Update: 30 day Spending Fast, Both a Success and a Failure

Wow. I have not been a very good frugalista these days. Lately, I have been consumed by the need to spend green.  However, it has been on useful items... like Halloween Decorations. Hmmph... On a different note I have been able to slim the down the grocery budget significantly by only buying what is necessary and using what we already have. I have come up with some interesting food combinations. It's a good thing my husband isn't picky.

As far as my picky toddler? Well she is still picky. I have found the Mac and Cheese recipe from Deceptively Delicious to be just about the easiest and tastiest thing in the entire book. It has however

Confessions of a Couponholic - Either I Can't Stop Spending... Or Stuff Really is Exspensive.

So I have been putting off updating the ol' blog this week. I guess it's because I am so ashamed of the fact that I could not adhere to the very goals that I established and set forth. I blame two realities in the failure of my plan. A) I really do have a spending problem. Ouch. That hurts to say. B) In order to purchase healthy, wholesome food for your family a budget of $25.00 is definitely not realistic. Who in the heck was I kidding?

The shopping list was compiled in advance as I stated and a majority of the items were fresh produce which was prepared in order to achieve my secondary goal of sneaking veggies into our daughter's diet.

I spent $61.94 on fresh items for the week but this did also include broccoli and cauliflower to be steamed and butternut squash and sweet potatoes to be roasted. These items are for the Deceptively Delicious recipes and will be used throughout the weeks; so it's hard to say that this upfront cost will be consistent. I also spent an additional $18.32 on items that Maddie likes to eat since she seems to be very particular and not taking to my new take on her menu. Yes, this does include cans of Spaghetti O's and Campbell's Soup. A kid does have to eat!

So a grand total of  $80.26, roughly $5.00 over what our usual budget is. I attribute this to the additional pantry items that we had to purchase. However, if I truly was a person that could only survive on a $100.00 a month food budget I just don't see how it could be done in a manner where you could eat healthy too.  I am so thankful and grateful that my parents are the urban farmers that they are as well. I highly doubt that I could obtain organic produce and still maintain my family's budget of $300.00 per month for food.

Household Budgeting: When Budgeting is a Bore

Who can say that they enjoy budgeting? Me? Nope. I even hold a finance degree and have held several Accounting roles in the past. I did have my spreadsheets and I knew how much we were SUPPOSED to be spending. However, neither my husband or myself actually adhered to the guidelines that had been set.

The key to having any type of household budget is to pay yourself first. What does that mean? We set aside a predetermined amount to be transferred to savings via a payroll transfer. The remainder is used for household bills, mortgage payments, and household expenses. My husband and I keep separate accounts and each pay for bills separately but evenly. For example when my daughter was in daycare he paid the mortgage and insurance, I paid for daycare and utilities. My advice to all women is to have their own account. You never know when you will need to have your own money.

Using a spreadsheet from sites such as 10 Free Budgeting Spreadsheets  helped us determine what bills are revolving and what we really are paying for everything.  Browse what you think will work for you. Then, the kicker is for you to save ALL your receipts. At the end of the month separate the receipts by type and enter into the spreadsheet of your choice. That should help you determine where you need to adjust your discretionary spending.

For example after using the same method we determined that we could not afford pet insurance. Though we love our pets very much we just knew that we could not afford the $90 + per month payment and cut it out. We exercise our pugs and feed them well, so they have remained healthy. Their shots are taken care of at pet clinics that run on the weekend at the local pet store.

Confessions of a Couponholic: The Goals and Rules of the 30 Day Spending Fast

The 30 day spending fast is to commence on Monday, September 20th. A full inventory has been done of the kitchen and pantry and recipe plans have been made.

Fresh items will be purchased on a weekly basis. This includes milk, yogurt, and such. If making a recipe from Deceptively Delicious changes to the recipe will be determined on a case by case basis and. If an exact ingredient is needed it will be added to the weekly budget along with the other items to be purchased. A weekly budget of $25 dollars for such necessities has been set. Any surplus of the budget will be transferred to savings at the end of the 30 days.

Recipe plans have always helped us budget in the past. However, in the past we budgeted $75 per week for food. I guess that number was part of the reason that I felt so compelled to spend!

I hope to learn to make weekly meal plans and stick to what we need rather than what is on sale! I also hope to learn to feed my picker toddler in a manner that enables her to meet her taste and nutrition needs!

The 30 Day Spending Fast : The Contents of Our House

I did a rough inventory of the contents of our refrigerators, freezers, and cabinets. I have determined that we probably would survive longer than 30 days. Which in the back of my mind kind of makes me happy in case aliens invade, or zombies emerge tomorrow.Then again I have to I ask the same question, who am I kidding?

The pantry, you will note that I have 4 bottles of BBQ sauce.

As my husband is from Kansas City and we do dine on something covered in BBQ sauce at least once a week. 

I hid the Hamburger Helper in this picture!

A fridge full of condiments and no food. How embarrassing.

Actually, there are 16 eggs and a gallon of milk in that fridge too. Oh, and 2 old lemons, 2 cucumbers, and a bell pepper.

The kitchen freezer. The bananas are for banana bread.

So much better if you freeze the bananas first!

The refrigerator that we used to refer to as the "party fridge" in the garage.

As you would probably suspect from the empty Taco Bell bag, and old sushi.

The garage freezer. Note when you have extra space in a freezer fill that space up with ice.

It will help you conserve energy. This is where I am storing my purees for the Deceptively Delicious recipes that I intend to try over the next 30 days. There are also 2 large bags of vegetable broth.

The other garage freezer. This is the freezer that husband refers to as his "hunting" freezer. Most of that meat is game meat. It is true, and I like it. Lucky for my husband!

Pretty sure I can handle any spill that could possibly occur.

I must have a large family.

Nope, just a lot of back stock of cleaning products and toiletries.

Confessions of a Couponholic : When "Saving" Becomes Spending

I desperately need to confess. I'm addicted to saving money. I scour the Sunday paper for deals. I can't wait to save 40% on my grocery bill, or my daughters clothes. We have a good supply on pretty much everything and anything in the house and my cabinets are stocked full of food. Yet, something compels me to continue to buy, buy, buy. Am I stocking up for the Apocalypse here? Hopefully not, yet I buy even when I already have something on hand at home. I'm not really sure why. It's not as if I am not going to be able to run to one of the many stores within short driving distance if I run out of Italian dressing!

I'm on a mission to cut the waste out. I vow for the next 30 days that I will not buy a single thing unless we truly are in need of the item. This goes for ALL shopping including quick items such as drinks at the grocery store and the gas station.

I had to go on medical leave  recently and as a result I REALLY need to watch my spending since short term disability does not give you complete pay. So I VOW not to spend for the next 30 days! I have done a rough inventory of the items of our pantry, 2 refrigerators (It's true), and 2 freezers (Yes, really we have that much food in this small suburban abode.)

I estimate that I will be able to complete several meals with the items I have on hand. However, while I am doing the best to empty the contents of my kitchen I will ALSO be doing my best to maintain a healthy menu and one that my daughter will actually eat. Thus, I picked up a copy of Deceptively Delicious by Jessica Seinfeld and steamed and pureed a large amount of vegetables today. I'm going to give her strategies a whirl since I have concluded that I can not allow Madeline to be a picky eater when there is so much good food in this world to be eaten!