Going off the Grid: I’m Not a Hippie, I Just Needed to Mend a Broken Heart
Plan To Booze It Up Soon? Why You Should Hit The Gym First
I Confess: I Want to be Hot Too, But on My Own Terms
LeAnn Rimes Shouldn’t Have To Explain Her Weight Loss To Anyone
According To NH Politician, We’re All Just Walking Vaginas
Spring Into Fitness And Enter To Win A $500 Workout Wardrobe!
With tax day having come and gone, we are either anxiously awaiting our refunds or scrambling to get our butts in gear during an extension period. But before you make plans to drop an obnoxious amount of money on something totally reckless and unnecessary, think about what those extra dollars could actually do for your life—and your mental well-being. More
The greatest sticker shock I’ve found during my time in New York has easily been gym-related. First, it was the Equinox membership at $130/month (that price is now much higher). Then, it was the $35 per-class fee for designer spin classes. And I’ll never forget the conversation with a few friends about how they don’t actually work out in their lululemon yoga pants because they’re far too nice for that! More
What are you most afraid of? Growing up, I developed more than a couple bad fears, but one of my worst ones is winding up homeless. According to a survey by Allianz Life Insurance Company of North America, I’m not the only one: nearly half of American women are afraid of becoming a “bag lady” — a colloquial term for a homeless woman who can put all of her belongings in bags that she carries around, sometimes in a shopping cart. More
One of my biggest public health pet peeves is the idea that healthy eating costs too much money. Despite empirical evidence to the contrary, people persist to insist that whole, nutritious foods are a luxury good. Want more evidence that cutting the crap and eating good, real food can actually save you money? Check out this new study conducted with clients at Rhode Island food banks. More
I believe that almost all things are better when you are getting paid to do them. Imagine a world wherein we are all on payroll for everyday things. Money to run errands! Jewelry for doing the dishes! Cash for our jobs — well, more cash, I guess, but you get the point. But what about when you lose weight for money? More
“Retail therapy.” It sounds so harmless, perhaps bringing to mind images of Clueless or Sex & The City characters flitting between stores, buying gifts to themselves because something unfortunate happened in their lives. Many of us have bought a necklace here or a decorative piece there as a way to elevate our feelings when the mood is low. But when does “retail therapy” require, well, actual therapy? More
In a new study calculating the true cost of healthy foods compared with packaged and processed goods, whole, fresh foods emerged as the best way to keep grocery costs down. By “true cost,” I’m not talking about including long-term expenses associated with eating poorly. Nope: On a pure serving by serving basis, foods like carrots, onions, beans, potatoes, and lettuce cost less than soda, candy, French fries, chicken patties and Uncle Ben’s. More
USA Today yesterday ran a fluff piece as an excuse to promote the release of a new Jason Segal movie, The 5-Year Engagement, which while astonishing in its transparency was sadly typical in terms of the wedding narrative it pushed. The gist of the piece was that couples are having longer engagement periods in order to save up for ‘dream weddings,’ which now cost an average $26,500. But who are these people allegedly spending so much? More
Women pay more for health insurance than men, because of a practice called “gender rating” that lets insurers charge women more for coverage. A new report from the National Women’s Law Center found even women in good health often get charged more than male counterparts. Collectively, discriminatory health insurance practices cost American women $1 billion more per year than men. More
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Are you spending money on the life you want, or the life you lead?
Today is arguably the one day of the year most focused on shopping and consumerism in America (funny, too, that it immediately follows the day we’re all supposed to be thankful for what we have, but that’s a different post …). It marks the beginning of the season when everyone’s spending habits go berserk. Ostensibly, we’re all out there buying gifts for other people—but, come on, tell me you’ve never passed a holiday sale on something you’ve been wanting for yourself that was too good to pass up. A lot of us follow the ‘X gifts for other people, one for me!’ philosophy of holiday shopping. Which is why I think this spending advice from personal finance writer April Dykman is especially pertinent right now. More
Paying more for health coverage? You’re not alone: The cost of employer-based health insurance premiums surged in 2011, according to a new report from the Kaiser Family Foundation. Premiums for individual coverage grew 8% since 2010 (compared to 3% between 2009-2010) while family policy premiums increased 9%, with average cost reaching an unprecedented $15,000 per year. More
Now that I’m a freelancer, some weeks are leaner than others. Thanks to some unexpected expenses this week, I’m keeping myself on a tight budget for the next week or so. But it’s always hard to make decisions about which expenses to cut back on, and, unfortunately, my health became a low priority. More
The memory is so vivid it makes my head hurt. I’m curled up on the bathroom floor, Elizabeth Gilbert-style with tears and snot streaming down my face and the only word running through my mind is: “worthless.” I have no real job, very little money and I feel utterly worthless. Making the whole situation worse is the fact that I’m getting married in a couple of months and lately I’ve been feeling that my fiancé is starting to view me as worthless, too. More
When the going gets tough, do the tough withhold sex? Maybe. According to a new study, women who don’t feel like they are treated as equals with their male counterparts tend not to offer as much sex. More
