Hi there!
We’re one whole week through our NSC, can you believe it?!
As we move into the weekend, let’s check in and re-affirm our plan for the next few weeks.
We have a concept we think can help with this: the vital few and useful many! 🙂
📕 Using the Vital Few & Useful Many in your NSC
Have you ever heard of the 80/20 rule (AKA the Pareto Principle), where 20% of our efforts lead to 80% of our results? 🤔
To put it in personal finance terms, 20% of our actions (the vital few) can actually save us the most money.
The other 80% of our actions are still important (the useful many), but it’s not where we want to put the majority of our efforts. Plus it can be exhausting to be pulled in 100 different directions just to save a dollar here and there.
We talk a lot about the 3 big examples of the vital few:
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Housing
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Transportation
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Food
These few categories typically take up the majority of our spending each month so it’s good to focus here first. Making helpful decisions here can make cutting out the other 80% of our spending categories either easier or unnecessary.
Example
One way, I (Misti) am saving on the food category this month is by spending an hour 1x/week meal prepping instead of grabbing takeout every time I’m too tired to cook.
AND this year, I’m continuing Dry January in February because I estimate this will save me $200 a month! Partly because it will cut out all the associated expenses of drinking, like using ride-share apps and ordering an extra appetizer 🙃.
Try It Out!
As you review your NSC plan, think about your own examples of the vital few and useful many.
What is one area where a change would make a major impact on your overall budget? looking for actions you can take that make other actions easier or unnecessary is the goal! And of course, it helps to start by identifying your biggest spending categories 💪.
On a healing journey in addition to your financial journey? You’re definitely not gonna want to skip Tuesday’s episode How Our Nervous System Impacts Our Spending with Michelle Grosser (Ep 482)!
Today’s episode Why It’s So Important to Buy Local (Ep 483) uncovers the powerful reasons why shopping local can transform your community—and your wallet!
Tune in wherever you get podcasts and let us know what you thought of the episode over on our latest Instagram post!
✅ Read: The Psychology of Money! Try to find it for free in your local library! 📗
✅ Watch: Better Than Yesterday’s video explaining the 80/20 principle (and there’s some really entertaining comments to check out!)
✅ Do: Find new meal plan ideas by taking advantage of a free week with Cook Smarts! **
✅ Meal Prep: Something using minimal ingredients you already have in your kitchen! Like this Easy Creamy Chorizo Pasta. Pro-tip: try this with Trader Joe’s soy chorizo (only $2.99 for 6 servings!!) and cook the pasta with a bullion cube. Just reserve a little pasta water to mix into the chorizo and you don’t even need to add the cream for the “creamy” effect! 🍝
For more meal planning help check out our 3 favorite meal planning services and who they’re right for:
Spending is a skill and you can learn to master it. If you’ve ever struggled with being unable to stick to a budget or felt guilty about spending on something you enjoy, Jen and Jill’s debut book is going to be your next favorite read.
Have a great no-spend weekend!
Misti
⭐️⭐️ P.S. Want to share all this goodness with your friends AND earn cool Frugal Friends merch?
**Means this is a sponsored or affiliate section. We may earn a small fee or commission when you choose to try one of our sponsor or affiliate partners. But opinions are still 1000% our own.
