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Chopping Down Costs & Fat


I've spent a lot of time talking about how gym memberships are a complete waste of time and money. For most people, they make about as much sense as skipping all your errands to spend the day taking joyrides up and down a toll road.

The fact is, we all have chores that need to get done around the house which all represent opportunities for exercise and cost savings by not paying someone else to do them for you. They may not be as physically demanding as splitting wood, but they all involve doing things that need to get done anyway and, more importantly, occupying your time by doing something other than eating, the leading cause of fatness.

Now, I'm not proposing that you start tilling your garden with a fork just to keep yourself out of the kitchen. There's always a delicate balance between efficiency, exercise, cost savings and enjoyment of the task at hand when deciding where to spend extra money for efficiency's sake.

For example, I know that I could get my wood splitting done in much less time if I had an electric log splitter. I also know my neighbors think I'm weird for cutting my nearly 1 acre of grass with a walk behind lawnmower instead of a riding mower (Also, when was the last time you saw a skinny person on a riding lawnmower? Never - I think I'm onto something here.) But, I enjoy doing these things, they both give me a pretty decent workout, and I don't have to spend extra money buying, maintaining and most importantly, sacrificing precious shed space storing those considerably large pieces of equipment. My ax will never have a mechanical failure, and if my cheap Craftsman mower ever bites the dust, unlike a riding mower, it won't cost much to repair or replace. I also love car detailing. That one's not that great of a workout, but the enjoyment I get from it is easily worth the $15-20+ over paying someone else to do it. I'm also not eating while I'm car washing.

What are some of tasks that you don't particularly mind doing that you're currently either paying someone to do for you or otherwise overspending on gear for efficiency's sake? Start leveraging the equipment you call your body a little more, and reap the rewards on the scale.

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