That's ok, you can make both at home easily. Both foods are extremely easy to make at home, more convenient (assuming you are already home), and are one of the more fun things to cook out there. , and at least 1/3 the price made at home of what you will get at the fast good joint or pizza shop

I feel like I'm slowly moving over to a non-spender. It's easier and easier not to spend. I even find when I am in stores I am very hesitant to actually buy anything, there's now this internal dialogue that forces me to weigh all opportunity costs involved with every purchase. In fact, this automatic thought process makes me avoid shops all together because it's so much mental effort to be in one! LOL!

I'm still worried about relapsing though, I am very close to being debt -free again (my last relapse brought me $4000 in CC debt to attend my brother's wedding on the other side of the world). It made me realize that better future planning is required to remove temptation to us the CC as a crutch.

Good post!

What has helped me is to pull out a budget category for Xmas in December and allocate a given amount to it, money that I already have in cash and which is not allocated to any other necessary spending category. Now that I have a ceiling for my spending, I can keep it at that level. Without the ceiling, I would have dribbled Xmas spending all over the place and spent 3 times the cash.

RE: being reluctant to spend any cash, even on needs : I do make a point of spending money gladly when it is an actual need. On all my spending, I have been applying a two stage decision model or dialogue: 1) If it’s a need, I buy it, no questions asked. 2) If it’s not a need, then I ask (2) if I’m on track or have met my important long term goals. If I have, then I’ll consider buying a “want”. If I haven’t met those goals, or am not on track to meet them, I don”t spend on a “want” . Having decided ahead of time to apply this set of criteria to my spending decisions, I’ve found that it works.

The only other category I will spend on even though my savings or long term goals are not on track is a true investment: something that returns money to me either by efficiency gains, increased income, or creates an opportunity to develop income (like starting a business for example): if it is a true opportunity that I estimate will return my investment back plus principle, then I will put cash down on it. Of course, that’s because this category is actually an investment that would contribute to my long term goals.

Renee´s last blog post..Chili for 4 for $2

Thanks again for the post!! It is another great way to look at the journey to frugal living!!

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It’s gotten to the point where my bank won’t give me the 3% interest on my checking account balance because I need to use my debit card 12 times in the month to qualify, and I only shop maybe 6 times in the month! 4 times for groceries, 2 times more for maybe gas and another food shopping trip due to lack of planning.

Literally, money only comes out of my pocket on 6 or so occasions a month, if you con’t count billpaying.

While most people probably won’t get down to this level of skinflintery, I think a lot of people will break some of their spending habits due to the necessities of the day, and take a long time to pick them back up again because they will find other things to do with their time than shopping.

that’s my two cents’ worth!

Kate@Living the Frugal Life´s last blog post..Sour Milk Potato Biscuit-Muffins