Domesticatey
We’ve been in this house for a month and I’ve already gone domestic. I’m trying to meal plan. I have no idea what I’m doing yet but I’m hoping to figure this out better. I’m attempting to stop pouring money out of my wallet. Scott can spend all the money he wants but I need him to fund my retirement and my love of fine, fine things. I currently have enough in my retirement fund to retire for one whole month, grumblegrumbleparttimerforthekidslovemyjobetcgrumble.
I’m the one doing this because I’m the primary cook in the house. I’m home hours before he is, so I’m the one cooking dinner. Ergo, I have most control of this area. We now share a checking account for household expenses, but past that we each also have our own checking accounts. My grandmother told me to NEVER share all your money with a man. She was right, I’ve learned. She’s eighty years old and she still says, right in front of my Papa who she’s been married to for 40+ years, “He knows I have money, but he DOESN’T know where. You know who knows now? Your mother. That’s it.”
So then, I’m saving household money and my own personal money. I need that for mah fancy student loans. Meh.
Here’s my fabulous money saving plan:
1) Eat all the crap in our pantry that followed us from both our houses.
Our pantry is not big, and it’s CRAMMED full right now. Crammed. We don’t know what’s in there. I made two, two year + cans of Manwich yesterday. Neither of us care for sloppy joes all that much, so why did we each have a can of it from our previous houses? Turns out, we both thought it was something you should have on hand because it’s easy. It was pretty greasy in the end. And no easier than most of the things we make. Won’t be buying up more of that. In fact, I’m buying NOTHING more for the pantry until it’s way clearer. Interesting dinner combinations are on the way.
2) Budget.
Then blow the budgeted amount for food and household in about a week and a half and reconsider how much I spend and how much we need. These first few months are going to be about experimenting. I keep reading that people are making (MAKING!) money by “buying” stuff at Walgreens, because of that little rebatey thing plus coupons giving them an overage. I see people feeding their families of our size on WAY less than I just spent last week. I also will need to budget in the occasional fancier dinners we like (also: Saleem’s on Delmar, FOR WHY ARE YOU CLOSED? Ah! I just read the phone is disconnected. COME BACK!)…ahem. And Melting Pot desserts.
I figure if we eat out less, that is one gigantic money saver. Add that to shopping deliberately, cooking at home, planning and using coupons when applicable (a lot of junk with coupons are things I don’t buy anyway, mostly I don’t buy many convenience foods besides mac n’ cheese). I have noticed that people get toothpaste and shampoo free all the time. FREE. I need some of that.
3) That brings us to meal planning. If I plan meals, I can shop deliberately and waste less.
I mentioned this to my friend who plans meals and she asked me this, “So are you doing this on a monthly rotation? Bi-monthly? Yearly? Are you batch cooking yet?”
And I was all, “ffffppphhhhsaegboiufgnyfwentqi8yhb????”
January 8th, 2009 at 11:32 pm
I find that preparing the Meals is a great Way to save Money. I also find that there are Nights that I want to sit on my Ass and not make Dinner. I found a Way through this. .
I cook “easy” on Monday Night. This could be a Mix & Bake Casserole or a Frozen Pizza. Tuesday Nights I have Cards at the Bar so I eat there. Wednesday and Thursday Nights, I make simple but good Meat n Veggie Dishes. Friday Nights, we eat out cheap. This could be Bar Food or across the Street at El Paisano’s. The Weekends really depend on Circumstance, but we try to eat at Home. It just helps to break it all up. . .
Other Things we are doing to save. . . combining Cell Plans. I use an enormous Amount of Minutes and have been with my Cell Phone Carrier for a while. I can absorb Mr. RnT’s Phone Plan with very little Cost.
As I mentioned in my last Post, I am cleaning out my Storage Locker and that will save me quite a bit per Year. It will also feel good to consolidate all of our Goods.
Good Luck with your consolidation.
January 9th, 2009 at 12:58 am
I started meal planning awhile back because I found myself eating a steady diet of grilled cheese sandwiches when The Man-Thing wasn’t home — if I didn’t have a meal set, I just wouldn’t cook.
I like http://www.mealsmatter.org/MealPlanning/MealPlanner/index.aspx for keeping track of what I’m making. The website also has recipes and grocery list tools.
We went through a period where we had to weed through the pantry (who the hell buys SIX boxes of Rice-a-Roni?!?). Once that was done, I decided to make a list based solely on what I need for the week. I try to stick to said list as closely as possible, but if something we use often is on sale, I’ll buy one or two (not six ;) ). This has cut down both on our grocery bill and the amount of food stock-piled in the house (which probably isn’t really gonna be very helpful in the event of an earthquake or something).
Good luck!
January 9th, 2009 at 9:56 am
I plan meals at about four in the afternoon…sometimes five or six, though. mr. delagar wanders in and says, “Are we having dinner?” in a woeful voice, and I says, “Oh. Yes. I suppose we ought to…are you especially hungry? Could we skip it tonight?” and the kid begins whining…
I’m such a rotten parent.
January 9th, 2009 at 2:35 pm
No, you’re my kind of parent! My kids have totally had ramen for dinner, that they made.
January 13th, 2009 at 12:06 pm
I am one of those people who plans dinner at four or five practically every day. BUT. I have gotten a lot better at planning my shopping. I try keep my pantry and freezer well-organized so I can tell easily what we have and what we don’t, so that I can make a list before we go to the store. I clip coupons for things we buy often, and use store circulars to track sales. I pay close attention to the prices of things so that I can tell what is cheaper at Target than at the grocery store. And I have certain staple/backup things– like rice, potatoes, whole grain pasta, pasta sauce, vegetable broth, cheddar and mozzarella cheese, frozen mixed vegetables, and frozen broccoli– that I always keep in good stock so that I have about four or five quick dinner options to choose from on any given day, no matter what fresher ingredients I may or may not have on hand.
I keep meaning to get more into full meal planning mode, but I am one of those people who has MOODS about dinner. As in, eh, I’m not in the MOOD for vegetable lasagna tonight. (Like it would kill me to eat it anyway? And I grew up scrounging my own ramen for dinner myself, so who knows where I developed such food snobbery.)
January 13th, 2009 at 3:00 pm
Jaelithe, we are food snobbery twins. I am moody about dinner, too!
Your system sounds a lot like what I want to have here. Our pantry right now has junk shoved in there sideways after combining our households. I’m trying for organized and planned…we’ll see where I end up!
January 20th, 2009 at 12:35 pm
I do my meals weekly. I simply sit down at the beginning of the month and basically fill in on a little calendar meals for the month. Then I just shop each Sunday with a list of what I don’t have for meals for the following week. Tuesdays are eat out night and two nights a week are hubby’s meals to make. It works for us.
January 30th, 2009 at 6:41 pm
Don’t worry…you’ll get the hang of it.
Years ago I put together an Excel spreadsheet that listed all the food we buy on a regular basis. It has two columns–quantity and item. When we run out of something, the person who realizes it is supposed to add a number to the “quantity” column; when it’s shopping time I Auto Filter the list, print it out, and know exactly what I should buy.
My little computer nerd boys loved to be able to add things to the list…then they turned into teens and the novelty wore off!