Eating your way to Financial Freedom
Posted: November 11th, 2008 | Author: Mo2 | Filed under: Budgeting, Finance | Tags: ads and coupons, Budgeting, eating and saving, Finance, Financial Freedom, free newspapers, Investing, newspaper ads, sales, Supermarket |Budgeting your grocery expenses
In light of moving out, I have decided to start planning ahead so that I will be able to control my finances. Considering the fact that I preach a lot of things on this site about finance and investing you’d expect me to have perfect control over everything in terms of finance. Well, it’s quite the contrary I’m afraid. I have times when I do impulse buying or buy things without any plan and forget what budgeting is all about. It’s harder than most think and that’s why it actually takes some dedication to limiting your monthly expenses.
But when you’re cornered in terms of finances you have little choice but to control what you spend. I know that at least for the first few months I’ll be scraping by so let’s look at ways to control grocery-shopping expenses to start…
Make a list!
Yes yes, you’ve heard it before. Before you go to your local supermarket and fill you shopping cart with purple marshmallows and extremely fattening cookies with cholesterol high dipping sauces think about what you actually need.
Have a list to refer to while you shop will keep you disciplined with what you buy. The whole point of the list is to stick to what you write down so you need to make sure you have a good list that covers everything you need. Obviously, there will be times when you go to the store and find something you absolutely need but didn’t put on your list, it’s up to you at that point if you will buy it or not.
Go only once every 2 weeks maximum
If you limit the times you go the supermarket, you limit the number of times you spend money on groceries. Well not necessarily, but by only going once every two weeks you can control and plan out what you eat and limit the snacks and chips that you would by since those just happen to run out the quickest for some odd reason. Of course, if you stopped being such a couch potato that wouldn’t happen but that’s another story…
Cash vs. Credit (or debit) card
A lot of people say you should go to the supermarket with only cash and take “just” enough to cover whatever you’re buying. I think this is a good idea for those of you that just can’t control your spending no matter what. But I’m a firm believer of credit cards. Why? First read my credit card article to understand that credit cards are not only a tool for impulse buying but also a tool to improve your credit for free while racking in points.
If you’re looking to reduce your expenses that’s a great sign! That means you are at least attempting to be disciplined with your money and you should push yourself one step further by limiting your credit card use. You have to learn to be financially responsible all around and not by forcing yourself but by getting comfortable with the fact that you can use the credit card, but just not too much.
As for the debit card, if anything this is what you should leave behind because I don’t think there’s anything good about the debit card really, you’re just using up your transactions of your bank account.
Keep track of what you buy
If you keep track of everything you buy you begin to understand what is expensive and what isn’t. Once you get a good feel for market prices of everything you can help yourself even more by buying items that are actually a good deal.
And as you go along you’ll figure out how much of the things you buy you actually use and how much of it you are wasting. You might not need 4 litres of milk or 24 eggs and you might not even like brown eggs. You can also gauge how long certain items can last you before you buy them and it also limits buying the same item that you already have.
Ads and Coupons
It’s annoying getting all the junk mail but sometimes they are useful. You can find great deals at your local supermarket and they sometimes include coupons for items that you need and you should take advantage of this. Every dollar saved is more than a dollar earned you really shouldn’t feel ashamed of using coupons it’s only smart.
Mo2 Thinks…
Budgeting is neither easy nor fun. But it’s a necessity in life even if you are bringing in a six-digit income. Your financial health isn’t about how much you earn, it’s about how much you earn, remember that. If you can control how much you spend, limit it, and earn more I’m sure you don’t need a financial calculator to tell you where that will lead.
Organization is key to budgeting properly. If you make a decent list and keep track of what you buy at the supermarket you can have a good idea as to how much you will spend every time you go. If you don’t trust yourself, take just enough cash but if you want to challenge yourself don’t be afraid to use your credit card. Having a good credit can help you in more than one place in life and it’s something you should work for.
I know I’m going to need to budget for move so these are steps I’m willing to take. I don’t want to carry a balance on my credit or have a loan just to pay off my living expenses. That just wouldn’t make any sense. Being financially healthy is one of the fundamental elements of having a fun life. Money isn’t everything and it never should be, but you should have enough to keep money in its place and you can help yourself by controlling what you spend. Good luck!
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