Keeping Up With The Bulls

A personal finance blog focused on making more money, saving money and smart spending.

Meal Planning Tips For The Beginner Cook

by // 12 Comments

Meal planning tips include saving your recipes. Here is a laptop with recipe on kitchen counter

If you’re a beginner to meal planning, it can feel overwhelming to get started. There are meal planning tips that’ll help you save money and be successful. Many recipes call for a lot of ingredients and prep time. If you’re busy or meal planning on a budget, that’s a recipe for failure.

Here are a few meal planning tips to help you get started on planning your meals ahead of time and identifying your go-to meals. As you get started, check out Trader Joe’s Quick and Easy Dinner Ideas, breakfast ideas and dinner ideas for recipe ideas to add to your collection.

Set A Realistic Goal for Meal Planning

If you like eating out a lot or are really busy don’t try to meal prep for every single meal in the week ahead. Start out by planning two to three dinners for the week ahead and two to three lunches. Then, have a few healthy frozen meals handy in case you need more meals. This way, if you decide to eat out or have business dinners / travel arise you don’t have food go to waste. You also have the flexibility to make a few quick meals from the freezer, or use those in latter weeks. If you want to meal prep, so you only have to make one dish check out how to meal prep for beginners.

Write Your Meal Plan Down

Print a calendar from online and write down what nights you will make meals. Then, use that calendar to create a list for grocery shopping. If you don’t know exactly what nights you’ll eat what, you can also create an excel by week and then title the columns “meal 1, meal 2, meal 3.” By writing it down, you will save money as you won’t buy excess food at the grocery store. You can also plan meals based on what is on sale at the grocery store saving even more money. Lastly, by writing your meal plan down you add another level of accountability.

Don’t Make All Food From Scratch

You’re making a homemade meal, but that doesn’t mean every single part of the meal has to be made from scratch. You can buy a box of pasta, a pie crust, marinara sauce and more and still have a homemade meal. Trying to make every part of the meal from scratch will take a lot of time. It’s not cheating by buying parts of it! Sometimes it’s cheaper to buy certain parts of the recipe instead of trying to make it all from scratch.

Save Your Recipes In A Central Place

There are lots of recipe apps where you can save your recipes in a shared folder. The problem is you find lots of recipe ideas in different places, on random websites, emailed to you, etc. I find it easiest to print out all recipes and put them in a binder. This allows me to keep the binder next to the cookbooks I have as well. Alternatively, you can save all of your recipes to a shared folder on your computer. If you put this folder in Dropbox, you can also reference it easily as you’re grocery shopping. It’s much easier to figure out what to make when you can look through a bunch of recipes easily.

Use All of the Food You Buy

Using all of the food you buy seems like a simple concept, but in reality requires planning. There are many recipes which require only part of a container of an ingredient leaving you with leftovers. For example, a quiche requires 3-4 eggs leaving you with 8-9 eggs when you buy a carton of a dozen. One way to use all of the food you buy is to make recipes that have overlap in ingredients the same week. Make omelets for breakfast the same week you make a quiche. If you still have leftovers for ingredients that will go bad try to freeze it. You’re supposed to use a jar of sauce up within 7 days of opening it. Any that you don’t use can be put in a sturdy plastic container in the freezer.

It’s not fun to spend a ton of money on a specific ingredient you only need a pinch of for one dish. If a dish requires a lot of spices that can easily add up to $30 additional. Finding recipes that call for similar ingredients will reduce these costs.

Buy Frozen Fruits and Vegetables

Frozen veggies and fruit are great. They are similarly priced to fresh fruits and veggies, don’t contain artificial ingredients and I personally think they work just as well in meals. If you end up delaying a meal until later the food doesn’t have to go to waste.

Use Store and Manufacturers Coupons

A quick google search ahead of shopping will show you what is for sale at your local grocery store that week. Many manufacturers also offer coupons that can be used at any store. If you get the newspaper, both store and manufacturers coupons will come with your Sunday paper.

