How to Lower the Meal Cost

Do you want to eat better at lower cost even though the purchasing power of your money is continually decreasing? Let’s learn to lower the meal cost.

Price of the ingredients rises more than our salary raise. Each meal, eat at home or dine out, becomes more expensive. The cost is often higher when the harvest has been damaged by the poor weather, for example, heavy rains or snow. It is essential for us to try a few strategies to lower the meal cost. Most of the methods are simple and worthwhile to be developed as good habits. We can start the money saving in several aspects.

Zero waste

* Don’t cook or order more than you can eat.

For the residue, don’t treat them as refuse and let them go straight to the dustbin. You can use them to feed your dog, reheat them for your next meal, and reuse them as ingredients for a new dish such as old bread for pudding.

* If you dine in a restaurant and have leftovers, kindly ask for a bag or box to carry them home.

* Try to make use of every part of an ingredient, such as grate the lemon skin for seasoning purpose instead of throwing it away.

Small portion

* Serve small portion for each meal. If possible, adopt the buffer style, i.e. to have the foods in big dishes and bowls and let people decide the size of a portion they would like to have. It’s easy to collect the residue for further treatment.

* In case the meal portion is inadequate to cope with hunger, you can have some almonds and other nuts, fruits, and cookies, which again can be served in small portion, as snack at any time.

Clever Mix

* Some parents don’t adopt the buffet style for fear that their children will overeat, under-eat, and have dietary bias. They assigned the portion and forced their children to clear their plate with all foods down into the stomach. Some children are more difficult to deal with: they often left the unwanted foods behind after stirring with their fork and spoon. Those residues always go to the dustbin. What a waste! Parents can chop the unfavorable food into very tiny pieces and mix it into the favorite ones. This will disarm the resistance and children are likely to eat the whole assigned portion.

Wise purchase

* Don’t buy foods and drinks more than you can consume albeit the discount.

* Use coupon to save money whenever possible.

* Pick ingredients with a longer due date.

* Those that will be overdue soon should be given the top priority in consumption.

* Pick the best buy not only among different shops, but also at different periods from a single supplier to enjoy the temporal discount.

* Bulk purchase for regular used items only and if possible, together with your neighbors so that each buyer can enjoy a greater discount for smaller purchasing portion.

Good inventory control

* Buy with a shopping list that has been checked with your inventory in advance.

* Make a list of your inventory and highlight their due dates. You can stick this list on the refrigerator with a magnet for easy and quick reference.

* Store the ingredients and cooked foods properly to avoid quality deterioration.

Wide variety of recipes

* Learn to cook with more ingredients. When price of an ingredient remains high, you can always replace it with a less expensive ingredient without the necessity of sacrificing the nutrition and the tasty level.

Growing eatable plants

* Do you have a garden or backyard? Why not grow your own tomato, potato, and apple, etc.? If you have neither of them, you may still save money by growing herbal plants in pots indoors. Many people put the potted plants in their kitchen and nip off the fresh leaves for seasoning, for example, rosemary, mint.

* If your harvest is rich, trade with your neighbors for other ingredients.

These cost saving methods are applicable to one man home, a big family and even organization. With a more efficient use of our resources, we are not only saving money for our own sake, but also contributing to a lower exploitation rate to the Earth. We become more environmental friendly as there will be fewer refuse. With some many advantages, let’s lower the meal cost from now on.

Other money saving related articles you may be interested in reading:

How to Stay Warm in Winter at Lower Cost

 

Stop Being a Shopaholic

Should I Borrow Money?

Many people borrow money but you don’t have to follow suit. Think carefully the real necessity before you commit. Say “no” to avoid unwanted burden.

(Happy coins bag, a photo taken by the author)

The convenience of borrowing money lures people get into debts more often and the accumulated amount could be large if one keeps overestimating his ability in repayment. Overdraw chronically is like a running snowball that can’t be checked and its growth will make our life miserable. Thus, always ask yourself “Should I borrow money?” Think harshly and exercise sufficient self-control to avoid falling into the money pit.

Circumstances that one shouldn’t borrow money:

1) The item is not a must.

Consumers face many temptations daily. We are tempted to buy new clothes, bags, shoes, cell phones and so on. Sometimes, extra piece is unnecessary. Whereas, some desires are surprisingly transient and a rapid purchase will only result in unwanted waste.

2) There is an economic downturn.

Banks and other lenders always face difficulties in recruiting customers during an economic downturn. They will offer low interest rates to bait us borrow money. Be mindful of the shrinking job markets and it’s wiser not to borrow money at this unstable period.

3) Old debts are still hanging.

Some people are too accustomed in borrowing and fail to save enough money clearing the old debts. When emergency arises, they simply borrow more money, pay more interests, and endanger their personal finance to a new difficult level. It is more important to break the bad habit of borrowing and clear the old debts first.

