How to start saving over $13,000 per year

There’s no point to living frugally if you’re not going to see some benefit instantly especially when it comes to money. Living a frugal life means so much more than that but it’s one of the biggest reasons I have for this kind of lifestyle. I tell myself I can buy it new and spend as little or as much as I want. But what I prefer to do is buy it secondhand, get it for free, make it myself with things I already have and save money for the more important things in life like experiences. I want to share how to start saving over $13,000 per year.

Magazines

Before kids I used to buy the latest fashion magazines, food, lifestyle, decorating and other magazines without even thinking about it. For the last few years I don’t buy them anymore. I borrow them from the library or buy them secondhand from the thrift store for about 50 cents each. If I was to buy a food magazine and a lifestyle magazine every week, I’d be spending close to $15. Years ago Mum used to buy a woman’s magazine but back in those days they were actually full of recipes, tips, patterns and other useful information. Now they’re only full of celebrity news. Over the course of a year, you could potentially save $780. That’s a week’s accommodation at the beach for us. Money much better spent in my opinion.

Total saved: $15 per week | $780 per year

 

Takeaway coffee

I’m a big coffee drinker and I love nothing more than going out with the girls for morning tea. I still do that on the odd occasion but as far as buying a takeaway coffee when I’m doing the shopping or when I’m out and about, I just don’t do that anymore. When I used to work, before kids, I bought at least 2 takeaway coffees per day. At an average of $5 per coffee (especially in the city) that’s money that could be better spent on making coffee at home or work, whether that’s instant or brewing your own from beans. Coffee makers are really cheap to buy from thrift stores. If you were to buy 2 coffees a day every day of the week, you could spend that money on an overseas trip or put towards a major renovation in the home.

Total saved: $70 per week | $3,640 per year

Trip to the Cinema

One thing that makes my blood boil is the price that the cinemas charge for snacks. I just can’t believe people are so willing to pay those prices, like it’s okay. There should be some major enquiry into it. I can’t justify it no matter how hard I think about it. Unless it’s school holidays or date night, we don’t go to the cinema. We watch a movie on TV or DVD at home and make our own snacks or allow for a few special treats in my fortnightly shopping budget. Your average spend of $50 for a family of four (2A @ $9.50 ea + 2C @ $5.50 ea = $30 + snacks @ $20 = $50) and you go once a month, you could save quite a bit of money. Even when we do go to the cinema, we always take snacks from home.

Total saved: $50 per month | $600 per year

Takeaway Meals

One of the quickest ways to save money each week is to not buy takeaway meals. If you want to allow for it in your budget, then sure. What I do is have a few stand by ingredients or ready made meals partly prepared (like pizza dough or frozen chicken tenderloins) so I can put together a meal really quickly when we’re late home or I’m sick or the kids are sick. I refuse to set foot in McDonalds anymore. I can’t justify the price, at all, for the quality of the food that is sold. To me, it’s atrocious. I really feel for those ‘kids’ making that rubbish and hope they learn to cook once they’ve grown up. (Sorry, ranty pants on!)

I always have hamburger buns in the freezer and even if I don’t have hamburger patties made or frozen, we can make bacon and egg burgers, chicken or fish burgers. You can get family meal deals sometimes for $20 from say McDonalds but my daughter won’t eat it so it would cost us at least $40. I cringe when I think of what I could buy at the supermarket for $40. If you buy takeaway at least once a week, this is another way you could quite easily save that money.

Total saved: $40 per week | $2,080

Amusement Parks etc

I have never bought amusement park tickets for my family. Except for maybe Seaworld, I hate them. I hate the rides and could think of better ways to spend my time than standing in a queue for 2 hours waiting to go on a ride that scares the living daylights out of me. I know that probably sounds a bit old fashioned but that’s just me. My kids are lucky in a way that they haven’t missed out on going to these places because their Dad buys these annual passes but at $99 each (x 4 for our family), I could think of plenty of other ‘free’ ways to enjoy time with my family like picnics, days at the beach, a trip to the park, catching a train to the city. All of these amusement parks, fun centres (like trampolining places etc) are all so expensive and don’t even talk about if they sell food there.

I have had coupons in the past that I’ve taken the kids to some of these so called ‘fun centres’ so it hasn’t cost that much but they are special treats for during the school holidays. I might sound like a mean Mum but my kids don’t seem to mind. It makes them appreciate it more I think when they do go on the odd occasion than expecting to go somewhere every weekend. I did buy the children a ticket ($20 each) to the Ekka (our annual show/fair) which I gave to them for a Christmas present. That was the first time they’ve been and the last. They’ve realised just how much of a waste of money it is now and it’s nothing like how it was when I was a child.