Know What Kitchen Tools Are Required For A Recipe

If you’re just starting out it’s likely the kitchen tools you have at home are sparse. You may not have the zester to zest a lemon, or fine chopper. There are ways to do these tasks more manually but it takes a lot more effort. Before you go shopping, don’t forget to look at what kitchen tools are required to make a recipe. You will either need to add the tools to your shopping list or find a new recipe.

What are tips you’ve found as you’ve started meal prepping and planning out your weekly meals?

10 Financial Tips for Living On Your Own

by // 6 Comments

Living on your own, living on your own tips, financial tips for living on your own.

You’ve decided to live on your own for the first time, congratulations! Maybe you’re moving out of your parents house, or moving out of living with roommates. Now, you get to decorate your new place exactly how you want and have everything match. The room is a bit bright so you’ll get some curtains and… oh wait, curtains are over $1,000 for the room?! Welcome to the joys of furnishing your own place. No matter the situation, living on your own requires getting a lot of stuff. This doesn’t even include the mortgage / down payment / deposit! Here are 10 financial tips for living on your own for the first time.

Don’t Buy Too Much House

Top living on your own tip: don’t buy too much house. Whether you are renting or buying, it’s important not to buy too much house. If you spend too much money on rent or a mortgage you will not be able to cut back on this expense if money gets tight. What does this mean? It means that your housing costs should be no more than 30% of your gross income (pre-tax income). This includes rent, mortgage, taxes, bills like electricity, water and wifi and any repairs you may have to make.

Even though the rule of thumb is no more than 30% of your gross income the lower this percentage is, the more money you’ll be able to spend actually furnishing your place and more money you’ll be able to save.

See Also: How to Save Money in Your 20s

Organize Your Move

Being organized about your move will help save you money. Start by creating a few lists, including a to do list and everything your new place needs. In the “everything you need list” identify what you already have, what is needed, what is needed but can be purchased later and what is nice to have. For example, you’ll need a lot of kitchen items but you’ll absolutely need to have pots and pans to start if you plan to cook. While a good knife set is also needed if you’re not a big cook this is an example of a purchase you can delay.

Also create a list of general household items (paper towels, cleaning supplies, spices) that you often don’t think about because you’ve acquired a collection from living with your parents or living with other roommates over the years. You’ll avoid a lot of repeat trips to the grocery store, Costco or Target by creating a list of what you need here before you go shopping.

Now that you know what you need immediately and what purchases you can delay match this to your budget. Likely, this is more expensive than you anticipated but see how far you can get. There are tricks you can use to lower these costs and make your money stretch further.

Spend As Little As Possible Moving

Moving from one place to the next is always a pain and spending money on the move itself is unavoidable. There are ways to minimize this expense; however, moving expenses and effort tend to be inversely related. The less you spend, the more effort you will have to put into the actual move. The least effort will be to hire movers that pack everything for you and unpack everything for you. On the flip side, the most effort but least expensive option is for you to move yourself in your own car. In the middle, there are options to rent a uHaul, ask for friends help and offer to buy them food, etc.

When you’re moving to your own place for the first time it should be easy to minimize this expense as you have less stuff to begin with. At the same time, you will be spending money on moving after the initial move too as you begin buying more furniture for your place. Some of these purchases may require having to rent a truck or spending money on delivery fees.

Set A Budget For Furnishing Your Own Place

Living on your own can get expensive quickly. It’s important to set a budget. Remember, you don’t need to have everything day one. You need wifi, a place to sleep and a few household items like toilet paper and some food. It’s ok if you don’t have a kitchen table or look settled for a couple of months. You’ve just paid the big expenses of first month, last month and security deposit or perhaps the closing costs and downpayment on your first home / condo. You’ll also have to start paying the monthly bills of living in your own place.

How much should you budget? That varies by person, and is really more about what you can afford and personal preferences. It’s more important avoid going into debt than being settled day 1.

