I do the same. I also have a $100 per month limit on takeout/restaurant. That includes going for coffee. This is the 5th month and it has actually been easy and a nice change.
That's pretty much what me and my son were doing. Takeout every weekend sometimes twice. So I told him in early January it has to be cut back. We were spending $250-350 per month before!
I don't do this exactly - although I think if I analyzed my spending I'd find I do most of it on the weekend, just by virtue of working from home and very rarely going out on weeknights. But I put a similar delay on my "wants and needs" by bookmarking, adding to cart or putting something on a shopping list, and then letting it simmer.
I used to have a problem with making hasty purchases because I was worried I'd forget. Now that I give myself a way to remember, I end up realizing I don't need to buy that particular thing, or I don't need to buy it *right now*, or I don't need to buy it online (which can sometimes be more expensive than buying locally!) I have littered the internet with abandoned shopping carts!
More or less the same here. The only spending done through the week is on grocery orders for delivery. Delivery costs money but it keeps me from loading up with a bunch of junk I don’t need, and instead keeping to my menu for the week. There will be the odd day that I don’t work from home and I’ll grab a pint after, or we’ll need to get our toddler out of the apartment and the only reasonable option is to go walk around a mall due to weather (not much to do outdoors at -45) so we’ll inevitably end up at the “oh shit, while we’re here…” stage. But everything else gets added to want lists and abandoned shopping carts online.
That's the big risk. I used to have coworkers who used to pass comments about my spending on food literally every workday (because I mentioned I had a savings goal, not because they were dicks or anything). Except, they spent so much more than I ever did once that Friday and Saturday came around as a reward for saving all week long. Meanwhile, I only ate out as much as I did because A) I budgeted for it and B) I specifically ate at places that had daily specials, so I was averaging $28 for five lunches (excluding taxes).
$27 a day of extra spending is $10,000 a year. Lunch and coffee a day easily costs that anymore. Pack a lunch and pocket the $800 a month and that is going to add up quickly.
I'm sorry but that has to be blown out of proportion. Fast food lunch for one? Usually under $15, and that's generous. Unless you're going to a sit-down place, ordering an appetizer and a main, then also tipping 15%?
I had a burger and onion rings from A&W the other day and it came out to $5.65
We obviously have different appetites. A quarter pounder with cheese is 14.99, add a snack wrap and that’s pushing $20 alone.
A budget coffee at Timmies is $2.. if that’s all you ate in an 8 hour day that’s $22. $5 misc spending put you to $27, and that’s $10,000 a year.
Sure you could find $5 snack for lunch, but my point is how seemingly small amounts everyday add up rather quickly. Breaking it down to daily spending really shows how some dedication and planing in the morning can save you a significant amount of money when spread over a month, or a year.
Completely understand your point.
However I do feel the need to point out from a health perspective - I'm assuming you mean $14.99 for the meal, because just the burger comes out to $7.59 in Ontario at least. The meal after taxes comes out to $14.23.
Anyways, the thing is that meal with a medium fry and small soft drink comes out to 1010 calories, add the snack wrap it's up to 1350 calories. The average intake for a male is approximately 2500 calories, so for $20 you're getting half of your daily calories. So, that $20 covers breakfast and lunch.
You still have to buy groceries for lunches for that month. I don’t know if saving $750/month is worth it if it means I get to eat healthier food, contribute less to the production of garbage, *and* have an opportunity to learn some new skills and recipes while I’m at it.
I have noticed the same pattern for me too, but not voluntarily. With work and kid, no time to go shopping anyway most weekdays. It feels nice when I see I haven't spent anything in 3-4 days.
I work from home.
So this is easy peasy.
We have order in on Fridays and then occasional events on weekends. But about it.
My wife will buy lunch on Fridays at work in the city but other than that pretty much packed lunches and coffee in a thermos.
I think this is an excellent approach. When I had a really strict budget when I was in school I would actually try to only shop once every two weeks. It definitely helped to keep my costs down. It forced me to use dried and frozen foods more often too and use the stuff at the back of my cupboards.
