Tips like these helped us pay off $127K in debt. You can read our story in Slaying the Debt Dragon: How One Family Conquered Their Money Monster and Found an Inspired Happily Ever After.
Here’s my little Happy New Year gift to you. Each day in January, I’ll bring you a simple, concrete and easy to put in place tip to fuel your efforts to Save Money, Pay Off Debt, and Be Awesome this year. Looking for a quick plan? Well this might not to be the right place for you. Most things down well take time. But that doesn’t mean you can’t begin to implement systems in your life that will help you achieve your goals. I’ve said it many, many times before. Paying off debt isn’t complex. It’s just not easy. You have to punch the clock daily and do the hard work. Here’s another way to make that happen.
Day 5: Plan Yo’ Meals
As a young mother, I attended a wonderful MOPS group. I’ll never forget the week a speaker came to talk about home organization. I left feeling AWFUL. I never knew there were so many things that I was doing wrong in the management of our household. The sweet, well-meaning woman instructed us to have a healthy marriage, we needed to inform our husband by 10:30 am what he would be having for dinner that evening.
I must admit when it comes to planning meals, I’m not *quite* that extreme. However, planning meals was certainly one of the many ways we were able to pay of over $127K in debt in just under four years. Please hear me well, Money Saving Lords and Ladies, there is no need to inform your spouse of their menu for the evening’s meal midmorning. However, in order to succeed at making the most of your resources, you need a written plan.
Meal planning is far from complex and doesn’t need to take up hours of time. In all reality, it’s an exercise I use weekly to be sure we are:
- Using the food we have before it expires.
- Not making duplicate purchases at the grocery store.
- Limiting our purchases at the grocery store.
Here’s my crackerjack method to plan meals in a nutshell:
Print out a FREE Menu Planner
I actually printed out several and had them bound for $0.50 at Office Depot. Then I put a magnet strip on the back of the pad to hang it on the refrigerator. I frequently grab it off of the fridge and then take it with me to the store. I have both a Queen of Free version of the meal planner and an updated Slaying the Debt Dragon one.
Find a Good Pencil
My meal plan is always flexible. It isn’t my aim to force everyone to eat whatever is on the meal plan, regardless of outside circumstances. The plan is meant to be changed, rearranged, and altered. You can use a pencil so you can erase or keep some White Out on hand and use a pen. Just remember to be flexible.
Consider the Week Ahead
What activities do we have on which evenings? A successful meal plan is built around the ebb and flow of life. You cannot spend 45 minutes preparing meal on a evening when you don’t even have 45 minutes to consume it. Busy nights need 10 minute meals. Nights with less hustle and bustle can be used to prepare meals that take more effort, and perhaps be an opportunity to get “ahead” by chopping or pre-cooking foods for other evenings.
Open the Fridge, Freezer, Cabinets, Pantry, etc.
The first meal I plan is always one I already have all the ingredients necessary to prepare it with. I promise you have 2-3 meals hanging out in your home right now. You just need to open your eyes to what you already have. Open up anywhere you have food stored to begin planning your meals.
Begin to Look For the Missing Piece
Once you’ve planned a meal or two based on what you already have, begin to think through what items you have that would need only 1 or 2 further ingredients to make a meal. i.e. you already have pasta and sauce but no protein source. Build a grocery list based on those missing piece ingredients.
Glance Through the Ads
This is one of those “if you have time” sort of steps. Grocery stores send out weekly circulars with current sales on Wednesdays and Thursday. Glance through the paper ad or get on the store’s website to see what items will be sale before building your remaining meals. You might notice the Free Printable Menu Planner has two columns for your grocery list. Typically, I shop at ALDI and one other grocery store (Meijer or Target, depending on what’s on sale and my best coupon match ups). The columns help me keep my head on straight so I know what I’m buying where.
Switch Things Around and Relax
The point of meal planning is not to make sure you can tell your spouse what’s for dinner at 10:30 AM. Meal planning is a safety net, allowing you to know that you can prepare 5-7 meals without a random money sucking trip to the grocery store. Your strategic plan has flexibility. Swap out a side dish or switch days altogether. It doesn’t matter. Having the items necessary to prepare those meals will give you peace. You don’t have to follow the plan to a “T.”
Plan on Dining Out
If you have the dollars budgeted for dining out, then place that experience on your meal plan (just not this month if you’ve taken the restaurant challenge). Go ahead and decide where you will go. Check out the menu online and choose what you will order. Instead of a frazzled selection at the spur of the moment, you’ll anticipate a delicious meal. Let’s be honest, if you have debt, you should be eating at restaurants on a very limited basis. We are out of debt and we’re still endeavoring not to eat at restaurants during the month of January. However, if you do have the dollars to spend, make sure you make the most of them.
Meal planning shouldn’t be an exercise in drudgery. It should be a joy that gives you release and breathing space. Take a few minutes today to jot down what your family will have. Almost every Monday, I share what’s for dinner on the Royal Table. It’s not an invitation to dinner, but it might spark an idea for your plan!
Miss the first four days of Kicking Debt in the teeth? Have no fear! Read:
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I’m so looking forward to sharing this month of challenge and inspiration with you. Together, we can show debt who’s boss and give it a swift kick in the teeth this January and throughout the year in 2014. Away we go!
My book is now available: Slaying the Debt Dragon: How One Family Conquered Their Money Monster and Found an Inspired Happily Ever After. You can also check out Inspiration to Pay Off Debt: 30 Days of Encouragement from the Queen of Free on Kindle.
This post contains an affiliate link. That means when you get a great deal or maybe even something for free, you also help our family pay off our mortgage early. And for that, we royally thank you!
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