2005年大学毕业后,贝基·奎尔斯欠下了一屁股债。
现年42岁的她用近2.5万美元的学生贷款支付了她在纽约州一所学校的学费,并用信用卡支付了食宿费和书费。为了方便在校园里活动,奎尔斯还申请了汽车贷款。最终,奎尔斯欠下了近3.5万美元的债务。
背债生活多年之后,债务的重担引起了严重的焦虑,她回忆起她反复做的噩梦,感觉有一个可怕的怪物在她身边。她说,那个怪物象征着她的债务和无法摆脱的经济困境。
作为2018年在纽约靠一份工资生活的新父母,奎尔斯和丈夫几乎没有足够的收入来负担当前的账单,更不用说偿还她累积的债务了。
一次去塔吉特购物,她一冲动就买了一套25美元的银器,这决定了她当月能否按时支付账单,这让她濒临崩溃边缘。这对夫妇知道他们需要开始存钱了,而且他们肯定负担不起儿童保育费。他们决定奎尔斯留在家里照顾孩子,而她丈夫则继续全职工作。
“那天我回到家,觉得如果我要继续留在家里陪儿子,而不做一些根本性的改变,那就要一直这样过下去了。而我不希望这样。”奎尔斯告诉《财富》杂志。
在接下来的几个月里,在给新生儿喂奶和换尿布之间,她把所有的时间都花在了研究如何削减开支上。她最终制定了一个雄心勃勃的计划,用她称之为“洋葱系统”的方法在一年内还清债务。
“这背后的想法是要一层一层地剥茧抽丝。”奎尔斯说。“我从最外层开始的。”
这包括像保险费这样的“看不见的”开支。从那里开始,从最外层开始,她一层一层地进行分析。
奎尔斯说:“我真的拿了一个记事本,写下了我们在住所外的所有花费,包括草坪护理和汽车。然后,一旦我把所有花费都尽可能地减少,我就开始进行下一层分析。”
经过八个月的剥洋葱,她和丈夫成功攒够了3.5万美元,还清了债务。
像大多数美国家庭一样,奎尔斯一家的主要花费之一就是杂货。在开始认真考虑债务之前,她家每月可以轻松地在食物上花费1,400美元。为了削减成本,她开始遵循“B.O.R.E.D”策略,这是她自创的首字母缩写。以下是它的含义。
预算
为每个主要支出类别设定一个金额,并坚持下去,不要找借口。
她承认,由于通货膨胀对杂货店的冲击尤其严重,这一点可能很难做到,所以她会在需要的时候给自己留点余地,而在不需要的时候减少开支。但去杂货店购物时一定要设定好上限。
整理
为此,如果你没有整理好,你总是会在购物时花更多的钱,这意味着你要准备一个购物清单,并在出门之前检查橱柜。
“我相信每个人都有过这样的经历,当他们去杂货店时,他们会说,‘哦,我家没有面粉了。我就买一些吧。’然后他们回到家,就会发现大约还有四袋面粉。”奎尔斯说。给你的橱柜或食品柜拍张照片,帮你记住你已经拥有的东西。
减少浪费和重复使用
当你伸手去拿第四袋面粉时,你可能会注意到椒盐卷饼袋底部有一些多余的盐,或者是你可以用来做裹面包屑炸鸡的薯片。奎尔斯说,从长远来看,在小事上省钱就会积少成多。
拓展
“人们真的低估了他们可以冷冻的东西。”奎尔斯说。可以考虑查看一下冷冻室,看看哪些食物可以冷冻起来以备日后食用。这也可以让你的新鲜产品保存更久。
另一个建议是在水果和蔬菜上涂醋溶液,可以让它们保鲜更久。
不要把事情复杂化
大多数时候,避免复杂的食谱可以降低成本。一个简单的方法就是简化你的食谱。例如,许多传统的墨西哥和意大利菜肴使用相同的基本原料。选择一周中你想做那一餐的一天,并继续定期补充这些物品。
奎尔斯说:“不要尝试用30种食材和只用一次的香料来做那些精致的菜肴。”
自2018年以来,奎尔斯和她的家人一直在运用“B.O.R.E.D”策略来降低食品杂货成本。现在,她在自己的YouTube、Instagram、TikTok和博客上分享这些省钱技巧。她希望那些关注她的人能从她身上学到一些可以应用于自己生活的技巧。
“我并不特别。”奎尔斯说。“有志者事竟成。在任何阻碍面前,你只需负隅顽抗。”(财富中文网)
译者:中慧言-王芳
2005年大学毕业后,贝基·奎尔斯欠下了一屁股债。
