How can I save money?

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I'm trying to save money, but some ideas for saving money pose some dilemmas. I have ADHD and autism.

I could get a roommate to save on rent, but that comes all the usual problems with having a roommate. The dilemma is, I probably wouldn't be a good roommate, because I have trouble keeping up with cleaning (I end paying some people to come clean my apartment once a month). I sometimes don't have the spoons to clean up on weekdays. I get distracted when I do have the spoons, or there are sensory reasons I don't clean.

Secondly, I could cook at home, but I'm burned out by the time I get home from work. I've tried the meal kits that give you the ingredients, and directions, but I usually don't get to them all before some ingredients go off. Even when I do get to them, I take longer than it says to do the recipe. Even if I try to cook on the weekends, still the issue of anything not super simple taking me a lot of time, if I get to it. And the dilemma is microwavable meals are either expensive or unhealthy.

I've been trying to save money on food/groceries, but I'm struggling to do that, due to forgetting or other reasons to get stuff from the store instead of the at work snack bar, which is of course more expensive. And I hate going to the store, so I try to go late at night, if I'm not too tired.

I can't be particularly helpful about rent or roommates. Sorry about that. I'm happy that you're living somewhere where you at least can rent a place on your own. Here in London, that's been impossible for many years now. But as a married homeowner I'm not qualified to advise, so I'll shut up.

But I've picked up some cooking and cleaning tips over the years that have been very useful. Not specifically aimed at autistic people, but particularly suitable in my case at least.

Tl;dr: it's all about getting into a routine, and autistic people are good at routines.

Cooking: if you have a favourite food or foods, cook it in batches, and keep it in the fridge or freezer. Spaghetti sauce or chili were good ones for me. (A friend swore by pilchard stew. Each to his own.) Fix some regular time in your diary specifically for cooking, maybe a couple of hours twice a week. Then when it comes to eating time, cook some pasta or rice fresh, or boil some potato - 10 minutes only to do. Autism angle: we have our favourite foods, we don't mind eating the same thing over again several times a week, and we cook it our way, avoiding texture or sensory issues completely. (Example: can't stand red beans? Cook the chili with mushrooms instead.)

Cleaning: Again, fix a regular block of time in the diary to do the serious stuff - vacuuming, dusting, cleaning the bathroom etc. For keeping the place tidy in general, an old trick from the late humorist Willie Rushton: first thing in the morning, pick up a black bin bag, and drag it round the house, throwing into it all the stuff that needs throwing away from the night before. Autism angle: everything in the house remains where we put it, no more putting stuff back from where the cleaner rearranged it; and we pick the cleaning products, so no overwhelming cleaning smells.

Money: the result is you'll no longer be spending a lot of money on convenience foods in a hurry, nor paying for a cleaner to come so frequently.

I'm Frugal, pleased to meet you. If you want to be frugal too, here's what you can do.

"microwaveable meals are unhealthy" - there is some truth to that, but you can find healthy. I buy frozen veggies from Green Giant, Bird's Eye and generic. Broccoli, spinach, peas, corn, brussel sprouts, etc. You can cook in bag, 5 minutes and it's ready. They come sauced already. Pretty healthy if you ask me.

Also do not neglect frozen fruit. What you do is get big 3 lb bags of frozen blueberries, peaches, strawberries, dragon fruit. You can put that in a blender, add 2 cups of water, and yogurt, and you have a great smoothie. Buy steel straws from ebay and big glass to drink them. I have a smoothie every day for breakfast.

Meat...what to do about meat. I like canned kippers and sardines. Cheap, high protein. Also, I really like Hormel's ready dinners, Roast Beef Au Jus is to die for. Turkey breast, chicken. I like Hormel, I don't know if it is good for you because it has high sodium though.

"roommates" - I avoid them, but it is a way to save money. You have to know the person.

I don't watch TV and don't subscribe to cable. I read books. You can find cheap used books on ebay.

Yes, that is what I do too. I have ten sealable glass bowls. I fill them up with bean, veggie and meat stew cooked in the Instapot about once a week. Then I have meals the whole week long. Very inexpensive and fast too.

I don't cook because I have chronic fatigue and it just takes too much out of me, but I always eat at home (unless I'm going out with my bf).

I eat canned beans often. I rinse them in a colander and then add one other ingredient: roasted red peppers, avocado, kalamata olives, or fresh tomatoes, and then dress with olive oil and vinegar. Beans are very cheap and they are healthy.

I eat tuna. With tuna too I add one other ingredient: sweet pickle relish, avocado, or fresh tomatoes, and dress with olive oil and vinegar. I am gluten free so I eat it as a salad but you could put it on bread and make a sandwich.

