Eating Habits Taking a Bite Out of Your Budget?
If you’re looking to improve your budget’s bottom line, one of the fastest and most painless ways to reduce your expenses is by examining the amount you spend on food. The reason for this is that food expenditures vary wildly, even in comparable areas for comparable types and amounts of food. With any expense, we are usually paying for more than the product or service we actually receive. Nowhere is this more vitally true than in our grocery habits.
You don’t have to pack peanut butter and jelly for lunch every day to realize savings, either. One thing we tend to do is pay a penalty for poor planning. Plan your meals for the entire week, and develop a routine for coping with times that cooking your own food isn’t convenient. Paying for convenience isn’t a bad thing, but don’t pay too much for it. Is the Chinese take-out you order at work better than the microwavable prepared version you could keep in the freezer? Probably not, but it’s likely to cost at least twice the amount.
To get started trimming the fat off your grocery bill, keep a memo book handy and jot down food purchases for a week. Note each time you paid for convenience, and consider whether there’s a cheaper alternative that still suits your lifestyle.