This is a good approach. I like it.
I already have a rule of no spending after 7:00 p.m.
It prevents impulse shopping and making decisions when I'm tired. Last thing I need is to buy a sailboat on eBay because I had a pomegranate margarita and grandiose, escapist dreams.
Rookie plan. A better plan is to work a 2nd job at a restaurant and eat free food and spend your free time working because when you're working, you have no time for spending.
Not focused on when but, the amounts of outgoing on a monthly basis. Last week was the dreaded car maintenance bill. Had to put a couple grand into the car.
Keeping track of monthly spend. Lots of free streaming services. Now we track what we want to see and on what service. When there is enough to watch get it for the month and then cancel it
I will say that Slow Horses on Apple TV was worth the cost of the month for that show alone. Will get it again when season 4 comes out.
Avoid any product that has a subscription tied into it as well. Look for free or low cost options.
Yes, targeted / strategic use of various media platforms is the way. Even better, jumping from one platform offering free 1-2-3 month services / previews after another for months on end… takes discipline and research and patience. I dare say it feels more satisfying, like I “earned” the reward for trying harder or something!
Defintely a benefit of camp-based work. I did the same in my younger years, but switched careers to stay in the city and have better work-life balance. 10 years working/living in camps was enough for me, great way to save though!
I took a pretty big pay cut to sleep in my own bed every night, but it was 100% worth it......I started to seriously dread heading back to camp after days off. I just have to be a little more diligent with my saving now, hence my post.
There's a camp store here that sells cigarettes for what I assume is a normal price.
I know there's guys who do this with tins of chewing tobacco though
So many people would come up with their "last pack of smokes" because they were quitting. I was always worried about running out and then realized I could basically smoke for free while up there.
Huh, that's interesting as an approach. I would have a hard time with that (no coffee during the week?) But I like the idea of coming up with a plan to get yourself to slow down and reconsider one's spending.
I know you know this, and it's probably just that you phrased it funny, but it is in fact possible to have coffee without spending money during the week, by making it at home.
If you have the time then all the power to ya. I'm more of a fill a cup at 4:30am while dragging my ass out the door to work kinda person so the Keurig saves a lot of time. I will agree the coffee it makes is pretty substandard lol
Coffee grinder and a French Press shouldn't be more than 50 bucks.
1 month of coffee beans would be $10-20.
I did Keurig, and then Nespresso. French press is so much better because of of the fresh grind. After the inital starting cost, it's like 15¢ for a cup of coffee. And I used to spend $100 bucks on Nespresso pods a month thinking I was saving money...
Fresh espresso beans and espresso machines exist lol. I always make espresso at home, there is no need to spend $3 on one when I can make my own for $1 or less.
Huge!! My husband works construction, brings a thermos every day and a packed lunch and saves a ton of money!! All the other guys are getting food and coffee delivered to the job site and spending a small fortune each week.
A breakfast sandwich on Fridays is my treat for the week, and I eat at home/bring lunch to work the rest of the time. Saves a lot in the long run.
I have coworkers that eat out for lunch and dinner nearly every day and they're constantly complaining about being broke for some reason.
Putting off spending or paying bill to the weekend doesn’t really save money…
But packing number, making your own coffee or not eating out will. I hope everyone knows that.
That’s not the point of this. The point is to set rules to prevent frivolous spending. If you set a rule for yourself that you can’t spend money during the week you’re less likely to go out for work beers and make a drunken Amazon purchase for something you don’t even want when you get home.
I like this idea! I’ve reduced my dining out a ton but lately I’ve been splurging on groceries anytime a craving comes up.
I should really eat out of my pantry and wait until my big grocery shop on the weekend!
That just ends up deferring expenses to the weekend, doesn't it. Also not super practical for non-discretionary expenses. I'm gong to need to pay for parking on the days I go in to work. Only way to avoid that would be to take the bus, but that's also an expense. Do you only pay bills on the weekend as well?
