Another Self Imposed Grocery Challenge

What did we end up eating the last week?

Sunday-leftover lunch, DH frozen pizza, DD2 and I hotel picnic
Monday-DH Chicken Cordon blue(frozen ones to just bake) and rice, DD2 and I stopped and shared assorted DQ items, surpsingy with no ice cream
Tuesday- Baked chicken, mashed potatos, creamed corn
Wednesday-DH and I went out for date night, DD2 leftover chicken cordon blue and rice
Thursday-Ham and cheese toasted on bagette (bought a $0.51 bagette at Walmart clearanced, spinach salad, DD2 ate at her friends
Friday-Spaghetti and meatballs, spinach salad
Saturday-Tuna croquettes/cakes, sweet potato wedges, green beans. DH and I also had some wings with our beers when we joined friends for an ealry evening out 

I'm tallying the numbers after a quick stop for mailing envelopes, milk, bananas, eggs and a couple avocados. I have a tad bit over $106 for the remainder of the month. With what I have already purchased that will go towards Easter, I'm giving myself a $45 budget for everything else for th holiday meal, leaving me with $61 the week of March 18th and 25th. I am going to be tight fisted with my families money-we have big plans and fancy meals at home don't play into them. Humble and satisfying is my mantra. It time for a grocery and household supply inventory. Planning ahead meals with what we have on hand is my starting place. I will need laundry soap, fabric softener, and toilet paper, and  dog food for pup, so should plan to set aside $25 for these items. I also can prorate into April $20 for some health and beauty and baking products purchased in larger quantities to maximize savings, giving me $56 for straight up groceries, or a $28 target per week.

I think it is easiest to start with the main portion or protein when I look at what's on hand to eat from the stocks. Meat proteins aren't that plentiful, since there hasn't been great deals and I've been trynig not to overbuy. Still, there are options to get me started.

1 bag, 22 ounces Simeks prepared meatballs-three meals worth
2 large Smoked Sausages
1 Sausage ring-still lingering around from previous meal planning weeks
1 package hot dogs
1 pound dried navy beans
2 cans black beans
1 can garbanzo beans (but will probably reserve to make a pasta salad with tomatoes for my lunches)
6 cans tuna (though I should reserve a few for lunches when we don't have leftovers handy)
1 dozen eggs
8 ounces cheddar
4 ounces pepper jack
4 ounces Colby
1 pound Velveeta-please, no judgment, bought by DH

We don't have much in the way of canned or frozen vegetables, so I think a lot of the budget will go towards fresh or canned/frozen versions of those items. We also must have fresh fruit, though we do have enough bananas, apples, and honey dew in the fridge for about 2-3 days after this weekend. I also have frozen berries and mixed fruit and canned pineapple.

Looking above, here are a few meal options to get me started. An * means I do not have these items, or we are low and will need to be purchased.

Meatballs and gravy, potatoes* and vegetables*
Penne pasta and red sauce with meatballs
Sliced Smokes sausages in spicy black beans and rice, steamed corn*
Hot dogs on buns* with french fires* and baked beans
Ring Sausage, au gratin potatoes*, green beans*
Navy beans soup, with carrots*, celery* and onions, crackers* and cheese slices
Tuna noodle hotdish, with peas*
Homemade baked macaroni and cheese, mixed vegetables*
Rice crust cheesy quiche with steamed broccoli*, honeydew
Grilled cheese using the Velveeta, again no judgment please) sandwiches and tomato soup
Tuna cakes or croquettes (my croquettes were more like tuna cakes), rice pilaf, and some sort of vegetable*

My * items roughly come to $14 in my head. Add milk and bread, another bag of apples and a few more bananas, I will most likely be at around $23, leaving me a few bucks and several meal options to take into the following week. I am such a nerd when it comes to these things, but the challenge has me fueled. Can I get those items for less than $13? What about my $25 set aside for household items that are not groceries? Can I get pups dog food on sale or find a coupon? Can I creatively come up with a new recipe or two that my family likes and is healthy? What about snacking? Can I maximize my baking supplies, popcorn, and miscellaneous food items for quick on the go snacks without using too much or any of the budget there. The game is on folks.

Someone's pantry-not mine. 

The Entertainment Budget

We unofficially have an entertainment budget of $150 per month, but realized with eating out, wine club and other things that have come up, we were routinely going well over it. We are good at justifying things, moving things around to different categories, but still not being honest that we were spending more than our paper budget called for. With the cancellation of the wine club, we will no longer have  "free" wine to supplement gifts, but can redirect the funds elsewhere to do activities more intentionally. We work hard during the week, but doesn't everyone? Do we deserve to go out more often at the expense of bigger priorities? To myself I say "No." Still, all work and no fun, not joining in with other people, not enjoying the good stuff of life is not the answer either. I'm still not sure what a reasonable entertainment budget, including meals out, should be for us. 

