Save Money Eating At Home

Eat at home. Or maybe I should say, eat food prepared at home. Every meal that you don't buy at a convenience store or a restaurant can save you money. Big money over time.

Even an egg sandwich. The arches offer a sausage and egg sandwich 2 for $3.00. But I can buy a dozen eggs and a dozen english muffins for $3.00. Replace the sausage with a thin slice of turkey ham (a thin slice of any lunch meat would have to be healthier than the mcsausage slice, don't you think?) and half a slice of cheese. So I spend less than $6 to buy the ingredients for a homemade equivalent of that sandwich that seems so convenient on the way to work. I'm getting it my way (I love a runny yolk). And I only need one sandwich each day. Instead of $3 a day on the two sandwiches (one of which I don't need), I eat healthier for less than 50 cents a day.

Do you pack your snacks and lunch for work? Brown bagging saves you money you can put straight into your 401K. David Bach's Finish Rich series explains The Latte Factor. Pay attention to the things you purchase and then make your plans with your overall savings and investment strategy in mind. Brown bagging (in a "green" reusable bag) can save you big money over time. Pack nutritious snacks that appeal to you so you won't be tempted to buy from vending machines.

Remember, if you keep doing the things you have been doing, you will keep getting the things you have been getting. To save money you will have to make changes. Food factors in our budget several times a day and therefore is an easy target to make a change that quickly accumulates.

Plan a Menu to Save on Groceries

Planning your menu in advance will help you save money, time, stress, and even calories every week.

Review your menu before every grocery trip and make a list of items you need to buy. You will save money because you will be sure to get everything you need for your meals. You will get everything at the best possible price using grocery coupons and your knowledge of your grocer's sales.

Armed with your list, you will save time at the grocery store (time to double check your grocery coupons?) because you know exactly what you are there to buy. You can purchase the bulk of your groceries once a week, and then simply follow the planned menu all week long.

Post your menu on the refrigerator and you will always know at a glance what you are preparing tonight and what you should pull out of the freezer for tomorrow. You will find your stress level (and that of everyone around your table) goes down as you are prepared for mealtimes all week long.

Over time you will also save on calories because meals made with thought at home are always more nourishing than those we grab on the run. Having a menu and a plan will help you guard your health and get the most value out of the money you spend on nutrition.

So, sit down and think about it, what are you going to serve Monday night? Tuesday? It's never too soon to start making the menu for next week. Check out great menu planning tips at Hillbilly Housewife.

Make a List to Save Money

Before you go to the grocery store, it is important to make a list of the things you plan to buy. Then you can focus on getting everything you need while resisting the lure of impulse purchases.

A few things to keep in mind:

1) Compare grocery coupons to the store flyer to be sure you maximize your savings. As you go through your coupons consider whether those soon to expire should be used now. Make sure every coupon you plan to use now goes on your list. I recycle junk mail envelopes for my grocery lists and stick the coupons I plan to use on each trip inside the list envelope.

2) Plan your menu and then review recipes against items you have on hand so you will be sure to add everything you will need to your list. Nothing is worse than starting a recipe and realizing you must interrupt cooking and then pay top dollar at a convenience store for an item you forgot to pick up on your grocery trip.

3) Sometimes you will spot a great buy you did not plan in advance, and you will want to take advantage of the savings. That is okay as long as you weigh every unplanned purchase carefully and are certain the purchase makes sense (is something you will use) and makes cents (will save you money in the long run). Because you will sometimes come across these unadvertised specials, it is important to have all your coupons with you if possible to maximize your savings.

As with clipping coupons, the little time you invest in making a list will pay you back with time and money saved.

Clip Coupons and Save Dollars

These days, coupons have become bigger than ever. With so many merchants doubling coupons and given the ability of the internet to target you with coupons related to every interest, there's no way to avoid the fact that coupons can save a savvy clipper hundreds of dollars a year.

