New year, new you, right? But if your budget won’t allow you to join a gym or sign up to regular fitness classes, all is not lost. It is possible to get fit on a budget, and here are some ideas.

The new year is the perfect time for fitness resolutions. Most of us will have overindulged on food and drink over Christmas and, because it’s cold and dark, we may have been less active than we are during the summer months.

However, our bank balances may also be suffering from a post Christmas hangover. Spending a lot of money on new fitness equipment, subscriptions and health club memberships may be unaffordable. So, rather than feeling fit and brimming with energy, we suffer anxiety over our finances. 

But there are ways to improve your health and fitness without spending much money. If, like me, you are determined to get healthier in 2023, I hope some of the following will inspire you.

Look in the larder

At this time of year, many supermarkets and chain stores have a range of very reasonably priced weights and dumbbells. However, before you rush off to buy any, see what you already have around your home that may be of use.

There are many household items that can be used instead of dumbbells. Depending on how heavy you need them to be, cans of beans or soup make good substitutes.

Water bottles can be refilled with water or with sand, as can milk cartons of various sizes. In fact, these are great as they have handles you can grip as you work out.

YouTube is awash with baked bean can workouts, such as this one.

Use your stairs

If you have stairs, either inside or out, they can be used to up your exercise game. You can simply walk up and down them at various speeds, or use them as support for press ups, buttock lifts or to tone up your triceps, as explained in this post from RealSimple.

Find free online classes

There are many great exercise instructors on YouTube. You can do almost any type of home workout, including pilates, yoga, dance classes, and stretching. My personal favourite is Yoga with Adriene.

An interesting fitness app for those of us who want to get fit on a budget is FitOn, which offers unlimited free classes, as well as a premium PRO programme. You input factors such as your age, weight, fitness levels and the types of exercise you enjoy so that the app can offer suitable workouts. 

Classes on offer include kickboxing, dance, toning classes, cardio, yoga, pilates and even meditation, all for free.

Exercise outdoors

There are many fun sports and activities you can do outside for nothing, including some family friendly ways to get fit on a budget.

Take a ball and play football, cricket or rounders in the local recreation ground. Go for a run or a power walk.

Check your council website to see if they have an outdoor gym in any of your local parks. We recently discovered one near us and it is a lot of fun to use (as well as being free).

Spending time outdoors can improve your mood as well as your fitness, so get a vitamin D boost and exercise outside.

Couch to 5K

If you fancy running but don’t know how to begin, the NHS’s Couch to 5K app offers a structured plan to get you going in as little as nine weeks.

Celebrity voices such as Jo Wiley and Sarah Millican talk you through, and you can gradually build your stamina at your own pace until you can run for 30 minutes or more. 

If you prefer to increase your activity levels by walking, you can track your steps with the free NHS Active 10 app. Add the Active 10 widget to your phone’s home screen so that you can see how many steps you have done at a glance.

Cheaper fitness clothing

You don’t need lots of expensive fitness clothing to exercise. Shorts and T-shirts were the norm before Lycra was a thing!

However, if you do enjoy the look, stretch and breathability of bespoke activewear, you can often pick it up second hand at a reasonable price. Try Vinted, eBay and charity shops. 

Don’t let a lack of cash stop you from achieving your new year’s fitness goals. Explore these free ways to enjoy exercising and get fit on a budget.

Photo by Ev on Unsplash

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With the new year kicking in, after a big-budget Christmas break, it’s time to focus on your money matters again.

The cost-of-living crisis and inflation are going nowhere so it’s essential to stay on top of your finances.

Here are some of our favourite stories from around personal finance this week to help you get your head around money.

30 easy ways to earn £1,000s in 2023

For anyone looking to make quick cash after a costly Christmas, Esther Shaw writes for The Sun, coming up with 30 ways to make cash in 2023. Here are some of our favourites from Esther’s list:

• Take part in surveys

Surveys are an easy way to make money in your breaks, typically taking 10-15 minutes to complete. Try free sites like Swagbucks i-Say and PopulusLive. With consistency and discipline, you could earn up to £100 a month.

• Have a wardrobe clear-out

The start of the year is a great time for a spring clean and instead of throwing out clothing, try listing them on sites like Vinted and Depop. You can earn a few £100s depending on the quantity and condition of your items. Look out for any seller-side fees on these sites as they might eat into your earnings.

