We meal plan but have done since before Covid. We make a list for groceries and stick to it.
Buying bulk items from Costco (toilet paper, paper towels, canned stuff, bread which we freeze, etc). It saves money in the long run.
Exercising at home. We set up a home gym in the basement and I don't see myself going back to the gym. I used to pay $140 a month for a barre studio pass but cancelled it last March. Has saved us a lot! I look back and think it was quite a waste of money but I did enjoy it.
My husband used to get his beard and hair trimmed every 5 weeks or so. That would cost over $100 by the time he paid for the service, tipped and bought product. He now cuts his own hair and beard at home and won't be going back to the barber... Saving us thousands of dollars a year
.
I used to get my hair cut every 8 weeks and coloured every 16. I get balayage done so that was expensive around $350. I only went to the hair salon once in 2020 in summer and am going to be cutting back on how often I go. I am booked in for February and that will be it until August or so. I've realised I can go longer. My husband trims my hair at home
. So that will save about another grand a year.
So far saving around $3,000+ a year from those three things alone.
We used to eat out every weekend, often having 2 or 3 courses and alcohol which came to over $100 a meal. We now get curbside pickup at the weekend and most often only one course and no alcohol. We also don't eat out during the week anymore. We would sometimes do that before grocery shopping. And we are no longer getting anything from coffee shops. We make nice coffees at home.
So saving loads of money there.
Last one I can think of is gas. My husband is WFH and we are not going out much so are using the vehicles less. Therefore having to fill up the gas tank not as often as before.
We are going to try and make more homemade foods to save money too! I already make a nice focaccia, banana bread, lemon muffins, which all freeze nice. We are going to buy a dehydrator to make our own dried fruit snacks. We are gonna try making our own crisps with potatoes, parsnips and beets too. We also make our own desserts and freeze them so we don't spend much money on those.
Now, our house and grocery bills have gone up a bit. But that's expected.
Online shopping is really filling a void for me as I feel no pleasure from anything else right now.
