Although I have had ideas that have saved money, one of the best (that is - highest impact) and easiest has been to work on my health.

You’ve probably heard that exercising is good for you, but you
haven’t really considered all the benefits (health and money wise) you can get from it.

Here is how I save with exercise. Of course my situation may be a little unique, your savings may not be nearly what mine are, and many people will not want to do everything I do, but still, this is just something to consider (read: your milage may vary).

My work place has a small gym that can be used at a rate of $8.00 / month. (Ok, I know this good rate isn’t available for everyone, so you’ll have to change the numbers to fit your situation.) I can use the shower at the gym and not shower at home. I can turn the water heater level down for days at a time (As I am by myself, I need only wash dishes once or twice a week.)

Here are my estimates in savings:

Fuel (natural gas for the water heater) $10/mo. (That was over a year ago, with higher prices today that might be $15 now.)
Water - This doesn’t save much, maybe $2.50 / mo. Still, it is a help.
Clothes - I have gotten my weight back down to where I can wear clothes that were good but I quickly out grew before I started in the gym. My clothing expenses last year were less than $100. Ok, this year my clothing expenses will probably go up, but not that much, maybe to $300? Still, for last year, if you say I was able to save about $360 for the year by using older (but still like new) clothes, that would be a savings of $30 / mo., although longer term this savings may be less. Also going to yard sales, smaller clothes are often sold as people gain weight, so losing weight gives you an
advantage in buying clothes really inexpensively that way.
Food - Once you lose some weight, and do those ab crunches, you feel full sooner than you used to. Its so hard to come up with a savings per month on the lower amount spent on food, but I will estimate a low $10 / mo. I think $2.50 less on food expenses a week is likely. Also this forces me to bring in my lunch every day. I would normally do this anyway, so no savings - it just enforces this to my mind to have my lunches ready each day.
Health - The past year my health expenses (other than insurance premiums) was one trip to the doctor ($15 co-pay) and a $20 co-pay for one prescription. Another one that is hard to estimate, but my health had to improve somewhat due to the exercise. If I guess one doctor visit and one prescription co-pay was avoided, I can estimate $3 / mo. savings.
One thing to note here - if you are doing any type of hard exercise (sports, weight lifting, or other intense exercise) there is always the chance of injury and a boat load of expenses that could follow.
This could mean the health savings are illusionary if you are not careful. So take that for what its worth.
Other savings - Not going out for expensive lunches with co-workers. This gives me an excuse to skip these outings if I desire, as I am now known for working out every day. I will do this occasionally, but can skip these. Savings of maybe 6 over a year, $20 per time, gives $10 / mo. on average.


OK, so what is the total:
Fuel: $15
Water: 2.50
Clothes $30
Food: $2.50
Health: $3
Other: $10
Cost: $8
Total benefits per month: ($55 savings + better health)

This is just food (or exercise in this case) for thought.