Money-Saving Tactic #1: Purchase a Grill

The first way that I have enjoyed saving money may seem a little backwards to you.

It involves purchasing a grill.

I know what you’re thinking…it sounds crazy. How will purchasing a grill save money?? Just think with me for a minute. If my friends and I decide we do not want to eat in the school’s cafeteria, we go out to eat. We enjoy the food that we eat when we go out and we enjoy the company of our friends. But if you are trying to save money, going out to eat involves a lot of money, especially if it becomes a regular thing. If you have 3 friends that go with you out to eat and you each order a $7 burger, a $2 drink, plus a tip; that’s about $11 each, times 4 people…over $40 for one outing, not even including gas money, which adds up very quickly.

I realized this at the beginning of the semester, so I decided that I wanted to save money by buying a grill. I looked on craigslist.com, where I was surprised to see how little used grills were going for. For instance:

http://muncie.craigslist.org/hsh/2585316593.html

This one is a $10, decent looking grill.

http://muncie.craigslist.org/hsh/2569092202.html

This one is $45 with an empty propane tank, or $30 without.

http://muncie.craigslist.org/for/2549739103.html

$30.

I got my grill for $20, which included starter fluid and charcoal.

Now imagine this scenario: Several of your friends come over just as the sun is going down. Everyone stands outside and plays corn hole while the grill heats up. Once the grill is ready, the guys stand around it and talk while they cook the hotdogs and the hamburgers. The girls drink lemonade, laugh, and tell stories. When the food is prepared, everyone sits around and eats, enjoying each other’s company. You smile because the first bite into your burger was delicious.

The best part about the second scenario is that you still get all the things you enjoyed about the first scenario (the company, the great food, and the memories), all without a large cost. It costs about $7 for 2 pounds of hamburger meat. This allowed me to make about 6 patties last weekend. That’s about a dollar a person- if you include drinks, toppings and sides, it might total $3 a person. That means you can have a fun night of grilling 4 times for the same price as going out to eat.

Yeah, I know. There is the initial cost of purchasing the grill. But a used grill is the same price as going out to eat once. And there’s the cost of the propane/charcoal…so maybe it would end up being $3.50 a person including that cost. Plus, a grill lasts a very long time…years and years.

I don’t know a single guy that does not enjoy grilling food, and I don’t know of anyone that doesn’t enjoy eating grilled food.

Over time, purchasing and regularly using a grill instead of eating out will save you a lot of money and will definitely increase your college memories.