There’s often a correlation between business finances and personal finances, especially for the self-employed and in the early days of a start-up. Getting married has been a good thing for my finances, clarifying categories, controlling spending, and killing debt. So far my husband and I are laying a good foundation for communicating about money, with monthly reviews of our budget and periodic check-ins. Unfortunately, it appears we completely underestimated our grocery budget! We have a lot to learn about planning meals and shopping for food.
Enter Erin Ortlund and her recent blog series about saving money on groceries and other household expenses. Post #1, “Know your prices,” comforts me: learning to shop for a family takes time. We’re not “rolling in the dough,” but we’re not destitute either, so we’ve got some room to play in our food budget.
The good news is, getting married has drastically reduced our spending on entertainment and eating out. Tonight we’re storm-stayed by a blizzard, so we’ll enjoy a homemade meatless meal (tofu stirfry with rice noodles), followed by my husband’s gourmet popcorn (real butter, parmesan & asiago cheese) and a movie rented with a Blockbuster gift card. Cosy.
You sound like you're already doing a lot right! That meal followed by popcorn sounds delicious!
ReplyDeleteWe ended up not having popcorn and a movie. (A) We were too full, and (B) we preferred to read! :)
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