Controlling Your Expenses
There are few things that you can control as far as expenses. Dining out seems to be one of the things that eats the most out of our budget, but the steadily increasing cost of groceries also seems to hurt our bottom line.
So, what do you do? Personally, we tend to shop almost exclusively at WalMart– unless we find that we are low on time and then we’ll visit somewhere closer. This allows us to get everything that we need (household and grocery items) all in the same trip as well as get a break on the price– though some time the quality is not as good.
Mrs. Elliot had some other ideas for saving money on groceries:
- Purchase Sunday Paper
- Clip relevant coupons and organize them
- Stock-up and freeze meat that is on sale (Buy One Get One Free Deals)
- Make shopping list after matching coupons to sales ads.
- Go shopping (usually at multiple stores)
These aren’t bad ideas, do you have other ones?
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Comments from MInTheGap
» Blog Archive » Money Management said,
Wrote on October 3, 2007 @ 12:20 pm
[...] is talking about ways to curb expenses over at his blog, and it got me to thinking. So, here are some things that we do at home to manage [...]
Jenna said,
Wrote on October 3, 2007 @ 12:24 pm
I wanted to share my ideas, but I didn’t want to blog on your blog. *laughs* I did post about my grocery ideas and money management on my blog though!
MInTheGap said,
Wrote on October 3, 2007 @ 12:37 pm
Why, are you to good to blog on my blog, Jenna?
Jenna said,
Wrote on October 3, 2007 @ 3:02 pm
Heehee…. Oh, it’s not that I’m “too good”. *laughs* I just hate to leave people a comment that takes up a whole page. Silly guy.
)
Jake said,
Wrote on October 6, 2007 @ 12:16 pm
Cooking:
- Cook once a week (or once a month, if you have time and freezer space).
- Cook in-season foods whenever possible.
- Cook everything from scratch. Boil your own legumes, make your own bread, grow herbs in a flower pot.
Other:
- Make your bicycle your primary mode of transportation (not always possible if you live/work in the suburbs or have small children). Walking and taking public transit are also good. If you can force yourself to get used to it, you might even be able to get rid of your car entirely. It’s often cheaper to rent a car a few times a year for long trips than to pay insurance on one year-round.
- Use public libraries. Only buy books if you know you’ll read them over and over.
- You only need new clothes if the old ones don’t fit or are worn out. Buy them second-hand.
- Don’t buy cheap plastic crap. Ever. If you need a gadget, buy a good quality one that will last, you’ll save money in the long run. If the gadget isn’t worth investing in a good one, do you really need it?
- Treat a certain amount of entertainment-spending as a necessity. If you cut all the fun stuff out of your budget you’ll end up feeling deprived and ultimately breaking and spending money. If you budget a certain amount (in our household it’s 20$/week each, plus an extra 25$/month jointly for two people) and don’t feel guilt about spending it on fun stuff (lattes from Starbucks, occasional meal out with friends, renting a DVD) then you won’t spend all your time feeling deprived and being angry at your budget.
- Budget every penny and only spend cash. Don’t allow yourself to spend “just a little” on things without documenting it or taking it out of a specific pot for that purpose. Those little things add up!
A few other thoughts:
In my life, some things are more important than saving my personal money. For example, I think it’s more socially responsible in the long run to buy locally-grown produce and support local, independent shopkeepers. It means you don’t get the dollar-and-cents savings that WalMart can provide, but you’re contributing to keeping your local economy strong, and reducing waste associated with packaging and transporting food over long distances. It’s better for the farmers, better for the environment, better for the roads, and the food will be better quality. Sometimes you can combine this with saving money. See if there’s anything like a CSA in your area.
bonnie said,
Wrote on October 8, 2007 @ 3:13 pm Subscribed
Hey MIn, I’m glad you switched the blog over, or got the switch worked out, because I haven’t been able to reach you for the last week. Anyway…
I haven’t stepped foot in a walmart in almost a year. I am so *proud*! I was dependent on it for those “rock-bottom” prices, but I realized that when you shop other stores (more organic/ natural ones), and you meal plan around the sales, the prices aren’t that much more.
I appreciate and agree with what Jake wrote on the subject.
MInTheGap said,
Wrote on October 8, 2007 @ 4:10 pm
It was getting to the point that I was getting pretty frustrated with some features that weren’t working and I had this theme in the wings– so I’m glad that it also made it so you could comment. If you find trouble in the future, please contact me and let me know!
I’ve had trouble finding prices that come anywhere in the ballpark with what prices I need to stay relevant with my family size. Now, produce does seem to suffer, and I’m sure that if I spent more time clipping coupons I could do as well, but it’s a lot of time.
Jake’s comments are terrific.
bonnie said,
Wrote on October 8, 2007 @ 8:02 pm Subscribed
I live in the west, and we have Trader Joe’s, and I am so thankful for it. Their prices on snack foods, dairy, and bakery items are comparable to Wallymart’s, and the ingredients are readable.
Wild Oats is our natural health food store, and generally I can find what I’m looking for on sale there. What we’ve budgeted for groceries is probably more than the average person, because we decided quality food is important to us, but as our family (and there tummies) grow, it gets harder.
Honestly, though, the produce at Wild Oats is always on sale, and the price of organic and non-organic (but quality) produce is coming down, down, down.