Meal planning is the first step when it comes to organizing your life, paying down your debt, and providing peace of mind for yourself. Even Dave Ramsey says it all starts with your grocery budget, and he’s so right. Everyone has to eat, and everyone wants to eat well. This is the secret to doing so, and starting your journey to financial freedom.
I have to admit, I scoffed at meal planning when we first started on our journey to be debt free. I thought it was a waste of time, and yet another thing I had to do as a stay-at-home mom. It was too much at the time. But, once I realized how much time it saved me, and how much stress it took away, I leaned in. Each Sunday I created a meal plan based around the store circulars and what we already had at home. Every week was a little easier, and before we knew it, we were out of debt in less than 2 years.
The more that you plan your meals, the better you will be at planning other aspects of your life, like your budget and financial increase.
Meal planning is one small step that you have to do in order to get to the bigger and better things.
How To Start Now
Plan your meals for tomorrow. No, I’m not asking you to do a week’s or month’s worth of planning. Think about tomorrow, and figure out what meals you can plan ahead. That’s it. Why am I asking you to just do one day? Because it will help to ease you into the discipline of meal planning, and planning other parts of your home life. Even planning the night before, whether it’s your meals or your outfits, will put you in a position of power. Small steps, you guys.
One Small Step
Did you know that you could meal plan in less than 5 minutes? You can, and I’ve proved it on video. It’s one small step that will help you feel so much better. Keep in mind, if meal planning isn’t something that you want to master, you don’t have to. There are many resources out there that can meal plan for you, like eMeals, or bloggers that do a great job of creating free meal plans for readers. The key is to acknowledge that this is important, and work on having a meal plan for each week.
Why This Works
Once you get this small step out of the way, you open up your brain to finding new ways to save, grow financially, and pay down debt faster. Instead of wondering what’s for dinner, you’ll want to think of another way to pay 50 more dollars towards your student loans. This also helps with the idea of time equaling money. The time you spend fretting over what you see in the fridge, and that you can’t turn any of it into a decent meal so you’ll have to order Chinese food, is wasteful. That time is precious, and should be allotted to you having family experiences, working a bit more, or re-evaluating your current time management situation. Food should be an easy thing, not a stressful thing. Meal planning is the smart way to provide something so simple to your family.
I’ve started a new job about six months ago and I am literally right next door to all the shops (located at a transportation hub center – Amtrak, MegaBus, etc.). I’ve found myself attempting to make food throughout the week, but I would run out of ideas – which led me to purchasing lunch that was over $10! As a result, I’ve noticed that I was literally scraping pennies for everything else. I look forward to more of your insights. Thanks for sharing!
I have had that costly habit myself. However, a sub at subway can sometimes be cheaper then buying the ingredients to make at home. It can cost $.75 for the bun alone. Then the deli meat and all the toppings could bring the grocery bill up. I wonder sometimes, if buying fresh produce at the grocery store is more expensive then using a coupon at a fast food place like subway or a boxed salad.
Wow that is a cool idea. I never thought of it that way but for sure meal planning can save money.