55 - The Calendar Strategy: How to Automate Your Dining Discounts (And Never Pay Full Price Again)

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I recently did something a little crazy—but financially brilliant. During the holiday sales, I stocked up on restaurant gift cards. You know the ones: “Buy $100, Get $25 Free.” I bought them for my favorite local spots: the Irish pub around the corner, the pizza place we love on Fridays, and the nice steakhouse we save for special occasions. Mathematically, I was already winning. By getting $125 worth of food for $100, I had locked in an instant 20% discount on my future meals. But then I thought: How can I stretch this even further? The gift cards are great, but they are only one part of the equation. Most of these restaurants also offer weekly specials—Half-Price Burgers on Mondays, Taco Tuesdays, Kids Eat Free Wednesdays, or Happy Hour appetizers. If I used my discounted gift cards only on nights when the food was also discounted, I wouldn’t just be saving 20%. I’d be saving 50%, 60%, or even 70% off the regular menu price. The problem? I can never remember which restaurant has the ...
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27 - Maintain a monthly budget on a spreadsheet or notebook to see where your money goes.

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I couldn't have retired at age 42 without any income sources, a limited savings, and a house to run without keeping a detailed budget of my expenses. Thankfully, I knew this right away and immediately began keeping my receipts and stapling them into spiral notebooks to keep track of costs. That led to me creating a spreadsheet with all of the receipt information, plus everything else that I spend my money on. Although I still keep receipts in spiral notebooks, the spreadsheet is what really saves me money.

Since a picture is worth a thousand words, I'll try to upload images of my spreadsheet and explain how I use it. I don't want to overwhelm you, so I'll divide this up into a couple different posts. Today is the main page of the budget. Tomorrow will be another section, and we'll finish the following day.


I share this so you can see what rows I have in my budget. The first section includes all of my utilities and cell phone (I'm on a family plan with my mom, sister, and nephew, so I pay one fourth). Sporadic costs are in the second section, like insurance, license fees, property tax, etc. Everyday purchases are in the third section, and I have two Miscellaneous rows in the fourth section. At the bottom of the spreadsheet are all of my total columns: Total money spent this month and since I retired. Total money made this month and since I retired (I removed the income section for this blog post). Total money spent from my savings this month and since I retired. And the grand total of all the money currently in each of my bank accounts (along with its change since 1/1/2023).

Tomorrow, I'll show you how I look at my budget over the years (a long-term budget). And Tuesday I will share other features about my budget that might be unique and how I use the budget to save even more money. Remember, YOU do not need to make your budget as complex as mine - I just really like knowing everything I can about the money I make and spend!

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