Yes I know I preach avoiding eating out and I also admit it is one of the things I personally need to improve upon(I am adicted to Pizza and I like stopping at Subway once in a while).
Recently my mother was visiting and we decided to go out for chicken wings. I heard of a local place Dwyers Irish Pub in North Tonawanda that has 15 cent wings every day 4-8pm.
For the 3 of us we ordered 30 wings, an order of onion rings and a three sodas for a grand total of $16. Talk about cheap eats under $6 per person. Just for comparrison about a month earlier we had the same food at a different establishment and our bill came to over $35.
Yes we all should avoid eating out as much as possible and cook at home to save money, but if you do feel like getting out for a while you can still eat out and not spend a ton of money.
One of the most frequently asked questions I get is for tips on how to save more money. Tips on saving money is easy to dole out but sometimes a lot harder to follow.
1st Tip To Save Money
The first tip I would give is knowing where your money is going. Initially write down all of your recurring monthly expenses. For example your cell phone bill, your cable bill, electric bill etc…
Then carry a small notepad with you and write down everything you spend money on. Yes even the $1.25 you spent for a bottle of Pepsi.
This will give you a fair idea of where your money is going. My personal money “leaks” are usually buying soda/water and eating out. That is the first place I attacked when I tried cutting back my budget.
This is really an easy way to save money. Do I really need Subway or McDonalds a couple times a week? Heck no!
Saving Money On Groceries – How To Save Money On Your Next Grocery Bill
Another place to examine closely is saving money on groceries.
We tend to spend way too much on groceries and waste a lot of the food we do buy. How about those can goods, the other day I was visiting my father and I found a jar of relish in his pantry that was dated 1993! Now that is antique relish.
A trick I do when grocery shopping is get a smaller shopping cart, I find I spend less money than if I grab a large cart.
Another grocery shopping saving trick I do is do my shopping and before I check out I look at my cart to see what I really need. I then dig for two items I can do without, these items were usually impulse buys!
These are just some of the many ways to save money on food. In future blog posts I will highlight a few more ways.
Saving Money Cooking
There are two main ways to save money cooking.
1) Cook at home more frequently - This is an easy one, stop eating out, you will be more healthy and save a ton of money.
2) Cook smaller portions- How many times do you cook enough food to feed the whole New York Giants football team or like you had to live off of it for a week.
Cut back to smaller portions and you will save a ton of money. Most of us hate leftovers and end up throwing them away anyways.
Saving Money On Cable
Last but not least cut back on the channels. No lie the other day I went over my friends house and he had 200 some channels. I immediately asked him how many he watches on a regular basis and he said 10. Too funny!
Cut back to one of the most basic packages that include most of the channels you watch on a frequent basis. The rest is just filler and clutter.
Also feel out the cable company, call then up and said you are really happy with their service but are thinking of canceling. Let them know company so and so has a similar package for $x cheaper.
The cable business is turning into a commodity with many choices, you have Directv, Dish Network, your local cable provider and even some phone providers are getting into the game now. Make sure your company knows you go with whomever provides the best value.
In conclusion these frugal budgeting tips will help you better manage money, stay within your household budget and become debt free quicker.
Gas prices are finally falling but everything else seems to be against the American people. Your 401k and IRAs are less today that they were a month or year ago, depending upon where you live your house may be worth as much as half of what it was a year or two ago. These are serious factors that influence an economy.
When people are scared they pull money out of the stock market, stop or slow down on buying new items, often just trying to buy the necessary items. In addition new car sales often slump as people put more money into their old cars to avoid expenses. Everything I just covered will make the economy hurt even more. Funny how everything is intertwined.
So what should you do?
1) Start buying store brand items. Store brands can often save you as much as 30% off of your grocery bills.
2) Cut down to just getting the Sunday paper. Sunday’s paper often includes the coupons, sale adds and everything else you need to save money. By reducing your subscription down to one day it will save you money.
3) Open your freezer and look at whats inside. Things tend to build up. Start planning meals around things you already have. This will save you money as you are eating things you already paid for and help you avoid wasting money so things do not get freezer burned.
For more tips about saving money read the rest of our personal finance articles.
Part of personal finance is learning how to save money, one way I have decided to save more money is cutting back on the grocery bills. One of the most expensive items on my bill on a per unit basis is deli lunch meat.
