Many Americans are looking to reduce their expenses. I recently read an article in Real Simple Magazine giving "us" ideas on how to save money and spend smarter. Many of the 71 ways listed, while good ideas, seemed a bit impractical for my lifestyle. For example, I don't buy fresh flowers on a weekly, monthly, or any regular basis--and I simply found that expense could probably be eliminated from pretty much any budget right away--although the suggestion was instead of spending $20 a month for fresh flowers (do you do this?--or am I that un-hip of a hip mama?), one should simply buy a house plant that blooms all year long. It's a great idea, however one that just didn't relate to me, along with the $15 daily bottle of wine...love the idea of a bottle of wine, however, I never spend more than $10 bucks and if I'm lucky...not even once a month (especially since I'm preggo)--just not something I would include in my budget.
It was a good article, with some good ideas, like freezing your gym membership and trying to negotiate better health care fees, etc. So don't take it the wrong way, it might be worth it to you to take a peek next time you are in the magazine isle in your local grocery or book store--and it saves you the $5 you might spend on the magazine. :) hmmmm, pretty simple.
I've not been super consistent with ongoing posts but I'm really going to try...so in the future I may just include one--I may sometimes skip a Friday, or I may fail altogether-but-to get us started, here are a few ways we've saved recently, and in my opinion, they are REALLY simple:
1. Television: In my last post, or some post in the past, several of you mentioned that you had cut back or completely eliminated your Cable/TV service. Cutting back on your service or cancelling it altogether, could save some people well over $100. I'm just not ready or brave enough to do it--yet. However, my friend gave me the idea, and I called my satellite provider and asked them for a discount, based on some promotions other companies have going on...and while I'm still doing some comparison shopping, but in the meantime they gave me an additional $5 per month off my bill, and some movie channels for FREE, my friend was a little more successful and saved about $10 per month for 12 months.
Saving on food, can encompass several categories, Menu Planning & Eating Out and grocery shopping...
2. Menu Planning & Eating Out: If you plan your weekly menus, there is much less of a chance of eating out or ordering take out. It's hard to eat out when your pantry and fridge are full of all the right ingredients for a good meal. It feels wasteful. When planning your menus, I suggest planning in your eating out day...our budget includes this. I usually plan for 5 meals, which leaves two days for leftovers, or whatever "happens". I also try to keep staples like pasta, rice, pasta sauce, Mac & Cheese etc around for those nights when I'm just not up to anything and Hip Hubby needs to step in...these are easy for him to fix quickly. We eat out with the kids about twice a month, and build that into our monthly budget. We ordered pizza delivery for the first time in several months...you have to live a little, ya know.
Another girlfriend of mine has maybe 10-15 meals that her family rotates on a regular basis...this is a great idea too. It keeps their budget manageable, and she gets less complaints, since these are meals her family REALLY loves. Check out Menus4Moms (I use this and have off and on for a couple of years). There are several plans, including both free and fee based depending on what your needs might be. Also, Saving Dinner is another menu planning type of website that Fly Lady suggests. If you know of others, please share.
So what do you think of Frugal Friday? Do you have any good ideas? Maybe I could link to your post or do a guest blog or something. Any ideas ladies?
Next Friday I'll tackle grocery shopping...I've made some real progress in that area as well! :)
Hope Ya'll Have a Great Weekend!
Hip Mama
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3 comments:
Truly, the only thing I have to offer in this area is, don't eat out. That's all I've got;)
I know what you mean about the articles that don't apply to you. They often will talk about cutting out the daily Starbucks, and you can save $30 a week. Hmmmm...
I'm more at the place where I'm wanting to push potty training in order to save $40 a month. There is NOTHING I spend $30 a week on that isn't a necessity. (For that matter, the only things I spend $30 a week or more on is groceries and gas.)
I've definitely been frustrated at those kind of articles. Yes, ma'am.
I would love to find some more areas that we could cut, but I am kinda at a loss, unless we decide to go without electricity. :)
Real Simple (while I LOVE it) gives me much to laugh at. Recently they suggested some $45 shirt for working out - really? have I ever spent more than $12 on a shirt for working out?
YOU CAN LOSE THE CABLE!!!! You won't miss it for long, I promise. :) Plus, with the new digital converter boxes, the signal is just like cable!
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