Saving By Using What We Have





Hebrews 13:5
Keep your life free from the love of money, and be content with what you have.

 

Saving in order to give or saving because you have some surprise needs can often be done by working with what you have.

My son is a high school senior, and although I thought I was pretty much prepared for this stage, I am not.  Emotionally it is taking its toll, but it has also taken a toll financially.  Having a child who is a senior in high school brings up lots of extra expenses.  Clothes have never been a major concern, my son is not a clothes horse.  Give him some jeans and a t-shirt, and he is good.  He also prefers clothing from Goodwill, well, other than his sneakers.  The thing that caught me off guard is the testing fees, admissions fees and the all important senior portraits.  Here I am accustomed to paying under $100 for a portrait package.  Not so in senior year.  It is PRICEY!  Mind you, the pictures are pretty outstanding, but again, something I really hadn’t prepared for.  


So it is time to find some budget wiggle room, and the best place is the grocery budget.  By eating primarily from your pantry, a family can often shave a good $100 or more off of their grocery budget.  My goal is to shave about $200.  To do that takes planning.  Below are planning tips and links to help make that easier.

1 – Inventory what you have on hand.  It takes some time, and it is pretty boring, but by inventorying what you have, you can then plan what you will cook.  Use a notebook or print some inventory pages to help you out. This link is to a great inventory sheet you can print out from Organized Home.  

2 – Make your plan.  Once you know what you have you can make meal plans.  Make them for the week!  I like to go to the Menu Plan Monday feature at I’m an Organizing Junkie to get ideas.  Recipe Key is also a great resource for finding recipes that will work with your pantry ingredients.  

3 – Put aside what you would be spending on those groceries.  If you are trying to save $100 from your grocery budget, remove it now so you will not be tempted to use it.  You can’t use what you cannot access.  And if you haven’t started budgeting yet, here is a good link for that too.
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