No place in the sun

Thu, 22 May 2008 15:05:27 GMT

With the sun shining and the temperature reaching a glorious 21 degrees this afternoon, you might expect me to be filled with the joys of spring. Especially when as a home worker I am - finally – and smugly able to enjoy the benefits of remote working to the full by sitting in our lovely back garden at lunchtimes and soaking up the rays.

The only problem is that, as you might be able to tell from the photo of yours truly gracing the top of this website, I am blessed with a complexion resembling a carton of UHT. And frankly as somebody who is deficient in the tan department - generally I don’t really tan, I just burn and then eventually the lobster turns a light grey colour resembling dirt - I am FED UP with having to pay a fortune for sun cream!

I burn like a matchstick – I have my dear red-haired, Irish mother to blame for this state of affairs. Thanks Mum! And I have been sunburned so many times in the past that I have lost count. Once when I was sixteen I wandered around for four months looking like I had stockings on after the backs of my legs were burned raw on a hot July day from wearing cropped leggings. This was probably the only instance of me – almost – getting a tan. So I like to wear as strong a factor as possible just to be on the safe side.

I had been using an old factor 35 cream that cost me £5.85 in a February sale - the price is still on it! But it is about four years old now and according to the Cancer Research UK's website, creams that old might not work. So to be on the safe side I thought I’d go and buy a fresh bottle. I was shocked to find nothing for sale under £8.99, with one sun block product selling at an extortionate £12.99! In fact, it seems to be the general rule that the higher the factor rating, the more expensive it is. Pretty unfair on us pale and interesting types!

Fair enough, it doesn’t please me or aid my search for the frugal life, but I have a job and can - if necessary - afford to put my hand in my pocket and grudgingly pay these shocking prices. But what about people who don’t have a spare £10? What about those with young families who need to apply it several times a day to their children? You can’t keep them covered up all the time and shouldn’t kids be able to go out and enjoy the good weather? Especially if their parents can’t afford a holiday abroad. Might people risk skin cancer because they simply can’t afford to pay these ridiculous sun cream prices?

I found a recipe on the internet for making your own sun cream but there’s quite a few ingredients required that you’re not likely to have lying around the house, and it’s unclear what the sun protection factor is. The good news is apparently that Superdrug is cutting the price of some of its sun creams by 70 per cent which is something. I shall go and investigate our local store to see if it's participating in the promotion.

I guess the frugal alternative would be to stay indoors when it’s really sunny (as I used to do anyway as a gloomy teenager) or wear long loose clothes and invest in Nicole Richie style bug-eyed sunglasses and an enormous hat, but it’s not an ideal scenario. After all, there ought to be some benefits to our new Mediterranean style climate, even if it is the product of global warming! Here are some tips from Cancer Research UK on avoiding sun burn.

Do you think sun cream is too expensive? Should it be available on the NHS? How do you protect yourself or children from the sun?

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Fit and frugal?

Mon, 29 Oct 2007 12:23:14 GMT

It’s no good. I have to come to terms with it. I NEED to lose some pounds. Not from my wallet but from my waistline, where there are more than enough pounds to go round, if you catch my drift. Bad habits, like eating too much pasta (sometimes twice a day…I admit it!) snacking on anything with chocolate in the title and avoiding exercise as much as possible (I’m traumatised still from my days of secondary school PE and the terrifying Mr Stannard…honest…) are finally catching up with me. When my Dad described somebody recently who was overweight by saying she would “make you look like Twiggy” (the cheek!) I realised it was time to do something about it all.

But the question is, how do you get slim and fit without spending any money? Just joining Weight Watchers online will set you back £34.90 for just one month (although there’s a special offer of £39.80 for three months at the moment) or £5.50 a week if you go to the local meetings, not to mention some of the special food you might have to buy.

The South Beach Diet (one I have tried at least three times and never been able to stick to) book will set you back only a few quid or is free from the library, but our weekly shop went up by at least £20 a week because, like with the Atkins Diet, you have to buy expensive steaks, fish, mineral water and obscure American ingredients.

Then there’s gym membership. I once joined the gym (I only lasted about two months and never made it to the multi-gym) through work until I realised it really wasn’t me, and it cost me about £36 a month through the work subsidy and £50 without that – which is £600 a year. Madness!

In fact, according to research by DailyDietTracker.co.uk, the average woman spends £1,137 a year trying to lose weight. Which is completely crazy when surely the whole point of dieting is to eat (and therefore spend) less!

So I’ve decided to try to form my own frugal fitness & slimming plan. I am going to attempt to get fit by going ‘running’ or swimming three times a week. And eat a sensible diet which includes fewer calories and naughty snacks. I started yesterday by trying to eat my main meals more regularly and in smaller portions, trying to eat fruit or nuts instead of biscuits when I got hungry between meals and…yikes…going for a ‘run’ for 30 minutes. I call it a ‘run’ rather than a run because it actually involved jogging for a minute (when none of my neighbours were looking), followed by walking for a minute (until I stopped panting like an Alsatian on heat), etc. until 30 minutes were up and before I keeled over on the pavement to meet my maker. Apparently this is the sensible way to get started with running, however, so not as pathetic as it sounds. My limbs are still aching now. And you repeat this three times a week, allowing your muscles to recover between the sessions. I’m just worried about my knees as I know running on pavement isn’t good for your joints – although I am wearing some proper trainers and trying to run on soft ground in a park near us.

Wish me luck! What do you think is the best way to get fit frugally? Do you think diets and the gym are a rip-off?

del.icio.us Tags: losing weight cheaply , getting fit , WEight Watchers , South Beach Diet , starting running , gym membership

del.icio.us Tags: losing weight , losing weight cheaply , getting fit , Weight Watchers , South Beach Diet , starting running

The Frugal Life: Health and wellness

No place in the sun

Fit and frugal?