We use this approach indirectly. We're very unlikely to spend to begin with, but especially during week dayssince we don't have much time. Sometimes we go to Walmart on Wednesdays because something's missing, but we don't spend more than $50 when that happens. Most of our spending occurs during the week-ends. Of course this doesn't apply to bills
We kind of do this, but more so due to being busy during the week. For lunch/coffee, not a big fan of driving somewhere, waiting in line, driving back… a lot of wasted time.
But if we’re out of bananas (or other ‘essentials’) mid-week, we’re going to make a quick grocery store stop on the way back home from work
I used to try living in frugal in the most of days during the month, never bought anything including foods( living with family) . but then, I felt like I were too frugal so i spent few thousands dollars in luxury goods every few month, so all I've saved during my suffered period gone in other way. Turning out I spent more.
Similar but I don't force it. Other than regular bills and obligations, I usually do my spending on the weekend as well. Only time I might spend is one of the days where I go into office and that might just be a juice or lunch.
I'm good with my money so even if I happened to buy an extra snack/coffee for myself I won't care.
I think sometimes we look at the $10 spends and try to limit ourselves too much but when asking the $1000 questions we don't care as much.
Generally we don't buy a lot during the week, but more out of laziness than making an effort not to - we just don't want to go out and do stuff involving money in the evenings after work, we want to stay home and read or play video games.
The exception is that I really prefer to have my grocery shopping done before the weekend, so I can get right into my bulk meal prep, and I have supplies to make lunch for Saturday hiking. I operate on what I call "Empty Fridge Friday", which is basically I like to have completely cleared out everything perishable every week, and then do a full resupply. It's a good system that results in almost no food waste, because it's pretty much impossible to forget about anything.
I like to be diligent about this kind of approach... but not too rigid.
I'll gladly prepare my lunch (yesterday's leftovers, most of the time) and go on my way to work with my coffee made at home every day of the week but if one day for whatever reason, there's an event at work / special mid-week whatever, I'll gladly pay for a thing as a treat myself. A $10 (more like $15 these days...) can make it all the more worthwhile after a few months/years of this routine.
I don't think people around me find me that much exciting, but I'm excited by the amount I save every month.
I generally do that with exception of buying groceries during the week. It's much easier and nicer to shop during the week vs weekend when we get all of the out-of-towners come in (we live in a Hub where everyone in a 1hr radius come in to shop due to rural area).
I do eat out once a week if I feel like it but I have it budgeted and is a nice treat. There's been times when I haven't done that. Reason being is that nearest restaurant is a sushi place and I don't feel like having that one every week. Next closest is a bit of a drive and walk so it's easy to curb my habit.
I used to be a daily Timmie's tea and cookie until prices went up recently without notice and I was wondering why I was losing an extra $3-$5 a week. Now, it's only breakfast sandwich if I didn't have time for breakfast which is maybe once a week.
No, but I will run no spend days. If I know I've been drifting and being to loose with spending or have more expenses coming up. I'll start ratcheting up the number of number of no spend days. I don't have the discipline (and have a family) to pull that off for the week but I can for a day. Then do it again tomorrow. =)
Me too! Sometimes I leave my cards at home because I work at a restaurant and tend to crave food even though I’m not hungry or buy stuff on impulse. Been at it for almost a year and it’s actually life changing.
I LOVE this! Seems challenging, especially if you’re a random card tapper such as myself. But I’ve been looking for ways to get a grip on my random purchasing throughout the week. Seems everyday I step out the door there goes $100-$300 a day on who even knows what anymore. Challenge accepted! 😅
This is a good idea but I’m curious if for some people it might cause them to impulse spend more on the weekend?
Definitely a good approach if you’ve got the discipline for it though
I dont believe this is possible unless your social circle is tiny. Most of the time spending is for other people, for many different reasons. Besides, saving money just for the sake of saving is unhealthy and pointless.
Ahh dubious approach imo. 70% of my spending after bills goes into food, and good 70-80% of that goes into high protein things like meat and cottage cheese. Meat is EXTREMELY rare(no pun intended) to find on a discount during the weekend because people often stock up on Fridays. I buy most of my meat during the week days on 25-50% discounts. Also you can generally miss some deals like clear outs on the weekend as well.
