If you aren’t reading Get Rich Slowly everyday, you should be. J.D. is one of the best and most consistent personal finance bloggers I’ve ever read. His latest post, How to Fight the Urge to Splurge, lists several ways to avoid the temptations to spend money that surround us all every day.
Archive for the 'Frugality' Category
Some people are great about keeping up with a budget. I’ve heard of people who categorize and track every expense down to the penny. They know exactly where all of their money is going.
This is great if you’re that kind of person. Unfortunately, I just can’t live that way. If budgeting doesn’t work for you. Maybe my way will suit you better.
I should probably warn you that my method might sound a little harsh at first, but it’s what I’ve been doing for quite a while now and it seems to be working.
There are only three steps:
- Invest for the future
- Pay for the past
- Live on what’s left
It’s that simple. Let’s break down each step and see what I mean.
Invest for the future
Read any good personal finance book and you’ll learn about paying yourself first. Part of your money should be automatically going into a savings account before you even see it.
This can be a 401k at work, or even a regular savings account. Don’t worry too much about where it’s going now, just make sure that you’re putting a little money back for the future every time you get paid.
Pay for the past
I’m assuming since you’re at this site that you have a little bit of credit card debt to pay off. Your next step should be to pay your credit card bills.
Some people like to focus on the card with the lowest balance, others like to focus on the highest interest rate, and still other people pay a little extra on each account.
I’ll talk about the pros and cons of each of these methods in a future post. For now, just make sure you’re paying at least the minimum on each account and you’re not late.
Live on what’s left
This is where most people have problems. “Pay yourself first” is second only to “spend less than you earn” in terms of financial advice. That’s what this step is all about.
Once you’ve put back a little money and paid all of your bills, you can spend what’s left. If you can’t survive until your next paycheck, you’ll either have to find a way to live on less or eliminate some bills.
I never said this was going to be easy, but it will teach you to live within your means. As time goes on and you pay off a few bills, it gets easier. Before you know it, you’ll forget all about budgeting.
Sometimes it seems like eating together is the only social activity we experience any more. The weekend trip to some restaurant is almost a ritual among friends and family.
Just because you’re trying to cut back and pay off your bills doesn’t mean you have to give this up. Here are my favorite ways to save money when eating out in restaurants.
1. Stay Home
This tip is guaranteed to save you 100% when eating out — just stay home. Cooking is a skill that takes lots of practice. Hopefully you’re good enough at cooking already that you can still eat your mistakes. If not, keep practicing and you’ll get there.
We cook everything from traditional southern meals to Italian and Chinese in my house. Our home cooked meals are just as good as restaurant food, not to mention healthier and a lot cheaper.
The next time your friends call and want to dine out at some fancy restaurant, try inviting them over for a dinner party. After cooking a few meals for my friends, I now have people offering to buy the groceries if I’ll cook again.
2. Drink Water
An easy way to usually save around 10% on your restaurant meal is by drinking water. Around here the average soft drink or tea in a restaurant is at least $1.00 or more. Don’t even get me started on the cost of alcoholic drinks.
3. Try Lunch
Many restaurants have less expensive menus at lunch time. Some of our favorite places serve the same dishes at lunch time and dinner time — they just offer a smaller portion, and price, at lunch time.
4. Ask About The Special
Another easy way to save is by ordering the special of the day. There are some restaurants that we only visit on certain days of the week when our favorite dish is available at a reduced price.
5. Try Ordering a la carte
Don’t pay for the things you don’t want. If the restaurant lets you order individual items, take advantage of it. Order just what you want and save a little money.
For example, we love Mexican tacos. Our favorite taqueria has a taco dinner with three tacos and a side of beans and rice for $5.50, or you can order indivual tacos for $1.25 each. Skip the beans and rice and save $1.75.
6. Skip The Appetizers
Appetizers in restaurants are a lot like drinks. They’re another one of those little things that can really increase your total bill. If you must have an appetizer, find someone to share it. Or if it’s something you really like, maybe you could have the appetizer instead of an entree.
7. Skip Dessert
This rule goes together with the previous rule — always skip either the dessert or the appetizer. Hopefully you can skip both, but always skip at least one. I don’t even remember the last time I had an entire dessert to myself. We’ve been sharing desserts in my family forever.
8. Share
Restaurant portions are completely out of control these days. Even if you don’t care about money, it’s probably a good idea to share your meal with someone else just to keep your weight under control. Sharing an entree will save you 50% on your total bill.
9. Shop Around
Another trick we use sometimes is buying the meal at one place and dessert at another place. Eat in a nice restaurant if you want. Then instead of ordering the $5.00 cheesecake, go to the local ice cream place and spend $1.50 on a scoop in a cone.
10. Let Someone Else Pay
Another way to guarantee 100% savings, let someone else pay for it. As I’ve said before, I often do work in exchange for gift certificates to local restaurants.
Also, if your parents or other relatives offer to take you out to eat, take advantage of it. I hardly ever turn down an offer of a free meal.
What Works For Us
In my family we rarely eat out unless someone invites us. When we do eat in a restaurant, we usually just order two entrees with water. If there’s an appetizer that we really like or the entrees are too much for one person to eat we’ll split an appetizer and an entree.
We also try to take home the leftovers for another meal. The cost of restaurant food isn’t so bad if you can spread it out over more than one meal.