Where do you find coupons? You can start with your Sunday newspaper. You will want to pull the flyers for the grocery, drug, department stores you visit each week and the coupon inserts. Then go through and clip the coupons for products you are likely to purchase. Compare the coupons to the sales in the store flyers to maximize your savings. You can hold your coupons in a recycled envelope for the time being.

Coupon books are often distributed in stores; you can check for these at the front of the store. You can also search online for more options.

Start simply if you are new to this. Stick to products you currently use and stores you frequent. As you improve you can add stores. For example, maybe you don't usually shop at the drug store next to your favorite grocery store because the prices are usually higher than another pharmacy up the road. As you start clipping coupons and following the sales, you may decide that it is worth it to go to that higher priced drug store once a week, while you are visiting the grocery store next door anyway, so that you can combine steep discounts with coupons on two or three items.

Within a few weeks you will find that an hour spent clipping coupons pays a respectable wage.

Pay Attention

Probably the quickest change you can make to pinch pennies out of your budget is to pay attention to everything related to your money. When you are aware, you will easily see places that you lose money due to lack of attention. Think about it, the whole idea of saving money suggests that you are losing it somewhere.

Here are some places to start:

Pay attention to the price of gas at all the stations you pass during your daily commute, as well as the weekly and monthly trips you make routinely. Every Sunday I drive my son to breakfast at bagel shop two towns away and on the way we drive past the lowest gas price I will see all week. I wouldn't drive that far out of my way during the week to gas up, but I plan my purchases so I can save on gas once a week. When preparing to visit my mother 75 miles away, I never put more than four gallons in the tank. I know that gas is always less expensive in her town than mine and I like to fill my tank there before I come back home.

Pay attention to your monthly bills - know what they are for and what parts are optional. Know that you are paying for kilowatt hours on your electric bill and then pay attention to how you use them. Know what you spend on your cable bill for your level of service and pay attention to whether anything you pay for is not actually used. Know when you cellphone contract expires and then pay attention to what other companies are offering before you recommit.

Pay attention to the prices that ring up at the register. How often are the signs in a store wrong or simply misunderstood? Trust me, often enough that it pays to be alert. If you are paying attention you can have the cashier correct the price or remove the item before you purchase it at a price you were not expecting.

Pay attention to change you are given at the register. Which reminds me, my son read Accept Change and teased me about changing pennies into silver. An hour later we were in the grocery store; the total was $11.07. I was digging in my purse to give seven pennies to the clerk instead of a dime, and after four pennies I had to set my purse down on the counter for leverage. When I looked down I saw a dime sitting there on the counter. So not only did I spend seven pennies and keep a dime I already had, but I also gained another dime for my efforts. I was pleased my son was there to share the laugh with me.

Keep pinching pennies, it's worth it.

Accept Change 2

Let's face it, saving money and pinching pennies out of your budget is going to require you to make some changes. Obviously, if you keep on doing what you have been doing, you will keep on getting what you have been getting. You will have to look at old habits and try some new tactics if you want to keep more of your green than you have been.

Even if you feel you have heard this all before, you wouldn't be here if you weren't looking for something new you can try.

So to review what we have covered so far:

Respect your money by agreeing that every penny matters.

Begin to consider your expenses as needs versus wants.

Accept change given by store clerks and use your pennies quickly to turn them back into silver.

Drink water to save on beverage expenses.

And finally, keep looking for thrifty changes you can make.

Drink Water

I don't mean individual bottles. They are a scourge on our purses and our environment. But excluding individual serving sizes, water is nearly always cheaper than any alternative. Our local, state and federal governments spend millions to make sure we have clean tap water to drink. Whenever possible, take advantage of this resource.

If you truly can’t trust the water at your home, filter it. Still cheaper than soda, juice, milk, beer, etc.

At restaurants, order ice water (with a lemon slice if you prefer) and save 20%-30% on your lunch tab versus ordering iced tea or soda (which will be made from that same tap water). If you’re afraid to drink the water served at the restaurant, consider that they are preparing the food in the same water. If you wouldn't drink the water, you wouldn't eat the food prepared in it, right?

You need water. Eight glasses a day is the general wisdom. Drink it and save money every day.