May I ask if there is a way to NOT refi into 7% that sounds awful!
I wish I had a choice, but I just got divorced and need to buy out my exH and refinance the mortgage in to my name only. I keep telling myself it's only temporary until the rates (hopefully) go down again, but still.
Have you considered a mortgage assumption? You should ask your lender if your mortgage qualifies for a mortgage transfer, assumption or assignment; these would keep your current rate and terms but allow you to be the sole person on the loan. To buy out your ex, you could then do a (more temporary) HELOC for that amount instead of refinancing the full amount at the higher rate. I just wanted to throw it out there because not everyone knows it’s a possibility.
I wish I had a choice, but I just got divorced and need to buy out my exH and refinance the mortgage in to my name only. I keep telling myself it's only temporary until the rates (hopefully) go down again, but still.
Have you considered a mortgage assumption? You should ask your lender if your mortgage qualifies for a mortgage transfer, assumption or assignment; these would keep your current rate and terms but allow you to be the sole person on the loan. To buy out your ex, you could then do a (more temporary) HELOC for that amount instead of refinancing the full amount at the higher rate. I just wanted to throw it out there because not everyone knows it’s a possibility.
Our current mortgage is Conventional and not assumable unfortunately.
Post by arehopsveggies on Feb 23, 2024 13:25:12 GMT -5
When I wasn’t working, I had a crazy tiny budget for groceries.
The main thing was I stopped making recipes. Chicken, rice, and a veggie is cheaper than a recipe with lots of extra ingredients. So we went to just- meat, side, veggie.
Once every week or two was soup made from odds and ends I’d frozen throughout the week (leftover bits of veggie about to go bad etc)
Ground beef can be stretched easily with a grated zucchini and or grated potato.
Post by 1confused1 on Feb 23, 2024 13:39:05 GMT -5
Besides meal planning, I “pre-shop” with the different store apps to find the cheapest price for what I need. It may mean I shop at 3 different stores, but most of the stores are pretty close in location to each other. I also clip all the coupons I can in the store apps. I buy generic when I can.
Buying seasonal produce helps a lot. It doesn’t have to ship from as far away and that keeps prices down. Right now it’s largely citrus and greens but soon, strawberries!
You know what’s weird and annoying? I live in Florida and we are in peak strawberry season here. And yet prices are higher now than in the summer when they are brought in from elsewhere. Befuddling! I’ll be interested to see if I see sales in the summer or if prices will get be high. Every year I say I’m going to try and grow them myself but I’m a plant killer so I assume that will be a waste of $$ as well.
Post by ellipses84 on Feb 23, 2024 14:19:06 GMT -5
I don’t really meal prep but I try to make sure there are always ingredients or convenience meals on hand that only require heating up. Often these are frozen things that don’t require defrosting, just heating up plus pantry basics like rice. This keeps me from being tempted to stop for something to eat when I’m busy and tempted by convenience. At least a couple meals a week last a day or two extra.
Our weekly grocery runs are typically just perishables like fruit, veggies, dairy, bread plus whatever is on sale that week. I order via apps and do online grocery pickup as much as I can because then I can think more about what’s on sale, clip online coupons and not buy any impulse purchases. For a family of 4 in our HCOL area, Costco is the best value for the quantity (like grocery stores are almost as expensive for 1/2 the quantity for perishables).
We had a CSA box for a while and the quality and price was great but I felt like it was too much veggies I found difficult to use and not enough fruit. I keep frozen veggies on hand and steam them, so if we run out of fresh veggies there are options.
Buying seasonal produce helps a lot. It doesn’t have to ship from as far away and that keeps prices down. Right now it’s largely citrus and greens but soon, strawberries!
You know what’s weird and annoying? I live in Florida and we are in peak strawberry season here. And yet prices are higher now than in the summer when they are brought in from elsewhere. Befuddling! I’ll be interested to see if I see sales in the summer or if prices will get be high. Every year I say I’m going to try and grow them myself but I’m a plant killer so I assume that will be a waste of $$ as well.
I had heard there was some strawberry blight going on so maybe that is causing some issues this year? So frustrating!