4) You have other sources to earn money.

It is always advisable to save part of salary for future use. If you have no saving to meet the new needs, explore new sources of earning money, for example, have a part-time job, sell unwanted or no longer used items to cash money.

5) You have no feasible plan to clear debts.

Some debts are on a lump sum basis; whereas, others are in the form of installment. In either case, borrowers need to reserve money to pay the requested amount on time. If you can’t work out a viable plan on putting aside enough money for this purpose, don’t borrow money.

6) The future is gloomy.

Gloomy future may appear in various aspects such as political instability, crisis of world finance, poor career prospect, unstable relationship and personal health deterioration. It is wiser to delay consumption and focus on saving money until the circumstance is no longer gloomy.

7) You are not ready to commit.

Many people borrow money to buy a house, get married, and set up their family. The borrowing amount is often huge and it takes many years to clear the debt. Plan carefully and have a harsh self-assessment on whether you are ready to commit. Make sure you really know what kind of living you want to have, the degree of self-discipline required to settle the payments, and the difficulty making changes afterwards. If anything goes wrong, the financial burden and unwanted commitment will become a great stress that could be hazardous to one’s health.

Don’t make haste at borrowing money but ponder over the issue in an all-round manner. Seek a third advice (expert level if possible) to help you see the circumstance from a more realistic and long-term point of view. You could avoid the worse-off potential more confidentially then.

Author’s note:

Many people borrow money via the use of credit card. Wise use can be harmless if the amount is never large and you can reserve money to settle the balance on or before each payment deadline. Welcome to check out the following two articles for more details.

Maximize Eight Benefits of Your Credit Card

Use Credit Card Wisely and Leave No Debt

Save Money by Wearing a Scarf in 25 Ways

A colorful scarf can help people look stylish. Learn how to wear it in 25 ways. You can unleash the potentials in clothes matching and save money.

Benefits of wearing a scarf:

A scarf offers additional warmth and decoration to one’s neck. When you are indoors and feeling hot, you can take it off easily and quickly. Feeling bored at one look? You can change to a new look within a couple of seconds if you are skillful in wearing your scarf.

Another benefit of wearing a scarf is for color matching. A scarf can be in different colors, either plain or assorted, and also in various patterns or themes. If you have a scarf with one whole color block following another one, you can switch color with the same piece by adopting different wearing methods. The YouTube video will demonstrate to you this little magic so that you can learn it for your own use.

Benefits to be a skillful scarf wearer:

Even a plain colored scarf will look wonderful if you can wear it in different ways. It is unnecessary to stuff your wardrobe with a lot of clothing items for a new look. Also, you can save money for clothing. So, keep practicing to be a skillful wearer. The effort will pay off and you could always look refreshing with just one scarf.

Author’s note:

One effective way in money saving is to maximize the use of the current items and buy less. The bonus for this practice is that we can be more environmental friendly. If you are interested in doing good to yourself and the earth, welcome to click into the two articles below to learn more on what we can do in our daily life.

Stop Being a Shopaholic

How to save water at home by developing some good habits

Mind your Characters and Take Care of your Money

(Money bank)

Characters affect one’s spending pattern. If you are squandering and want to go for money saving, change your character and develop new habits then.

Characters that promote people to be a squanderer:

1. Too optimistic

Some people are too optimistic and the situation is even worse if they are pleasure-seekers at the same time. Enjoying themselves is a high priority. They won’t adjust their expenditure even they are jobless. They believe money will come in again pretty soon and so there is no need to adopt frugality to depress oneself. On the contrary, they use spending money as an excuse to cope with decompression. After eating up all the saving, stress goes on accumulating.

2. Too demanding

Some people are too demanding, always conscious of the brand products and their latest versions, pursuing the expensive products. They believe high price is justified by high quality. This rigid belief molds the diehard loyalty of famous brands and high-priced products. They refuse switching to the less costly alternative, which may have the same functions, features and quality standard. The rigidity can cause troubles when one's income and wealth cannot afford the diehard spending pattern. Demanding people will use credit card frequently and may go into debt for years.

3. Too capricious

Some people change their mind very easily and they can’t resist the temptation of switching whenever they see something new. They will keep shifting to various brands, different models or even versions for mobile phone, digital camera, computer and branded handbag, etc. An expensive item may be used for a few days or a month and then resold at a low price. Frequent and yet unnecessary changes drain money away from one’s wallet continuously. Capricious people are so accustomed to frequent replacements that they become indifferent to the money loss.

4. Too generous or too casual

Generous or casual buyers do not think or check carefully before the purchase. They often buy things at a higher price, overlooking the flaws, waste money on similarities or duplications, and have purchases that fail in matching their practical needs. When the purchased item is of no use, they will put it aside or give it away. However, for expensive item such as house, let it seat idle or be a gift won’t work. The circumstance is even worse if the item needs an expensive fix before it can be for self-use or resale.

