March is Health and Wellness Month

In 2016, I’m trying to walk the talk via The Great Money Experiment—a year of avoiding giving my money to Big Business.

I use Mint.com to keep track of our finances. In this tool, I can see what percentage of our budget went to which categories. While the “Health and Fitness,” category is only 2–5% of our budget at any given time, it still feels important to include this in The Great Money Experiment.

Looking more closely, here are some of the main subcategories where we spend money on health and wellness (narrow definition, since real food could technically fit in this category as well):

• Acupuncture
• Dentist
• Doctor
• Eye care
• Pharmacy
• Sports (primarily running shoes and attire)
• Yoga

Of course, we also pay (quite a bit) for health insurance, but that’s deducted from my husband’s paycheck, so I don’t see that expense every month.

While most of the categories above do not support Big Business, there are a few adjustments that I’m hoping to make and share with you:

• Go to Acupuncture Center Decorah for my bi-annual physical (encouraged by our health insurance policy) rather than a doctor at the hospital. This is also inspired by the evidence that annual checkups for healthy people is a waste of time and resources.
• I’m not sure how to go about avoiding Big Business when it comes to my contact lenses. There are only a handful of companies that manufacture contact lenses. I’m with CooperVision right now, and the lenses work well with my eyes. This is the challenge with specialty products. Maybe it’s time for LASIK…
• We shop at the local pharmacy when we have pharmacy needs, but the best option is to stay health so we don’t need medicine!
• I was excited to find a small business that makes awesome running shoes last year. Newton Running is a B Corporation, which means that the company cares about more than just making a profit. And the shoes are amazing!
• I’ll carefully evaluate any new running gear I purchase this year to ensure it’s a small brand.

From a health perspective, the annual physical exam is basically worthless. –Ezekiel J. Emanuel, MD

I think the biggest goal for health and wellness is to stay healthy to avoid spending money on expensive doctor visits and pharmaceuticals. It’s worth spending time on exercise, sleep, and cooking (not currently happening at my house) to avoid illness-related costs.

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