Post by midwestmama on Feb 23, 2024 15:08:38 GMT -5
-Incorporating cheap staples such as pasta, rice, and beans. -Trying to not overbuy, so you aren't having to throw away food. (I personally need to work on this.) -Buy what's on sale and in season. Buy generic brand whenever possible. (Although if you are mainly shopping at Aldi, then that's essentially what you are doing already.) -Watch for Aldi sales on meat and then stock up. Once I was able to get organic chicken breasts for 50% off because they were on some special sale, so I stocked up and froze a few packages. -The bags of frozen veggies at Costco are usually a good price for the amount you get. I usually also get most of my pantry staples at Costco, such as flour, sugar, oil, etc.
Post by litskispeciality on Feb 23, 2024 15:42:21 GMT -5
We don't meal plan, but we should. We try to really think about what we'll eat that week and how we can get 2 meals out of it (minus say meats like steak, which we eat maybe once every 2 - 3 weeks).
We supplement with rice and frozen veggies, although I love fresh. Beans are great too, I try to add 2 - 3 kinds in chilli.
Not healthy, but we keep box mac n' cheese, chicken nuggets, basically kid food without a kid at home, on hand to have for lunch or an easy dinner. I also like these frozen stuffed chickens that go well with rice or mac n' cheese. Takes a while to cook in the oven, but little work if we don't feel like cooking.
Keep pizza dough (boxed, but frozen is fine) on hand to make calzones or pizza at home rather than take-out.
We do a lot of veggie pasta which costs more, but can give you several meal choices, and goes well with left overs.
Food waste is a huge drain. I've been really conscious lately to make sure I eat as much of the left overs as I can because it costs so much to make or buy.
Takeout is my downfall, so I try to make sure I can get 2 - 3 meals out of it to make it seem less expensive. Also looking at how much we eat, what's going on the next day in relation to left-overs, and scale back the order to only what will be consumed before it goes bad.
My takeout coffee is far lower working from home and that's a big money saver. We drink a good amount of coffee at home. If I have left over coffee I'll re-run it (cold) through the machine, and use less fresh grinds to stretch it a little further. Started to adjust how much I make in the first place, say I'm home alone that day I make half of the normal pot.
We've been shopping about every 2 weeks since the COVID lock down and that seems to help a little bit. Run down everything we have before we shop again, and eliminate items like bread or produce we didn't eat/threw out to avoid future waste. I like the idea of ordering ahead (not on Instacart) to avoid impulse buys, however I don't think our local chain has that option unless you outsource to a service.
I have a friend who put egg whites in almost every meal to lose weight. In theory this is a great option when eggs aren't so $$$ because you can add them to almost anything, or eat them alone.
So many great tips! I am focusing right now on reducing food waste. It’s just DH and I so I try to be realistic on how much of something fresh we will eat and also freezing things to use later. Even if it’s just one serving of something that we are tired of or can’t get to in time.
Post by turkletsmom on Feb 23, 2024 17:09:26 GMT -5
90% of our groceries come from Sams and Walmart. We also buy probably 80% store brands. We only eat meat a couple of times a week and it's never fancy meat. Ground beef, chicken breasts and pork loin from Sams (one pack of each lasts us a month). We also buy very few snacks- just enough for school lunches, but get big bags of chips or pretzels from Sams. We rarely buy soda or alcohol. We also rarely eat out/do take out as a family since my kids are a little picky- it's just easier to feed them at home. Typing all this out makes our meals sound so boring lol.
Do you have a meat locker or live in an area where you could by a 1/4 or 1/2 of beef? It feels like a lot of cost upfront, but split out, it's usually a lot cheaper than buying at a grocery store.
We do a lot of salads and frozen chicken or ground beef
Like others, meal prepping and curbside has helped us curb impulse purchases.
Also, I never buy chips anymore. $7 for a tiny bag?! Wtf, no. Instead, I’ll make or buy a dip for less & have baby carrots to dip. It’s cheaper & better for me.
And, while being Cheap All The Time can work, I realized if I spent a bit more on small things (the $12/lb coffee I love vs the $6/lb which is drinkable but blah or getting the slightly more expensive pineapple bc I’ve eaten apples since September) makes it easier to cheap out on brand names, eating less meat, etc
And, finally, drastically cutting back on alcohol. This was another health thing for me. I do tea (iced or hot), seltzer (an off brand soda stream w bubbly flavorings), & plain water everyday. kombucha when it’s a good price is my “finally it’s the weekend” drink
Post by litskispeciality on Feb 23, 2024 17:49:39 GMT -5
Seltzer water is a huge downfall for me. I primarily drink water and (1 cup of) black coffee per day, however I enjoy a seltzer at night with dinner. I'm partial to Polar which is stupid expensive. I've tried several store brands and don't like most of them. I have to try that again, and maybe bottles vs. cans, but you run out of fizz before it's all gone.
