How To Live Cheaply In An Expensive City - Part 2

Tip #156 - How To Live Cheaply In An Expensive City – Part 2. In part 1 of this series, we discussed how to keep housing costs (the biggest part of most people’s budget) low when living in an expensive city. Today we will talk about lowering costs of transportation and food while living in an expensive city.

Next to housing costs, a car is often the next biggest expense in someone’s budget. This is the one area of expenses that people living in a large city have got beat over people in the suburbs or rural areas. Many New Yorkers and residents of other large cities can get away with not owning cars. Besides the ridiculously high costs of parking one in a city garage, there really is no need to own a car to get around the city. If you cannot walk to work and other places, the subway will take you anywhere you need to go. For travel to areas surrounding the city, there are many commuter rail lines that will get you there. And when you want to travel somewhere else, the cost of a taxi, renting a car, or a flight will do the trick. Even the high costs of using these latter alternatives are cheaper than owning a car throughout the year, when you factor in gasoline costs, upkeep, and insurance. Not owning a car while living in a big city is one of the best ways to keep your transportation expenses low.

The next most expensive part of most people’s budget is food. Food can be tricky when you live in a large city. Depending on where you live, many times there are only small grocery stores available, rather than large supermarket chains. There may be very little competition, and the grocer can often get away with charging high prices. In this case you have to be creative in lowering your food costs.

--For fresh produce look for a farmer’s market. They are often plentiful in cities, offering higher- quality produce than you can get in a supermarket.

--Travel to some ethnic neighborhoods such as Chinatown which often have lower-priced grocery stores.

--Talk to people in your building or your neighborhood. Find out where people shop for groceries. People are often your best source for gathering new information.

--Travel outside the city (even to a suburban supermarket on the subway line) to stock up on items from a warehouse store or lower-priced supermarket. Or anytime you are outside the city, bring home food from lower priced grocery stores.

--If you have close relatives visit you often (such as Mom and Dad or a sibling), ask them to bring you supplies. Keep a running list of necessities so it’s easy for them to shop for you.

--Look online. While I generally find groceries to be more expensive on places like Amazon, it may not be more expensive to someone who lives near high-priced grocery stores. Utilizing search engines such as Swagbucks can earn you gift cards to Amazon, which could translate into low-priced or free groceries.

--Grow a container garden. There are many small plants you can grow that can yield food for you to eat. Look online for resources for container gardening. Alternatively, many cities have community gardens that you can participate in. Living in the city does not mean you cannot grow fresh food.

--Take advice on lowering your grocery bill that is common sense no matter where you live. Don’t buy convenience foods and cook from scratch as much as you can. These options are almost always cheaper, not to mention healthier.

In Real Life (IRL) – While I have always had a car, I could have gotten along without one if I were to have just needed it for work. While I lived outside the city, I took the Metro (subway) everyday for 9 years to my job downtown. I always lived near public transportation that got me to my job. In fact, I can count on one hand the number of times I drove into the city to work – two. And I can’t remember why I needed to on those two days. I loved not being dependent on my car. Weeks would often go by where I didn’t use my car at all. But being that I did not live directly in the city and I drove back pretty frequently to see my family in Philadelphia, I still owned one. For me the expense of a car still made sense. But it usually doesn’t if you live directly downtown.

As far as groceries, when I first moved to the DC area, Giant foods seemed to have a monopoly over the grocery store scene. While there were a few other chains around, they weren’t as big or in as many neighborhoods. So I was often stuck shopping in a high-priced grocery store where I lived. Whenever I went home to visit my folks, though, I would go food shopping. The prices on the food there were often much lower than my store. So I stocked up on non-perishables and brought them home with me. And when I was running errands in farther out DC neighborhoods, I would often stop on the way home at cheaper grocery stores.

Now that I live out in the suburbs and more grocery stores have come into the DC area (Yay, Trader Joe’s! Yay Whole foods!), I can see how the competition has lowered the prices at Giant. And my access to more grocery stores is greater, resulting in lower costs. It is something city folks in DC can take advantage of. Taking the Metro out to Arlington can bring them to bigger supermarkets with lower prices than the corner grocery store in DC. While prices are often higher in the city, it just takes a bit of creativity and effort to lower your costs.

In the last segment of this series we will discuss lowering the cost of entertainment in big cities.

Prioritize Your Wants

Tip #107 - Prioritize Your Wants. When you are trying to save money, it’s easy to try not to spend money on fun things and then look at someone who is eating at fancy restaurants or going on big vacations and judge them for not being responsible with their money. But looks can be deceiving. When trying to save money, you do not want to deprive yourself of all things you like to do. But you cannot do it all. Therefore, you need to prioritize. What is most important to you? What is least? What is your budget for these fun activities?

If you have $100 per month to spend on what you want, you can buy a cup of coffee every day at a fancy coffee shop, and do nothing else. If you love fancy coffee and you enjoy drinking it at a café, then who am I to say that you are wasting your money? On the other hand, it would be downright wasteful to drink it out every day if you don’t even enjoy it that much. Your money can be spent better on something you do enjoy. So maybe a relaxing massage is more important to you than an everyday cup of coffee, so you spend $80 on that per month, while only drinking a cup of coffee at a café once per week. Or maybe you prefer fancy dinners so you spend your $100 to eat out at a fancy restaurant once a month. Or maybe travel is more important to you, so you save up the $100 per month and take a big vacation once per year with that money.

The point is, you can be responsible with your money and still do things you like. I think it’s important to write down how much money you have to “play” with for fun. Then prioritize your wants, and figure out much money you want to put toward each activity. You can use your money all on one purchase or activity or several small ones, based on your priorities. And then if someone gives you a look when he sees you eating out at the fancy French restaurant in town, you will know inside that you are there because you can afford to be there based on your priorities.

In Real Life – After all of our household expenses, kids’ expenses, and our savings, we have about $300 left per month that we can use for ourselves. Three hundred dollars per month sounds like a lot – this includes entertainment, vacations, dinners out and anything else that is not in our budget. If I were another person, I suppose I could easily spend $300 going to fancy restaurants and nights on the town each month. Or I could eat out more often at middle-of-the-road restaurants and get my hair done at a fancy salon. But I am neither of those people. While I do like a break from cooking, take-out burritos or Chinese food for relatively little money usually satisfies that need. What I do like to do, however, is travel. Without travel, I would not be as happy as I am. I love to experience different places, different cultures, and different geographic locations. And frankly, I love to just get away from it all. Oh, and I also like a break from the cold each year. So from our $300 per month, we put $200 of that toward travel. We generally take a trip to Florida each winter and to the beach each summer. And in between we often do a few weekend trips. The remaining $100 per month goes toward eating, entertainment, and any other miscellaneous activities.

For me, my priority for my leisure time and my discretionary money is travel. So that gets first dibs on our extra funds. Getting a break from cooking is probably secondary, and going out is probably last in my book. I am sometimes almost apologetic when I tell people we are going away yet again. But I shouldn’t be because I skip those Moms’ night outs and expensive restaurants to enjoy the activities that are important to me. You should prioritize your wants, too.

