This post may contain affiliate links to products. As an affiliate, I earn money from qualifying purchases. Please read my full disclosure here.
You know, sometimes you are broke…. And then sometimes you are beans and rice broke. Or Ramen noodle broke. Maybe even bread and peanut butter broke–you get the idea. There are times when money is tight with not much left after the bills are paid. And then there are times that money is very hard to come by, and you are barely scraping by. That’s the beans and rice broke I’m talking about. When you are in those times, how do you cut back? You’ve cut every possible thing you can think to cut.
When you can’t cut the easy thing
I see many get out of debt posts or ones on saving money that list things you can cut out–
“Just cut the fat, ma’am!”
But what about when there is nothing extra? I read all the time for people to skip their morning stop at Starbucks or Duncan for fancy coffee or cook more meals at home.
Some of us have never had a morning routine that included fancy coffee. I’m talking Maxwell House or Folgers (or whatever is on sale) brewed right at the house–every morning.
Now I suppose we could get all crazy and cut coffee completely. Now I don’t know about you, but I’d almost rather not eat than not have coffee.
How do you cut what you aren’t doing anyway?
This type of advice was not helpful and completely discouraging to
us when we were beans and rice broke. I had left my teaching career to stay at home with our three kids at the time. Then another one came, then two more. We were a one-income, 8-member family on a gross income of $49k a year. I’m telling you — we were broke! There were no extras we could just shave off. It took sacrifice.
Here’s the amazing news, while that time was hard financially, we never once had a late payment on our mortgage, nor were our lights were ever turned off. I know that in part, it was because we had no debt besides our home. But I also know that we had to make huge sacrifices and cut some fat to make it work.
>>Related post: How to Save Money When You’re Broke<<
So, how do you cut the fat when you are beans and rice broke?
How can you cut back and actually save money or pay off debt when you are broker than broke, aka beans and rice broke? I’m sharing with you ways you can practically do just that!
#1 Change the way you eat.
You eat beans and rice. Or Ramen noodles. Or peanut butter sandwiches.
While I like beans and rice on occasion, even enjoy it, three times a week is a little much. But that’s exactly what we did. We ate it so much that our big kids still make faces about beans and rice. It doesn’t have to be beans and rice, but the point is to find a few cheap meals so that you can cut your grocery expenses.
I have mentioned in the past about cooking from scratch. I promise it’s not as bad as you might think, and it will save you money!
A few of the meals that are cheap and will help you cut your grocery budget are….
- beans and rice
- It’s actually a nutritious meal that will fill tummies, and it goes far when feeding several mouths. Add cornbread too if you have a little extra to splurge.
- noodles and veggies
- This is a cheap meal especially if you grow your own vegetables in your backyard garden! The one problem with this meal is that without at least a little meat and fat, it isn’t as filling as the beans and rice.
- soups
- Soups are so easy to just throw what you have together, and they can make a lot for not a lot of money. I have been known to put peas, beans, corn, rice, spaghetti sauce, and other similar leftovers into the freezer only to pull them all out another day for a pot of vegetable soup.
- homemade hamburger helper or skillet dinners
- Cheeseburger Mac – I use this same recipe still only I don’t usually use milk to cook the noodles (I’m just lazy!)
- Skillet dinners – All you need are noodles, meat, and something to use for a sauce. I like to use broth and cream or milk as a sauce base and add in spices.
- sandwiches on homemade bread
- Try this sandwich bread recipe. It’s so easy, cheap, and really delicious.
- chicken and rice
- If you find chicken on sale or even a rotisserie one, it only takes one to a couple of cups of rice for a pretty good sized meal.
- Spaghetti
- It’s a regular around here. It’s just too easy and pretty cheap, especially of you find sauce on sale or make your own.
For these meals that required meat, I skimped. I almost never used more than a pound of meat per dish. For the chicken dishes, I bought several whole fryers at a time when they were on sale. I cooked two at a time and deboned, shredded, and froze the meat.
The goal is to figure out the very cheapest meal you and your family can live with and have it — a lot! It’s not fun, and it’s not easy, but what you will come to realize is that food is fuel for your body, and you can eat it to survive. And hopefully, it’s short term. By being “gazelle intense,” a phrase we borrowed from Dave Ramsey, you will find that you’d rather save the money or pay off the debt than eat the hamburger. When you are in that mode, the momentum keeps you going.
>>Related post: 8 Money-Saving Tips From a Mom of 8<<
#2 Skip the soda, tea, Kool Aid, juice. Drink water.
It may not seem like these things add up, but they do. You could even decrease the amount of tea bags and sugar for sweet tea if you are a tea drinker. I did this gradually so that we got used to the weaker and less sweet “sweet tea.” If you do like a treat, drink water except for maybe at one meal.
For the most part, this is still our practice, over a decade later. We just got used to drinking water throughout the day and sometimes having tea or soda at suppertime!
#3 Welcome the hand-me-downs or go explore your local consignment shops.
Save the decent clothes from one kid to the next and welcome any that someone else wants to pass along.
Get to know your local consignment shops. It doesn’t make much sense (to me) to spend a lot of money on clothes my little ones are going to stain in one wearing anyway. Have a set of play clothes and a set of nice ones. Reserve the nice ones for public wear.
#4 Visit the library!
The library is more than just books! They have audio books, magazines, and DVDs. They also have children’s programs and craft time and summer programs to help entertain–for FREE!
#5 Change up the streaming services.
Streaming is so much cheaper than cable or satellite, but if you have several streaming services, it can add up quick! Try to choose just one favorite, and let the rest go. There are plenty of free streaming apps that have decent movies and tv shows.
#6 Stick close to home.
Gas costs money, so stay close to home. For us, that meant we didn’t go on vacation, and we didn’t just “go” unnecessarily. Try to organize your trips so that you are running multiple errands at a time, thus saving gas and money.
>>Related post: 10 Sure Ways to Dig Out of the Financial Hole<<
Encouragement for you
I know how hard it is to make cuts when there literally seems like there’s nothing you can cut. And certainly not anything easy or obvious.
It’s no fun being broke, and making these small changes don’t seem to amount to anything, I know. But they do actually add up and can amount to more than you think.
The point is to encourage you! Even if…
- you find yourself feeling like you can’t fight your way out of a paper bag…
- you feel like you’ll never save any more money…
- you feel like trying to get out of debt is absolutely hopeless…
You can! It will take time and much effort and sacrifice, but you CAN! Even that $10 a month you saved by letting your paid streaming service go will make a difference.
Remember: We start a long journey with one step. Ten dollars might be your one step. Don’t keep putting off the journey! You will be glad you took the step!