We really should return our cans because we have to pay a .5 deposit per can, which adds up.
We're slowly cutting back on alcohol, although we like burbons and whiskeys. I typically have 1, maybe 2 glasses on a weekend night, but that shiz is expensive. We at least have cup way back on beer and wine which are big money.
DH does our shopping so I don't know the price comparison, but we buy coffee beans and have a fancy grinder in the coffee maker. I think that helps keep it fresher longer. Plus it's so much easier to wake up to already made coffee, just pour and go (DH) or sip (me.)
ETA: I save a decent amount on gas not commuting. I still have to fill up because I'm driving a lot outside of work, but I wait to fill up until I'm close to or over 300 miles. I have the Upside app, but only fill up if the deal is better than the non-chain station down the road, or I don't have x cents off from Upside making the gas the same price. I also have Speedway rewards which usually gives me .3 off per gallon, so sometimes it's equal too or less than my home station when I'm traveling, and they work with Upside.
Yay Store Brands! I’m a big, big supporter of private brand products. They are so often as good, if not better, than the brand at a much lower price.
There’s def some up-front cost, but I do use our bread maker, soda stream, and ice cream maker quite often, which reduces some of the extras we would otherwise buy. As the weather warms up, H will start using the smoker more often. We just smoked two whole chickens and got 3 full meals and some lunch out of it.
When I’m meal planning, especially if I’m getting a unique ingredient, or one that comes in a large quantity, I try to find other recipes that will use it.
I get our weekly groceries via Walmart Pick Up and Aldi. Of course, the Aisle of Shame gets me at Aldi, so there may not be a savings lol. I only go to Costco every month or so. I stopped buying meat in bulk because we’d forget about it in the freezer, so I was throwing more away than I wanted.
I used to be so good at eating leftovers, but fell out of the routine, so I’m trying to get back to it.
Meal Planning, stocking pantry/cupboard with loss leaders and then using those to guide your meal planning, no wasting food, etc will all make a big impact.
Meal planning helps you with the brain drain during the week. Just knowing what to do helps in the evening after working - it also helps to make changes if for some reason you don't feel like cooking what you have planned. For example - chicken parm is planned but maybe you just make spaghetti/sauce because you are too tired. I use realhousemoms.com, crockpot 365 and food network for inspiration. I also look at food meal delivery websites for ideas. Also with meal planning, I cook about 3 -4 times a year a big batch of freezer dump meals (I usually try to make 10 - 20 meals at a time) -- they can be cooked in crockpot, oven, or stovetop. It really helps squash the need for grabbing something for dinner.
But meat and staples when loss lead at the store. When chicken roasters are 99 cents a pound - I buy three. One for dinner that week, two for the freezer. Chicken thighs/breasts when they go on sale - same thing - I will buy 5 -10 pounds. I also use them to make my freezer meals that will help.
No waste - that means use everything you have and eat everything you cook. I will eat leftovers, we have leftovers, etc. I also create second meals out of leftovers at times. When my kids were young - if they didn't eat all their sandwich - in the fridge it went. It was their snack later. Every few days, we have "fend for yourselves". We might not have enough leftovers for everyone but maybe some pizza for my son, chicken left for hubby, soup for me, etc..
Also, don't negate - eating out of the freezer. Every now and then, I will not go grocery shopping except for fruit/veggies. We eat up all the stuff - 1 pork chop, half bag of frozen veggies, tortillas, oatmeal, pasta, etc. Whatever is in freezer/pantry - make and eat it.
I promise I do make great meals and we do eat out at times, but using that mind set has gotten me to cut our grocery budget when needed and instilled good habits about not wasting
Since covid I started doing pick up and I spend way less now even with inflation. We have a Kroger and I have gotten pretty familiar with how to shop their sales. I always wait to buy Doritos until they're 2.29, for example, and stock up. We keep our meals pretty simple and use frozen meatballs a lot. I get at least two meals out of a pack of chicken by chopping it up and serving it with other stuff (rice, beans, etc).
