When I first started Family Friendly Frugality, I knew I wanted to approach frugal living from a very relaxed and welcoming mindset. I wanted to create a blog about frugal living that didn’t leave people feeling overwhelmed or less than when they walked away.
The main complaint I hear about saving money nowadays is that it is too darn overwhelming to know where to begin. If you have $20,000 in credit card debt, is clipping a few coupons realistically going to make much of an impact to your bottom line? If you are drowning in student loans and house payments, is living within your means even possible?
The answer to all of the above is yes. While the small things you do might not add up to financial freedom, they do make a big difference. Some of them will chip away at your debt or create more wiggle room in a tight budget. Some of them will simply give you more confidence and a self esteem boost, proving to yourself that you can save money!
So I am starting a Make a Change Monday series where I will simply give you one task to work on for the week. You might already be doing it…so you get to skip that week! If not though, try it out and see if it makes a difference! I’ll keep them small manageable changes that don’t require a lot of effort or learning the drugstore game 
.
This week’s Make A Change Task:
Make a menu plan for the week and stick to it like glue!
We all know that meal planning helps avoid wasting food and chaos at dinner time. Who among us hasn’t thrown out a crisper full of vegetables that have gone past their prime? Or stared into the pantry at 6pm in the evening trying to figure out how to make a nutritious dinner out of potato flakes and tomato sauce (not possible by the way)?
This week, if you don’t already make a menu plan each week…make one. Maybe you do make a menu plan each week, but you don’t stick to it (*raises hand sheepishly*). This week…you will stick to it!
Menu planning doesn’t work for everyone, and it doesn’t necessarily work every week…you never know until you give it a whole hearted try though!
Previous Make A Change Monday Tasks:
Good advice! I am also guilty of making the menu but not sticking to it! It really just makes things worse. Now I write out the menu and post it on the fridge (or I write it on a dry erase board). I also try to prep the ingredients on Sunday for the week – any chopping, mincing, etc. I did this yesterday for today’s crock pot meal and all I had to do was literally dump everything in the crock pot and turn it on! Saves me a lot of time, money and energy. It also saves space in your fridge 🙂
Those are great ideas! I have prechopped everything in the past and I remember what a breeze those weeks were!
Check out orgjunkie.com. Every Monday she does meal plan Monday and links up with tons of other bloggers meal plans. I get tons of ideas from her site.
I’ll definitely check it out! Thanks Stacie!