Help me become a cheapass

[Schadenfroh]

I am trying to save some money. I am not in a tight (my financial situation has actually improved significantly over the past 6-months), but I think that I am spending way too much money than I should be. Here is a breakdown of my current expenditures and proposals for saving money. Let me hear your thoughts on which ones might not be worth the effort or any further ideas that I might have overlooked.

Income: Graduate Research Assistant (monthly salary, health insurance, free tuition, etc.)

Accommodations: Bachelor pad single bedroom apartment. I have a reasonable rent, but I am under lease so moving to a ghetto apartment is not an option. Plus, I really like where I live.

Utilities:
Water: Fixed rate with my rent, I can use as much as I want and the price will be the same.

Garbage / pest control: See above

Power: All electric apartment, horribly inefficient due to large windows.
Ideas for effeciency:
*Lose floor heater and wear more clothes
*Move PC away from Window and to the interior of the apartment so the heat can be set lower
*Buy thicker curtains for windows
*Replace traditional bulbs with florescent bulbs
*Let PC go into standby rather than Folding@Home (maybe shut it off? If it does not consume much power while hibernating, it is nice to have the near instant power on)

Phone: All cellular, moving to a $10 a month plan with another company with 100 minutes that roll over from my $40 a month T-Mobile plan (my phone is unlocked and I have no contract).

Cable / Home Entertainment: No TV, I pay $15 a month for broadband. Play games (mostly cheap steam deals and player made modules for existing games). I am not sacrificing NetFlix for I love Instant View too much. Nothing to cut here.

Fuel: I suppose I could try purchasing a pass and using the city bus system for all of my needs, but frankly, I prefer driving and I do not wish to cut here. I live about 6 miles (mostly interstate) from school / work. I am not sure the money saved will be worth the wasted time of being on the bus.

Booze and smokes: Nothing to cut.

Drinks: I stopped drinking distilled water and switched to tap water (no filtering beyond what the city does). It does not taste or smell great (chemicals), but I have not gotten cholera yet, so I think it is safe and cheap. I do drink a good bit of diet soda (mostly generic). I think that I can save even more money by moving exclusively to home brewed tea and coffee (I already own a coffee maker and tea pot). I can brew large quantities of tea and keep it in the fridge to drink instead of soft drinks.

Food: Likely one of my largest expenses. I think that there is VAST room for improvement here. I eat out every meal, except for breakfast on weekends. I spend less than $25 a day on food (breakfast and supper only). Most of the time, it is just slightly below $20 a day. Occasionally, between $20 and $25. IIRC, the taxes are higher on prepared food. So, my plan is to purchase food precursors at Sam's Club (no CostCo around here) and cook my own food or at the very least, generic frozen pizzas and sliced turkey sandwiches.
I really need to research cheap, but tasty, methods of food preparation. I do not eat lunch (when I am at work and/or class), so I should have time to prepare my meals myself.
My health will likely be improved by carefully planned, cheap series of self-cooked diverse meals.

Laundry: No hookups, I use the apartment's laundry machines (I have to pay). Nothing much I can do here, beyond switching to a generic detergent.

Misc: I stopped using paper cups, but I still use paper plates to a significant extent. I can purchase more regular plates and hit the dishwasher more often. I use standard metal eating utensils. Since I have unlimited access to water, I believe that it will be far cheaper to stop using paper plates despite the detergent.

Thoughts on the above and things that I might have overlooked?

 

[Farang]

Cooking is very easy, but requires some initial costs to stock cookware, spices, etc.

You can cook yourself batches of food and alternate through them for 3-5 days. For example cook 5 meals of enchilada, 5 meals of beef stew and you're set for the week. Just dish out what you made onto dinner plates, wrap, and put in fridge (or freezer if you think it'll be a few days before you get to it).

With this method I get to eat very good food, pursue my hobby of cooking, and spend about $2-$4 per meal. Breakfast costs me about $1 because I just have cereal and coffee, so daily total food cost usually isn't above $10.

 

[FoBoT]

take a cooking class
to learn to cook
then you'll be more inclined to cook at home
and that will save you money

 

[nboy22]

Eat ramen for every meal

 

[DVad3r]

lol you don't seem to be living a very luxurious life at all, not sure where you can cut dude...

For the food alternative you can just go to a chicken plant and buy a crate of chicken bulk, freeze it, and eat that throughout the day, with beans/frozen veggies/rice on the side. It's actually healthy but taste wise there is nothing there besides sustaining yourself.

