Financial Fitness February: Day 22

General Discussion
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Got caught up on some sleep today since I have had late nights and early mornings most of the week.

Didn’t really do much work today but did have a couple of things that went down financially.

1.) Eating Out, Saved Money By Splitting a Meal

My wife and I went out today. It was only the second time we have gone out this month which is great because we have been really trying to cut back on eating out.

We will probably be going out one more time, tomorrow but that is going to be a family thing so I am more than happy to do it.

Spending money eating out wasn’t a financial win, but the fact that we saved money both times by splitting a meal is where the WIN comes into play.

Not only does splitting a meal save some money, it is also really helpful if like me, you are also trying to lose weight :)

Besides that, the fact that we don’t order a drink with our meal and instead just drink water, that saves even more money.

Today however, since we ate at our local grocery store deli, I was able to drink coffee with my meal for free because they have it there free of charge for anyone to enjoy.

There is also a Caribou Coffee (my favorite) in the store, and although I was tempted to buy a “fancy” coffee, I chose instead to just drink the free coffee and wait until we have our gift card that was given to us to buy any coffee. WIN WIN!

2.) eBay Sales

Today, I made a couple more eBay sales which will ship out on Monday. I sold two of the same item but one sold for $14.44 and I took an offer on the other for $10.

The item cost me around $2 each so after shipping and fees, I will probably end up with somewhere around $10 profit when it is all said and done.

Not anything to get too excited about, but it is still a WIN for me!

Other than those things, today was another fairly quite day as far as finances were concerned. I logged in for a bit to try and do some deliveries, but since I didn’t get any right off the bat, I instead logged off and just worked on some other things.

I have noticed a trend that it seems the beginning of the month has a lot more financial activity and as we get closer to the end, things start to be calming down a bit.

But I am not going to complain about it.

How was your week financially?

Are there any observations you have made in regards to your finances over the past month?

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Splitting meals is always a good way to save money, or if you eat alone, saving half for another meal. I need to get back to listing on eBay.

Love Caribou coffee…first had it when a lady I worked with back in 2005 would bring me bags from Seattle (she was working in Houston on a project with me). Now, Caribou is available here inside Einstein Bagels. I’ll have to see if standalone shops are here as well.

I got my weekly Mint review on Saturday and I had spent zero. I did get $40 cash for personal allowance though.

And, here’s another reason to have emergency funds set aside: got hit with two on Friday–my car needs a water pump and my dog had an eye infection.

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I love the idea of splitting a meal. That is a fantastic idea!

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I have food restrictions, and so can’t eat just anywhere. But at a Chinese restaurant we love, we split a meal from there. We both love the Beef & Broccoli, so he’ll order that with rice and I’ll order the Mei Fun (?) - rice noodles with vegetables and chicken or beef; or chicken and mixed (Chinese) vegetables. We each take half, and so double our variety, and get v-e-r-y full. (Some people would eat 2 or 3 courses individually!) Ice cream is possibly one of our favorite sweets, so we only allow ourselves 1/4 to 1/2 cup serving of ice cream. Cookies is the other, so whatever the serving is for those, we take less than full serving (2 instead of 3 for instance). Makes the “goodies” last a lot longer (so stretches money), and is better for our blood sugar and weight!nod

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That’s the way to do it, @jenny.waldensi

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Jenny Waldensi posted:

I have food restrictions, and so can’t eat just anywhere. But at a Chinese restaurant we love, we split a meal from there. We both love the Beef & Broccoli, so he’ll order that with rice and I’ll order the Mei Fun (?) - rice noodles with vegetables and chicken or beef; or chicken and mixed (Chinese) vegetables. We each take half, and so double our variety, and get v-e-r-y full. (Some people would eat 2 or 3 courses individually!) Ice cream is possibly one of our favorite sweets, so we only allow ourselves 1/4 to 1/2 cup serving of ice cream. Cookies is the other, so whatever the serving is for those, we take less than full serving (2 instead of 3 for instance). Makes the “goodies” last a lot longer (so stretches money), and is better for our blood sugar and weight!nod

Jenny, this will work for me!

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@jenny.waldensi All very good ways to make money last longer and also has longer term affect on your finances when you think about the Health savings!

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