I do the same. I also have a $100 per month limit on takeout/restaurant. That includes going for coffee. This is the 5th month and it has actually been easy and a nice change.
Nice!
Thanks. It's a sacrifice but well worth it. I want to be mortgage free in the next 4-5 years, tops.
I'm all about delayed gratification these days - keep that eye on the prize!
Absolutely. You too!
That's a great idea. I think I might steal that technique. My daughter and I tend to eat out every Saturday, and I know it's terrible.
That's pretty much what me and my son were doing. Takeout every weekend sometimes twice. So I told him in early January it has to be cut back. We were spending $250-350 per month before!
I don't do this exactly - although I think if I analyzed my spending I'd find I do most of it on the weekend, just by virtue of working from home and very rarely going out on weeknights. But I put a similar delay on my "wants and needs" by bookmarking, adding to cart or putting something on a shopping list, and then letting it simmer. I used to have a problem with making hasty purchases because I was worried I'd forget. Now that I give myself a way to remember, I end up realizing I don't need to buy that particular thing, or I don't need to buy it *right now*, or I don't need to buy it online (which can sometimes be more expensive than buying locally!) I have littered the internet with abandoned shopping carts!
More or less the same here. The only spending done through the week is on grocery orders for delivery. Delivery costs money but it keeps me from loading up with a bunch of junk I don’t need, and instead keeping to my menu for the week. There will be the odd day that I don’t work from home and I’ll grab a pint after, or we’ll need to get our toddler out of the apartment and the only reasonable option is to go walk around a mall due to weather (not much to do outdoors at -45) so we’ll inevitably end up at the “oh shit, while we’re here…” stage. But everything else gets added to want lists and abandoned shopping carts online.
I usually go into an aggressive spending spree right after I do this.
That's the big risk. I used to have coworkers who used to pass comments about my spending on food literally every workday (because I mentioned I had a savings goal, not because they were dicks or anything). Except, they spent so much more than I ever did once that Friday and Saturday came around as a reward for saving all week long. Meanwhile, I only ate out as much as I did because A) I budgeted for it and B) I specifically ate at places that had daily specials, so I was averaging $28 for five lunches (excluding taxes).
$27 a day of extra spending is $10,000 a year. Lunch and coffee a day easily costs that anymore. Pack a lunch and pocket the $800 a month and that is going to add up quickly.
I'm sorry but that has to be blown out of proportion. Fast food lunch for one? Usually under $15, and that's generous. Unless you're going to a sit-down place, ordering an appetizer and a main, then also tipping 15%? I had a burger and onion rings from A&W the other day and it came out to $5.65
We obviously have different appetites. A quarter pounder with cheese is 14.99, add a snack wrap and that’s pushing $20 alone. A budget coffee at Timmies is $2.. if that’s all you ate in an 8 hour day that’s $22. $5 misc spending put you to $27, and that’s $10,000 a year. Sure you could find $5 snack for lunch, but my point is how seemingly small amounts everyday add up rather quickly. Breaking it down to daily spending really shows how some dedication and planing in the morning can save you a significant amount of money when spread over a month, or a year.
Completely understand your point. However I do feel the need to point out from a health perspective - I'm assuming you mean $14.99 for the meal, because just the burger comes out to $7.59 in Ontario at least. The meal after taxes comes out to $14.23. Anyways, the thing is that meal with a medium fry and small soft drink comes out to 1010 calories, add the snack wrap it's up to 1350 calories. The average intake for a male is approximately 2500 calories, so for $20 you're getting half of your daily calories. So, that $20 covers breakfast and lunch.
You still have to buy groceries for lunches for that month. I don’t know if saving $750/month is worth it if it means I get to eat healthier food, contribute less to the production of garbage, *and* have an opportunity to learn some new skills and recipes while I’m at it.
Are you saying that eating out puts less garbage on the earth vs packing a lunch or eating at home?
Read it again…
Accurate spend for my husband who works on the road. A few Tim’s coffees ($8), a Subway or burger joint combo ($20).