Accept Furniture and Household Item Donations from Family Members

Your first place doesn’t have to look all put together – that can come with time. Forget what you see on Instagram, House Hunters and what your friends that don’t have their own place suggest when they come to visit. Earmuffs and blinders are key here! When you move into your own place for the first time without any roommates it is expensive. Even getting curtains for one room can be hundreds of dollars, if not over $1,000.

Understandably not everyone has the option to get used items from family. But, if your parents or your aunts, uncles, grandparents, etc, have things you need, accept them. Even if they don’t match or will need to be replaced soon it’s better than nothing. You don’t need to have these items forever, but moving into your own place requires a lot of things all at once and the fewer things you have to buy the easier it will be.

Are any of your friends moving? Or, are you living with roommates now and is there anything your roommates are trying to get rid of? Any time someone moves there are always items – big or small – that they won’t want in their new place. It works out for both of you if you can take something off your friends hands they don’t want anymore.

For the items that won’t last long, add them to your list of things to buy in the future. Prioritize this list and throughout the year look for sales. Always set aside some money in your budget to purchase items for your house in future years.

Scour Local Estate Sales For Furniture and Household Item Deals

Finding deals on household items and furniture at estate sales is one of the best kept secrets. An estate sale usually happens when there is a death and the family is trying to sell almost everything in the house before putting the house on the market. You’re able to get multiple things from one place at a steal and if you do need to rent movers or a uHaul, you can do it once. One friend ended up getting a $8,000 large dining room set in excellent condition for under $1,000. When she moved out (it didn’t fit in her next place) she ended up selling it and made a profit!

You may end up spending the same money you would have for something brand new at Ikea but there are two benefits to buying furniture / household items second hand. First, the quality of what you’re buying is much higher and you’ll be able to command a higher value should you ever try to resell the same piece a few years later. Second, you don’t have to self-assemble.

To find local estate sales, enter the town + estate sale into Google. If you live in a city, you may have more success looking at close suburbs.

Buy Second Hand Household Furnishings On Craigslist / LetGo

Craigslist and LetGo are also good to search for specific things you need to furnish your new place. I really wanted a wine rack from Crate and Barrel and didn’t want to spend $400 for it new when I first moved into my own place. After regularly searching for a few weeks I found one nearby on Craigslist for $125. A few years later when I moved I ended up selling it for $150. Both of these website / apps are best when you know exactly what you’re looking for otherwise you’ll spend a lot of time browsing. The strategy of buying second hand can save you hundreds if not thousands of dollars.

Use Coupons For Household Staples and Decorations

Normally I don’t talk about coupons often as I don’t think it’s worth going out of your way for 20 minutes to save $0.50. But, moving in on your own requires a lot of stuff so it’s worth it to spend a few hours looking around for the best deals and setting alerts. In this case, you’ll end up saving a lot of money by shopping around. Still, it is important to be smart about your time. If you see a good deal for one thing that will take 2 hours out of your day, is the amount you’ve saved worth those 2 hours?

T.J. Maxx and Homegoods generally has good deals and there are extra sales on holiday items after a holiday has passed. Bed, Bath & Beyond always mails 20% off coupons and you can try to split your transactions (or go with a friend) to use multiple coupons during the same trip. Usually, Bed, Bath & Beyond also accepts coupons that have expired. For higher end, Bloomingdales Home has Friend & Family sales (it’s free to become a loyalist) which you can take advantage of for things like bed sheets and towels. Macy’s also frequently has sales and coupons.

Budget Your Time Wisely

Don’t spend so much time on searching for the best deal that you waste all of your time. Everyone only has 24 hours in a day and each hour you spend looking for deals you could have been using to do something else, including doing something that would make you more money. You have a lot to buy when starting your own household and shopping around can take you to many stores and require a lot of repeated trips if you don’t plan correctly. Plan ahead as best as you can with lists and research ahead of time but never waste a couple hours to save only a couple of dollars.

