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Comment by kemiller2002 | Hacker News Reader

kemiller2002

The fastest way is to make more money. You'll probably need to switch jobs. Barring that, you need to look at your expenses. Do you have credit card debt? Start paying that off as fast as you can. Then start paying off the lower interest rates.

The fastest way to start saving money is to learn how to cook and don't eat out or buy prepared food as much. You can make fresh food that is cheaper if you know how to buy raw ingredients and make your own. If you drink alcohol, cut down on how much, or find a cheaper (not necessarily worse) option to what you drink.

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> The fastest way to start saving money is to learn how to cook and don't eat out or buy prepared food as much.

Sometimes easier said than done. I cooked a lot over the pandemic, but when I switched jobs six months ago, it started mentally draining me enough that cooking after work has become a real challenge. Still managing to cook 2-3 times a week, most weeks, but not more than that right now. Used to do it 5+ times a week.

Cooking 2-3 times a week should be enough to make food for the whole week

you can still prepare the lighter meals (dinner/lunch depends on country) the same day since it has much shorter prep time

you should be cooking more than 1 meal per cooking "session". cooking every single day it not going to happen anyone who is employed in a "normal" job

If it were just up to me, I could survive on sandwiches or grilling some chicken and veggies on a grill 5x a week real quick, nbd. But I'm married, and my wife not only insists on hearty cooked meals (or takeout, which we already spend a ton of money on), but she's also not a big fan of leftovers.

Two meals for each of us per cooking "session" is our current norm (dinner, then lunch the next day), although I almost had to throw away leftovers last night because she wasn't in the mood to eat it for three days (I kind of forced it last night), but more than that and it's probably just going to be me eating it and still having to cook something else for dinner (or she spends money on takeout) anyway.

Cook once in the weekend in a big batch, and eat the leftovers during the week. Most of the effort of cooking is prep, heating up the pan, etc., and that doesn’t change much if you double a recipe.

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