Recently I have been BBQing beef roasts which allows me to get an initial meal, plus about 2 or 3 days lunches. Now I hate eating the same thing so one day I will make a sandwich, the next day I will mix up a little gravy and eat it over gravy and the third day(if any is left) I will make a melt with cheddar cheese and toasted bread.
One other interesting creation is a bbq beef pizza, this is taking two of my favorite foods(bbq beef and pizza) and putting them into one, truly the best of both worlds!
Some of my favorite BBQ items is bbq beef brisket or bbq roast beef. Both are really good and are defined by the spice rubs that are applied to them. Depending on the spice rub recipe you follow the results can be some of the best bbq beef.
Instead of a rub you could use a bbq beef marinade which is a sauce or dressing that the beef will sit in for roughly 4 hours or overnight. One thing to be careful of is to not marinade the beef in a vinegar based marinade for too long else you risk making the beef really tough and hard to eat. After the marinade time you can smoke the beef making smoked bbq beef or you can grill it on your gas or charcoal grill.
The secret to great tasting beef is cooking a beef roast on the BBQ grill.
A great recipe is located at the link above.
As always for the best personal finance articles, visit AutomaticPersonalFinance.com’s homepage.
As many of you know I am getting married April 25th 2009. My soon to be wife is just awesome, she is just the best.
When it comes to money we are very different, usually when two people are getting married one is a spender and one is a saver. We actually have a different problem. We are both savers but different styles!
She tends to hoard money in low yielding savings accounts, me on the other hand I tend to put money in mutual funds and individual stocks.
After much discussion I finally convince her to open her first Roth IRA that is in a mutual fund, I think she understands the importance of investing but doesn’t really understand it enough to be comfortable actually doing it.
One this she IS awesome at is looking for deals while shopping. One of our first real money fights was when we both went to the grocery store and I just grabbed something without looking for the cheapest brand.
Overall, I think out financial styles will merge quite well and things will work out great, but it goes to show it is hard when getting married because you are also merging two different financial styles.
Since food prices have been going through the roof lately we have decided to plant a larger backyard garden this year. Last year we planted sweet peppers, hot peppers and tomatoes.
This year we are planting lettuce, tomatoes, cucumbers, oregano, basil and broccoli. In previous years we only planting seedlings, this year everything other than the tomatoes with be started as seeds, we bought a little indoor green house kit from Burpie. I will place this in my dining room window(it gets the most sun), until they are ready to be planted outside.
I have been composting for about a year now and have a bushel basket full of compost(also known as black gold), that I will use to hopefully grow a nice rich garden.
To be honest I don’t know if I saved and real money by doing it this way but I enjoy it and it gives you a sense of accomplishment and the stuff just darn taste better.
Last night my fiancee and I were at the grocery store and we actually got near the end of our trek through the store and we realized we spent a lot more than we planned to. True we did buy 4 Rib eye steaks for $25(hey we did have a $1 off coupon). I was having trouble justifying buying steaks that cost so much when the economy has been struggling lately and many of my investments are down right now.
How did I rationalize this purchase? Well I did save $1 and the coupon was expiring(I know not a very good rationalization), also I haven’t had a good steak in about a year and a half. I was planning on making one today, but of course it was raining outside. Will have to wait for a nice sunny day.
Anyways, how can you save money at the grocery store?
This will even work if you hate budgets!
1) Buy In Bulk
When possible buy items that will not spoil in bulk quantities. We belong to a local wholesale club and we buy plenty of items that make the membership worthwhile. Make sure you know your prices as not every item is a better deal.
We usually pick up large packages of paper towel, toilet paper and a lot of our meat products(ground beef etc)
2) Buy Clearance Items
Often many grocery stores will discount perfectly fine items that we not selling that well to make shelf room for top sellers. I often pickup very inexpensive TV Dinners this way, and other items like hot sauce and salad dressings.
3) Comparison Shop
It really does pay to know your prices, I visit 3 grocery stores in the local area and save money on products at each one. Some may ask about the extra driving, I usually do not make special trips and stop when I am heading in that direction anyways.
4) Plan Your Meals
If you plan out your meals you can save a lot of money. If you know you are going to be using ground beef twice this week you can buy a larger package which will be cheaper than if you buy a small package at the beginning of the week and another one mid week.
5) Check Out The Farmer’s Market
Again you must know your prices but shopping at a local farmers market is great on many levels. You are supporting local farmers, the items are fresher and often times you can find great deals on produce.
Check back in a few days for our 5 Tips To Save At The Gas Pump