What Do You Have in Your Home Gym?

I love working out at home. It’s so much easier to keep up with fitness when it’s in the comfort of my own living room, in front of MY TV, with good sound, temperature control and all the comforts of home. I don’t have to worry about what I am wearing (I can work out in my pajamas if i want to), I am not bothered by other people and their sweat/germs, I don’t have to wait for equipment, I don’t have to drive anywhere, and it’s far cheaper to own something than rent something, which is in essence what you are doing at a gym.

My home gym set up: In the livingroom, we have a treadmill and skiing type machine, yoga/stetch mats (also yoga block and strap), two twist boards, pullup/crunches bar, a weighted medicine ball, hand weights, a fitness ball, ab roller, a jump rope, a stretch rope for resistance training, boxing gloves and various workout DVDs (yoga, trance dance, tai chi, chi gong, Tae bo). While we watch TV each night we climb on our machines and work out. I’d love to add a punching bag and a Wii Fit system.

These are all things we’ve added to the mix over time. We use them all. I love having these options at home, in front of my own TV/DVD player (if I am watching something, I can’t get bored). We hardly even just sit there on the couch like vegetables. Even just stretching is making good use of our TV time.

I also have my walking, running and hiking shoes by the door. I count that as home gym stuff too.

If someone was just starting out, and didn’t have much room, I’d suggest getting a twist board (under ten dollars at Amazon.com), a yoga mat, a weighted ball (4 or 6 pounds is plenty), very light hand weights (1 or 3 pounds), and some DVDs with movement training that interests you (martial arts? kickboxing? yoga? Jane Fonda doing aerobics?). I’d suggest getting a used treadmill from Craigslist for $100, or a cycle machine (used these can be like $20).

Or go the Wii route and not worry about getting anything else.  Between all the fitness choices they’ve added, you get your whole virtual gym covered.

Do you have any home fitness equipment? Do you use it? what would you have in your perfect home gym?

Saving Money by Eliminating Budget Items

Are there things you pay for each month that are not actually necessary? Depending on how frugal you need to be, there are plenty of things that can be worked around.

For example, having a land lone phone isn’t as important as it was not long ago. DH and I get along pretty well with cell phones. And we are staring to think that even cell phones are not crucial, since Skype is so cheap.

We don’t have cable for TV since we can watch just about everything online. We download older series’ and we use hulu mostly for new programs.

We don’t pay for trash service; I take care of recycling on my own, compost what i can, reduce my waste as much as possible, and trash what is left in various dumpsters or in friend’s trash bins. This saves us $18 a month, which does add up. It makes me feel happy to be more self-reliant, and it’s a fun game to see how little waste my household can produce.

We’ve changed over all our regular, wasteful lightbulbs to compact florescent bulbs from the dollar store. This will save us hundreds of dollars each year on our electric bills! I’m not off the grid yet, but someday I dream we will power our home completely from solar sources.

We buy used for most of our clothes, shoes, outdoor gear, gardening tools, home decor and books. There are thrift stores, garage sales, craigslist, ebay, etc.

We work out at home and outside rather than having a gym membership, using home equipment, walking and hiking shoes, yoga mats, fitness DVS and a pullup bar. (no, i can’t do a pullup, but dan can. I just hang from it)

Since we work at home, we really only use the one car. We’ve lived in many places where we only have one vehicle, halving all kinds of associated fees.

What ways do others find to keep their budget items low and eliminate costs entirely?

Do You Use Coupons?

Do you collect coupons, scour ads, print out online coupons, send in rebates, or avidly read your ValPack/Pennysaver circulars for ads? Do you buy and use entertainment books full of local coupons?

Do you find you actually use coupons, or forget about them until they expire? Is the time spend collecting and organizing worthwhile?

For me:

Each time I get an entertainment book I realize it’s been a waste of money for me. I never use anything in them, for some reason.

