Saving Habits – Part 2

Welcome to the FIREHabit series where you’ll find some actionable tips on how to reach Financial Independence.

In Saving Habits – part 1, you’ll find some useful tips about how to save on Housing. Check it out!!!

Transportation habits:

Transportation is another significant amount of $$$ that could help you reach your FI number if you can round up the angles.

• Buy a used car, maintain it and drive it forever! We really don’t have to drive our tiny little selves on a brand new SUV everywhere. Insurance will be less expensive and the depreciation will be smaller. That doesn’t mean you need to get rid of your car, but try optimizing frequent travels. For instance, If you drive to work everyday, you’re increasing the mileage of your car every single day, and by the way, decreasing its value slowly but surely. Add to that, the cost of fuel, auto insurance and regular maintenance fees. If you are two in your household in the same situation, that’s x2. Try using public transit instead or even riding a bicycle if possible. This will maintain your health and your wallet.
• Stop driving like Lewis Hamilton. Believe it or not, the way that we drive our cars can have a huge impact on the gas consumption. Driving responsibly can decrease your stress level and help you save some cash.
• Work towards maximizing the home office. Nowadays, teleworking is a growing trend that is totally attainable. If you really want it, you can be intentional in getting it. If you are interested in discovering how working from home can smoothen the ride to financial independence, check my previous article here…

Grocery habits:

Stop cooking what you buy…. but buy what you want to cook.

this simple mindset will drastically change the way you deal with your grocery. It’s all about optimizing your time and efforts in the kitchen. So instead of asking yourself: “what am I gonna eat for dinner?” Ask yourself what you would like to eat this week.

this is the psychology behind meal prepping. This trend is resonating with more and more people because it has many pros:

• It helps you buy exactly what you need to cook for the week, so savings will start on the cashier and continue on your fridge by avoiding food wastes.
• it helps you being conscious about what you swallow. Meal prep gives you the possibility of varying your food and eat more healthy.
• this is a huge time saving during the weekdays. The time spent cooking 4 meals is far less important that cooking 4 times 1 meal. Personally, this helps me having long bicycle rides with my daughter every evening after work, or just going for a run. I really don’t miss those days where we had to cook dinner every evening.
• meal prepping pushes me to go to the grocery store 4 times a month. I prefer doing that because it helps adjust your spending as the month goes and allows me to eat fresh fruits and vegetables almost all month long.
• last but not least, with meal prepping, the « food delivery/takeout/eating out » temptation will drastically decrease. Going out is a real family pleasure for us, not a backup plan during a weak day because we are too tired to cook.
  

if cooking for a week is too much for you, try cooking bigger quantities than you’re used to. You will at least partially benefit from all the previous points.
Grocery budget can be further optimized by using other hacks such as couponing, buying generic, shopping when satiated, etc.. up to everyone to build the habits that better suit him, but for me, meal prepping is THE best hack when it comes to the grocery.

>>> Continue reading to discover the last article of the savings series.