Are you ready for another round of Splurge vs. Save? Like last time, I'll feature two similar products with good reviews, but one is the 'splurge' version and the other is the 'save' version.
Let's get on with it shall we? This week I'm featuring two different hair dryer brushes. They are actually the same price, but one is cheaper right now because they are both on sale. Also, one is a familiar name brand, while the other may not be as familiar. Before reading further, can you guess which is which?
If you guessed that the 'save' version is on the right and the 'splurge' version is on the left, then you are correct!
Here are the links to shop them both if you are interested:
Valentine's Day is around the corner so today's post is going to focus on low cost date ideas! I'm not only going to list frugal ideas to do with your significant other, but also ideas you can use with any special kids in your life. After all, it's crucial to any important relationship, that you spend some quality one-on-one time together.
However, when money is tight, it's hard to justify spending money on a "date". Even dinner and a movie can really add up! With that in mind, I hope you enjoy my ideas for low cost date ideas the whole family can enjoy:
Date-Night with your significant other:
Visit a Winery or Brewery - This can really be a fun and informative afternoon! Most wineries and breweries offer free tours that include free tastings at the end.
Use those Daily Deal Sites - Keep an eye on those daily deal sites like Groupon and WagJag. I often see offers for romantic getaways, restaurant deals and even local attractions. You’ll save yourself a big chunk of money if you take advantage of a deal, especially if you intended on heading out on the town anyways!
Wash the Car Together - Sometimes doing the mundane chores together can be a blast and a great way to catch up. This is a great idea for when life is so busy you're having a hard time finding a solid chunk of time to spend together.
Get back to your Roots - Did you use to love playing a particular board game together in your younger dating/married years? Pull it out and play it once again. Or maybe you used to love browsing the thrift stores together? Or enjoyed the satisfaction of volunteering? Do something that takes you back to the early days!
Go for a Drive - One year for our anniversary, with a new baby in tow, we took a scenic drive and stopped at a quaint little coffee shop in a nearby town. This was one of our most memorable dates!
Dinner at Home - Not a new idea at all, dinner at home, but how about calling up your date’s mother to get the recipe for their favourite childhood meal? Or if you both enjoy a fancy meal, how about going all out at the grocery store to recreate your favourite fancy restaurant meals? The thought of a picnic on the floor might hit the spot as well! Maybe this year could be your first fondue?
Go to the Beach - Obviously for the warmer months, but we like to bring along a couple of chairs and some good books and spend the afternoon relaxing at the beach. When we get hot, we just jump into the water!
Go for a Hike - or snowshoeing since it's winter! My husband and I are really fond of hikes. There's just something about enjoying nature together and getting a little bit of exercise at the same time. Plus, our region has some pretty fantastic hiking locales if I do say so myself.
Date-Night with your Children/Whole Family:
Get the ideas flowing with these suggestions that will work for one on one dates with your children or for the whole family unit!
Have a Picnic - Inside or outside depending on the weather. Pack some sandwiches, a fun beverage and an extra special treat that will be enjoyed.
Have a Movie Night in – grab a movie off the shelf that you haven’t watched in a while or find something on Netflix and make some homemade microwave popcorn!
Have a Theme Night/Day – Mexican, Italian, pirate…the list goes on. Plan dinners and activities around your theme!
Have a Craft Night – Paint, sew, make bracelets, draw…etc! This would have been a dream date with my mom when I was younger. Actually, now that think about it, we used to spend quite a few nights making greeting cards!
Head to your Local Library – Stock up on reading material or even sit in on story time!
Go Bird Watching – See how many different types of birds you can spot. Maybe bring along a bird book from the library. Here's are some free Bird Watching printables you may enjoy.
Build an Indoor fort – Grab all your blankets, pillows and boxes to create an epic indoor fort. Camp out in it or have a picnic in it!
Check out the free community events offered in your area - Many of the free community events are geared towards family fun.
Go for a Nature Walk - Bring along a bag that you can use to collect all sorts of neat nature things in. Bring the bag home and create some crafts using your haul.
Have a Garage Sale - Involve the kids and help them set up a lemonade or hot chocolate stand. They'll have fun earning some money and you'll all enjoy being together!