I'm going to start figuring out an average running rate and see where it comes out over a period of a few months. I'll also try and track the times we bypassed going out. I can look back over where we spent, where we passed and determine if we are putting our entertainment budget in the right areas. I'm going to use entertaiment loosely to include all activities that are activities beyond the normal needs living. I won't count school activities, gifts to people, or activities that are gifts to people. DH's work lnches and my occasional work lunch and coffee meetings won't be counted. Work expenses, perhaps? I will include costs to host and be hosted (bringing an appetizer, bottle of wine etc.), activities I hope to do more of. I'll only count DD2's activities if she was part of the family or one to one outing with one of us. She has her own spending money for her things. I also won't count travel as that is partially a budget category and partially a targted savings goal.

March so far, our activities look like this. I've not been feeling terrific on weekends and the added snow has made us both hibernating bears, so social life has been nonexistent. But we have plans to meet friends for a green beer tonight and have some friends over for cards next weekend. Because entertainment should add value to life, I will add a wow value of 1-5, with 1 meaning, bleh activity and we would have had abelow better time staying home, and 5, worth every penny spent. Most will end up with a 3, but I'm hoping we find some clear 4's and 5's.

• (3)Chinese Take out $25 and Netflix family movie night $0
• (4)Parking pass for DD2 and me Sculpture Garden $4. It was colder and wetter than it looked, so we didn't stay as long and couldn't get to many of the sculptures without drenching our feet in ice cold puddles or this woudl have been a 5. Otherwise, a great way to spend an afternoon for just the cost to park. We had free parking though and a free museum vist at the (5) Mia museum. 
• (3)Movie Theater DH and DD2 to see Black Panther $16 (this might have actually been February-can't remember now)
• (5) Take and Bake Pizza, $0 (old coupon expensed back in November), Netflix family movie night, gave a 5 as we spent nothing and had our teenager with us for two hours!
• (3) Date night dinner out, DH and I $30

Passed on Activities

• I didn't go to a girls card night, but it was the night before a 5:00 wake up call for show choir and I was chaperoning.
• We didn't join in with another family snow sledding. Neither DD2 or I was feeling it and DH was working. 
• DH wanted to go out for a Fish Fry a week ago, but instead we stayed home. We most likely will meet up with extended family that we will not see Easter on Good Friday for one. 
• We also passed last night on a Fish Fry as I had already planned to make spaghetti and meat balls. The group ended up not even getting inot the place they wanted and went to a place that DH does not like going for fish.

When the weather warms up, we'll have more outdoor opportunities for entertainment, which almost always jumps the point value up for me. We have months where the amount of homebody time is rare, so these quiet months are fine by me. I'm on the look out for more things DH and I can enjoy as a couple besides going out to eat and things all three of us would enjoy. Our time with our youngest is fleeting, so a nice night in with dinner and a movie is not a bad night of entertianment though. How about you? Where do you put your entertainment budget? For those of you with teens, what activities do you all enjoy together?  

February Wrap Up

The piggy bank is back. February was a tough month financially with doctors visits and $85 co-pays, prescriptions, and three show choir weekends. Add to that, generally being run down and being budget consciousness was thrown out the window in efforts to bring comfort to us all. We now have an additional car to insure. Three funerals for flowers and memorials was sad icing on the financial cake. I added nothing to the December fun money budget, and I didn't add anything to the "found money" canister. I don't think there were any Perks to Cash, my plan for treating gift cards, and extra perks the same as cash. In spite of that, we still put some funds away. I don't ever want to forget that in my tight times, I'm better off than most.Still, budget plans and lackluster progress towards a financial goal is humbling, but also continued inspiration to spend wisely and within our values.

February Wrap Up

Annual Savings Goal          $40,417
January Deposits                $ 2,200
February Deposits               $1,283
Perks to Cash                     $      32 
Savings Goal Balance          $36,902



December Fun Money        $     480
January set aside               $       70 
February Set Aside             $         0
Savings Goal Balance         $     410

Any month that is not having us tap into savings and putting some aside is good. DH had one low, one moderate check and mine are always the same. March though, with some planning, should be an opportunity to infuse the savings. Three paychecks for me, and, I was very late putting in some medical reimbursement for 2016, so after giving DD1 back some of her out of pocket money, we should have another $500 approximate to put in savings. I keep saying I need to figure out how to bring more cash in, perhaps through selling things we no longer use or love, but haven't put the plans into action. There's me keeping it real, keeping me honest.