Figure Out The Cost Per Meal

Tip #92- Figure Out The Cost Per Meal. In order to save money many people try to come up with a monthly grocery budget. To get their budget, they often figure out how much they spend each week at the market and multiply it by four. Then they try to cut it down from there. I think it is a great way to get started. But I have an additional hint. Why not try to figure out the cost per meal and then add it up that way? You can use it as a basis for when you are buying food.

For example, when you plan your breakfasts, figure out how long a box of cereal lasts you (and don’t go by the servings on the box. They are not accurate!). If a 15-ounce box of cereal costs $2.00 and lasts for 5 bowls of cereal, then that is 40 cents per bowl. Factor in the cost of milk for each of these five bowls. If you put half of a cup of milk into each bowl and a gallon of milk costs $3.20 then it is 10 cents for each ½ cup of milk (16 cups = 1 gallon). So, each bowl of cereal plus milk for breakfast costs you about 50 cents. If you have 4 people in your family and you each eat a bowl of cereal for breakfast every morning, then you can figure $2.00 per day for breakfast or about $60 per month.

Next, lets’ figure out lunch. Suppose you usually eat sandwiches for lunch – figure out the cost of the bread as well as the fillings you put inside. Don’t forget to factor in the drinks and sides. For example, a bag of bread might cost $2.00. There are usually about 20 pieces inside so that is 10 cents per slice or 20 cents for the two pieces of bread used in a sandwich. Let’s assume you alternate between peanut butter and jelly and deli meats for your sandwiches. Estimate that you can get 20 servings each out of a jar of peanut butter and a jar of jelly. If each jar is $2.00 then that is an additional 20 cents for the fillings in your sandwich. Therefore, the cost of a peanut butter and jelly sandwich is about 40 cents.

If you generally put an ounce of deli meat and an ounce of cheese on your deli sandwiches and deli meat is $8.00 a pound and deli cheese is $4 per pound then figure 50 cents for the deli meat and 25 cents for the cheese so the cost of the deli sandwich is 95 cents. Now add in the sides. A side of fruit such as a banana or small apple costs between 25 cents to 50 cents. Pretzels may be an additional 20 cents and a glass of juice might be 25 cents for an 8-ounce glass ($2.00 for 64 ounces). So a peanut butter and jelly sandwich plus sides and a drink cost about $1.10. And a deli sandwich plus sides and a drink cost $1.90. On average, if you alternate evenly between peanut butter and jelly sandwiches and deli sandwiches for lunch, then you spend about $1.50 per lunch per day. For 4 people that is $6 per day for lunch or about $180 per month.

Last is dinner. Since dinner is usually consumed family style, I find it easier to figure out the cost of the whole dinner and divide it by the number of family members. Dinner prices vary widely depending on whether you are eating meat with your meal or not. For example, a spaghetti dinner can be very cheap. A 16-ounce bag of pasta is $1. A jar of sauce is $2, but usually only half of a jar is used. A portion of Parmesan cheese may cost 50 cents. A head of lettuce for the family will usually cost $2. Add some homemade croutons and some carrots and dressing for an additional 50 cents. A loaf of homemade French bread costs about $1.00 to make. Water is free. Dinner is $6 for a family of 4 or $1.50 per person for a full pasta meal.

However, you may only eat meals like that for ½ the week. With the other half consisting of meat meals. A family of 4 may eat 5 chicken breasts with barbeque sauce. If chicken breasts are $1 each, that is $5 for the chicken. A jar of barbeque may cost $1 on sale. If ½ of a jar is use, then that is an additional 50 cents. Sides may include baked potatoes and butter. If each potato is 50 cents and the butter is another 25 cents, that is $2.25 total. Veggies such as steamed broccoli may cost $1 if a bag of frozen broccoli costs $2.00 and lasts for two dinners. Suppose you eat dessert of homemade cookies for a cost of $1.25. Then the total cost of your meat meal is about $10 for a family of 4 or $2.50 per person. So eating pasta-type meals for half the month (for $1.50 per person) and chicken meals for half the month (at $2.50 per person) on average, you probably spend $2 per person for dinner or $240 for dinners for the month. You obviously have a lot more variety in your dinners than that, but it is a good way to estimate what dinner costs you.

Don’t forget to add in snack foods. If each person also drinks a glass of juice and has a banana or a couple of cookies for an additional snack per day, then factor in another 50 cents per day per person for snacks or $60 per day for snacks.

Now add up the cost of your meals for a family of four for the month - $60 for breakfasts, $180 for lunches, $240 for dinners, and $60 for snacks for a total of $540 for meals. Now you have a starting place and can figure out how to cut down on the costs of the meals. You can either eat less, get a better deal on the foods you are buying, or eat the cheaper meals more often. Assuming you want to eat the same amount of food each month, then try getting a better deal on the foods you are buying or eating cheaper meals more frequently or a combination of the two.

Can you try to get your cereal for cheaper than $2 per box for 15 ounces? If you can buy them for $1.50 consistently with coupons and sales, then you can knock of 10 cents per bowl of cereal, making breakfast only 40 cents per day. This would work out to $48 per month for breakfasts instead of $60, saving you $12 per month on your budget.

Suppose you want to cut back on expensive foods, then you may decide to eat deli sandwiches only 10 times per month instead of 15. Because the peanut butter sandwiches are cheaper to make, you may cut your lunch bill down to $162 per month instead of $180, saving you $18 per month on your budget. You might want to substitute eggs for meat on some days for dinner. Because eggs are generally a cheaper source of protein than meat, you may be able to shave even money off your dinner budget. Doing a combination of shopping for better deals, buying in bulk, making your own food from scratch, growing your own food, using coupons, and substituting cheaper (but just as nutritious) foods for more expensive ones may save you $50 per month on your grocery budget.

In Real Life (IRL) – I admit that I have tried to figure out the cost per meal for our family of five. While five people sounds like it may cost a lot, it really doesn’t yet, since two of the children are 3 and under and one is a vegetarian (me!). I have figured out that we spend about $2.00 per day on breakfast, $6 per day on lunches and snacks, $8 per day on dinners/dessert. I don’t know if it breaks out exactly that way, but it’s pretty close. We spend about $400 per month on groceries. We eat out about 4-5 meals per month, which comes under a separate budget.

We are able to keep our grocery costs pretty low using various methods. We buy 20 pound bags of potatoes from Costco. I buy cereal with coupons – aiming to spend no more than 10 cents per ounce. I compare staple items to get the best price for the quality I want by shopping at various markets – Costco for bulk purchases, Trader Joe’s and Whole foods for organic, natural foods, and regular supermarkets for items I buy with coupons. Pasta is never bought for more than $1 per pound. Chicken and ground beef are bought in bulk and frozen. Waffles, cookies, pizza dough, and breads are homemade with flour bought in bulk. Fruit is bought when it’s on sale – the majority for $1 per pound, some for up to $2 per pound. Summer fruits are bought in season and frozen for use later in smoothies, muffins, and sauces. Tomatoes are grown in our garden – and we’re planning on growing more vegetables this summer. Most dinners are meatless, with about 2-3 meals per week including meat for those who eat it. We have room in our budget to go over our $400 if we want to, but based on what we eat, we generally don’t seem to spend more than that. (By the way, the picture is some sad-looking pears we pick off my mother-in-law's pear tree. They actually taste good.) How do all of you keep your grocery bills low?

