Be Intentional Challenge #10 – Take Your Vitamins

It is day #10 of our Be Intentional Challenges!

As a reminder, the 30 Be Intentional challenges this month are designed to get you on the right foot, the right track and give you energy, efficiency and organization which will propel you into a life that is able to develop an overall financially smart, happy and frugal home.  We are going to have different themes each month this year (and we have very exciting stuff planned) and this month is your foundation!

We encourage couples and families to do these challenges together so the whole house can function well!

As the 30 days go along, we will be focusing on 5 areas for the Be Intentional Month:

• Self
• Home
• Budget
• Schedule
• Frugality

Here’s the first 8 challenges in case you missed them and want to get your life on the right track:

1. Set and Be Strict About Bedtime
2. Work Towards Waking Up At The Same Time Everyday
3. Making Your Bed Everyday
4. Get Dressed To Shoes Everyday
5. Hydrate Yourself
6. 5 Minute Stretching and Breathing Exercise
7. Implement a 20 Minute Quick Clean with You and Your Family
8. Menu Planning
9. Dinner by 10

So we have another one to add to numbers #1,2,4,5 and 6 to take care of yourself.  This one you proabably are already doing, but if not, we really encourage you to do so (with your doctor’s ok!).

So, Be Intentional Challenge #10:

Take Your Vitamins

I have just always grown up and been told that vitamins are so important because in our day and age, it is pretty much impossible to get all of the nutrients we need from food alone.  In addition, in our day and age, we also have many other factors that contribute to the dilution of nutrients in our environment from foods we eat, including fresh (depending on how they were grown), the air quality (we live in a metropolis with very poor air quality), to the things we put on our bodies (such as damaging ingredients in personal care products).  Even those that are nutrition advocates and talk about important vitamins in foods still take supplements, such as the famous healthy foodie, Dr. Weil.  He says that he takes them as insurance for any gaps that he is getting in his diet.

I can guarantee that although I am doing my best, I am not feeding my family the way Dr. Weil eats – so if he recommends and takes them, then you know that they really are necessary!  You can read this article on Today.MSNBC on a three-part vitamin series from Dr. Weil too that helps answer many questions as well!

As far as what you should take, well, that is really up to you and your doctor.  I don’t feel comfortable telling you what you should take, but I can tell you some of the vitamins that we are taking as I feel it is super important for our family.

• Multi-Vitamin (all of us take this)
• B Vitamins (Alex and I take this)
• Vitamin D (Alex and I take a higher dose 2,000 iu and our kids take 200 – 400 iu each day)
• Fish Oil or other form of Omega-3’s (we all take this, mostly because we hardly ever eat seafood as I don’t like it, but it is very nutritious, so we go right to the source).

We also take a few other things that I think is necessary for our health situations through research that I have done. But the above list is not only a list we take, but a list that is highly recommended for most people across the board.

Where do we get our vitamins?  Well, we always watch for sales with coupons in the stores, but in all honesty we pretty much cannot beat Puritan’s Pride prices, especially when they have their “buy 2 get 3 free” sale.  It means that we can get 5 bottles for the price of two.  The discounts are even greater than that the more you buy. In fact, just a couple of weeks ago, I literally bought 15 bottles of kids multi-vitamins (60-ct. so two months in each bottle), 5 bottles of a kids combo of fish oil with Vitamin D (with 100 tablets each bottle and kids take 1 per day), 5 bottles of Vitamin D, and 5 bottles of liquid b-12 complex (we are going to try the liquid for a time) and 5 bottles of Milk Thistle extract (one of the extras we take) and these 35 bottles of vitamins came to just around $70 with the $6.95 shipping (so less than $65 before shipping so around $1.85 each bottle).  I only have to order from Puritan’s Pride about twice a year and each order is well under $100 each time for all 7 of us to get our vitamin intake.

As far as brands in the store, I also really like NatureMade which is sold everywhere.  I like those if I have to buy a bottle in the store for some reason, or only need one bottle.  Why? Well, for three reasons: 1. they go on sale often (pretty much a sale every week at some store whether a drugstore or Kroger, etc), 2. they have coupons almost always to combine with those very frequent sales, and 3. they have a rewards program that is fantastic and very easy to build up points quickly which can be redeemed for $7 off coupons! So the combination of the three makes us and our budget pretty happy when we need to run to the store for some!

Other than those two options, there have been other times that I have got other deals or brands, but that was only when it was rock bottom.  The above two suggestions are consistently great deals!

So take care of yourself so you can take care of everything else and take your vitamins! Do you take vitamins now and what do you take and where do you get them?

Head to Puritan’s Pride site HERE and search for the vitamins you want to compare prices with your current provider.

If you are looking for vitamins in the store, including the NatureMade, always check our coupon database HERE for current coupons – whether those vitamins are on sale or not, save money!

Also,  we like using vitamin dispensers as it keeps us organized and helps us to remember whether or not we took them.  We’ve tried many and finally broke down and invested in nice ones, especially since Alex takes each day with him to work.  These are normally $12 on sale for $7 with free shipping with Amazon Prime or a $25 or more order. These are the exact ones we bought!

One final thing….. we also have a Facebook Group where you can engage in discussions, receive encouragement and talk to others that are participating in the challenges too for more ideas! Head to the Be Intentional with The Thrifty Couple Facebook Page HERE and ask to join us there! You can also invite friends and spouses too!