How to Save Money on Shopping when there is just Two of You on a Budget
By suspenseful
@suspenseful (40193)
Canada
June 7, 2007 8:17pm CST
Our sons have left home, one is married and one owns a house so my husband and I are alone. My husband recently has taken early retirement and we only get the check once a month so it has to make do for the rest, not like when he was getting a check every two weeks. Now with that info in mind, could you-all give us hints of saving money on shopping for two? We live in Manitoba so there is not that great section one sees on those shows on the Cooking Network.
1 person likes this
7 responses
@onabreak2 (1161)
• United States
8 Jun 07
My husband and I are kind of facing the same thing only I am still working so for the next couple of years we dont have to worry so much. I am thinking that when I retire we should sell the house. The utilities are so high and there is always the upkeep and the yard. I think we should move into an apartment. You might want to consider that too. If you have a freezer you can always buy in bulk and make meals ahead and freeze them. Turkey and chicken go a long way.
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@suspenseful (40193)
• Canada
8 Jun 07
I never liked apartment living, and we own our own house. It would also mean throwing most of our stuff away, and living more crowded than we are now. We have a small 3 bedroom bungalow, one computer room that used to be a small child's room, one guest room that used to be an older child's room, a small sized master bedroom, semi small living room and dinette, ordinary kitchen, and an unfinished basement. My husband was looking at condos but his mother was in a condo, and she did not like it since nothing got fixed. I don't mind the upkeep and the yard because we just have a small fruit garden, one apple tree, and a lot of grass. We do buy lean ground beef when its on sale. But it's dividing the check into utilities, food, internet and cable (we want to keep that), holidays, emergencies, etc.
@suspenseful (40193)
• Canada
9 Jun 07
Houses are snatched up as soon as they are on the market. I don't know whether it is a sellers or buyers market. We own our own house so all we have to worry is the taxes and school tax, and food, and that fact that it gets really cold in the winter. We should insulate our basement but cannot afford to. My husband is penny wise and pound foolish if you know what I mean.
@onabreak2 (1161)
• United States
8 Jun 07
I never liked it either apartment living that is. My husband is not in the best health and I am thinking into the furture when the yard will just go to heck because of him not being able to mow it. I have a bad back and would love to garden but cant because of that. im just thinking with the upkeep on a house we would save a lot of money by selling it and moving into an apt. But you are in Canada so I dont know how the housing market is there. Good luck on whatever you decide.
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@winky73 (1404)
• United States
8 Jun 07
Looks like you already got a lot of great tips.I have a cookbook that I would recomend to you....it's called "CHEAP.FAST.GOOD!"
I just love that book....it's not just a cookbook....but it gives you so may ideas and tips on how you can save money on grocerys and the recipes are really great.Here is the link to the publisher http://www.workman.com/products/9780761131762/
The cost of the book is $19.95(Canada).....but it's defintely worth it.
1 person likes this
@suspenseful (40193)
• Canada
9 Jun 07
I wonder if it is available in Coles or if it is available on Amazon.ca. If it is, I might be able to get it.
1 person likes this
@lpetges (3036)
• United States
8 Jun 07
i love to go garage saling, you can find a ton of things that are sometimes brand new. find a hobby such as fishing, or camping.. or join a community health club, they have sometimes free memberships for retired people. plant a garden, use that food, so many things for this response to say, but i don't want to bore you!
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@Fishmomma (11377)
• United States
9 Jun 07
My daughter is moving out and rarely home now. I have been cooking food ahead of time, so I can still buy in a larger size and save money. Yesterday, I cooked a roast and a big pot of potatoes, so I could make tv dinners for future quick meals. I had a bunch of carrots from the garden to complete the dinner.
I do sites on line to earn money and can send you some information about them, if you would like a couple of easy earning sites. I only do a couple sites, as don't wish to spend lots of time and earn only a little bit of money.
@suspenseful (40193)
• Canada
9 Jun 07
I don't have carrots, but we will have strawberries if the birds don't get them first and lots of apples. I usually rely on macaroni a lot. However I cannot eat much stuff made with white flour or my weight goes up. Send me the information on the sites. I might already belong to them though.
@pilbara (1436)
• Australia
8 Jun 07
One thing you can do is to split your check into 2 accounts and only access that money fortnightly. It means resisting temptation though, but it works if you can do it.
There are sites that tell you about "freebies" or samples you can get, often these are shampoos or coffee or similar and quite often they forget to cancel the stamps so you can reuse them and the packaging.
Look for good recipes that let you save e.g. if we have a roast chicken, I keep some pieces for a stir fry and use the bones to make stock so you can get 3 meals out of it. Another one is that stale bread or the ends of bread can be used instead of pasrty in some cases - I make a good quiche using the ends.
There's lot of things, it's just a question of working out what works.
Good luck and enjoy your retirement.
1 person likes this
@cachitodemialma (1313)
• United States
8 Jun 07
YOu have some great ideas too! :] Im going to try a few!
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@suspenseful (40193)
• Canada
8 Jun 07
I like the quiche idea. I never thought about it, I have to be careful about shampoo though. The chicken idea is good, when we had everyone for Christmas, we had turkey and I usually made turkey stock so I'm used to doing it. Now to get my husband to buy whole chickens instead of chicken drumsticks. I know they're cheap, but ---
@SameOldStory (74)
•
8 Jun 07
Well I am on a tight budget and I tend to purchase items that are supermarkets own brands instead of big well known brands like Coca-Cola. Most things taste similar if you aske me and a lot of the time you are paying for the brand rather than the quality of the product.Sometimes you can get two or three items of a shops own brand to one of a big brand.
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@suspenseful (40193)
• Canada
9 Jun 07
I do that sometimes. I find that quality varies, some store brands are better than the name brands, some are the same, and some not so good. I find that for cheese, Kraft is much better than Safeway's brand and it lasts longer since I can slice the Kraft chunks thinner and I do not need to use as much.
@celestemichelle (429)
• United States
8 Jun 07
I know that when my brother and I moved out my mom found it difficult to switch back to cooking for only two. Some ways that I save money on groceries is eating more vegetable which is cheaper than meats.
Also, when I buy a bulk package of ground beef, I divide it up into smaller sections , so a 2lb package becomes three 2/3lb packages or one of the big 6lb packages becomes 8 smaller packages to be frozen. This keeps me from using as much meat at one time in my recipes.
I usually stick to buying cheaper cuts of meat, but usually if meat is within a day or two of it's sell by date they will reduce the price. So I try to buy nice cuts then.
If you buy sliced deli meats and cheeses, it might actually be cheaper to buy them at the deli counter than prepackaged. Depends a lot on your grocery store though.
When I have time I also shop at a store like Sav-a-lot, or a grocery outlet for canned foods, cereals, and other items with long shelf lives.
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@suspenseful (40193)
• Canada
8 Jun 07
I never knew about the deli meats being cheaper than buying them packaged. I think when we go grocery shopping next, we will check it out. Unfortunately here all the rival grocery chains seem to be cooperating with each other so there is not much chance for savings that way. We've been checking all the fliers, and so far only once have we gone to another store because their spaghetti sauce was cheaper.
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