Posts Tagged ‘health’

The Grocery Game Challenge #1 May 6-12,2013- Getting Back On Track With Food Budgeting

Posted: May 7, 2013 in The Grocery Game
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The Grocery Game Challenge Post Your Weekly Grocery Shop 1 May 2013

Getting back on track with food budgeting and eating healthy can be tough especially if your grocery bill looked anything like ours in April. Since the wife altered her eating habits slightly by starting a low glycemic diet last month she’s been working on putting  a low gi list of foods together.

She was struggling with what to eat on a low glycemic diet so a bit of research has gone a long way for her. My mate who is also a doctor but specializes in healthy eating and alternative medicines spoke to us a bit about the gi diet, eliminating fructose and the caveman diet or the paleo diet which I will get into in another post.

It’s certainly not a diet for the foodies faint at heart as there’s not much to it. Must like twigs and berries but all kidding aside the paleo diet seems like one heck of a healthy diet. The Mrs. will certainly be focusing on less carbs and more proteins in her meals.

Eating Healthy To Lose Weight

If you want to eat healthy that means making changes to the diet that may or may not affect your grocery budget. Over time once you build up a pantry full of the foods that are good for you and fit your lifestyle and diet you can easily make up an eating plan that suits your daily needs.

This is what Mrs.CBB is working on and the fans have been a great support for her by sending her lists of gi foods that she can read over and experiences which they have went through. She thanks you all so very much for your love and support and the lovely emails and blog comments.

I give her credit for taking this lifestyle diet on not only because I’m a big wimp and don’t think I could do it but because I should do it. As we get older our bodies change and we want to make sure we are supporting our bodies the best way we can.

Quitting smoking last year was the first part of our healthy lifestyle journey after we mastered the keeping active part of our life. Along the way our friend Bonnie inspired us to give it all we’ve got when we want to reach our lifestyle goals like she has been getting fit on a budget.

I’m a healthy eater as it is but eating cleaner seems to help me feel revived, less full and cleanses out my system more often if you know what I mean. If all else fails a good bowl of the Mrs. bran will do me good. 

I always thought it was good to work your way into a new eating plan unless you are forced to change your eating habits due to health issues under the supervision of a health professional.

In this case the Mrs. did talk to her doctor who gave her the green light. If you are looking for healthy meals to stretch your budget getting back to the basics usually helps. Grocery budgeting for the both of us has been up and down but we are going to work extra hard in May to make sure we get back on track.

Drink More Water

We are both good at drinking lots of water but we could also stand to drink a bit more as sometimes hours can go by without a beverage because we are so busy.

I installed a water purification system in our home so we always have it on hand so we have no excuses not to drink it. One of our goals is to make sure we drink 2 glasses of water as soon as we get up in the morning so it absorbs through our system easily.

The both of us typically always keep our bottle of water on us at all times but need to keep up with the drinking pattern each day. The human body is mainly made up of water and water is very good for your body, your skin and flushes all the toxins in your digestive system.

It’s like a constant stream of cleansing for our body, taking in water and letting it out either from sweating like I do most days or simply going to the bathroom (urination).

Getting Back on Track

Making sure we stick to the budget in May is going to be not a “nice to do” it will be a “must do” otherwise we risk struggling further to catch up with our yearly overall grocery budget totals.

Just because Mrs. CBB has changed her eating habits slightly that doesn’t mean it has to affect the budget too much, if anything we will be eliminating foods we typically buy and replacing them with more healthy fruits, nuts, beans, vegetables, grains and dairy.

We were never really the convenience food type eaters but we have bough sauces in jars that were pre-made foods mainly for flavouring. Now we like to create our own sauces if we can from spices and juices such as lime and lemon juice.

If you know me you know I have a love for limes and lemons especially in our salad dressings. We are also using sesame oil and various other extra virgin olive oils in our cooking. We have also incorporated coconut oil into our diet and use the Grace Coconut oil which we both enjoy as it has a bit of a nutty flavour.

This month we have a small grocery budget of just $72.26 to spend which will be challenging but at the same time we stocked up well for her new low gi diet  in April.

This weeks shop mainly consisted of lots of vegetables and fruits. I’m going to jump in and see if I can make her some sweet potato poppers in the oven crusted with I don’t know what yet but I’m intrigued to begin creating some new menu items for the both of us.

Question: Are you on a special diet or lifestyle eating plan and how has the affected your grocery budget? 

Grocery Game Weeks for May

This is our first  shop for May 2013. The WINNER of the April Grocery Game Challenge …IS…….. Ballot#4 Jen Peacock!  Please email me your address so I can send off your prize to you!

Congrats Jen but I’d also like to congratulate each one of you for sticking through another month of the 2013 year with me. There’s 8 months left let’s complete the task and beat the grocery budget together.

Past Blog Posts To Help You Shop and Save!

