Saving Money by being a planner
Posted on Saturday, October 10th, 2009
Many people have learned that planning meals is a great way to save money. You buy only what you need, not too much or too little. You can take this planning a little further and save even more money. Here are some ideas:
1. Plan meals out
Have you ever gone shopping for a weeks worth of food and then decided on the spur of the moment to eat out? Maybe you ate out more than once that week. For non-perishable items, that’s not such a big deal, but if you bought fresh fruits and vegetables and you don’t use them, they’ll most likely go bad. If you do end up eating out more than you planned, make sure you use the fresh foods first as the canned/frozen items will last. But an even better solution would be to plan meals out. Maybe it will be your families routine to eat out every other Friday. This was you don’t even have to plan a home cooked meal for that day.
2. Shopping Lists
Shopping lists aren’t only for groceries. How many times have you gone to a drug store or department store and left with things you hadn’t planned on buying and also forgotten things you intended to buy. We all do it. Then we have to go back and buy what we forgot the first time and in the process we’ll probably pick up another additional item or two. Make a list, no matter what kind of shopping you’re doing, grocery, clothing, hygiene items or holiday shopping. And stick to it as closely as possible.
3. Use what you have
You can save money by planning meals around items that you’ve stocked up on. Plan to use the items that are just sitting there. This doesn’t only go for food, but other items such as clothes as well. Go through your clothes and take a look at what you haven’t worn in a long time (or at all).