Daily Planner: How Planning Puts You In Position To Save Money

Thoughts of saving money tend to focus mostly on trying to earn more money, since most equate a better income to the ability to be financially secure.

But truthfully, saving money has little to do with having a massive income and more to do with how you plan, how you budget and being able to understand that financially you’ll always have limitations based on your salary or what comprises the money coming into the home.

Planning, however, has to extend past just your budget, although those specifics also can’t be overlooked. Your budget, as it relates to planning, simply means that you can have income minus expenses but also thinking about incidental expenses and other things that aren’t monthly, consistent expenses and thus you’d consider unexpected to some degree, so planning ahead for them is key to knowing what you should expect under the expense column.

The idea of planning beyond a budget is hard for some to grasp since those two words do go hand in hand with each other. But think about “planning” in a nontraditional way, such as grocery shopping and food preparation.

Did you know the average household ends up throwing away about $1,000 per year? That suggests two things: you’re either not shopping for groceries properly, meaning you don’t have a list, or you’re not sitting down and planning meals accordingly.

Having a grocery list in conjunction with thinking about what you want to make for dinner or lunch, specifically, helps aid in that you don’t overspend and ultimately stick to what is on the list and what you want to make.

The ripple affect as far as saving money also can be felt quite a bit, too. Not only does planning meals make sense financially and in terms of volume, but it also keeps you from spending money above and beyond on take-out food, such as lunch at work or grabbing (and paying) for a quick dinner since you had to work late and you don’t feel like cooking.

Having that dinner planned and packing that lunch the night can ultimately save you nearly $3,000 per year when you think about eating out for lunch three times per week out of convenience and another two nights per week with dinner. And those are conservative numbers and still add up to a few thousand dollars per years saved.

All because you decided to think ahead, plan accordingly and put your money where your mouth is and buy what you need and nothing more, food wise.

Keep reading with: Why These After Christmas Sale Items Can't be Ignored