My love-hate relationship with yoga

Image from http://branain.com/

I've practiced yoga on and off for the last 6 years.



On when I have money and yoga studios have promotions.



Off when I run out of money, or the stream of "new student" promotions runs dry.



Yoga, an amazing form of disciplined meditation and physical practice, has become really commercialized. Studios are everywhere and nobody talks about the traditions of yoga, or the philosophy that should underlie the class anymore. I won't banter about the commercialization of yoga because I wouldn't have discovered it had it not been for one of these commercialized promos around Toronto. But unfortunately the fees that are charged make this a hobby that few students can properly justify purchasing.


Yoga runs around $90-130/month if you purchase it on an unlimited monthly basis. The average prices have come down a lot since 2011, when it used to cost $130-170/month, but is still too much for a student.

Let's pull some of the prices for some of my favorite studios around Toronto [all prices below are for unlimited, auto-renewal, long-term contracts]:

The Yoga Sanctuary (I love this place to death, they really stay true to the roots of yoga and don't distill it down to a pilates-like beach workout): $89/month
YYoga (a lot more corporate, but with the best smelling shampoos ever): $120/month
Yoga Lounge (I've never been but my former roommate teaches there!: $119/month
YogaTree (good quality studio): I can't even get onto their fee site.
Downward Dog Yoga (excellent Ashtanga studio, which is IMO the best type of yoga as it actually gets you moving!!): $130/month


I would definitely purchase an unlimited pass, because if I go, I do it in bursts of daily practice for a couple weeks, and then taper off as my schedule is so unpredictable.



So I can't sign up for long-term monthly contracts anyways, but if I did, I would definitely get the unlimited ones.



So far, the "new member" passes have worked out fine for me. The most I spend is $40/month for a month of membership, do a ton of yoga that month and get Real Ab Muscles, and then at the end of the month, politely decline to renew my membership. Such are the realities of student life. :)



Maybe once I get settled in one place and know I'll be able to commit to long-term membership I'll do it. But marketers have shown that we tend to drop-off our use of subscriptions after 3 months anyways, so maybe I'm onto something.

Until next time!

Facial care on a tight budget

I think there's some things that just need to be laid out for all these girls out there spending so much money on their makeup. Here's a few things I find extremely important about managing your wallet with your beauty habits.

1. Use samples. Makeup and beauty samples are simple, portable, and free! I elaborated on this in my last post.

2. Lancome beauty time. Lancome beauty time is the best. I always have to get relatives gifts for birthdays, Christmas etc. So I get them the regular sized version, and I get the small gift set for myself. This is how I get my mascara, eye makeup remover, lipstick and a few other perks once in a while.

3. Go for neutral colors when possible. Honestly how many times are you going to wear that extravagant "pop" makeup? Unless you work in the entertainment/fashion/beauty industries, in which case your makeup is part of your work anyways and you're probably going to spend a lot more on it anyways. 

4. Multi-task your products. Notice I didn't say "buy products that are marketed as multi-tasking", I said multi-task your products yourself. What's the difference? In one, you're buying another product; in the other, you're taking products you already have and using them for multiple things. One leads to spending more money, the other leads to spending less. :) 

Examples: 

- Eyeshadow doubling as brow-liner 

- Bronzer doubling as eyeshadow 

5. Use products not marketed as beauty products, for beauty. 

I've seen great examples of people on Youtube using $2 artists' brushes as brow brushes. This is fantastic. Why pay more? 

I will try to elaborate on some of these points with future posts. I feel like your wallet will be thanking you, however, for helping out. 

Until next time! 

Debt now under $20,000

I absolutely love these posts.

On Sunday I paid off $800 on my debt, making my total debt... $19,297.

I love it. I've paid off more than $27,000 in the last 12 months!

What's better: I'm getting a little extra income for being on call this month, and some extra for travelling to rural communities for work, so I can use my entire two August paychecks, and some reimbursements for prior spending, towards my debt.

By the end of August I should have paid off another $5000 or so, bringing my debt to under $15,000.

The end is in sight.

How to get your makeup for free - and not waste any

It always amazes me how much money girls spend on their face. I mean, the amount of area and fussing you do on such a small area - does it need to cost $200 - $400 dollars?

The thing is, we all spend a lot of money on makeup - we just don't realize it because the purchases happen day by day, month by month and we never add up the totals.

If I were to go on Sephora (which I do, many a time - for window shopping) and get a average-joe, minimalistic regular "beauty haul" for my face, this is what I would be spending: 

FACE

BareMinerals mineral makeup - $35.00 

Full flawless face brush - $35.00 

EYES 

UrbanDecay Naked2 Palette - $65.00 

UrbanDecay GlideOn pencil - $24.00

Benefit They're Real! Mascara - $29.00

LIPS 

Lancome lipstick - $32.00 

TOTAL: $220 + TAX. Ouch!

For those of us trying to do a little saving, we need to find some hacks.

My biggest thing is about getting samples. 

Get samples, and sample sizes, when possible. 

Let's be honest, how many times do we actually "hit pan" on our products? If you're like me, you probably get distracted by the next newest thing long before you finish your last one. I have lots of eyeshadows languishing in the forgotten drawers of my parents' house from when I was younger.

Knowing this, getting samples does three things:

a) it saves you LOTS of money! Free samples vs $30 make-up remover? 

b) your makeup becomes ultra-portable for travel
Much less back pain on your road trips. I also use my products a lot when on call in the hospital and this makes everything fit into my bag easily. 

c) it reduces the 9-month-post-purchase guilt that comes when you flip open your drawers and realize you haven't finished the product like you said you would.

Everyday Minerals does a free 7 piece sample kit for facial products that I've been using for the last 2 years. I get enough product on my annual shipping that I don't actually need to buy the full size kit... EVER. And I use their product DAILY.

In-store, Kiehl's will give you 5 free samples of whatever you want, as long as you do a "free skin consultation", which is fun anyways.

I also do this with perfumes as you all might know from previous posts. This has never failed me yet. I did buy a full-sized $20 cacharel amor amor recently - but I bought it because a) it's cacharel!! and b) it was only $20, seriously? and c) it's a small, portable bottle, perfect for my tastes.

I also go to hotels a lot for work, so I get all my creams/lotions from hotel bathrooms. Thanks, Sheraton! 

Some people might find doing this a little extreme, but I find it works well for my skin and my lifestyle.