Friday, January 18, 2008

January Frugal $400


Well, we are past the halfway mark of this first month of my challenge of $400 for the grocery/household budget. Sadly, there is little money left in my wallet. Where did it all go? Well, I'm not quite sure, frankly. Something tells me that if I'd stop taking out a dollar here and there for a Diet Coke than I'd have a lot more. I've been stuffing receipts in there and really need to do an audit to see what happened. I have shopped for grocery deals, CVS and the miscellaneous and our pantry is fairly stocked at this point. So that was the $400 part and now it's time for the frugal.

I'm going to be working hard to use what we have in creative ways. We have been getting expired/near expired organic products through a local warehouse which was out of commission for the holidays. They were back in business this past Tuesday and now I have several new grains to work with and lots of yogurt (did you know this stuff freezes?) for the kids to snack. I picked up some cookbooks from the library yesterday. We'll see what happens there. I plan on using my $28.00 in Extra Care Bucks for milk, eggs and diapers if we need. The rest of the budget money will go towards fresh fruit.

I'm thinking about adding to my blog recipes for large families. Non processed/ pantry friendly (things you already have)/ easy recipes that will feed 10-12 for little cost. Or course a smaller family could split it in half and freeze some for later I suppose. Anyone interested? What kind of recipes would you like to see?

I'm already thinking ahead to February and what I could do to avoid the mid month pinch that I feel now. More on that at a later time.

9 comments:

Cindy-Still His Girl said...

Bring on the recipes, girl! I'd love to see CHEAP recipes that are good for you, too. Basically, I want it ALL. ;)


Praying God multiplies the cash in your wallet for the rest of the money.

Heather L. said...

can't wait to hear about the recipes!!!

Catherine said...

I always like to see recipes!

Is the place where you're finding cheap organic stuff a secret?

Saralyn said...

As an ADD cook--I'm easily bored by food and often go 6 months before repeating a recipe simply because I forget about it--large recipes that can be split sound great. I'm trying to get into the discipline of cook one/freeze one in order to break the habit. You could also start some sort of show and tell with recipes. The more the merrier!

Kacie said...

There are some simple online (and free) programs out there that can help you track your spending. That way, you can know exactly where your money is going.

Sarah said...

I would love to see easy and inexpensive recipes. I feel like I no longer know how to cook...I'm uninspired and sick of the usual. All of my cook books are from my pre baby days and all of the recipes are complicated.

Milehimama @ Mama Says said...

THAT would be awesome! I do get tired of recipes that call for a can of cream-of-something soup, but only serve 4, so by the time I multiply it for all of us it costs $5 just for the soup!

I'd like to see other families tried and true recipes, and perhaps freezer friendly/easy make meals.

Anonymous said...

I love soup...it's easy, fast and I think it's cheap, although I haven't broken it down. I bet you make a lot of different kinds of it.

Let me know if you make it through the month with 400.00. I bet you can!

Andrea said...

Oh my word! That's quite a budget to work with! You have NINE people AND include the daiper cost in that? We only have 6 people and I have been struggling to get $350 to work for TWO weeks! I will admit that I was not raised very frugally, but I am really trying to save more and more (especially as the 3 boys grow). Thanks! I'll keep an eye on your blog for frugal ideas!
Andrea