现年42岁的她用近2.5万美元的学生贷款支付了她在纽约州一所学校的学费,并用信用卡支付了食宿费和书费。为了方便在校园里活动,奎尔斯还申请了汽车贷款。最终,奎尔斯欠下了近3.5万美元的债务。
背债生活多年之后,债务的重担引起了严重的焦虑,她回忆起她反复做的噩梦,感觉有一个可怕的怪物在她身边。她说,那个怪物象征着她的债务和无法摆脱的经济困境。
作为2018年在纽约靠一份工资生活的新父母,奎尔斯和丈夫几乎没有足够的收入来负担当前的账单,更不用说偿还她累积的债务了。
一次去塔吉特购物,她一冲动就买了一套25美元的银器,这决定了她当月能否按时支付账单,这让她濒临崩溃边缘。这对夫妇知道他们需要开始存钱了,而且他们肯定负担不起儿童保育费。他们决定奎尔斯留在家里照顾孩子,而她丈夫则继续全职工作。
“那天我回到家,觉得如果我要继续留在家里陪儿子,而不做一些根本性的改变,那就要一直这样过下去了。而我不希望这样。”奎尔斯告诉《财富》杂志。
在接下来的几个月里,在给新生儿喂奶和换尿布之间,她把所有的时间都花在了研究如何削减开支上。她最终制定了一个雄心勃勃的计划,用她称之为“洋葱系统”的方法在一年内还清债务。
“这背后的想法是要一层一层地剥茧抽丝。”奎尔斯说。“我从最外层开始的。”
这包括像保险费这样的“看不见的”开支。从那里开始,从最外层开始,她一层一层地进行分析。
奎尔斯说:“我真的拿了一个记事本,写下了我们在住所外的所有花费,包括草坪护理和汽车。然后,一旦我把所有花费都尽可能地减少,我就开始进行下一层分析。”
经过八个月的剥洋葱,她和丈夫成功攒够了3.5万美元,还清了债务。
像大多数美国家庭一样,奎尔斯一家的主要花费之一就是杂货。在开始认真考虑债务之前,她家每月可以轻松地在食物上花费1,400美元。为了削减成本,她开始遵循“B.O.R.E.D”策略,这是她自创的首字母缩写。以下是它的含义。
预算
为每个主要支出类别设定一个金额,并坚持下去,不要找借口。
她承认,由于通货膨胀对杂货店的冲击尤其严重,这一点可能很难做到,所以她会在需要的时候给自己留点余地,而在不需要的时候减少开支。但去杂货店购物时一定要设定好上限。
整理
为此,如果你没有整理好,你总是会在购物时花更多的钱,这意味着你要准备一个购物清单,并在出门之前检查橱柜。
“我相信每个人都有过这样的经历,当他们去杂货店时,他们会说,‘哦,我家没有面粉了。我就买一些吧。’然后他们回到家,就会发现大约还有四袋面粉。”奎尔斯说。给你的橱柜或食品柜拍张照片,帮你记住你已经拥有的东西。
减少浪费和重复使用
当你伸手去拿第四袋面粉时,你可能会注意到椒盐卷饼袋底部有一些多余的盐,或者是你可以用来做裹面包屑炸鸡的薯片。奎尔斯说,从长远来看,在小事上省钱就会积少成多。
拓展
“人们真的低估了他们可以冷冻的东西。”奎尔斯说。可以考虑查看一下冷冻室,看看哪些食物可以冷冻起来以备日后食用。这也可以让你的新鲜产品保存更久。
另一个建议是在水果和蔬菜上涂醋溶液,可以让它们保鲜更久。
不要把事情复杂化
大多数时候,避免复杂的食谱可以降低成本。一个简单的方法就是简化你的食谱。例如,许多传统的墨西哥和意大利菜肴使用相同的基本原料。选择一周中你想做那一餐的一天,并继续定期补充这些物品。
奎尔斯说:“不要尝试用30种食材和只用一次的香料来做那些精致的菜肴。”
自2018年以来,奎尔斯和她的家人一直在运用“B.O.R.E.D”策略来降低食品杂货成本。现在,她在自己的YouTube、Instagram、TikTok和博客上分享这些省钱技巧。她希望那些关注她的人能从她身上学到一些可以应用于自己生活的技巧。
“我并不特别。”奎尔斯说。“有志者事竟成。在任何阻碍面前,你只需负隅顽抗。”(财富中文网)
译者:中慧言-王芳
After graduating from college in 2005, Becky Guiles was left with a mountain of debt.
