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Hey guys it’s chelsea from the financial diet and this week’s video is sponsored by aspiration and this week i wanted to talk about how we here at tfd and i hope this is clear by now do not necessarily believe that living a financially responsible life always entails spending as little money as possible in fact we’ve done videos about how for example investing
In a few key pieces of quality furniture can over the long term be a way better decision than buying a bunch of that crappy particle board stuff that ends up disintegrating and needing to be replaced that said there are plenty of ways to upgrade your life by simply swapping in one thing for another thing at no extra cost just because two things cost the same
Doesn’t mean they’ll be equally valuable to you so without further ado eight zero dollar swaps to help you start living better number one is trading in expensive fitness classes for once a month training sessions on the surface paying for group fitness classes even over zoom can feel like an obvious choice when it comes to making the investment in your physical
Health because when you compare it to something like an individual training session that can easily be a hundred dollars or more per each session whereas for that same price you can likely get many of those group classes but as you might know if you’re at all familiar with basically any fitness discipline it matters less how much you do something than how well
You do it and one-on-one training can help give you the tools form and understanding to making the most of any class which for many of us usually will translate to things like free youtube classes work out groups over zoom with people in our own life or super low cost gym options trainers can also give you custom routines that you do yourself that are perfectly
Adapted to your fitness goals ultimately i was someone who had a hard time for a long time getting into a fitness routine because i always felt like i didn’t really understand what i was doing and for a while i made the mistake of thinking that fancier group classes would eventually get me into the swing of things but even the best group teacher can’t give each
Individual student the attention they would need to master their form so when i started wanting to do pilates a few years ago my first investment was a few one-on-one training sessions to ensure that i was doing it right not hurting myself and getting over the fear of looking like an idiot in class now since gym accessibility is pretty limited i’m actually doing
More pilates than ever just over zoom with a small group of people and because i made that investment into my form initially i have a really clear understanding of what i need to be doing versus not doing as well as how to integrate new moves into my practice although on the surface a swap to personal training may seem like a less effective one with as much free
Workout materials as there are on the internet that we can use more than ever now it’s usually one that’s worth it in the long term number two is switching your big bank account for a socially conscious bank account with aspiration according to a recent bank rate survey americans are spending on average between 5 and 15 per month for their bank account depending on
The type of account but not all financial services companies are created equal and one thing you may not know is that the top four banks alone invest 240 billion dollars per year in fossil fuels one zero dollar swap you can make to start helping the planet and yourself is to start managing your money in a more sustainable way with aspiration unlike the big banks
Aspiration doesn’t use your deposits to fund oil pipelines or exploration they are committed to 100 clean finance they also offer socially conscious and sustainable ways to spend and save so that you can make money while helping make the world a better place for instance with an aspiration debit card you can get up to 5 cashback on socially conscious spending at
Conscious coalition merchants like toms warby parker and more they also offer a planet protection feature which tallies up the carbon output of all your gas purchases then automatically buys offsets to help counter the climate impact you can drive all you need with a clear conscience and it’s not just smarter for the planet aspiration makes it easy to make your
Money work for you offering a network of over 55 000 fee-free atms and up to one percent apy on your aspiration save balance with aspiration plus and at aspiration you pay what is fair no hidden fees an aspiration plus account costs just seven dollars a month or 575 a month with an annual subscription so click the link in our description to open your aspiration
Account today and earn up to 100 cashback when you spend 1 000 in your first 60 days of opening number three is using your existing memberships to access free magazines and newspapers there is a lot of value in paying for the media that you consume rather than just depending on whatever you can get for free or trying to get around the paywalls not only does that
Often mean access to higher quality content that has been invested in by the publisher it also means you’re supporting a media economy that you want to see more of but let’s be realistic for the wide array of magazines newspapers and various sources that we all consume on a given day it would be highly unrealistic and for many of us financially unsustainable to
Have a subscription to every single one of them but that said if you are in possession of a library card and i hope if nothing else that every tfd viewer is in possession of a library card you already likely have subscriptions to many of these publications at your access for instance new york public library offers access to hundreds of publications digitally
Through a partner app called flipster so you don’t even have to go check out a physical copy and not to give more money to jeff bezos but if you have an amazon prime subscription already you likely already have access to 30-day subscriptions to various newspapers and magazines via the prime reading app there are also online sites such as value mags that allow you
To sign up for a free year-long subscription digital or physical to various newspapers and magazines in exchange for certain things it’s typically something like signing up for an email newsletter to receive promotions and discounts which can in and of itself be a bit of a win-win we’ll link to some of these options in the description even if the idea of paying
For higher quality publications or supporting the media you consume don’t necessarily ring true to you hopefully one thing that we could all invest a little more in for our own mental well-being is getting out of the routine of just scrolling and scrolling and scrolling in order to consume whatever comes in front of our eyeballs and getting a little bit more
Nuanced thoughtful and intentional with how we read the news and consume media number four is replace one bad habit with a free counseling option listen we are all aware that getting rid of a bad habit is not something that can be done overnight but if you are someone who struggles with a particular bad habit maybe having a negative relationship with alcohol
Or difficulty with sleep like me or repeating certain patterns in various relationships you can at minimum start taking specific portions of your day to rededicate some of that time and energy to free counseling options and i say free because although many of you may be able to access more traditional therapy which can often be costly i know that’s not the
Case for everyone and there are more free counseling options available to you than you might think for instance if you’re a college student you more than likely have counseling available for you through your school’s services you can also look up free mental health services in your area like in new york city nyc well offers free 24 7 phone calls and texts if
