Well I was doing fairly well on trying to only spend HALF of my usual $250 Food/Toiletries Budget in February.
The 1st week of Feb. I did great until I took the BIL to the grocery store and went inside.lol I only spent about $83 that week total.
The 2nd week of Feb. I did GREAT! I didn't spend a penny of the budgeted $!!
The 3rd week the funeral happened so I broke down and bought some hot foods and baked goods at the grocery store to serve while Hub's family was here. I consider this week unusual circumstances but I still spent about $60 on food.
For the 4th week I am trying to stay out of the grocery store again to salvage my $125 goal. At the moment I am at $115.27 spent on food in February. So I have just over $9 left in the budget.
Saturday we are eating out for #2 son's Birthday so I only have 6 days to meal plan.
MEAL PLAN Feb. 20th-Feb. 26th
Sunday--BAKED ZITI & SALAD *This used up stockpiled cheese, pasta, sauce and sour cream I had gotten on dairy dept. clearance a few weeks ago. I also added some ground beef(stockpiled in the freezer)to the sauce. I make a double batch so we'll be eating this another meal too.
Monday--LEFTOVERS *We finished up some Chili, some had more of last night's meal, and some leftover Chinese take-out from the weekend
Tuesday--CHICKEN AND DUMPLINGS *I'll be using up the leftover Baked Chicken Hubs bought at WeisMarkets that we served on Wednesday to the relatives before the funeral. I'll add some more stockpiled chicken to make this dish and make the Dumplings from scratch. We'll have enough for another meal or for leftovers.
Wednesday--BOSTON BAKED BEANS AND CORNBREAD *One of my crockpot meals that makes more than 1 meal's worth.
Thursday--LEFTOVERS
Friday--FISH, FRIED ZUCCHINI, FRENCH FRIES *Using up some potatoes, stockpiled frozen fish and digging into a large bag of breaded zuke rounds.
Saturday--Birthday meal out for #2 son
Lots of filling, hearty comfort foods due to the weather here and the apres funeral comforting needs of my family. ;-)
The only item that I need to buy for these meals is some carrots for the Chicken and Dumplings. I'll probably buy some salad greens as I like to have them on hand and some lunch meat for sandwiches.
That will take care of my $9 that is left.
As for not spending on non-food items, all the toiletries have been free from Rite-Aid, as I've been using my +Up Rewards and free gift cards there.
I am not one to shop for non food/toiletries much so I don't have a problem staying out of those kinds of stores. Except, with the funeral we had to buy #1 son some dress slacks and #2 son some slacks and a dress shirt, since they didn't have anything appropriate to wear to the service. We did do some shoe borrowing so nothing was spent on footwear, but we did spend $60 on the clothes. If I had had more time to find the stuff, I would have hit the thrift store and saved money of these things. Oh well.....sometimes you have to spend in an emergency.
So are you doing a No Spend or Low Spend February?
How is it working out for you?
Has it been easy or difficult to stay the course?
Leave a comment and let us know!
Sluggy
We are actually doing a bit better with Den doing most of the shopping. I still get all of the toiletries but I'm sad to say I don't get a lot for free. -sigh- no rite aid!
ReplyDeleteHi there! I'm doing a low spend February. Like you, I'm digging into my freezer more and using up some of my stockpiled food. I found a bunch of beef broth in there, and I am going to make a big pot of cheeseburger soup with it, since I have a bunch of stockpiled ground hamburger.
ReplyDeleteI really, really wish I had a Rite-Aid in my area; that would help out alot with non-food items.
I am sorry that you have suffered a loss in your family; may God comfort you all!!!
I think you did remarkably well under the circumstances.
ReplyDeleteSonyaAnn--You have my deepest sympathies on the Rite-Aid situation. 8-(
ReplyDeleteAMarie--Thanks much for your kind words.
I reorganized the freezer and was amazed at what I found in there that I had forgotten about. Your soup sounds good...you need to post the recipe once you get it made!
Frances--Thanks gal! I see Chance got back safely....yay! 8-)
I'm so sorry about the funeral! I must have missed that somewhere.
ReplyDeleteI try to do a No Spend Friday. THAT I could do.
I just did a quick tally of the month and I have about $36 left - and that's to stay under the budget that's already $100 more per month that how I started the year (started hoping for $200/mo, failed horribly in Jan, now looking at just coming in at $300/mo - meh). I guess it's our somewhat abnormal eating habits and various OTC things that do in my good intentions :)
ReplyDeleteI think under the circumstances, Sluggy, you've had an excellent February. Emergencies screw up all sorts of things when they happen, including plans and budgets.
McVal--I like your No Spend Friday idea. Maybe I need to ratched DOWN my $ ambitions...lol
ReplyDeletePretty--I think the inflation is going to throw everyone's budgets into turmoil. It's going to become more about "I was able to ONLY overspent my budget this month by XXX$" rather than how well under or on budget we can do. How sad is that? 8-(
If I were you, I'd separate the food and OTC/Toiletry numbers/monies....or make the OTC it's own line item. I think if you took OTCs out, your food budget would look good again.
Very good idea about separating out the OTC stuff. I may do that come March 1st. Thanks for the suggestion!
ReplyDelete