I personally need to stop going to Starbucks. They are everywhere around me (work/home) and I usually end up dropping $ 5 per day on a latte...

Lately though I've started a diet and stopped eating out, eating only at home. I've lost weight/feel better/healthier, and my costs have dropped too. Like you, I used to drop anywhere from $ 10-15 bucks on eating out per day, that shit adds up.

I'm also trying to cut down on unecessary driving. Basically I go to work and come back, then the car gets parked and doesn't run again till the next day. I try to walk everywhere that I can, it's cheaper/healthier...

I really need to cut my cell phone plan out as I'm paying $ 65 per month and hardly ever use my phone at all, the most I do is browse the net with it. Most people I know contact me online, or if my home phone, so yea...

I pay $ 50 for internet and I need that as I still play online games and download, I don't have cable TV though so I'm saving a good chunk of change.

House temps can defintely be lower, dress up dude and you will be fine, make sure you turn the heat off also when you go to sleep or when your not at the house.

 

[FoBoT]

Eat ramen for every meal

this is what you do if you are flat broke

but if you are spending $25/day eating out, you don't have to just eat ramen to save money

take a cooking class, so you can make some good food that you like, you'll still save money and not have to eat ramen

 

[dbk]

Cooking is very easy, but requires some initial costs to stock cookware, spices, etc.

You can cook yourself batches of food and alternate through them for 3-5 days. For example cook 5 meals of enchilada, 5 meals of beef stew and you're set for the week. Just dish out what you made onto dinner plates, wrap, and put in fridge (or freezer if you think it'll be a few days before you get to it).

With this method I get to eat very good food, pursue my hobby of cooking, and spend about $2-$4 per meal. Breakfast costs me about $1 because I just have cereal and coffee, so daily total food cost usually isn't above $10.

This... I always cooked in batches in college... usually pasta or rice with ground beef, some frozen/canned veggies.. Go invest in some cheap ass tupperware.

 

[dmcowen674]

I thought you were much older.

Anyway I recommend a Crock Pot.

 

[Bucks]

Cooking is very easy, but requires some initial costs to stock cookware, spices, etc.

You can cook yourself batches of food and alternate through them for 3-5 days. For example cook 5 meals of enchilada, 5 meals of beef stew and you're set for the week. Just dish out what you made onto dinner plates, wrap, and put in fridge (or freezer if you think it'll be a few days before you get to it).

With this method I get to eat very good food, pursue my hobby of cooking, and spend about $2-$4 per meal. Breakfast costs me about $1 because I just have cereal and coffee, so daily total food cost usually isn't above $10.

This. Cook meals which can be used for a few days. For example, spagetti or lasagna can give you a few days worth of meals for very cheap.

 

[DVad3r]

$ 65 cell phone
$ 60 latte's (let's say 3 per week average)
$ 70 tank of gas by driving less

That's already $ 195 in savings per month. 1 year that's 2340. 5 years it's 11700. 10 years that's a new Harley

 

[DVad3r]

Also I carry a huge glass container with me full of chicken/veggies/rice/beans or anothe type of meat depending on the day. I eat probably 8-10 a day whenever I'm hungry in small portions. I've lost 17 pounds by just doing that in 2 weeks lol, and I feel good and never bloated anymore like I used to when eating out, especially junk food.

 

[guyver01]

jesus... $25 eating out per day? wtf you eating? stop eating omeletes and steaks .. and grab an egg mcmuffin ($2) and whopper jr ($1) ...

you should be spending $25 a week.. not a day.

 

[DVad3r]

jesus... $25 eating out per day? wtf you eating? stop eating omeletes and steaks .. and grab an egg mcmuffin ($2) and whopper jr ($1) ...

you should be spending $25 a week.. not a day.

He could do that but that's not healthy at all. Technically he can just buy 5 whoppers for 5 bucks and that's his food right there...

 

[guyver01]

He could do that but that's not healthy at all. Technically he can just buy 5 whoppers for 5 bucks and that's his food right there...

$150 a week eating out is horrid.

i spend $100/2 weeks for 3 people.. when shopping for food in the super market.

i could feed the 3 of us for a month on what he spends in a week.

 

[Colt45]

$ 65 cell phone
$ 60 latte's (let's say 3 per week average)
$ 70 tank of gas by driving less

That's already $ 195 in savings per month. 1 year that's 2340. 5 years it's 11700. 10 years that's a new Harley

Your forgot the part where the bottom falls out of the dollar, and in 10 years it's worth a loaf of bread. And not even a fresh loaf.

