Speaker 1: Welcome to Before Breakfast, a production of iHeartRadio. Good Morning,
Speaker 1: This is Laura. Welcome to the Before Breakfast podcast. Today's
Speaker 1: tip is to anticipate your upcoming needs so you don't
Speaker 1: waste money or time. Today's tip comes from the Frugal
Speaker 1: Girl blog. This blog is full of recipes and tips
Speaker 1: for frugal living and expressions of gratitude for the blessings
Speaker 1: of a frugal life. The Frugal Girl blog also has
Speaker 1: one of the most supportive reader communities on the Internet.
Speaker 1: Today's tip actually comes from a reader comment. This person
Speaker 1: wrote that frugality is often about anticipating and preparing for things,
Speaker 1: which is absolutely true. I would broaden that word frugality
Speaker 1: to afficiency. When we anticipate things, we are able to
Speaker 1: spend less time and money than if we just deal
Speaker 1: with our needs in the moment. I am sure we
Speaker 1: have all had the experience of realizing around six pm
Speaker 1: that we aren't sure what to eat, and aren't sure
Speaker 1: we have the groceries to make anything. In any case,
Speaker 1: deciding what to make and making sure we have the ingredients,
Speaker 1: and then cooking too seems like too steep a hill
Speaker 1: to climb, and so we spend fifty dollars or even
Speaker 1: more getting dinner delivered for the family. Now. I love
Speaker 1: restaurant meals as much as anyone, and sometimes it is
Speaker 1: really nice to get sushi delivered as a treat. But
Speaker 1: it is better when that is a conscious decision and
Speaker 1: you can look forward to your yummy meal as opposed
Speaker 1: to doing it just because you didn't think ahead to
Speaker 1: have something you like readily available. When we do manage
Speaker 1: to get around to groceries, I'm sure many of us
Speaker 1: have had to make repeat trips to the store because
Speaker 1: we didn't think of something. You agreed to bring cookies
Speaker 1: to a reception on Sunday, but you are so fixated
Speaker 1: on shopping on Thursday for the stuff you needed Thursday
Speaker 1: and Friday that you didn't think about Sunday, and so
Speaker 1: it is back to the store on Saturday or Sunday,
Speaker 1: maybe when there was something else that would have been
Speaker 1: more fun to do. Now, longtime listeners know that I
Speaker 1: don't think we need to go overboard with anticipation. One
Speaker 1: of my favorite phrases is that your future self will
Speaker 1: not be incompetent if you do need to figure out
Speaker 1: dinner on Thursday and there is nothing in the fridge.
Speaker 1: You will do so you probably won't starve, and it's
Speaker 1: not the end of the world to go back to
Speaker 1: the store on Sunday if you need to. It would
Speaker 1: be kind of ridiculous to think through everything you'd need
Speaker 1: and say a month, when most of us probably go
Speaker 1: to the show store once or twice a week anyway.
Speaker 1: But in general, anticipation does save time and money. If
Speaker 1: someone is invited to a birthday party, you can order
Speaker 1: the present as soon as you say yes. That way,
Speaker 1: you don't have to pay for expedited shipping or make
Speaker 1: a trip to the store. If you're running a business
Speaker 1: and you think ahead of time about questions a client
Speaker 1: might ask, or you map out your workflow so you're
Speaker 1: not doing things last minute, you won't have to pay
Speaker 1: for employee overtime. And sometimes it's just about doing things
Speaker 1: in the right order. If you think about your Saturday
Speaker 1: and you know you plan to plant flowers and clean
Speaker 1: your car, you might want to bring the flowers home
Speaker 1: from the gardening store before you go vacuum out your car.
Speaker 1: That way, the dirt on the floor winds up gone
Speaker 1: rather than lingering. By looking ahead thoughtfully, you can identify
Speaker 1: anything you maan need in advance in order to save
Speaker 1: yourself some cash and time. Efficiency is about anticipation. Now,
Speaker 1: it's usually not awful if you don't anticipate, but it
Speaker 1: does feel good to get it right. So you can
Speaker 1: give yourself a little pat on the back when you
Speaker 1: pull the meat out of the freezer a day ahead
Speaker 1: of time and look forward to the dinner. You know
Speaker 1: exactly how to make in the meantime. This is Laura.
Speaker 1: Thanks for listening, and here's to making the most of
Speaker 1: our time. Hey, everybody, I'd love to hear from you.
Speaker 1: You can send me your tips, your questions, or anything else.
Speaker 1: Just connect with me on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram at
Speaker 1: Before Breakfast pod that's b the number four then breakfast.
Speaker 1: You can also shoot me an email at Before Breakfast
Speaker 1: Podcasts at iHeartMedia dot com. That Before Breakfast is spelled
Speaker 1: out with all the letters. Thanks so much, should I
Speaker 1: look forward to staying in touch. Before Breakfast is a
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