Go Ice Skating - I recently took my daughter out for the very first time and she had a blast. While she refused to try on the skates, she had fun building her confidence on the ice wearing her boots. We have several local rinks that offer free family skate times, so yours may as well.
Many of these low cost date ideas can be adapted to every season, but the important thing is that you get out there and have fun together as a couple, parent/child or family! Enjoy each other!
Do you feel as though your grocery bill is starting to get out of control week after week?
Or maybe you have no idea how much you're actually spending on groceries each week and you find yourself feeling really pinched by the end of the month?
In my opinion, the grocery bill is one of the easiest bills to manipulate. By simply taking the time to learn the money saving tactics that I have listed, you'll be well on your way to lowering your grocery bill.
Read on to discover how to save money on groceries:
1. Learn the sneaky ways grocery stores get you to spend more.
Did you know that some of the "sales" you see from week to week are just sneaky tactics to get you to buy more? From the sales, to the grocery cart size, to the layout of the store, grocery stores have learned the best ways to get their customers to spend more than they intended.
In this post, I've outlined in detail, several sneaky ways grocery stores get you to spend more.
2. You Need a Grocery Budget.
Having a grocery budget is crucial to lowering your grocery bill. After all, if you don't have a budget, you don't know how much you're spending or saving! You need the guideline of a budget in order to help you improve your spending habits and to get you closer to your lifetime financial goals.
If you want to learn how to save money on groceries, meal planning is a must. Not only will it help lower your grocery bill each week, you will regain so much sanity in your busy life. By planning a weekly meal plan, you'll be using what you already have on hand in your house, creating a specific grocery list and avoiding unnecessary trips to the grocery store.
Check out The Meal Planner! I created the printable Meal planner to help make meal planning and saving money easy! The PDF includes:
18 pages
Monthly, Weekly + Daily meal planning worksheets
Meal brainstorming worksheets
Food inventory worksheets
Grocery lists
Price matching worksheet
Party Planning worksheet
4. Start Building a Stockpile
Stockpiling, or the Buying Ahead Principle, or another way of terming it, "Buy lots when it's on sale, so you never pay full price for the things you need", is one of my favourite way to save grocery money in the long run. Buying several of the same item when they're on sale rather than buying one item not on sale, will save you heaps of money.
Another way to save money on your grocery bill is to use a variety of different brands. When I need a certain product (tomato sauce for example) I always look at all the brands available and choose the one with the best value by taking into account the price and size.
I'll admit though, sometimes brand does matter to our family. It's Heinz ketchup or nothing at all!
6. Shop at More Than One Store.
By shopping at a couple of different stores, you have the potential to drastically reduce your grocery bill each week. If you're shopping at only one store, you're most likely paying full price for many items that could very well be on sale at the store just down the road.
Say for example, you need some cheddar cheese. If you bought it from the one grocery store that you always shop at, you're paying $7.99. But if you drove 2 minutes to Shoppers Drug Mart they have it on sale for $2.99. You just saved yourself $5.00 for two minutes of your time.
7. Look for Markdowns.
Grocery stores mark down items they want to sell quickly. Sometimes the food is about to hit its best before date. One of the places I'll always look for markdowns, is the meat department. Any markdowns are about to expire, but I know I can use it that night or freeze it for a later date! Other times they are discontinuing a particular product and just want to move them to make room on the shelves for something else.
8. Buy in Season.
Buying fruits and vegetables in season, or when they're at their prime and grown closer to home, can cut a big chunk off your grocery bill each week. When you buy fruits and vegetables in season, you tend to get the best taste too!
I'm a firm believer that coupons can save you quite a bit of money on your grocery bill each week. I know many of you already use coupons so you know the benefits. But perhaps others of you aren't sure how to use coupons effectively, don't see the benefit in using them or don't know where to find them. Here's a series I wrote about How to Coupon in Canada that should be beneficial!
One thing I've been implementing more these days, is using cash-back apps like Checkout 51 and Caddle. These work well for a busy life.
10. Price Match to Save Money and Time.
Try price matching to find a really effective way on how to save money on groceries! Many stores in Canada offer a price match guarantee. They'll match the advertised sale price of any competitive retailer as long as it is the exact same item and in the current sale period. They'll even accept coupons on top! 🙂
If you've been wondering how to save money on groceries, I hope that this post gave you hope and a starting point! By implementing the tips provided, you should start to make headway with saving on your grocery bill.
