How to live on $140 a week

[Frosty_47]

Hello everyone,

I need help deciding on how to spend no more than $20 on food everyday. I want to start saving up some money to pay off my $5000 Visa. Currently I spent more than $1000 a month just on food alone. With alcohol that figure is close to $1300-$1400. So my plan is to spent $600 on food and $200 on alcohol each month. I have no problem cooking a meal for myself its just that I am accustomed to eating out all the time. I need your help with meal suggestions. I require around 3000-3500 Calories/day because I am in strength training trying to build up muscle weight. All suggestions are welcomed.

 

[bryan1]

Go on a diet $1000 a month for a bloke on food, cripes thats $250 a week.... Sounds like you eat at Maca's 3 times a day. Also if you like a beer or three brew ya own and save a heap, if a batch you make isn't to your liking put the bottles in a cupboard for 3 months then try em again. You'll find it will taste a heap better.

We spend on average around $180 a fortnight on food and there's 5 people in the family and yes we do eat good healthy food. Mind you theres always stray sheep that get on our place so the freezer is always full of free lambo.

The other option is to go get a job thats pays more or if your a dole blugger GO GET A JOB.


From what you said in your original post it is clear your on your own and living to excess.

 

[Nigel Goodwin]

Don't go out to eat, and don't eat or buy any processed food whatsoever - including sauces etc.

My daughter at University only budgets £12.50 per week for food (and I suspect that's for two! - her and her boyfriend), and at that they buy fresh salmon on a fairly regular basis. They make all their own sauces, including making curry from scratch, grinding up the spices.

Rice and pasta are incredibly cheap, and they will stretch a fresh salmon steak to do three meals. A cheap can of tomatoes makes a very cheap base for a sauce.

If you're that hard up, drop the alcohol entirely, it's incompatible with your body building regime anyway.

BTW, my daughters alcohol budget is considerably more than her food budget!.

 

[picbits]

My entire food/grocery budget for two adults and a 12 year old child is £70 a week. That includes alcohol.

This includes breakfast, packed lunches and a large evening meal. We rarely eat out and I make/bake my own bread, cook my own curries and make my own pizzas from scratch.

 

[dknguyen]

Alcohol interferes with both body building and saving money! Eating out also interferes with both body and saving money! Cut them out!

And are you serious about the alcohol? Even just $200 a month is more than one jumbo bottle of Smirnoff every weekend. I don't know about you but even 2-4 shots every weekend totally destroys my energy level for a little bit over a week, let alone weight lifting. I would think that much alcohol would interfere with your weight training much more than eating out (at decent places).

Strength training = NO ALCOHOL (well let's be reasonable, maybe a beer a weekend but seriously, $200-$400 a month?)

 

[HiTech]

There's nothing wrong with dining out if you do it properly = thrifty and smart dieting. Not all public dining places are bad for one's diet. You just have to do some homework and figure out what foods to order and if the prices fit your budget. However, most often eating home and from a smart diet is often the best choice from nutrition and cost standpoints since you are in full control of things. I love eating submarine sandwishes and pizza... way too much of them. However I have adapted to eating no cheese, veggie subs without dressings and make my own pizzas without the toppings using low fat cheese in light amounts. So I can still have my likes without the fat, salt, etc. I have lost weight by adapting this way.
One of the best things you can do before eating is to drink a glass or two of water. This will help curb your apetite for eating lots of food and besides the human body is 70% or more water.

 

[cr0sh]

First off, you don't "save up money to pay off a credit card"; the way you pay off a credit card is first by attempting to get the interest lowered as far as possible (good luck with this nowadays), and then making payments to it larger than the minimum - much larger (triple the minimum is a good start). Another trick is to send in half of this payment twice a month (every two weeks, roughly). This drops the principle and ultimately the interest that acrues each month. You won't make any friends with the credit card company, but that isn't the point.