And I can agree with the food waste comments. We started planning less meals and simpler meals each week and we throw so much less away. We actually eat our leftovers.
We also keep breakfast and lunch pretty simple. Cereals, sandwiches, eggs and toast, eggs, bacon and ramen, etc.
We have Kroger by me. They have 4x fuel points on Fridays. I've been scheduling my grocery pickup on Fridays, I think I'll have $1/gallon gas discount every fill up through March (H has a work truck and I mostly stay in town).
I go heavy on the weekly sales. I'm a diet coke drinker, they've been doing buy 2, get 3 free 12 packs so I stock up. Soda got expensive during Covid! I buy meat on sale, if it's a really good sale I buy a bunch and put it in the freezer. Late December they had pork tenderloin for about $5-6, I normally pay $11-13 so I bought like 6 of them. I make roast chicken every other week. It's about $8, they're a lot bigger than the rotisserie chickens. If I make it Friday night everyone will eat leftovers for lunch all weekend.
We do grilled cheese and soup, and breakfast for dinner. Everyone likes that and it's pretty inexpensive.
Being a household of one (roommate does their own thing), I plan breakfast and lunches for the entire week. Breakfast is almost always one of two things that are really cheap-sourdough English muffin w/PBJ or bagel w/cream cheese. I'll buy the PB, Jelly, and cream cheese when it's on sale. Lunch can be leftovers, sandwiches, bagels with cheese, avocado toast, egg omelette, & always a piece of fruit. I plan for about 4 nights of eating in. Most of those nights are easy and pretty cheap. Soup, grilled cheese, veggie protein "chickn" nuggets, mac n cheese, cous cous, pasta, whatever veggie looks good, etc. Right now being on leave from work I'm eating what's in the freezer and pantry since I am cooking again. I shop Publix BOGO & digital coupons. I'll look at Krogers sale items. I also buy some staples at Aldi or Lidl. Costco, too, but a lot of their food items are just TOO BIG and not cost effective for just one.
Even with the high cost of eating out, I still eat out about 5 meals/week. It's almost as cheap as cooking them at home, AND I budget for it. I stick to fast casual places. I take advantage of any specials for a night if I eat it (I'm mainly vegetarian, so a special on a steak burrito does me no good), loyalty programs, coupons, and any discounts on gift cards.
I like Giant the best, because I get money off gas with their shopper card. Whatever they call it.
I do a lot of Giant pickup orders lately but really need to do Aldi more. Like today I did a Giant order and they were out of 2 of the meats I ordered so then I went to Aldi on my way home. I find I save more money when I do it in reverse and get as much as I can at Aldi and fill in what I can’t get at Aldi at Giant. I only spent $125 between the two stores which was the least I’ve spent in a long while.
Post by cherry1111 on Feb 23, 2024 22:29:39 GMT -5
For those of you who shop at Kroger, if you also use the Chase Sapphire Preferred which gives 3x points on grocery pick up/delivery orders, if you put your card on Kroger Pay and use it to pay in store it codes as pick up/delivery and you get 3x points on the transaction.
Post by cherry1111 on Feb 23, 2024 22:33:14 GMT -5
To save money if it isn’t on sale, we don’t buy it that week. (With a few exceptions). We usually have chicken breasts or beef in the freezer so it it isn’t on sale we pull from the freezer.
We do meal plan. Every Saturday we decide what we are eating each night Sunday - Friday. It helps save money and also it is great only having to decide what we eat 1 time a week vs each night. Then I make an online order that I pick up on Sunday morning. Maybe once a week we’ll run into the store to get a few fresh items but that’s basically it.
Vacuum sealer. I will either buy things in bulk and package it into smaller portions appropriate for our family of 3, or we will cook a large batch, then freeze into portions for future meals. This isn't just meat. If I get a good deal on produce in season that freezes well, I will put in the work to prepare and freeze it.
I create meal plans based around similar foods so nothing goes to waste. Save the meal plans so you can reuse or modify them slightly. Eventually you can create a 3-4 week rotation of meals.
Have several meals that you can cook from your pantry or freezer and keep those items on hand.
