Every Penny Counts

A few months ago, I was talking to a lady in my town, and as usual, the first topic was the economy, the price of gas, inflation ect. ect............She told me that she was actually paying less on her cable bill since she called and complained that it cost too much! I couldn't believe this, but, one morning, feeling a little braver than usual, I called my cable company and, feeling really stupid and a little rebellious, told them that I thought my monthly bill was too high. There was a short pause, and then the lady excused herself for what seemed like an hour. She finally returned, and told me that she would lower my monthly bill for one year by $20.00. Would that be ok? Yes!
Feeling empowered, I called my cell phone company, grilled them on their newest promos, and saved another $15.00.
By the end of my morning power trip, I had managed to save about $50.00 a month.
In all, this taught me a valuable lesson. It never hurts to ask, and if you don't ask, you'll never know what you can do. Companies will very seldom send you a note saying, "Excuse me, but I think you are paying us too much."
Here are a few of the areas I started out with, and I'm sure there are many more.

1. Do check with your telephone and cellular companies and see if they are running any specials. While you're at it, double check your current services to see if you are actually paying for things that you never really use.
2. Check out your cable or dish service and see what they can do for you. They might not be as obliging as mine, but it's worth a try. Also, they might be running really good rates for new customers, and it never hurts to point out that loyal older customers need breaks too!
3. It may not be a money-saver, but I like to pay my utilites on the budget plan. At least that way I'll know what to expect.
4. Check over your car and house insurance. I recently realized that we were paying collision on a car that has been in storage for fifteen years.
   
5. If you have a water softener and are paying rent each month, take a look at how much you have spent. It might be cheaper to buy it outright, and since it's used, they will cut you a good deal.

Get out and Move!

It's summer again, and there are more opportunities to get out and exercise. Bicycles come out of the garage, we get new walking shoes, we try to get rid of the winter bulges that we accumulate over the winter.
While studies have shown that we are undoubtedly the first and largest generation to take to exercise on a widespread basis, it is important to remember, and I'm sure that everyone is aware of this, that you go into it slowly. If you haven't run, or walked, or cycled, or swam for twenty years, don't try to do it all in one day. I speak from experience. Just because it wasn't a problem in your twenties, doesn't mean you can do it now!

There are four or five important exercises that most doctors will tell you are the most beneficial.
In the following article at http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,319246,00.html, these are the big five.

I. Stretching- Limbering up, and gradually, over a period of time, getting those muscles and joints and tendons to stretch and move again, is essential for all the rest of your activities.

2. Strength training- For a girl, I could always lift fairly heavy loads, (which in hindsight probably wasn't that great for my back), and I never thought that the day would come when I couldn't. However.........I have recently found out that lifting weights is not only good for strength, but my bad shoulder, my upper back, abdomen, and those "wings" that form under the arm. I also discovered that if you haven't done this for several years, you shouldn't pick up where you left off and start with the 25 pound weights!

3. Cardio- This, obviously, is to build your endurance and strengthen heart muscles. Again, build slowly. This doesn't mean running five miles your first time out. (Most of us would never make it anyway).

4 .Balance-This is really important as far as I am concerned. Falling is not a good idea at an y age, but as we get older, bones are much harder to mend.

5. Core- I don't like to think about my core. In fact, I only just learned what that meant from watching infomercials. Anyway, building the abdomen (part of core) is important for the strength of your back as well, and clothes fit way better.

As I get older, I find that I am thinking more and more about exercise in terms of the limbering up, rather than the vanity side. Of course, I do want to be able to get into last summer's clothes, but I find that a couple of miles on the bicycle everyday does wonders for my arthritic knees, and the weights do strengthen my bad shoulder.