Budget Story: Month Two

Hey All! Not sure how it is already the 23rd of October and I'm just now posting this but better late than never. My daughter-in-law and I are engaged in a budget challenge and this is month 2.  September, I went over my $200 budget by $55.35.

 

Here we are past the mid-marker of October and I have spent $144.11. I think I can stay at or under budget this month! If you are new to this blog post, I am feeding just my husband and me, and three dogs.

 

HOW I'M DOING IT

One item I haven't purchased in October is coffee.  The hubs has a couple of cans of coffee stashed in the pantry. In the interest of staying under budget, I am willing to drink off brand, canned coffee. I put creamer in it. It's hot. It's caffeine. The other thing that happened this month is that I was gone one weekend so I didn't get to the store. Amazing how we can survive a week without shopping. Oh, almost forgot ... some super nice people I take family photos for gave me a huge, whole, fileted salmon. I cooked it for dinner on Sunday and had leftovers for lunch yesterday, dinner for the hubs last night, and plenty enough for lunch again today. Love that!

 

HELLO COSTCO

I visited Costco last weekend. I hate going there but I wanted to buy a brand of black bean burgers I had tried at a friend's house. Since I was there, I picked up other items that will keep us to the end of the month. Hummus times two. The half & half will get me into November easily. I wish I didn't hate going to Costco so much. It's the crowds. Perhaps I'll learn to get over that. The one impulse purchase was the Sweet Hot Chili Sauce, didn't need it. On the upside, I have enough frozen cherries and blueberries to take me well into November. I bought a couple of large bags of mixed greens so we're into salad this week.

 

THINGS

I'VE

LEARNED

Last week I bought 5 bananas. Now, I'm not much of a banana eater but I love it in my oatmeal. I have discovered that I actually like it in my oatmeal better when the brown spots appear. No more waste. We ate them all. I also have been adding nut butter (protein) to our morning power bowls. I still have some black beans and brown rice in the freezer for that morning when I simply can't stand the thought of oatmeal one more day. Truly though, I rarely get tired of oatmeal. It's so good for you!

I have 8 days left in October and $55.89 to spend. I still have to buy something for the office Halloween thing. Our office invites employees to bring their kids in to trick-or-treat and we get a nice turn out. I usually buy microwave popcorn instead of candy. The kids love it and it isn't any more expensive than candy. With what I have in the fridge right now, I don't think I'm going to need a trip to the store.

Feeling good about my budget this month.

Do you have a food budget? How are you doing?  Would love to hear your ideas and thoughts on budgeting. Leave me a comment!

love, susan

Food Budget Challenge: Mid Month Calculations Not Looking Good

If you are following my Food Budget Challenge, thank you! If not, I won't blame you if you just keep moving on by. This post may be the most boring material you've ever read. For me, it has been eye opening and created a lot of thought about what I'm buying for groceries. It has also forced me to get creative.

 

With today's trip to the store and my hubby's surprise trip yesterday (he didn't know I was doing this challenge), we are near going over budget this month and we're only halfway there. This doesn't mean I'm not going to keep trying to keep my spending down. It means I will be doing another round in October, armed with knowledge about myself and my spending habits.

 

POWER UP WITH PROTIEN: Today, I took photos of the nut butter choices at my local store. I wanted to compare the value of Almond Butter vs. Peanut Butter. You should know I chose to buy the peanut butter based solely on the cost. The fresh ground nut butter is something I've learned to really love in my morning oatmeal. I feel like after looking at the nutritional value of each nut butter, the peanut butter is a great buy! The amount I purchased for .53 cents will be enough breakfast protein to last our entire work week if I use it that way.

 

GOOD BUYS: Next, I decided to snap a pic of the bell pepper choices. I love me some colorful peppers but when I'm eating one a day, .30 cents difference is something I pay attention to, especially if I am on a budget. However, I also look at quality when I'm buying peppers. Sometimes the store schleps off old, wimpy peppers and I won't go for that. Today I found some nice red ones for the win. Additionally, I bought a 5 lb. bag of potatoes for $1.28.

 

WHAT KILLED IT: My hubs killed the budget this week. He bought two bricks of Tillamook cheese which I will admit is a very good buy at 5.98 each. We just didn't need two. We don't even need one. We're both better off medically if we keep cheese off our plate but I suspect he went to the store hungry. He also purchased a package of pork loin chops that he'll be eating by himself for $6.45. That's okay. The man has to eat and I'm not the vegetarian police.

 

THE BOTTOM LINE: So, I'm at $190.56 and it's only mid-month. EEEKS!

 

MY SCHPEEL:  We have a neighbor who often comes over and borrows $20 near the end of the month because he can't quite stretch his money/food stamps to the end of the month. In the summer, he doesn't borrow money because he mows our lawn in exchange for the $20 but in the winter it is always a perpetual borrow. He always pays it back at the beginning of the month when he gets his disability check. Really a sweet guy. 