Coupon that show up in the mail I am pretty good at using. Right now I have one in front of me for getting a $5 item free at my thrift store for bringing in an unwanted Elephant Gift.

I also hand the fast food coupons to Dan, so he can grab food when he spends the day at cinemas getting PeeTimes for RunPee.com. He really appreciates those.

I have a stack of coupons for $2 pints of locally brewed beer at the Oak Creek Brewing Company in Sedona. I use those with my friend Chris regularly. I pulled them from the coupon pages in my phone book.

I have a $5 off pet food coupon from a Val-Pack, and a 10% additional payout for can recycling coupon, several car repair/oil change coupons and a pedicure coupon on my fridge.

I don’t really do grocery coupons (I always forget them), but these larger savings ones I do use.

I tape these things up where I can see them on my way through the house/by the door. I figure if I don’t actually use my coupons, they become a form of mind clutter. If I see them, there is a better chance I’ll use them. I try to only hold onto coupons I think will actually come in handy.

For you:

What are your favorite coupons to use? Do they save you actual money, or is coupon collecting a waste of time?

Camp Verde New Thrift Store Finds

Today I went to my wonderful nearby thrift store, called, strangely, New Thrift Store (in Camp Verde, AZ, along Highway 260). This is honestly the coolest thrift shop I’ve ever been to outside of those Savers stores and this one HUGE Goodwill in Seattle. Nice people, funky wares, fun background music, interestingly personable displays. Tons of stuff packed into a few rooms.

I found myself some lovely, inexpensive goodies:

• Warm fuzzy jammies $2.50
• Fabric to make my meditation cushion $1.50
• Fabric to make into a bedroom curtain $1.50
• Warm microfiber sweats to wear around the house $2.50
• 3 comfortable long sleeved shirts that actually look good on (always a bonus) $2 each
• A tree branch lopper (these scrubby, thorny bushes around the house need work)$1
• Homeopathic Foot Massager/Heater (so I can keep my feet warm and enjoy a massage while at the computer in my cold kitchen) $4.50
• A nice REI sunhat $1.50
• AND a ’skiing’ workout machine thing I can use while on the computer or watching DVDs $12 (I’ve been looking for something like this)
• A large-slice ‘bagel’ toaster $2.50

I felt so happy while shopping. All the employees are friendly and helpful; they seem to like their jobs. I love that the thrift store has a “happy hour” from 3-6pm each day, where everything is half off. There are interesting specials going on all year, like an extra 15% off on your birthday, and a White Elephant Gift Exchange after the holidays (bring in something you got that you don’t like and exchange it for something from the store worth up to $5).

There is a large and comfortable dressing room for trying on clothes, a “Guy Stuff” section with electronics and sports, tons of inexpensive furniture, neat craft supplies in zip locks, and a large salvage type area outside where one can hunt around for all sorts of bizarre, possibly useful items (like my workout machine). Everything is extremely well labeled, often humorously so. Great store!

I like buying used, bottom line. I like knowing that these are things that won’t be in the trash stream and can continue to be enjoyed. I got good things for super cheap prices, and I can feel completely unguilty about my spending.

****

New Thrift Store, 1575 S. Roadrunner Lane, Camp Verde, AZ 928-567-5759. 9-6 daily, closed Saturday.

The Joy of Poop Putting

I like to putt poops off my porch. On a daily basis. It’s a great new sport that anyone can learn. The key is to get the poop to sail sweetly off your porch in one swing, using a golf club of your choice.

This fabulous game was developed when I realized, a few months back, that I had trained my pets to poop on the porch - my upper deck around the back of the house. Back when we first moved in, we didn’t have a dog run, and the deck was knee high with snow. So we encouraged the dogs to eliminate on the deck.

We built a nice big dog run in May. And really, the dogs did a lot of their business down there. Yet my littlest one still preferred pooping on the deck.

For months I had been kicking the poops off with:

1. My Shoe (eeeew!)
2. A Big Stick (not enough control)
3. The Force (this rarely worked)

It occurred to me I could do better. I COULD USE A GOLF CLUB!

