Add flavour

Want to eat healthier, find good ways to add flavour.

I have 5 different hot sauces, and a few jars of ground/chopped stuff like horseradish, garlic and ginger.

When I cook, I try to use one of those to add flavour, they're not too bad in sodium, fat or calories, unlike most other stuff.

Today I had a grilled chicken breast with avocado and horseradish. Lots of flavour, no added salt, fat or sugar.

My favourite hot sauce is Sirrachi Sauce (aka rooster sauce). The chili-garlic mix is great flavour.

If you've got hints on healthier ways to season food, lemme know.

Shop Once

I try to shop at one grocery store.
Right now I go to Freshco which sits mid market, maybe biased to the discount side, but still good.
They're not the cheapest, but they have a decent selection of good quality produce and they offer price matching (actually they beat by $0.01).

I save a lot of time by only making 1 major shopping trip to a single store once a week. I know the store well, I tend to go off times and can typically do all my shopping in <45 minutes, including the drive.

I do do a second mid week "fresh" run for perishables, but unless I want to go without, there is no way around that.

Automated soap dispenser

Lysol sells a small battery powered soap dispenser. They're $15 or so, but I find they go on clearance for about $7.
I have 2, I like them, so does my young son. The thing is the refills are expensive.

Fortunately you can just pop off the top and fill with normal liquid soap. Saves a lot of money, and  you don't have to use their scented soaps, some of them are quite strong.

Quality

I've found that super cheap junk just is often worth the trouble. You end up having to replace it too quickly, or upgrade to the next quality level quickly, or you might just have an unsatisfactory experience.

High end stuff tends to be only slightly better, but cost way more.

In general I recommend getting "decent" quality stuff in between.

Of course there are exceptions but this is somewhat of a personal decision. I buy high end running shoes, and name brand ketkchup. I buy lots from the dollar store, but not food products, or much that I don't consider "single use".

You've really got to decide where you want your money spent.

Yeah, this post is a bit rambly, maybe when my writing gets better, I'll fix it up.

Don't buy a truck

I have a car, but on a regular basis I could use a truck. To take something to the dump, to pick up a large item, whatever.

But I wouldn't buy a truck, I just call a guy I found on Kijiji and have him run the errand for me. It's cheaper than a truck payment, if it's a heavy item I have someone to help me unload and position it, and sometimes I don't even have to do the work.

How to save warranties

Most of the time warranties are not used, and even when applicable, you might not find the receipt.

When you get a product with a warranty, write the expiration date on the receipt and put in a file dated with the year of expiry. Shorter 30 & 60 day files could also be created, but for most things I don't even bother.

You can now easily dispose of expired warranties with little to no thought, which is good because this is the most common case.
If you need to use the warranty, just look through them, there likely won't be that many.

Get rid of stuff

You likely have too much stuff. Get rid of some.

Throw it out, or sell it on kijiji or craigslist or whatever.

If you haven't used it, and don't play to and it is cheap and/or easy to replace get rid of it. You'll end up with more free space, and less clutter.