Frugal Friday...

Today Life as Mom asked 'What do you do to save money?'

I've said it before and I'll say it again (and again): the biggest change we have made regarding money has been to pay cash for our groceries. I am constantly amazed how much difference one little thing makes. I take out a budgeted amount every two weeks for groceries. When it's gone, it's gone. Simple as that.

When I first started this I knew how much to take out since I had been using my debit care since forever to buy groceries. I took the total $$ I spent the year before and divided it by 26 (every 2 weeks) and took out that amount to start. I have actually started budgeting LESS than when we started because I was spending less.

When I started this cash system I also was taking the $$ out weekly but found it was going to be easier to stock up on deals if I had a little extra; if I spent more this week I would spend less next - because I had enough food and because I had less money left. I also had a 'food' budget and a 'drugstore' budget (for things like soap and toilet paper). I have since combined it all and it works better for me. If I am at the grocery and they have paper towels on sale and I need them I don't want to have to be trying to move money around or take money from different envelopes while in line at the store. It just works better for me.

Since this is like a little game for me I decided this week to try to buy enough groceries for two weeks. So with the exception of milk and some fresh produce I will not shop for two weeks. I had a little money left - not as much as I would have liked but enough to buy some milk and fruit.

Now, you may be asking 'how is cash from an envelope any different from money debited right from my checking account'? My answer is this: I have no idea. I am sure there's some psychological explanation but all I know is that it works.

What do you do to save money???

Comments

Laurie Anne said…
There is something about spending cash that is just harder to do. I totally get it. Before online banking, I would do this too because I was so worried I would bounce a check. I find that when I have cash I am also a lot more aware of everything that goes into the basket.
April 17, 2010 at 6:37 AM
Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

My Favorite Things....

Image
Join Melissa @ 320 Sycamore for her My Favorite Things party. Here are my favorite things: David Cook. The CD. Still lovin' it. Listen to it a lot. It's good. Very good. Philosophy Lip Gloss. I have the melon daiquiri flavor and love it. It's shiny AND stays on. Tastes good, too. About $12. Electric Pepper Mill. How did I live without this? Really. You can find one like this at Crate & Barrel for about $40 or so. Peets Coffee . I talk about Starbucks a lot because we don't have a Peets here. It's really the best in my opinion. Luckily you can find it in the grocery store for about $14/lb -or less when it's on sale. You know that's when I buy it! :) Measuring cups. I have these from Williams-Sonoma. I love them. I think it's my favorite thing in my kitchen. At least one of them. And one I use almost daily. It took a while for me to break down and buy them but I have to admit that it's the best $30 I have ever spent. When Little Miss moves us
Read more

Changes...

Image
I posted some photos of my living room a while back. I realized how blah and boring it looks. I appreciate the suggestions I was given. One of them was 'paint'. We had the walls painted a couple years ago so I really didn't want to do it again just yet so I had to figure what else I could do to get some color in there. I thought about painting a canvas red to match the chair ( below). After talking to my sister she suggested dipping cool whip containers in paint to make the circles and an idea was born. I bought the 3 canvases (20" X 20") at Michaels at 50% off - the three cost $21. I got a quart of paint at Lowe's ($12 - Martha Stewart's Cranberry something or the other). The blue paint was a sample size of Olympic that someone didn't buy -$1. Cool whip container and little round container I had in the kitchen - free. Fleur de lis printed off computer, traced on canvas and painted - free. So for $34 I got this new look. Very David Bro
Read more

Monday, Monday...

Image
Monday's are usually my favorite days. Everyone is back to work and school and I have the morning to gather my thoughts and eat a leisurely breakfast before starting my day. My friend, E, who I carpool with has her husband take the kids to school since he is off on Mondays. Today, however, has been a bit odd. We had a new dishwasher delivered this morning and my husband uninstalled the old one last night. This morning I wake up to a leak in one of the dishwasher hoses - thankfully just a slow leak but still an inconvenience. My husband had to come home and semi-install the new dishwasher to stop the leak. I have been washing the dishes in the wet bar sink instead of the kitchen sink since something is turned off there and the hubby said not to use it until the new dishwasher is totally installed. I am thankful to have a wet bar sink and not have to resort to washing the dishes in the bathroom - something I am sure we've all had to do at one time. I have some things in t
Read more