You know those catalogs you get in the mail. The ones that you get because you ordered something 2 years ago? Instead of browsing through them, toss them immediately. Then you won't even be tempted to spend money. It's doubtful there is anything you really need in there. Go one step further and write them to get off the mailing list. You save your time, your money and paper.
Go to it!
Thursday, March 27, 2008
Wednesday, March 19, 2008
Grocery Shopping
You see a lot of tips on how to save money shopping but here are mine.
1. Make a list before you go. Then you don't forget anything and you aren't as tempted by things you don't need.
2. Always check the per unit price. Usually a bigger size is a better per unit price, but not always. I have found things on sale where 2 of the smaller size was cheaper than 1 of the big size.
3. Just buy what you need. Don't be tempted by the 10 items/$10 kind of pricing. It encourages you to buy a lot of something whether you need it for not. Just buy the 2 items for $2 if that is all you need.
4. Buy things in bulk. If you like oatmeal, buy it in bulk. If you buy spices, buy them in bulk. I have glass canning jars that I refill with oregano, basil and garlic powder. Health food stores generally have spices in bulk and they are much cheaper. For oatmeal, I bought the container once and now I refill it with oatmeal that costs $.89 an ounce. And the oatmeal tastes better too.
5. Buy the brand that is on sale. Unless you know for sure that the cheaper brand is no good, you can save a lot of money on store brands.
6. Don't go grocery shopping when you are hungry. You will end up picking up a lot of things that look good but that you don't really need.
7. Do plan to buy just one goodie for yourself. That way you don't feel like you are being mean to yourself. Sometimes my goodie is V8 juice, so it doesn't have to be something sweet.
8. Buy vegetables. They are good for you and generally cheaper than prepackaged, premade things.
9. Steer away from prepackaged meals. Some seem cheap if on sale but really, you only get one meal out of each one so they really aren't that cheap.
If you take just a little extra time, you can save yourself a bunch of money.
Let me know if you have any comments or other ideas!
1. Make a list before you go. Then you don't forget anything and you aren't as tempted by things you don't need.
2. Always check the per unit price. Usually a bigger size is a better per unit price, but not always. I have found things on sale where 2 of the smaller size was cheaper than 1 of the big size.
3. Just buy what you need. Don't be tempted by the 10 items/$10 kind of pricing. It encourages you to buy a lot of something whether you need it for not. Just buy the 2 items for $2 if that is all you need.
4. Buy things in bulk. If you like oatmeal, buy it in bulk. If you buy spices, buy them in bulk. I have glass canning jars that I refill with oregano, basil and garlic powder. Health food stores generally have spices in bulk and they are much cheaper. For oatmeal, I bought the container once and now I refill it with oatmeal that costs $.89 an ounce. And the oatmeal tastes better too.
5. Buy the brand that is on sale. Unless you know for sure that the cheaper brand is no good, you can save a lot of money on store brands.
6. Don't go grocery shopping when you are hungry. You will end up picking up a lot of things that look good but that you don't really need.
7. Do plan to buy just one goodie for yourself. That way you don't feel like you are being mean to yourself. Sometimes my goodie is V8 juice, so it doesn't have to be something sweet.
8. Buy vegetables. They are good for you and generally cheaper than prepackaged, premade things.
9. Steer away from prepackaged meals. Some seem cheap if on sale but really, you only get one meal out of each one so they really aren't that cheap.
If you take just a little extra time, you can save yourself a bunch of money.
Let me know if you have any comments or other ideas!
Wednesday, March 12, 2008
A great blog to read
Zen Habits
I've been reading this for a few weeks and it gives a lot of great ideas. As always, you don't have to do everything he suggests, you can pick and choose what works for you.
I've been reading this for a few weeks and it gives a lot of great ideas. As always, you don't have to do everything he suggests, you can pick and choose what works for you.
The death of cooking.
Do you know how to cook? I mean really know how. I'm not talking just heating up frozen dinners or chicken nuggets. I'm not talking about buying cinnamon rolls in a can and putting them in the oven. Real cooking is going the way of many other skills. We watch and listen to singers and decide that we could never sing because we can't sing as well as they do. We watch New Yankee Workshop and decide we could never make anything as beautiful as Norm Abram can make it. Skills like this have become relegated to the realm of professionals. Therefore we are required to just buy things ready made. Food has become the same way. With people like Martha Stewart, Rachael Ray and Mario Batali out there, we can't make food like they do so we shouldn't even try. Just buy it ready made and you are good.
I say, let's take back the skills. We hear that homemade food is better and cheaper and that is true. But who has the time and skills to do this? Everyone does. Living cheaply means that a few skills need to be learned or relearned. The trick is not to change everything you do all at once. Decide this week that you want to cook one thing from scratch. Plan ahead of time what you want to make and what you need. Using recipes from these shows is fine. Inspiration is always a good thing. At first you may not have many of the ingredients called for but as you do this more and more, suddenly you will have on hand many of the basic things you need for good cooking.
Just take one small step at a time. In the future I'll be giving you a few basic recipes I have used over and over. I use them because they are fast, and good, and versatile.
Let me know any comments, ideas and questions you have about my posts.
Thanks!
I say, let's take back the skills. We hear that homemade food is better and cheaper and that is true. But who has the time and skills to do this? Everyone does. Living cheaply means that a few skills need to be learned or relearned. The trick is not to change everything you do all at once. Decide this week that you want to cook one thing from scratch. Plan ahead of time what you want to make and what you need. Using recipes from these shows is fine. Inspiration is always a good thing. At first you may not have many of the ingredients called for but as you do this more and more, suddenly you will have on hand many of the basic things you need for good cooking.
Just take one small step at a time. In the future I'll be giving you a few basic recipes I have used over and over. I use them because they are fast, and good, and versatile.
Let me know any comments, ideas and questions you have about my posts.
Thanks!
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