frugal underground

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I’ve been reading with interest Millionaire Mommy Next Door’s recent posts on renting vs. owning. She makes some very good points that run counter to a lot of people’s emotional decisions, and honestly, if I wasn’t already committed to owning (we started buying our house before the bubble made things crazy and have an extremely low interest rate), I’d seriously consider renting instead of buying in order to make better use of the dollar difference. As it is I’m encouraging my sister and brother-in-law to think carefully about it.

Since I’ve been thinking a lot about the topic, a Springwise post this morning caught my eye; it’s about a site called Rentometer. It was originally created for property owners, to help them figure out what a reasonable rent rate is based on the basic characteristics (number of bedrooms) and neighborhood.

Naturally, the site has also found success with renters themselves who want to know if what they’re paying is reasonable. I ran it on my sister’s apartment and it said that their rent is comparable for the neighborhood.

I particularly like the visual aspects. The little gauge makes it easy to see the spread, and the Google map is specific enough that it could actually be helpful when apartment-shopping. One thing my sister and I noticed is that it doesn’t seem to take into account things like how new the rentals are or what specific features, so it’s really just a general tool, but it seems like a pretty helpful one.

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Consider this my little gift to you. This morning I created a meal plan form that fits my family’s preferences, and if you have similar preferences, I hope it will work for you.

Download my 2-week Meal Plan form

Here’s what makes this form distinctive:

1. It has 14 spaces. We shop every other week, and I only plan one meal per day (breakfasts and lunches are pretty much the same set of options each day). When there are multiple meals that need to be planned, I just stuff them both in one box. But if you regularly plan two meals a day, you can use it as a 7-day plan.
2. On the fly shopping list: it’s much easier to remember those “looks like we’re out of…” items when they’re written down, and it’s easiest to write them down when there’s a clear place to do it (we post ours on the fridge). I grab the current meal plan to plan the next one and the shopping list, so it’s very handy to have all of the weird, non-meal-specific stuff listed out.

Download my 2-week Meal Plan form

Let me know if you’re able to use this or have any suggestions for improvement!

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