Total saved:  $396 per year

Buying clothes & shoes

Buying clothes is one of those things that I think we all can buy too much of. I admit, I’m a little guilty of this even though all the clothes I buy are secondhand from the thrift store. If I’m going there to buy something in particular, I haven’t been able to walk past the clothes racks just to see what’s available. I have picked up some wonderful bargains but in all honesty, I haven’t needed them. The total spend might only be $10 but if you’re doing that with full priced clothes at either a discount store or a major chain fashion boutique, your weekly spend might be more like $100. That could be for clothes for any member of the family. It’s easy to do.

If you’re not budgeting for this, you think it’s a bargain and if you don’t need it, you could quite possibly be saving $100 on unnecessary clothing purchases. Allow for some money in your budget to update underwear as required. If children are having growth spurts but consider buying secondhand or asking friends with children older than yours for hand-me-downs.

Total saved: $5,200 per year

Buying Books

I am guilty of this when it comes to recipe books. Over the years I’ve purchased quite a few and don’t even hardly refer to them. I think of them more as ‘coffee table’ books or nice books to look at. My every day, frugal cookbooks are what I refer to mostly or my online recipes I’ve saved in Pinterest. I don’t buy them anymore. I might borrow them from the library and if its one that I simply couldn’t live without, I’ll drop a few hints to the husband to purchase it for me for Christmas. My cookbook shelves are bursting at the seams so I don’t think I really need anymore.

The same could apply to novels and other books. Unless it’s going to be read, over and over again, I think borrowing it from the library or buying secondhand from thrift stores or book fairs is the better way to go. If you bought a new book every week at say $20, that’s yet another way you could save.

Total saved: $1,040 per year

Total saved on these things alone: $13,736 per year

There are plenty more ways to cut back and save. It could be walking more and using the car less. It could be downsizing your home or car and saving the money you make. Make more from scratch like food or cleaning supplies. They are all small steps you can take to having that little bit leftover. Everyone has different things they’re saving for. It could be for a deposit on a home, a new car, an overseas trip, investing, donating, a good night out, a family vacation, whatever. I’d rather make a small sacrifice with these few things than miss out on doing the things I’d prefer to be doing in the long run.

 

Disclaimer: The prices in this post are in Australian dollars and should be used as a guide only. Family sizes differ also this post could be applied to single people. This post is my opinion on possible ways to save money over the course of 12 months should you be wishing to save for something in particular.

How to stop spending money on takeaway food

Let’s face it, we’re all busy these days, whether we’ve got kids or not. I know myself, my son has scouts on Monday night from 6:30pm until 8:00pm. Tuesday night my daughter doesn’t get home from dancing/singing/drama lessons until 7:20pm and Thursday nights, my son has hip hop class from 5:30pm until 6:15pm, all around dinner time. After a busy day, sometimes the last thing you feel like doing is cooking (and I love cooking) so the first thing most people do is call into the drive through to pick up dinner but it all adds up. There are quite a few ways you can avoid spending that money, get food on the table in a hurry and still enjoy the occasional ‘takeaway’. Here are my tips.

Shop at the supermarket

Instead of going through the drive through, call into the supermarket. Here in Brisbane most of our supermarkets are open until 9:00pm but some are open later. You can pick up an already cooked chicken, bread rolls, salad ingredients or ready made salads and you’ll find there’ll be leftovers for another meal. For our family of 4, I can usually get 3 meals out of a supermarket roast chicken, ie chicken and salad bread rolls, a roast chicken dinner and soup made from the bones.

Be prepared by having quick meals in the freezer

When you cook rice or pasta, cook double or triple and freeze in family size portions. That’s one part of the meal already made. If you make a big pot of stew, pasta sauce, Chinese food or a curry, for example, always cook extra. Freeze those extras ready for those busy nights. I always have lettuce and tomato in the fridge, whether it’s summer or winter. You can use them on burgers or on a salad plate.

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Keep tinned foods in the pantry

Even though I can’t stand the taste of tinned soup, sometimes having a couple cans on hand come in handy for a quick meal. I always have tinned tomatoes on hand so I would tend to make a tomato based soup instead of using a condensed tin soup and you can add whatever vegetables, herbs and spices you have on hand. Tinned pulses like lentils, chick peas or other beans are good to have in a curry or a stew. Even tinned baked beans on toasted sprinkled with cheese is a good alternative to spending money on the big takeaway food chains.