5. Too greedy

Greedy people have difficulty in resisting low prices. They will buy crazily in discount sales, more than they actually need. The results are often an excess, usage below the average, obsoleteness and depreciation. Besides the actual prices, the cost of handling many unused or seldom used items, either by keeping things in order or reselling them to cash back, is a definite loss due to one’s greed.

Have a self-examination see if you have any of these characters and whether you are empowering them to waste your money. If the answer is “yes”, it will be a good investment to change your character in the long run. This involves introducing a new set of good principles to rebuild your money concept and consumer behavior, and reinforce them with a concrete habit development.

To insert a quick control over money out, you can try two basic strategies: freeze your money and set rules, to resist the desire to buy. High self-discipline is required for an effective implementation.

Freezing your money is to put aside part of your income and the accumulated amount should be untouched. You have to keep telling yourself that there is no extra money to entertain a purchase.

Setting rules allow reasons rather than passions ruling the money issue. You can adopt many different rules at a time, for example, only buy new when old is gone, set quota for an item regardless of the low price.

If you have problems on implementing the two recommended strategies, don’t give up easily. Try your best to identify which character contributing to the squander and be determined to change it, which is the source of the chronic problem.

Hope everyone succeeds in spending wisely and be able to save more money.

Author’s note:

If you are a credit card user, I suggested you read the article below to get more ideas on how to freeze your money as this strategy is particular helpful to ensure that you have enough money to pay off in a monthly basis.

Use Credit Card Wisely and Leave No Debt

Examine your expenditure and your possessions; explore new opportunity to cut cost. The two articles below may give you some ideas on saving money in different aspects or contexts.

How to Handle Never, No Longer and Seldom Used Items

10 Dating Tips to Save Money

Interesting developments of Christmas Cards

Still mailing out Christmas cards? While we are changing habits of sending out greetings, the latest development of Christmas card is simply amazing.

Latest development

Applying nanotechnology, the world's smallest Christmas card was made in England. The size is 200 micrometer (width) x 209 micrometer (height). Its width is just two pieces of human hairs. This card was done in 30 minutes with a Christmas tree pattern. It is a proof on the nanotechnology level and wider applications such as on television and camera are to be expected.

Back to the Past

Mailing out Christmas cards to send greetings to one another was a common practice. For people who don’t write letters regularly, the card carries significant messages for the sender and receiver, for example, we miss you, keep in touch, we wish you happy. Receiving a Christmas card generate a good feel that many people welcome this.

Due to the heavy workload experienced by the postal office, delivery deadlines were set for each country. Rush to the post office for mailing if you want the card arrived before Christmas.

Christmas cards have beautiful artistic design, carrying different words of blessing. Prices vary and customers have no problem to select according to their own budgets. The cards are beautiful and serve well to generate warm feeling; hence, they are often used in home decoration during Christmas time.

Recent Trend

Many people forsake the mailing of Christmas cards due to a couple of reasons.

1)    Go Green

Seldom people keep the cards after Christmas and they become refuses. To minimize the cutting of trees and creating unnecessary wastes, a lot of people shift to other alternatives to send out their greetings.

2)    Efficient alternatives available

a)    E-cards

Christmas cards are digitized. E-cards still have beautiful artistic design and warm wordings. Some require payment; others are free. They don’t involve cutting trees and handling refuses. The sender doesn’t need to rush to the post office, but with some simply inputs (receiver name and their email address) to the computer or Smartphone that is Internet connected, the e-card can be sent out within a minute, to almost every corner of the world, and at the last minute.

Many people shift to this option as it offers many functions of the physical cards, and in a more economical, convenient, speedy and environmental friendly manner.

b)    SMS

Some people adore simplicity. They don’t need stunning card design. They sent out greetings in their own words

and again, with one click, the warm message will be sent out shortly.

c)    Facebook, Blogger and other Social Platforms

Many people spend a lot of time on the social platforms, sharing photos and news, and daily greetings. Using this means to send out Christmas greetings is also free, convenient, speedy and environmental friendly manner. Multiple sharing is common and the Christmas feel is magnified in the digital world.

Though the technology advancement begets many powerful alternatives, some people still enjoy mailing out and receiving Christmas card. No matter you are a die-hard fan of Christmas card or not, let’s hope everyone will keep sending out greetings in Christmas and be joyful throughout.

Author's note:

To call for uniqueness, you can make your own Christmas cards, either the physical one or the digital one. Here are some DIY steps for your reference.

How to make a Valentine Card by Stamping and Embossing

Make a Unique Birthday Gift by Windows Movie Maker (You can make the e-card in the form of video sharing a bundle of precious photos)