food expenses
started by Propagandhi122 4 mnths agoFlat
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1k/month for two people is just reasonable and nothing to worry about
I pray in few weeks it should not jump to 2k.
looking at the rate of inflation, I see horrible expenditure.
I pray in few weeks it should not jump to 2k.
looking at the rate of inflation, I see horrible expenditure.
Majoj bhai, what do you get in thousand rupees, please tells us.
mfo2 I thought you are talking about dollars not rupees......
if you are talking about thousand rupees, you wont get a corner space in jhoparpati of Dharavi... forget about living.... even beggar has to pay more for sitting in dirty corner of mumbai to do a business of begging.
their was some misundertanding.
my neighbor does this. i am seriously considering it. a win-win situatuon if there ever was one. no more food shipped from thousands of miles away and worries about salmonella or e. coli. we get to eat fresh organic food grown locally. Most of these farms are sold out for the season!
you can thank me later.
http://www.epicurious.com/articlesguides/blogs/editor/2008/06/how-to-support.html
http://www.localharvest.org/csa.jsp
you can thank me later.
http://www.epicurious.com/articlesguides/blogs/editor/2008/06/how-to-support.html
http://www.localharvest.org/csa.jsp
Its a great way to shop, and saves time, bus fares, unwanted packaging, cuts down on rubbish especially if you compost vegetable peelings etc - here they are starting reward systems for less rubbish in your dustbin.
>>'here they are starting reward systems for less rubbish in your dustbin.'
it is a lot more than that.
it is a lot more than that.
Yes also on reducing the amount of electricity you use :).
keep going..
Water, you pay less the less you use haha!
Here is more. you should try my neighbors salads..the difference with fresh vegs is amazing.
The fruit is incredibly sweet and juicy. you can smell the fruit fragrance a mile away.
Here is more. you should try my neighbors salads..the difference with fresh vegs is amazing.
The fruit is incredibly sweet and juicy. you can smell the fruit fragrance a mile away.
if you have ever gone fruit picking at farms you know what i am taking about.
my wife likes fresh flowers. this is a great way to have fresh seasonal flowers all the time. hmm..may be i will surprise her with this..
Well, I read your other responses, and to be honest 1K for two people is not way too much if you are also adding eating out etc. in that. Also, how much do you eat out and what's your average bill like ? Perhaps it took you by surprise since you never took a holistic view before...I have been using Money/Quicken for 7/8 years now and I know where each and every dime of mine goes. Thus I avoid to do cash transactions as much as I can and download all data from checking/credit cards account into my software.
How much time do you devote in tracking your expenses using Money/Quicken? Curious to know because I'm v. poor at money management.
Well, if you do it regularly, it hardly takes any time..I try to do once every week, so takes me not more than 10/15 minutes..the beauty is once you have enough transactions loaded in the system, it automatically recognizes the 'category' etc. so all you are doing is click-click and after few minutes, you can look at your reports!
It has also helped in claiming the tax deductions some times on the things that I will easily forget like charity, vehicle taxes etc..
It has also helped in claiming the tax deductions some times on the things that I will easily forget like charity, vehicle taxes etc..
See, I have the software, but it's the initial data entry that got me. I wanted to get an intern or someone to do that :-\
I do my bills online and I know I can download them to import them into the software.
I do my bills online and I know I can download them to import them into the software.
Trust me, it's real easy! And once you start on it, you will be hooked on to it....and thank me later on :-) Don't get intimidated with one time thing...if you use online banking or credit cards for most things, it will make your life easier..except for creating and registering your bank/credit cards account one time, there is no data entry required.
tell me more. my CPA is on my azz to track all business expenses/transactions using these. which one is better? anything else on these? Do you use the web version when on move?
Well, I have been using Quicken for 2/3 years now. Have used Money when it came free with my computer few years ago. So, although I have not seen the newest versions of Money, I think Quicken has many more features compared to Money. Like you can even schedule your online bill payments from with in it thus not even requiring to login to your online banking account. It has some robust features around tax reporting, tracking your business expenses etc. which I have not used. Go for the Deluxe version at the minimum or higher ( they have some other products for business purposes as well).. I had used the online version just once, have not kept up-to-date on that. My hard disk is backed-up so I am not afraid of losing my data :-)
P.S. My Quicken file is as important to me as those family pictures are :-)
P.S. My Quicken file is as important to me as those family pictures are :-)
do u need to renew the software like anti-virus? or one time buy-n-install is fine? any reco to get it?
No, you do not have to renew like every year. They do end support for the current versions every few years or so but if you buy a version, you usually get a steep discount for the newer versions and new features. Go to quicken.com and order it from there :-) ( you can download or order a CD)
hmmm interesting. so far i've never felt a need for this sort of thing but maybe i'm missing out on something. it's like I don't go to temples because I see any reason. secondly, this software may be bad for me because I'm the bigger spender in the family. If my wife sees what I'm spending on scotch and other crap, she'll get on my case.