• Earn rewards for exercising

Kill two birds with one stone when you earn as you walk! Cash in your steps with sites like Sweatcoin and earn almost £5 per 5,000 steps you take.

• Claim the Married Tax Allowance

More than two million couples miss out on claiming this allowance. This could reduce you (and your partner’s) tax bill by up to £252 in the current tax year ending April 5, 2023. To claim, the lower earner must usually have an income below the Personal Allowance of £12,570.

• Turn your car into a billboard

Sites such as CarQuids let you sign up to brand campaigns by advertising with vinyl stickers on your vehicle. You can earn up to £150 a month depending on your model, areas where you drive and park and the type of ad.

Divorce and money- everything you need to know

January, also known as ‘Divorce month’, often sees lawyers receiving the biggest number of splitting up queries each year. With a divorce comes discussions around the couple’s financial positions.

John Fitzsimons writes for MoneyWeek, all the things you need to know if you’re splitting up, including:

Mortgage: Your property will be the trickiest asset involved in the division. You can choose to sell the property and divide the proceeds or one partner can buy out the other. Discuss with your lender, who may help you out by offering payment holidays or other allowances.

Savings and Investments: Savings can be easily transferred from one account to another. However, with investment transfers, there will be fees and taxes you must be aware of, such as the Capital Gains Tax. For joint account holders, it is worth informing your bank to avoid any misuse of account funds.

Pensions: The most commonly overlooked aspect of a divorce, has several options for dividing pensions such as pensions offsetting, pensions sharing or attachment orders.

Divorces have additional costs like lawyer fees, filing fees, child arrangement needs that will need to be considered.

Credit card rates hit record highs as Britain goes on a borrowing binge

Lauren Almeida writes for The Telegraph as average credit card interest rates jump 4.2% from last year.

Credit purchases spiked before Christmas with consumers spending £1.2 billion in November, triple the amount spend in October, according to the Bank of England.

This increase came despite a fall of 0.4% in November retail sales with the cost-of-living surging.

With higher interest rates burdening their debt repayments, borrowers have lesser time before interest is charged. Experts are now urging borrowers to use cheaper options as they reach closer to the end of their interest-free periods.

Nationwide found that one-third of the purchases in 2022 were processed with credit cards or ‘buy now, pay later’ schemes.

Shoppers are left with little choice other than spending further on credit interests after low cash savings following the pandemic and high-Christmas budgets.

Photo by Gabrielle Henderson on Unsplash

The post Must-know money: 30 ways to earn, divorce and money, and Britain’s borrowing binge appeared first on Mouthy Money.

What we buy to feed ourselves says so much about us – not only how much money we have but the relative value we place on food and what we want that food to do for us.

That last bit has become more complicated, especially over the last few years. There has never been so much pressure to make “good” choices – good for our health, good for the environment, good for our appearance.

The ways in which we can be “good” with food all bleed into each other – the food comes with a lifestyle, a body type, a creed. The things that signal virtue all share associations, usually with a slim figure and a woke head.

One thing almost every way of eating has in common these days is an online champion, in the form of a blogger, Instagram star, or otherwise-guru. And something almost all of them has in common is that they are selling something.

The degrees to which this can be damaging or confusing to the consumer are often in proportion to the amount of money the seller stands to make.

Ella Mills, popularly known as Deliciously Ella, has been at the crest of the “wellness wave” of the last several years. She has made her name with recipes such as sweet potato brownies, cashew pesto pasta, and kale salads, all artistically displayed across her Instagram feed, which has 1.5 million followers.

Ella and her husband Matt, who is her business partner and now CEO of the Deliciously Ella brand, have opened three delis (and closed two) and released ranges of energy balls, granolas, and frozen ready meals to outlets including Waitrose, Wholefoods, Planet Organic, Tesco and Starbucks. Ella’s debut cookbook was the fastest selling of all time.

Some “wellness warriors” are mercenary. Joe Wicks, who calls himself “The Body Coach” is reportedly worth nearly £15 million

Ella’s products are not budget friendly (one energy ball costs £1.79 at Tesco), but the brand is a relatively soft sell. Despite being associated with the rise of “clean eating” and bearing the brunt of the subsequent backlash, Ella never used the term herself.

Her M.O. has been to encourage people to include vegetables and whole foods, rather than actively dissuade them from eating other things. Choice – though a luxury – is emphasised.