Free Money Saving Downloads just for YOU!!! Get organized with a freezer inventory, meal plan, shopping list, price comparison list and much more!!! Click, Save and Print.. It’s that easy~

What’s In MrCBB's Shopping Cart

Our Grocery Game Challenge Results #1 May

Walmart

  • Carrots $1.97 Sale
  • Yams $3.46 Sale $0.97lb
  • Ginger $0.42
  • Apples $3.46 (these are amazing.. just look how big they are)
  • Lemons $1.48
  • Bag of Barley $1.49

Total Out of Pocket: $12.28

No Frills

  • 2 bags of Welches Blueberries Sale $3.00 each
  • Yoplait Yogurt $1.97-$1.00
  • Skinless Chicken Breast on the bone $4.52, $4.50 Sale $2.00 lb
  • Bean Sprouts $0.97
  • Celery Sale $0.97
  • Cucumbers $2.00 Sale buy 2 $1.00
  • Garlic $0.97 each
  • Red Onion $1.92 (pricey)
  • Bananas $1.80
  • Whole Wheat Pita $1.00 Sale

Total Out of Pocket: $25.63

Food Basics

  • 2x Fresh blueberries Sale $1.44 each
  • 1x Strawberries Sale $1.44
  • Arctic Gardens  Veg Sale $5.00-$5.00

Total Out of Pocket: $4.32

Yearly Grocery Budget For 2 : $2819.38
  • Total Grocery Budget for the Month: $235.00 or $78.33 week with one no-shop week per month or $58.75 for 4 weeks per month. (During the months with 5 weeks we just make it work)
  • Total Budget For May: $72.26
  • Total Coupons Used this Week : $6.00
  • Total Discounts this Week: $0
  • Total Gift Cards Given Used this Week: $0
  • Total Rewards Points Used: $0
  • Stockpile Budget: $20.00 Used: $
  • Total Spent This Week:$42.23
  • Total Spent So Far for (May): ($162.74)+($42.23)=$204.97
  • Total Over/Under spend this shop: $ N/A
  • Total Over/Under spend for the month of  (May): $N/A
  • Total Left to Spend for the Month: $30.03
  • Total Coupons Used This Month :$6.00+
  • Total to Carry Over Next Month : ($ 162.74 has been carried over to May from April 2013)
  • Total Spent To Date This Year: $206.95 (Jan)+ $160.77 (Feb) + (March)$169.62 + (April)$397.74=$935.08
  • Rendezvous Account: $65.38 (this will be used for a date night or a summer holiday)

Weekly Overview: So far so good but there’s still a few weeks of grocery shopping left so we have to make sure we plan ahead to keep our grocery bill lowered. 

Canadian Coupons Found This Week

Canadian Coupons Found Grocery Game Challenge May #1

How was your grocery shop this week?

Grocery Game Frequently Asked Questions

Grocery Game Challenge RULES….. Read the rules first and if you have any questions email me or comment on this post with your question and someone will answer you as soon as possible. 

  1. Do I have to be Canadian to post my Grocery Shop? No, you don’t have to be Canadian to post your shops only to win a monthly prize. We have a few players from around the world.
  2. When does the Grocery Game Close each month? The Grocery Game Challenge Closes at Midnight of the last Sunday of the last post for the month. You can post your shops all month-long.
  3. Does Your Grocery Budget Include Health and Beauty and Laundry? Yes our Grocery Budget includes such items as shampoo, conditioner, laundry soap, fabric softener, dish soap etc. We don’t mind stockpiling items that won’t be effected by expiry dates or have long expiry dates but not so much food any more. It’s just one way to help cut your budget to save money.
  4. Where can I find Canadian Coupons? Here are your latest Coupon Match-ups  of the week including Checkout 51 from 25 Newspaper Inserts around Canada compliments of Save Big Live Better that you can use to help you save money in the Grocery Game Challenge.
  5. How Do I Know what stores accept coupons? You can find all your store coupon policies here. If you are not sure it’s always best to call the store and ask.
  6. How Do I Grocery Shop?- I can tell you about grocery shopping and what we do in terms of shopping to save money and how it works for us. There are no wrong or right answers, just smart choices. Over time you will gradually learn where you should and shouldn’t go in the grocery store or at least how to say no, I’m on a budget I don’t need to buy this or that. You may also substitute items in order to stick to your budget to make it work.

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How Smoking Affected The Cost Of Our Life Insurance Premium

Posted: March 14, 2013 in How we Quit Smoking, Insurance
Tags: , , , , , , , , ,
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Life Insurance

We all know the health risks of smoking followed by the dent it can put in the budget just to buy cigarettes. Did you also know that it costs smokers more money when they apply for life insurance, like it did for us? Who knew there would be such a significant cost difference for life insurance for a smoker and non smoker as you will later find out. It’s been over a year now that we butted out (January 29, 2102) and are both still smoke-free today. We will always give thanks to all the support along the way from not only each other but external motivation such as family, friends, our family doctor, the pharmacy team and of course The Smokers Helpline.