There's nothing more satisfying than saving money on something that you have to buy on a regular basis, especially when it can be a large percentage of your monthly income!
Are you ready for another round of Splurge vs. Save? Like last time, I'll feature two similar products with good reviews, but one is the 'splurge' version and the other is the 'save' version.
Let's get on with it shall we? This week is food storage containers. One is a familiar name brand, while the other may not be as familiar. Before reading further, can you guess which is which?
If you guessed that the 'save' version is on the left and the 'splurge' version is on the right, then you are correct!
Here are the links to shop them both if you are interested:
I thought this would be a fun new feature to introduce to Simply Frugal! The idea is that each time, I'll feature two similar products, but one is the 'splurge' version and the other is the 'save' version.
First up, is the popular Lululemon Scuba hoodie and an alternative from Amazon.ca. Before reading further, can you guess which is which?
If you guessed that the 'save' version is on the left and the 'splurge' version is on the right, then you are correct!
Here are the links to shop them both if you are interested:
You know planning a menu is a good thing, but sometimes it only feels like another chore to cross off the to-do list. Well, end that once and for all by creating a rotating menu plan!Put your menu plan on autopilot!
How to put menu planning on autopilot:
I have not been feeling the love for menu planning for quite some time now. That makes me sad because without a menu plan, our meal time is definitely not what it should be. I've been resorting to quick prep meals (think frozen pizza, pasta with a jar of sauce poured over top and grilled cheese & tomato soup...) Not good! Between picky palates and no desire to cook, menu planning took a real nosedive in the last year or so. On the other hand, the grocery stores were probably quite happy, because I was spending more since I had no plan. 🙂
That brings me to today. I'm pleased to say, I've found a system that works for me! Actually, I've put menu planning on autopilot! It initially took a little bit of work upfront (still only 4 steps!), but now we're smooth sailing and enjoying meals we love.
Step 1: Brainstorm
This part took me the longest. I sat down one afternoon and wrote down all the meals we like to eat. Our family favourites. My goal was 60 meals, but I quickly realized that was a lofty goal. In the end, I came up with 40 meals. Enough for 8 weeks of eating when I allot 5 meals a week. I like to leave 2 days free for last minute events, trying out a new recipe and Sunday dinner at my parent's house.
Here are the meals that made the rotation. Keep in mind that they must be simple, enjoyed by all family members and not require any weird ingredients:
Most of these meals can be made with pantry staples, which are easy to stock up on when they're on sale.
Step 2: Write all recipes on index cards
Now, once I picked all 40 meals, I wrote each meal down on an index card. Sometimes I wrote the entire recipe (if it was not found online or in a cookbook). Other times I wrote the name of the meal and where the recipe could be found (Pinterest, page 3 in a cookbook...etc.) I also wrote down side suggestions and any adjustments I like to make to the recipe.
Step 3: Place them all in a recipe box/binder
Next, I placed all of the index cards in an empty recipe box that I had, in no particular order. You could place the index cards in a binder with protective sheets instead, but I liked the idea of a recipe box.
Step 4: Pull out a week's worth of meals and place in front
Here's where the autopilot comes into play. Since I'm only choosing 5 meals a week, I pulled out 5 random index cards and placed them in the front of the box. I put a divider card behind the five recipes so I know when I'm done for the week. Once all 5 meals are made, I rotate those index cards to the very back of the recipe box.
Step 5: Repeat Step 4 over and over!
On Sunday, when I pull out the 5 meals for the week, I also create my grocery list. I write down everything I don't already have in the pantry/fridge/freezer.
Now, you could take this a step further and look at your store flyers first to determine which index cards you should pull out for the week according to what's on sale. For example, I may not want to make the Balsamic Beef Roast this week because I don't have one in the freezer and I don't see a sale at any of my local stores. However, pork chops are on sale so I'll make the slow cooker BBQ Sauce pork chops instead.
Does that all make sense? This system has been life changing for me! I hope it might work for you as well if you've been struggling with menu planning.
Have you found a menu planning system that works for you?
