Food and stuff ....

Things have not been very good for many people in the country because of the recession. People are losing their jobs and trying to make ends meet by taking on extra jobs. I have full admiration for these people who had to make sacrifices so that they are able to provide for their families.

It got me thinking about myself, my lifestyle and spending habits. I have read of ladies who earn about $800-$1000 a month yet at the age of 50, they are able to save about $500,000! Yes, they have probably been working forever, but after ten years of working, what do I have to show in terms of savings? I have zero dollars. In my emergency funds, I have a measly $30,000. What is that compared to the $500,000 that the ladies manage to put aside! And I know they manage to put aside such amounts because they spend carefully and watch every single cent spent.

Let's see now. The ladies would use public transport like the bus or train which would be cheaper than taking cabs or having their own car. I have to put aside $1510.00 each month which goes into loan repayment (we took a five year loan to pay off the car and I still have another 1.5 years to go), car maintenance, petrol etc.

I tracked my spending on food for the last seven months and I spend an average of $777 on food each month (the most expensive went up to $1131.81 in September 2008 and the least was November 2008 at $576.58). These meals are mainly lunches and dinners with friends. And despite the fact that my bf pays for quite a bit of our meals and I do have dinners at home too, I still spend alot. And if I take $777 and divide it by 30 days, it comes up to $25.90 per day! Oh my goodness! That's alot of food each day! I hardly have breakfast so that's two meals a day (and sometimes it's just lunch out and dinner at home). I am thinking that those ladies probably spend like $3 per meal which comes up to MAXIMUM $10.00 (let's round it up some) and they would only spend about $300. But I am sure it's less cuz they would probably cook alot of their meals and have it at home so that's a huge savings, especially when you shop at the cheaper places for groceries.

These ladies would not be just spending on STUFF but on necessities. The rest saved. As for me, it's quite horrible but I did an average based on the figures that I have been recording for the last six months and I spend about $2922.42 on STUFF, which a very small portion is on medical fees (which is not a monthly thing), gifts for family and friends and the bulk of it is on STUFF which mainly come from my impulse buying. Now if I had been wiser and have better self-control and if I could even half the amount to be put under savings, I would have had $8767.26 by now! *sighs*

My other expenses would be settle bills on my credit cards, what I contribute to the family and so forth. But the biggest areas that I feel I need to look into would be FOOD and STUFF first. If I am able to get these under control, the battle is almost won.

So food, what can I do. I have tried giving myself a food budget but it didn't work because it got difficult when I had lunch out with colleagues or a nice dinner which would always be many times more than amount budgetted. So some things that I can do:

1. Pack a lunch a week (well, to start off and I can increase to twice and then thrice a week by end of May 2009) from home. It can be leftovers from the day before or prepare a sandwich (or two) to have at work because I do buy egg sandwiches at work which I could easily make if I wake up a little earlier in the morning instead of sleeping in to the last minute *grins*

2. Cut out the unhealthy snacks and soft drinks at work. I tend to buy snacks eventhough I may not be hungry. And I drink a lot of soft drinks at work to get that extra sugar rush to tide me over a long and exhausting day. I pay about 20 - 50 cents for the soft drinks and though it doesn't add to much, but healthwise, it will help me tremendously. And 50 cents a day, will add up to $15 a month and $180 a year. It's still money no matter how small the amount.

3. When I need to do grocery shopping, do a list and only buy what's on the list. Never go grocery shopping when I am hungry cuz I tend to buy alot of nonsense then.

4. Have more dinners at home or if I have to eat out, go to a cheaper place. Could maybe go to a nice fancy restaurant once every two weeks (or once every month?). This would also mean that I have to start to learn to cook especially when am home alone. I would like to switch to fresh ingredients instead of processed food (though the latter is cheaper) because the former is a much healthier choice. And stop buying the fancy cookies that costs $38 per tin!

It's going to be tough but I need to have a plan and work at sticking to that plan. I should probably talk to my family and friends about what I am trying to do so that they can help me stay focused. I really do want this to work but wanting alone will not gurantee that it will work. It's up to me to do what I need to do! It's a mindset change, it's a lifestyle change.

What about my STUFF issue? I think I'll have to think about this some and share my thoughts in the next post ....