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Over at The Dollar Stretcher, Pamela wrote looking for money-saving ideas that won’t burden an overfull schedule:
I need some tips from women who work outside the home and drive to a workplace everyday then have to come home after a long work day and take care of house and family. I often can’t use tips from women who stay home because they require too much time. For instance, I don’t have time for gardening.
Dollar Stretcher readers chimed in with a great list of ways to save money without sacrificing time with the family. These tips are excellent for moms and dads. Here are some of my favorites:
- Make sure to do shopping and errands during your commute. Not only does this save time, it ultimately saves money.
- Moving to online banking is another time- and money-saving strategy. (Many banks offer digital statements that automatically integrate with most popular personal finance software packages.)
- Save money by taking out your homeowners and car insurance policies with the same company.
- Even if you don’t have time for a big garden, consider square-foot gardening. It’s easy, takes little space, and is a great way to save on produce.
- Be sure to have goals. Financial goals help keep you from spending on things that don’t matter.
- When both parents work outside the home, it can be difficult to have homemade meals every night. Learn which restaurants offer cheap, wholesome food in your neighborhood. Do they offer specials on certain nights? Can you find coupons to reduce your expenses further?
- One Dollar Stretcher reader touts the virtues of the rotisserie chicken. Another mentions that once-a-month cooking is another great tool for busy families.
- One reader recommends picking up tricks at FlyLady.net. A lot of GRS readers have recommended this site, but I still haven’t found time to explore it.
Many commenters recommend taking a day just to relax. Managing a growing family can be expensive and time-consuming. Build time into your schedule for yourself. Busy parents may find other great advice in the book Miserly Moms by Jonni McCoy. Though it’s targeted at one-income households, families of any type shold find its advice valuable.
[The Dollar Stretcher: Money-saving ideas for working moms]
This article is about Career, Frugality, Hints and Tips Wednesday, 10th October 2007 (by J.D. Roth)
October 10th, 2007 at 5:29 am
I have done FlyLady for nearly ten years now. The trick is to focus on the skills and not on the tone (if it bothers you).
I also use http://www.savingdinner.com menus, which are mailed weekly along with a shopping list, nutritional info, and detailed instructions. This has saved me a ton of money and gotten healthier food on the table, even though I have two adults with allergies and picky habits at my table.
Not affiliated, but happy to promote things that really do work.
October 10th, 2007 at 5:38 am
I can deal with almost everything, even cooking every night…but the cleaning is the one that bugs me. It seems too much to do and the house is still in a mess. Making beds, vacuuming, laundry, sorthing out the living and kitchen, trash……I mean this is like no matter how efficient I get, the clutter gets in and piles! Need some tips on these…
October 10th, 2007 at 6:26 am
I heard about FlyLady from a group of foreign language teachers, did it for a few years, and now it’s on Get Rich Slowly! It’s fantastic if you’re depressed, overwhelmed, busy, and/or don’t know how or when to do housework.
(My parents raised me without chores, so I had to figure it out for myself when I graduated college. Give your kids chores.)
October 10th, 2007 at 7:02 am
Well, there’s no reason why just the woman has to “take care of house and family.” I do all the food shopping, most of the cooking, and the laundry; my S.O. does most of the cleaning and the ironing. I work at home, so it’s easier for me to do this stuff than for her to do it. I have a demanding job and can’t even remember the last time I worked an 8-hour day (usually it’s 12 or more) yet I still manage to fit in those chores somehow. Mark Bittman’s “How to Cook Everything” has a handy list of recipes in the back that take 30 minutes or less. Also “The Moosewood Restaurant Cooks at Home” has nothing but recipes that take 30 minutes or less, and they are all delicious and sophisticated (not granola-crunchy as some would expect). House cleaning is handled bit by bit during the week, we just try to not let things get too cluttered, and then we do a regular cleaning on the weekends. If you don’t allow things to pile up it’s a lot easier and less daunting.
October 10th, 2007 at 8:20 am
We use the Six O’Clock solutions cookbooks (published by the Vancouver Sun newspapaper), and plan our suppers for the upcoming week on the weekend. We try to stay a day or so ahead on aquiring the ingredients so there’s no last-minute scramble on the way home from work.
October 10th, 2007 at 9:00 am
I know this doesn’t seem like it’s money-saving at first, but it really is: pay someone to clean your house every other week or once a month.
I look at it this way: I’m better able to focus on cooking meals and grocery shopping in budget-friendly ways if I’m not stressing about cleaning, too. I pay my person $50 every other week to scrub (we still have to pick up for her to come) and wash 3-5 loads of laundry. That’s $100 a month that I KNOW we would spend eating out — it would actually be more — because I’d spend my time cleaning instead of cooking.
It took a long time for me to rationalize the spending because I’m a complete penny-pincher. I’m here to tell you, though, that it’s absolutely worth every single penny. I’m less stressed, so I can take care of the other needs of myself and my family (and our budget) in a much healthier way.
October 10th, 2007 at 9:40 am
Rachel May,
I don’t even have kids and I totally agree! We pay the same rate for the same service. I’d give up satellite and internet before I’d give up my cleaning lady!
October 10th, 2007 at 10:06 am
I don’t have a family, but I’m still pretty busy. As I tell my married-with-kids friends, everything you AND you husband do around your house, I do all by myself!
Sundays are my “set up” day. I plan all my meals, do the shopping, cook at least two main meals (family size so I have leftovers). While they are crockpot cooking, I do the laundry, the cleaning, mow & rake, and check the car. In the evening, I pay bills/balance accounts.
That leaves me free all week in the evenings to live the carefree single life.
Or go the gym, more likely.