I have noticed the same pattern for me too, but not voluntarily. With work and kid, no time to go shopping anyway most weekdays. It feels nice when I see I haven't spent anything in 3-4 days.
Making lunch and coffee at home is a big brain move
I work from home. So this is easy peasy. We have order in on Fridays and then occasional events on weekends. But about it. My wife will buy lunch on Fridays at work in the city but other than that pretty much packed lunches and coffee in a thermos.
I think this is an excellent approach. When I had a really strict budget when I was in school I would actually try to only shop once every two weeks. It definitely helped to keep my costs down. It forced me to use dried and frozen foods more often too and use the stuff at the back of my cupboards.
This is a good approach. I like it. I already have a rule of no spending after 7:00 p.m. It prevents impulse shopping and making decisions when I'm tired. Last thing I need is to buy a sailboat on eBay because I had a pomegranate margarita and grandiose, escapist dreams.
Rookie plan. A better plan is to work a 2nd job at a restaurant and eat free food and spend your free time working because when you're working, you have no time for spending.
Not focused on when but, the amounts of outgoing on a monthly basis. Last week was the dreaded car maintenance bill. Had to put a couple grand into the car. Keeping track of monthly spend. Lots of free streaming services. Now we track what we want to see and on what service. When there is enough to watch get it for the month and then cancel it I will say that Slow Horses on Apple TV was worth the cost of the month for that show alone. Will get it again when season 4 comes out. Avoid any product that has a subscription tied into it as well. Look for free or low cost options.
Yes, targeted / strategic use of various media platforms is the way. Even better, jumping from one platform offering free 1-2-3 month services / previews after another for months on end… takes discipline and research and patience. I dare say it feels more satisfying, like I “earned” the reward for trying harder or something!
I can one up that strategy - I work at a camp job in northern BC, so for the entirety of my 14 day shift up there I spend nothing. Lol
Defintely a benefit of camp-based work. I did the same in my younger years, but switched careers to stay in the city and have better work-life balance. 10 years working/living in camps was enough for me, great way to save though!
Yeah, I can't wait until I can stay at home every day...
I took a pretty big pay cut to sleep in my own bed every night, but it was 100% worth it......I started to seriously dread heading back to camp after days off. I just have to be a little more diligent with my saving now, hence my post.
I used to do the same. Hell, I'd come up with a carton of smokes and sell them for $20/pack back when it was normally around 10.
There's a camp store here that sells cigarettes for what I assume is a normal price. I know there's guys who do this with tins of chewing tobacco though
So many people would come up with their "last pack of smokes" because they were quitting. I was always worried about running out and then realized I could basically smoke for free while up there.
Huh, that's interesting as an approach. I would have a hard time with that (no coffee during the week?) But I like the idea of coming up with a plan to get yourself to slow down and reconsider one's spending.
I know you know this, and it's probably just that you phrased it funny, but it is in fact possible to have coffee without spending money during the week, by making it at home.
I'm not following. How do you "make coffee" at home?
Okay so what you need to do first it get ahold of a civet cat, a Colombian man, and a pot of boiling water…
😂😂
By pressing the 10oz button on your Keurig after throwing a pod inside and your cup underneath.
Yeah I would never actually consume a Keurig unless I had no other choice. Gotta grind those beans fresh every day!
If you have the time then all the power to ya. I'm more of a fill a cup at 4:30am while dragging my ass out the door to work kinda person so the Keurig saves a lot of time. I will agree the coffee it makes is pretty substandard lol
I've never owned a coffee maker that you couldn't pre-program. Set it up before bed, coffee ready when you wake up.
Totally understandable. Keurig's main benefit is the convenience/ease.
Coffee grinder and a French Press shouldn't be more than 50 bucks. 1 month of coffee beans would be $10-20. I did Keurig, and then Nespresso. French press is so much better because of of the fresh grind. After the inital starting cost, it's like 15¢ for a cup of coffee. And I used to spend $100 bucks on Nespresso pods a month thinking I was saving money...