 

[Balt]

Anyway I recommend a Crock Pot.

Bingo.

You can get 4-5 meals out of crock pot (freeze some if you don't want to eat the same thing more than two days in a row), and there are plenty of recipes that only require about 10 minutes of prep time.

I got a Crock Pot + a "Slow Cooker" magazine for Xmas because I was getting tired of eating stir fry and noodles all the time. I know nothing about cooking but it's very easy to make something tasty with a slow cooker.

 

[Jesusthewererabbit]

Stay away from Steam for the next two days. It'll wipe you out.

Sandwiches are about the cheapest thing you can eat. A loaf of bread, mayo, big chunk of cheese, some sandwich meat, and a bag of doritos and you've got food for a week for about ten bucks.

Get a big bag of frozen chicken breasts. Thaw out three or four, slice em, roll em in flour along with your favorite spices, and fry em in a pan. Put em in the fridge in an airtight container and have some kick ass sandwiches for a couple of days.

Keep a box of frozen pizzas and a couple of other things you like just to change it up when you feel like you just can't eat another sandwich.

 

[Anonemous]

Start looking up ramen recipes as well as pasta/rice/bean ones. Cook in large batches with 1-2 side dishes. Use glass lock/tupper ware to store them in easy to transport containers and eat accordingly. Experiment with ground beef-pork/hotdog/baloney/bacon/eggs/bread/pbj if you feel daring/lazy. Milk+Cereal works as well.

 

[F1N3ST]

Sorry, wall of text. Cut back. Limitations.

 

[pontifex]

Cooking is very easy, but requires some initial costs to stock cookware, spices, etc.

You can cook yourself batches of food and alternate through them for 3-5 days. For example cook 5 meals of enchilada, 5 meals of beef stew and you're set for the week. Just dish out what you made onto dinner plates, wrap, and put in fridge (or freezer if you think it'll be a few days before you get to it).

With this method I get to eat very good food, pursue my hobby of cooking, and spend about $2-$4 per meal. Breakfast costs me about $1 because I just have cereal and coffee, so daily total food cost usually isn't above $10.

yeah but eating the same crap every other day has to suck ass.

 

[bobross419]

 

[Farang]

yeah but eating the same crap every other day has to suck ass.

Depends on the person I guess. . even after the fourth day I don't mind a tasty enchilada waiting for me in the fridge, only needing me to unwrap and nuke it for dinner to be ready.

 

[Schadenfroh]

Thanks for the tips. The Crok Pot idea is excellent and so is the batch (many servings) cooking / alternating left overs from the freezer. The Crock Pot idea also got me thinking about making large batches of gumbo on the stove as well and freezing it (thawing as needed). It can likely be made with cheap ingredients and produce tasty results in high amounts. My father was a cook during his teens at a restaurant outside of New Orleans, so he can likely give me a few pointers on gumbo preparation. Red beans and rice is also game.

 

[bobross419]

I know you don't eat lunch, but the same principle applies. We save quite a bit of money by taking last night's leftovers for lunch today.

Things like pot roast can be turned into some kickass hash for breakfast and stuff.

Spaghetti
Lasagna
Meatloaf
Chili
Chilimac (man I need to make this)

Get a pack of the preformed burgers (we get the fresh not frozen, come 4 to a pack for about $3) and you got hamburgers on the cheap. Cook them with some tater tots or whatever potato type side you want and you are good to go.

Buy fresh veggies only when you know you are going to eat them, same with bread products and eggs. We used to shop for the week and ended up wasting a lot of money on this type of crap when it went bad because our schedule conflicted with the planned menu.

Buy in bulk and freeze when stuff is on sale. It should last until it gets freezer burn (you can extend this by investing in one of those vacuum sealer thing-a-ma-bobbers).

Tea and coffee are great money savers over soda. You should invest in coffee you like instead of settling for whatever is cheap... it will still come out cheaper than soda in the long run. You could also get the Crystal Light type packets to flavor your water (generally run a little cheaper than soda) and it will add some variety to your drinks.

Any chance you can carpool to school/work?

One of the best things you can do is keep track of all of your expenses diligently for a month or so. Get specific with your records. You'll quickly see where your money goes and where you can easily cut.

 

[ModerateRepZero]

pasta's cheap...you can always have cold pasta (ie ziti) with cold cuts like say thick slices of ham cut into squares/cubes and salad or greens. similar idea is to mix it up with ramen.