Big Surprise when looking at my finances....

I used to eat lunch out and about everyday. I also used to weigh 75# more...
Here is my current situation:
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A $4 loaf of sprout bread, $3 organic honey and $6 organic almond butter, all from Aldi.
Washed down with a reusable Nalgene from a $6 a month water tank.
I eat 2 weeks worth of lunch for under $15. Boring maybe, but I'm healthier and I KNOW what is in the food I eat.
My wife and I maybe go out to eat once a month. We prefer to cook for ourselves so we know what is in the food. So many restaurants add butter, salt and sugar to everything. It's really no wonder so many people are sick...
We spend about $80-$100 per week for groceries but nearly 3/4 of our groceries are perishable items which are more expensive.

Moral of the story: make your own meals and save money way more than just money.
 
Publix FTW. Harris teeter sucks, and is way too expensive here. Food Lion is more expensive than Publix here too. Publix is a proper grocery store.

Also Earth Fare and trader Joe's have good stuff for specialty goodies. Trader Joe's has really good frozen burritos, or at least as good as a frozen burrito ever gets. And good bacon. And good cheese.
 
UTfball68 said:
Wanna be my chef??? Or have a sister??? I'm not really a picky eater...just have zero ambition to cook. I'm perfectly fine with a hot dog in a tortilla or pimento cheese sammich, but cooking food is one thing I'm extremely lazy about.
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:lol: No sisters but both my brothers are the cooks, as is my dad. I have LOTS of nights I have no interest in cooking but, as you'll find out soon enough, it's well worth the time and effort to put good healthy food on the table for little mouths and growing bellies.

I'll gladly admit that some nights we have soup and biscuits out of cans. Other nights it's Spaghetti Bolognese that I've made from scratch. I batch cook when I'm in the mood or have time so I have something good to warm up on the nights that I'm not or we don't. Good meat on the grill and steamed veggies is our favorite meal and couldn't be easier.
 
Cherokeekid88 said:
Our biggest problem is the weekend. My wife and I are usually out and about and will start the day off by going to biscuitville or something and then will get something for lunch and then when we do finally get home, we realize we don't have anything in the house to eat, so we go get something for dinner... then we usually repeat the process on Sunday and then make a trip to the grocery store.
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I am going to beat you up a tad here, but out of love. You already knew the problem from post 1. You eat out more than you want to. So don't excuse your behavior with (poor at that) justifications.
Now I am not telling you how to spend your money, I dont give a damn, and likely no one else here does either. If you want to spend $1,000k/month on Bojangles feel froggy.

But if you want to change that habit quit talking about what you USED to do and start thinking about what you are going to do.

How do you avoid that cycle? Screw going to biscuitville, start Saturday morning off with a romp in the sheets and afterwards while one of you gets showered and dressed the other starts breakfast. Then you switch. Soon you are both fed, fucked and fresh at the same time you'd normally pull into Biscuitville. That hour that you wont sit there can be used later to cook lunch and dinner.

To me this is like so many other things, its about being an adult and taking charge of your life and planning where your time and money go instead of wondering where it went.

There has been a lot of talk around here in years past about Dave Ramsey and how by and large I think he is well intentioned but FOS...but the one thing his "plan" did for me was reset my money mindset. I challenge anyone to sit down write out a hard budget for the month. Put cash in envelopes in their wallet and purse and freeze all your debit cards and credit cards in a block of ice in the freezer. Do it for 3 months. If you dont have cash you can not have it. I am not suggesting you llive your life like this forever (like Ramsey does) I am suggesting you do it for 3-6 months to reset your mindset and learn to feel where every dollar goes. And be mature and fanatical about it. Shit we budgeted $100 for lunches this week and its wednesday and Im broke. No lunches the next 3 days. Guess I need to learnt to feel hunger.

Sounds stupid right?

I promise of you do that for 6 months, regardless of your income level, afterwarrds you will worry about nothing but your own thrift.

But it takes a mindset change. If you are most concerned about what brand of sunglass you have, or what new car, or whatever...if material possessions define you and your contentment then you will always chase an unobtainable goal.
 
Sunday afternoons usually consist of filling my smoker with a ton of sweet taters wrapped in foil. 75 minutes at 450* and we have a healthy side for lunch AND dinner for a week. While I'm doing that, Lisa is usually making a huge tuna salad and some healthy snack bars. Those bars are nothing more than oats, mashed up nanners, zucchinni, organic honey and raisins. By the time Sunday evening rolls around, we've spent maybe $20 and we have most of our dinners prepared ahead of time.
It is just like anything else. You simply have to budget time and look at that time as an investment in your long term health (and wallet).
 
Ron said:
Shit we budgeted $100 for lunches this week and its wednesday and Im broke.
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Shit, I can eat like a king on $100/wk... assuming we don't go out drinking... in which case I'll burn out all halfway through Friday night.
 
The only way I validate eating out is how many extra meals I can get from the leftovers... like a $12 Mexican dinner making 4 meals for me. I also enjoy making 2 meals from a cookout tray.

