April 12, 2011

EGE: Week 2!

I'm so ready for summer fruits!

It's week two of the Extreme Grocery Experiment. So far, so good!

Really, just knocking off $50 hasn't been hard. The hard part has been sticking to my "you can only get" list and not getting the extra fun stuff if I've got money left in the budget. Usually I'll get corn dogs or something for the boys if I'm under the week's budget. So it's been really difficult not to say "Ok, well I've got some money left, so let's get this." This month is about sticking to the approved list, and spending as little as possible.

Monthly Budget: $350
Week 1 Spent: $119.30 (I had estimated $190!)
Week 2 Spent: $96.96
Left: $133.74

The first week I bought most of our dry staples for the month like flour, beans, rice, pasta and our canned/frozen things. This week was the weekly perishables like milk, eggs, produce, and a package of meat. It's been interesting sticking to this, but it's given me better ideas for future months.

This week's Menu:
Monday (yeah, that was yesterday): Spaghetti
Tuesday: Chicken salad - using leftover chicken from Sunday and lettuce we need to eat. Homemade buttermilk ranch dressing!
Wednesday: Carnitas (pork tacos) in the crock pot - Pork from the store, tortillas on hand
Thursday: Tuna sandwiches?
Friday: Beans & Rice - Either refried, or something other variety.
Saturday: Undecided
Sunday: Sunday chicken, potatoes, bread, and a veggie.

And as a random note: When buying name brand butter - because there was a blinky coupon that made it cheaper than store brand - check the inside of the box when you're done with it. I bought three boxes last week and as I was emptying out the last one today (after I got back from the store of course) I found coupons for more butter. Naturally, the other two were long gone since I took the sticks out and I had not thought to check.

6 comments:

Farm Girl said...

That is just so cool. You are doing really well. I can't wait to see how you will do come the end of the month and how much you saved.

Sue said...

I am so inspired when I see young wives such as yourself having such a desire to balance a budget, and work so hard to stick to their plan. I so applaud you!
I am so ready for summer too.
Sue

Dawn said...

Again....so inspiring!
I just got an un-forseen bill for literally thousands in the mail today. Yikes. I may be writing up my plans on budgeting tonight!!!!!

Kessie said...

Great job on the budget!

You asked if I had heartburn with Claire. I did, a bit, off and on, but it was no worse than what I had with Alex and Holly. I found that keeping up with my probiotic kept the heartburn in check. Is having heartburn supposed to indicate hair on babies?

If Claire's anything like the other two, it'll all fall out and she'll be completely bald for 18 months. :-p

From Beyond My Kitchen Window said...

I can't seem to get organized enough to plan for meals or even making a budget. I wish there was a class I could take. I start out well and with enthusiasm and then slowly I start to fade. Looking forward to hearing more.

Allison said...

I can relate with Dawn here. I recently got an 8000 dollar bill, because the IRS (Swiss IRS) said, "Oh, sorry, we didn't tax you enough in 2008!!!"

Budget, budget, budget! :D

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