With New Year’s less than a month behind us, many of us are still focused on our resolutions. And one of the most popular resolutions is losing weight. On the surface we all know what we need to—eat less and exercise more. Simple? Yes. Hard? Most definitely!

Losing weight is big business. Diet pills and drinks, frozen dinners, Jenny Craig and Weight Watchers, gyms and personal trainers, exercise DVDs, books, exercise equipment…the list of things to buy is endless. Yet, most of them likely end up in the trash, in the basement gathering dust, or in a donation bin.

Instead of spending money on items you may not like and use, why not save money and loose weight at the same time?

Avoid restaurants. The servings are huge, the food is often loaded with a ton of calories and it’s expensive. Instead, make a satisfying and infinitely more healthy meal at home. Craving chicken nuggets? Make an oven-baked version instead of the deep-fried fat bombs you get at the drive-thru. Both your waistline and wallet will thank you!

No more convenience foods. If you have ever purchased a ‘diet frozen meal’ from the grocery store, you know what happens. That slice of 110 calorie pizza looks so large and satisfying on the box, but once you get it home you realize it is only slightly larger than a slice of white bread and not nearly as filling. $3 to $5 down the drain for that?! It leaves me more hungry after eating it which leads to some unhealthy choices. Instead, look online for healthy versions of your favorite meals and make them yourself. Allrecipes has a healthy cooking section loaded with low-calorie options.

Drop the membership. There is no need to pay dues, eat specially purchased foods, and try to work your schedule around weight-loss meetings. SparkPeople is an online community that offers a ton of stuff, all of it for free. I love, love, love SparkPeople! You get a personal food and exercise journal, access to the online weight-loss community, as well as targeted articles and information and free exercise videos you can watch and workout to on your computer. It is an excellent resource for those looking to loose some inches.

Get outside! Why walk on a treadmill for an hour, you aren’t getting anywhere? Instead, walk around the neighborhood, go play badminton in the yard or go jogging around a nearby park. Many cities have walking and biking trails that are both scenic and free to use—you’ve already paid for them with your tax dollars. When the weather is bad workout to a free online video or dance around the house, there’s no need to for a pricey gym membership.

Work out in a gym. I know, I said there was no need for a gym. But the truth is, in some areas of the country and in some living situations (such as a tiny apartment), a gym is a viable option. Avoid the pricey gyms and clubs though. Instead, check out small neighborhood gyms, the YMCA and community centers. Many of these have gym equipment or offer classes for a fee much less than the average gym membership. Avoid joining anything that requires a contract. Month to month memberships are best as you can easily cancel them with no repercussions if need be, or just sign up during the winter months when getting outside is hard.

Loosing weight is hard work, but it is one of the thriftiest things you can do. Frugal weight loss improves your health, which may lower your health care costs. You eat healthier, often lower-cost foods, can entertain yourself with free or inexpensive healthy activities, and you feel better which often leads to better choices and less stress.

Let me know some of your favorite ways to lose weight! I’m always in search of inspiration!

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I am an addict. My poison is soda. Not store-brand or that saccharine-flavored diet stuff. Oh no, I like the hard stuff. I’m a Coca-cola girl through and through.

I’ve been pushing back against this addiction since I was in my early 20s and realized I would get killer headaches from caffeine and sugar withdrawal if I went 24 hours without my bubbly stuff. In recent years, the price has been my motivation to get off the stuff. Until the past year I’ve been failing, but I think I finally found the secret weapon combining both caffeine and sugar in less expensive and slightly healthier forms. These are my thrifty alternatives to soda.

My first defense is tea, and plenty of it. I keep a big jug of iced tea in the fridge for when I want something more flavorful than water. In summer we make sun tea, which is just four or five tea bags thrown in a jar of water then set in the sun to brew. In winter, we fill a jug with hot water and leave it on the counter to brew. It isn’t quite as strong as sun tea, but tasty and caffeine-rich all the same. Hot tea is also lovely. I like black teas with a splash of milk and a teaspoon of sugar, but sometimes I brew a bag of green tea instead.

My second defense is cherry-limeade drink mix. I use a store brand Crystal-light knock off and mix it with a bit more water than called for, as this stuff is strong! The sourness of the limeade is a fairly satisfying alternative to carbonation most of the time and there is no sugar in it, which is a plus. It is also cheap. I get six gallons of it for $1.69. It is also quite good to add a splash of the limeade to my iced tea for an extra kick.

My third and final defense is ginger ale. When I must have carbonation a splash of this goes a long way (and I seriously think I may be more addicted to the carbonation than the caffeine). I pour myself a glass of the cherry-limeade, though feel free to substitute your favorite flavor. I add a splash of the ginger ale, no more than ¼ to ½ a cup. This is just enough to quench my soda fiending for another day.

During the height of my soda days I was buying a couple 12-packs a week as well as buying at least one single bottle from a machine or convenience store each day. That’s a lot of money and life energy down the drain for something I never even took the time to enjoy. Now, when I pour myself a cup of soda alternative I am not only saving money, I’m also being mindful of what I am drinking which gives me a chance to really savor it.

What are some of your favorite frugal drinks? Let us know in the comments! For more frugal tips subscribe to my RSS feed or follow me on Twitter!