Shop At Natural Food Stores

Saving Money Tip #78 - Shop at Natural Food Stores. Natural food stores are not always more expensive, and in fact can sometimes even be cheaper than traditional stores. In today’s climate of tainted milk in China, hormone-fed cows, and peanut butter with salmonella, many of us would like to shop at a natural food store, but the general impression of these stores is that the food is more expensive than at traditional supermarkets. It is true that some foods at natural food stores can be more expensive than their traditional counterparts. And some of them do not accept coupons or do not carry products that normally have coupons. But, there are many foods there that are equivalent-priced or even less than at traditional markets. And most of us live in an area with at least one natural food store chain nearby.

It used to be that natural food stores were small specialty stores, probably operating with large overhead. But nowadays, as they have become more popular, they have grown into larger chains, which seem to have brought the prices down. The three big natural supermarket chains in the US are Whole Foods, Fresh Market, and Trader Joe’s. And while many big supermarket chains now seem to be carrying their own line of natural foods or organic foods, the natural foods store chains seem to beat traditional stores in their prices for organic or natural products.

At natural food stores products are made without chemicals, additives, hormones, high corn syrup, etc. Not everything is organic, which comes with stricter guidelines, but most everything is made naturally, meaning there are not preservatives or chemicals added to the product. Many natural food stores have their own brand products, and they are often equally priced to typical brands at the traditional market. Furthermore, if you stick with certain items, you will not spend much more (or may even spend less!) than at traditional stores. In general, if you stay away from prepared foods and specialty items, you will do okay cost-wise. And buy natural products rather than organic ones. You will still get the health benefits of a natural product.

When shopping at natural food stores, try to buy produce that is on special for the week. Milks and cheeses, made without hormones are often comparable in price to that of regular supermarkets. Breads without chemicals or preservatives often cost less than a premium brand made with preservatives found at a regular market. Jellies made from only fruit or with natural sweeteners often have a competitive price to big brands found at other markets, which are made with high fructose corn syrup. Natural food stores’ pasta, sauces, and soup broths often have fair prices, too. And frozen fruits and veggies often have comparable prices, too. In fact, looking at that list, it seems that staple items seem to be the items that are priced fairly at natural food stores.

Of course, not everything natural food stores is competitively priced. I suggest checking out your closest natural foods market and making a price list of items that you normally buy and compare it to what you would pay at a traditional market. Once you make a list of items that are competitively priced at the natural market and fit into your food budget, it may be worth it to do a weekly or monthly stop at the natural food store to stock up on such items.

In Real Life (IRL) – In our area, we have Trader Joe’s and Whole Foods. I shop at Trader Joe’s monthly and I go to Whole Foods weekly, since it is walking distance from my house. I have a regular list of items that I buy at each of these stores. Most of the items are natural but not organic, which tends to be more expensive.

In general, I buy milks, shredded cheese, and cream cheese at Whole Foods. Milk is the same price as at Safeway or Giant, the two biggest grocery chains in the DC area. Yet, they don’t have hormones in it! A 12-ounce bag of shredded cheddar is $4 and a 16-ounce bag of mozzarella is $4.99. It’s not a bargain, but it’s actually a better price than Giant’s shredded cheese prices when they are not on sale. Again, it is made with no hormones. A block of cream cheese is about $1.49. Vegetable or chicken soup broths in the carton at Whole Foods are $2, and they are organic. You can’t get those prices at Giant. I also buy all-fruit jelly at Whole Foods for $2.29. I love that there is no high-fructose corn syrup in it. It is cheaper than the comparable Polaner all-fruit at the regular market (unless I have a coupon and it’s on sale). I generally only buy produce at Whole Foods if it is on sale, because their produce can be pricey. But they often have pretty good sales on one or two items each time I visit. And much of their produce is local, which has a better impact on the environment. I regularly buy sandwich bread there as well – it’s $2.29, which is similar to a sale price on Pepperidge Farms or Arnold breads at a traditional store.

Trader Joe’s is an experience if you have never been there. It is a completely "fun" environment with their nautical decorations and attire. Their prices are often lower than at other natural food stores because they avoid the middleman and market many products under their own label. They do not run sales ever – so the prices are consistent each time you visit. Many of their foods are very tasty, and if you don’t like something you buy there, you can return it for a full refund! I tend to buy all of my frozen veggies at Trader Joe’s. They have competitive prices and the flavor is always delicious - especially their sweet corn. I also buy some frozen fruits there, as well if they are out of season. And I always buy a container of hummus every time I visit, too becuase it has the cheapest price around ($3.49 for 16 ounces). Their bananas are 19 cents per banana and their bags of apples can often be bought for under $1 per pound. I also stock up on bagged pasta, which is 99 cents per bag and imported from Italy. Their tomato basil pasta sauce at $1.79 per jar is cheaper than the regular price of Ragu at the supermarket, and is twice as good! Even their ground beef has fair prices. In general, I have a whole list of items I buy at Trader Joe’s for a monthly stock-up visit. Their quality is good, and the prices for most items are very fair.

I am not too familiar with Fresh Market, although I have visited the chain a few times when I was traveling. It reminded me of Whole Foods, and I am guessing that the prices would be comparable. If you live near one of their stores, please check it out and report back!

Overall, if you get to know the products that natural food stores carry and the prices they charge, you will find that some of the things are worth buying there on a regular basis if you care about not eating preservatives, chemicals, hormones, etc. There are many items that are competitively priced, especially their store brand products. By shopping smartly at natural food stores for certain items and still picking up bargains on other items at traditional stores, you should be able to stick to your food budget and eat more healthily, too.

To Clip Or Not To Clip, That Is The Question

Tip #59 - Is It Worth It To Clip Coupons? Coupon clipping seems to be all the rage lately. Frugal blog after frugal blog showcase coupon deals that can be had out there. Items are laid out in pictures to show what deals the blogger has captured. "Ten boxes of granola bars for $1.60!" "Three bottles of apple juice for 90 cents!" "Six containers of yogurt for free!" There are faithful followers to these blogs who don't want to miss out on a deal.

The question I have pondered over and over while reading these blogs is whether all of this coupon clipping is worth it. My conclusion? A resounding "somewhat." I think it is great that moms are watching how much they are spending at the supermarket. I also think it is worthwhile to cut coupons to get a better deal on something you would have bought anyway. And I am glad that there is a huge interest in saving money. However (you knew this was coming, didn't you?), I think many overzealous followers of coupon deals are short-sighted when it comes to how much couponing will help them become financially secure. Yes, clipping coupons may cut down on the food and toiletries budget. It may "save" them $200 per month. But unless this coupon clipping phenomenon is combined with time-tested ways to save money, there will still be a lot of people out there who are still in debt, who haven't saved for retirement, who haven't saved for a rainy day. And the only thing they have to show for their coupon clipping hobby is 25 boxes of AquaFresh toothpaste.

If clipping coupons is truly saving you money at the grocery store, then by all means continue to do it. Saving $200, $100, or even $50 per month on groceries can be a great start to a financially secure future. But that's all it is - a start. You will need to take that savings and faithfully put it away month after month into a savings account. Or if you are in debt, you had better be using your savings from coupons to pay down your debt. And hand in hand with your coupon savings, you should be doing all of the other steps people do to acquire wealth - live within your budget, save for a rainy day, put away money for retirement, and save for other needs you may have in the future - a car, an education, etc.