The Smoking Memory

As time went on smoking became less of a habit for us and more of a memory and now we don’t even think about it. We won’t lie and say that if someone sparks up a smoke that the smell is captivating because it still is. We smoked for quite a long time and every smoker knows that the first inhale is the best of a newly lit cigarette. When I’m at work it no longer bothers me when I’m yapping outside with colleagues and they are having a cigarette. In fact the more I continue to smell it the happier I am that I no longer have this habit. There have been many times over the course of the winter that we both have been thankful to not have to stand out in the cold just to get our fix. Addicting, you bet it was, but breaking the habit was the easy part the hard part is sticking to it.

Benefits of Quitting Smoking

The health benefit was our top priority followed by the monetary gains we would have simply by not having to fork out almost two hundred dollars every month. Over the course of the year that added up to more than a couple of thousand dollars that we willfully just blew away. One motivation to keep living the smoke-free lifestyle is when we see friends who smoke and their constant “need” to have one. We can see how the addiction can take over someone’s life like it did ours. We don’t talk about quitting smoking to those that smoke unless they bring it up. Honestly, when we smoked we knew what we were doing, we’re not idiots and neither are those that are addicted to smoking. I’m sure there are many smokers online who are going to read this blog post and wish that they too could give up smoking today. They can, but they need to have a will to succeed and a desire to live. That’s what came over us, not someone telling us we had to quit. I don’t think we initially set out to become a smoker (I mean, who does?) but now know it was a mistake that did cost us in many ways.

The Financial Advisor

When we initially quit we had our yearly review with our financial advisor whom we told about us quitting smoking and our desire to live a healthier lifestyle. He was just as happy as our doctor was about it and not only from the health benefits aspect. He told us that if we could stay smoke-free for one full year that we could be re-assessed and potentially listed as non-smokers. If accepted they would put us in a new class and a new life insurance policy drawn up. How exciting is that if we can potentially save more money? We both started with life insurance about 4 years ago with a 25 year term life policy just to cover our bases in case something should happen. As long as the house and funeral costs were paid we were happy enough with that. We didn’t need to have millions of dollars in life insurance plus we didn’t have any dependants at the time nor do we today.

This was another motivation and what we needed to continue through not smoking or wanting to pick one up and light it throwing all our hard work down the toilet. It only takes one cigarette to set us back and we knew that so we had to think ahead. It was always in the back of our minds about saving a bit of money in our budget because we are always looking for ways to improve. We had no idea how much we would save so we went on our merry way and waited for one year to pass.

One Year Smoke-Free

One year had passed and we booked our annual meeting with our financial advisor who had all the paper work ready for us to fill out for our new life insurance policy. I’ll admit we said a couple of times that we better get a good reduction in rate with all the paper work we had to fill out again. We were skeptical yet optimistic because we knew that we never cheated, not once. We didn’t have to have any type of testing done although if they required it we would have been more than happy to oblige. In fact we almost wanted them to check because we were so proud of our accomplishment.

Even though the paperwork was somewhat daunting (nothing is as bad after you fill out pages and pages of forms to become a Permanent Resident in Canada) it was so important to make sure that our medical history was accurate and up to date. There’s all those horror stories we hear about people who file a claim for life insurance only to find out something was missing or inaccurate. We didn’t want to be those people so we took the time to make sure everything was correct. They told us that the  underwriters would likely call our family doctor which was perfectly fine with us. We went on our way with the hopes of hearing back soon the results.

Life Insurance and Smoking- The Results!

We received a phone call last week from our financial advisor who wanted to congratulate us on being approved and we are now rated as non-smokers in our new policy. The best part is that the new monthly expense for our budget has gone down so we are no longer paying such high life insurance costs.

Here is the breakdown:

  • To Buy Smokes Approx $196 a month or $2352 a year
  • Smoker Life Insurance Policy: $135.05 for the both of us
  • Non-Smokers Life Insurance Policy: $70.43 for the both of us

Yearly as smokers we paid $1,620.60 to pay for our life insurance policy and the new yearly cost is just about half that amount at $845.16. Over the course of the next 21 years the policy will cost us $17,748.36 instead of what would have been $34,032.60 in premiums. What a huge difference and we were excited to make that change to our life insurance category in the budget. We will take the money that we are saving from our life insurance and put it in our savings account for now. We may just use it as our “rendezvous money” as one of my fans suggests to do with money we don’t spend each month in our grocery budget. That sounds like a plan and that way when we save enough money we can treat ourselves to a trip back to Europe to travel and see family.

Sometimes it’s the small things we don’t think about that add up in a big way for the budget. It truly was a lifestyle change for love, health and money for us. Although quitting smoking is not as simple as it sounds even if we made it seem that way, it’s not. I can only hope that those that do smoke make the decision to quit for their own personal reasons. They may also save money not only from not buying cigarettes but see the cost of their own life insurance policy go down.

Have you quit smoking and received a reduction in your life insurance premium?

What motivates you to stay smoke-free?

You can read our Quit Smoking Series Below

New Start, New Beginning, New Life, Change, Divorce, Seperation

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