Being frugal does not mean not spending money, or squeezing the eagle so tight it breaks in two. It means using resources at hand to deal with the economy at hand.
Whether the national economy, or just the economy of your household – frugality can be a terrific asset in your life, and to your budget – especially when it comes to eating.
I’ll explain:
Coupons & Sales
One of my childhood memories of my father is his coupon packed wallet. In fact, I think he may have had a wallet just for his coupons I’m not sure. It was so fat, so big and reminds me of the Seinfeld episode with George and his fat packed wallet which finally explodes in the middle of the street.
Now I’m the one with the coupons. My husband and I do the weekly ritual of cutting and clipping coupons from the Sunday paper. Who cares about the Sports section – where are the coupons?! Using coupons and cashing in on sales has saved us tons of money off our grocery bill, and has also allowed us to buy better foods at cheaper prices.
We are on a tight budget these days where every penny is counted and collected. But that doesn’t mean I have to buy cheap meat at the store. You can have good meat which is expensive, or bad meat which is cheap… unless you have a coupon or hit a sale.
That is what can make the difference between a good meatloaf or meatballs vs. mediocre ones.
Life Example:
Two weeks ago we decided to have some burgers for dinner. Instead of going and spending $12 on two meals at a fast food joint, we headed to the grocery store’s meat department.
London broil was on sale for $1.99 a pound (normally $5.99 a pound), so we picked a nice healthy piece. Asked the butcher to use his meat grinder in the back of the store to grind up the meat for us, and then we headed home.
We made some hamburgers and put them on the grill. Thanks to the advice from the butcher we rubbed some olive oil on them since London broil is on the lean side. End result – beautiful lean burgers.
London Broil on Sale
We paid the same price as some cheap cut of meat, it cost less than eating out, and we ate like a King and Queen. No heavy stomachs, no greasy yuck, just pure heavenly delight.
receipt
What should have cost us $22.60 – only cost us $9.01.
By the way – today we went shopping and saved $20.00 on foods we buy regularly! Proof is in the image to the right. All thanks to taking the time to look in the paper.
So, in the end – frugality doesn’t have to mean cheap or totally stingy, but rather it should mean smart and resourceful!
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