If you can’t afford the medjool dates, nuts, and cacao to create raw chocolate brownies, you might be able to stretch to sweet potato stir fries and bean dips. If you can’t afford the book, there are plenty of free recipes on her site.

Other wellness warriors are far more prescriptive, and far more mercenary. Joe Wicks, who calls himself “The Body Coach” is reportedly worth nearly £15 million and as of 2017 made £15k a day. Signing up to his 90 day plan upfront costs £97. You can also choose to spread the cost across three months, in which case it will set you back £126.

The idea is that if you follow precise guidelines for what to eat and follow Joe’s 10-30 minute “high intensity” (HIIT) workout plans, you will “naturally” become lean. Joe claims there is no need to calorie count when you eat à la Body Coach because you’re training your body to run using “healthy fats” (or something).

But the amount of ingredients stated in each recipe on his plan is determined by the weight/height you enter at the start, so it is a de facto calorie-controlled diet.

The deeper you steep yourself in the diet culture, and the more money you spend on it, the further you remove yourself from the basic nature of food.

There are many more examples across the “wellness” spectrum, but none as commercially successful as Joe Wicks. Joe has become a multi-millionaire on the promise that plugging yourself into his system will get you shredded, and that his recipes are somehow calibrated to help you “burn fat”, even though it is basically normal food, but weighed and timed according to Joe’s system.

Money continues pours into his pocket, because his comforting framework for how to live looks doable at the offset.

The irony of buying in to Joe Wicks, is that it is effectively a way of paying more to consume with less autonomy. Everything must be planned, bought, weighed and cooked, according to his instructions.

And the deeper you steep yourself in the diet culture he represents, and the more money you spend on it, the further you remove yourself from the basic nature of food.

Keeping your lunch low carb is not necessary, and neither is doing however many burpees on your break before you eat it. The more attention you pay plans like Joe’s, the less you are paying to what your body tells you it needs. The less you are able to trust yourself with the question “am I hungry?” and the less you trust yourself to respond appropriately to the answer.

In 2012 – at around the same time as Ella Mills (then Woodward) wrote her firsts posts, food and politics writer, author and activist Jack Monroe wrote a blog post titled “Hunger Hurts”. Here is an extract (I recommend you read the whole thing asap):

“This morning, small boy had one of the last Weetabix, mashed with water, with a glass of tap water to wash it down with. ‘Where’s Mummys breakfast?’ he asks, big blue eyes and two year old concern. I tell him I’m not hungry, but the rumblings of my stomach call me a liar.”

At the time, Jack was on benefits and applying for jobs every day. She sold belongings, turned off heating, and took bulbs out of lights, cut every corner possible to prevent herself and her young son becoming homeless.

She often depended on food banks, and over months of making every ounce stretch as far as possible, developed ingenious ways to adapt recipes to fit an extremely limited budget and resources.

The premise of Jack’s recipes is simple: to feed, as deliciously as possible, with what is there.

Her creations include firecracker sausages with tragedy mash, feisty soup, and peanut butter and jam thumbprint cookies. Jack’s blog, then called “A Girl Called Jack” has now been renamed Cooking On A Bootstrap, and is hub of recipes, advice, and political commentary. Her fourth book, Tin Can Cook, is out in May.

The premise of Jack’s recipes is simple: to feed, as deliciously as possible, with what is there. It makes nothing but sense and yet is so different from almost everything else in the online environment. Jack is yet to become a millionaire because she isn’t selling a wish.

There is no failing, or falling off the wagon. Just an actually quite old-fashioned idea about food, which might ultimately prove far more comforting and sustainable than any attempt to get “lean” in 90 days with the help of a lot of expensive salmon.

Perhaps a useful litmus test for whether we should listen to someone who is selling an idea about food, might be to ask: is this food promising to feed me, or change me?

Too many people make too much money on the basis of persuading people that they are somehow not good enough as they are.

If you are being instructed to buy a certain food because it will make you shredded, by someone who has already released many books on the subject of being shredded, are you going to sit down to eat that food with a feeling of happy anticipation…or nervous anxiety because you have invested so much in the food doing a job for you?

It’s a difficult principle to maintain in a world calibrated to make us self-examine and find fault with ourselves, but it might cost a lot less money, and a lot less heartache to remember the more simple message: you just need to eat.