If you really want to become financially independent - follow this guy's advice: Dave Ramsey Homepage - daveramsey.com

Don't buy into the consumerist trap, and you'll be better for it in the long run. Do you have a new car with a large car payment? Drop it, and buy a well-running used car if you can. Stop buying extended warantees. Learn to "ultimate recycle" by donating used items to places like Goodwill - and shop there too! Look into freecycling. Learn to dumpster dive! You'd be surprised at what people throw away that can be turned into useful stuff and/or resold for profit. Its crazy - its the consumerist trap!

Don't cheap out on your food - but your spending for food is pretty high, there. You need to cut the alcohol out - that seems like a large amount to me, unless you are buying all top-shelf stuff (or are you an alcoholic? Not accusing here, but if you are, only you can say and be honest with yourself). Think about stocking a pantry, and maybe a chest freezer (lots of meat - for muscle mass building you want protein anyway, right? But then again, I'm a fat slob). When buying food and other groceries, shop on the edges of the store, and high and low on the shelves. They put the expensive stuff in the center mass of the store, where you will likely see it; don't fall for the ruse (the exception here is the cereal aisle, where the expensive sugary stuff is at eye-level and lower for kids, of course). When purchasing products, learn which products are "generic, but great quality" - many manufacturers make "store brands" and such that are the same as their "name brands", just with a different and cheaper label. These general sell for less (but not always!) but are just as good of quality. Be smart about your shopping.

Also, learn to use and clip coupons; learn to anticipate sales (for instance, good meat sales happen before labor day, usually - unfortunately, you just missed it) - there's also seasonal variation on meat and other grocery sales (depending on when animals are brought in for slaughter, etc). Learn to anticipate these, and apply your coupons properly. Some items can be bought cheaper in bulk, so keep that in mind as well (rice and beans are two very cheap items that are good for you, and cheap in bulk).

Finally, when you cook, don't throw away leftovers! Eat leftovers for lunch (or dinner) the next day; learn to recycle leftovers into another meal (say you make chicken one day, grilled, but you have some left over - use it for a grilled chicken salad the next day, and if there is still some more, chop it up and freeze it for a future meal). Oh - and when you freeze stuff, mark it on the outside what it is and when you put it in; use older stuff first.

Save your plastic containers, too (to put stuff in for freezing and/or leftovers in the fridge). Much of the plastic containers (and other plastic packaging) that we throw away is perfectly fine to keep and reuse multiple times; this is another consumerist trap (buying plastic to throw it away). Oh - and if you are using paper plates, plastic utensils, etc - STOP! Buy a set of dishes and some silverware, and wash it. The best place to buy this stuff is used from garage sales or thrift stores! Just bring it home and wash it well using a dishwasher or by hand. You already eat out at restaurants, so using dishes and silverware that others have used isn't a problem for you.

All of this will save you money, and eventually get you out of the consumerist trap you are in. Only you can keep yourself out of it once you are out (another good way to keep yourself out is to quit watching television - really!)...

 

[audioguru]

My wife and I spend about $250 a month for good food.
We rarely waste money in restaurants and occasionally buy inexpensive wine.
Friends and our kids come over frequently for dinner but we also go to their places for dinner so the cost evens out.

$1400 a month is spent by bank CEOs, lawyers, sports stars and movie stars.

 

[bryan]

It's tough paying off debts, but it's a great feeling when you do. Number of years ago i owed a fair amount on two credit cards and line of credit. Went to the bank for more credit and the elderly loan officer refused, saying i need to get a grip on my finances and gave me a "life lecture". I walked out very pissed off, but days later cooled down and decided he was right. It was tough to do, but it sure is a good feeling. Gave up driving and put the car in storage, no going out for dinners or lunches, no fancy clothes, no fancy toys or electronics. Took a couple years, but I owe nothing on credit cards, loans or lines of credit. If the loan manager hadn't retired and disappeard I would be buying him a nice bottle of scotch for his tough love approach and sound advice.

Unfortunately we live in a world where credit is the norm, no wonder we are in such a mess. People living well above their income levels.

