Money Saving Tips

Last year my new year's resolution was to save more money. I hope to continue that this year and hopefully add some new money-saving ideas to my routine. Here are a few tips I picked up that you might find useful.

1: Don't go to the movies. I have Netflix. Going to the movies should be something you only do for a special occasion.

2: Don't buy anything from iTunes. If someone asks me what I want as a gift, I can ask for an iTunes gift card! That's not cheating.

3: Bring a lunch to work. Here's an article with some good tips on bringing leftovers and here's a previous post of mine (and a follow-up post) on bento - a cute, fun, and convenient way to bring your own lunch. Also, try making your own (frozen) "fast food". See this article for ideas. Here's another one.

4: Call some of the companies you pay bills to (such as the cable company) and ask them to lower your payments.

5: Cancel your credit card. Then, set up a regular payment every month until you pay it off.

6: Invite friends over. This can cut down on your going out costs, especially if they return the favor by later inviting you over. Play games or watch one of your Netflix rentals!

7: Make a shopping list before you go to the grocery store. Plan out your meals. Make plans with your friends in advance if you are going to go out, so you can plan accordingly. Make sure to plan out what you are going to bring to work for lunch!

8: When you do go out to eat, save half of your food and bring it home. If that breakfast burrito cost you ten dollars, eat half and take the other half home. THEN you can even take the half you took home and stretch that out with some eggs in your fridge to make two or more meals.

9: Ask around at work about job benefits. I found out that people who work where I do can get a discount on their cell phone bill. I just overheard someone talking about it and asked them. I had no idea.

10: Get a separate savings account. Once my debt pay-off plan really kicks in, I'm thinking of getting a separate savings account at an online bank such as ING Direct. The savings account I have right now is so easy to access because it's attached to my checking account. If I put some of my money away elsewhere, where I can only get it if I go online type in my passwords and really arrange a transfer, it won't be so easy or tempting to dip into savings.

Finally, don't make yourself unhappy. It can be depressing to turn down an offer to go out with friends or to go right home after work instead of out shopping. Saving money doesn't have to mean staying alone at home every day doing nothing - find something new to do and do it - even if it costs a little money, it can make you happier which will keep you from going around spending that money or more on other things. I always wanted to take guitar lessons but I thought I couldn't afford a guitar, let alone weekly lessons! Once I invested in a good but cheap guitar and signed up for a $68 beginner course at the local community college, I found a new hobby that makes me happy and that I can now do for free every day. Check out Meetup.com to join a book club or find a free or inexpensive yoga class or just to meet up with some new people who enjoy some of the same things that you do. Give yourself some exciting new things to look forward to, and you won't have time to be sad about saving money!

More Bento

Last week, I posted about bento. Bento is a Japanese style lunch packed in boxes. I often bring a bento style lunch with me to work (above is a picture of my lunch wrapped in a Japanese furoshiki - you can use a scarf or handkerchief).

I recently discovered the site I Love Obento (here) which has tons of cute bento boxes you can look at or buy (I haven't bought anything there, though).

Despite how much I love bento, I don't use a bento box. First of all, Japanese bento boxes tend to be small, leaving you hungry after lunch. Also, bento boxes can be hard to clean every day, especially if you don't have or dishwasher, or you do but do not run it every night. I have found a much better alternative - GladWare containers.

GladWare containers are reusable/disposable tupperware-like containers with lids. They come in a variety of shapes and sizes and can be mixed and matched easily. I like to use the small round containers with the screw-on lids and the small square containers, mostly.

Yesterday I brought some leftovers for my lunch. I had salad, pasta (it was gnocchi) and garlic bread for dinner - saving some of the pasta and half of the salad for my lunch. I put the salad (with a little container for the dressing) in the square container, and some of the pasta into the small round container. I stacked the round container on top of the square one, put a plastic fork with them, and wrapped it all in my furoshiki. Then I put it all in the fridge.

At lunch, I put the container of pasta (with the lid half-off/half-on) in the microwave at work for a few minutes, put the dressing on the salad, and my lunch was ready! I even used the furoshiki as a cloth to put on my desk so I wouldn't make am mess.

The best part is, after lunch I cleaned out the containers, wrapped them up again, and took them home to use for my next lunch. If I were to accidentally forget to wash them out, though, for say, a few weeks - I could always dispose of the containers instead of having to face what has been growing inside - you can't do that with your expensive Hello Kitty imported bento.

I may not be using an authentic bento box, but my furoshiki is cute and everyone admires my Japanese style lunches. It also makes lunch fun and cute! The best part is, I can almost always use leftovers, so I don't have to cook or buy special food just for my lunch - or eat the food from the cafeteria!

Bento

I love bento. It's super cute, convenient, time-saving, and for me it brings back memories of Japan. So, I was excited when I recently discovered this website (here) that sells bento lunch boxes big enough for American appetites.

A good site for buying authentic Japanese bento boxes and accessories is jbox (here). Though, I don't think I've actually ever bought anything from there. Discover picks, punches, cups (they look like tiny paper cupcake cups), shapers, bottles, etc.

An awesome blog for bento ideas is Vegan Lunch Box (here). If you are scared off by the word "vegan" you can always get ideas from the site and make whatever dietary changes are necessary - or you can use this site for your Meat Free Monday lunch!

I'd better go pack my lunch for tomorrow! :)

(The photo above is from luckysundae's Flickr page. Yay for creative commons)!