Reply To: The Financial Crisis– What is the Solution?

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#625603
SJSinNYC
Member

intellegent – its hard, and you have to be willing to compromise. Are your spouse/kids (I dont remember if you had any) willing to try new things? That is step number one. The rule in my house (its me, my husband and a baby who doesnt eat much solid food yet) is we eat whatever one of us makes for dinner. You arent going to like/love everything, but we arent wasting it. Of course, we dont repeat the meals if its bad…but unless its REALLY foul, it doesnt go to waste.

If you like more traditional food, you can try things like tuna casserole, omelets for dinner, and soups. If you are willing to be more adventurous, try tofu, tempeh beans (there are so many different types). Beans are REALLY cheap, especially if you buy them in bags. You do need to soak them before cooking usually.

Would you eat wraps for dinner?

I’ll start a non-meat/chicken thread so people can post ideas there. Might make it easier. (I would call it vegetarian, but canned tuna/salmon is pretty cheap so its good to include)

The biggest problem is that sometimes when you go towards more vegetarian style, you use more vegetables which are more expensive.

Oh another cheaper trick – if you use a lot of grated cheese, buy blocks and shred it in a food processor.

As for the spouse that wont cut down – I would come up with your budget of absolute neccesities (like basic food, no eating out etc). Then add psuedo neccesities (whatever they are for you. For me, its organic produce for my son that I wont give up unless I absolutely have to in order to make other bills). Then put on “possible luxuries” and then “absolute luxuries.” Add up your salaries to get your maximum number per month. Then start subtracting – first the absolute neccesities, then the psuedo neccesities…when you get to possible luxuries, then discuss what to cut and what to keep.

Its also important to keep long term goals in mind. Do you own a house? Are you planning to buy one soon? Or in a while? You need to try to save for a down payment. Or you may just want to save an emergency fund in case on of you loses a job. Is cutting out your coffee budget of $10/week (or $520/year) worth it to you? Maybe, maybe not. That depends on you. For example, my coworkers invite me out to lunch about once a week to go to a kosher place. For a while I felt obligated (after all, they were going kosher for ME). But then I added up the $10/week and realized that at the end of the year, I dont want to spend $520 on lunch like that. I would rather go out once a month (for $120) and have the $400 for other purposes. That $400 can be put towards a couch (our living room is empty right now because we are saving up for one). Remember, that adding a few of these simple things together can add up to big bucks at the end of the year.

OK this is a megillah, I’ve got to go back to work!