Saturday Schmattering-A Month of Thrifty Challenges

     

     It is the month to up my thrifty game. I thought I would spend this first Saturday of the new month listing possible challenges for the month. I guess they could be my September goals, but I'm competitive, even with myself. Hence the goal line photo. I think I'll have more success gaming myself. Like my thrifty Thursdays. I'm going to give myself  challenges in three areas where I want to maximize my life, how I spend my time, I am stewards of resources, and how I maximize our money. This list might look long and overwhelming, but many things double up in different categories, so accomplishing in one area is a win in others. 

Time

• Instead of weekend meals out, take advantage of the cooler evenings and intentionally set the outside table at least twice this month.
• Have a Sunday football day at the cabin with friends or family, bringing food from home. We can drink up leftovers left there after labor day weekend. 
• Play Trivia at least twice this month. I'll need to budget this into the money goal below because I won't skimp on ordering or tipping. 
• Go apple picking. This fits in with my buy at least 50% of my produce locally., but picking apples is expensive. The taste can't be beat.  
• Schedule at least one four way video call with my kids
• Have DS's mom over for dinner. I am guilty of not being planful and intentional about this. DHS see's her during the week, but I rarely do. To be fair to myself, she has a more active social life than I do. 
• Meet up with friends at least twice. Trivia is with friends but this would be either my mom's group, or the soup sister moms or if I can be really organized, my good friend from a former job who lives in St Paul. . 
• Go to Veg Fest with my daughter-again, need to budget for this. 
• Purge and reorganize the extra bedroom. This is the minimum for room by room attention, but I hope to get even more done with te four weekends and evenings of September. 

Resources

• Ensure food waste is minimal-track everything that has a shelf life in the fridge, freezer, and pantry when, drum roll, meal planning. 
• Purge a minimum of 6-12 items due to my three item thrift purchase last month, and an additional 2-4 items for the new swimsuit I just bought on clearance. 
• Reduce paper towel consumption and cut up two old bath rowels and consider using first before reaching for paper. I know this is old hat for many of you, but I know I rely on paper towels too much. 
• To go along with the goal of buying less household items, inventory all my cleaning products, and use up what I have, and use more natural  items like salt, vinegar, baking soda and lemon justice for cleaning. 
• Buy at least 50% of our produce locally at the farmers market or roadside stands-helping in a tiny way to reduce the carbon foot print. 

Money

• Reduce average grocery bill (food purchased for cooking in the home or packed lunches to $300) for the month. My yearly target is $5,000 or $400 per month with room for holiday shopping. Do this while still getting nutrition's and not "cheap" food. Wit my September buys, including this morning, I am at $124. leaving me to try and average $58.66 a week. We're only two people and I restocked so this should be a breeze-emphasis on should.
• With my grocery challenge, I'd like to do a couple sub set challenges. Maybe I'll get bolder than this, but I've wanted to see what I could come up with since those YouTube gals do so well feeding an entire family on these and I just have the two of us. 
• $5 meal with Dollar Tree exclusive items Edit: I've been watching a few of these, and I will need to really be careful withthe sodium content as there is little fresh stuff, and wha this there seems sodium full)
• 3 meals for $3 ($9.00 spend)
• 2 meals for $4 ($8 spend) or 4 meals at $4 ($16 spend)
• Reduce household purchases, paper, cleaning supplies, miscellaneous stuff that just end sup in my shopping carts. This includes pup's food, and I did have to buy a new 16 pound bag, and his wet food that gets mixed in, so am already into this budget a lot. Considering that, my goal is to reduce by25% from $100 to $75. I've spent $37, with a $38 balance and we will need laundry soap, dishwasher and dish soap and TP.
• Reduce eating out and entertainment budget, combined at $200 on paper, to $150 total. This will be a real stretch as with no kids at home, it is so easy to say, let's go our to eat or pick up take out. This will require discipline in our meet-ups with friends, and think creatively about the activities. We've spent $24 for the month so far and it's only the 4th. Plus, I have a lot of challenges for myself in the time area. I won't count DH's runs for lunch as I don't expect him to be part of the challenge, but hope he's in the spirit of cooperating. 
• Get a list of all the gift giving occasions between now and December 31st. Set a budget, and then see if I can beat my budget by 15% on any with my eyes open in September. Though, I hope to not be in stores unless necessary, so this is more a whim than a challenge, although I did find a something for DH, and a couple things for DH's brother's January birthday that would be perfect- at 75% clearance. 

     I think that is it for now. Talk about a mind dump onto a computer screen. I've already started tackling things on the list and setting myself up for success in others. As I am trying to rein in spending, I want to be pretty tight with anything spending related, but don't want to be time or resource foolish by passing on something that in the long run will work in our lives. I'll call them strict guidelines rather than challenge rules. What about you? Do you do better calling things challenges rather than goals? Do you give your self tight rules or more guidelines?