Blogging Away Debt Blogging Away Debt follows real people on their journey to debt freedom — with tips on the debt snowball, budgeting, cutting expenses, and staying motivated.

by Adam Dawson

With some work we’ve been able to get our grocery budget down to about  $75/wk, or $300/month.  That’s a 40% improvement on the $500 we were spending!  This number includes our groceries, as well as the  occasional incidental like dish soap, shampoo, toothpaste, toilet paper.

The biggest contributor to this improvement has been the simple act of meal planning.  Usually on Sunday afternoon/evening, Emily and I work together to plan breakfast/lunch/dinner for 5 days, and we make our grocery list based on this plan.

Meal planning has been great, but we are still refining our skills.  We find that we forget to account for leftovers, so our 5 day plan could easily be a 10 day plan. Or alternatively, we could make  a 3 day plan and have enough to eat for the whole week.

Since the weather in Texas finally turned toward fall, we’ve also improved the grocery situation by making lots of hearty soups and stews which last several days.  2 weeks ago we were so sick of chili!  By adding beans and other filling ingredients, we’ve gotten some great mileage out of cheaper ingredients.

Finally, we’ve started to realize that convenience and budget sometimes trump health concerns.  At one point we followed a fairly low carb, fresh foods lifestyle.  Although we still believe this to be the best way nutritionally, Trader Joe’s homemade pizzas and Costco soups and pastas have found their way into our menu rotation.  These cheap and easy meals have really lowered the stress factor in food budgeting and meal planning.

The unexpected benefit in all this is that the savings in food spending did not come at the expense of our time, which I fully expected.  In fact, we have MORE time now because meal planning and convenience meals have saved us time as well as money!  My hope is that we can use this time to attack another one or two of our budget areas.

by Adam Dawson

As I mentioned previously, we are lucky that I received a job offer before  my previous role came to an end.  This transition is proving to be a very positive change for us, at least so far.

We are facing some changes in our finances due to the new job.  I am curious how any of you have navigated any of these changes before.

First, I will be moving to a semi-monthly pay schedule instead of a biweekly pay schedule.  This means that we will no longer get 2 months each year with an extra paycheck.  In the past we have used these checks to pay down debt and to finance our holiday travel (we usually go home to Indiana/Michigan for the holidays).  I think I should calculate what those extra checks would add up to, and then start saving that amount through the year out of each check.

Second, the phone.  My previous employer provided my phone, but my new employer offers a reimbursement. I am not  sure how this works yet, but I am hoping this will be a net gain for us because Emily and I will be able to share an account that will be maybe 70% reimbursed, instead of paying for  100% of Emily’s solo account.

Third, the wardrobe. I have to totally revamp my work wardrobe because of a different dress code (and many of my old clothes don’t fit –  yikes!).  Emily  gets a lot of her clothes from thrift and resale shops, but I have a harder time with this.  I wear a weird size and I think men tend to wear their clothes out more so than women, so there’s not as much to be found at the thrift store.  There are a couple of men’s consignment shops here in Austin that we may check out.  But right now I am leaning toward Costco’s dress shirts (17.99) that get good reviews for quality, and the price is  right.  In the past we’ve also done well at Nordstrom Rack, but I find their quality is actually pretty inconsistent (at the discount store, not the regular Nordstrom store).  Any other tips?

Fourth, health insurance.  On a very preliminary review, I believe our health insurance will be about2x as expensive as my last job, but my  coverage will be much better.  I think we’ll be out about $180/month for coverage for both of us.

Fifth, 401k.  At my last job, the 401k matching and vesting was terrible, so bad that I just didn’t participate.  At the new job, it will be somewhat better – a dollar for  dollar match up to $5000/yr, immediately vested.  Still not a great plan but it will allow us to  sock away $10k/yr for retirement.  At this point I think I should at least participate to that match level before we get accustomed to having that money in our paychecks.

Finally, I think free coffee and soft drinks will still be available at my new job, bu I am well aware that I have to solve the lunches out problem.  In my view this is probably the single biggest lever we can pull to improve our budget.

Please let us know if you have any tips for saving money when changing jobs!