Also, keep in mind all of the time you are spending researching the deals, looking up coupons, cutting them, etc. It's possible that the time you spend clipping could be put to better use. It's up to you to make the call. Overall, while it may be fun and beneficial to find the good deals, make sure you also have a realistic view of your complete finances. Coupons are only one tool of many that can help you save money. However, it is not the only tool. They alone will not make you financially secure.

IRL - I clip coupons. I have never been very faithful about it. I tend to go through phases of coupon clipping. Lately, I have been on an "up" phase with my coupons - probably from all of those blogs I read about clipping them. I never seem to score the way others do. I generally just use coupons for products that I would have bought anyway or as a substitute for a product I usually buy. I might try a different cereal if it is a really good deal. If my kids or I don't like it, I know my husband will eat it. I don't, however, buy things just to get them for free. I think that is a huge waste of resources. We don't drink diet soda in this house. I would never buy diet soda even if the coupon was for a free one - unless of course we were having company soon who would drink the stuff. For my grocery budget, I tend to buy more in bulk and compare unit costs to keep my grocery expenses down. I try to do cooking and baking from scratch so many coupons don't even work for me. But when they do, I use them.

I do think some people get carried away with coupons and buy whatever they see that is a good deal. And I think for some people, it is the only thing they do to save money. But as I said in the paragraph above, I don't think this will lead them down a path of financial security. I think coupons can be used as a tool for saving money on groceries and that's it. But saving money in real life is much more than that. For me, it is a mindset or a lifestyle that incorporates all aspects of my life. I hope that readers and followers of coupon blogs look beyond the coupons to find additional ways of saving money and living their lives so that they can have financial freedom.

Prepare Before You Go

Tip #56 - Prepare Before You Go. Before you go somewhere, read up on the place you are going to. Try to find the best deal that you can. Find out what sales are going on. See if there are any coupons you can use. The more preparations you do in advance, the more money you will save.

If you are going out to eat, look up the restaurant online and look at the menu. Figure out how will you order. Is it better to get a meal by itself or is there a combination that would be a better deal? Are there separate children's meals or should they share with you? At least have an idea of what they offer so that when you arrive at the restaurant you are not under pressure to order in haste and maybe not get the best value for your money.

If you are going to the supermarket look at the circular to find the best deals that you will be getting. Don't wait to get there to look at the circular. It takes time to study the deals. Standing in the crowded market with possibly a child pulling at your hand is not the time to do it.

If you are going on vacation, look up on the Internet the city or town you are going to. Many times there are discounts for events or places on certain days. Again, it is better to know about these in advance so you can plan your trip around some of these deals. You wouldn't want to wait until you got there to find out about them or it may be too late.

If you are going out locally - to a community pool, a museum, or a sporting event, check online or in the local newspaper to see if there are special deals or discounts. They could be for certain days or certain hours. Sometimes there will be an actual coupon that you can print out or cut out.

Taking just a few minutes before doing any of these activities can potentially save you several dollars each time you go out.

In Real Life (IRL) - I am always looking for deals. If I am planning on going somewhere - whether it be a hotel, a museum, or the supermarket - I go online and check out the company's website first. Sometimes I find deals right on their website. Other times I will Google the place I am going to and look for any coupons that might be available. If I am going to a new restaurant, I like to see what options are available on the menu. I find that if I can see how they price things, I can decide how to order. Sometimes my children can get a really good deal from a kids' meal. Other times I find them to be overpriced and I will have them order a la carte.

Before I go to the supermarket, I always look at either the paper circular or the online one. I try to write up my shopping list based on what we are planning to eat that week in combination with what the best deals are at the market. I find that the times that I run into the market on the way home from an errand, I tend to not buy as smart. This is because I have either not looked at the circular or I do so at the store and am in a rush, so I miss some of the good deals.

When we went to Boston on vacation a few years ago, I looked up their Children's Museum in advance and they had $1 admission on Fridays. Since we planned on going to the museum anyway, we planned our visit there on a Friday and saved several dollars per person. When we had my husband's cousin from Germany in town a few years ago, she wanted to do a tour of Washington, DC. For days before she arrived, I searched around for a good deal on a tour bus. I found out by searching online that there was a 2-for-1 deal in the Entertainment Book. A friend of mine gave me her coupon since I didn't buy the book that year. It saved us about $20. Because I have found deals in the past, I try to make it a habit of looking for coupons or discounts before I go somewhere. I don't always find them. But I would estimate that I do about half the time. It's a good habit to get into to help save some money.

Bring Your Own Lunch

Tip #50 - Bring Your Own Lunch. This tip goes along with eating at home instead eating out. But I thought it deserved its own entry since some people don't consider buying lunch in the work cafeteria or in the school lunchroom "eating out." Heck, I don't blame them; the food is not exactly gourmet. So why waste money buying food in a school or work cafeteria when you can eat more cheaply and nutriciously bringing your own lunch? Because it takes more time. It does.

Let's face it, it's a pain to make a lunch every morning when you are trying to get ready for work or get the kids ready for school. It's so much easier to put a few bills in your pocket and worry about it later. Or nowadays, the schools have electronic lunch accounts so you keep a balance at school and your child just needs to key in a code. Easy! And when the money runs out, you can replenish the account with your credit card and for a small fee, of course. Instead of falling into this easy trap of buying lunches at work or school, how about if it were easier to make lunch? Then we'd be more likely to take it.

On Sunday evenings or whatever day works for you, decide what you will make for five lunches for during the week. Let's assume you are doing this for one child. You want to give them some variety - so try not to make the same lunch for more than 2 or at most 3 days. Possibilities include peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, lunch meat or cheese sandwiches or wraps, yogurt, hummus and pita, hard-boiled eggs or egg salad. We can make lunches for the week in 5 easy steps.

1. Assuming it's Sunday, then try to make as many preparations as possible for the upcoming week. Peanut butter and jelly sandwiches freeze very well. So make a couple of sandwiches - put them in a plastic container (or plastic storage bag) and throw them in the freezer. These are two lunches for later in the week (Wednesday and Friday) that you don't have to worry about. Boil an egg and put it in a container in the fridge. This will be lunch for Tuesday. Make a lunch meat sandwich for Monday. Then you can give yogurt for lunch on Thursday. This offers a nice variety and is very easy to do in about 30 minutes' time on a Sunday night.

2. For sides that go along with the main lunch, you can package them up and throw them in the freezer as you make them. If you are making banana bread during the week, cut up five pieces and put them in five small containers (or plastic storage bags) for lunchtime meals over the next two weeks. Again, try to offer variety so your child isn't eating banana bread every day. Two or three days during the week should be the maximum. Do the same for muffins or cookies. All of these items freeze well. Try to have about 10 items in the freezer in small containers for lunch for the upcoming two weeks. Tailor this to how often you bake. If you bake a few different items every week, then you can do this weekly and have five items in the freezer at all times. If you bake monthly, then you can put in a month's worth of individually-wrapped bread items for lunches.

3. You probably want to pack another side for lunch in addition to the main lunch and a bread item. Yogurt or a piece of cheese are healthy side items on days when they are not the main entree. Depending on how much your child will eat, yogurt may need to be packaged in smaller containers than the 6 or 8 ounce containers they come in. I try not to do this more than two days in advance. Or you can use yogurt tubes (which may cost more and has more packaging). Same thing for cheese, don't prepackage those more than two days in advance because it may get hard. Or use pre-packaged cheese such as string cheese.

