What about your Friends?

"If every player in your clique is rich your clique is rugged
Nobody will fall cause everyone would be each others crutches" -Jay-Z

Like the old saying “birds of a feather flock together,” you can tell a lot about a person by looking at who they spend the most time with.  Think about your core group of friends…you shop together, eat together, and share common interests.  However, some of your bonding activities might be hurting your wallet, and steering you away from your financial goals.  The regular girls' night out at the hot downtown restaurant or the weekly shopping excursions may be fun, but once you start monitoring your spending, you may find that A) you can’t afford it! or B) it’s hard to say no to these indulgences when everyone else is doing it...after all, it's what you guys normally do! 

So what do you do now?  Decline all invites from your crew? Replace your old friends with new frugal ones? No!

September Dine In Challenge

This month, I'm challenging myself to eat more meals at home.   I originally just wanted to curb my fast food habit, but figured why not see if I could avoid all restaurants! For the month of September, I'm giving myself only 2 free passes to eat a meal that is not prepared at home (mine or someone else's lol).  And when I say free pass, I also mean that I'm only going to eat at a restaurant if I can eat for free.  September is my birthday month, so I've racked up more than a few birthday coupons giving me free items.  Now free items are good, but a free meal is even better! With that being said, I'm planning to use a birthday certificate for Steak 'n Shake that gives me a free double steak burger with fries. Also, during the week of September 6th through 10th, Chick-Fil-A is offering a free breakfast entree, so I will probably use that as my other free pass.

Hopefully by the end of the month I'll save both money and calories, and maybe even become a better cook!

Feel free to join me! It's never too late!