You’re struggling with something like depression anxiety or alcohol and drug use therapists and counselors in training often offer free counseling under the close supervision of a licensed therapist or counselor and we’ll link to a list of that in the description and there are also hundreds of peer support groups in existence for helping people deal with specific
Problems from addiction to eating disorders to being in debt my dear friend chrissy milazzo even created what is a living breathing crowdsourced document of free or affordable or sliding scale therapy in your area which we will also link to in the description doing something like starting therapy can feel overwhelming and getting rid of a habit entirely can also
Feel insurmountable so committing to taking it down to just the smallest possible act swap out one thing you’re going to do today that you don’t like that you’re doing even for 10 minutes with pursuing even one of these options and i guarantee you will start on a snowball route to bettering the issue number five is swapping pricey shipping options with usps free
Shipping materials listen up you do not need to purchase things like envelopes and shipping packages because the usps will literally provide them to you for free they will even literally mail them to you for their priority mail services now of course you do still have to pay for the actual postage which usually will start around seven dollars and fifty cents for
A package in priority mail but the cost of the actual shipping supplies do add up especially if you’re shipping a lot of packages at once like many of us might be doing for the upcoming holidays now that we’re not seeing nearly as many people in person i hope for comparison standard boxes at a place like fedex will usually run you somewhere between 1.75 and 15
Now fedex to be fair does offer free supplies for their express service but that shipping alone will set you back at least 26 dollars in conclusion support the mail we stand the postal service can we get a little clip of the twerking mailbox from the philly rallies yeah this is the vibe number six is replacing a fancy diet or exercise plan with an accountability
Group following through with a diet or exercise plan is something that frankly eludes most of us according to an article in scientific american research suggests that roughly 80 percent of people who shed a significant portion of their body fat will not maintain that degree of weight loss for 12 months and according to one meta-analysis of intervention studies
Dieters regain on average more than half of what they lose within two years but part of the problem additionally is that people tend to think that in order to make really noticeable differences in their fitness or their size they have to make radical changes when the truth is that small tweaks to how we go about our day-to-day lives will often end up yielding
Strong results over the long term and be more sustainable as amanda mull put it in the atlantic in 2018 the american heart association released new guidelines to emphasize the importance of even short bursts of activity which had previously been dismissed as inconsequential it is clear now that regular moderate physical activity is a key element of a healthy
Life no matter what that looks like on an individual level and accountability groups which i have personally made basically the entire foundation of my life right now and i’ll get into that a bit more in next week’s video are statistically proven to help you reach your goals and they also have the added benefit of being totally custom to what you and the other
People in your group might find doable or feel comfortable committing to going with a preset plan cutting one entire category of food out of your diet setting a super lofty physical goal or investing a ton into fancy equipment all of that on a long term is much less likely to yield the results you’re looking for than to simply have a close group of people or even
Just a person who genuinely cares if you show up and is there to support you along the way number seven is replacing one specific thing you buy with a mutual swap group this can be things like baby clothes furniture books exercise equipment outdoor supplies even things like musical instruments and crafts for almost all of these items it is likely that somewhere
Local to you there is a mutual swap group that is specifically dedicated to people handing off these things to each other usually for free for example here in new york city the facebook group nyc baby stuff swap has over 20 000 members our head of content holly also belongs to an online book club that features a book swap where members simply pass books around
Whenever they’re finished reading them as a routine to get into checking even for just a second to see if what you’re looking for might be available secondhand or better yet in one of these mutual swap groups is a great way to get out of the default routine that just because you need something means you have to go out and buy it new lastly number eight is swap a
Few hours of doom scrolling every week for a few hours of volunteering now this heavily harkens back to my post-election challenge video but i think it’s going to remain true for us for hopefully the rest of our lives now that social media is a part of it between covid the civil unrest and a landscape around us that’s changing in almost every way most of us have
Been glued to social media and news consumption in a way we never have before but over consuming information does not necessarily make us more informed and in many cases it can actually make us more anxious according to jacqueline bullis phd a clinical psychologist in mclean’s hospital center of excellence in depression and anxiety disorders right now there is a
Degree of uncertainty that is unprecedented for most of us when uncertainty is high it drives our brains to seek as much information as possible to feel in control in the long term these behaviors are increasing our anxiety by feeding into this belief that if we have enough information we can control what will happen but the more we seek certainty over what will
Happen in the future the more anxious we will feel it is impossible to be 100 certain of what the future holds regarding covet 19. so as i mentioned in my post-election video dedicating and committing yourself to swapping out even a tiny bit of the time that you spend doom-scrolling social media or worrying about what will happen next to doing something tangible
To help make that next thing better is one of the best things you can do for your own mental health and for the world around you it could be physical like signing up to work at a local food bank or it could even be something you can do from your couch like phone or text banking for a candidate you believe in like those georgia runoffs doing this is not just good
For the world it is also proven to help you feel better about the world you’re currently living in volunteering can have a positive impact on your mental health in general according to a study published in the journal of happiness studies compared to people who didn’t volunteer people who had volunteered in the past year were more satisfied with their lives and
Rated their overall health as better additionally the researchers found that people who volunteered more frequently experienced greater benefits those who volunteered at least once a month reported better mental health than participants who volunteered infrequently or not at all even if the amount of time is small the impact can be huge which is applicable to
Almost everything on this list and if one of the things you’re interested in is making your banking be better for the world check out aspiration so click the link in our description to open your aspiration account today and earn up to a hundred dollars cash back when you spend a thousand dollars in your first 60 days of opening and as always guys thank you for
Watching and do not forget to hit the subscribe button and to come back every monday tuesday and thursday for new and awesome videos goodbye you
Transcribed from video
8 Zero-Dollar Swaps To Help You Instantly Start Living Better By The Financial Diet
