The Emily Blog

I just found out about I Can’t Save Money (via Speak Quietly) – it’s a blog about ways to save a little money in our current Nasty Economy. I looked over some of the tips; most of them are different kinds of freebies you can grab – free meal at Denny’s, free coffee here, free games there, and so on. A lot of these just seem like superficial things, though. To me (someone who’s been in grad school for the past three years), saving money is a lifestyle thing. And I don’t think of it as just saving money, but as living in a financially responsible way. It’s not finding free stuff here and there, it’s making responsible choices, and thinking ahead. Grad school is the epitome of a Nasty Economic Downturn: you have a crappy job (if any), you owe tons of money for tuition, you need to pay for a place to live, and you have NO TIME. Graduate students, therefore, are perfectly suited to dealing with America’s Nasty Economy. We know how to be frugal, but still have a bit of fun here and there.

What I want to do now is post a list of some of the ways Frans and I get the most from our hard-earned graduate assistant dollars. If anyone reading this (especially graduate students!) wants to add something, that would be great.

1. Bikes, not cars
I know this isn’t possible for everyone, and we do have a motorcycle in addition to our bikes, but we save LOADS of money (gas, insurance, repairs, parking) by riding our bikes to school, work, the beach, the store, etc. On top of that, it gives us a chance for some exercise. And it’s environmentally friendly.

2. Give public transportation a chance
Again, not possible everywhere (hello suburbs).

3. Cook at home
Eating out REALLY adds up. Cooking at home is satisfying, healthy, and doesn’t take tons of time if you plan ahead. We usually make extra-big dinners so we can bring the leftovers in tupperware for lunch the next day.

4. Cook from scratch
Processed food has all sorts of crap in it that’s bad for you. Plus they can jack the price up. I feel like the more raw, unprocessed food you can use in your cooking, the more you will save. Dry beans, for example, are cheap and taste awesome if you cook ‘em right.

5. Buy bulk when it makes sense
25-pound bags of flour are NOT fun to carry home on a motorcycle, but we use a lot of flour (see # 8) so it does save us money. Bulk eggplant at Sam’s Club, on the other hand, is silly because we never use it all before it goes bad. And meat? We buy huge bags and chunks of meat (and the occasional pair of whole chickens), use what we need, and freeze the rest.

6. Buy at farmer’s markets when bulk doesn’t make sense
The little local farmer’s markets – not the big touristy one – offer gorgeous in-season produce at very fair prices. Support local farmers!

7. Grow some stuff you can cook with
Even though we don’t have room for corn and potatoes and green beans, we have found space in the yard for quite a few herbs, some pepper plants, and some confused tomatoes. Fresh herbs are pricey at the supermarket and go bad fast; fresh herbs from your back yard are exciting and tasty. As for the pepper plants (HOT peppers), we freeze whatever they produce, and then can pull a frozen pepper out whenever we need to spice up a dish.

8. Bake your own bread
No-knead bread. Stir up some dough, leave the house for the day, come home, bake. You’ve got steaming hot, beautifully crusty bread with dinner, and leftovers for breakfast and lunch the next day. It is almost impossible to find bread this good at a store. Need I say more?

There’s more I’d like to add to this but it’s getting really long already. I’ll post later on stuff that doesn’t involve transportation and food.