Tuesday, May 05, 2009

Frugality

So I have been doing pretty well with my weekly budget of $75. I only had one week where I went over in the last 6 weeks, and I blame Ashley. I took her with me, and well, I have a hard time saying no to my kids.

Anyway, I thought I would let you in on this week's adventure. And let me just note before I go on that I do pack my lunch for work most days. And Ray does the same. Now Ashley? She buys lunch normally 4 to 5 days a week, so if you add in her $1.75 for lunch daily, I guess that brings out total up a little. But I am not counting that just because I don't want to. So there.

First, our menu for this week:
Monday - Oven Fried Chicken, mac and cheese, frozen veggies
Tuesday - Spaghetti Pie, garlic bread
Wednesday - Some sort of crockpot dish per Ray's request (I will be really, really late from work)
Thursday - Pizza at Ashley's school
Friday - Out (I will be on my way to Virginia with the girls, Ray is on his own)

So this week's menu is kind of light, but I am planning on making two more meals to go in the freezer (one from this great new site and I will make a double batch of the Spaghetti Pie and put that in the freezer).

What we spent this week? $59.90 at Walmart. What we got for that? Ranch dressing, ground beef, ground turkey, lunch meat, coffeemate, cheese, cinnamon rolls, pizza crust, juice, milk, eggs, apples, rice cakes, and some other stuff I can't tell from the description on the receipt. A lot of odds and ends we needed to fill some holes.

We are also doing so much better on 1) eating leftovers and 2) using up everything in our pantry. I read an article a few months ago about a reporter that ate for an entire month on the items in their pantry without going to the grocery store (except for milk and eggs). There are things I have bought wanting to try, and I just need to make sure I use them.

I am also going to start going to the farmer's market for our fruits and veggies when I finally have some weekends home. Yes, we are traveling again this coming weekend, and then I am not leaving my home for a month (or maybe less, we shall see).

6 comments:

Kelly said...

I LOVE Once a Month Mom. I met the girls who run it at Blissdom in February and they are both so great. We don't make the meals like we're supposed to around here. I don't have anyone to share with and my Freezer is tiny. Plus tim is so picky it's not worth it to make all of them, but some of the one's I have made are staples in our house now! The buffalo shrimp, firecracker salmon, farmers casserole, and pizza roll ups were big hits at our house. I need to check out the new menu for this month!

Happy Working Mom said...

I told John I want to play a new game...each of us comes up with a meal just with the stuff in our pantry. We have a walk-in pantry STUFFED with stuff that i have bought wanting to try and have not done so yet. We would save a ton of money!

Loukia said...

Good for you! I totally have to start giving myself a weekly budget because I tend to go way overboard - always buying things we don't really need! (And I wonder why there is no room to put things away...)

SJINCO said...

I've added Once a Month Mom to my reader! I really, really, really need to start trimming back on what we spend at the grocery store each week, it's way out of control! I admire you for sticking to your budget and totally making it work! And thanks too for sharing *some* of your secrets.

Have you ever heard of Angel Food Ministries? I might take advantage of it....

Scott Franson Photography said...

Thanks for posting this, you're doing great !
Claudia
claudiafranson.blogspot.com

Pamela said...

gives me a kick in the butt. I need to really try to figure out how to be more frugal now that I don't have an income.