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Tip Of The Day: What little changes in your life can you make today, that will save you money for the remaining 351 days of 2009? The first in a two part series – which sounds WAY more official and officious than it should.
Tip For Tomorrow: Part Two of living cheap in 09. Because it’s not like any of us are getting richer.
Further Elucidation Of My Cheap Deal: I was originally going to just write one post on this topic, but then decided to divide it up into a two-parter for ease of reading for you, the reader. I know, I’m just a giver that way. The first post will be dedicated to my most favorite topic – no, not hot guys – food and drink. What small Resolutions about drinking and eating can you make that will save you in the New Year?
1. Drink less (perhaps none at all, if you can swing it) soda. Or pop. Or soda pop – whatever you choose to call it. Soda isn’t cheap, it’s horrifically bad for you (even the diet kind, so don’t even try to lie to yourself about it), and it causes you to drink less of what you should be drinking. Which would be water, and not booze. Sorry.
Try cutting back to one can a day, then one every other day, then one a week until you’re living life pop-free. Trust me, it can be done. I had a wicked Coke habit (yes, the kind you drink, SHEESH people) but managed to cut back to one or two cans a month. I now get my caffeine fix from non-sugary, non-carbonated coffee and tea. Which also happen to be MUCH cheaper than soda.
Then you’ll have room in your tummy for more water, which brings me to Resolve Number Two:
2. Drink less bottled water. It’s INSANE how much bottled water costs, not to mention how all those bottles floating around are rapidly destroying the environment. Don’t believe me? Just ask Al Gore – he’ll tell you (and while you’re chatting him up, get his number for me. Thanks.).
Instead of bottled water, try this low-rent fix – bring a glass from home to work. Fill said glass with water from the cooler or from the tap. Drink it. Spend no money AT ALL while getting hydrated.
If you must drink water from a bottle (you have a long commute, you’re on the road all day, the tap water at work tastes like moldy feet), this is where you should splurge. Invest in one of those fancy metal bottles that won’t leech gamma-ray-esque chemicals into your beverage.
3. Drink less coffee drinks from over-priced chains. First of all, you’ll save something like one bazillion dollars (not to mention, a bazillion calories) if you stop drinking Ultra Venti Latte Mochachinos. Everybody knows THAT.
But if you do want a little caffeinated liquid dessert, spend your hard-earned money at a local and locally owned coffee shop. Someplace independent, without the word ‘Buck’ in it’s name.
4. Eat out less at chain and fast food restaurants. To ask you to stop eating out altogether would be cruel, both for you and for the struggling restaurant industry. Instead, spend that cash locally at an independently-owned restaurant.
If you live on the north side of the TC, I recommend Nala Pak’s lunch buffet for the cheapest trip to southern India you’ll find – just $12.50, including tax and tip. And I believe the Dari-Ette in St. Paul is staying open for the winter this year, so swing by for a tasty Italian-American meal for less.
5. EAT YOUR LEFTOVERS. Seriously, I do not get people who throw away their leftover food. You are just throwing away MONEY. WHICH IS SO WRONG – in any economy, not just during a Recession.
Those are my ideas, what about yours? What tips do you have for saving money on food and drink all year long?
7 Comments
When you do grocery shopping, pick up the store brands. They are usually just as tasty and WAY less money!
Support the local chains, like you said. And PLEASE, for heaven's sake, stop using those dang purchased bottled water. It's usually just tap water anyhow. So save your bucks & live a bit more green!
If you *do* go get your coffee out n' about (rather than brewing it at home)… take along a metal coffee thermos. Most chains now give you a 10-25 cent discount if you use your own coffee cup!
Being that I teach for half the day and am a student for the other half, I invested in one of those fancy metal bottles and I LOVE it. seriously.
The other big food money saver I do is buy in bulk. I buy 50 pound bags of flour and sugar. 50 pounds of sugar was $14 at Costco, 2 pounds of sugar is $2 at Walmart. Do the math.
I also save $$ on meat because I live in rural OH and 4H kids raise cows pigs and lambs and sell them cheap. It's like organic meat on discount. But you have to buy the whole thing.
*chuckling*
I'm so with you! Ditto, ditto, and ditto. And "What she said". I might add, too, that being vegetarian has saved me beacoup bucks in the food department over the years. Not that everyone necessarily wants to be a complete veggie-eater, but even adding a few vegetarian meals a week will cut a bit off the grocery bill.
El Jefe and I have been doing meal planning this year and making an effort to eat out only once a week. And when I mean eat out, I mean "cheaply." Like with coupons and everything.
Here's another suggestion – don't drink coffee or tea at all. Drink nothing but water. It works for me.
I buy my pound of coffee at the fancy schmancy coffee shop, so that I get the flavor without the cost per cup.
Coupons, coupons, coupons for stores and coffee shops and what-ever. And, to keep the coupons from getting out of control, don't worry about keeping one of those fancy divided holders … just get yourself a little bit oversized envelope and shove it in your purse.
Oh, yea, another one. Buy groceries at CUB, and use those holiday station store cents off for gas coupons. Sure, you have to go inside. But, I'll take a few extra steps for 17 cents off a gallon!
These are my personal favorite bottles: http://www.kleankanteen.com/ They have lots of sizes, colors, accessories, even sippy cup lids! Everyone in my house uses them.
The Little Taj Mahal in the Dinkydome by the U of M has a buffet for about $6. You can pack a to-go container to the gills so cheaply. And it is delicious.