5 Cheap Purchases to Make You Healthy

Most of our purchases are triggered by impulse, advertisements, society, and sometimes jealousy.
Not many of them are out of necessity. You would be surprised to see how little a person actually needs to live a healthy life.
Yet, in our advertisement-driven world, we are always convinced that we need to buy something to “complete us”. If not advertisements, it’s society’s pressure or just good old “keeping up with the Joneses”.
That’s why most of our purchases end up being impulsive, rather than for our physical and mental health being. It’s much easier to justify buying something to satisfy some kind of short-term pleasure than it is to invest in long-term benefits.
Just like our worldview, our purchase behavior is also powered by a need for instant gratification over What is delayed gratification and why is it so important in life.
In this post, I will list 5 cheap purchases that you can make to live a much healthier life in the long run. You will see that living a healthy life does not have to be expensive.
Smart Scale
In 2020 I chose to buy a smart weighing scale as opposed to a traditional one. Turns out, that was one of my smartest buys!
What does a smart scale do that a “dumb” one cannot?
It syncs with your smartphone, usually through Bluetooth. Now, every time you weigh yourself, the data will be stored on your smartphone.
Not only will it give you your weight, but it also gives you other inferred health metrics, such as body fat percentage, metabolic age, fat-free body weight, water weight, etc.
Given these metrics are inferred, there’s not too much to understand from the absolute numbers. Rather, you want to focus on the trendline to see where is your health going.
You can track all the data over time and get a complete picture of how your lifestyle affects your physical health.
You don’t have to go crazy when buying a new smart scale. I bought mine in 2020 for USD$20, and it’s still serving me really well 3 years later.
Reusable Water Bottle
The benefits of consistent hydration are well documented.
The easiest way to always remember to drink water is to keep a reusable water bottle with you at all times.
Drinking plenty of water over the course of a day helps me stay more focused for longer hours. It means, I don’t have to move away from my desk and potentially get distracted.
Additionally, and also surprisingly, I was surprised to find out how many times when I think that I am hungry, actually I am just thirsty, and drinking water stops me from snacking on something unhealthy.
Of course, you also have the environmental benefits of using your own bottle rather than buying a plastic one every time you go out.
Blender
One of the best ways to pack tons of nutrients in one meal is to add a smoothie to one of your meals.
There are some absolutely delicious recipes out there on the internet.
However, you do need a blender (or some other equivalent) to make smoothies easily.
Luckily, you don’t have to go overboard. You can find decent blenders for as low as $20 on Amazon.
Currently, in my smoothie, I put the following:
- Wild berries
- Almond Butter
- Chia Seeds
- Flax Seeds
- Vegan Protein Powder
- Goji Berry Powder
- Cacao Powder
- Oat Milk
- Spinach or Kale
It tastes amazing! I make a big batch and have it intermittently during my day.
Blue Light Glasses
Starting with this item, the last two purchases in this list are very new to me.
I recently started wearing blue light glasses.
A couple of months ago, I used to develop headaches after working on a computer for too long, especially during the night.
A friend recommended buying blue light glasses. These glasses essentially filter out a range of wavelengths coming off devices such as smartphones, tablets, and laptops.
Surprisingly it has helped a ton with my headaches.
I also get significantly less eye strain since I started wearing them regularly.
Needless to say, do consult with a medical professional before you do wear them. I am just talking from my experience, and it can definitely vary from person to person.
Alarm Clock
Buying an old-fashioned alarm clock has been an absolute game-changer for my health! I cannot recommend this enough. It’s also the cheapest item on this list!
Buy the “dumbest” possible alarm clock. The only feature you need is — surprise surprise — alarms! And maybe a timer too if you really want to go fancy.
Having an alarm clock in your room means, you literally don’t have any reason to bring your phone or tablet to your room.
I moved my charging station to the living room too now. I have been having my best sleep and my screen time has drastically gone down.
I hope you found this a valuable read and have some takeaways that you can go ahead and implement in your wonderful lives.
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