Starting our 2018 No Spend Challenge

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alliesmama4
Posts: 8591
Joined: Sun Aug 30, 2015 10:10 pm
Location: Southern IL

Re: Starting our 2018 No Spend Challenge

Post by alliesmama4 »

Not making progress.. My utility bill came for last month and they have raised the monthly budget bill by $17.00 despite my having cut back on my use of electricity. I was pleased by how much lower the bill was last month. I am about $167.00 behind with the total use and Budget Billing. However cold weather in a couple of months I assume they want to try to play catch up before that happens.

Sitting here twiddling my thumbs waiting on my brother. He was suppose to bring his son and his SO by my house this afternoon to visit before they leave to go back to their home in Tennessee. So I did not do any canning since I wanted to look presentable and have the house in order. Have heard nothing.. I made a quick dinner for Teddi and myself.

I did go over my budget last night and did some cutting here and there in the budget. I am going to try to stick to the $22.00 for food in the month of Sept. I think I can manage it by just buying add-ins for things I already have here in the house.. So August has been a bust and September is going to be austere. However I love a challenge and looking forward to it.

Janet Alliesmama
Janet Alliesmama
Dgflorida
Posts: 4381
Joined: Wed Oct 07, 2015 8:10 pm

Re: Starting our 2018 No Spend Challenge

Post by Dgflorida »

Good luck.
alliesmama4
Posts: 8591
Joined: Sun Aug 30, 2015 10:10 pm
Location: Southern IL

Re: Starting our 2018 No Spend Challenge

Post by alliesmama4 »

Dgflorida wrote: Sat Aug 25, 2018 6:41 amGood luck.
Thanks I am going to need good luck. I am thinking more and more of going back to being a vegetarian for health reasons as well as economic. Janet Alliesmama
Janet Alliesmama
alliesmama4
Posts: 8591
Joined: Sun Aug 30, 2015 10:10 pm
Location: Southern IL

Re: Starting our 2018 No Spend Challenge

Post by alliesmama4 »

Had a frugal day. Made breakfast for myself and Teddi. Eggs are only .98 cents a doz at Ruler.. I used two for myself and one for Teddi. I make a ketogenic English muffin every morning to make a keto Egg McMuffin. Made tuna fish salad with Free tuna and three eggs.. Eggs .08 cents each. With mayo from Dollar Tree and a little bit of onion.. So it hardly costs anything to make. I usually get three meals out of the one can of free tuna.If not too hungry there is usually a little bit leftover for a snack one day. I made pimento cheese yesterday with cream cheese from Ruler.79 cents a brick.. I had canned cheddar cheese in my emergency pantry and used that along with some spices from the pantry..The pimento was the most expense $1.19 a jar. I hope they get more in stock at Dollar Tree. You can get almost twice as much for a 1.00 there. This pimento was from Ruler and only a 4 oz jar. I am completely out of store bought cheddar cheese from the grocery store. I am using canned cheese from my emergency stock up. I really need to use it since I bought a case several years ago on sale. It actually tastes better now since it has aged somewhat in the cans. When it is gone I plan on canning store bought cheese.. Dinner was a repeat of lunch just snacking with pimento cheese, tuna fish salad on bacon rind. I did add a homemade peach cobbler for dinner. The peaches were free home grown on my property. I had coffee with milk throughout the day.. I no longer have free coffee but do have coffee bought on sale with a coupon.. Milk at Ruler .54 cents a half gallon. Although I did buy another one recently and it has gone up to .57 cents a half gal..I try to keep one in the freezer for back up since I live in a rural area. Also had several glasses of iced tea. Made a big pitcher using 14 bags.. Tea from Dollar Tree.. 100 for 1.00.

I have some of the rotisserie chicken thawing out that I bought so cheaply last week.. I am going to make cornbread tonight and will make cornbread stuffing to go with it tomorrow. I have some lovely chicken dripping in the freezer from when I baked some chicken thighs a while back. Will make gravy to go with my dinner. Also have some canned greens beans that I plan on cooking with some onion and one rasher of bacon to give it a little bit of a more home cooked flavor. Leftover peach cobbler for dessert. Will finish off the last of the tuna fish salad tomorrow for lunch.

Right now things are going well in the food department. It will be a little bit more interesting in Sept due to my goal of only spending $22.00 for fill in groceries.

