Various Non-Bald Discussions > General Discussion

unnecessary spending?? Lets all do a project together..

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Timmay:
Seems like the biggest portion of our money goes towards eating out.  
I was talking to my wife at lunch...and yes we had lunch from home. I forgot how good Fried Bologna tasted.  Anyways, we talked about the topic I posted on here about saving money.  One of her co-workers who sat near by said they on one of the weekend nights they have "theme night"  her kids get to choose ahead of time what night and what theme.  The themes range from , Italian, chinese, Greek, Mexican, American and etc.  A few examples she gave was with American night, they would have the usual hamburgers/hotdogs with red and white plates/napkins , Mexican night would include a somberro.  Better yet she said, with satelite radio you can tune in to music to fit your night.  Everyone gets involved in preparing dinner as well.

I dunno, could be fun...might even be more fun if you were to invite a couple of friends over as guest as well.

If its an adult party, you can have a wine themed dinner, which would go great with a french, greek or italian theme....Have fun....what are your ideas?

Tyler:
Great topic Timmay!! 

One of our biggest spends was eating out.  Like Schro, with a kid it can be had to cut out completely, but we've done a few things to help curb these costs.

1) We pack food.  Sandwiches and fruit are easy to pack.
2) We now share food if we go to a restaurant.  Portions are already huge.  We usually get 1 appetizer, 1 main entree, and a large bowl of soup.  My daughter loves soup, so that's usually her meal for $3 and my wife and I split the rest.  This has cut our average bill from $40 to $50 down to $20 or $30.

Another great side effect of doing this is that you eat healthier. 

BReady:

--- Quote from: Timmay on September 09, 2009, 11:47:33 AM ---Better yet she said, with satelite radio you can tune in to music to fit your night.  Everyone gets involved in preparing dinner as well.

--- End quote ---

That's another way of saving money w/ internet (which you probably have anyways) and a semi-old computer or modded xbox.  I can stream just about any type of music in my living room w/ the mediaserver and in the garage w/ XBMC (when I BBQ).  Sat radio is kind of cheap anyways, but I guess that could qualify at some savings.

BReady

andrew:
Like everyone else, we spend too much eating out.  Additionally, my wife was spending way too much grocery shopping.  This has been an issue for a while, and I'd taken over the grocery shopping a few times to prove that we could spend much less and still have everything we need.

I work a lot of hours so it's not always practical for me to do the shopping, but we seem to have solved the problem.  One of the supermarkets in our town, Stop & Shop, has a new device available to shoppers that has helped a lot in keeping to our budget.  This device allows each shopper to scan each item before putting it in your carriage and it keeps a running total.   My wife watches the running total and tends to watch the prices much more.  She also puts things back when she's over budget.

Items may be removed from the carriage and removed via the scanner.  When checking out, the scanner is put into a dock and all the info is uploaded and totaled immediatley for checkout, making that process easier.  Also, as items are scanned and put into carriage, she puts them right into one the re-usable fabric bags, so checkout doesn't require any bagging.

We've been saving quite a bit since my wife started using this device ...

Andrew

Baldboss:
As the cook and shopper in my house, I can tell you a weekly menu is the way to go.  I know every night what I'm cooking and before I go to the store, I have a list of exactly what I need.  I buy what's on the list...nothing more and nothing less.  If my wife goes, she will spend 50% more and get half the food.  Another tip - do not go to the store hungry.  Avoid processed foods, too - you pay for the convenience, the quality and nutrition is less, and you can do better by making it yourself.

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