Stock up on frozen ready made options

One of my favourite things to have in the freezer is frozen fish fillets. You can use them in a fish pie, crumb them, make a curry, steam them in parcels, just about anything. I also like to keep a couple boxes of crumbed chicken tenderloins (homebrand) in the freezer for lazy Sunday night dinners or if I haven’t been prepared during the week. I keep tortillas frozen in the freezer and I can put together a chicken burrito dinner, with my salad ingredients, in just under 20 minutes. I don’t like the processed frozen take away foods like chicken nuggets and other such things but there are some good options out there. Even in the meat section of the supermarket you can sometimes pick up hamburgers made from lean ground beef that can be popped in the freezer for a busy night. I usually pick up a couple of those when I see them marked down.

Use your microwave to speed up the cooking process

I make my own potato wedges by par cooking them in the microwave for about 5 minutes and then they only need about 20 minutes in the oven to crisp up. You can do that with frozen food too. Give it a blast to defrost and then crisp up in the oven or under the griller.

I know the main reason we all like to buy takeaway food is because of the convenience but at the end of the day, the money you’re spending really can’t be justified. Here’s two examples.

Takeaway Burger meal vs at home burgers

My husband and I were taking our dogs for a walk one evening and it was getting late. We decided to grab a burger meal deal at our local drive through burger joint. (We also picked up 2 junior cheeseburgers for our dogs.) It cost us $29! I was flabbergasted. I obviously hadn’t bought it in such a long time.

I always have bread rolls in the freezer and I usually pay $2 for 6. There is always beef mince, cheese and salad ingredients plus potatoes for wedges or chips. My husband likes to take a bottle of fizzy drink to work with him so there is always some of that too. Based on the cost of ingredients from my local supermarket, making it at home would’ve cost me:

Bread rolls x 6 = $2
1kg beef mince = $8
lettuce = $1
tomatoes = $3.00/kg
onions = $3.00/kg
cheese = $7.50/kg
potatoes = $3.00/kg
fizzy drink (homebrand) = $0.75

Total: $28.25

For less than the price of two burger meal deals and 2 junior cheeseburgers, I could’ve had more than enough ingredients for 6 burgers plus still had beef mince leftover for more burgers or to be used in other meals. There would’ve been salad ingredients and vegetables leftover and a kilo of cheese lasts a long time in our house if used sparingly. 

I really can’t justify the price just for the convenience. When I purchase my beef mince, I can prepare a few burgers and freeze into separate portions. I can also prepare potatoes into wedges or fries by par boiling and tossing in olive oil before freezing and then only pulling out the quantity I need.

Chinese takeaway vs at home

We were put onto a really good “value for money” local Chinese takeaway restaurant. My husband and I can get a meal deal for around $35 that includes a variety of 3 snacks like spring rolls etc, a choice of two main meals and a serve of fried rice (plus some prawn crackers thrown in). It’s pretty good and we can usually get two meals out of this $35 but could you image what I could buy for $35 from the supermarket?

1kg chicken breast = $9.00
1kg frozen fish fillet = $7.00
1kg frozen stir fry vegetables = $4.40
1kg rice = $1.50
1kg pack of frozen cocktail spring rolls (about 60) = $5.00
sauces and spices from the pantry

Total: $26.90

As you can see, considerably less for doing it at home. You could make a chicken and vegetable stir fry with all the chicken breast and all the vegetables and have enough for dinner that night plus 2 extra nights (based on a family of 4). At the same time you could cook 2 cups of rice and have oodles to pack away in the freezer. The fish fillets could be dusted in seasoned cornflour and made into Sweet & Sour Fish. You’ll also have your entree of spring rolls to pop in the oven while you’re reheating your already prepared meals.

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It does take a little bit of organising but just think about how much money you’ll be saving over the long run PLUS getting value for money. I don’t know about you but I have never, ever received a burger like you see in the picture advertised. What you can make at home looks exactly how you make it and tastes fantastic. 

The extent of our takeaway these days could be a couple pizzas on Saturday night for movie night, picked up, but even those prices are starting to go up or hot chips from the local fish and chip shop and $5 worth is still pretty good value. Start looking around a good frozen or canned options for quick mid week meals or cook that little bit extra when you’re making dinner and freeze in family sized portions. Failing that, make sure you factor into your budget that extra amount you need for takeaway night and buy it from the supermarket instead of the drive through places. You’ll get more for your money and it will taste better.

 

Disclaimer: Prices as per Coles Australia Online as at May 2016.