Easy Peasy Tip: Budget!
By Jenn (TinyChoices.com) | November 14, 2009
Keeping yourself on a budget is important in many ways– it can help you stay on track with your income and spending habits, which can keep you on the road you envision for your future.
The nice thing is that it can also help you stay focused on your eco-goals at the same time!
- If you’re watching your food spending patterns, for example, you’ll quickly notice that buying lunch every day is an extremely expensive habit, while also generating a whole lot of trash. So, bring your lunch from home in reusable containers or wrappers and you’ll stay on target!
- Going shopping for new clothes gets real expensive real fast. But if you shift your habits and buy from thrift shops or make your own clothes, or alter what you’ve already got to be more stylish, or host a clothing swap– then you’ve just upped your green cred while saving cash.
- Ect!
What are some ways budgeting has helped you?
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Topics: Easy Peasy Tips | 15 Comments »
I don’t know if you’d call this budgeting, but I seem to be the only person who checks her bill after checking out. I find mistakes often enough to get free merchandise regularly! This week it was a package of cheese worth $7.48 and last week I got an electric kettle for $4 instead of $14 at WalMart. This latter incident had been so unpleasant that I wrote the President, as a result of which I received a phone call from the local manager, who told me I would be receiving a gift certificate.
Gina, love this tip! It’s so easy to get lazy about this stuff… thanks for the reminder :)
While browsing the internet yesterday (see: http://xkcd.com/214/), I came across a guide to menu planning on a budget – seems relevant for today’s tip! http://www.hillbillyhousewife.com/menuplanning.htm
Thanks, Maggie– going to peruse that link now!
I was just writing a budget this morning! Serendipity. I’ve found that I spend too much money on food and on gasoline. Food isn’t really optional, and I very rarely eat out, but I can choose to buy store brand versus name brand. However, I am concerned about the impact of my food choices on the environment. Most of the time, the more eco-friendly option is also the more expensive option, i.e. veggie patties vs. meat, local produce vs. shipped-in-from-somewhere. I also have to eat mostly low-fat, sugar-free, healthy foods, so the options of subsisting on ramen noodles and cheap frozen dinners are out. Does anyone have any suggestions as to how to be semi-vegetarian/eco-conscious/health-conscious and NOT go broke in the process?
P.S. Jenn, it’s “etc.” not “ect.”
Hey Molly– one idea is to make more items from scratch, though this does highly depend upon your availability of free time.
For example, there are a ton of recipes out there for black bean burgers, and when made from dried beans each burger would probably end up costing fractions of a dollar. Make a large batch and freeze them, instead of buying premade veggie burgers by the 4-pack expensive box!
I do this with soups (all of which are vegan)– double the recipe, then freeze it in pint containers. Then I have a super-simple lunch to grab on my way out the door. And most of my soups are more like stews, really, so they’re hearty and full of greens and beans and grains. It’s one way I can manage to cook meals and save on lunch costs.
That is an excellent idea about the burgers! I frequently make vegetable soup, but had never considered making my own burgers. I guess I thought all those additives and unknown ingredients “had” to be in there… but they don’t! My own burgers would be cheaper and healthier, no doubt. Thanks for the tip! Never thought of adding grains to my soup, either… brilliant!
I second the idea for making your own food instead of buying processed foods. I used to love my tofu chicken patties but they were EXPENSIVE. After reading Michael Pollan’s book (i know..I’m a walking cliche), I decided to cut out all the processed stuff. I make my own oatmeal from bulk steel cut oats and fruit instead of buying cereal, which everyone knows is really expensive, plus don’t have to eat it with milk or soymilk. That’s just an example of the switches I made. I buy a lot of bulk barley and lentils too. I make vegetarian stews with them…no premade broth needed with some carrots, onions, and celery kept on hand. Same for spaghetti sauce. I make my own with canned crushed tomatoes instead of the bottled stuff which is pricey and often contains sugar or high fructose corn syrup
You’re correct, Molly, sometimes the healthier option is more expensive. For example, I started buying whole wheat bread at a bakery instead of buying it at the store. It’s more expensive, but I know it doesn’t have a lot of weird chemicals in it. BUT, ever since I cut out processed foods, I crave snacks & high fat foods less and less. So I end up buying less food in the long run because I’m not always craving sugary, salty things. And I’ve lost weight! Yippee!
