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Preplan meals to save money, time, and stress.

When I was broke[r], shopping meant getting in the car and going to the grocery store, filling my buggy, paying, and leaving. When someone in my house got hungry, I went to the fridge- opened it, and stared. If I didn’t get any inspiration, I’d go to the pantry, open, and stare. Same thing for the freezer. Since there was no organization, it was hard to fit cooking a meal into my schedule. Since there was no organization, in the time I had wasted on staring at what was in house, someone, usually me, had gotten more hungry and was ready for a meltdown. Typically, we’d decide to go out or order in, despite the couple of hundred dollars worth of groceries piling up. There was an insane amount of snacking going on, because no one was really sure when the next meal would come. It sounds so hard, like such a bother, to get on a meal schedule, but I can see now that it is actually easier on our budget, our stress, our waistlines, and our family to plan for meals. Even if you don’t need to scour newspaper inserts for what is on sale, just not buying the convenience foods will save money.

One way to combat this is to keep ready-made processed foods in the house, which is more expensive, and less nutritious. My toddler thinks that cereal bars are “cookies” and demands one each morning. She could eat oatmeal for pennies, a piece of toast, or something else, but instead, I’ve conditioned her to demand cookies because of my inability to plan.

When we started FPU, the first thing we cut was eating out. My parents took me to Olive Garden last weekend in celebration of my turning 29 again, and I was in heaven. What was once a mundane, unappreciated activity, was a time of enjoyment. I couldn’t quite get out of Ramsey mode, and only ordered the never-ending pasta bowl, but it was delicious. I was also sure to get refills right before we planned to leave.

Our 2nd change was to budget our groceries. And boy are we doing it cheap. In order to keep to the cash in our envelope, I have to plan before stepping out the door. I start by making menus, and then I scour newspaper inserts. Many of them I get on-line, but WalMart for some reason never has one. So, until they do, Wal-Mart is out of our shopping loop since I don’t subscribe to the regular paper, and only get the once weekly free paper that contains the inserts from a few stores. In the end, it’s a good thing, because in Wal-Mart, it is so hard for me to stick to the cash in pocket.

Today I discovered a new service on-line that I think will save me oodles of time, and will be a great resource to working-moms who might not be able to plan. It’s called mygrocerydeals.com. There is a free registration involved, but once you’re signed up, you can customize the site to your zip code. Use your account profile to remove stores in which you do not shop. Set your favorite store, and then compile your starter list. Once you’re set up, you can see what is on sale at your stores. You can browse by stores, and by category. You can add items to your list to be printed out. I haven’t gotten that far yet, but I hope it is divided into stores. With the price of gasoline, I can’t advocate driving 10 miles to get 20 cents off of bread, but I think there is the potential to save money if I add a couple of nearby stores to my shopping day.

I shop on Saturday’s because my favorite grocery store has their Take-n-Bake pizzas for 4.88 each Saturday. Also, J is home and I get to escape without the girls. Try it out and let me know what you think. Are there any online services that you swear by? It’s amazing to me how far the Web has come in just 15 years. I wrote a paper on Tim Berners-Lee last night. If you don’t know, he is the guy that invented the Web. He isn’t surprised, and promises that there is much more on the horizon. It’s thrilling to me to see what was once science fiction become commonplace.

One last tip concerning buying products on sale is that things like toilet paper go on sale in a rotation, so spend the extra dough and stock up in order to make it through the 3 month cycle.

If you don’t go buy now, go to the store with a list and STICK TO IT. I make also a “wish list”, and if I’m under my budget at check out, I treat myself.

~Manda

October 4, 2008 | Filed Under Recipes on a Budget, Saving Money, Savings | Leave a Comment

10 Smart Websites That Can Save You Money by Pay for College Blog

I found this list today and thought I should share. Even though I don’t have a college student yet ( 2 more years, yikes) I think it’s important to start thinking about ways to save money. May of the websites on this list can help everyone not just those it college. I have just included the website but if you go to the Pay for College Blog you can find the descriptions as well.

So lets start saving.

December 21, 2007 | Filed Under Financial Planning, Saving Money, Savings | Leave a Comment

Budgeting Works!

To gain financial freedom you must take control of your money, plan for the future and Stop Borrowing Money!
Two families striving to gain financial freedom share their experiences.
Blog Author Mona Weathers (monawea)

Co-author, Manda C.
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Time To Budget News!
Manda C. is our new contributing author. Welcome Manda!

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