Frugal Resolution of the Week

Last week's FRoW went well with the exception of an insane road trip I took over the weekend. This week's resolution is staying with the theme of food. I really think food is the number one place for me to change my budget. So, my new resolution is to cook a large meal at home once a week. I want to make something that will provide leftovers for at least 4 more meals. Currently, although I haven't been eating out much, I have been eating a lot of frozen food. The frozen meals from Green Giant, Stouffers, or Birds Eye. While these are cheap and easy to cook (and do have vegetables), they also have a lot of sodium and other stuff I'm sure isn't the greatest for you. Plus, a home cooked meal should be able to average out less than the frozen stuff if you do it right.

Frugal Resolution of the Week

So last week's FRoW went great until Saturday. I was coming back from a camping trip with some friends and we stopped at a BBQ place in the middle of nowhere, AL. When we all ordered our drinks I asked for some tea and completely forgot about my resolution to only get water. Although I did slip up once, I was happy with my vigilance the rest of the week. So next week, I will continue to only drink water when I'm not at home and will add on this weeks resolution.

This weeks FRoW is to eat out no more than once a week. I actually started practicing for this last week. I turned down about 3-4 invitations to go out to eat. This is another resolution that should help me save money and improve my health.

Frugal Resolution of the Week

So I decided to start doing this thing I invented called Frugal Resolution of the Week, or FRoW. Each week, I'm going to try and find a way to reduce my expenses. Hopefully these small changes will begin to accumulate in big ways. My FRoW this week is to stop buying drinks. I'm referring to drinks such as Diet Coke or Iced Tea, not alcohol. If I did drink alcohol, I probably would have started with that since alcohol at Bars and Restaurants tends to be very expensive. But normal drinks are very expensive too. According to Cheap Eats, "fast food companies clean up on the margins for soft drink sales." And besides, water is healthier for you anyway. I know drinking only water can get boring, that's why I picked up some Wal-Mart brand drink powder that comes in little packets. I plan on carrying my water bottle when I'm at work and using the drink powder to add some variety. I got sugar-free apple juice and sugar-free cranberry apple juice. I believe drinking water when I go out will save me about 15-25% since I usually spend less than $10 and drinks tend to run about $1.50-$2.00.