Bills can get overwhelming and finances get tight at the end of the month, but there are ways to save $1000 a month if you take the time to sit down take a look at the bigger picture to see where your expenses are going. Aside from the non-negotiable bills such as housing, utilities, insurance, etc., take a look at where the rest of your money is going and see what you can do to reduce that spending. Once you take a minute to look, you will realize that one of your biggest expenses is food for the family.
Now that I mention it you are probably thinking, wait that actually makes sense. Think back and remember all the times you decided to go out to eat, pick up take out for the family, or even spend $30-$80 every time you go to the store to get ingredients for a meal that you wanted to cook one of the nights of the week.
Think about it, say you wanted to cook a few times a week and popped in the grocery store every time you wanted to make something different for the family, that’s about $200 a week. Then think about the couple times you picked up take out for the family, say $150 a week.
People tend to spend about $10 a day on lunch if you are at work in the office because you didn’t prepare a lunch, so that would add up to at least $50 a week, along with $50 a week for your significant other too. That adds up to at least $450 a week or more!
With that being said, one thing that will help you cut down on food expenses is weekly meal planning. Sit down once a week and figure out what you and your family want to eat for dinner every night. Designate meal to every night of the week and make a grocery list of exactly what you will need to make those dinners. Doing this in advance will allow you to only go to the store once a week, instead of 3 or 4 times a week.
Try to also figure out your lunches as well. Instead of ordering take out for lunch every day, meal prep or take leftovers from the previous nights dinner to work, and maybe do takeout only once a week when you are not quite prepared. This method will help you save so much money per week!