So true on the pasta sauce. I grew up with basic homemade and after trying the ‘quick’ pre-prepared ones, was totally grossed out by them.
The absolute basic, start with some great pasta. Then in a separate pan/pot just one tin of tomato sauce (or crushed tomatoes) and half the tin of water, add around a teaspoon of dried basil, around 2 of oregano and just a tad bit of thyme. Bring the lot to a boil and then just let it sit warm till your pasta is ready. If you start with the sauce, once your water is boiled and pasta ready the sauce is ready to go.
Obviously you can jig around with the spices till you find what you like. I sometimes add some grated onion to the pot first and let that sweat before adding the rest. If you want some veg just toss it in there, but remember the cooking time is a bit longer. If you like a bit of meat or meat substitute, brown it first and then add the rest. And if you are feeling like spoiling yourself, go with the simple tomato sauce, and then once cooked add 1-2 heaping tablespoons of marscapone cheese and mix well just before tossing on your pasta. That is one of our real favs!
Pre-prepared pasta sauces are a waste of money.
Thanks for the tips, Jess! I know what you mean about cravings… now that I eat mostly plant-based whole foods, I don’t crave junk food as much. Of course, sometimes the scents still get me! ;)
Oh Molly, potato chips are still a weakeness for me!!!
My reason is purely selfish. By keeping track of my budget I can tell how much work I really need to do. Since I am a tutor my work schedule varies from month to month. By keeping my expenses down I can get away with working less and enjoying myself more. At home everything is on a power bar and off most of the time. Although I have a computer I only use the internet at the college where I tutor. Since I am a frequent patron of the local library, which of course has tons of Books and video tapes I can’t see myself paying for cable. I have a small garden in the summer so then I am basically a vegan, no shopping for 3 months. Also I grow my own salads in pots in the winter. I have 6 skylights. My one real gift to myself is that I don’t like to be cold so the thermostat is set on 70 but the house is energy efficent, i designed it myself, I used 301 gallons of fuel last winter and it was one of coldest in years. By making use of a budget the money is always available to pay bills even when I don’t work, of course all done with auto pay and e-statements, no paperwork, just downloaded to a USB for recordkeeping. and yes I always check my receipts, just last week an item I use frequently went down in price (usually this means they will be discontinued) so I picked up several more. These extra purchases are also earmarked in my budget.
Anna, we’d love to hear more about your lifestyle!! It sounds like you’re making great choices and have found a good balance between work and play– sometime we’re all searching for! Any chance you’d be interested in taking the TC Survey? (If so, just send us your answers to these same questions: http://tinychoices.com/2009/10/30/tiny-choices-survey-marisa-2/)
These are all really cool ideas. I’d like to echo the library idea. I discovered about 3 years ago that the public library now is NOT what I grew up with (and I’m not even that old!). Most libraries let you go online and have any book, cd, or movie sent to your local branch, they send you an email when it’s ready, and you just go pick it up. My library where I used to live had EVERY movie you could want. Sometimes you’d have to wait, and you could still pay $2 to see new release dvds without waiting in line, but it was the best deal in town. No need for Netflix or Blockbuster. I live in a bigger city now and, ironically, their movie selection isn’t as good, but they still have a ton of great books and audiobooks.
Also, I’d like to add that there’s virtually no need to pay for cable television anymore as long as you have high-speed internet. I have the cheapest Netflix subscription, and while I might be a little farther behind on some tv shows than most people, I always have something to watch either on dvd or on their “instant view” feature. You can also watch a ton of shows on Hulu and on the network websites. My brother pays over $100 a month for his cable subscription. Why???
[...] And no matter what you do, don’t leave the house without a budget! [...]