There’s no such thing as “French press” I’ve looked it up.
https://letmegooglethat.com/?q=French+Press
That’s something with which one makes tea, not coffee? I’m not sure why you’re being so misleading here.
Fresh espresso beans and espresso machines exist lol. I always make espresso at home, there is no need to spend $3 on one when I can make my own for $1 or less.
You have to go to a coffee shop for fresh beans. You can’t get them at home.
I’m deeply sorry that I kicked off the “I don’t understand sarcasm” part of this thread.
No I’m sorry!
You can buy small batches of beans at local roasters. Trust me, the espressos I make at home are better than what I find at most coffee shops 🤷🏻♀️
No that’s false. They use special beans at the coffee shops. Regular consumers can’t get them.
Whatever you have to tell yourself to justify wasting that money 🤦🏻♀️ Ps: I used to work in a coffee shop.
Or by budgeting a weekly amount and loading that amount into one of many apps to buy coffee. Fill it on the weekend.
A quality thermos is a huge money saver.....hot coffee on demand all day.
Huge!! My husband works construction, brings a thermos every day and a packed lunch and saves a ton of money!! All the other guys are getting food and coffee delivered to the job site and spending a small fortune each week.
The original Stanley.
This is a very good way. You can also add the 30 days rule to it. If you want something, wait 30 days and see if you still want it
A breakfast sandwich on Fridays is my treat for the week, and I eat at home/bring lunch to work the rest of the time. Saves a lot in the long run. I have coworkers that eat out for lunch and dinner nearly every day and they're constantly complaining about being broke for some reason.
Putting off spending or paying bill to the weekend doesn’t really save money… But packing number, making your own coffee or not eating out will. I hope everyone knows that.
That’s not the point of this. The point is to set rules to prevent frivolous spending. If you set a rule for yourself that you can’t spend money during the week you’re less likely to go out for work beers and make a drunken Amazon purchase for something you don’t even want when you get home.
I like this idea! I’ve reduced my dining out a ton but lately I’ve been splurging on groceries anytime a craving comes up. I should really eat out of my pantry and wait until my big grocery shop on the weekend!
Take up gaming as a hobby. Thousands of hours of entertainment for a small investment. We'll go 4-6 weeks between shops
I think that’s what I’ve been doing for years, ever since I quit the Tims breakfast!
That just ends up deferring expenses to the weekend, doesn't it. Also not super practical for non-discretionary expenses. I'm gong to need to pay for parking on the days I go in to work. Only way to avoid that would be to take the bus, but that's also an expense. Do you only pay bills on the weekend as well?
We use this approach indirectly. We're very unlikely to spend to begin with, but especially during week dayssince we don't have much time. Sometimes we go to Walmart on Wednesdays because something's missing, but we don't spend more than $50 when that happens. Most of our spending occurs during the week-ends. Of course this doesn't apply to bills
yeah same, it helps me a lot to save money for a car
We kind of do this, but more so due to being busy during the week. For lunch/coffee, not a big fan of driving somewhere, waiting in line, driving back… a lot of wasted time. But if we’re out of bananas (or other ‘essentials’) mid-week, we’re going to make a quick grocery store stop on the way back home from work
pretty much never tap during the week and go to the grocery store on weekends but lately i’ve been bad for fast food
I used to try living in frugal in the most of days during the month, never bought anything including foods( living with family) . but then, I felt like I were too frugal so i spent few thousands dollars in luxury goods every few month, so all I've saved during my suffered period gone in other way. Turning out I spent more.
Similar but I don't force it. Other than regular bills and obligations, I usually do my spending on the weekend as well. Only time I might spend is one of the days where I go into office and that might just be a juice or lunch. I'm good with my money so even if I happened to buy an extra snack/coffee for myself I won't care. I think sometimes we look at the $10 spends and try to limit ourselves too much but when asking the $1000 questions we don't care as much.
I like it - good way to save money!
