Becoming Healthy and Wealthy at the Same Time

March 19, 2012

Becoming healthy and wealthy at the same time seemed like an insurmountable goal to the caller I talked to last week on our financial helpline. Moneywise, Gail (*not her real name) was behind in her bills every single month and extremely stressed about it.  At the end of each pay period, she literally ran out of money so she wrote checks that she knew would put her account in the deficit.

The good news is the bank covered the checks and eventually when her paycheck hit the account, all the debts were covered.  The bad news is the bank charged a fee every time and the bank fees just kept on growing along with the Gail’s stress level.  She just couldn’t seem to break the cycle.

So she called us.

We triaged her issues and started with the most pressing – get to even and stop the bleeding in her bank account. We started with Plan A: Find money to get the account to even.  This plan was rejected since there was nothing to sell.

Plan B: Make more money by working two jobs, working overtime or doing something seasonally.  This was rejected because it is easier said than done while raising two children by herself.  She’d already put in for overtime and is still waiting.

Plan C: Go super frugal and reduce expenses to get her account to even.  This is the one she is going to try.

Like a lot of people who are making positive changes in their lives, Gail is trying to get physically healthy at the same time and lose weight.  She mentioned that the very foods she is supposed to be eating: lean meats, fruits and vegetables are expensive!  Her nutrition coach suggested she “shop the outside aisles of the store” but it is discouraging since those are the most expensive aisles. They don’t have coupons for apples and oranges.

Healthy eating is a priority for her and in no way should she have to give that up.  Dealing with the money stress should have a positive effect on her health anyway.  Money is the number one cause of stress and stress is the leading cause of illness.  If Gail were able to get a handle on her cash flow, it would really reduce her stress. I can’t even image how stressful it must be for her knowing she doesn’t have any money at the end of her month and not knowing what to do about it.

We talked about cutting everything else other than healthy foods.  She can shop for items on sale and use coupons for household products such as detergent, toiletries, and personal products.  She lives in the south so she’s going to go to the Southern Savers website to take couponing tutorials and print out the weekly coupon suggestions.  In my own experience, I’ve found that couponing earns about $50 per hour in savings.  Every other purchase gets delayed or eliminated.  She won’t buy anything new except for items like putting gas in her car to get to work.

Gail’s case is extreme and requires extreme solutions.

We all have financial stressors that take a toll on our health and our wealth.  Think about what your major stresses are and make a list of your top three.  Determine to handle your #1 most stressful financial situation. Do it in the next month (or at least get it started).  If you don’t know how to tackle it, get help!  Call your financial helpline.  Write to us on the Financial Finesse Facebook page and ask a question to one of our planners.  Talk to your credit union or banker.  Get help and get it started.

And don’t forget to shop the outside aisle of the grocery store!