Frugal tips for singles

**kngznut4** · 02-08-2006, 11:37 PM

Hi everyone. New to this site and love reading all the tips and suggestions about saving $$.

However, I'm single with no kids, critters or real estate (I live in So. Cal).

Was wondering if you have any suggestions on saving extra cash. I use coupons but the majority of the time, buying anything besides paper products or non perishables doesn't make frugal sense for me.

Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated!

**leeleeaub** · 02-09-2006, 01:14 AM

Tell me more about yourself. What are your monthly bills? Do you usually cook or eat out? Do you go out a lot or mostly stay home? Once you tell more I will try and help you as best as I can. I have learned a lot here thanks to all the great people and their ideas.

**kngznut4** · 02-09-2006, 09:20 AM

Well my biggest expense behind my rent ($640) is my new car ($379) that I got a month ago that has already been rear ended by someone w/o insurance ($8K damage to car, +med bills, +car rental + lawyers)

I try to stay home as much as possible when I'm not at hockey games (season seat holder for 2 diff teams).

Concession prices are outta hand so I rarely buy more than an extra large soda ($5).

I doubt I'll renew my minor league season seats and stick w/NHL team only next year.

I don't cook a lot simply because I'm not very good at it or the recipes just seem too complicated so I eat out more than I should.

My apt is electric only so the few times I have tried to cook more often, my electric bill went way up.

Only other debt besides car is one CC that is @ $5K. IF the guy who rear ended me has any assets or I get a settlement , I'm hoping to pay off the CC with what the lawyer's don't take.

Hope that gives you a little more insight. Thank you for your response.

**FrugalMomof3** · 02-09-2006, 09:32 AM

Welcome to FV! First let me say that you've come to the right place.

First off besides the necessary bills, I would try to stop eating out, that costs a fortune. Try buying hamburger patties, frozen french fries, lunch meats, etc at the grocery store and make them at home, which I see you say you dont cook much, placing the items in a pan or oven is simple cooking and doesn't require many skills.

You will notice by doing this you will save yourself a bunch of money and get into the habit of cooking at home. I myself dont like to cook much but when I do cook I love it, the kids would eat Mac & Cheese all day everyday if I let them and they would make it themselves too. I make spaghetti with sausage or soup and sandwiches, it's fun and only takes no longer than a half hour to make. Another thing you could invest in is a crock-pot, it cooks the stuff for you! They have those crock pot meals now making everyone's life a little easier... set it and forget it. In no time you have a great cooked (sometimes healthy) meal and all you had to do was put it in the crockpot.

Start out with something small then work your way up, learning to cut costs is the same way.

~Tracy~

**tlenad** · 02-09-2006, 11:29 AM

Another single gal here. I do have a couple of cats though.

I agree with the cooking at home thing. In order to keep costs down, I cook once a week. I make a caserole or spaghetti or something that can be reheated easily and just eat off of that until it's gone. Not for everyone, eating the same thing everyday. If you don't like doing that, try cooking extra and freezing for the next week after a few weeks you should have quite a variety of stuff in your freezer ready to eat with only a little warming up after a few weeks.

The other thing I do to keep bills down. I don't go out during the week at all. I just come home and crash. I go out once on the weekend with friends then spend Sunday with my parents. Keeps the entertainment costs way down. Also I have evenings were I invite friends over and we have a pot luck and movie night which also helps out with the entertainment expense.

Man don't I know about concession prices, they are out of this world. $5.00 for a large soda sounds great to me though. I take my cousin's children to the circus every year and soda there is $6 - $9 for a large drink.

Also since your single, maybe cutting back expenses isn't going to work for you. Especially if you've already cut expense to the bone. Could you pick up more hours at work or get a part time job? I'm debating back and forth about this myself. Attack things from both sides.

THe other thing I did when I started becoming more frugal was I took a good hard look at my bills. Do I really need cable, call waiting, Netflix, things of that nature. Anything I didn't really need I had turned off. I have a bit more play money now and really don't miss anything I gave up.

I'll try to think of a few other tips and update as I think of them.

