Who has time to cut coupons, scour the deals, wash out bags and walk to the store? Is it really worth it to spend extra time making meals from scratch when you can better spend that time earning money?
It is sometimes hard to justify all of the time that can go into the job of saving money. I say it really depends on a number of factors. But there are three thoughts that I have on this.
The first is that you have to calculate in a general way how much the particular frugal practice will save or earn for you. So, for example, if it takes you 15 minutes to hang a load of wash, and that saves you 75 cents a load, then you are making $3 an hour, while you are home, which may or may not be worth it to you, depending on whether or not you enjoy hanging laundry, and whether or not you could be spending that time earning money in another way.
Another example is this. If you decide to double your recipe and freeze one of the meals for a hectic night, it might take you an extra 5 minutes to assemble and package up the extra meal. If you save $40 on the cost of eating out, that translates into about $480 an hour, minus the cost of the extra ingredients. You can make the numbers do anything you want, but this is the basic idea of how to calculate frugal practices to see if they are worth your time. More enjoyable activities might rank higher on your personal scale, even if they don’t earn as much.
If you have young children at home, you may find it easy to incorporate some frugal activity into your day when they are napping or working along side of you. If you work outside the home, you may be able to save money by combining errands on the way home or working out a different job schedule to reduce the number of days that you commute. There is usually some sort of frugal activity that you can fit into your lifestyle.
Next up, I will share my remaining two points thoughts concerning when there is not enough time to be frugal.
Mary Ann Romans writes about everything related to saving money in the Frugal Blog, creating a home in the Home Blog, caring for little ones in the Baby Blog and now relationships in the Marriage Blog. You can read more of her articles by clicking here or subscribe to the blog using the subscription box on the right.
Favorite Deal Websites:
Related Articles:
Finding Money When You Need Some
Simple Attempts at Money Stewardship