Why wealthier rhymes with healthier

Ensure that you -- and your bank balance - get healthier this year.

If your office is anything like lovemoney.com’s, a cacophony of coughing and sneezing is the typical soundtrack to your day (she writes, coughing). Even though it’s spring, it's cold and sometimes it feels like everyone in the entire country is ill.

No wonder that, at this time of year, many of us decide to make Fresh Start and ‘do more exercise', in the vague hope that this will bring health and vitality into our lives. The trouble is, if you're anything like me, you probably make that resolution every week of the year anyway, without much success.

It doesn't seem fair. Instead of quitting smoking, going to a gym, eating healthily, taking vitamins etc, why can't our health benefit equally from just lying in a bath all day long and, say, eating Flakes?

Save yourself – and your money!

If this is your secret fantasy too, then like me, you probably need a bit more of a kick up the backside than others when it comes to changing your unhealthy ways and behaviour.

So here's a fresh approach. Forget attaining a healthy body for a second, and focus your efforts on achieving healthy bank balance.

In my view, it's no coincidence that healthier rhymes with wealthier. Of course, we all know about the physical rewards of being healthy, like living longer and being fit and feeling absolutely fantastic, but have you ever considered the financial rewards too?

Quitting smoking, for example, will not only cut down your outgoings, it can also have a significant holistic impact on your entire finances. For example, life insurance should be cheaper if you quit, as non-smokers usually pay lower premiums.

Furthermore, if you put the money you save by not buying cigarettes towards overpaying your mortgage, you could cut your term significantly:

Example based on 25-year repayment mortgage at 5%.

Use our overpayment calculator to figure out how much exactly you could save with your own mortgage, or ask one of our mortgage brokers to do it for you.

Similarly, buying fresh fruit and veg and cooking healthy meals from scratch should save you money. The same goes for snacks: a banana, for example, costs around 20p - I reckon you'd have to travel back to the 1990s to find a vending machine offering a Flake at that price.

Free gym trials

OK, OK so it's clearly cheaper to eat healthily and quit smoking. But what about exercise? Isn't joining a gym quite expensive?

Overall, I'd have to say: yes. But the good news is, right now, many gyms are running free trials or offering discounts on their usual fees. For example:

• Fitness First is offering a free 1-day guest membership and a two-week trial membership for around £27 (depending on where you live)
• Virgin Active is offering a free 1-day guest pass
• Esporta is offering a free 1-day pass
• Harpers Fitness is offering a free 1-day pass and a two-week trial membership for around £13 (depending on where you live)
• Women-only gym Curves is offering a free 1-day pass
• David Lloyd is offering free tennis classes
• LA Fitness is offering a free 3-day pass with special code 3 day pass
• Nuffield Health is offering a free 3-day pass if you sign up before the end of July and use the pass by the end of August
• British Military Fitness is offering a free taster class
• Spirit if offering a six-week trial membership for £42 and a two-week trial membership for £20

Alternatively, use ‘gym broker’ website Thegymwebsite to get up to 50% off memberships from various gyms. And don’t forget you can often get a further discount by asking a friend or colleague to refer you to their gym.

Related goal

Save money every day of the week

Seven ways to save heaps of money this week - and every week!

Do this goal

Or if you don't fancy that, check out your cheap and cheerful local leisure centre. It may have much better facilities than the last time you walked through its doors (for swimming lessons, circa 1987) and fewer patrons, too (as they're all at the gym).You can search for your local sports clubs on LocalSportsClubs.co.uk and for local facilities on the ‘Get Active’ section of your local council website.  Londoners may also want to consider joining the London Fitness Network, which allows you to use hundreds of gyms, swimming pool and exercise classes at leisure centres across London for £49.95.

However, if Cinderella must go to the gym, then one of the best options might be to join up with PruHealth, a medical insurance plan from Prudential.  With this truly innovative scheme, you sign up for health insurance but - if you consistently go to the gym twice a week - you are rewarded with free or subsidised gym membership at Nuffield Health, LA Fitness or Virgin Active.

And that's not all. You also get ‘vitality' points, which can be used to reduce your monthly insurance premiums, for doing any of the following:

• Buying fitness-related goods from the sports category on eBay.co.uk
• Walking a certain amount of steps a day (as measured on a special pedometer)
• Making a declaration not to smoke
• Going to a health screening
• Buying fresh fruit and veg from Sainsbury's
• Downloading healthy menus from the PruHealth website.

With a bit of luck, drive and determination, you will not only feel better in 2010, you will be better off, too. Now if you'll excuse me, I'm off to buy a banana for my bath...

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More: Get healthy on a budget! | Where to get healthy food for less