I don't eat sandwiches but they are an easy and healthy and generally cheap food to make: cheese, ham, with tomatoes, etc.

I also eat cheese, hummus with rice cakes, yogurt, cereal, and chocolate chips (which are generally the cheapest variety of chocolate).

As far as saving money, one of the things to pay attention to are ongoing charges that you pay every month. Those add up quickly. Consider if you have any subscriptions you can do without. Can you get a cheaper phone plan?

I also almost never buy new stuff. I just don't really need or want anything. And if I need something I usually get it from a thrift store.

I like these: Hormel Compleats. They might not cover every meal, but they can cover a lot of them for me.

* Stop eating out and find some easy meals to cook at home. Rice maker, air fryer and slow cooker are your best friends here and make cooking MUCH easier.

* Cleaning routine / schedule. Gloves can help with sensory issues and are a good idea anyway due to chemicals. Find a cleaner that isnt too strong smelling - I personally like “Awesome”. It’s also really cheap

* Save money on your cell phone bill by switching to an MVNO carrier. Much cheaper than a big carrier!

Are you poor or well off?


seriously like if you're poor it is hard to save money because you have to spend most of it on living expenses, but if you came from some wealth you may have more of a head start, not always the case as some disabled people get taken advantage of by more well off family...but basiccally if you're poor its hard to save money cause you have to spend it all shorter term. Like rent is a huge expense in the long run probably better to buy a house but they are very expensive initially and so at the time a poorer person cannot afford that so the rent makes more sense but yeah if you lean more towards poor its harder to save money because you have to spend so much of it just to keep a roof over your head, even if its not a good roof its at least a roof.

But then that makes it harder to save up cause sometimes the save up money becomes oh crap something wrong with the car need to fix that money, and it drains it out so like it's harder for poorer people to bounce back from big things like that...or it would be a big thing for us. LIke households with more money might have 2 or 3 functioning vehicles but for me and my boyfriend we just have the one car. LIke as a more poor person once something is going right something else won't go right and then there goes any of the savings money. LIke hard to save money if you have to burn it all up just to have a roof over your head every month.

I used to have a running Indian buffet at home. Every day I would cook something to last three or four meals. I would usually have rice, a chicken curry, a vegetable curry, and some beans (channa masala). I could keep that up for weeks at a time.

Recently, I have thought about doing a running Mexican buffet. That would be easier. Keep three or four days of fried rice and refried beans and have either burritos, tacos, or enchiladas most days. For the burritos, tacos, and enchiladas, I could make a common filling such as shredded chicken to last three or four days. Alternatively, I make really good shredded pork.

I tried an air fryer and didn't see much point to one. There wasn't anything it could do that I couldn't do better in a regular oven.

By the way, I paid for my next year of Tracfone charges a couple of weeks ago. $144 plus tax for unlimited calls and text messages for a year.

An inexpensive automatic rice cooker is a great investment if you eat rice. Rice can be cooked in single servings and a big bag of rice from an Asian market will last a long time.

It may help to do food prep in the morning before you go to work.

I like to cook single servings so I can figure out recipes.

My favorite rice cooker is a stove top rice steamer. I got one from Comet years ago for one or two proofs of purchase and seventy five cents for postage and handling. I flat wore that one out over the years.

Every couple of months, I search trying to find a good replacement for those. I never can. There are plenty of steamers for vegetables and things, but they really aren't suitable for rice because they have the holes in the bottom of the second stage. The comet rice cooker has the holes about halfway up the second stage.

Guess what! Success! I found the "Charleston Rice Steamer". Barring some kind of emergency, I'll have one ordered before the day is over.

The inexpensive electric rice cookers have a clever magnetic switch that is quite reliable and works well.

An easy way to cook Chinese sausage is to chop it into slices and put it in the rice cooker with the rice!

Making bread for one is a lot of work. One alternative is to make deep fried dough in a 1 quart deep fryer!

Where I live it is cheap to buy raw meat and cook it. I'll buy beef and chicken and divide it up into single servings for cooking later. Put it in sandwich bags and store in the freezer if I'm not going to use it in a day or two.

I've had four electric rice cookers. Two of them I was so unhappy with I returned them to WalMart for a refund.

The other two were not that great. They cooked acceptable rice, but just barely.

If you want a really forgiving and easy to use rice cooker, a stovetop steamer like that Carolina Rice Steamer is the way to go. My Comet Rice Cooker is similar and is easily the most forgiving rice cooker I've ever seen and it turned out great results time after time after time.