Price shopping by the unit (or whatever) is also key...and spare the name brand items
 
Jody Treadway said:
Sunday afternoons usually consist of filling my smoker with a ton of sweet taters wrapped in foil. 75 minutes at 450* and we have a healthy side for lunch AND dinner for a week. While I'm doing that, Lisa is usually making a huge tuna salad and some healthy snack bars. Those bars are nothing more than oats, mashed up nanners, zucchinni, organic honey and raisins. By the time Sunday evening rolls around, we've spent maybe $20 and we have most of our dinners prepared ahead of time.
It is just like anything else. You simply have to budget time and look at that time as an investment in your long term health (and wallet).
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Budgeting for stickies 101
 
ProbablyBroke said:
Budgeting for stickies 101
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You know, you have a point there and what isn't wasted can be put towards things enjoyed.
(Not directed at your comment whatsoever, BTW) I hate when people say "Can't hide money" and crap like that. I don't piss it away, smoke it away or waste it away.
It isn't hidden. You can see right where it comes from. Cleverly enough it comes from locking the shop up after 8 most nights and is disguised as hard work and dedication.
 
Jody Treadway said:
You know, you have a point there and what isn't wasted can be put towards things enjoyed.
(Not directed at your comment whatsoever, BTW) I hate when people say "Can't hide money" and crap like that. I don't piss it away, smoke it away or waste it away.
It isn't hidden. You can see right where it comes from. Cleverly enough it comes from locking the shop up after 8 most nights and is disguised as hard work and dedication.
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Never understood that comment...why dafuq would you hide it, when you work hard for it, so you can spend it the way you want. I'm sorry you made poor life choices and can't do the same (generically speaking).
 
Jody Treadway said:
You know, you have a point there and what isn't wasted can be put towards things enjoyed.
(Not directed at your comment whatsoever, BTW) I hate when people say "Can't hide money" and crap like that. I don't piss it away, smoke it away or waste it away.
It isn't hidden. You can see right where it comes from. Cleverly enough it comes from locking the shop up after 8 most nights and is disguised as hard work and dedication.
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True..but I gotta be honest. I piss a fair amount of money out...but it sure relieves my stress and keeps others alive...
 
Ron said:
True..but I gotta be honest. I piss a fair amount of money out...but it sure relieves my stress and keeps others alive...
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And to that point, we all have our vices, whatever they may be. I enjoy sharing in your own vice with you ol' buddy. However, it has been entirely too long between vices and Hogzilla sammiches.
 
Ron said:
start Saturday morning off with a romp in the sheets
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I miss those days, LOL. Now there is a little man in the house who wakes up early.
 
DSM Turbos said:
I feel like your posts are like groundhog day.
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:lol::lol::lol: Shit.

This subject has been brought up numerous times on here. Get in the habit. It starts with that...getting in the habit. I have slowly started to try and get back into the habit of meal prepping my lunches or taking leftovers since cooking for two usually yields more than Alex and I will eat for dinner. Being out of town for 23 days to start the year got me back into the habit of just going and grabbing something from CFA, Moes, Harris Teeter etc for lunches when I don't have leftovers. Bad choice. In less than two weeks back in town, I've spent more than we will all month usually on groceries.

Here is a good starting point. Overlook the fact that these are both athlete based websites, the principle is the same and both of these are variations of what we do in our house.
Prep Once, Eat for a Week: 10 Meals for $50
Your $75 Healthy Grocery List And Recipe Guide!
 
Nothing to add here but between my roommate and I we have mastered the art of making ramen noodles a delicacy. Being creative with vegetables helps.

It also doesn't help that I have a jeep addiction and he has a gun addiction.


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NickMaul said:
It also doesn't help that I have a jeep addiction and he has a gun addiction.
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WTH?!?!? That's not an either/Or, that's a common combined addiction, like cigarettes and whiskey, or smoke and a pancake (Cigar and a waffle, Bong and a blitz).....unfortunately I suffer from a Gun/Jeep/Motorcycle trifecta which has extended my sub-addiction to tools (all 3 require a different set of precise tools)
 
we found out something similar. what we did was rebudget and decide to pull 40 bones a week out each in cash. this is all we get for eating out or vices or whatever's. All other purchases are budgeted bills. We have a tiered savings system. Monthly, X% (a hefty percent) goes into a savings account where it sits for 30 days. After thirty days if we have not had to dip into it to purchase anything needed (furniture, applicances, tools, essential 4x4 part, etc) we transfer it into the main savings account. This is a savings account at another bank so in a way it is not accessible or viewable during our normal every day banking interaction with the main bank account. Hidden in a way just to help exercise good discipline. Its always there for emergencies or investment opportunities. Out of sight out of mind. Then again this works for us because we dont rely on social insurance (especially bankrupt ones) for retirement, so we probably put a bigger emphasis on saving then others might.
 
My wonderful "better half" is not a budgeter, nor meal planner past 2-3 days. We eat well though and do go out way more than we should. I've done the PB&J for lunches but I get sick of that crap after a while. WE do the best we can do and live with it. Eating out is part of our entertainment but even that gets old when you go to the same places all the time. We see friends at our local haunts too so that makes it more fun.
I cringe at the money we spend sometimes...so I have another beer...lol
 
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