When we moved into our home this past summer, we were faced with a dilemma. We were moving from a 900 square foot home into a 2400 square foot home. We were upgrade from 1 bath, 2.5 bedrooms with a living room and kitchen to a home with 4 bedrooms, 2 baths, kitchen, dining room, living room and a basement rec room/bar. (Don’t worry! It’s a 1940′s home, not a McMansion. All the space is well-crafted and usable). Our problem was, we had no furniture.

Our old futon was ready for the trash heap. The frame was held together with yarn and you could see your hand through parts of the cushion. We didn’t have dining tables or the like. All we brought with us were some bedroom furniture, our desks and a bookcase. The house was empty. We didn’t even have anything to put on the walls!

We looked at new furniture. Ugly, badly-crafted furniture that cost more than a used car with even handier payment plans. Then we looked at our four cats, a dog and two boys and realized anything we buy today likely won’t be in one piece a decade from now. Especially since we live in the muddy Northwest. So we moved to plan B and furnished our home for less than $150.

Here is what I learned about furnishing a home cheaply:

Be flexible. Don’t decide on a specific style, brand or color. When we assessed our living room needs we decided we needed either two coffee tables or an end table and a sofa table. Nothing too ornate but finish didn’t matter—it could be redone. We also decided that while we definitely wanted neutral tones, we could settle for a couch and an armchair or a couple chairs and a loveseat. We ended up with a light tan loveseat, two light tan non-reclining armchairs, and two glass-top coffee tables that matched nicely with a coat of black paint. (cost-$30)

Be patient. You aren’t going to find everything you want at the first shop you go to. Or the second, third or fourth. We shopped over a period of three months, and we still have a few items on the want-list, though we have enough now to live comfortably. We stopped by our favorite thrift store two to three times a week to see if they had new items in. I hit garage sales until winter weather set it and perused Craigslist nightly. We made do with what we had until we found the right item as the right price.

Be creative. I have always wanted a simple, Asian-style dining set. Yet these are expensive and many of them seem poorly made. We stumbled upon a rectangular, clean-lined table with horrible wood veneer circa 1985. A couple coats of high-lacquer black paint and a fake red silk table runner (from the dollar store) gave it a very Asian look. We purchased four black wooden clean-lined chairs, on clearance because they were scratched up heavily, and placed red clearance seat cushions on them. It looks like a million bucks and only cost $45 for everything, including the paint.

Put out the word. A couple of friends chipped in and purchased us an inexpensive clik-clak style sofa for the rec room as a housewarming gift. It easily folds down to make a bed, perfect for sleepovers. Another friend found a great deal on towels and purchased enough to outfit two bathrooms, also an impromptu housewarming gift. My parents offered to buy a bed for the guest room, a gift that they can use when they visit. Our old house had no closets, so we suddenly found ourself in need of hangers. While lamenting about this to another friend, she revealed she had a huge box of plastic hangers she was about to donate. Let people know what you are looking for. You never know what they may have to give away or be willing to part with for a low price.

Use what you have. Unless you are truly starting from scratch, chances are you already have items you can re-purpose. Two milk crates stacked and covered with an attractive piece of fabric leftover from a past project became a bedside table int eh guest room. We were short a bookcase and a toy box once our boys had their own rooms, so we used a black metal garage shelf in the older boys room, and used some of the sturdiest moving boxes to hold toys so he could just slide them under his bed. No artwork? We had some blank canvases laying around and my husband can draw, so he painted up some living room art. I did the dining room by covering cardboard in fabric to make a ‘frame’, then glued photographs of Japan printed from Flickr commons onto them.

Furnishing a home does not have to be expensive, and you can still have an attractive and relaxing space that meets your personal style. Stay realistic and stick to your budget to make your plans come to life.

What are some of your favorite places to find furniture and other home décor items? Do you have a method to turn everyday objects into art? I’d love more ideas to use as I finish decorating my house!

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As I look outside my window right now there is 2 inches of slush covering slick ice in the area that will soon be my garden. Spring greens seem very far away. Even if you aren’t a salad lover, there is nothing like the crisp texture and flavor of fresh greens on sandwiches or in tacos. Fortunately, there is frugal and easy way to have fresh greens year round. All you need to do is sprout some seeds!

Sprouts are a nutritional powerhouse and require very little space to grow, making them a frugal choice for apartment dwellers too. Wash a large jar, such as a canning jar or old mayo jar, thoroughly in soapy water then rinse. Put 2 tablespoons of sprouting seeds in the bottom of the jar then fill it with warm water. Let the seeds soak for four hours then drain out the water. Place a square of cheesecloth over the top of the jar and secure it with a canning ring or rubber band. Three or four times a day, rinse the seeds in warm water then drain it out through the cheesecloth. Keep the jar inside a dark cabinet. Once the sprouts are an inch or two long rinse them one last time then they are ready to eat!

You can keep your sprouts in the vegetable drawer for up to a week. Make sure you only use seeds sold for sprouting, as regular garden seeds may be treated with toxic fungicides. You can find sprouting seeds at many grocery or health food stores. You can also purchase them online from sites such as Sprout People.

Sprouting your own seeds is much cheaper than buying out of season greens at the grocery store!