THINK OUTSIDE THE BOX ON THE ROAD TO RICHES
Let's face it. Life is hectic. It's a challenge each and every day to get the kids off to school, prep yourself for work, and meet all of the other obligations life has in store for us. Even with all of the efficiency inventions and innovations have brought to our lives, it seems we have less time than we have ever had before to get things done. For that reason something as simple as a box of macaroni and cheese seems very economical. A 7 minutes from pot to plate box of mashed potatoes seems almost too good to be true. Crock-pot favorites in a bag must make some people weak in the knees.
I'm sure you've heard it said a thousand times before; time is money. Many people don't realize how true that statement really is. In this example, not taking the time is what's costly.
Speaking of those darned jobs, don't forget that how to bring home the bacon without slaughtering the pig is all about eliminating the necessity to work to gain access to all the things we want or that we need. We've got tons of money right under our noses if we take some of that precious time to look. When we're working the daily grind for money we don't truly need, that takes a lot of time out of our lives as well, doesn't it? Bringing home the bacon with less as opposed to more work is about spending efficiently, and putting the money we save to work for us so that we can ultimately have more time for living. Let's make sure that point is perfectly clear. And of course, this also ties directly into the Law of Averages and one of the larger ways we can lower our daily consumption rate.
Hectic as life is, we have to think outside the box if we want to save money. Keep this little tidbit in mind; if someone can put it in a box, it can be made in the kitchen. If the majority of the food you eat is coming from a box, you are in every way spending a fortune's worth of wasted money without even realizing it. Never mind the numerous negative health issues associated with eating pre-prepared foods, like high sodium, loads of fillers and preservatives...the list goes on. Moreover, the time you are trying to save in the kitchen might just be due to the fact that you have to work more because your dollars aren't going far enough to keep in step with what you're spending.
If you've ever wanted to know what the vicious cycle looks like, folks, well there it is.
As I've stated before, most of the principles behind the Law of Averages and the daily consumption rate are about small, fractional savings we can achieve on a day to day basis just by tweaking a few of the things we do in our daily lives. Thinking outside the box and cooking meals from scratch is about hundreds, if not thousands of dollars saved on your grocery bill each year. And that's no joke. That's an extra house payment or extra dollars for a better car. It's more money to put into a savings or investment account. It could even be a long-awaited-for vacation you thought you didn't have the money for.
Whenever I go into the grocery store I make it a point to see what the prices are for all of these so-called convenience foods. I marvel at what people are paying for this stuff and wonder to myself, if people really knew what they were paying for the food they were buying, if they actually took the time to break it down, would they still buy the pre-prepared food item?
Here are just a couple of examples in order to illustrate my point. A bag of Pasta Sides® is 4.5 oz. and sells for around $1.20 each. That's around $4.27 per lb. for noodles. And you say you can't afford to eat a steak every day? Betty Crocker® specialty potatoes are sold in an average size of 6 oz. per box, depending on the variety, for around $1.89 each. That's $5.04 per lb. for potatoes. How much does a 10 1b bag of potatoes cost?
I think most people have the impression that the most expensive food item on their plate is the meat. When you look at it in real terms, it would appear to me the meat's the least of your worries. If you're not willing to pay the price for filet mignon, why in the world are you then willing to pay $5 per pound for potatoes?
READ PART FOUR
Next installment scheduled for Thursday, October 22, 2009, "Part Four: Freeze Your Access."
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