Beating Broke

Personal Finance from the Broke Perspective

How to Decorate for the Holidays on a Budget

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Decorate for the Holidays on a Budget

My husband and I were married at the beginning of December. Unfortunately, we were broke college students. He was in graduate school full-time, and I had just started my first full-time job as a teacher. As you would expect for a novice teacher, the pay was low, and we were living in a high-cost-of-living area. Despite this, I wanted to make our new (apartment) home cozy, so I quickly learned how to decorate for the holidays on a budget.

Get Married During the Holidays

Okay, not everyone will do this, but because our wedding was so close to Christmas, many guests bought us holiday décor. We got a snowman Christmas cookie jar, some keepsake ornaments, and holiday plates and towels. Those items weren’t on our registry, but we loved them because they gave us things to decorate the apartment.

Shop Garage Sales

Shopping garage sales is the best way to decorate for the holidays on a budget. People are ALWAYS selling their used holiday items. I bought many of my Halloween and Christmas decorations this way, each costing me less than $1.

Shop Black Friday Sales

For big-ticket items like holiday comforters, Christmas trees, and outdoor lights, research the list price. Then, wait for Black Friday sales, and you may find items up to 50 percent off or more. These items usually sell out, so if you get them at 40 or 50 percent off, you’re getting a good deal.

Shop Clearance AFTER the Holidays

This tip won’t help you with decorating this year, but if you have patience, you can get holiday decorations for 70 to 80 percent off if you shop AFTER the holidays. You will see the steepest discounts the first five days after Christmas. Then, next year, you’ll have decorations for your home, and you’ll know that you got them at rock-bottom prices.

Shop Michael’s

If you sign up for Michael’s email list, the company will regularly send you coupons, often for 40 percent off the price of one full-price item or 20 percent off all items, including items on sale. You can use these coupons to buy holiday decorations or supplies needed to make your holiday decorations, which is what I did.

Make Your Own Holiday Decorations

Decorate for the holidays on a budget

I made some of my holiday decorations using the supplies I bought at Michael’s for a discount. For instance, I made a garland wreath to hang on our front door at a fraction of the price of a pre-made wreath.

Final Thoughts

With patience, you can easily decorate for the holidays on a budget. Finding all the decorations you want, whether large or small, may take you a few years. However, waiting is worthwhile, especially when your budget is tight and you need to save money. My husband and I have accumulated our decorations through the years, and we’ve spent very little money doing so.

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The Benefits of Buying Only Necessary Groceries Each Week

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Benefits of Buying ONly the Groceries You Need

For the last few years, I have had a higher grocery budget, so I’ve stocked up on food. I do this for two reasons. First, we have food intolerances—specifically, we can’t eat gluten or dairy—so we need specific foods in the house. Second, I find having a stocked pantry makes mealtime easier. I never need to go out to eat because I have everything to make several meals, depending on what we’re hungry for. However, I recently watched a YouTube video that intrigued me. Based on this video, I’ve experimented with buying only necessary groceries each week for the last few weeks.

Steps I Took to Implement This Change

During the last few weeks, I’ve set a grocery budget of $140 per week for my family of four, which is much less than the $215 a week I typically spend.

I make a menu plan and grocery list the night before I go to the grocery store, so I know what meals I’ll cook during the week. I also try to choose recipes that will utilize ALL of an ingredient. For instance, I needed to buy green cabbage for a stir fry. But I only needed to use half the head of cabbage, so I picked another recipe that would use the other half of the cabbage later in the week, so I used ALL of the cabbage up that week.

Benefits of Buying Only Necessary Groceries Each Week

While I never thought I would enjoy shopping this way, I did realize several benefits of buying only necessary groceries each week.

I Saved Money

We saved a lot of money shopping this way. Over two weeks, we saved $150! This was in part because we were not stocking up on food. However, we also saved because I had limited food in the house, and we HAD to utilize the food we bought.

We Had Less Food Waste

Benefits of Buying Only the Groceries You Need

We typically have very little food waste, but shopping this way eliminated food waste. As I mentioned, I was mindful of finding recipes that would use up ALL of an ingredient. Previously, that other half of the green cabbage might have lingered in the refrigerator for a while. We would use it. . .eventually, but when we did, we might have to cut out some bad spots because we let it sit too long before using it.

Final Thoughts

This way of shopping enhanced how I shop and menu plan. Even better, the benefits of only buying necessary groceries each week were that we saved money and reduced food waste.

However, even though this strategy worked for me, I like to have a stock of food at home in case we can’t shop due to bad weather or limited supplies. From now on, I plan to stock up occasionally to resupply my pantry. Still, for the foreseeable future, I plan to buy only what I need and continue with this experiment to see what other benefits I realize.

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Our Favorite Ways to Combat High Meat Prices

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Our Favorite Ways to Combat High Meat Prices

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Ways to Save on the High Cost of Meat

The prices in the grocery store keep rising, especially for protein. Like most people in the country, we try to keep our grocery budget within budget despite inflation. However, we still want to eat healthy meals and rely on something other than carbs to fill us up. So instead, we use these ways to combat high meat prices.

But First, a Clarification

We are not vegetarians and have no desire to be. We like carbs, but we don’t eat a carb-heavy diet. Instead, we try to eat a well-rounded diet, including plenty of vegetables and fruit.

Our Favorite Ways to Combat High Meat Prices

Here are the strategies we use to save when buying protein.

Buy Direct from the Farmer

For years, my husband and I bought a ¼ side of beef direct from the farmer. We’d get a lot of ground beef and cuts like chuck roast, T-bone steak, and stew meat. We didn’t buy the latter items at the grocery store because they were too pricey for our budget. However, buying directly from the farmer saved us money so that we could enjoy the more expensive cuts of meat.

Buy Clearance Meat at the Grocery Store

I love to buy meat from the clearance rack for other types of meat. For instance, a week after Easter this year, our local grocery store had eight-ounce packages of diced ham on sale for .49 cents! I bought five of them and used them in soups and omelets over the next few months. We also frequently find sausage on clearance. My husband cooks those up on the weekend, slices them, and packs a few for his lunch. Typically, he’ll eat about ¾ of a sausage with his lunch.

Use Meat as a Condiment or Meal Component

Ways to Combat High Meat Prices

We almost always use meat as a condiment or meal component. For instance, we’ll add about three ounces of meat to our spaghetti, which makes four servings. Or, we’ll make soup with one-half pound of meat in it. Likewise, stir-fries are a great way to eat a lot of vegetables with a small amount of meat.

If we make steak, we’ll serve the four of us a portion of the steak so that a 10-ounce steak will feed all four of us. We’ll have ample vegetables on the side.

Add in Some Starch to Stretch the Meal

One other idea is to add some starch to stretch the meal. For instance, I like beef stew as is, but my husband and kids always add a bit of rice to it. They enjoy the flavor, and it helps to stretch the meal further.

Final Thoughts

While we are all struggling to maintain our grocery budgets now, know that this time of high inflation will recede. However, we always combat high meat prices with these strategies. We prefer to eat this way, regardless of what the economy and grocery store prices are doing.

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