Simple Frugality

The following guest post is from Jason of FrugalDad.com. Jason writes about frugal living, family finances, and other related topics at his blog.

With the holiday shopping season in full swing I am reminded of how often people rush out to buy something just because it is on sale. I admit, I enjoy saving money as much as anyone, but I’ve caught myself falling into the trap of buying something just because it is a great deal.

A few months ago a friend called me about a tool chest that had been incorrectly priced at a local Sears store. Sears was honoring the price because people were flocking to the store with sales ad in hand. I thanked him for the heads up, but pointed out that I did not need a tool chest. My garage was already crowded, and what few tools I have are comfortably stored away in toolboxes and other organizers. His response was predictable, “I don’t really need it either, but it is half price!”

Save 100% By Avoiding Sales Altogether
I was lucky in the sense that my friend called to give me a heads up and I wasn’t already in the store, where impulse decisions often lead to the purchase of things we don’t really need. In the past, I was the world’s worst at picking up stuff I didn’t need just because it had a yellow tag, or a big “SALE” sign above it. Marketers must have loved me!

If you have a habit of seeking out sales, or giving in to tempting in-store sales, I encourage you to consider Trent’s ten-second rule, something I have applied in my own life with great success. Simply stop and count to ten before tossing the item in your shopping cart. Usually, by the count of seven or eight, I have a pretty good idea whether or not I actually need the item. Most of the time it goes back on the shelf, regardless of the cost. The way I look at it, items put back on the shelf save me 100%, and no store can match that sale price.

The Same Rules Apply to Free Items
People often rationalize the accumulation of stuff because it was given to them for free. However, I would argue that stuff is not really “free.” After all, clutter is money. The more stuff you have the more you have to spend maintaining, protecting, and storing it. There are also opportunity costs to consider. Again using my own example, if my garage wasn’t so cluttered I could store used fitness equipment there and cancel my gym membership. At $30 a month, that clutter is costing me the opportunity to save $360 per year!

To make matters worse, a quick inventory of my garage reveals much of the stuff was handed down, or picked up for next to nothing at yard sales. Save the few items with sentimental value, I could probably toss seventy-five percent of its contents and not miss a thing. Time to do some early spring cleaning!

The next time you are faced with temptation to add to your already growing collection, ask yourself if you really need the item. Take price out of the equation, regardless of how good a deal it might be. If it turns out you really do need the item, and it is available at a great price, take advantage of the sale with cash and enjoy.

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Like many people, I tend to overeat during the holidays, from Thanksgiving through New Year’s. It’s kinda part of the tradition to consume huge amounts of food, you know?

And like many others, I also tend to gain weight during the holidays — some people can gain 5 or more pounds (though for most it’s usually only a couple pounds).

Not this time around.

On Thanksgiving, while I enjoyed time with my family, and while everyone else pigged out, I ate moderately and wisely. And I felt great about it. I also got a great workout in the morning after — heavy deadlifts followed by two brutal 10-minute weight circuits and finished with 15 minutes of hard intervals.

This will be the healthiest holiday season ever for me. I’m also starting a meal plan and exercise routine that will have me drop some fat while gaining muscle by New Years, I promise. I’ll publish more about this plan after I see the results (3 pounds dropped already).

But the really cool thing I started on Thanksgiving comes from the Okinawan people (who don’t live too far away from my home, the beautiful island of Guam).

The Okinawan Diet Rules

The Okinawans (the indiginous people of the Ryukyu islands in Japan) are famous for having the longest life expectancy in the world. This single fact has had them studied from every angle, from diet to lifestyle to genetics to environment. And while all of these have played a factor, there’s no doubt that their traditional diet has played a big part — when they eat a more modern, Western-style diet, they don’t live as long or as healthy.

So what’s their secret? Actually, there are two secrets (and they’re not really secrets), and I used these rules to guide my eating on Thanksgiving (and beyond):

Rule 1. Eat to 80% full. The Okinawans call this rule “Hara Hachi Bu”, and if you haven’t tried it, you should. I did this on Thanksgiving — while I usually stuff myself with all the good food, I just ate until I was about 80% full. Of course, there’s no way to know exactly how full you are, but it’s a guideline. And as our brains are 10-20 minutes behind our stomachs, it usually turns out that when you think you’re 80% full, you’re actually full … while when we eat to 100% full, we are usually overstuffing ourselves.

The result of this rule for Okinawans is that they end up eating fewer calories than most people. They tend not to gain too much weight as a result, and coupled with their active lifestyles (they farm and garden and generally stay active, even into their 100s), it keeps them very healthy.

The result for the rest of us is that eating fewer calories will keep the extra pounds off. If we pair this with the next rule and an active lifestyle, we can actually lose weight during the holidays.

Rule 2: Eat healthy foods, mostly plants. Way before Michael Pollan wrote about his simple rules for eating healthy, the Okinawans had this down. They eat way more veggies than most people (mostly green and yellow ones), as well as whole grains, tofu, fish and other legumes. They eat very little sugar, and very little meat, dairy or eggs. This contradicts low-carb diets such as the Zone, Atkins, Paleo and others — I’m not saying those don’t work for whatever your goals are, but I am saying that a mostly plant-based diet has been proven to work well for the Okinawans.

I used these guidelines during Thanksgiving. I don’t eat meat or fish, so I stuck with veggies and sweet potatoes and a mango-ginger tofu dish I made. Again, I ate to about 80% full, and loved it. OK, I also had some pumpkin pie (made it myself) but as I ate mostly healthy and didn’t overeat, I felt great about it.

Can you follow these rules throughout the holidays, and the rest of your life as well? The Okinawans did it (although the younger generation has changed to a more Western lifestyle and has suffered for it) and I think I can too, most of the time. Treats are great in moderation, but moderation is the key word.

Get Active Too

I’m adding more exercise to these Okinawan diet rules (not to be confused with the commercial Okinawan diet, which I think is unnecessary if you follow these rules). The extra activity will help burn any extra calories I take in (which won’t be a huge amount) and I hope lean me out even more. My goal is to be in the best shape of my life by New Year’s — why wait until then to start?

The key is to just get active. Exercise regularly if you can, play sports, toss a ball around with your family. My nephews and I tossed a football around and worked up a sweat durng Thanksgiving lunch, and the next day during a day-after-Thanksgiving dinner with my dad I went swimming with the kids.

For those who are curious, I’ll list my current workout routine. I don’t expect anyone to follow it, especially if you’re not very active already.

• Mon: Running — intervals combined with steady state for 40-60 mins
• Tue: Heavy weights plus metabolic-conditioning strength circuits plus 15-mins of high-intensity cardio intervals
• Wed: Running — hill sprint repeats combined with steady state for 40-60 mins
• Thu: Heavy weights plus metabolic-conditioning strength circuits plus 15-mins of high-intensity cardio intervals
• Fri: Running — longer distance running (over an hour, sometimes two) including some intervals
• Sat: Heavy weights plus metabolic-conditioning strength circuits plus 15-mins of high-intensity cardio intervals
• Sun: rest (although I often play soccer with the kids or do yardwork or sometimes go hiking)

I try to mix some yardwork and other activities in there when I’m not too tired. Oh, and I’m doing a marathon in Honolulu on Dec. 14!

So what are your health and fitness goals this holiday season? Do you plan to just eat whatever you like, or are you getting leaner too?

This is a guest post from Leo Babauta, the author of the great site Zen Habits. If you have not already done so, please visit his insightful blog.