 

When I was a young, newly married person, we lived paycheck to paycheck. I haven't had to live that way in a long time but a lot of people do. This challenge has really brought that home to me. It's not easy making a buck stretch. I don't feel the burn from it because I know I don't have to do this. I can't begin to imagine what it's like to squeeze blood out of a turnip for a lot of people who are on fixed incomes.

 

Well, there you have it.  Do you have a grocery budget? Do you think about what you are putting in your basket? What would happen if you spent all your budget and you had no money left for groceries ... would you have enough in your cupboards to make it to the end of the month? Leave me a comment. I'd love to hear from you!

 

love, susan

September Grocery Challenge: $55.63

The entire month of September my daughter-in-law and I are completing a food budget challenge. I am trying to keep my grocery bill under $200 for the month. I believe I'll be able to accomplish this by being a smart shopper and being creative with what I already have in my cupboards. Some observations have been interesting to me. 

 

Last week, I went over budget as I had company for the weekend and I wanted to make sure to have plenty of fruit and a protein they would eat. This caused me to go over my $50 a week budget but I vowed to make up for the rest of this month.

 

Let's just say I was very frugal yesterday on my trip to the store. I bought exactly what we'd need to get through this week and with meal planning, we'll be fine. Last week, we had oatmeal every morning for breakfast with chopped up apples, banana, and the remainder of frozen blueberries. Full disclosure: sometimes I throw out the last of a bag of frozen fruit because I don't like the ice cycles that form but I used them instead. It felt good to not waste even a morsel last week. I also used up the scant 2 tablespoons of almond butter I had sitting on the counter that I had ignored.

Bottom line is that I feel like this challenge has made me really look at zero waste with a microscope. My dogs have benefited greatly. They'll eat anything so if something is a little questionable for my palate, I know they'll always help out.

A big aha moment yesterday was buying a large container of cottage cheese that was a great buy compared to the smaller containers I usually buy. I had to buy 2% instead of 4% to get the larger container but you know what? I need less fat on my plate.

Win/Win/Win

We stopped at Grocery Outlet on Monday and picked up two 2-lb. bags of organic (off brand) coffee beans and a bag of brown rice. The coffee is a steal and I prefer to buy it that way but I am rarely near that store. This buy will keep me in coffee into mid-October.

Did you find any good buys at the store this week? Wanna join our challenge?

love, susan

First Shopping Trip on My September Food Budget Challenege: It Was Tough

We have company coming today so we'll be cooking dinner tonight, breakfast tomorrow and Monday. Dinner Sunday night is up in the air.

 

Needless to say, shopping for company dinner caused my grocery bill to increase a bit. I also had to buy dog food this week. And, sugar. I quit eating sugar about 16 months ago but felt like I should have sugar and creamer on hand for our guests' coffee. It's the right thing to do. It was only a small box but added to my overage.

 

I am only going to list the items that caused me to go over my $50 budget, items I would not have purchased normally:

EXTRAS THIS WEEK

Frozen chicken  5.98

Sugar 2.20

Almond Creamer 3.98

Orange Juice 1.98

Strawberries 1.78

Oranges 1.31

2 green peppers .76

Purple onion  .99

Sausage Patties 2.98

Tortilla chips 2.38

Cheddar Cheese 2.78

5# Potatoes  1.28

Canvas Bag  1.28

Total:  $29.68

Total Grocery Bill:  $87.79 YIKES!

I was thinking about it on the way home ... I always want my guests to feel welcomed and well-fed. I don't push my eating lifestyle on anyone else but I adjust pretty well. We're going to have shish kabobs tonight for dinner. I still have the frozen shrimp I bought last week in the freezer and I'll be putting those on the grill.

 

The real question is do I have enough food to get me through to next Saturday? I believe I have more than enough. I've been eyeing a couple of cans of pineapple I had stashed away when I started bright line eating. It was recommended that I keep them on hand for emergencies ... in case I ran out of fruit and couldn't get to the store. I am not a fan of canned fruit but will eat it in a pinch. A lot of people go without having a meal in this country every day ... you'll never hear me complain about canned pineapple. The other thing is that I have several containers of frozen rice & black beans already premeasured that I can pull out this week. I think I'll also have oatmeal for breakfast this week. And, OH! A friend gave me 18 fresh eggs from her chicken farm that we'll be chowing down.

 

In the end, I know I'm going to have to be an extra good shopper the rest of this month to stay on budget due to this week's bill. Can I do it?  Time will tell.

 

love, susan

Budget Challenge: Bean Me Up!

