I like top 10 lists. There easy to read, easy to write, and they always seem to create a good deal of discussion. This week, I’m writing my own top 10 list – Top 10 Ways To Save Money. Expect two or three posts a day, as I want to have the entire list published by the end of the week.
Number 10 – Cook And Eat At Home
Like most families, we live our lives on-the-go. With work, church, school, kids’ events, and family gatherings to attend and prepare for, life can get hectic. But, even though we are very busy, we still take the time to prepare food at home. Why? It saves us money.
Let’s look at a typical trip to a “sit down” chain restaurant. For a family of four, two adults and two kids, the average bill will be, what? $35 – $70? Now, multiply that amount over 3 or 4 or even 6 times a week. Pretty large number, right?
Now, imagine if both mom and dad eat out for lunch, each day. What’s that? $10 per person, per day, five days a week? Mom and dad are spending $100 a week, just for lunch. That’s $400 – $500 a month.
Instead of buying lunch, prepare a lunch at home. Instead of going out to eat, start eating at home. I can promise you that two things will happen –
1. You’ll spend more time with your family, sitting around the supper table, actually talking.
2. You’ll spend less – much less – on food. Sure, your grocery bill might go up, just a bit – more on that later – but your eating out bill will shrink, dramatically.
Check out – Ways To Save Money In The Kitchen
If you don’t want to give up eating out entirely, make it a treat. Instead of eating our 5 times a week, eat out once, maybe on mommy-daddy date night? Or, take the kids for a special lunch after church. When you do, splurge a little bit – if your wallet and waist line can handle it. Remember, we want to sacrifice when appropriate, but we also want to enjoy our lives.
About those higher-than-usual grocery bills – I mentioned a resource a few days ago, my free printable grocery store price book – and I really think it will help reduce your grocery costs, if you’ll use it. Print one out and give it a try. See what you think.
By the way, my friend JD from over at Get Rich Slowly recently wrote a very interesting post about grocery shopping – and only doing so once a month! This is an idea that I find very intriguing. And, MBHunter has some excellent tips for brown-bagging it.
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We enjoy cooking meals at home, and we are big fans of leftovers so we don’t have to cook every night. Besides, several meals are even better the next day (spaghetti, meatloaf, etc.).
Eating out is an absolute drain on finances. It’s nice to do it, but it’s just costly. For a single person like me, it makes sense sometimes, as it’s almost cheaper to go grab something quick off the dollar menu than to cook for one. If you’re having a date though, instead of going out, show her that you can cook. Stay in, have some better conversation, and save money!
Even though I’m single now, I just recently got back onthe e-mealz plan, even though their smallest plan is for two people, I cook a healthy low fat meal every night, and take the other half into work with me for lunch. Not only does this save me money for dinners and lets me get off the microwave food, I also don’t have to worry about buying lunch food anymore 🙂 nly costs me about $35 a week in groceries plus a food drink items and breakfast fods.
Eating out for lunch can be another big expense. Many of my colleagues eat out for lunch nearly every day, not paying attention that they could be spending nearly $4000 a year in lunch and coffee. I try to bring my lunch to work, and if I can’t do that, I at least bring snacks and drinks from home so I only have to buy something small. And splitting meals with friends works too – normally restaurants serve you way too much food and some always goes to waste.