To be frank here, the money situation when you're a student living off loans is really kind of strange. Rather than being able to rely on a paycheck every two weeks or month or whatever, you get money in two huge sums twice a year. Aaron has been a genius with his budgeting/repayment planning, but I have to admit, it still is a hard cycle to live through each 6 months. And let's face it, I'm no budgeting wizard. It's something I have been trying my darndest to learn and improve on. And just when I think I've gotten better, I fail miserably the next month. But I'm still young, and my goal is that by the time dental school is over, I will be an expert at it.
Here's the thing: Everyone has their methods of saving money and budgeting. Some people like to scour the ads and do price matching. Others clip coupons. And still others are bargain hunters. I would say that while I have been known to do the latter two, I am not good enough at either of them to really feel like I've saved a lot of money. (Except I am getting better at bargain hunting baby clothes.) So here's what I have found to work for me.
1. Meal planning: If I don't plan out my meals each week then I will buy too much of something which will go bad before I can use it and then it's wasted (no guilt trips, mother, you have already ingrained it into me.) When I plan out my meals, I can get the perfect amount of food and minimize wastage.
2. Avoid Walmart where necessary. I used to go to Walmart for all my grocery trips because I always thought it was the cheapest. Well, that may be true, but Walmart is terrible in their produce and meat selection/quality. And they rarely have sales on food. Produce is much cheaper and fresher at farmers markets. Secondly, I noticed that I buy a lot more unecessary items when I go to Walmart. Because they pack their stores so full of stuff that you are so much more prone to be like, "Oh that looks handy/cute, and it's so cheap! I'll buy it!" But just like Costco, those little extra unecessary purchaces add up. So I've gotten much better at controlling myself in that area, and it helps to avoid Walmart altogether.
3. And my latest words of wisdom: From now on I'm only going to do one or two BIG grocery shopping trips a month and just make some quick 'milk and eggs' trips to Fry's (or Kroger/Smiths to yall) and a weekly to Sprouts to fill in the gaps. I never thought I would have the patience to visit several different stores for groceries, but I think it pays off in the end. We have done that this month and subsequently have wasted much less food.
4. Date nights: Aaron and I used to go out to eat once, twice, even thrice a week. Not only is that fattening and expensive, but it's....okay so that's it. It is fun, but the fun factor of eating out goes WAY down once you are toting a child with you. I have gotten so sick of fighting Will at restaurants that I flat-out refuse to take him to them now, unless its a last resort. That means babysitters and more $$ spent. So we have decided to only go out once or twice a month with a babysitter and have the rest of dates at home. This can include take-out, which is generally a little cheaper, or even just eating at home and then walking around the mall or something afterwards to feel like we did something.
So far, those are the things that work for us, but we have a long way to go to improve. What I want to know is, what are some good tips for saving money and/or cheap date night ideas?
15 comments:
Being a fellow college student myself, I found this to be very interesting. I THOUGHT that I was cheap and could manage money, but then I discovered the horrors of addups. I need to start planning out meals for myself, and try new things so I don't get sick of the food I eat.
Even outside of college, if you don't have a budget to stick to you will not live within your means. It doesn't matter how much money you make. That's what I've learned from people around me (thank goodness not from personal experience - I'd probably have a panic attack).
Another thing is that I am way cheap. I have a maximum amount of money I will spend on certain articles of clothing. If it's more, I don't buy it (with some exceptions when I REALLY NEED something).
I compare ads and now I've been couponing. Unless something is on sale and I have a coupon, I no longer need it. It can wait for when I can stock up on it. (essentials and produce and meat don't typically have coupons, so the best sales = stocking up.)
Another thing is that we've started using coupons for our going out. Once a month we won't, but that's all.
I'm really starting to sound like a cheapskate, but it's kinda fun.
Our cheapest date is going to the temple. A lot of the youth around here babysit for free if it's church-related, so the whole thing is free! (We usually make it up to them by hiring them again later.)
Also, Michelle always seems to know about free stuff going on. Not sure how, but there's plenty to choose from.
Thanks for the good ideas. I could use those for sure as I get my "student loans" from my step dad and by the time I graduate will owe him over $40,000. OUCH Every little bit helps and I look forward to dates at home. I can't walk the mall yet cause I'm still ill but we can play games or go take a drive. Thanks for the tips.
