Remind we why I need to be frugal??

[its_our_family]

Ok, a little background. I haven't been in this forum in a bit but....

We have always had finance issues. I mean, we have never had enough money to cover ourselves. Well, we decided I needed to work part time. Then I bumped to almost fulltime. I lvoe working. We started making more money. We had enough money to be able to splurge etc.

I've been working a year and we are in the same place we were a year ago. We have enjoyed my pay a little too much!

So, remind me why we need to be frugal.

Heck, I'll have to remember how to BE frugal!

The thing that is getting us the most is eating out. I don't have a lot of time to cook or prepare anymore and that is killing us. We decide ot to eat out, by groceries, then we eat out and the groceries rot!

So, I gotta kick our asses in gear!

Help me jump start!

[Twocoolboys]

oops - I just typed a reply and for some reason, pasted a reply to another thread in here. I don't have time to retype. I'll try again later.

Sorry!

[D&S Mom]

There's a great show called "Fixing Dinner" on Food Network here in Canada. Here's the link: http://www.foodtv.ca/ontv/titledetai...?titleid=83516

She has menus for the whole week with grocery lists and recipes. These meals look really good and is made for busy families. It may help you.

Another thought is to make use of a slow cooker. You can assemble everything the night before and turn it on the next morning. Whole chickens are awesome done like that.

[TexasGirl96]

Here are some of the reasons that I use to help motivate myself

Because it will set a good example for my DS

Because the food I cook at home is healthier than the food we eat out

Because my marriage became so much more peaceful once we got a handle on our spending

Because one of my best memories of childhood is cooking with my mother and I want my DS to have those memories too

Because money left over in the budget at the end of the month is the best kind of money

[its_our_family]

Thanks!

Worst thing is we owe the IRS for 2005 and now we will owe them for 2006. We may actually be able to save every penny possible and be ableto pay our 2006 stuff. Hubby's employer doesn't cover any of Social Security. So, we have to figure out how to cover all 15%. They don't even withhold anything!

Good points. I loved looking at a savings account and seeing 4 digits in there (and it wasn't including the change!) But we hadca problems and had to shell out a lot for repairs over the course of a year. That was our set back and it sucks!

[Twocoolboys]

Ok, I'm back. I was going to say to use your slow cooker, if you have one. If you don't, then get one. It is so quick and easy to throw a meal in the crock pot in the morning and have dinner ready and waiting for you when you get home. Also, for those nights when you truly feel the urge to eat out, stop at the grocery store instead and pick up on of those pre-cooked chickens and a bag of salad. It is still cheaper than eating out. We even budget in one night a week where I am not going to feel like cooking and we order a pizza or get a pre-cooked chicken. It's my out on dinner prep - lol. I use it any night I want. I think not trying to be perfect with a perfect home-cooked meal every night helps. I do go through phases when I am particularly motivated or particularly broke and don't do this, but it is nice to have the option, if you can. We also have soup and sandwich nights too, which are pretty cheap meals to make quick when you don't feel like cooking.

[PajamaMama]

I don't love food done in the slow cooker, I always think it tastes sort of canned or something, even if I use all fresh ingredients that I prep myself.

So our easy dinners are things like sandwiches and raw veggies with a little ranch dressing for dipping,

or soup made on the weekend with some french bread,

or breakfast-for-dinner like eggs, or pancakes,

or oatmeal (the steel cut kind) with some fresh fruit or just some dried fruit and nuts,

or English muffin pizza (everyone gets 2 english muffins, split them then you each have 4 pieces, spread a little tomato sauce, sprinkle some grated cheese, add leftover veggies/meat, broil til bubbly

or rice cooked in the rice steamer and mixed with some steamed veggies

I don't like cooking much now that I'm pregnant. I also don't like the greasy smell that every kind of takeout seems to have. So these kind of easy to make dinners are the norm around here lately unless dh is home and feels like cooking (and cleaning up) something more elaborate!

Good luck getting back to being frugal. You can do it once you figure out where the extra money is going and you cut it out.

