Its been a while...question on frugality

[StephanieC]

I was just thinking along the same lines, chrismyster! There’s a great quote by G.K. Chesterton:

“There are two ways to get enough. One is to accumulate more and more. The other is to desire less.”

As for whether prayer can curb the temptation to run across the street and buy things…it can’t hurt, can it? Have you tried it? I guess I’m still sticking to my theory of setting yourself up for success through practical measures, with prayer as the life jacket that never comes off.

Stick motivational quotes around your computer, even around your front door–quotes that’ll encourage you to pause and think about what’s going on inside you & encourage you to pray for help.

As for the lack of motivation/energy to cook…I hear ya! Have you tried doing a general menu plan to base your shopping list on? Some families (see posts by Rob’s Wife–very inspiring!) are super organized to the point of planning a meal for a few weeks & then shopping from there. I’m almost to that point, but I can see how it really would help with the temptation to order out. E.g., if Wednesday is always spaghetti and meatball night, then that’s what you’ll be thinking about all day, not “I wonder what I can make for dinner…aw, shucks, now it’s too late and I’m too tired & I can’t think…let’s order out!”

Buy food with the intention of creating leftovers–if Sunday night is a whole roast turkey, then you can boil the carcass down, make chicken broth, and there’s a whole 'nuther meal.

 

[aboverubies]

Planning ahead with a weekly menu is a great idea! And I’ve have really been meaning to get around to doing it!

I try to always keep our evening meal simple. We will throw some steak/chicken/fish on the barbie and toss a salad or steam some veg. That’s it. It literally would take longer to order and go pick up some take away. If I’m really exhausted we will have eggs on toast topped with some ham and a little parmesan cheese - takes about 10 mins at the most to prepare. The kids will get baked beans on toast and be perfectly happy. Cheaper, quicker, tastier and better for us than take away - which we used to eat a lot of years ago but have pretty much totally cut out now. The savings are HUGE!

After nine years of marriage my DH has finally taken to cooking!! So there is hope for your DH yet. At first his meals were not the best but I would cook along side of him just passing on little hints each time and now he has several dishes that he does really well. He loves to do a big cook up on a Saturday night and freeze up lots of tubs of pasta sauce, curries etc. We then just pull one out of the freezer, defrost it in the microwave and cook up some pasta, rice or noodles. Add fresh salad or veg. Again it would take longer to get takeaway…and we’ve come to realise that our cooking is just so much tastier!

One of the ways that I curb my desire to run out and buy stuff is to keep a photo of our sponser child, Pon, on my computer desk. When I look at his handsome smiling face and think of the poverty that he lives in my “needs” are quickly put into perspective. Compared to Pon and his family we are billionaires; saving our small change sends him to school, clothes and feeds him and assists his family with other purchases. It truly only takes small change each day to sponser a child - do it and you will never feel poor again.

 

[mariam1976]

another way to save wud be to get rainchecks on stuff that u want to buy when they are on sale… many a times i have seen that the item that is on sale in the store will not be available so i just get a raincheck for it and buy it later …