That’s my clever psuedo-portmanteau. Clever eh? Ok, it isn’t as bad when Tobias Funke from Arrested Development combined his analyst and therapist professions. I’ll let you guys and gals google that one, as the humor comes off much better in party talk than written chatter.
So what is Saving Out?! I guess I could have named it “Working Money” [….] wah-wah [….] It is saving money while working out. I’m on a crusade to get back down to my “fighting weight,” and watching what I eat is one part of it. The other part of it is exercise. I do take advantage of my employer’s offer to cover 1/2 of a local gym membership. So, that is $60/month which is taken right out my paycheck. Not really saving money there, but I enjoy the warm shower, occasionally a steam room [….] aka “The CEO workout” [….] and an opportunity to workout. Which, as you may have picked up on, I don’t do very much.
The other little perk I get is my employer will pay for either a parking space downtown or my public transportation. When I moved into the new house a couple weeks ago, I thought I would drive into work every day. I’ve commuted by bicycle for the last 4 years (and the last 6 months I would take the lightrail every once in a while), so this was going to be a big change for me. I hopped in my car for the 15 mile journey downtown at 7:15 am. And I missed my 8 am meeting. I quickly realized, driving isn’t saving me any time as I could easily ride my bike in about the same time frame, +/- 15 minutes [….] more on the plus side :).
Then this happened.
And that is a warm day compared to the last week. A lot of temps in the morning were sub-zero. In fact, I do a lot of work in North Dakota, and Denver was matching a lot of the low’s in Minot. But, I still rode my bike everyday.
Luckily, it is kind of a challenging ride in the morning, but a lot of the ride is downhill. So, enough to get my heart pumping, but easy enough to get me to work in a decent time. Going home, I have a few more options: 1) I can ride home (which I have not yet done), 2) I can take the light rail and ride 7 miles back home and 3) I can take a bus and have a 2-3 mile bike ride back in on roads that are pretty calm [….] All of the options are reversible as well. I like using option number 3 for the trip home and it takes me just about an hour door-to-door. Not too shabby. I pop in my headphones and listen to some of my favorite and free podcasts, maybe doze off and I’m home after a 3 mile ride.
So, for no cost to me – throw in the $60 for the gym membership if you want – I get exercise and I “get” to fill up my car 6 times a year.
How do you commute to work? Do you save money by working out (saying being healthy saves money in the long run doesn’t count)?