You’ve Now Living On Your Own, Now What?

You’re now officially moved in and living on your own. Now what? It’ll always take some time to get settled and you’ll realize you’ll need things you completely forgot about. Don’t worry about buying everything at once. Continue to keep your lists of prioritized needs, needs and wants. Chip away at these lists over time and take advantage of yearly sales. Do more research on when the best time to buy certain items are, which you can find here, and here.

Once you’re more settled, look for other opportunities to be smart with your spending so you can get back to saving more money or finding ways to fund more of what you need for your home!

What are other ways you’ve found to save money when moving to your own place for the first time?

tips for living on your own, living on your own tips

Saving Money as a Wedding Guest: Tips and Tricks for Sticking to Your Budget

by // 2 Comments

saving money as a wedding guest

The costs of being a wedding guest really add up between the wedding, the bridal shower, the bachelorette party and the engagement party. Especially the years you attend multiple weddings, saving money as a wedding guest is key as you could be spending thousands of dollars. Saving money as a wedding guest is critical if you want to be there for your friend’s special day. While it’s exciting when your friend gets engaged, we all know that excitement starts to wear when you see your credit card bill and those wedding checks cashed during wedding season. So, how can you attend weddings, and also have money to pay your own bills? In order to save money as a wedding guest you need to create a budget for how much you’ll spend attending weddings and stick to it. Here are ways to save money as a wedding guest.

Create A Budget For Wedding Season

In order to save money as a wedding guest, you need to know your limit on how much you will spend attending weddings each year. How much are you willing to spend to attend each wedding? How much are you willing to spend attending weddings this year? This includes the weddings, the bachelor or bachelorette parties, the engagement parties and the bridal showers. If you’re traveling to a wedding, include all costs you’ll incur that weekend. Don’t forget to estimate the outfit costs.

Next, create a good estimate of how much you’ll spend on weddings for the year based on the weddings you’ve been invited to. Add a bit of a buffer in case there are engagements and/or weddings you get invited to later on in the year. The table below is a good way to develop that first estimate.

How to save money as a wedding guest budget for engagement gift, wedding guest hotel, wedding guest flight and wedding gift

Sticker shock? Same. Below are a few ideas to attend weddings without going broke.

As much as your friends want you to be a part of their big day(s), if they’re really your friend they don’t want you to end up broke because you attended their wedding. It’s important to remember it’s a lose lose lose situation for your friend, yourself, and your wallet if you do this.

Save Money By Skipping The Bridal Shower

Are you a bridesmaid? If not, save money attending weddings by skipping the bridal shower. Do this especially if attending a bridal shower involves a flight. Send a gift from the registry or chip in with a group of friends for a larger gift. If you do attend, check out additional ways to save money attending a bridal shower.

Save Money By Skipping The Bachelorette

Attending every bachelorette (or bachelor party) you’re invited to will cost you thousands if not tens of thousands of dollars. Are you a bridesmaid or groomsman? If not, consider skipping the bachelorette or bachelor party. It’s not fun for you or the bride / groom if you attend and then are stressed the entire time about spending money while there. If you still want to do something for the bride / groom at the bachelorette / bachelor party and can’t afford to attend ask a friend to buy a bottle of wine or champagne on your behalf and reimburse your friend. It’ll show the bride / groom you are thinking about them and you don’t have to worry about spending too much money.

If you do decide to attend the bachelorette party, there are plenty of ways to save money attending a bachelorette party. Splitting a hotel room, carpooling or sharing an Uber and limiting the nights you participate in the bachelorette party are a few ways to save money when attending a bachelorette party.

Save Money Attending The Wedding

Use Credit Card, Hotel, Airline and Car Rental Points

One way to reduce the cost of attending weddings is to use credit card, hotel, airline and car rental points for wedding travel. Mentally, it will make you feel better about spending less money on attending weddings. However, you always had the option of using these points for other travel so you should be careful about justifying using points as a way to save money.