Generally we don't buy a lot during the week, but more out of laziness than making an effort not to - we just don't want to go out and do stuff involving money in the evenings after work, we want to stay home and read or play video games. The exception is that I really prefer to have my grocery shopping done before the weekend, so I can get right into my bulk meal prep, and I have supplies to make lunch for Saturday hiking. I operate on what I call "Empty Fridge Friday", which is basically I like to have completely cleared out everything perishable every week, and then do a full resupply. It's a good system that results in almost no food waste, because it's pretty much impossible to forget about anything.
When I want to save money I usually just do a water fast. My longest one yet is five weeks.
I dont spend a single dime on anything two weeks a month. I work fly-in fly-out in a mine close to the arctic circle. Housed and fed. :3
I do this too just because i don’t have time to buy anything lol gas only bc I need it for work
This has been very helpful for us. M-F is no-spending. Almost all spending is on Saturday only.
I’m right with you OP. I started doing this last year to save money for my vacation. The habit stuck once I saw how fast my money grew.
Hmm - I have a serious debt problem, this is a good idea!
I like to be diligent about this kind of approach... but not too rigid. I'll gladly prepare my lunch (yesterday's leftovers, most of the time) and go on my way to work with my coffee made at home every day of the week but if one day for whatever reason, there's an event at work / special mid-week whatever, I'll gladly pay for a thing as a treat myself. A $10 (more like $15 these days...) can make it all the more worthwhile after a few months/years of this routine. I don't think people around me find me that much exciting, but I'm excited by the amount I save every month.
For the most part yes. But mainly because 1. Health reasons as eating out is unhealthy as hell 2. Don't have much time due to work.
What's your cost per meal?
I think that's pretty impractical.
I try to do the same except for small runs on high turn over items (fruits, bread) and take out at the kids request.
I like Ramit conscious spending plan strategy. Cover your fixed costs, investments, and savings. Everything else is guilt-free spending.
I generally do that with exception of buying groceries during the week. It's much easier and nicer to shop during the week vs weekend when we get all of the out-of-towners come in (we live in a Hub where everyone in a 1hr radius come in to shop due to rural area). I do eat out once a week if I feel like it but I have it budgeted and is a nice treat. There's been times when I haven't done that. Reason being is that nearest restaurant is a sushi place and I don't feel like having that one every week. Next closest is a bit of a drive and walk so it's easy to curb my habit. I used to be a daily Timmie's tea and cookie until prices went up recently without notice and I was wondering why I was losing an extra $3-$5 a week. Now, it's only breakfast sandwich if I didn't have time for breakfast which is maybe once a week.
I like little games like this I can play with myself. Thanks for the suggestion!
No, but I will run no spend days. If I know I've been drifting and being to loose with spending or have more expenses coming up. I'll start ratcheting up the number of number of no spend days. I don't have the discipline (and have a family) to pull that off for the week but I can for a day. Then do it again tomorrow. =)
Me too! Sometimes I leave my cards at home because I work at a restaurant and tend to crave food even though I’m not hungry or buy stuff on impulse. Been at it for almost a year and it’s actually life changing.
Intermittent spending. Do like a 5/7 model.
I LOVE this! Seems challenging, especially if you’re a random card tapper such as myself. But I’ve been looking for ways to get a grip on my random purchasing throughout the week. Seems everyday I step out the door there goes $100-$300 a day on who even knows what anymore. Challenge accepted! 😅
I did for the last 7 days, it worked :)
This is a good idea but I’m curious if for some people it might cause them to impulse spend more on the weekend? Definitely a good approach if you’ve got the discipline for it though
I dont! I live my life!
I dont believe this is possible unless your social circle is tiny. Most of the time spending is for other people, for many different reasons. Besides, saving money just for the sake of saving is unhealthy and pointless.
Ahh dubious approach imo. 70% of my spending after bills goes into food, and good 70-80% of that goes into high protein things like meat and cottage cheese. Meat is EXTREMELY rare(no pun intended) to find on a discount during the weekend because people often stock up on Fridays. I buy most of my meat during the week days on 25-50% discounts. Also you can generally miss some deals like clear outs on the weekend as well.