The post Mercenary, confusing and damaging: here come the “Wellness Warriors” appeared first on Mouthy Money.

So it’s perhaps perfect timing for the launch of Gymbox’s Anger Management class. They promise that flipping tractor tyres and hitting inanimate objects with a baseball bat will not only burn fat, but also release anger.

YASS! I’ll be able to do my jeans up and stop muttering “fuckwit” at anyone who stands on the wrong side of the escalator! This has got to stop because really, I’m getting louder, and it’s only a matter of time before I’m captured incoherently ranting, in a video that goes viral after being posted on You Tube.

Gymbox’s dimly lit, basement level training area is littered with baseball bats and mallets. It’s like I’ve walked onto the set of Fight Club…With Weapons.

Of course, it takes me until late February to drag myself to a class. But it might not have taken so long if I’d already honed my anger management skills, as apparently these can increase productivity. So this class could make me fitter, better humoured, and more successful. I am here for it.

So I make my way to Gymbox’s dimly lit, basement level training area which is littered with baseball bats and mallets. It’s like I’ve walked onto the set of Fight Club: With Weapons, but fortunately, we will not be assaulting each other – instead we will be battering some tyres that look like they’ve been ripped off a monster truck.

We begin with chest-to-floor burpees, yep, this is the warm-up. We do quite a lot and I start to wish someone would knock me out, so I wouldn’t have to do any more. Then we pair up and make our way around the stations, “NONE OF WHICH IS A REST STATION!!!” like in a circuit class.

At this point, I aim to fully embrace each aggressive activity. When I slam the ball on the ground, I am Serena Williams destroying my tennis racket at the US Open. When I hit a hanging a tyre with a baseball bat, I am Elin Nordegren smashing the rear windows of Tiger Woods’ Cadillac with a golf club.

When I thrash a trucker’s tyre with a mallet, I am Britney Spears attacking a photographer’s Ford with an umbrella.

When I give the battle ropes a hammering, I am Solange battering Jay Z in the hotel lift. When I heave the tyre off the floor and propel it towards my partner, I am Gemma Collins in Celeb Big Brother, shouting: “Fuck off Gillian McKeith! GO AWAY!” And when I throw the ball at the wall, I’m, um, Justin Bieber, throwing eggs at my neighbour’s house.

“THERE ARE NO REST STATIONS!” roars the instructor repeatedly, but she is quite wrong about this, as I’ve earmarked the bike as a nice little sit down, and the treadmill type contraption is a definite doss too. Clearly these are fillers and a chance to recuperate!

The ball weighs as much as three crushed cars welded together, and there’s no way I’m shifting it over my shoulder.

Unfortunately, the instructor seems to have eyes in the back of her head, and insists on helping me, in a manner that makes everything harder. “YOU’VE GOT TO THROW THE BALL OVER YOUR SHOULDER!!” she bawls, when she sees me letting it drop from waist height.

The ball weighs as much as three crushed cars welded together, and there’s no way I’m shifting it over my shoulder. Not even when I imagine I’m Naomi Campbell in a phone-flinging frenzy, with my PA standing behind me.

“THE HARDER YOU WORK THE HARDER YOUR PARTNER WORKS!!” the instructor bellows, as the two of us weakly wave the battle ropes on our third time round the circuit.

At this point, I am no longer Solange in the lift – I’m more Mary Berry, gently adjusting a floral scarf. Presumably these words were meant to motivate us but I’m just jolly pleased I teamed up with someone who’s as floored by this as I am.

This time round, the tyre’s going nowhere. I’m now less like Gemma Collins telling Gillian McKeith to fuck off, and more like Gillian McKeith fainting (or “fainting”) on I’m a Celebrity Get Me Out of Here.

The 45 minute class has wiped me out, and on my way home I wouldn’t have the energy to mutter “fuckwit” at anyone if I wanted to.

However, fortified by a nourishing lunch, I do have a productive afternoon, so I think I may continue with this anger management malarkey. I have a baseball bat, I just need some tyres… So if you see a desecrated car propped up on bricks and a broken paving slab, ssshhh! It wasn’t me!

With thanks to Shock Absorber and Decathlon for kitting me out.

The post Anger management: how flipping tyres will help you chill appeared first on Mouthy Money.

Draped in Dior and diamonds, and trailed by a harem of husbands, Simpson is an absolute legend. If there was a LADbible for ladies in the 1930s – a LADYbible, if you will – Wallis Simpson would have been on the cover.