This post is part of a series of posts as I move toward a Food Budget Challenge 2018 in September.

 

Let's talk about my first love. Her name is Coffee.  I am an admitted coffee snob. The hubs is not. I don't like coffee that has been sitting more than 30 minutes in the pot. I refuse to drink it reheated in the microwave. And, don't even ask me to drink yesterday's coffee, I will hurt you.

 

Having said that, coffee is an expense I probably could curb if I had to. Most coffee drinkers like to change up their blend. This may surprise you but I buy Yuban sometimes. Folger's even tastes good when a change is needed. We keep a can of cheaper coffee on hand for those times when a) we run out of fresh beans, and b) when we need a change in flavor.

 

The blend I've been buying lately are the house beans at WinCo. I don't know where they come from but I've discovered two blends that are perfect for my palate. The one I love the most is an organic from Peru. If the blend is smooth enough, I can drink it straight up with no creamer. If it's a little bolder, I need half & half to cut the acidity. In the morning, I just need the caffeine, so if I'm out of creamer (like I am today), I enjoy the total flavor of this nectar of the gods.

 

When road traveling, I try to carry a big thermos of coffee. We'd go broke and never make it to our destination (for the many coffee stops) if we didn't carry bean juice with us. In the instance where we've hit the road on a whim, we usually stop at McDonald's for senior coffee (that's whole 'nother blog post) which is $1 a cup and admittedly a really great cup of joe.

 

Right now, I'm spending about $9 for a bag of beans that lasts us about 10 days. When we were in Fairbanks last month, my sister-in-law served us coffee she makes in a cold brew process. You add about 1/3 of cold brew to a cup of boiling water and it's as fresh as any cup I've ever made. She makes it this way for two reasons: expense and ease. Two very good reasons!

 

In a perfect world, I'd quit drinking coffee. Not because of the dollars spent on it, but I am a total slave to caffeine. I quit once for about 6 weeks. It hurt my head a lot. I'm not sure I'll ever try that again.

 

When my imagination is running wild, I dream of retirement days where I visit various coffee houses in search of the perfect cup of coffee. I know it's out there. I need help, I know.

 

Are you a coffee connoisseur?

love, susan

Food Budget Challenge: The Taco Craze

This post is part of a series of posts as I move toward a Food Budget Challenge 2018 in September.

This is the expense I wish to curb the most. I don't have a budget for eating out and I should. I know I put a lot of money down on the table for eating out and I commit to keeping track of it from now on. Some months I eat out with reckless abandon, other months it's just too (fill in the blank ... cold, dark, rainy) to go out. I can't talk about a food budget without including this line item but in my mind this is an entertainment item. I think I need to adjust my thinking on this a bit.

 

It used to be that eating out was a special occasion. Nowadays, I just don't have the energy to cook after work. I also like to go out to lunch once or twice a month. I've got two friends at work who love to indulge me in this. One loves Thai food as much as I do and the other one likes to go different places. I once worked with a woman who said having lunch out is a working woman's gift to herself, or something like that. I hung onto that because I love lunch with friends. I do pack my lunch most days and I try to make it appetizing and pleasing to the eye. I'm a visual person, no doubt about it.
 

In the last year, tacos have become a huge fad and I'm on that train of people who love them. Luckily, tacos are cheap and when we go for them, it is usually to a taco truck or some local place over in Pasco. The hubs and I can usually eat for under $15.

 

During the September challenge, I shall be transparent about my expenses for eating out. It may take another month or two of challenges for me to get this bad habit of eating out under control and find a happy dollar amount to budget for the future. Don't worry though. I enjoy meeting my friends for a mid-week hit up at Tony's Tacos and I'm not planning on stopping that. And, let's get real. I love a super hot latte from Dutch Bros. For me, it will be interesting to see what this is truly costing me. I suspect I spend a lot more than I think I do.

 

The bottom line for me is that eating out is not just about the food. I enjoy the company. I enjoy the drive getting there. We've been known to drive 120 miles (one-way) to The Dalles for lunch at our favorite Thai place. That should go under entertainment, wouldn't you agree?  

All this talk about food, I'm gonna go make myself a fabulous breakfast now.
 

Do you eat out often? Do you have a budget for it? Do you spend more than you would like on this? Is it entertainment?

 

love, susan

 

Budget Challenge: Ice Ice Baby

This post is the part of a series I'm writing as I head toward my food budget challenge with my daughter-in-law in September.