Janet Alliesmama
Janet Alliesmama
Dgflorida
Posts: 4381
Joined: Wed Oct 07, 2015 8:10 pm

Re: Starting our 2018 No Spend Challenge

Post by Dgflorida »

Wow. You really do a lot with a little. You are amazing.
ownedbydogs
Posts: 897
Joined: Fri Aug 28, 2015 7:26 am

Re: Starting our 2018 No Spend Challenge

Post by ownedbydogs »

Momof2Still wrote: Mon Jul 02, 2018 10:09 am Janet- thanks for the well wishes, my ears are not aching as much, but I am taking my allergy meds which I hate due to making me groggy and just drained of energy. It sounds like you did great with your shopping on Amazon. I do the same thing. I will buy items off Amazon when I have a gift card, or when it is a better price than I can get around here (or I cannot find the item locally).

Like you, in addition to keeping a well-stocked pantry, I also make sure I have a few meal items that can be made quickly. While I do very much enjoy cooking, I sometimes just do not have the time to spend to make the planned on meal (this happens more during the school year when I am working all week) or just do not feel like cooking a meal from scratch.

Yes, I do feel the need to have a stocked pantry, and when I think of the times that money was very tight, it was a relief to not have to go pick up groceries, or just spend very little and not worry about having something healthy to eat. There are also times when I am just insanely busy and do not have time to grocery shop for the week. I also think a lot of my having a stocked pantry comes from my parents and grandparents. I was raised in a very rural area and we not only grew most of our food, but my dad also raised the animals for the majority of our meat. He also would go hunting. Now, I am not about to raise my own animals for food (I have no issues with those that do, it is just not something I am or will ever be able to do), go hunting, and I do not have the space for a garden, although I am thinking about trying to grow a few items next spring/summer/fall. My parents and grandparents had huge gardens for fruits and veggies- plus there were also nut and fruit trees (walnut and pecan). Both homes had large chest freezers with a variety of meats and veggies/fruits, my grandmother canned, so the pantries were well stocked, and when things were purchased, it was bought in bulk. I remember my grandmother always bought large bags (I think they were probably 25 lb. bags) of flour and would use the cloth to make dish-towels. Nothing ever went to waste and every little bit and piece was used in some capacity.

I was totaling the money spent for groceries so far this year, and the average RM and I have spent is $54.00 a week which puts us $34.00 below the USDA’s food plan cost for the Thrifty category and we eat very nice and healthy meals. I cannot even imagine spending $176.00 a week for food which is the amount listed under the liberal plan. I am very happy with the amount we are spending and still am maintaining a very well stocked pantry and freezer- just downsizing to make it more feasible for one or two instead of four people now that my children have families and homes of their own. I still need to use up lots of items so they do not eventually go to waste, so still plugging along at that.

Used up the one lonely hamburger bun yesterday to make a sandwich and opened the new pkg. for one bun to make another sandwich. Rabbits finished off the container of spring salad greens. I used up some of the red potatoes to make roasted potatoes to go with the pork roast we had for dinner. It was the type already seasoned, and I cooked both the meat and the potatoes in my roaster oven. Also steamed a pkg. of broccoli florets (in the microwave) to round out the dinner. We have left-overs of everything for a meal later in the week, and enough pork for two more meals. I am going to use the rest of the red potatoes to make a potato salad to have with lunch tomorrow- need to go ahead and do that before it gets too hot. I am making lunch to share with a friend. She likes to eat out, and I like to eat in. This way it works out for both of us. RM and I did go grocery shopping yesterday and spent $57.00 (still within the thrifty amount) and bought a huge pkg. of ground beef to make cheddar-bacon burgers to grill on the 4th and to put some pre-made patties in the freezer for later. Much more economical to make them myself than to buy the pre-made “gourmet” patties, and they taste just as good. The ground beef was a large chunk of the total of the shopping trip. I also bought a pkg. of herb-garlic chicken breast to replace the breasts I am planning on using this week for lunch and dinner. I have a butternut squash that needs using, so I am going to use my spiral cutter (I bought the spiral cutter several years ago when the spiral fries first became so popular to make fries for my family) to make “noodles” to go with a Parmesan-mushroom sauce (mushrooms already sautéed and in the freezer). I will toss a simple salad and make garlic bread to round out tonight’s meal. Lunch will be left-over pizza for RM and a lettuce wrap for me, to use up some of the left-overs as well as some of the Boston lettuce.

Off to see what else I can do while I have the will and the energy (really dislike having to take allergy meds).
Have you ever taken Allerga allergy meds. I am very sensive to meds and they are the only ones that don't make me want to kill someone due to the grogginess and being sleepy.
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