4. The next item should be a fruit or vegetable. Some fruits don't do well when cut in advance. Others do. The ones that do not do well should be reserved for the next morning (Monday). On Sunday you can wash grapes or grape tomatoes and pre-package them in two individual containers for later in the week (say Tuesday and Thursday). Some melons also do okay pre-cut for a few days. Apples, not so much. You can probably cut one up the night before and put some lemon juice or orange juice on it to stop it from getting brown. Or you can include a small apple that doesn't need to be cut. Again, this would be good item for Monday. Bananas can be thrown in the lunch box as is on Wednesday and Friday. Again, try for variety, an apple one day, a banana two days and grapes or grape tomatoes the other two days.

5. Fill up a container with water, juice or other beverage. On the evening before work or school or even the morning of, you can pull out all of the pre-packaged items and throw them in your lunch box. Even if you put them in your lunch container in the morning, items that were in the freezer will thaw by lunchtime.

And there it is, lunchtime made easy. We'll talk about cost savings in the IRL section.

In Real Life (IRL) - My daughter brings her lunch almost every day to school. Being the frugal person that I am, I figured out that her lunch costs us about $1 or so per day to make versus $2.40 to buy at school. We save at least $1 per day when she brings instead of buying. She does buy when they have macaroni and cheese or grilled cheese, which is usually about twice per month.

These are the options I usually send her for lunch:

Yogurt (45 cents)
String Cheese (20 cents)
Crackers (10 cents) or a homemade soft pretzel (15 cents)
Banana (20 cents)
Water (Free) or Fruit Juice (15 cents)

Peanut Butter and Jelly Sandwich (50 cents)
String Cheese (20 cents)
Grapes (20 cents)
Homemade Cookies (20 cents)
Water (Free) or Fruit Juice (15 cents)

Egg Salad (20 cents) or Hard-Boiled Egg (15 cents)
String Cheese (20 cents)
Peanut Butter Crackers (15 cents)
Small Apple (40 cents)
Water (Free) or Fruit Juice (15 cents)

Hummus (30 cents)
Pita (30 cents)
Grape Tomatoes (20 cents)
Baby Carrots (10 cents)
Banana Bread or Homemade Muffin (15 cents)
Water (Free) or Fruit Juice (15 cents)

Mini Bagel (25 cents)

Cream Cheese (15 cents)

Banana Bread (15 cents)

Fruit cocktail (20 cents)

1/2 Yogurt (25 cents)

Water (Free) or Fruit Juice (15 cents)

Of course this assumes I buy things at the best price possible. String cheese is 20 cents per string only if I buy it at Costco. Same thing for peanut butter crackers. Yogurt is 45 cents at Costco or sometimes I get it for 40 cents if they are having a good sale at Safeway or Giant. I buy Apples when they are 99 cents a pound, crackers when they are on sale for a certain price, etc. Hummus and pita I buy at Trader Joe's. If I started buying things that aren't on sale or more convenience foods, then the price would go up, obviously. These are the items I generally stick with. In the springtime, I will buy fruits that are in season trying to get fruits that are on sale for 99 cents per pound. And I do mix these items around. I generally try to have a main item, a fruit, a cheese and one other thing like a muffin.

Over the course of a year, I figure we save about $200 by doing lunch this way. And I think she eats healthier options. When all three of my children are in school, we will be saving even more money by having them bring their lunches instead of buying.

Replicate Your Favorite Foods

Tip #29 - Replicate Your Favorite Foods. We've talked about how cooking from scratch is much cheaper than buying prepared food or eating out. It's also healthier. Something that will save a lot of money is to make foods that you love from scratch such as meals you buy from a restaurant or a snack food or treat that they sell at the mall. You can often closely replicate these foods at home for a fraction of the cost. So if you are suddenly trying to cut back on spending but you crave a certain appetizer from your favorite chain restaurant, try to recreate it. There are several websites that have "copycat" recipes that you can use. And the general recipe sites have them such as RecipeZaar among others. If you or a family member have a favorite food, google the name of it and see if you can find a recipe or try to create one yourself. Once it is perfected, you will save a bundle on eating out.

In Real Life (IRL) - I love soft pretzels. I have to; I am from Philadelphia. I also like Amish-style pretzels like they make at Auntie Anne's in the mall. You have to know that pretzels are cheap to make. They are basically made from flour, yeast, sugar, and water. All of those items are inexpensive. So one day I got the idea to make pretzels from scratch. I had always wanted to. I found a couple different recipes online and ended up combining a few to get my own. There is no boiling, no bread machine, no egg. Just flour, sugar, yeast, salt, water and oil. They are absolutely delicious. My daughters beg me to make them all of the time. One batch makes 10 large pretzels or 15 smaller ones. The cost per batch? $1.50 or 15 cents per large pretzel. The cost for one pretzel at the mall? $2.29! These are great to freeze and use as snacks in school lunchboxes. I will add the recipe shortly. Gotta go check the pretzels in the oven! We just made a double batch of these delicious pretzels!

Recipe:

4 1/2 teaspoons of active yeast (2 packets)

1 tsp. sugar

1 1/4 cups warm water

4 cups flour

1/2 cup sugar

1 1/2 tsp. salt

1 TBS vegetable oil

1 TBS baking soda

2 cups hot water

1/4 cup kosher salt

2-4 TBS butter

Cinnamon Sugar

--In small bowl, dissolve yeast, 1 t sugar and water. Let stand for 10 minutes until creamy.

--In large bowl, mix flour, 1/2 cup sugar, and salt.

--Make well in center of large bowl and add yeast mixture.

--Knead dough until smooth about 7-8 minutes.

--Lightly oil large bowl and place dough in it. Turn to coat with oil.

--Cover with towel and let rise in warm place until double in size - about 1 hour.

--Preheat overn to 400 degrees.

--In a bowl dissolve baking soda in hot water.

--When risen, turn dough out onto a lightly floured surface and divide into 10-15 pieces.

--Roll each piece into a rope and form pretzel shape

--Dip each pretzel into baking soda bath and place on greased baking sheet

--Sprinkle with kosher salt (omit this step if you are making cinnamon sugar pretzels)

--Bake for 8 minutes at 400 degrees

--Let cool for 1 minute and remove with spatula

--You can leave pretzels as they are or dip in butter or dip in butter and coat with cinnamon sugar

Frugal Fast Food

Tip #28 - Frugal Fast Food. Fast Food is generally not healthy and it's more expensive than eating at home. But there are sometimes when nothing else will do. You can't be the perfect planner all of the time. Sometimes you have few other choices, and fast food is the best option. Or perhaps as in our family, fast food is a treat - planned to be eaten occasionally when on long car trips.

