Yes to all of this! Especially the point about dining out. Eating out is rarely worth it anymore because the service is terrible 90% of the time and the food is just okay. I did not grow up learning how to cook from my mom or any family members but found it was a necessity once I was married and had children. Someone had to feed those kids, lol! It was rough going at first but it became truly a joy to do it. Now I not only love cooking, but also write about it as a living. My husband has reminded me over the 30 years that we have been together that he appreciates my efforts and that I have saved our family thousands of dollars EVERY YEAR because I was willing to make meals at home. To anyone, male or female, who is on the fence about becoming the cook in your family, DO IT! You won't regret it!
I really love how you highlight that you learned to cook out of necessity once you began a family of your own. I had a similar experience, in that, I've been a vegetarian since a young age. No one sat down and gave me cooking lessons, I had to learn and teach myself. It's one of those core life skills I think everyone should learn at some point but it's one of those things you won't necessarily be taught. You just have to do it. Not only will you save money, you'll be healthier too because of it!
Yes! It’s funny because I wanted to prepare my own children with some basic cooking skills before they left home. They weren’t really interested, but once they moved out on their own I was getting calls and texts about recipes and how to make things 😂
I love this, it's been my way of life for many years now.
I buy tools and fix things myself. I buy quality used furniture (very cheap), but honestly, the stuff I bought during the Bush depression was so nice I haven't had to buy any since.
My wife shops at high-end resale shops if she needs nice clothes, and Goodwill for most other things.
The only restaurant we go to now is Panda Express, because their prices don't seem to have changed much since before the pandemic.
For exercise, we ride recumbent bikes we've had for 25 years, and we lift weights on a commercial weight machine I got from a gym for $400 about 10 years ago (It was $5000 when new!). After 10 years of use I had to replace a cable, which was still available. Now it's like new again. That cost $30.
Last year we bought a used Chevy Bolt EV, 4 years old, 37,000 miles, for $12,500 after tax credit. It needs no maintenance and costs 3 cents/mile in electricity. Charges up in the garage. It's decades ahead of internal combustion.
And this: "Professors are decades removed from the job market. They have no idea what’s actually happening and can’t advise you on the skills you need to secure a good job."
That is SO insightful and accurate. Thanks for these articles. Cheers.
Thanks for sharing your experience! It really can be done. And I think once you start doing some of these things -- buying secondhand clothes, becoming more discerning about buying food out -- you become more aware of what you actually need vs. what you *think* you need. Learning how to master the art of discernment through our consumer buying habits is more important than ever before.
Great article! Solid advice; I need to cut back on lattes myself.
A caveat on the point about college though - while you are correct that a college degree no longer has meaningful financial utility, not all students attend college for financial utility. Some attend for the joy of learning in physically - present community with like-minded peers and mentors. Of course, the *learning* part can now be had for free (or affordably) online, but the particular type of *learning community* found in universities is very rare outside our country's colleges. Not nonexistent, but quite rare. I hope that, in the near future, our universities will remember that this modest vision has always been their true mission, and recenter their focus on it in a way that stems the tide of skyrocketing tuition.
Yes to all of this! Especially the point about dining out. Eating out is rarely worth it anymore because the service is terrible 90% of the time and the food is just okay. I did not grow up learning how to cook from my mom or any family members but found it was a necessity once I was married and had children. Someone had to feed those kids, lol! It was rough going at first but it became truly a joy to do it. Now I not only love cooking, but also write about it as a living. My husband has reminded me over the 30 years that we have been together that he appreciates my efforts and that I have saved our family thousands of dollars EVERY YEAR because I was willing to make meals at home. To anyone, male or female, who is on the fence about becoming the cook in your family, DO IT! You won't regret it!
I really love how you highlight that you learned to cook out of necessity once you began a family of your own. I had a similar experience, in that, I've been a vegetarian since a young age. No one sat down and gave me cooking lessons, I had to learn and teach myself. It's one of those core life skills I think everyone should learn at some point but it's one of those things you won't necessarily be taught. You just have to do it. Not only will you save money, you'll be healthier too because of it!
Yes! It’s funny because I wanted to prepare my own children with some basic cooking skills before they left home. They weren’t really interested, but once they moved out on their own I was getting calls and texts about recipes and how to make things 😂
I love this, it's been my way of life for many years now.
I buy tools and fix things myself. I buy quality used furniture (very cheap), but honestly, the stuff I bought during the Bush depression was so nice I haven't had to buy any since.
My wife shops at high-end resale shops if she needs nice clothes, and Goodwill for most other things.
The only restaurant we go to now is Panda Express, because their prices don't seem to have changed much since before the pandemic.
For exercise, we ride recumbent bikes we've had for 25 years, and we lift weights on a commercial weight machine I got from a gym for $400 about 10 years ago (It was $5000 when new!). After 10 years of use I had to replace a cable, which was still available. Now it's like new again. That cost $30.
Last year we bought a used Chevy Bolt EV, 4 years old, 37,000 miles, for $12,500 after tax credit. It needs no maintenance and costs 3 cents/mile in electricity. Charges up in the garage. It's decades ahead of internal combustion.
And this: "Professors are decades removed from the job market. They have no idea what’s actually happening and can’t advise you on the skills you need to secure a good job."
That is SO insightful and accurate. Thanks for these articles. Cheers.
Thanks for sharing your experience! It really can be done. And I think once you start doing some of these things -- buying secondhand clothes, becoming more discerning about buying food out -- you become more aware of what you actually need vs. what you *think* you need. Learning how to master the art of discernment through our consumer buying habits is more important than ever before.
Great article! Solid advice; I need to cut back on lattes myself.
A caveat on the point about college though - while you are correct that a college degree no longer has meaningful financial utility, not all students attend college for financial utility. Some attend for the joy of learning in physically - present community with like-minded peers and mentors. Of course, the *learning* part can now be had for free (or affordably) online, but the particular type of *learning community* found in universities is very rare outside our country's colleges. Not nonexistent, but quite rare. I hope that, in the near future, our universities will remember that this modest vision has always been their true mission, and recenter their focus on it in a way that stems the tide of skyrocketing tuition.