5 ways being prepared saves you money

Today I am sharing 5 ways that being prepared saves you money. You cannot be prepared for every scenario. But being ready for every day little things and developing good routines can save you money here’s how. 

How being prepared saves you money.

You cannot be prepared for every scenario. But being ready for everyday little things and developing good routines can save you money here’s house. 

Meal planning:

Spending 30 minutes meal planning each week saves me thousands of dollars a year. How? Well, cooking at home is cheaper than eating out. And if I eat out, I wanted it to be a planned enjoyable experience and not a last-minute excursion because I forgot to put something in the crockpot. Because it cost my family at least $45 just to go to McDonald’s. 

So, for example, if I haven’t planned anything for lunch on Sunday, we’re all hungry after church, it’s easy and tempting just to hit up the drive-through. But I’m taking just a few minutes to plan out what I’m either going to cook when I get home or throw something in the slow cooker that saved me money. 

This is one of the reasons that I also freeze our leftovers. Let's say Thursday rolls around, and I’m tired, and my plans have fallen apart. I can pull something out of the freezer and throw it in my instant pot and we still have a meal. 

Saving for upcoming expenses 

Expenses have a way of sneaking up on you. But things like back-to-school shopping, major holidays, or annual recurring expenditures are not emergencies. If you look ahead and know it’s coming you can plan for it. 

This also brings me to this little tip if you’re like me and you lose things and then you re-purchase them because you lost them go into Google calendar when you put something away and put it in your calendar. Then later you just search your Google calendar for Halloween costume or Mother’s Day gift and you know where you put it. 

Get the information 

This week my son is being allergy tested. I found out ahead of time what our insurance covered and what it didn’t and negotiated a payment. 

I think a lot of people don’t realize that you can negotiate your medical bills even if you have insurance. You can even do this after you’ve gotten a bill. But it’s easier to do it before the service is even provided. 

Set expectations 

So this is actually a question from one of you left on Instagram someone asked how do you save money on outings because even going to the park means we buy ice cream. Here’s the thing you have to set expectations before the day begins.

For example if I take my kids into the store with me inevitably one of them is going to asked to look at the Legos. Before we go into the store I’ll say, "today we’re going in to buy the things on my list. We’re not going to be looking at anything extra please do not ask me." Or one day I may say, "we’re going into the store and while we’re here we’re going to look at the Legos but we’re not going to buy anything however we can take pictures of the really cool sets that we see and maybe you can earn them later or ask for them for your birthday. " 

If we’re going to go to the park or an outing are usually take lunch and snacks with us and then that way were not tempted to stop and buy anything. 

Let them know this outing is the treat we don’t need to do anything extra.