I like your idea on planning meals and minimizing grocery trips. That's the key, because even if we're going for something small, we still seem to walk away with 50 bucks of grocrettes.
I think for Hansens like you and me that still like to have nice stuff, the key is being realistic. We set a budget that enables us to buy plenty of stuff, but not so large that we're not saving money. You can't be cheap your whole life, so be cheap sometimes, and buy something nice the other times! A nice balance is hard to stick to, but it's easy once you get used to it.
That said, we were WAY over budget in May.
Is there a "Starving Student" card equivalent down there? Austin and I have saved tons of money by buying one of these each year and actually using it for entertainment and food.
Other date night suggestions: play games with each other, read together, write together, cook together, sing & dance, go to the library, go on walks, check to see if there any free events happening in your area. (check out local paper or local campus events online)
I totally remember that whole lump sum thing. It was weird. To be honest my whole budget plan now is to just try hard not to spend very much and hope it works out in the end. We've always been fine with that vague plan but I'm sure we could make cut backs in certain areas (Target?) and put more into savings if I did something a little more concrete.
You've heard/read my thoughts on this subject already, so you'd think I would have nothing left to say. But upon reading, I thought of a piece of advice my friend (who had kids before me) gave me when Felicity was first born, about buying clothes: never buy anything over $10. Clothing is actually cheaper now than it was then for the most part, although I have to depart from that for my girls' dresses now that they've left the toddler age, and my boys' church shirts are 10.50. I also try to minimize my trips to the stores, especially Target, and make a list so I don't depart from it too much.
To be honest I wish I didn't have a budget, because I'm a compulsive buyer and I'm not scared to admit it! You're on the right path with staying away from Walmart and those all in one stores! I think the biggest and best thing to do is to write a list of needs and wants. I have to do it all the time because if I do that I really let myself know what we have to have and want I think we need.
Here's a good cheap date day idea! Go to a matinee movie! When Aaron is out for summer the prices go Friday morning! You can do a movie and lunch, I know you still come home to an awake baby but it's still a date!
Oh, I can relate. And it feels like we've been in school forever! Here's a blog my friend does about some cheap date ideas: http://keepinromancealive.blogspot.com/ There's some cute ones. We honestly don't go "out" for dates much anymore, and when we do, we swap babysitting with friends in our ward. We get Netflix and usually watch a movie on the weekends for our "date"! Whatever works!
I've always had a problem with a formal budget. For me it is more effective to just save save save on the essentials (food, clothes, toilet paper) so that you can spend more normal amounts on enjoyable activities and lasting stuff. Couponing really is great not only because you save when you do it - but you don't buy stuff when you don't have a coupon. Nothing feels better than getting a great deal!
jake and i love to eat out. before kids we used to go all the time. it has definitely been cut back since our kids are getting older. hard to take them and expensive. but jake does eat out for lunch at work now. also, i am lazy and hardly ever clip coupons. we usually just price match blue bell ice cream and that's about it!
Matt and I set aside direct cash that we can either spend or use as date money. Everything else we use our debit card. It helps seeing that money and watching it go down knowing what you can use.
Also I have learned that buying store brand is okay {like Western Family) some things at grocery stores. I used to be picky on buying expensive branded foods.
As far as date ideas, recently we have an idea to rent cruiser bicycles and ride around. You could do that in the evening since it is so hot there.
Or on the cheaper side you could go to an art museum that's free. We take picnics or check out children fairy tale books and read them to each other. You could also be creative with food and a movie and make it a french night with a french movie and crepes. Let me know if you need more I have lots!!
So this week was our Costco week, and everything I said in the last post goes out the window. I spent our whole weeks grocery budget there. oops. Even having a plan doesn't always work! I got a list from Rob of 100 inexpensive date ideas & here are my top 10.
1) Picnic in the park
2) Visit the bookstore and pick a random book you think your partner would like & choose a book you like that would surprise them
3)Ride bikes (preferably tandem)
4)Go to a pet store
5)Nickelcade (other arcades)
6)Make a lemonade stand (this would be funny to see)
7)Teach each other a talent
8)Cook a really complicated/fancy meal together
9)Carve watermelons
10)Pick an outfit at DI/Salvation Army for your partner and have them try it on. Be creative!
Kelly and I love to toss a softball back and forth at the park. It sounds boring, but we spend forever just playing catch and talking about nonsense and it's fun.
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