Sunday, November 27, 2016

Mundane Stuff



Target-I have a love hate relationship with the store. I can grab all the mundane essentials I need like garbage bags, cleaning supplies, and personal supplies. I can pick up basic groceries without another stop. However, I can be tempted with cute sweaters and boots, aisle after aisle of housewares, and rows of new bedding I crave. No, I have resisted. Purchases included the before mentioned garbage bags, dishwasher detergent, laundry soap, and bar soap, but nothing to give a skinflint  like me with regret. Still holding strong on groceries, I've got just enough left of my November budget  ($6.61) for bread, eggs, and either cheese or apples until Thursday. 

It felt good to get caught up with laundry yesterday and we all have a weeks worth of clothes to get us through, but had to add some basics to the Target run. Both DD2 and I needed a restocking of underwear. I am happy that the teen styles now can be bought in multi packs and my industrial sized ones come in pretty cuts and colors as well. I needed new tights, the stretching and the zippers from boots having taken a toll on mine.  I also grabbed a simple pair of black leggings for under dresses. The price is staggering for decent ones, but if I end up with snags or holes, I'll replace 2X over so just splurged and got the better quality of both.

Meal plan for the week includes: 
  • Hamburger rice hot dish with broccoli ( a humongous 32ounce bag in freezer)
  • Chicken fried rice with corn, peas, and green beans
  • Chicken wild rice soup with biscuits
  • Hamburger steaks with roasted red potatoes, remaining vegetables from fried rice
  • Penne Pasta with meat sauce, foccacia herbed bread
  • Hard shell tacos with hamburger, tomatoes, and Spanish rice (rationed the last of the cheese for these, unless I choose cheese instead of apples)
  • Meatballs, garlic mashed potatoes, and broccoli

Breakfast-banana muffins or bread, pumpkin bread, pancakes, French toast, remaining cereals and oatmeal packets
Lunches-any leftovers, tuna sandwiches, pre-baked potatoes, canned soups
Snacks-popcorn, remaining pretzels and Goldfish crackers, leftover muffins and breads, cookies


I'll amuse DH and let him do a big grocery shop on Thursday. He has been pretty well behaved for the most part, only slipping in a few extra squares of ice cream a couple times in November, and a few other incidental items not on my list. He is itching to do a big shop, which should motivate him to help me clean out the fridge later today. For December, I'm going to give myself an ambitious target of $400, which must include the added Christmas shopping. A tall order considering one additional adult for a week, and one, potentially two more for an additional four days. I will deploy kitchen wizardry and hope to stock the freezer with soups, chili, ready to warm up meats for hot dishes, and sale priced burgers and chicken breasts. 

I've been playing with some budget targets for 2017, but in current unpublished state it calls for us to save over $4,000 a month. Hah-will do some retweaking and some reality checking and see where we can reprioritize. Though concentrating on just the groceries, shaving an average of  $75-$100 per month, sure gives a boost to where I was in previous years. Anyone else setting goals for December groceries and even 2017 yet? 

6 comments:

  1. Well you already know my no money spending on groceries plan for December. Pulling it off will be a small miracle. lolz

    I went back and I've spent $3,202.27 total in the 5 months Daughter and the BF have lived here fulltime. That's an average of $640.45 a month. Eek!!! Most months have ranged between $410 and $575 of those 5. I am thinking unlike we institute drastic changes I'm not going to be able to average under $600 a month going forward into 2017. That's $7,200 a year and I am now going to go off into a corner and have a good cry.....

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    1. It seems like you've reduced eating out and take out..maybe? You do so much better than most with a household of four adults-sometimes 5. My DD ears quite a few school meals and I need to nip those down as $2.90 a piece, I know she can eat better for 1/2 as much.

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  2. Great job sticking to your guns at Target! I agree that place can be a monetary black hole! LOL
    Sadly I haven't figured out my grocery budget for December yet. I probably should since I think I could do fairly better than last year since I scored quite a bit of flour and white sugar during the Thanksgiving sales. I tend to bake a LOT of cookies during December ahead of Christmas so that big stock up should help tremendously.
    Goals for 2017 have been rolling around in my head but I haven't committed anything to paper yet. I am toying with the idea of trying to find a part time job soon to help supplement my husband's salary since our oldest daughter is planning her "gap year" starting in the summer.

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    Replies
    1. I haven't hit publish yet on my 2017 financial goals but perhaps soon. Maybe an opportunity to explore a job in an area that fits a hobby?

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  3. I'm aiming for grocery spending in December to be minimal. My ' extra food shopping for Christmas' usually comes in at around £10 as we don't eat meat, don't drink alcohol and don't overindulge on anything else. It might sound miserable to some, but it suits us, and for the last 6 years or so I've started the new year weighing the same or less than I was before Christmas.

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    Replies
    1. No weight gain sure would suit me! If we weren't still so connected to extended family I'd be so much less.

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