Pad Wallet, Trim Belly

Several years ago when I was in the middle of my journey out of financial hell, one day I finally decided that I was going to lose the extra 10-12 pounds that I had been carrying around with me for the past few years.  It wasn’t like I was incredibly overweight or anything, I just got tired of it and decided to lose the last few pounds that I needed to lose.

Well, at the time, my eating habits were something like this.  I probably ate fast food 3-4 times a week and most of the other food in my fridge was processed, out-of-the-box kind of stuff.  Frozen dinners and other pre-made stuff of that sort.  And I probably had just a little too much of a sweet tooth for my own good.

 

So, this is what I decided to do, and again, it was purely for weight-loss purposes.  I was going to give up the fast food; at least until I lost all the weight I wanted to lose.  In addition, I was going to go as “all-fresh” as I could.  What I mean is that I was going to start cooking as much food from scratch as I could.  At the time I was working in a restaurant, so it wasn’t like I was too motivated to go home and cook or anything.

 

But this is what I decided to do.  So I went to my local grocer, and stocked up on fresh fruits and veggies, and a bunch of chicken and fish and rice and pasta and so on.  All the stuff I would need for doing the whole “fresh” thing.  Also, I swore off sweets till I was at my desired weight.

 

Well, the first and best result was that I was able to take off this 10-12 pounds in just over three months (I added a little exercise program in there, too).  I was quite proud of myself, and of course, I looked and felt much better.

 

But here’s the kicker.  It took a little while for me to realize, but this shift in my eating habits also had a tremendous effect on my wallet!  I could not believe how much cheaper my monthly food bill had gotten.

After I thought about it though, it made a lot of sense.   First, obviously, I was eating less.  And, obviously, if you’re eating less, then you’re buying less.  But second, I had no idea how much cheaper food was when you bought it all fresh and cooked from scratch.  Sure, it took me a little extra time to cook my meals at home, but the savings were tremendous.  It was basically impossible to track, but I’d venture to say that my monthly grocery bill went down by approximately 15-20 percent.  That’s pretty substantial.

 

So, in a nutshell, my original goal was to simply take off a few pounds.  What I ended up with is more money in my wallet at the end of the month, a healthier me and being able to eat food that tasted much better than the stuff I was eating before.

And the real kicker is that once I lost this weight and had told myself that it would probably be OK to eat fast food every once in awhile, or pick up some of those frozen dinners when I was feeling a little lazy, I never did.  I haven’t eaten fast food in years and to this day I still cook 95% of our food at home.

 

To learn more about improving your personal finances, stay tuned for my soon-to-be-published book, “Don’t Be a Mule-A Common Sense Guide to Saving More, Spending Less and Generating extra Income in Your Everyday Life.”

Tagged as: budgeting your money, cheap cooking tips, frugal living tips, save money on groceries