The now-42-year-old took out nearly $25,000 in student loans to pay for her tuition at a New York state school, and put her room, board, and books on her credit card. To get around campus, Guiles also took out a car loan. Eventually, Guiles accrued nearly $35,000 in debt.
After years of living with it, the weight of that debt was causing major anxiety, and she recalls having a recurring nightmare where she felt just out of reach of a terrible monster. That monster, she says, was a symbol of her debt and her inability to get ahead financially.
As new parents living in New York on a single salary in 2018, Guiles and her husband were barely bringing in enough income to afford their current bills—let alone pay off the debt she had accumulated.
A trip to Target—in which impulse buying a $25 set of silverware would have made the difference between paying her bills on time that month or not—was her breaking point. The couple knew they needed to start saving money and they certainly couldn’t afford childcare. They decided that Guiles would stay home with their baby, while he continued working full-time.
“I just went home that day, and felt like, if I’m going to continue to stay at home with my son, if we don’t make some radical changes, then this is it forever,” Guiles tells Fortune. “And I don’t want this.”
Between feeding her newborn and changing diapers, she spent all of her time over the next couple months researching how to cut down on expenses. She eventually devised an ambitious plan to payoff her debt in one year, using a method she dubbed the Onion System.
“The idea behind it was to take things one layer at a time,” says Guiles. “I started on the outside layer.”
This included “invisible” expenses like insurance premiums. From there, she worked layer by layer, starting on the outside.
“I literally took a notepad and wrote down everything that costs us money on the outside of our house,” says Guiles, including lawn care and their car. “Then once I got everything as bare minimum as I could—I went on to the next layer.”
After eight months of peeling through the onion she and her husband had managed to save enough to pay off the $35,000 debt completely.
One of the major layers for the Guiles family—like most families in the U.S.—was their grocery budget. Before she started taking her debt seriously, her household could easily spend $1,400 a month on food at home. To cut costs, she started following “B.O.R.E.D,” an acronym of her own making. Here’s what it means.
Budget
Set a dollar amount for each major spending category and stick with it—no excuses.
With inflation hitting grocery stores particularly hard, she admits this can be tough to swing, so she gives herself a little leeway when she needs it and cuts back on times when she doesn’t. But don’t go to the grocery store without setting some guardrails.
Organize
To that end, you’ll always spend more money shopping if you’re not organized, and that means having a list and checking your cupboards before you head out.
“I’m sure everyone has had the moment when they go to the grocery store and they’re like, ‘Oh, I don’t have flour. I’ll just buy some,’ and they get home and have like four bags of flour,” says Guiles. Take a picture of your cupboards or pantry to help you remember what you already have.
Reduce waste and reuse
When reaching for your fourth bag of flour, you might notice you have some extra salt in the bottom of your pretzel bag, or chips you can use to bread chicken. Saving money in small ways adds up in the long run, says Guiles.
Extend
“People really underestimate what they can freeze,” says Guiles. Consider reviewing a freezer chart to see what items can be frozen and saved for a later date. This can also make your fresh produce last longer.
Another tip is to use a vinegar solution on your fruits and vegetables to make them last longer.
Don’t complicate things
Avoiding complicated recipes most days can reduce costs. One easy way is to simplify the recipes you cook. For instance, many traditional Mexican and Italian dishes use the same base ingredients. Choose a day of the week you want to make that meal, and continue restocking these items regularly.
“Don’t go and try to make these elaborate meals with 30 ingredients and spices you’ll only use once,” says Guiles.
Guiles and her family have continued to use the B.O.R.E.D. strategy to keep their grocery costs low since 2018. Now, she shares money saving tips like these on her YouTube, Instagram, TikTok and blog. Her hope for those following along is that they can learn something from her they can apply to their own life.
“I’m not special,” says Guiles. “If there’s a will, there’s a way. You just have to be more stubborn than whatever’s in your way.”