Ladies - The best way that I avoid overbuying in grocery stores is by writing a list, letting Dad and son go shopping and staying home. Only things in the list come home(there would be many calls, now they are pros and finding whatever i list). Dad loves to take son out on errands, son loves to go pick up things from the list, both eat there(whole foods), its a win-win! Try it.
yes this is true . when my H goes to buy groceries only the required things get home , no junk and all . he can finish apna bazar trip under 75 for a week while i reach close to 100 or above .
Honestly I dint have even a single credit card when I was in India. Though I am a spendthrift I felt credit card is such a headache. I was happy with debit card. But in US it’s very much essential especially for beginners. Without good credit score life is very difficult
Haha this is the same in my case too. He says if I go along with him there are more unwanted items. Sometimes he jokingly says please give the list I can go get I’m like no ways! Hey but many times I have prevented him from buying junk too. So I think it’s best that both of them go for shopping so that their is balance
I have BOA app and Erica keeps alerting me about my spending path. Last year I developed budget app with my new skills. I was proud of it at that time even if it wasn’t so professionally built. I never used it after that!
@mangaii- I have used Mint in the past and it helps to figure out where the money goes esp the $10-20 purchases that add up. I don't use it anymore. It is safe though because even if you link the bank accounts, the app cannot make changes to the account, can only see the posted charges to the account. It is a good tool to follow the net worth if all your accounts are linked. I do not make a budget (I should though) and have a similar problem of buying too much for kids. I am doing a no cloth shopping challenge this year (and then couldn't resist buying a new ski gear for kids...sigh) Anyway, I use multiple credit cards. A debit card is only for withdrawal from the bank. As @Laks09 said, CC provides peace of mind. You can easily dispute charges. I have Amazon Chase card that like @MalStrom said gives 5% cashback on Amazon Prime and Whole Foods, and 1-2% cashback on everything else. We order a lot of stuff from Amazon and I don't use the cashback until the end of the year. The cashback pays for Christmas shopping. I also have Bank of America travel card which pays 3% cashback on travel...if you travel quite a bit, it adds up! These are the main cards we use. Neither has a foreign transaction fee so we use these cards while traveling abroad. I also have a few store/airline cards that I don't use frequently or have opened for a year or two to get extra points/ miles. A few things that help me are: 1. Checking credit card accounts at least once a week and look at the pie chart. All banks have budgeting tools. You can set your budget with the tool and see the progress. It will show you if you went over your budget. 2. One week rule (for me it is a 24 h rule). If you want to buy something. Wait for a day/week and see if you still want it. If you do, go ahead. If it's an impulse, you won't even miss it. 3. Grocery- this is the hardest category. In our family, my husband cooks and does groceries. I usually don't even know what we need. He makes a list and more or less sticks to it. Of course, he buys things that he feels like trying and aren't on the list. We do groceries once a week. 4. Goals: It helps with saving if you set a goal. By the end of two months, I want to see the X amount saved up. You will be more willing to let go of things you don't need.
I am trying a no spend March as well! Let's do it together and held each-other accountable . This is a good start. For online shopping, I have started leaving things in the cart for a day and see if I still want those next day. Helps with random purchases at Amazon.
For a family of 4 with vegetarian life style how much is acceptable spending on grocery . I think at the end of the day I shop at too many places. Sprouts(Weekly twice for fruits and grains but end up buying because something is on sale)/ TJ (Veggies/Milk/Tofu/Snacks - For some reason they add up) costco (This is mostly essentials and done by my husband) Indian grocery store(Indian veggies and grains again done by my husband) and farmers market(I need to stop going there I just buy everything that is green) . Eat out 2-3 times a week (ranges $100 -$150 ) . I'm going to reduce multiple trips to TJ since that is maximum I spend money. Like last time my daughter said she is going to drink protein smoothie and she stocked up 5 for $15 and after consuming one she says it doesn't taste good. Now that is sitting in the fridge staring at me. Chip bags 2-3 varieties lying down since the flavor makes the lips itchy. Different kind of bars which either become rancid or doesn't taste well after some time. I think I see the pattern . I'm not going to blame my kids since I'm not even a good example in the first place. @Laks09 I'm definitely going to get help from husband when it comes to grocery shopping.
This is what I need to do . The urge to click the place the order button is so high and happiness when I see the packages at my door needs to stop . I think I have some emotional need to spend . Honestly I don't know when I started this. Definitely we should keep each other accountable. I still remember how much money my mom used to save in kitchen dabbas. @nuss let us do it to . @Caughtinbetween everything in macy's and kohls are main culprit. The need to use those coupons is so high. Another thing I forgot it ebay. I really need intervention . I took a book from library to learn about some investments. Maybe if I do some investment I won't have deal with this bad habits since I will not have disposal cash to spend .
Hi @mangaii I saw this quote in your India trip thread and provided my response there. I did not see your ackowledgement there. Was it supposed to be here? Anyways, posted the same here. Looks like you are going for investmets. That is good. Best wishes. Hi @mangaii Are you looking for investing/saving in India in the fixed deposits? If so there are many Indian banks that offer different interest rates. I am not familiar with India banks. Hopefully the article here will help you. Top 5 bank FD rates While in India FDs can earn up to 7-8%, in USA the Certificate of Deposits (CDs) earn much less interest. Not more than 3% as far as I know. CD is an extremely conservative, low risk way to save/invest. You may approach your bank to find out their CD rates or go online. Here is a list of the highest CD offers. 13 Best CD Rates for March 2020 - NerdWallet The recommendation is to ladder the CDs so that if you want money at a given month you do not have to pay penalty for withdrawing early. Laddering is to buy multiple CDs that mature/terms ending at different months. Let us say, you buy a CD this month, March 2020, that will mature in March 2021 Buy another CD in April that will mature April 2021 and so on. When March 2021 rolls around you can withdraw the funds or choose to continue for one more year/many years. You can also add more funds to that CD. The longer the term of the CD the higher the interest you will earn. Start with the minimum required and slowly build your portfolio. Hope this is helpful. There are other financial savvy IL members who may provide more information. Please keep in mind there are other ways to invest also. Some are medium risk, and some high risk. I stick to the traditional, no worry, safe CD. My husband plays with the high risk/medium risk ones where we have lost and gained. So please do not ask me about the high risk investments. I do not know much about them.