 

[HarveyH42]

Credit cards are evil. I haven't had/used one in over ten years now. My house is paid off, never had a car payment, or cell phone. I took out a small loan from my 401k, to help buy my current car, not so much for the purchase, but it needed tires ($581), windshield, power window regulators ($126 for two), oil change and tune-up. There are a lot of ways to tighten the budget, and still live well. Rice with a meal is probably the best way to cut food costs. Goes with most anything, and you can put most anything over rice to make a full meal on the cheap. A bowl of soup doesn't fill you up much, but you can put that same bowl of soup over four plates of rice, and feed four adults. Bread machines are great. Dump in a few inexpensive ingredients, push a button, 3 hours later, fresh bread. You can be as creative as you like, doesn't have to be just plain white. It also makes quick and easy pizza dough.

Power and water can be expensive, and you can save a bundle if you aren't using it, turn it off. Watering the lawn, and washing the car (and most anything else outside), isn't usually mandatory on a regular basis. Grass is usually pretty tough, and can handle a few dry spells. Most anything outdoors isn't going to stay spotless more than a day or two. Be realistic, some people think a few spots on their car, will void their warranty.

Search the internet, there are a lot of sites these days, with helpful hints, and work arounds, to save money. Focus on getting rid of the debt, mostly you are paying interest, which is the privilege to make payments and live poor. Credit cards have a number of ways to mess with you, too keep you making payments. Don't trust the minimum payment, never take advantage of payment holidays, if you don't get a monthly statement, send the payment on time any way. When you are late or miss a payment, they raise your interest rate. They can change the number of days in a billing cycle. The minimum payment, might be only the interest you owe, or even less. Basically, if you can afford to pay off your balance every month, they got you trapped. If you can't pay cash, do without it, until you can save up for it. If you can do without, stay away from it. My guess is, that you have some help drinking all that booze, cut back on the parties you host. Your friends are probably one reason your food and alcohol bills are a little high. Put it to a test sometime, go a month or two clean (at home anyway), don't be the host, and don't go out buying rounds of shots for everyone. See how many of these friends are still hanging out, when the party dries up. Nothing wrong with having fun, but most people have their own money problems, and shift that bill off on 'friends'.

 

[3v0]

Last month I screwed up my knee in a fall. I was alone and could not get up. I used the cell to call for help. That saved me several hours laying on the floor in pain.

In general I hate the way most people are tied to them.

I use a prepaid (burn) phone. The phone with 1000 minutes cost about $140 on a special from radio shack. That was back in July and I still have 850 minutes.

Most of the calls are short. I have a $20/month VOIP setup on the land line so most of the long calls are done there. Between the cost of the VOIP and the cell phone it is still a small fraction of what our long distance bills used to be.

Obviously if you want to spend you day talking and texting this would not work for you.

 

[cr0sh]

Credit cards are evil.

Proper use of credit cards aren't evil, if you can pull it off. The trick is to get a credit card with a certain size limit (something around your take-home pay), and a low interest rate (as well as FF miles); and get a savings account or money-market which earns interest (the more the better - but you need to be able to pull money out occasionally, as well, while leaving a balance - so you need a way to start the ball rolling first; ie, a balance). Then, have your paycheck (or other income) put into the savings account, and use your credit card for everything, but before the CC billing cycle rolls around (and if you set it up right, after the interest payment to your savings acount), pay it off (with money from the savings account). This way, your money is working for you (not in the best way, but better than a checking account), and the CC company doesn't get the interest. Setting things up to direct-pay the credit card from the savings, and careful tracking of your credit expenditures (which you should be doing anyway with a checking account) helps. The only problem with the scheme is you have to be pretty fastidious on tracking the credit card and billing statements, etc - I have a feeling that doing something like this could snowball in the opposite direction of the intention if you weren't paying careful attention...

 

[audioguru]

I have had credit cards for 47 years. I have never ever paid a penny or more in interest on them. I always paid the balance 3 days before it was due.
But I got a camera and suit for free (I guess somebody else paid for them). I always see that I am not billed for something I never bought.

 

[Frosty_47]

My guess is, that you have some help drinking all that booze, cut back on the parties you host. Your friends are probably one reason your food and alcohol bills are a little high. Put it to a test sometime, go a month or two clean (at home anyway), don't be the host, and don't go out buying rounds of shots for everyone. See how many of these friends are still hanging out, when the party dries up. Nothing wrong with having fun, but most people have their own money problems, and shift that bill off on 'friends'.

