One step forward...

S and I are trying to save money. There are lots of reasons for this, but I would like to boil them down to principle, practice, and purpose.

In principle, I believe that we are responsible for one another, and that nothing we have materially is our own, but that it is gifted to us temporarily in life for us to be good stewards of. So in principle, saving money allows me to be a responsible steward of material wealth, enabling me to interact as a good citizen (i.e. - pay my bills, even in an emergency or unexpected situation) and to have available should it be needed by others, who I am grateful to provide for. S probably agrees with this more or less, sometimes more, sometimes less, depending on how extreme I get, ha ha.

In practice, saving money allows me to understand finance and be planful for the future. It helps me to learn the difference between my needs and my wants and to focus on what is truly important in life (neither material needs nor wants). In practice, this allows me to live with less and contribute to a more just society.

In purpose, saved money will utlimately go to a place other than immediate spending. These places are vehicles when needed, a home, savings for others, and for retirement. The more that is saved, and the less that is lived on, the more I can fund others needs at the expense of my wants, but not of my own needs, which I will also be better able to take care of.

In any case, this all boils down to making lifestyle changes, such as not spending money on clothes this year, and oh my, spending less on eating out. It all really, my friends, boils down to Chipotle.

Other than "needs" - rent, gas, electricity and groceries, S and I may have spent more on Chipotle than anything else last year. Based on some consumer research (of our own habits), we could have been spending $100 a month or more on burrittos. Wow.

So, in an effort to realign our priorities (there's another p!), we bought all the necessary ingredients for Chipotle-esque burritto bols at the supermarket the last time around, and made them ourselves. I know.

Here are the results:

It is a little early for too much market research into our new Chipotle-at-home habit, and there may be a bit of a relapse, who knows. Suffice it to say though, that every time we make burritto bols at home, we save 65% of the cost of a "Chipotle experience." Take that brand loyality marketing! Actually, no, I am not even going to pretend that we don't adore Chipotle, their free-range ethnics, and their fresh guacolmole. We do. But we'll enjoy all the p's even more from time to time.