And so, it’s with her pearls of wisdom in my ears that I order a standing desk.

Yes, a standing desk. What else makes you lose weight and earn more money? Using a standing desk is scientifically proven to burn calories and increase productivity – there are shedloads of studies on it.

I’m triumphant when it springs up to typing height, like the Carlsberg of self-assembly objects.

So I am jolly pleased when mine arrives. And after heaving it onto the second-hand dining table I use as a desk, I’m triumphant when it springs up to typing height, like the Carlsberg of self-assembly objects.

I love it immediately and feel like a captain at the helm. I have a good mind to start firing a cannon in the manner of Mary Poppins’ Admiral Boom. Sent an invoice? “FIRE!” Transcribed an interview? “FIRE!” Finished writing a feature? “Put in a double charge of powder Mr. Binnacle and FIRE!!!”

To loosely paraphrase M&S, I am not just standing – I am standing to attention. As The Admiral, I do not dick about on my phone looking at Joan Collins’ dresses from when she was in Dynasty, or screenshotting dire dating app profiles to post on Twitter. No, I do these things when I’m sitting down taking a break.

It sounds minor but, as a freelancer working from home, I think anything that helps to distinguish free time from work time is actually pretty useful – especially if you eat, sleep, work, wank and watch telly all in one room, as I did until recently, in a studio flat the size of a postage stamp.

Towards the end of the day, when my feet are achy, I do fancy a sit-down – but apparently this is par for the course when one uses a standing desk. In Vladimir Nabokov: The American Years, biographer Brian Boyd writes that the Lolita author would begin his working days standing at a lectern.

I find myself moving and stretching more than I would if I were sitting.

He then quotes Nabokov as saying: “Later on, when I feel gravity nibbling at my calves, I settle down in a comfortable armchair alongside an ordinary writing desk; and finally, when gravity begins climbing up my spine, I lie down on a couch in a corner of my small study.”

Ernest Hemingway, Winston Churchill, Virginia Woolf, and Charles Dickens all apparently used standing desks, as did Stan Lee, Soren Kierkegaard, Lewis Carroll and American playwright August Wilson.

According to John Lahr in the Guardian: “Wilson wrote standing up, at a high, cluttered accounting desk. For years, an Everlast punching bag was suspended from the ceiling about two steps behind. When Wilson was in full flow and the dialogue was popping, he’d stop, pivot, throw a barrage of punches, then turn back to work.”

I’m not too sure about suspending anything from my ceiling (although if it did cave in, at least my desk would be elevated above the rubble) but I find myself moving and stretching more than I would if I were sitting.

And with my desk facing the window, standing also expands my view. I now take in a tower block to the right and the other day a man smoking a cigarette out of his window waved at me. It was the most human interaction I’d had in days and I felt like I’d made a friend.

I’ve been standing while I work for about a month now, and I trust that I’m becoming richer and thinner by the minute. But if I’m not dripping diamonds by the end of the year, I’m open to getting married – so hit me up, European royalty!

P.S. I really like Monaco.

With thanks to Varidesk for my ProPlus 36.

The post It zaps fat and increases productivity – but what is a ‘standing desk’ actually like? appeared first on Mouthy Money.

Meet Mouthy Money’s new writers – they tell stories about their financial lives, dreams, successes and failures. And their words won’t just twang your heartstrings or make you clutch your sides with laughter – though they’ll certainly do that! – no, they’ll also help you make the tough decisions looming large in your life.

Get the best of our real life stories once a month in your inbox by subscribing here.

Our writers

Joanna Blythman

Joanna is an award-winning investigative journalist, the author of seven landmark books on food issues and one of the most authoritative, influential commentators on the British food chain. Read: How vegan evangelists are propping up the ultra-processed food industry

Holly MC Thomas

Holly is a freelance writer and editor based in London. She writes regularly for CNN and The New Statesman, among other top tier publications. Read: The true cost to women of Russell Brand’s toxic masculinity

Emma Real-Davies

Presenter of The Female Struggle Is Real podcast and writer, Emma says she’s struggling with freelancing, struggling with being sustainable and struggling generally. Read: Saving the planet is bankrupting me

Lynn James

Winner of UK Money Blogger 2017 best parent and money blog. Radio presenter on SG1 Radio. Author of Blogging Your Way To Riches. Seen on BBC, ITV, HuffPo. Read: My experience of emotional spending