Be realistic in meal planning. We cook almost all of our meals at home (we eat out maybe two meals a month), but we don't need to cook seven full dinners each week. We plan for our dinners to be leftovers for lunches, but every 3-4 days there is still enough food in the fridge to have a scrounge/leftover dinner. At this point I plan 4 dinners and we scrounge or cook a pantry/freezer meal if necessary. We plan breakfasts to be the same for a week, depending on sales/what we feel like eating.
Meals don't have to be fancy. Grilled cheese and soup, eggs and toast, ramen, frozen pizza. When we're trying to cut cost we go super simple.
I instacart from Aldi and one other store each week for the stuff I need Aldi doesn’t have. Depending on what that is and where it might be on sale will decide what my second store is.
I get cold cuts weekly from my local meat farms. I get their house brand, which is delicious and because they are crazy busy with really good prices, I think it’s more fresh than boars head. And the prices are really great. Like $7/lb honey turkey rather than 16/17/pound of boars head at my local supermarket. My super snobby cold cut kids love meat farms cold cuts and we never have any left at the end of the week. I also get fresh rolls there so I’m making them pretty much deli sandwiches for lunch every day, which saves on their school meal accounts. I cannot take any kid with me though or things will get snuck into the wagon and then I’m overspending again.
I heavily rely on meal planning. If I don’t we will inevitably order out and for a family of five I’m looking at $100-120 a pop for that.
So even though I use Instacart and tip generously, it still saves me my time, the money I would spend on impulse buys, and gets me ready for my week of meal planning.
I have tried meal planning, it is not for me. The odd weeks when things fall into place (ohhhh my rotisserie chicken was turned into tacos, chicken salad and soup!) I feel like a cross between Wonder Woman and a genius.
We used to have a meal delivery service (Green Chef) and it was amazing. I thought it was $$$, but I never did the cost analysis of grocery spending with Green Chef vs without Green Chef. But, our eating habits changed with Green Chef- palates expanded for the kids and we had less food waste. Now, without Green Chef we seem to be spending more to "match" the meals we made with Green Chef. It is $$$$.
So, I think we are going to go back to a meal delivery service. It will require less money for groceries and less food waste.
I will add we have dietary restrictions of gluten and dairy and aren't huge meat eaters.
I have a friend who checks out Flashfood before heading to the supermarket; she's in Boston so Stop'n'Shop/ near me it's Giant. She's often able to pick up things like fruit and cereals at deeply discounted prices.
I find meal planning for an entire week difficult as DH and DS are picky, but I can plan 3-4 days.
We do a homemade pizza night that's pretty inexpensive to pull off once a week. I can always pull soup and a grilled cheese in a pinch. Breakfast for dinner can be a reasonable option-- scrambled eggs or an omelet with stuff from other meals. I can often tell when cooking will be beyond me, so I make double batches of things like stew, mac'n'cheese or chili so I can just pull something out of the freezer. I can get 2 meals and soup out of a Costco chicken for $5.
I find additions easier than restrictions. What are your favorite inexpensive meals? What are the easiest things to cook that don’t break the bank? Make them more frequently and think about variations of those recipes /cooking techniques:)
Also - look at your actual costs. Many people here are saying less meat = less expensive. But for our family, meat isn't what is driving food costs. Perhaps if we were eating Petrel sole a few days a week, but fresh produce can quickly add up too. We often spend more on fruit than meat.
We have tons of food allergies. Convenience foods and allergy-friendly substitutions kill our budget. We can save a lot of money by eating fruits, veggies, meat, and mainstream foods. Snacks are stupid expensive. My kids eat a lot of fruit.
We do a lot of the things others have listed. Only buy what is on sale that week. Keep a chest freezer and stock common items when they’re on sale. We eat a good amount of beans, canned tuna, and meat free meals. Grow a massive garden in the summer months and preserve as much as possible. We also hardly drink, so booze isn’t blowing our budget.
Reducing food waste seems to be the most effective strategy. We freeze a lot of leftovers to avoid throwing them away. And cook larger batches for future meals. Shredded meat in the crock pot freezes very well.
We also do as you suggested with Aldi…shop there first and then pick up other items as needed afterward. We shop as Costco for the items, not necessarily the prices. Aldi is often comparable in price and allows me to better stick to my budget.