 

I hate buying ice.  Might as well take your money, wad it up and throw it in the trash can and set it on fire.  Buying frozen water just makes makes no sense to me. Neither does bottled water but that's another story. Not only are you paying for (frozen) water, you have the plastic to deal with, not to mention what we're doing to earth with all those plastic bags and bottles. I'll admit that my thoughts on buying ice come from my mother. We used to make ice in those little aluminum ice trays. The ice always tasted funny until we graduated to plastic trays. I still don't like ice from trays unless it is freshly made, like the night before. After that, it takes on a flavor that makes me want to drink warm water. Full disclosure: I will buy ice for the cooler if we are traveling. I also buy bottled water when I'm dying of thirst and can't get to the water fountain. And, on the rare occasion I have overnight guests, I will buy a bag of ice for their comfort.

 

We use a Brita filter at my house. I bought it gently used at a thrift store and replace the filters when I can remember to. Sometimes I make a note on my fridge calendar and sometimes I think we simply have cold water in the fridge that has come from the faucet. I'm not too picky when it comes to water. Fact is, I don't drink much straight-up water. It needs to have caffeine in it. I do like water to be cold when I drink it. If I want it to be colder than fridge temperature, I pour a glass and stick in the freezer for 45 minutes (set the timer). On the rare occasion we have guests, I pour several glasses of water ahead of time and place them in the freezer and pull them out before I serve dinner. Personally, I think that's the caring thing to do.

 

I've noticed a couple of lunch places I've visited don't serve ice. Locally, Graze (a sandwich shop) does not have ice, or least they didn't when they first opened. I  have only been once. It seemed weird at first but I quickly recognized with their menu that these folks are trend setters. When we were in Fairbanks, Alaska recently, we had breakfast at a great little hipster joint called Lunch. Their menu was entirely dairy and gluten-free. They did not have ice, and we were there on a very hot day. I'm not sure of the philosophy behind it but because of my own feelings on ice, I'm all about promoting the idea that you don't need ice in your water. You can do your own research on the benefits of drinking room temp water.

 

The last thing I'll say about ice is that I don't hate it. If I'm out to lunch or dinner, I appreciate ice in my water, I do. But if I'm somewhere that doesn't have it, I'm okay with that too. I suspect I'll not change anyone's mind about ice and really I'm not trying to. This ice thing is one of many quirks that maybe you didn't know about me. Now you do. Bonus Quirk: I drink hot coffee on 100° days.

 

Yeah, ice is nice but not necessary. Capisce?

 

Do you have to have ice in your cold drinks? Do you buy it, or do you make it?

 

love, susan

Food Budget Challenge 2018

 

 

I recently read my darling daughter-in-law's blog  about becoming FI (millennial lingo for financially independent). She talks about budgets and has a sophisticated method for transparently writing about their monthly spending habits. It includes a pie chart with percentages. I don't have a formal budget written out but I do have a mental one. Of the things I spend money on, food is the one line item that I'm pretty steady-eddy on and know what my grocery bill is going to be every week. Where my dollars leak out are the impromptu dinners out. If anyone even mentions tacos or double date, we don't resist. This can put a big dent in the food budget. It is an area that I would like to tighten up. So I've challenged her to see how our budgets are looking comparatively in the month of September.  I commit to coming back here at the end of September with some hard numbers, ideas, what worked, and what didn't. In the meantime, I'll be writing some posts about grocery shopping and things I buy and my deep thoughts on it. There are some old ideas from growing up that I have been unable to shake. I'll try to explore those in the next couple of weeks.

 

Here are some things you should know about me going into this venture.

• I don't buy meat. I am vegetarian. My husband is a mostly vegetarian and if he wants meat, he has to go buy it for himself. I'll ask him for receipts so I can accurately account for that.
• I think I can feed the hubs and I for $200 a month (not including eating out) but this challenge will shine a light on my thinking. The spotlight for breaking my budget is inevitably going to be on dining out.
• I love to photograph my food.
• I love to figure out ways to use up leftovers as I hate throwing food away. Think Chopped.
• I will include dog food in this budget.
• I tend to be on the obsessed side of things so you can expect details.
• I shop at 6:00am every Sunday morning, so updates will be on Sundays.
• I play the guessing game at the register, trying to come within a few dollars of what I think I should spend. (My mental budget is $50/week)

Today, my food bill was $53.21.  The large jar of peanut butter I buy strictly for my dogs was my largest expense at $6.93, followed closely by the large bag of sugar snap peas which was $4.98.  I think $5 for a bag of peas is outrageous but I really love them and it's an expense I'm willing to overlook. I want good value for my hard-earned bucks when it comes to food. The one and only item in my basket  this week that was a total frill was the 1/2 dozen donuts I bought for $3.48. We have a guy coming over to look at the hubby's record collection and I felt like I needed to have something to offer with coffee. Splurge.

 

I'd love to hear from you. Do you have a food budget? As always, thanks for stopping by and reading. My comments don't always work properly. If you have ideas that you would share with me and you can't get them in the comments, send me at email at freezerburned@hotmail.com  

 

love, susan