Budget Tips Anyone?
Many people have been feeling their belts tightening lately due to the rising prices of gasoline and basic commodities. These days, we would rather stay at home and just play with the baby rather than make a trip to the mall. Ordinarily, our weekends would be spent going around the mall, eating out and shopping. Now, we prefer to skip that. I personally blame myself as the money manager of the house for not being very budget-conscious in the past. And when I hear about how other people save, I feel so guilty for not trying hard at saving from the very beginning of my married life. My own personal budget has been in havoc these days that I can't wait for the next payday to come. Now, every cent counts since we don't know what's in store for us in the future.
Here's some of the other things we've been trying to do to save a little, save a lot:
1. We haven't eaten out (on a fancy restaurant) since my husband's birthday last June. Yeah, we miss eating out very much since we usually go on dates every week. Good thing my husband received meal coupons from the office this week. Yipee, we can now eat almost wherever we want to.
2. At home, to save on food expense, I asked our helper to cook only one viand for every meal instead of two or three as we usually do. It actually works without sacrificing our nutrition. We used to really eat a lot in the family because my mom before was never satisfied with just one viand each time. When there's a soup-based meal, there always have to be something dry like fried fish or chicken. No wonder we were all gaining so much weight! Now, vegetable-based viands are the highlight of our weekly menu.
3. We've let go of all our industrial fans and replaced them with our ordinary electric fans. I heard from somewhere that those industrial fans use up so much electricity. Even before, Zoe used an industrial fan and this was on the whole day. So one day, we decided to used bring down our extra ordinary electric fan and set aside the industrial fan. Let's see if this has an effect on the next electric bill.
4. We've stopped doing the grocery at Shopwise and SM Hypermart (until further notice, that is). Since last week, I've been comparing prices of our regular grocery items and found out that it's still so much cheaper to buy in Makro rather than in these other stores. In addition to that, Makro is only two minutes away from the house so I have no reason to prefer it over these other stores which are so much farther away. Now, I swear to do my commodity shopping in Makro.
5. Speaking of Makro, I've resolved to buy in bulk for applicable items. If I could, I'll try to buy wholesale toys for Christmas and wholesale school supplies for the kids at home. Just got to remember to bring it all out when it becomes needed.
Do you think these small things can all help? Care to share some more tips?
Here's some of the other things we've been trying to do to save a little, save a lot:
1. We haven't eaten out (on a fancy restaurant) since my husband's birthday last June. Yeah, we miss eating out very much since we usually go on dates every week. Good thing my husband received meal coupons from the office this week. Yipee, we can now eat almost wherever we want to.
2. At home, to save on food expense, I asked our helper to cook only one viand for every meal instead of two or three as we usually do. It actually works without sacrificing our nutrition. We used to really eat a lot in the family because my mom before was never satisfied with just one viand each time. When there's a soup-based meal, there always have to be something dry like fried fish or chicken. No wonder we were all gaining so much weight! Now, vegetable-based viands are the highlight of our weekly menu.
3. We've let go of all our industrial fans and replaced them with our ordinary electric fans. I heard from somewhere that those industrial fans use up so much electricity. Even before, Zoe used an industrial fan and this was on the whole day. So one day, we decided to used bring down our extra ordinary electric fan and set aside the industrial fan. Let's see if this has an effect on the next electric bill.
4. We've stopped doing the grocery at Shopwise and SM Hypermart (until further notice, that is). Since last week, I've been comparing prices of our regular grocery items and found out that it's still so much cheaper to buy in Makro rather than in these other stores. In addition to that, Makro is only two minutes away from the house so I have no reason to prefer it over these other stores which are so much farther away. Now, I swear to do my commodity shopping in Makro.
5. Speaking of Makro, I've resolved to buy in bulk for applicable items. If I could, I'll try to buy wholesale toys for Christmas and wholesale school supplies for the kids at home. Just got to remember to bring it all out when it becomes needed.
Do you think these small things can all help? Care to share some more tips?
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