For Part I (1-10) of this series see here, part II (11-20) of this series see here and part III (21-30) of this series see here!
31. Nominate two days a week as your vegetarian days!
32. Plan a weekly menu – some people do this strictly stating what meal will be had each day, personally I just plan the meals and then choose which one each morning!
33. Once a month have a freezer cooking day! I try to do this each month and generally cook 3 -4 dishes each yielding at least 4 portions (for example lasagna, chili, lentil stew, soups), muffins and baked goods and snacks like apple or pear sauce. This means I have a minimum of 4 portions x 4 meals = 16 portions as well as snacks, breakfasts and baked goods handy for when friends or family visit or to bless someone else with!
34. Have breakfast for dinner! I do this usually at least twice a month and find it a frugal, easy, quick & simple dinner for those busy nights! An example might be scrambled egg on toast or beans on toast, or even pancakes!
35. Only grocery shop once a week, or even every other week if you can! Personally, I shop once a week as I try to go to the farmer’s market but the weeks I allow myself to go into a grocery shop mid-week are always the weeks I spend more money!
36. Set yourself a no spending month each year! This is a month where you commit to only buying absolute necessities and sticking to a strict budget for those. A no spending month would generally mean that month you don’t eat out, buy alcohol, magazines, cosmetics or books etc.
37. Visit pick your own farms and can produce! Last November I canned over 20 jars of apple sauce, pear slices and pickles!
38. Save each month towards Christmas and celebration food costs. Personally I purchase £1 food coupons from my super market with any left over change from my budget, I always aim to have at least £50 (around $75) saved by December in order to purchase baking ingredients and food for Christmas dinner!
39. Stop your magazine subscriptions! I used to adore magazines (secretly I still do, just won’t pay for them) so now I read what I can at the library (not much where I live) and only allow myself to purchase during a £1 an issue for 3 months special (and I only purchase the 3 months). However, I do keep my old stash and rotate them, I often find new recipes and ideas each time I re-read them!
40. Make your own smoothies! I can not believe that people pay £2 for tiny smoothies when you can use leftover fruit or fruit on sale and easily make the same size smoothie for £0.30 or less! I personally keep a baby food blender in the kitchen (it is small and easy to clean) and whisk up a healthy smoothie most mornings!
I haven’t completely given up on subscriptions, because I do enjoy them a lot, but I only subscribe to magazines I know I will keep for reference. For example, Clean Eating Magazine. I subscribed to Chatelaine, but used my Airmiles to pay for it.
Mike Holmes recently came out with a magazine that I’m considering as well. He is a home reno guru and the magazine is very well put together and informative.
It is easy to get carried away with subscriptions though. I no longer get any parenting magazines and I won’t subscribe if it’s more than $25/year.
As for visiting a U-pick, even better is pick what grows locally if possible. Here in Nova Scotia we are blessed with an abundance of local wild blackberries and cranberries. I will pick gallons of them this August through October and freeze them for baking. I enjoy giving cranberries to older ladies I know who have difficulty picking but enjoy baking. PLUS I find it amazingly relaxing and enjoyable – free entertainment.
Last year we did pick a flat of strawberries at a U-pick, but I think I’ve missed the out this year.
A no spend month – that would be a challenge! I do fairly well on no spend days… Maybe I could try a no-spend week!
I’m finding these posts very useful; I already do most of the things you suggest. Could you please do a post on canning using a water bath for us in the UK? I am wary of trying it in case I make a mistake in translation! I would like to be able to preserve my tomato crop, possibly with other vegetables, such as onions, courgettes, peppers and mushrooms as pasta sauce, or tomatoes alone to use instead of tinned tomatoes. I have a small freezer but it’s too small for this. Canning apple sauce would be good too. We don’t eat much jam, so I’m freezing pureed strawberries from the garden to use in smoothies but there’s no more room. Thanks.
Will do Attila! I’m not sure what I used was a water bath, I’ll need to have a look!
ooo thanks!
You’ve certainly highlighted ways we could save money here and I’m going to put some of your ideas into practice. But no. 36 has brought me out in a cold sweat!!!
34. is fabulous. I need to reintroduce that at home!
Stopping buying magazines was the first small step I made to start paying attention to my spending and save some money.
I also love breakfast for dinner, scrambled eggs or a boiled egg are the two most common ones at our place.
Number 35, shopping once a week really doesn’t work for me, I find that I spend much less if I shop every two or three days and just get enough till the next shop, possibly because we never both want to stick with the menu plan, and often food ends up going to waste; I think the important thing is figuring out what works best for each person.
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A few more ideas:
- Save in items you use a lot by buying in bulk. In US, Costco rules for such things (12-packs of tuna, 8 can packs of tomatoes etc)
- Use your library
- Join bookcrossing (get rid of the books you don’t like any more and hunt for free ones in your city)
- Read “How I lived a Year for £ 1 a Day” – even if many ideas are UK-centric, some of them will work around the globe (I read a bookcrossing copy of that book..)
- Learn to cook
- Give up soda and processed foods
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