Yeah being the host costs me a lot (not sure exact figures). When I am hosting, I also happened to be the bartender for the night, so I mix drinks for all my friends (especially ladies ). So as you guessed it, the booze bill goes up. I will take your advice and stop hosting for a while (starting September 20, as I already promised a party this weekend).

 

[Frosty_47]

The other option is to go get a job thats pays more or if your a dole blugger GO GET A JOB.
From what you said in your original post it is clear your on your own and living to excess.

My monthly paycheck is over $3000 (after all deductions & taxes). I have a very good job that I am happy with.

 

[Frosty_47]

Don't go out to eat, and don't eat or buy any processed food whatsoever - including sauces etc.
Rice and pasta are incredibly cheap, and they will stretch a fresh salmon steak to do three meals. A cheap can of tomatoes makes a very cheap base for a sauce.
If you're that hard up, drop the alcohol entirely, it's incompatible with your body building regime anyway.

Thanks, I will stock up on rice and pasta than. As for booze, yes I am a drinker (expensive stuff like Johnnie Walker Black Label). However most of my booze costs are at bars and parties. So I will try to limit it there.

 

[Frosty_47]

And are you serious about the alcohol? Even just $200 a month is more than one jumbo bottle of Smirnoff every weekend. I don't know about you but even 2-4 shots every weekend totally destroys my energy level for a little bit over a week, let alone weight lifting. I would think that much alcohol would interfere with your weight training much more than eating out (at decent places).

Strength training = NO ALCOHOL (well let's be reasonable, maybe a beer a weekend but seriously, $200-$400 a month?)

Yeah I do drink a lot of expensive things and at bars too. As for 2-4 shots, I won't even feel that. I need about 350ml-500ml of liquor (40%) to get drunk.
I do agree that I need to reduce alcohol, those parties are costing me too much. As for alcohol interfering with strength training, my personal trainer says the exact same thing.

 

[Frosty_47]

Learn to "ultimate recycle" by donating used items to places like Goodwill - and shop there too! Look into freecycling. Learn to dumpster dive! You'd be surprised at what people throw away that can be turned into useful stuff and/or resold for profit. Its crazy - its the consumerist trap!

-Dumpster diving is for the ultimate poor. I cannot go that route as that is just disgusting to me. As for garage sales, I really have everything I need in terms of daily items. A used BCD for SCUBA diving is perhaps one item I wouldn't mind purchasing from "garage sale".

 

[audioguru]

I am retired. Every day is a Saturday and I do whatever I want whenever I want.
I don't pay income taxes. The government pays me pensions about half the take home pay I made before when I worked. They pay for my prescription drugs.
I get a "seniors" discount on most things I buy.
I paid off my home's mortgage a long time ago and my fairly new car is paid off (I financed it because the rate was only 1.5%).
My stocks and bonds dropped for a few years but have increased a lot over many years and are now rising again.
Some of my savings helped my son and daughter buy their homes.

Before I forgot to say that most of our food is purchased when it is on sale. We buy sale priced fresh "loss leaders", not rotting old "reduced price" garbage. Stores advertise "loss leaders" and actually lose money hoping the customer will also buy very expensive non-sale items that we rarely ever do. Sometimes a store buys a lot of something at a very low price then passes on the savings.
My wife makes a list of weekly food sales and cuts out coupons. We bank at a grocery store's bank and also use their insurance so that every purchase anywhere using their credit card and insurance payments gets points that gets free food.
We buy clothes when they have a half-price or less sale, usually at the end of a season.

 

[colin55]

The simple thing is to buy fresh food and cook everything yourself. If you are cooking soup, make three meals and put the other two in the fridge.
Cooking yourself is 25% the cost of purchasing ready-cooked meals or tins of food.
Use everything in soups – don’t waste food and you can live on $10.00 per day.
On top of this; the food is healthier, and does not contain MSG. All Chinese restaurants use MSG – that’s why they call is KWOKS DISEASE.