October 10th, 2007 at 11:01 am
Give you children age appropriate chores. My kiddos earn a dollar per chore (there is a list of 40 per pay period, for both of them). It saves me time and money in the long run, because don’t have to fork over $$$$ for activities such as trips to the mall, movies, school dances, etc….Also, I am not stuck mopping and doing dishes during my off time! My children are 10 & 14, and they have even started to barter their chores. For example my son, who on average only does about 1/2 of his chores, will sell his chores to my daughter and vise versa! They have ‘pay day’ and we LOVE it!
October 10th, 2007 at 12:01 pm
I do all my grocery shopping online now… in my city, we have a great service that not only delivers groceries, but also drugstore stuff, pet supplies, etc.
the primary benefit is that it keeps a permanent list of the 100 items you buy the most often… so when I do a grocery, I start with the list and just click the stuff I need. Took awhile to set up the first few times, but now I do the groceries in less than 10 minutes a week. What a time saver.
Lise
October 10th, 2007 at 12:29 pm
I had heard about saving money by combining homeowners and auto insurance. This did not work for me because I live in Massachusetts, where auto insurance rates are set by the state.
_______________________________
Wishing you a prosperous future
Daiko
October 10th, 2007 at 12:51 pm
I work between 80-100 hours per week, but hate eating out. So to save time (and money on not eating out) I go grocery shopping usually once every 1-2 months for all my proteins (meats etc) canned vegetables, pastas, etc then stop at our 24 hour safeways 1-2 times a week for fresh produce etc. When I get home from my big shop, I break all my proteins up in to portions. I know ill only want to eat 1 large piece of chicken, or 2 small ones. And I know hoh big i like my cuts of beef. I package them all individually then freeze them. On my way out the door in the morning, I grab my lunch (I pack it when i’m doing the dishes after dinner the night before) take out the protein I want that night that way it can defrost, then when I get home at 9 or 10 at night I can cook it up really quick. Its rare that I spend more than 15-20 minutes cooking up something good. I clean up as I cook, eat dinner, pack left overs for lunch the next day and do the dishes. Keeps things clean, I eat healthier, and save money on food.
October 10th, 2007 at 3:58 pm
I do a couple of things to save money as a busy woman. First, I buy meat in bulk. Secondly, I package all of my meat in smaller portions WITH whatever marinade I am making that day. Third, I freeze the meat packages for cooking at a later date. This process is great for many reasons. I save money by buying in bulk and I save time by mixing up my marinade in bulk and repackaging my meat in one brief session. I pull the meat out of the freezer a few days before we want to eat it and let it defrost in the fridge. This results in very flavorful meat and a dinner with very little time needed.
Secondly, I try to buy my supplies through direct sales companies. I can buy from the comfort of my own home and, for those companies that I represent, I can earn a discount on my purchases. For those that I don’t represent, I know I get a product with superior quality that will not need to be replaced right away.
October 11th, 2007 at 8:40 am
Sounds ridiculous, but moving to a small house with a small yard has helped immeasurably. With less space, it is easier to pick up. And less time is spent on yard work. (Not that I did this intentionally, but I’ll definitely keep it in mind for future moves.)
I cook double batches of time-intensive dishes, and freeze the second batch. I also have a list of meals that I’ve found freeze well, which I’ll assemble and freeze on weekends. I also tried a meal prep service which was great. Expensive, but we only used 1-2 a week so that we had one really nice meal per week.
October 12th, 2007 at 3:20 am
Star Money Articles for the Week of October 8…
Here are some recent interesting posts from the MoneyBlogNetwork and beyond: MightyBargainHunter is alive! Five Cent Nickel got called by a collection agency. Blueprint for Financial Prosperity tells how to calculate the taxable equivalent yield. No Cr…
October 30th, 2007 at 8:09 am
Cooking Accomplished! has been a great find for myself and several of my friends. The concept is simple; you go online, pick the entrees you want and the date you want to assemble them. The difference between Cooking Accomplished! and several other businesses like this in Portland, is quality! The owner is a trained chef. They have a commercial kitchen where all the ingredients are prepped by Shelley and her staff. Many of my friends, prior to joining me for meal assembly sessions at Cooking Accomplished!, admitted to serving and eating frozen or pre-cooked meals several times a week and to dining out two or three times a week. We decided since we are worried about nutritional value and using quality local ingredients we would research meal assembly as a solution to reducing time spent shopping and preparing dinners with the goal of eating healthier. The only assemble-your-own meal company that we found in Portland, that had great selections, high quality local ingredients and prepped all their food in-house is CookingAccomplished! in Lake Oswego. Since I started preparing meals at CookingAccomplished! I’ve also signed up for a couple of great cooking classes. My son attended a kids class as well and he can’t wait until the next one. Shelley has done a fantastic job of creating a quality experience!
October 30th, 2007 at 9:14 pm
This message is for IdeaSenator: Like you I was feeling overwhelmed. Here’s what I do: I set the kitchen timer for 1 hr. During that hour I go around the house, room by room and do whatever needs to be done. When the bell goes off, that’s it, I’m done. I’ve been doing this for years and it works. If you have family members, they can help during the hour. It’s amazing how much gets picked up and done in one hour.
November 13th, 2007 at 3:22 pm
Run errands at lunch-time if possible. I do this once or twice a week, depending on my workload. I get my car washed, oil change, stop at walgreens or target.
Another thing that works for me and would work if you’re a morning person. I sometimes stop at a supermarket on the way to work (between 7 am and 7:30am). I stock up on snacks and lunch foods like bread, deli meats, fruit and yogurt. There are no lines so you save time! Of course this may not be do-able if you drop kids off at school or daycare but could be an option if you alternate this task with a spouse.