Thriftilicious Thursday—Everyday Savings Can Add Up!
Well, friends, it’s Thursday, and today I thought I’d point you to some great places to score some everyday savings. After all, if you’re like us and trying to achieve Financial Peace (via Dave Ramsey), every cent saved is another cent that can be used to pay down debt or build up savings.
Food is one place where it is all-too easy to spend beyond your means (or your “shoulds”). We live in a city where restaurants call to us from every block, and large grocery stores make it simple to swing by and grab a ready-made supper for the family—usually for much more than it would’ve cost to prepare it yourself. Sometimes these “conveniences” are necessary for sanity—days or nights when your schedule is packed full and there’s no time to cook. However, with just a little planning, you can save a lot in your monthly food budget. (This is something I’m WORKING ON. Do as I SAY, not as I DO.)
$5 Dinners has awesome recipes and tips for creating meals for your family—for $5 or less! It’s worth it to subscribe to the site or bookmark it when you’re looking for inexpensive recipes.
Momstoppable is another great site for weekly meal planning. I especially appreciate her bargain meals of the week featuring specials at Fareway and Hy-Vee, my grocery stores of choice.
For coupons or alerts to available freebies, you must subscribe to Coupon Cravings, Money Saving Mom, and Deal Seeking Mom. I scan their posts at least once a day. They are great about posting when fast-food franchises, such as Wendy’s or Quizno’s, are offering free food. I scope these out for days when I’m at work—free lunch!
How do you save money on food? Leave me a thriftilicious tip below!
Now, let’s see . . . what’s for supper?
I heard an alarming statistic yesterday: Americans waste 25% of their food.
I know from the rotting zucchini in my frig that this is probably the case, but the number just astounded me.
I’m going to try to buy fewer groceries at once, and go with a plan. Not easy in my chaotic household, and it means more trips to the store (luckily not far away), but I think it’s a good idea.
I spend a hideous amount at the grocery store, but I like my fruits and veggies, and produce is freaking expensive!! So to try to get the most bang for my buck, I always make a menu of around 7ish meals, a few of which rely on fresh produce, so I make those meals first, then a few that use mostly frozen or canned veggies to use later in the week. I also plan a few easy and lazy meals that might at least save us one trip to McDonalds. And much to my husband’s dismay, I would say most of our meals are meatless anymore, which trims the bill WAY down.(You can eat meat at home, Clark!!)