Philosophy

This website was created to share my views on products and services that I've tried, as well as my evaluation of how well they fit into my fitness- and health-oriented, frugal and busy lifestyle. As such, lifetiques reflect my opinions and preferences and are not meant to be balanced, general reviews, although I may provide a link to detailed, objective information. Currently, I have no conflicts of interest or affiliation with any of the products I review.

Here's some more info about me.

I weigh the following priorities when assigning a rating:

To workouts-

  • Level of difficulty- generally, the more advanced, the better. An ideal workout strikes a balance between difficulty and being fun and doable.
  • Length of time needed- generally, workouts are best when they're under an hour long.
  • Space required- student living often means space constraints.
  • Equipment needed- I don't want to spend tons of money on expensive equipment, and any equipment needed should be as portable as possible.

To everything-

  • Cost- not as much of an issue for workout DVDs, but for almost everything else, cost is an enormous consideration (graduate student stipend, anyone?).
  • Health considerations- I'm all for fewer preservatives and chemicals in foods and beauty products.
  • Efficiency- the more accomplished in the time spent, the better!

 

Some factors I don't usually consider in my lifetiques:
  • Cost of fitness DVDs- since even buying a new one every month is still cheaper than a gym membership plus travel to and from a gym.
  • Difficulty of choreography and amount of cuing in fitness DVDs- since they're DVDs, they're infinitely and instantly rewindable. I like complex choreography, and unless it's really ridiculous, one or two preview/practice sessions are all that is needed to do the workout.
  • Eco-friendly/organic ingredients- since "green marketing" became fashionable, these claims have become mostly hype and marketing schemes that are meaningless in terms of the overall impact of the product on your health. As I said previously, I'm all for fewer artificial ingredients and chemicals in foods and beauty products, but I'm much more interested in the big picture. I'd rather use regular, store-bought honey on my lips than a lip balm that contains 99% "organic ingredients" and 1% preservatives.