for the sticker and all but I can think of other things to put money in other than a vehicle. I don’t part easily with money because its not easy to come by.
Hey, Bad Penney ~ when I was a kid, I loved Cheez Whiz on Ritz.
[…] It occurred to me that I have not really posted a “frugal living” post (other than the article about my balding tires), as much of my focus has been on more traditional finance topics. So allow me to present in this […]
[…] to celebrate frugally with some low-cost, romantic gift ideas. Warning, this is an area where frugality could be harmful to your health, so be sure you are giving these gifts from the heart, not just to save a […]
[…] outside of general maintenance. In fact, it is driven so little that I have been able to avoid major repair expenses to this point (knocking on wood, emphatically). The only downside? It is a gass guzzler. By […]