Save Money On Wedding Flights

If you will need to fly to the wedding, book your flight early! Use Hopper to track flight prices as soon as you get the invite and buy when tickets are low. If you wait too long, ticket prices are guaranteed to go up.

Do you travel for work? Is your work travel unpredictable? If work travel doesn’t allow for early booking of flights look for opportunities to align a work trip to a wedding. Sometimes, you’ll be able to have one or both legs of a flight paid for with this approach.

Save Money On The Wedding Lodging

Stay with Family or Friends

The cheapest lodging option is to stay with family or friends. Even if it’s a bit of a drive, it can be cheaper to be a little farther and Uber instead of paying for a hotel. If your friends / family are attending the same wedding offer to pay for the transportation to / from the wedding or pay for a meal.

Share a Hotel Room

The hotel is one of the most expensive parts of the wedding. If you need to save money when attending a wedding, splitting the hotel with friends will make a huge difference. This is especially true if you just graduated college. You just spent 4 years sleeping 2 feet from a roommate, sharing a hotel will feel like a dorm. As you age this will become a less attractive option so save money by splitting a hotel room here while you’re young.

Wedding Guest Outfit

Your Wedding Guest Dress

Let’s be real, with social media there are only so many times you want to wear the same dress. Don’t spend $200-400 on a dress and justify it you’ll wear it all the time. You’ll probably wear it 2-3 times max.

If you and your friends are similar sizes, the best way to save money on your wedding guest outfit is to borrow it. This way, you each can rotate your outfits and only have to buy one dress. The second cheapest option is to buy a dress second hand and sell it after you know you’re not going to wear it any longer. You can also rent a dress on Rent The Runway but sometimes this ends up being more expensive than the two options above. If you are going to buy a dress, plan ahead so you can get it on sale.

If you buy a wedding guest dress (second hand or new) and you’re not going to wear it again, sell it so it lessens the net cost.

Wedding Guest Accessories

Buy the essential accessories ahead of time when you find a good sale. You’ll always have something that goes with the dress and can take advantage of sales.

  • Shoes: open toe / heeled sandals in nude, black, gold and silver. The shoes I bought are no longer sold, but the newer version of BP shoes are, and are only $60!
  • Purse / clutch: nude, black, gold, silver. I found the best deals at the Kate Spade Outlet Store when they were having a sale and got a sparkly clutch for $50.
  • Jewelry: invest in nice pieces that will go with anything such as diamond studs or get a few pieces of classic costume jewelry.

Save Money By Not Bringing A Plus One To The Wedding

If you have a significant other it is nice to attend weddings together. But, this also increases the cost. At minimum, you have to give a gift for two people instead of just yourself. This will save you $50- $150 depending on how much you gift the bride and groom. If you have to fly, this easily adds another couple hundred dollars there as well.

Save Money On The Wedding Gift

How much should you spend on a wedding gift? Give what you can afford, but spend at least $50 per person. The Knot outlines proper wedding gift etiquette here. In the wedding budget above, I used $150 which is the high end etiquette for a close friend and low estimate for an urbanite. You can also buy your wedding gift on the registry early as sometimes the cheaper gifts are taken earlier, or buy it when the gift is on sale to make your gift go further.

Skip The Wedding All Together

As mentioned in the beginning, being a wedding guest is expensive. If you can’t afford to attend a wedding don’t go. Saving money as a wedding guest sometimes entails saying no. Weddings are expensive for the bride and groom too, so if you feel bad remember how much it costs the bride and groom per plate. Attending weddings are not worth going into debt for. Studies also show that 40% of Americans can’t cover a $400 emergency expense. Don’t be that person that can’t cover a $400 emergency expense because you spent too much money attending weddings. Saving money as a wedding guest isn’t always easy, true friends will understand if you’re unable to make the wedding due to cost.

What other ways have you been successful saving money as a wedding guest?