Of course I did not have a golf club, as I don’t golf, but by GOD why should that stop me? I saw golf clubs at Goodwill all the time. So I drove to my local thrift store and poof - there it was. A lovely sand wedge slicer for three dollars. Overjoyed, I brought it home.

Fast forward to now, mid-summer: I am now a proud expert poop putter, at least with a sand wedge. I have mad skillz. It can be tricky to get the poop off in one swing, as there is only a small opening between the deck and the wooden railing. It’s really easy to bounce the poop right off the railing and thus, back to where I started. It can take a few tries to get those dookies in a perfect sailing arc into the air.

But when they go, boy oh boy is it satisfying.

Cleaning Out The Office

Often on Sundays I feel inspired to clean and/or organize something. Cleaning makes me feel happy - it’s like I can impose my will on reality, and create order out of chaos. Perhaps it’s my Dark Side of the Force in action, wanting to create ORDER in the GALAXY.

I originally had my office on the main floor but then decided I wanted to move it downstairs where the bedrooms and Dan’s office is. That way we could reserve the main floor as our “off-duty” relaxing zone.

1:30 pm: Here is a picture of the random clutter I had “before.” I had stuff everywhere that was just shoved together the day I set up, in this odd bonus room right off our master bedroom. I am not sure the purpose of this room - nursery? Unfinished bathroom? Possibly a craft area?

To illustrate how much my husband loves me, he even made me a wooden floor for this bizarre little room. I hate carpet and wanted a floor so I could zip around on my chair between work stations. He literally made me a floor out of plywood, complete with foundations. What a guy! <3 ( <– a heart shaped emoticon)

2pm: Right now I am at the point where everything is dragged out of the room. I just vacuumed the floor and polished my wood shelves. I took down the white board and am currently thinking where things should be re-established for the best use of traffic and work flow. I don’t have much room to spare.

2:35pm: Spent 35 minutes moving around my six bookcases, credenzas and wall units. I think I *finally* have a configuration that will be useful for me.

My office needs a lot of space for books (for reference and titles to-be-reviewed), papers (we journalists have notes and brochures everywhere), products (also to be reviewed) and various wonderful doodads gifted to me by beloved friends and family members. These are useless things that take up space, but still I refuse to give them up: looking at them makes me happy.

2:45PM: Slightly frustrated about the furniture. This is a 7X7 space. I need places to put things. Lots of things. My husband has a paper-less office so his decorating is easy. My trick is to get everything I need in here without making it look cruddy.

2:55pm: Am getting serious about this: poured myself some Chardonnay, put on loud tunes to get the creative juices flowing. Still messing with the bookshelf placement.

3:16pm: Enjoying being in the “organizing zone.” Things are just leaping onto my shelves! Singing and grooving to retro tunes. Jungle Boogie!

4:02: DONE! Everything I want in the office is in the office. I feel great and it looks so much more usable in here now. Everything smells like my lemon oil wood polish and I am no longer ashamed of this space.

I decided to not sort my books yet. I put them wherever on the shelves: will place them by category another day. I also didn’t bother with the inside of drawers, for similar sanity reasons.

It’s never good to bite off more than you can chew in one afternoon.

So I have my Liz Phair playing - woot! I am slightly buzzed from the wine and ready to press my Staples Easy Button…get ready, here we go: “…that was easy…”

PolyGeek Tee Shirts at Cafe Press

My hubby the uber geek made up some cool tee shirts in the style of Back to the Future. I like the direct reference to the popular quote that ends the movie…but am not in the know about what will be replacing those browsers.

I guess I am not ‘leet enough to get the joke. If anyone here is tech savvy, you could try explaining it to me. I can’t ask Dan; his explanations usually make my head hurt.

I still think the shirts are way cool - Where We’re Going, We Won’t NEED Browsers…..