Week 3 Results

Even though spending was minimal this week, my monthly totals are looking pretty sick. I think that almost all of my categories will be in the red by the end of the month (3 of them are there already!) What I spent:

Groceries $50
Restaurants $5 ($5 pizza!)
Miscellaneous $19.50 (dry cleaning)
Gasoline $26

I definitely will increase my budgeted amounts next month to reflect how much I really spend.

Company Coming

My aunt and her friend are driving up to visit me on Saturday. I want to have a casual lunch ready and then something easy to prepare for dinner.

For lunch: pasta salad, sandwiches, hummus

I'm stuck for dinner. I don't have air conditioning, so I don't want to use the oven, or even the crock pot. I guess that means grilling, which intimidates me a little. I haven't used the new grill. It's a portable gas grill. Oh well, I'll be brave and try.

Possible dinner:
Romaine salad
Potatoes (I can peel these ahead of time and put on ice)
Flat iron steak (I already have this in the freezer.)
Frozen strawberry pie

What are your favorite easy summer menus?

Frugal Goal Complete

Well, I did it. I spent less than $5 more on food from Sunday until now--7 days. My cupboard is really getting bare, so I will have to go to the grocery store today or tomorrow. I need to make a list and stick to it so that I won't go overboard. I have most of the ingredients for these dinners for next week: steak and oven fries, quesadillas, leftover steak sandwiches, pizza, spaghetti with meat sauce, pork barbecues.

I was really tempted to stop at Subway on the way home last night, but because I knew I would have to confess to you guys, I came home and raided the refrigerator. Thanks!

Frugal Goal Day 5

If I can limit food spending to $1 for the next 2 days, I will make my frugal goal of spending less than $5 more on food this week. I'm going to try to make it until Saturday. I'm heading out to pick up DS from running camp right now. We have enough food for the next few days if we just eat what we already have--grilled cheese, hamburgers, spaghetti. We don't have gatorade. Does anyone have a good homemade sports drink recipe?

Milestone: Credit card debt under $2000!

My July snowball brought my balance down to $1984. Finally, I'm under $2000! This is huge for me because I have paid off $2000 in CC debt many times before so I know it can be done ;(

The difference is that this time I have a financial plan in place so that won't have to use credit cards again.

Frugal goal update: Spent $2.64 on breakfast at McD's with a friend. This was an out of the ordinary treat. We walked for an hour and then had iced lattes and breakfast.

Total spent $3.97. I'm getting awfully close to $5!

Frugal goal update

Now that I have announced that I will try to spend under $5 this week, I want to buy more! I'm sure there is a psychological explanation for it, but I think that it's pretty funny. I'm over 50 for goodness sakes, not a spoiled child. Self awareness is always good, right?
Spending so far: $1.34 for bread at the discount store.

Planned spending for the rest of the week: bananas, breakfast at McD's with a friend (she has a coupon). This will be close.

Frugal goal

My frugal goal for the week is to not spend over $5 more on groceries this week. DS is away at running camp until Thursday so I should be able to eat well on what I already have in the refrigerator--plenty of lettuce, veggies and hummus. I also have pasta and frozen food. I should be eating pretty well.

Rain is coming down and expenses are going up!

I'm still tracking my actual expenses with YNAB and they have been increasing. Last month, I spent 11% over budget. I overspent in just about every category except eating out. I went over in the basics like groceries and gasoline, as well as gifts, miscellaneous and house projects. With the increase in my spending came a corresponding decrease in debt repayment. It feels a little like my spending is out of control--things like AP test fees, doctor bills.
I'm starting to see that my beginning budget was not very realistic about unexpected expenses.

I hope the sun shines soon!

Silver lining

Every cloud has a silver lining...so the saying goes. Last week I had to replace the brakes on my car for $447, so my budget was a little tight for the last week of August. Instead of invading my emergency fund, I decided to see if I could reduce my food and gas spending until Friday (payday!) I just bought the essentials at the grocery store and reduced my food spending by about 65%! I couldn't do this every week, but it was good to find out that we could get by on a lot less for a short period of time. Now the challenge will be to see if I can continue the frugal trends--multiple meals from one entree and using frozen food that I already have. For specific tips on these frugal ideas, check out Frugal Food at Notes from the Frugal Trenches. She has reduced her food budget by 75%!

Our dinner menu for the week was:

Spaghetti with tomato, basil and olive oil (ds ate out)

Cheeseburgers, corn on the cob, edamame

Soft tacos, salad

Cheeseburgers (again), french fries, salad

Spaghetti with meat sauce

Chicken wings, mac and cheese, salad

stuffed peppers, left-overs (ds had a cross-country team dinner)



Not too exciting, but not too bad, since these are foods that ds likes.