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Welcome to Before Breakfast, a production of iHeart Radio.

Good morning. This is Laura. Welcome to the Before Breakfast podcast.

Today's tip is to anticipate your upcoming needs, so you don't waste money or time.

Today's tip comes from the frugal girl blog. This blog is full of recipes and tips for frugal living and expressions of gratitude for the blessings of a frugal life.

The frugal girl blog also has one of the most supportive reader communities on the internet.

Today's tip actually comes from a reader comment. This person wrote that frugality is often about anticipating and preparing for things.

Which is absolutely true. I would broaden that word frugality to efficiency.

When we anticipate things, we are able to spend less time and money than if we just deal with our needs in the moment.

I am sure we have all had the experience of realizing around 6 p.m. that we aren't sure what to eat and aren't sure we have the groceries to make anything in any case.

Deciding what to make and making sure we have the ingredients and then cooking too seems like too steep a hill to climb.

And so we spend $50 or even more getting dinner delivered for the family.

Now I love restaurant meals as much as anyone. And sometimes it is really nice to get sushi delivered as a treat.

But it is better when that is a conscious decision. And you can look forward to your yummy meal.

As opposed to doing it, just because you didn't think ahead to have something you like readily available.

When we do manage to get around to groceries, I'm sure many of us have had to make repeat trips to the store because we didn't think of something.

You agreed to bring cookies to a reception on Sunday. But you were so fixated on shopping on Thursday for the stuff you needed Thursday and Friday that you didn't think about Sunday.

And so it is back to the store on Saturday or Sunday, maybe when there was something else that would have been more fun to do.

Now long time listers know that I don't think we need to go overboard with anticipation.

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