Grocery expenses can add up quickly, especially if you’re feeding a growing family. Although you want to save on food for you and your family, you don’t want to cut nutritional corners. So how do you prepare healthy meals and still keep your expenses under control?

If you plan ahead and incorporate leftovers into your meal plans, you’ll be able to save money and know that your family is eating well. There are several ways to work leftovers into your family’s meals.

v Use last night’s leftovers as an ingredient in today’s meal. For instance, if you had baked chicken for dinner last night, simply chop the leftover chicken into bite-sized pieces. They’ll provide the main ingredient in chicken salad sandwiches for lunch.
v Warm and serve leftovers as they are. Although no one enjoys eating the same entrée several days in a row, side dishes are great candidates for re-serving. The leftover green beans from one dinner could be kept in the fridge until the next dinner. Since there are other dishes mixed with this side dish, its repetition won’t stand out the same as a repeated entrée would.
v Swap leftovers after potluck meals. If you and your extended family combine dishes for big meals, don’t let anyone go home with the dish he brought with him. He’ll appreciate the variety the swapped dish will bring to his meals. He might even be inspired to try to prepare the new dish himself later.
v Have a regular leftover night. Maybe on Saturday night, after you’ve spent the day catching up on errands and other responsibilities, you’ll be too spent to spend the evening cooking. Try making a rule that on Saturday nights everyone eats the leftovers out of the fridge. Let your family members choose the leftover they want and enjoy. You’ll empty the fridge and save on preparation time.

Once you’ve started working leftovers into your regular meals, you’ll start finding lots of ways to use them. Perhaps the biscuits you served with dinner could be covered with gravy for breakfast the next morning. Leftover vegetables could be added to a stew. The possibilities are endless.

When you’re stretching your budget, either because you’re sacrificing to pay down your debt or because you simply don’t have enough money, entertainment gets pushed pretty far down the list of things you need. It’s probably the only category in your budget that you can realistically plan to reduce to nothing, because you don’t have to have entertainment. However, a budget that doesn’t allow you to have any fun at all probably isn’t going to stick for very long. Instead of staying home and wishing that you still had some fun in your life, try checking out a few of these fun things you can do for free.

Go to the park. Your local park provides a lot of opportunity for a good time. If you’ve got a little one, he or she will love the extra time to play. Here’s a bonus: he probably won’t find anything that he can ask you to buy at the park. If you don’t have a child yet, think of the park as a way to accomplish two things at once. You can enjoy a nice hike (or walk depending upon the kind of park you frequent), get in shape, and not have to pay for a gym membership.

Look for workshops at stores. Many stores offer workshops to introduce you to their products. If you like home remodeling projects, but don’t have the money to complete a lot of them, you can still enjoy learning a new skill. Stores like Lowe’s or Home Depot offer clinics to teach customers how to do things like paint a wall with a faux finish or install floor tiles. Although these classes are really intended to inspire customers to purchase supplies, there’s no rule that says you have to be doing your project now. Spend an afternoon learning how to do something new. Maybe you’ll be able to put it to use later.

Check out your public library. Libraries are the best sources of free entertainment. First, forget about expensive days at the movie theatre or movie rental store. Libraries offer a lot more than books, these days. Many libraries loan CD’s, DVD’s, and of course, the traditional books.

Pay attention to flyers posted around your neighborhood. When churches have special programs, chances are they post signs around the community. If a local band is performing at a community festival, you’re likely to see flyers announcing their appearance posted in local merchants’ windows. Stop tuning out those brightly colored scraps of paper that are all around you and start looking them over. You never know what new entertainment you might discover.

Be a tourist in your own city. Sure, you’ve driven by the Harley plant in your area hundreds of times. Or you’re seen the toy museum’s building so many times that you hardly register that it’s there, anymore. For a day imagine that your city is new to you. Most cities have lots of exhibits that are free to the public that you may not have sampled yet. Go to your city’s tourist information center and learn to see your city in a whole new light.

Not having room for entertainment in your budget doesn’t have to mean that you never get to enjoy your free time again. Instead, the lack of entertainment budget means that you’re going to have to be a little more creative about where you find your entertainment. Free entertainment opportunities are everywhere; you just have to be looking for them.

No matter what financial advisor you prefer, almost all of them agree on one thing. One of the first steps to a solid financial future is to have some savings. You already know that you can start a savings account with regular small deposits. These small deposits can quickly add up to make a decent-sized emergency fund. But what if you really want to get a jump on your new financial plan?

Consider kicking off your fiscal adventure with a month of financial fasting. However, instead of denying yourself of any money, you will use the month to sock as much money into your savings account as possible. When the month is over, you’ll find yourself with a hefty-sized emergency fund and ready to tackle your next financial obstacle.

During your month of financial fasting you’ll make many sacrifices. Here are a few ways you may increase your savings contributions for those thirty days:

1. Eat as cheaply as possible. Name brand food items are off limits during your financial fast. Likewise, you should avoid eating out and vending machines. By cutting your grocery bills to the bare minimum, you’ll be able to put more cash into your emergency fund. Although your menu may become a little monotonous, just imagine how much you’ll enjoy your return to your normal foods next month.

2. Cut your entertainment expenditures down to nothing. Forget going to the movies or concerts this month. Instead, take advantage of free ways to entertain yourself like reading books or watching movies from the library, playing in the park with your kids, or completing some of those household chores that you often forget. Although this month won’t be the most fun month you’ve ever experienced, keep your goal foremost in your mind. You can do something to treat your self next month.

3. Make a vow not to purchase any new clothing. You could clean your closet to discover forgotten clothes. Sorting out your clothes will allow you to find those seldom-word items hiding in the back. Try combining these clothes with other items in your closet to keep your wardrobe exciting. Whether you clean out your closet or not, however, remember that this month you’re not buying anything new.

Keep in mind as you struggle through each of your sacrifices that this self-denial is only temporary. No one will expect you to keep this type of regimen up for any length of time; you’re just trying to save as much as you can as quickly as you can. Make a goal for yourself and then try to shatter it. Once the month is over, you’ll have an emergency fund you can be proud of and your sacrifice will be over.