[mightymoo]

We are frugal because we think the longer term more expensive and substantial goals are more important to us than the little fleeting things we could spend our money on. For example, retirement, college for the kids, and my personal goal a lake house (I really need to work on my frugal skills if I want to make any headway toward that one)

Think of it this way - which would you rather have/do? Eat out once a week or own a wide screen television? or go on a fun vacation, etc. The goals don't have to be huge, they can be smaller, but I think it helps to think in terms of what larger items you are giving up because you are spending the money on smaller items. It's not that we don't spend our money, we just don't waste it on things that on the grand scale are less important to us.

A great way to deal with the after work dinner slump is to do the month of meals thing. Even as a stay at home mom I don't have hte energy to cook dinner at the end of the day. We pick one weekend a month and I spend some time planning ,shopping and we take an entire day and cook. While I cook, DH cleans up after me, washing bowls and htings. We pick 5-7 recipes and cook 5-7 meals of each and freeze them. Then we have dinner set for the month! I have had no problem fitting this into a typical top-open style refrig, so long as it isn't already stuffed with other things. A great book for this is Frozen Assets. The day of cooking is hard work, but then dinner every night is a snap and there is so much less clean up too. We love it.

[TiredX2]

Originally Posted by mightymoo

Think of it this way - which would you rather have/do? Eat out once a week or own a wide screen television?

DEFINATELY eat out once a week. I'm not sure that supports the point though

[Leilalu]

I just think of all the other stuff I could be buying with the money I save, when I buy stuff in bulk. Like, yarn


I have just decided that there are some things that don't need to be expensive. And that I would much rather save a little bit here and there so I can get more bang for my buck.

[its_our_family]

Originally Posted by mightymoo

Think of it this way - which would you rather have/do? Eat out once a week or own a wide screen television?

http://i16.photobucket.com/albums/b3...y/IMG_2838.jpg

Um, did I mention we were enjoying our new salary a little too much.....

We are terrible....

[mightymoo]

Heh. I knew when I chose the TV I would run into trouble here!

its_our_family - we've been there - we bought a 57" tv before I left work, before DD was born, then last year we moved cross country - we bought a much smaller house which doesn't fit it (this is one of those huge in the case projection, so bulky to say the least) - so now we visit it at my parents house

Honestly, you should spend your money on what makes you happy - its just about seeing the big picture and making sure you aren't going to look back years later and say I wish I had the money instead of the thing or the food, etc. We don't regret the big TV, but we do regret all the money we wasted on food and things that were so fleeting we don't even remember them now, or were thrown out or wasted.

I think being frugal is also about getting hte most for your buck. So often we spend more than we have to. Using coupons, looking for sales, etc these sorts of frugal things are about spending as little as possible for what you need - not necessarily not getting it.

[mightymoo]

I just felt like adding this for some reason. My mom is the definition of unfrugal. It's almost funny - she loves sales and a 'good deal' and a good deal to her is anything that is cheap. She has often been known to say things like 'what the heck, its only $5? even if we just throw it out...', etc. I'd say about 50% of waht she buys is just a waste. Yet she constnatly complains about not having enough money for what she wants, things like a deck, etc. She just can't see that all those $3 and $5 add up to a deck. She'd rather use paper plates than have to do dishes. Yet honeslty the only thing she does she recognizes as being frivolous is eating out (which they do probably 5-6 times a week) She thinks she doesn't have any money because they don't make enough, rather than because she spends too much.

We canned applesauce a few weeks ago - we had to go buy ball mason jars. She told me that she had some at the old house (they moved 3 years ago) but it was too much hassle to move them, so she threw them out (probably not even recycled knowing her) - they moved less than a mile! It really drives me bananas!

[its_our_family]

: about the TV

The tv we bought we actually got 70% off of....so we did get an awesome deal! Open box floor model with a 20% off coupon :

[mightymoo]

Originally Posted by its_our_family

: about the TV

The tv we bought we actually got 70% off of....so we did get an awesome deal! Open box floor model with a 20% off coupon :

See, you aren't as bad as you think you are

[its_our_family]

Thanks!