Samantha Rea

Samantha Rea is a freelance journalist living in London. She studied at the LSE but has since annihilated a fair few brain cells by watching too many episodes of Love Island. Read: Fresh air and scenes worthy of the Edinburgh Fringe: why I won’t be joining a gym 

Amy Treasure

Food writer and photographer. Amy has a simple approach to great home cooking. Runs. Read: Your diet is making you fat (and nine alternatives that actually work)

Holly Thomas

Holly is an award-winning financial journalist and former Deputy Personal Finance Editor at The Sunday Times. She writes across all areas of personal finance and consumer issues. Read: Want to cut the cost of Christmas 2019? Start shopping now…

Michael Taggart

Who, me? Oh, I’m the editor. Y’know…behind the scenes. Don’t like attention. Please ignore me. Do that at @michael_taggart. Read: Like giving crack to a cocaine addict: my life with a 110% subprime mortgage

Subscribe here to Mouthy Money’s monthly email for the best real-life stories about every day money challenges.

The post Introducing our writers appeared first on Mouthy Money.

Dreaded tax returns and bills beckon. And this miscellany of midwinter delights is underpinned by an all too familiar new year reality: January is a very long month, and we’re skint.

Nevertheless we’re encouraged to carry on consuming. The difference now is that it’s not gifts nobody really needs that we’re being manipulated into buying. Instead it’s time to invest in becoming a “new you”.

Like ambulance chasing lawyers, the “wellbeing industry” scents profit in our seasonal frailty.

So we should join a gym, sign up for yoga classes, lash out on scarily expensive running shoes that this time won’t knacker our knees, cruise supermarket ‘wellness’ aisles, buy the latest weight loss book, stock up on far-freighted berries and avocado.

Or better still, radically alter our diet so that instantly a huge chunk of our former routine food shopping list becomes redundant and needs replaced with a series of novel, allegedly health-improving products.

Like ambulance chasing lawyers, the “wellbeing industry” scents profit in our seasonal frailty.

January is one of the worst times for seasonal vegetables and fruit.

But you know what? If I’m going to become a healthier me it’s not going to happen in January. Why? For starters, January is one of the worst times for seasonal vegetables and fruit. UK production is limited, European imports as yet thin and paltry. And the weather is still dark and energy sapping, which means that the emotional lure of everything that’s stodgy, comforting, and no effort to make, is intense.

So if you really want to improve your diet, hang on until April; from then on, the greengrocer’s range starts getting the gastric juices flowing.

January for me is a month for retrenchment, to be got through by lying low and avoiding spending money. But that doesn’t mean utter passivity. One obvious creative challenge for the month ahead is artfully using up all the food in the store cupboard and freezer.

Unless you’re one of those bare-larder grazers who lurches from one ready meal to another, odds on, like everyone who is better at buying food than cooking it, you’re sitting on a small fortune of unused edibles.

Cracking into it stimulates your ingenuity and resourcefulness with food and will palpably improve your January financial forecast.

Dipping into old cookbooks can be surprisingly revelatory.

Most households have a recipe book or two lying around reminding us of the theoretical possibility of preparing our own food, as opposed to relying on poor value-for-money convenience stuff, but these volumes have a habit of becoming invisible.

Dipping into old cookbooks can be surprisingly revelatory, reminding you of a few old favourite and quite doable recipes. Before you buy a new food book this month, look at what you’ve already got.

Exercise? I can think of one that it’s never too early to start: don’t trail round the supermarket passively sucking up whatever is being marketed to you.

Instead, map out your positive, alternative shopping route, favouring small shops, markets, and every progressive outlet in your area that’s beavering away to build a saner, healthier food system.

With these simple, free actions you can step into February with a spring in your step.

The post January is a bad month to become a healthier you – here’s why appeared first on Mouthy Money.

Roughly translating as ‘not too much, not too little, just right’, lagom is the art of living frugally, which is a pretty essential life skill if, like me, you’ve still got a £9,000 student loan to repay.

Lagom encourages you to be healthy, environmentally-friendly and financially-frugal. It’s definitely not as much fun as hygge (which by the way, I readily embraced pre-Christmas by purchasing a pair of new brushed-cotton pyjamas and an endless supply of mulled wine).

But apparently January is all about new starts blah blah and I have a whacking great tax bill to pay, so I for one am becoming lagom.

