Life on a Budget

One of the quickest and easiest ways to save money is to cook dinners at home. If you find you eat out or order in almost every night because of a busy schedule, and can’t stop eating out all together then just cutting back to one or two times a week will make a difference. A good place to start is to substitute the foods you find you are ordering out with something you can find in the grocery store. For example, buying frozen pizza ($4 - $6) instead of ordering out from the local pizza joint ($10-$15) can save you half the money or more.

If you think cooking takes too long and you feel you just don’t have time, try researching the internet for some quick recipes. Rachael Ray has a ton of 30 minute meals that are sure to fit into any lifestyle. Remember, just because you cook at home doesn’t mean you need to cook a gourmet meal. Keep things simple and try new recipes on the weekends when you have a little more time. Tacos and chicken fingers (chicken breasts with shake-n-bake), fries (sliced up potatoes with olive oil and salt baked in the oven) and a bag of steamed veggies are two weekly staples in my house. In the summer we grill up steak/chicken and veggies once or twice a week.  The nice thing about these meals is they are quick, cheap, easy to clean up and are delicious.

Once you get in the habit of cooking try making a little extra and brown bag the leftovers to work the next day.  Pasta dishes are always great for this - ziti, lasagna, alfredo, etc.

How much money can you save?

This is a tough one to calculate out as it will vary tremendously from person to person. If you find you are eating out a lot and you cut back you will notice a lot more money in your pocket at the end of the week. The pizza example above has the potential to save over $250 in a year - and that’s a cheaper example.