Even fast food can be expensive if you order the "wrong" way. With three kids, you can order 3 happy meals and a meal for yourself and your husband and easily spend $20. Or you can order frugally and spend half that. Almost all of the fast food places have a value menu or dollar menu in place. These are pretty good deals. It's generally a hamburger, cheeseburger, and chicken option for $1 or a little more. A side of fries and a small drink are usually the same. A few places such as McDonald's and Wendy's often have double cheeseburgers on the value menu or on special for $1. If you find yourself in need of eating fast food, then order from the dollar menus. If someone wants a cheeseburger, get the double cheeseburger for the same price. For the sides, buy the largest size fries for everyone to split. Get water to drink or get the largest drink for everyone to split. Both McDonald's and Wendy's have small "courtesy" cups that the children can use to have a drink poured into. For a family of five, the entrees off the dollar menu should cost $5 (or $6 if your husband likes to eat 2 of them like mine does). The largest fries and largest drink would cost about $2 each. So for $10 the whole family can eat a fast food meal. Of course it's not the healthiest or the cheapest meal, but if you find yourself needing to eat at a fast food place, you do the best you can.

Stay away from happy meals. The fun from those toys lasts less than a day. And by buying individual drinks and fries for your kids you end up spending more than necessary. If you are frugal to begin with and health conscious in any way, eating fast food should be the treat, not the toy at the restaurant.

Restaurants generally prohibit bringing in outside food. But I find that they are lenient with children. Most people bring food for a baby such as baby food, milk or formula, and cheerios. I have brought small sides into fast food places with no one ever having a problem with it. We generally have string cheese or yogurt or grapes with us in our small cooler in our car. This makes meals more complete, health-wise and filling wise as well as cheaper.

So next time you find yourself in need of fast food, don't blow your budget just because you're eating out anyway. Order wisely. Figure out the best value for your money. And eating fast food can be frugal.

In Real Life (IRL). Fast food is a treat for my family. We do not eat it on a regular basis. It is not our everyday dinner or lunch ever. We save eating fast food for when we are on car trips. They are the perfect place to stop - there are relatively clean bathrooms, sometimes a play area for the kdis, and fairly cheap and fast food to eat.

We visit our parents a few times a year and do a car trip to Florida about every other year to visit family. And we go to the beach every summer for a week. This is when we eat fast food. It makes it a treat for our children and gives them somthing to look forward to on a long car ride. The only other time we eat it is if we visit my old place of employment which is about 30 minutes away from my home. About once or twice a year I visit my former co-workers and bring some of the kids. We often make an afternoon of it and go to a Burger King with a big play area near by. On average, I'd guess we eat fast food once per month at most based on how often we travel.

It is not usually a spur-of-the moment decision. And since we are usually eating it on long car rides, we often have other snacks including drinks in our car. Because of this, we don't usually order drinks in the restaurant. We stick to a main meal and fries.

This past weekend, we had to go to New Jersey for an event. We left on a Friday afternoon and knew that we'd be on the road for dinner. We stopped at a Wendy's to eat. Stressed out mommy forgot to pack drinks for the car (except for baby's bottle). I did have a yogurt for the baby to eat. We studied the menu. Hamburgers, cheeseburgers, and chicken nuggets were $1.29 each. A double cheeseburger was a special for 99 cents. My husband ordered two double cheeseburgers - one and 1/2 for him and 1/2 of one of our younger daughter. My older daughter got chicken nuggets. And I ordered a baked potato for $1.49. We bought the largest packet of fries for $1.99. (A small was $1.29) and we got the largest Frosty for $1.99. I asked for two courtesy cups. When we were almost finished, my girls wanted some more nuggets and my husband wanted another double cheeseburger since he gave some to the 15-month old. Baby and younger daughter also split the yogurt I brought. Overall, we spent about $11 for our dinner. Truthfully, that's not much more than we spend on some of our dinners at home. Plus, it's in our budget to eat out once a week. For the children it was fun even without a play area there. We got to all use the rest room and stretch our legs. After driving on I-95 on a dark, rainy heavily trafficed Friday evening, the meal was worth every penny!

Resist Temptation

Tip #23 - Resist Temptation. It's very hard to not spend money when everyone around you is. When your friends are eating out, you want to join them. When your family buys the latest things at the mall, you wish to go, too. When you hear about neighbors' vacations to Carribbean islands, it's hard to not want to fly away also. But try to resist temptation. He who laughs last, laughs loudest. The more you hold on to your money, the more security you will feel and the more you will have later to do what you want to do.

If you know that friends of yours are eating dinner out at a fancy restaurant and you wish to go along, try to resist by making a special meal at home. Or find a coupon 2-for-1 that makes the cost of eating out pretty cheap. You hear about your family's trips to the shopping mall buying the latest gadgets. Resist by telling yourself, most of them will be sold at a garage sale for 1/4 of the price within a year or two. If you have an urge to shop, go to the cheapest thrift store you know about. A lot of retail therapy can be had for $2 or $3. Or if it's yard sale season, spend the morning going to yard sales. And smile each time you pay $1 for an item that was $10 or $20 last Christmas season. When you see your neighbors come back with tans after Christmas vacation, tell yourself that you will be the tan one in retirement. Or if you really, really want to do a dream vacation, then forgo a vacation for a year or two to save up for a big, expensive one. Or find a cheaper alternative than an island at Christmas time. The Florida beaches in the first two weeks of December or during the month of January is much cheaper than the week of Christmas or in February. And if you can drive there, the vacation can be surprisingly affordable.

Try to resist the spending temptation. Stay home more. Find cheap or free activities. But if you can't resist, give in cheaply. You'll be thankful later on.

In Real Life (IRL). Shopping at the mall does not entice me. Not one bit. I am a mall hater. I hate the crowds, the indoor air, and the prices. Ugh. Give me a thrift store any day over a mall. I never know what treasures and bargains I will find. And the cost is a fraction of the mall. But I know that some people love the mall and the fact is, the more you shop, the more you spend. So if you love the mall or shopping in general, then you just have to stay out of the stores if you want to save money. Or learn to love thrift stores and yard sales. While it is sometimes tempting to buy things you don't need at a thrift store or yard sale because the prices are so good, you usually don't waste a lot of money doing it. And if you do, you can always use earlier advice I gave you and sell what you don't want.

Eating out is a temptation of mine. It's nice to not have to cook and even nice to not have to clean up. And frankly, the restaurant food usually tastes better than my cooking. But when I realize the mark-up on restarant food, I try hard to resist. We generally try to eat out (or take in) just once a week. It gives me a much-needed break and allows us to get the eating out need fulfilled. We always do something that is a good deal. Like we get coupons for Baja Fresh in the mail every few months. They have $5 off $15 deals. We usually get off by spending just about $12 for a meal for the 5 of us. It gives us a break and a change of food for not a lot of extra money. We usually eat Chinese about once a month or when our parents visit. We like it and I cannot recreate their food at home very well. With lot of people, the cost per person isn't too bad (usually about $5 per person) with leftovers for another meal or part of one. We do other deals when we see them - coupons for Indian food or pizza, etc. When a meal is $15 or less for our family, we usually do that for our one night per week of eating out. This one night of eating out is in our budget so it's fine for us to do it. The one thing I often resist is girls' night out events that some of my mom friends partake in. If I go, I know I end up spending much more than I'm eating and because I don't drink, I often pay for others' drinks. I end up not having a good time because I know the evening will be an expensive one, so I often just bow out.

