I just worked a great deal on Health Magazine for free and wanted to share.

It starts with SwagBucks. I posted about trying this site back in February have used semi-regularly to compare search results and earn SwagBucks. It didn’t take long to earn enough for a $5 Amazon.com gift card (currently 45 SwagBucks).

Then I saw on Twitter that Amazon.com had a bunch of magazine subscriptions on sale, some for just $5 after savings. I was able to use my giftcard for a free Health Magazine subscription
(regularly $9.99 – $5.00 savings = $4.99 before gift card – still a great deal). With no shipping costs on magazines my 1 year subscription was FREE!

I will note that it took about 5 days after I ordered it for my Amazon Gift Card to appear in my Swagbucks account, which they do tell you when you order. If you haven’t been using Swagbucks yet it’s not too late. This is the 3rd time in the last few months that I’ve heard of Amazon offering deep discounts on magazines so start earning your Swagbucks now and you may have enough when the next magazine deal comes along.

Ingredients:
Thin sliced beef
Steam in bag broccoli
Soy Sauce
Rice (any kind you like)

This is a super quick recipe, everything will be done by the time the rice is done.

Cook rice according to package instructions. I like to add a chicken bouillon cube to to the water, flavoring the rice.

Cook broccoli per package instructions.

Heat a small amount of oil in a large skillet or wok. Slice steak into 1″ strips, season with salt (lightly – soy sauce will add saltiness too) & pepper. Stir fry until cooked through.

Add soy sauce to pan, to taste. Add cooked broccoli and mix thoroughly. Serve over rice.

More vegetables (matchstick carrots, green peppers, etc) can be added based on what’s on sale or around the house.

Getting motivated to start a weight loss or other fitness program isn’t hard. The difficult part is staying motivated. Having a buddy or being part of a team or challenge can make a huge difference in sticking with your program. Finding just one friend who’s schedule is a good fit with yours can be hard, but keeping up with the schedules of several friends supporting each other could be too much to handle. Here’s an idea… Start your own fitness support group using some free online tools.

Ning.com – My personal favorite and first choice. Ning lets you set up a complete private social network for your group, complete with individual blogs, message boards, photo and video sharing, event calendar and more. You can make your group private, by invite only, or open to the public. A host of extra applications, including chat, are available and the look and feel of the site can be changed to fit your group with a little extra customization. The free version is ad supported, paid options expand functionality and allow for your own revenue-generating options.

Google Groups – An easy solution to get started because it uses your existing Google account (and who doesn’t have one of those) to manage your Groups subscriptions. Primarily an online message board for groups, it does allow for file sharing among members. Public or invite only options keep personal information private if you like.

Yahoo Groups – Yahoo also provides a group option. Features include message boards, photo & file sharing, link lists, database creation and maintenance and more. Private groups are available.

Facebook Groups – Have a lot of friends on Facebook? Set up a group (again private option available) within Facebook to share messages, links, photos and a private group wall.

Use your group to keep up with friend’s progress, share your own goals and keep accountable, set up a group challenge, schedule workouts among the group and more. You could even set up a fitness group or challenge for your company or other organization.

Have your own group site? Share it below.