Here are some handy tips on how to live frugally in January and embrace lagom:

1. Stay in and cook

I have a terrible habit of going out for dinner ALL the time. I make great plans to boil lentils and kale into some sort of healthy mush and yet, before you know it, I’ve got a dim sum in each cheek and Katsu curry dripping down my chin. I’ve recently realised, however, that although eating out is super convenient, it’s also incredibly expensive! So dig out your blender, boil your broccoli and soak those lentils overnight – healthy mush it is.

2. Use your gym membership (lol)

Sometimes I forget that I pay £30 to run for 20 mins on a treadmill once a month. But last week I suddenly remembered (miraculous) and decided to actually go. Although furious that the hot tub wasn’t working (why else would you go to the gym?), I did 10 lengths in the pool and then sat in the sauna for half an hour. It was glorious. Plus then I showered in water I’m not billed for – could life get any better?

3. Start a journal

Ok yes – you’ll need to buy a notebook and a fancy array of coloured pens, but then you’ve got a year of journal-writing FUN! Plus you will spend hours (HOURS) on Pinterest looking at pretty pictures of bullet journals. And there’s nothing more fun than planning, amiright?

4. Rearrange your living space

Having a sort out is always satisfying come the New Year, and adding a plant to your space can be just as refreshing as spending pounds on new fancy throw cushions that just get chucked on the floor come bedtime. It’s fun to make your bedroom a lagom project: picking up ring stands in charity shops and framing photos that you’ve had lying around. Just one question though – what do you do with old journals that detail your terrible tinder dates? Asking for a friend…

5. Get outside

Just a quick reminder that some of life’s simplest pleasures are free: going for a long woodland walk, getting your bike out of the garage, feeding the ducks at your local pond (I don’t care how old you are, this is still fun). And ok, if you want to pop to the pub after partaking in any of the above, that’s absolutely fine. As long as you remember the following: ‘not too much, not too little, just right’.

Lagom is about long-term fun: saving up those pennies for a house, getting fit and healthy, appreciating the smaller things in life without having huge extravagances. So although you might be tempted to book a last minute holiday to get some winter sun, just repeat this mantra while spooning healthy mush post-bike ride into your mouth: ‘lagom is long-term fun’, ‘lagom is long-term fun’. Failing that, remember you’ve got to pay for a house/wedding/holiday/tax bill/child this year.

The post Embracing lagom – the biggest Scandi trend since hygge appeared first on Mouthy Money.

This is the announcement I send to my siblings via the family “Christmassssss” WhatsApp group, before our descent to Kent for a week or so of gross over-indulgence at the booze cabinet of Mum and Dad.

My parents, who don’t do WhatsApp, are notified about the bootcamp via a telephone call. “Ah, I hope it’s not bad weather,” says my father, in a tone that suggests he’d rather eat lanced boils than put a pair of trainers on.

This is to be expected, however, I have higher hopes for my mum, who spent decades doing Mr. Motivator to offset her pregnancies with the five of us. Aerobics was so entrenched in our childhoods that when I learnt to walk I followed every fourth step with a clap and a leg curl. (It’s a good job I don’t drive, as it’d be quick step to the clink if I were ever pulled over and asked to walk in a straight line).

I feel a bit sick as we squat-jump on the grass, but I don’t let on because my sister is filming from the kitchen window.

And so on Christmas Eve, at about 10am, I crash about the house bellowing: “BOOTCAMP! Mum are you ready? BOOTCAMP! Everyone in the garden!”

Despite the house bursting with eight adults and six children, just five of us traipse to the garden, past the fox poo on the patio, and the pond that dual-purposes as a skip. I feel a bit sick as we squat-jump on the grass, but I don’t let on because my sister Belles is filming from the kitchen window, and attempting to goad my brother. “Did you have to wear pink? Was this the dress code? Did Samantha tell you to wear that?”

My brother, who has a sensible job, tells Belles: “You’re not filming me.” But he is quite wrong about this. “What are we hoping to achieve today?” barks Belles, who fancies herself as Louis Theroux, her phone held high to capture our walking lunges. “Go away!” I shout in a fit of pique. “This is not a discussion just fucking fuck off!” And so she goes back into the house and sends the video to everyone on WhatsApp.

Bootcamp attendees drop by the day, and by New Year’s I am doing it by myself.