Vacations are a big temptation for me. I hate the cold, and the thought of a warm island in winter sounds very good to me. But Florida is even better - financially, that is. We always go in January when our kids have a 2-day school holiday. For some reason, "high" season in Florida is February. We usually drive to Florida from our Virginia home in about 15 hours. We usually spend one night on the road at a decent hotel for in the $60 range. We've also stopped in Orlando for a day or two and gotten hotels for $75 per night. We just spend one day at the park and then go on our way to visit family in South Florida. Hotels there cost about $100 per night including breakfast. For activities we go to the beach which is free. Swimming at the hotel is free, too! We go to some nature preserves - also free. Flea markets - free or can be money-making if you find some goodies to sell on ebay. We even just enjoy going to playgrounds in the sunshine. That is a big treat in January! For a week's vacation to Florida in January, we spend about $300 in gas (if it's $3 a gallon). We spend about $125 for hotels on the ride down and back. And $500 for hotels while we are there. Breakfast is included in the hotel cost. Lunch is often sandwiches that we buy at the local supermarket and dinners are eaten out. I will admit that our family usually treats for dinner, but even if we pay, restaurants are very cheap in South Florida. There are diners and delis and all-you-can-eat places that are $6 per meal with kids even cheaper or free. Our whole vacation costs about $1000 to $1200 for a family of 5 for a week. Not bad when you consider it's a getaway to sunshine in the dead of winter. Plus we get to keep our heating bill down back home (we lower the thermostat but don't turn it off). This vacation is in our yearly budget not just because it's a getaway for us but because both sets of our parents are there so we like to visit them once per winter.

By taking a cheaper way of doing things you enjoy, you can resist more expensive temptation. You will fulfill a need but not spend a lot of money. Make sure that even these "cheaper" items are in your budget, too.

Plan Meals

#15 Saving Money Tip - The Key to Saving Money on Meals is Planning. Very simple. The more you plan what you will eat, the less you spend. When you don't plan what you will eat, it is easy to find the most convenient food purchase and therefore spend more than necessary. Let's look at what I'm talking about.

We've talked about the cost of eating at home versus eating out and the cost of convenience foods versus making things yourself. Well, the key to eating at home and eating fewer convenience foods is meal planning. Let's assume you go to the supermarket once a week. When you go to the food store to buy your groceries, plan what you will be having for the week. Plan your breakfasts - cereal, toast, waffles, eggs, etc. Have those foods on hand for the week. If everyone helps themselves to breakfast, then all of the food is there for them. If you generally make sandwiches for lunch, then buy the bread and the lunchmeat or peanut butter and jelly. Then when it's lunchtime, you will have all of your ingredients on hand.

Plan out the 6 or 7 dinners you will be eating at home (you're not eating out dinners more than once a week if you're trying to save money, are ya? :)) So come up with a dinner plan - hamburgers, spaghetti, quesadillas, homemade pizza, chicken, stir fry, and lasagne, for example. There your overall meal plan is done. Very simple. Think of what sides you might serve with them - potatoes, vegetables, bread and then buy your ingredients. You don't have to know which day you are eating what, just the 6 or 7 meals you will be eating. On a particular day, think about it early what you and your family would like to eat that night. Unless you are a gourmet chef making 4-course meals, most meals really don't take that long to make. When you come up with what you will be eating that night, make the necessary preparations - take out the spaghetti, pull the sauce out of the freezer early in the day to defrost. Prepare the garlic bread and salad when you have some free time so you're not doing it at 5 PM. If you work outside the home, try to think about meals the night before. Garlic bread can be made in advance and put in the freezer to be taken out right before it's needed. Sauce can too. You can also rinse and dry the lettuce and have it in a container in your fridge. The more you do in advance, the more likely you will be to eat dinners at home. As you start doing meal planning, you will find yourself eating out less and buying convenience foods less.

As you get comfortable with meal planning, you can also start doing more preparations by freezing foods in advance that you have made. Make a double batch of your dinner - one for your dinner that evening and one for the freezer for another night. This works well with macaroni and cheese, waffles, lasagne, and many other foods. Some people make a whole month's worth of meals and put them in the freezer. You don't have to do that, but with a little bit of planning and doubling some recipes you can have prepared foods in your freezer for nights you don't feel like starting at the beginning.

Even with preparing meals in advance and putting them in the freezer, there are even days that we aren't feeling well or haven't defrosted our prepared foods. On those days it is tempting to order in food or go out to eat. I think it's wise to have some easy meals in the freezer that you have bought for these types of days. Heating up a tray of lasagne that is frozen will take quite awhile if you haven't defrosted it in the freezer first. So why not look in the frozen food section of your supermarket or a warehouse store for food items that you can store in your freezer for those days when you just can't cook.

In Real Life (IRL) - In real life I do pseudo meal planning. I don't write down what we are having for the week. But I do think about what we will be eating for the week when I go to the supermarket and buy food for that week. Since I am a stay-at-home mom I have time throughout the day to defrost food or prepare side dishes. Usually, however, I just think about what we are going to eat and then about an hour before my husband gets home, I start preparing it. The key to having dinner on the table is truly just having the meal planned in my head. As long as I know what I am preparing for dinner, it gets done. It's when I wait until my husband gets home and then we ask each other what we're in the mood for that we end up ordering out.

I don't do once-a-month cooking. The idea behind that is to cook one weekend a month all of the meals that you will be eating for the month. But I do take the concept of that and try to prepare meals and put them in the freezer for when we're out all day or I'm sick or too tired to cook. What I usually do is make a double batch of certain foods. I love making homemade macaroni and cheese. My kids like it, too. I usually make a large batch once a month. We eat it one night and the rest gets frozen for another night later in the month. I often make double batches of waffles, too. Most of them get put in the freezer to be taken out as needed. They become easy breakfasts for my oldest daughter to heat up in the toaster oven or even a quick dinner when we have things to do. Lastly, we put pre-formed hamburger patties in the freezer. I just take them out as needed throughout the month and heat them up on our George Foreman Grill. All of these become like convenience foods for us even though they were made by me at an earlier time.

Lastly, there are frozen foods bought at the supermarket or warehouse chain like Costco or Sams Club. We belong to Costco through my husband's work. While not all items are great deals there, we find several items that are. One such item is their Kirkland brand four-cheese ravioli. It is delicious and rivals homemade ravioli I have bought at gourmet Italian supermarkets. A large bag (about 4 pounds) is $8 or $9. It serves my family of 5 for two meals. Put them in a pot of boiling water and voila, there is a delicious meal in five minutes that it takes for the ravioli to get soft. Add a little bit of sauce or parmesian cheese and some frozen green peas in the microwave and there's a delicious meal in 10 or 15 minutes. I try to buy only frozen food that I don't make anyway. I would never attempt to make ravioli so I don't feel bad buying the frozen. Another frozen item we buy is Chinese dumplings. Costco sells a big bag of those as well. Again, this is not something I would ever attempt to make.

Overall, with just a bit of planning once a week, you should be able to have meals for your family nearly every day of the week. Try it. You will notice the money you will save from not eating out.