I havent included eating out. we dont eat out much these days...and I spend an additional 250 on supplements..maybe that's got to be added. it all adds up to 1450 on average.
hm..I thought you did include eating out in that. Well, in that case 1K sounds high for two people..are you guys big on Costco or other warehouse types stores? I have noticed that when ever I do grocery at those stores, my bill quickly shoots through the roof becasue you are buying items in bulk that you may never conusme or may take you a long period to get rid of..( sorta impulsive shopping)
I shop at costco as I like the quality of food stuff there. there's all kinds of good stuff - I buy good label wine from great prices(for when ppl have us over for dinner), smoked salmon some types of fish I consume heavily. their meat tastes great, along with some cooked dishes that I crave but like eating at home as I control the calorie/fat content. most of the expenses come from wholefoods it seems like. that place is highway robbery.
Well, I just shopped at whole foods yesterday. Remember some time ago I had a golden apricot lemon charlotte, that was 5.99 at whole foods. This time I got myself a mango-raspberry mousse, that's 4.99. But I only spend 100 bucks a week at whole foods, i have my calorie-dense shakes too, to keep me from being underweight, so that's maybe 120 bucks a week...you're stupid and you don't know how to shop.
Yeah that's what they say about Costco.. It doesn't always save you money and leads to impulse spending. We noticed that with diapers that everyone was raving about from bulk retailers. If you use coupons and on sale, it's a lot cheaper.
LOL! Ditto on diapers. Yes, I have done comparison shopping on that many times and found out that buying at Babyrsus with those coupons is almost same as buying from Costco ( not talking about their private label)..
Man, I must have been Gujju in my prev. life. My motto is a Dollar Saved is Dollar earned if the marginal cost of that extra effort is worth the dollar saved. I don't cut the coupons though :-)
How can you not cut coupons?? Do you at least have a store card?
It's like saying no to free money.
Let's say you had 5 coupons for $ .50 each. They double it to $1.. so you just got $5 back!
If you feel like giving the store $5 cuz you don't want to cut a coupon, your choice. :-)
Well, as I said the marginal value of that coupon has to offset my time and effort spent on that. Usually, I don't have time and patience to keep track of all those 50 cents coupon, too much hassle! So, I just stick to high-value ones such as those Babyrus or clothing stores where I can easily save in 5/10 dollar increments and/or 15-20% of sale price...
I do use store credit cards a lot and pay them off religeously every month! heh! During the crazy time of zero % APR loans, I paid off my car loan of 15K by dividing them on three credit cards! Sweet....
I do use store credit cards a lot and pay them off religeously every month! heh! During the crazy time of zero % APR loans, I paid off my car loan of 15K by dividing them on three credit cards! Sweet....
The hassle is about 15 min on Sunday and it probably extends my shopping time by 10 min (I then do calculations to figure out if it's even worth using the coupon or just buying on-sale item).
I was raised on coupons - Mom always cut them. She bought groceries in cash, and had coupons organized by aisle.
While I can afford to shop without coupons, I think I have a different immigrant mentality. Yeah, immigrants today make 5x more than my folks did when they came to the US.
Mom always cut them. She bought groceries in cash, and had coupons organized by aisle.
Neat! I don't deny that you would have saved thousands of dollars over the years. If some one has time and inclination to do that, more power to them :-)
Neat! I don't deny that you would have saved thousands of dollars over the years. If some one has time and inclination to do that, more power to them :-)
thanks!
btw, I had an american colleague who was worried abt finances -- 3 kids, she's part time, kids are going to private school.
I gave her a 101 on how to shop and she was thrilled. She actually went beyond what I taught her (she kept a notebook on price per unit, garage sales for kids furniture and stuff). One of the things she pointed out was the impulse shopping and not checking sales.
btw, I had an american colleague who was worried abt finances -- 3 kids, she's part time, kids are going to private school.
I gave her a 101 on how to shop and she was thrilled. She actually went beyond what I taught her (she kept a notebook on price per unit, garage sales for kids furniture and stuff). One of the things she pointed out was the impulse shopping and not checking sales.
that MBA paying off for you huh? marginal cost of effort, comparative value and what not? I never messed with those zero % cards as am a little sloppy and forgetful..once something goes off my radar screen, I dont go back to them. and those CC's really get you if you forget to pay off in full. that 3% cash withdrawl charge really eats into the real benefit.
Hahaha! Dunno about that...but I was using those zero % APR cards even before I enrolled for my MBA :-) Yes, you have to be really careful about paying them off every month and not use those cards for purchases. With the advent of online bill payment, automatic debiting of your checking accounts, email reminders etc., there is really nothing that you need to worry about...just do the balance trasfer once, set up for automatic payments and forget about that credit card. The only date you need to remember is when you are losing that zero % APR...the highest that I have ever paid in transfer fee is perhaps $75 or so but I saved $3K in interest payments and that's just on one car :-)
I can't do this at all. I go to Babies R Us and pick up diapers and that's that. Costo doesn't carry the brand that my kid has gotten used to. Can't think of looking at the price tag and do comparison shopping to save a buck or two. As for cutting coupons, I feel that this sort of activity will cut into my quality of life.
All this on pickles?