Is it possible for a household to live frugally, even when all the adults work or go to school outside the home? Donnie and I have found that the answer is, “Yes!”It can be very challenging to maintain a frugal lifestyle without a full-time homemaker to keep things running smoothly. Nevertheless, with a little careful planning, it can be done.
Here are some of the ways Donnie and I balance frugal living with full-time work outside the home:
We use the crock pot. Slow-cooking our food serves two major frugal purposes: it makes even the cheapest, toughest cuts of meat tender; and it means dinner is ready to eat the moment we walk in the door. There’s no temptation to stop for fast food when we’ve got a home-cooked meal waiting for us!
We minimize clutter. Keeping our home free from excess “stuff” means we devote less time to cleaning, organizing, and maintaining some semblance of household order. We have more time to spend on side-income ventures, frugal planning and budgeting, or simply enjoying one another’s company.
We keep couponing simple. There are many brilliant frugal experts who create elaborate coupon schemes every time they shop. I admire them, but I can’t emulate them at this stage of my life. I maintain a coupon file, do some basic CVSing, and always try to combine sales with coupons to get the best deals. Our grocery expenses are still low, but I don’t feel overwhelmed trying to create complicated shopping scenarios.
We budget for convenience. We try to leave a little room in our monthly spending plan for whatever time-savers we think we’ll need. Personally, I think it’s better to get takeout for which we’ve already budgeted, than to find ourselves spending money on a last-minute fast food dinner when we hadn’t planned to do so!
We don’t shop for recreation. Donnie and I don’t go to stores, or even check out online retailers, unless we have a very specific purchase in mind. This prevents us from buying things impulsively, and also means we don’t feel deprived by spending lots of time looking at things we want but can’t have.
We plan, plan, plan. Having a weekly menu plan means we never have to ask ourselves, “What’s for dinner?” Creating a detailed shopping list prevents us from making impulse purchases at the grocery store. Keeping our freezer stocked with a few last-minute meals ensures we almost always have lunch or dinner at hand. Knowing how much we can afford to spend guarantees we won’t overdraw our bank account. In other words, planning ahead saves us time, money, and hassle!
How do you balance a two-career family and a frugal budget?
3 comments:
I agree. I work during the school year, but I am off during the summer and school vacations. It IS easier to be frugal when I am home, but we still do a pretty good job when I'm working. As a matter of fact, we usually tend to spend less money when I'm working because I simply don't have time to shop after working all day and doing household chores in the evenings/weekends.
I do allow a bit extra for the grocery budget to allow for a few easier-to-prepare meals when I'm working, but other than that, our spending tends to stay about the same.
i love shopping for recreation - so i've just channeled that energy into CVS shopping. :)
I especially like your advice to minimize clutter. I am to a point in my life that I just don't want more of anything. If it collects dust, I don't want it!
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