Eat At Home

#7 Money Saving Tip - Eat at Home! This goes along with the cost of convenience foods. The convenience cost of eating out is generally at least twice as much as eating home and more commonly four times the price or more. Granted, there are some foods you cannot replicate from your favorite restaurant in your kitchen. But oftentimes, people eat out because they are in too much of a rush to make dinner and they pay for it. These are simple dinners they are eating out - burgers, pizza, spaghetti, etc. A pound of burger meat costs about $2.99. Oftentimes you can get it even cheaper than that when it's on sale. A pound of ground meat should feed a typical family of four. Or perhaps there are big eaters in your family and you need two pounds to feed your family. The cost of the meat is only $3-$6. Add in a salad (cost is probably $1) and some french fries that also shouldn't cost more than $1. That is a meal for 4 people for between $5 and $8. Pizza and spaghetti are even cheaper to make at home. Even if you are not cooking from scratch but instead are using prepared or frozen foods from the supermarket, the cost should be dramatically less than eating out.

The key to this is planning in advance. For the most part this isn't difficult. When you shop at the supermarket, buy some ground beef, a bag of frozen french fries, and a bag of prewashed salad and a tomato. When you get home, immediately, separate the meat and form patties and then throw them in the freezer. Then any night that week, your meal is only 30 minutes or so from being ready - even quicker than takeout. The burgers can be made easily on a grill. The fries can go in the toaster oven, and the salad can be prepared while the other things are cooking. You can make your meal even cheaper by buying the meat in bulk when it's on sale and having it last you for more than one meal. You can make the fries from scratch by buying potatoes and slicing them and frying them (or baking them) yourself. And lettuce, of course, can be bought outside of a bag and washed yourself. But even by taking the shortcuts mentioned above, you will still save a lot of money by staying home to eat.

For other easy meals such as spaghetti or pizza, it can be done from scratch or the shortcut way and still have dramatic savings over eating out. Pizza dough can be bought in the refrigerated section. Add some jar sauce and shredded cheese and bake. Cost is proabably about $3. A bag of spaghetti and jar sauce is probably only $2. One person cannot eat that cheaply in a restaurant let alone a whole family.

If you plan most of your meals ahead of time (even just in your head), you can avoid rushing out to eat or ordering take-out. Instead you can eat out when you truly want a meal you cannot duplicate at home or you want to treat yourself to a night out without cleaning up dishes.

In Real Life (IRL) - I am not a great cook. I'm not sure I'm even a good cook. But I do make at least 6 of our dinners at home per week. Sometimes I make all of them. Sometimes I do it from scratch as much as possible and sometimes I buy foods that are more convenient (and more costly than basic ingredients but still less than eating out). For example, I often make pizza dough from scratch. Flour, yeast, sugar, oil, and water do not cost much. Maybe I spend 50 cents on those ingredients for one pizza dough. I don't use homemade pizza sauce though and I buy shredded cheese. So it takes me very little time to make a pizza for dinner. As long as I know in my mind early in the day that pizza is what I'm making, then it gets done. It's when I don't think about what dinner will be until the last minute that I am tempted to order out.

I don't think everyone needs to cook from scratch to save money from eating out. If you are eating out 3 -4 times a week and want to cut it down, then start by buying convenience foods - premade doughs, frozen french fries, jarred sauce, etc. Once you have that routine covered and are comfortable with it, then attemp to make the same foods from scratch. It not only saves you money but is also healthier. Bulk potatoes are very cheap. Cutting them and frying them is not too time consuming. Cutting your own lettuce and washing it takes a few minutes more than pouring it out of a bag but really doesn't take that long. When we stared cutting back on eating out to save money, this is how we did it. We bought easy things and then I started cooking more from scratch. I don't do it all the time, but we do avoid eating out most days. And it has saved us a lot on our grocery bill.

Don't Buy Convenience Items

#6 Money Saving Tip - Don't Buy Convenience Items Unless You Really, Really Don't Have Extra Time. There are tons of convenience foods out there. There are cut-up carrots, cut-up fruit, individually packaged cookies, and personal-sized drinks for sale. There are also whole lunches pre-packaged for the busy parent. There are frozen peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, cereal in a bar, and salads in a bag. The mark-up on convenience foods is astronomical, not to mention the amount of extra waste they generate. I think there is a time and place for convenience foods. When you're on vacation, it's very nice to have boxed drinks in the car. And when you throw big parties and are short on time, it's nice to buy a giant sized bowl of pre-cut fruit.

But it's when these convenience foods become a part of your daily life, they will eat you out of house and home before you get a chance to eat them. It's much more economical to buy a bag or box of food such as cookies and portion them out yourself. Or to buy a whole fruit and cut it up. Drinks can easily be poured into sippy cups for a fraction of juice boxes. It would not take too much extra time to make these foods into individual portions.

Here are some examples. A 64 ounce carton of orange juice is typically on sale for $3.00 where I live. That equates to 8 8-ounce portions. A 48-ounce package of 6 individual 8 ounce juices are over $4.00. If you are packaging a lunch for your child, you could easily take 5 sippy cups and fill them with juice in the beginning of the week and still have 3 portions worth for the following week and save yourself a dollar (not to mention helping save the environment). Another example is carrots. Organic baby cut carrots cost $2.99 for a 16-ounce bag where I live. And an 8-ounce jar of organic dressing is $2.99. For $6.00, you could probably divide these up into 8 servings (2 ounces of carrots and 1 ounce of dressing) for 75 cents per serving. Compare this to a 6.75 ounce package of organic baby cut carrots pre-packaged into 3 servings including the dip costs $3.99. This is $1.33 per serving and the servings are smaller! How long does it take to pour some dressing into a cup? The carrots are already baby carrots.

All it takes is a little bit of planning to take advantage of regular sized packages to save you money. And then when you absolutely need a convenience food, you won't feel too bad about buying it and paying more money.

In Real Life (IRL) - I gave some examples of prices at our local grocery store above. But I will share with you what I do for my family. During the summer I went to a natural food store. Generally, their produce is more expensive than in a regular grocery store but I like some of their products, so I shop there on a regular basis in addition to typical grocery stores. Anyway, they had whole watermelons for sale for $5.99. These were grown locally and they were HUGE! I took one home and cut it up. I had to use two containers to store it all because it was so big. As an experiment, I said to myself, let's see what this cut-up watermelon weighs without the rind. I put it on my baby's nursery scale and it weighed over 11 pounds! Wow, that means, I spent just 55 cents per pound for watermelon. If you were to walk into any grocery store -natureal or not, it costs at least $3.99 for cut-up watermelon - sometimes $4.99 or $5.99. For 11 pounds of cut-up watermelon, that's at least $44! I spent just $6! Seriously, it took me about 30 minutes to cut up the thing and I saved nearly $40.

For lunches for school, I make a few peanut butter and jelly sandwiches in the beginning of the week and freeze them. Each night as I'm packing lunch, I pull out a pre-frozen sandwich. Easy as pie. I buy my bread in the natural food store mentioned above as well as my only fruit (no sugar or artifical ingredients) jelly. I generally buy regular peanut butter. I figured out that the cost of my peanut butter and jelly sandwich is about 54 cents if I use two slices of bread and a whole ounce each of peanut butter and jelly and I buy nothing on sale. The pre-frozen pre-made peanut butter and jelly sandwiches are 75 cents per 2 ounce sandwich at my local market. I save 20 cents per day and I use natural bread and jelly. Over the course of a school year, that 20 cents turns into many dollars.

I could add lots more examples, but that's just boring. Figure out the cost per serving of some of those convenience foods, and you'll find you can make them or put the "package" together yourself without much effort and for a lot less money.