Well, I decided to make a post. Mesha, you can delete this if you want, but I want my message to be heard loud and clear so I'm writing a new post rather than commenting.
First of all, are you getting my comments? I challenged you last week to start trying to have healthy snacks between meals and recording what time of day you had them. 1 between breakfast and lunch and 1-2 between lunch and dinner.
I don't think that challenge was met this week, so it still stands. I also want to add another challenge for the future- maybe in the next couple of weeks?
Challenge:
Start paying cash for food! Set a pre-determined amount of money aside that you will spend on food. A monthy amount would be great, but to start it out small, you could do it 1 week at a time. Pull all that cash out and only use that for food- grocery shopping, eating out, whatever. Or you could break it into 2 separate categories- 1 amount for food (groceries) and 1 amount for eating out. Only spend that money- not your card on food.
This will do 2 things for you- 1) give you better control of your money. If you are consistent with this and get it down, you WILL end up spending less on food and you won't have so much impulse/out of control spending.
2) This will help your weight less. Research has proven that when you spend plastic over cash, you buy and eat more food.
Check out this article for more info:
http://www.daveramsey.com/article/credit-cards-make-you-fat/lifeandmoney_creditcards/
I HEAR YA NOW! :)
ReplyDeleteYes, I have received your comments and no, I had not applied that principle yet. I go out of town this weekend and with this week being half over I will "try" tomorrow, but I'm also avoiding grocery shopping when I'm about to leave.
Starting next week I will set aside $20 a week for eating out (which I will "try" to avoid). I'll reserve $50 for groceries. I'm not sure how much I really need for groceries since grocery shopping is still pretty foreign to me, but I suppose I'll learn as I go. I bought chicken the other day for the meal prep with Kristin and thought I got a GREAT deal! Bought some pre-marinated chicken breasts for like $7. Way I saw it, this is chicken for a WHOLE week and I normally would spend about $7 on one meal eating out. Well, apparently the $7 was pretty pricey for what I got according to Kristin - so I don't know dude. This is definitely a challenge. But again, I was happy about the $7 chicken - haha...so I can see potential savings in my future already as I learn and grow through this.
P.S. THANK YOU for the challenge and support. I miss you....move back to the states already!
Are you sure $20 is enough for eating out? Look at the entries of what you spent in a week before and make sure it's realistic.
ReplyDeleteAs for the grocery shopping, keep all your receipts and tally them up. After you do this for a couple of weeks, it will give you a good idea of how much to budget next month realistically.
Just keeping taking small steps. You'll learn as you go. Your friend Kristin is right- anytime something is prepared in advanced (washed and cut broccoli, marinated meat, pre-washed and mixed salad, etc) it's going to be more pricey. But like you said, coming from buying completely prepared food at a restaurant, it's already a savings. So take those small steps. Don't get ahead of yourself.