My other sister, Pen (a casualty of excess wine consumption and therefore unable to participate) declares that the footage is: “GOLD! This is fucking hilarious – it’s best thing I’ve ever seen!” This would be an excellent accolade if I were promoting a show at the Edinburgh Fringe, but it’s somewhat dispiriting that this is her reaction to the sight of me doing star jumps.

Bootcamp attendees drop by the day, and by New Year’s I am doing it by myself – although I make up the numbers with all the food babies I am harbouring in my gut. And while the exercises stay the same, the level of difficulty increases in correlation with my cumulative hangover and my daily stride towards obesity.

In addition to the padding I’ve cultivated from eating all the Snickers in the Celebrations, I am also carrying the load of a couple of lady beards I’ve grown under my armpits, due to inept packing leaving me stranded without a razor. I am sure my glossy manes are providing additional resistance against the December air as I do my burpees in the bog-like wasteland that is my parents’ garden.  

My Christmas bootcamp lasted for nine days solid and, despite getting my hands grubby with fox faeces, I jolly well enjoyed it! So I shan’t be forking out to join a gym this January – instead I’ll be outdoors, exercising for free in the fresh air. And now I’m back in London, I’ve got my sights on roping in my neighbours!

The post Fresh air, family spirit and scenes worthy of the Edinburgh Fringe: why I won’t be joining a gym this January appeared first on Mouthy Money.

Don’t worry. It is possible to lead a fun life while also keeping your finances in check. It can’t all be work work work… plus it can be save save save! But “how?” you ask…

Let our 6 step Ultimate Guide show you how it’s done. We’ve got a range of outdoor things you can try with your mates that are big on fun, and low on cost…

6. Coffee

The greatest journey begins with the smallest step, as someone great once said. So before the fun really kicks off, what about a pick me up you can enjoy with friends?

Here’s the thing. Coffee is king! Where would we be without our stimulants? Did you know you can score a free hot drink from Costa? That’s right, at totally zero cost.

The best part is there’s more than one way to skin a cat. Er, well get a free coffee anyway. You can do it by filling in a survey, or via a bit of trickery. Read more here.

5. Picnic in the Park

Why sit indoors staring miserably at your beans on toast, when you could be out and about with your pals. Filling your belly at the same time sounds like a plan too, right?

It’s so easy. If you’ve got a local park, go and use it. Granted, not every one is a beauty spot, but fresh air and being closer to nature works wonders, and food tastes better.

Speaking of food, it’s easier than you think to make a picnic. They’re not all limp sarnies and soggy crisps these days. Read here to learn about picnicking in the 21^st century. 

4. Free events

Maybe the park you’re in has a free event on, like a band or something more exotic. Entertainment doesn’t always come with a price tag.

Now, if you’re more into the nightlife then what about a comedy club? Some have free entry and you could be watching the stars of tomorrow tickle your funny bone today.

Keep your eyes on the internet for news of upcoming events that won’t hit you in the wallet. There are various websites with that info you can check out, one of which is here.

3. Volunteering

Have you ever felt too busy to help people, or unable to because of your financial situation? Well actually you can, by volunteering, which is a great social activity.

We know what you’re thinking. It’s far from a night out at the local club, but there are other things in life besides alcohol and excess! It’s just a different kind of fun.

While we’re not saying volunteering is a giggle, it can change your perspective on life and make you feel highly rewarded. It’s also a brilliant bonding experience.

2. Hiking

 There’s very little that brings a group of friends closer together than an intensive jog, or group exercise out in the local park. But you don’t have to push it to the max.

Walk this way. An underrated group activity is hiking. You see the sights in the company of your nearest and dearest, and boost your health at the same time.

We know not everyone lives somewhere with lovely countryside. Yet even a gentle and head-clearing wander round the nearest green space can have untold benefits.    

1. Pub Quiz

Did you know one of the Great British nights out is also free? All you need for a pub quiz is a love of trivia, or drink. The landlord will be happy, even if it’s drink.

This one’s a surefire hit. Provided you don’t spend through the nose on booze, you and your mates can have a great time answering questions and trying to win that prize.

Even if you don’t know what’s going on, you can enjoy a drink and a catch up. And there’s extra fun to be had guessing something you have no clue about in the first place…!

The post The Ultimate Guide to Going Out and Having Fun for Less appeared first on Mouthy Money.