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Home > Saving Money - By Eating at Home!

Saving Money - By Eating at Home!

January 16th, 2013 at 04:12 pm

In my last post, I mentioned the goal of eating every dinner at home. This may not seem like a difficult task to many, but for us, it was a change.

Below I will report on how things are going with this goal, as we are 1/2 way through January! Also, I'll discuss what is helping us along the way to continue through the remainder of the month and forming a new habit!

Take a look at some of these numbers (not big numbers but real numbers):

By the 15th of the month

December Fast Food (by 15th): $121.00
December Restaurants (by 15th): $203.00

Total by the 15th: $324.00

This is just on eating out. Not including groceries.

January Fast Food: $98.00
January Restaurants: $28.00 (Awesome!)

Total by the 15th: $126.00

Difference: $198.00

Yes, by simply eating at home for dinner and now including my lunches, I was able to drop $200 in my savings account.

So what has been helping me to accomplish this small victory?

Planning our meals for EACH day
Packing lunch - instead of eating out each day
Exploring variety using the AllRecipes App

There is so much more progress to obtain, starting with keeping this trend up for the remainder of this month. By doing so, I will easily be able to double the savings which will allow me to either, build up my emergency fund; or, pay off one small credit card.

Soon, I will be posting full debt payoff reports on the site in my favorites section!

I would like to THANK the SavingAdvice community and all who have and maintain their personal finance blogs. I read as many as I can gaining motivation and encouragement from them all. I look forward to posting future updates and results from my attempt to:

Get Out of Debt a Buck at a Time!


Posted in Budgeting, Debt, Food / Groceries, Saving Money | 8 Comments »

8 Responses to “Saving Money - By Eating at Home!”

  1. Beawealthywarrior Says:
    January 16th, 2013 at 04:19 pm 1358353152
    1358353152

    Great job keep it up!!

  2. North Georgia Gal Says:
    January 16th, 2013 at 04:36 pm 1358354211
    1358354211

    Great job on the change in eating out! It really makes a difference.

  3. twest Says:
    January 16th, 2013 at 04:58 pm 1358355524
    1358355524

    Great! You just gave me a great idea by looking back at your spending in Dec and then adding that difference to savings. That thought had never even crossed my mind. One main reason I love SA is that we can definitely learn from others.

  4. creditcardfree Says:
    January 16th, 2013 at 05:28 pm 1358357300
    1358357300

    Great job! Eating out and groceries are often a large expense, but one that you have quite a bit of control over.

  5. snafu Says:
    January 16th, 2013 at 07:49 pm 1358365761
    1358365761

    Use whatever tricks help you eat at home. Try snapping an elastic band around credit card to hold a note 'EAT st HOME' to save 50% cost plus all that unhealthy fat and salt. It's ok to have breakfast for dinner, it only takes a few moments to cook an egg & toast for example.

    Some of us bake a whole chicken or roast on the weekend for several meals with a bagged salad...a rotisserie chicken is cheap too. Throw a potato in the microwave for carbs. It helps to write 5 meals that you like and will eat. Keep those items in the pantry.

    Hope something is helpful

  6. wowitsawonderfullife Says:
    January 16th, 2013 at 11:22 pm 1358378559
    1358378559

    Fantastic progress, congratulations!

  7. FrugalTexan75 Says:
    January 17th, 2013 at 12:39 am 1358383172
    1358383172

    You're doing great!

  8. LuckyRobin Says:
    January 17th, 2013 at 07:27 am 1358407633
    1358407633

    Meal planning is definitely a giant help to eating at home. We try to limit our eating out to $100 a month, but if we don't have good meal plans in place, we get lazy pretty fast. Good job on cutting down on the restaurants.

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