**leeleeaub** · 02-10-2006, 02:06 AM

This may or may not be something you would do but taking sodas in your purse and a snack is way cheaper and very easy to do. If that embarasses you, you could buy a cup of ice and pour your canned soda in it.
Cooking in the crockpot is way easy and there are a ton of great inexpensive recipes to use one with.
Electric, call your electric company and see if they offer a monthly set rate. I did this and my light bill is 43.00 no matter how much electricity I use.
On the credit card if you can save money from food and concessions maybe you could pay more than the minimum each month and pay it off faster and save on interest.

**kestrel91316** · 02-10-2006, 11:40 AM

Single in SoCal here also............two must-haves for SoCal cooking are a crockpot, and a toaster oven. Well, a microwave is essential also. Anything to avoid turning the whole oven on, and heating up the house (unless you WANT to heat it up, but winter has been too hot for that).

Buy groceries (staple items like flour, sugar, etc) at Smart & Final. They have some real good deals, and there is no Costco-style membership fee, and no huge crowds to fight. Also try our many different ethnic markets (Mexican, Middle Eastern, Asian) for gret deals on produce, and for high-quality stuff hit the farmer's markets.

Cook from scratch when possible.

And check out Dave Ramsey's Total Money Makeover or Financial Peace Revisited for some serious motivation for changing your financial life for the better. Struggling sucks.

**Vannie** · 02-10-2006, 12:19 PM

Originally posted by kngznut4
Hi everyone. New to this site and love reading all the tips and suggestions about saving $$.

However, I'm single with no kids, critters or real estate (I live in So. Cal).

Was wondering if you have any suggestions on saving extra cash. I use coupons but the majority of the time, buying anything besides paper products or non perishables doesn't make frugal sense for me.

Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated!

Hi,

Welcome to FV. You can make buying non perishables for one a frugal buy. Take advantage of canned goods sale. Even if you don't do a lot of cooking you can open a 15 oz. can of veggies and have it for two meals when add the fixings.

For example--my canned staples are mixed veggies, corn, sweet peas, green and lima beans, beets and different Goya beans, etc. You can often find these 4 or 5 for a $1.00. A deep sale costs less. A couple of packages of noodles and pasta (you need both), rice and whole white potatoes are all good starches. I don't like chicken with skin or thighs, etc. so I buy skinless breasts. At first it may seem expensive but if you buy a package of 3 breasts that's three meals. They can be sauteed in a little oil or steamed in water until done or use one shredded cooked breast to make an easy stir-fry with peppers and onions (mushrooms??). Ground beef is good for hamburgers, meat balls and chili. You don't really have to know how to cook or be an expecially good cook to have a nice meal. Sauteed chicken breast, buttered rice, and mixed veggies tastes and looks good. For an easy chili, just mix a little cooked ground beef in any Goya can of beans, they are already seasoned. You would pay good money for a bowl of chili and a green salad if you were eating out.

Everyone has such good advice here. I saw some new stuff I can use too. I use my crock pot all of the time.

Easy Chicken w/Veggies in a Crock Pot

Cut up a whole fryer or use three whole chicken breasts w/bone
1 pkg. frozen mixed vegetables
1 can chicken chicken
1 can cream of mushroom soup

Put everything in crockpot, cover with cold water and cook all day (about 7 hours) Serve over hot noodles, rice; or with a baked white or sweet potato.

Learn to cook has popups, overs, very annoying--but there is good stuff there.

**kngznut4** · 02-10-2006, 02:52 PM

Wow! Thanks everybody for such great suggestions! I have been thinking about the crockpot thing for awhile. I just wasn't convinced that I could put raw chicken in it and it would be cooked enough. Is there one that you would recommend?

I will check out those cooking website and thanks Vannie for the crockpot recipe. I don't like anything but skinless breasts as well so it's perfect for me!

Leeleeaub, thanks for the tip on the electric company. I'll call them this weekend. I wish I could sneak in my own soda but of course being in LA, they search purses and make us go through a metal detector to get into Staples Center. But, I'm able to sneak in small plastic bottles of rum to mix with my $5 soda, which got me off of the $13.50 beers.

My company has a business membership to Sam's Club so I'm able to get in at 7:00 a.m. before the general public so I might have to motivate myself to get up a little early on Saturday to buy the non perishables in bulk.

You guys are great! Already I can see I'll be saving more. Thank you!