Posts filed under 'Money talks'
I figure you’re probably bored with looking at my grocery receipts. Strangely, I’m not yet. This month I added up all the crap food we bought and it easily hit $50. Stuff like ice cream, chocolate, chips, etc., took a big chunk of our money. The question is, do you consider the organic selections to be junk? After all, Green & Black’s organic chocolate is still chocolate, and Garden of Eatin’ cheese doodles are still cheese doodles. We’re a work in progress, I guess. One of these days I hope to be one of those people who reaches for carrots or an apple when they want a snack, but I grew up on junk food and it’s been rather hard to kick that habit. At least we paid off another credit card.
I’ve been watching the financial stuff with interest. I find the whole thing fascinating, and not just because I’ve always thought the stock market was a poor indicator of what is actually going on in the economy. It’s about time they decided to fix a few things, although I don’t think the current plan will work. For one, I don’t think I should be punished and have to take care of the stupid decisions other people made. It’s true that the banks gave mortgages to people who probably shouldn’t have gotten them, but both sides are at fault for that. I’ve got thousands upon thousands of debt and I know I have to suck it up and take care of it myself. Maybe I could just print more money like the government does. That wouldn’t dramatically increase inflation or anything!
Ah well. All I can do is take care of me and my own.
October groceries so far: $32.07
October 3rd, 2008
As you can probably tell, we didn’t manage to stay under $200 for our groceries this month. I tallied everything up and subtracted non-food items, and in the end we spent about $237.75 on food. However, we also ate out more than we should have (especially at lunch) but those totals aren’t included.
This was our first month tracking spending so closely, and we’ll now be able to fine-tune our budget and tweak where needed. Most of all we need to curb that “Oh, I don’t want to eat, let’s eat out” urge we are used to pleasing. There were also things we bought at the grocery store that probably weren’t needed, most notably the junk food. We’re both trying to get over the junk food madness but it definitely is hard. Fat and sugar and salt taste so good!
It is interesting to track things like this. Because you are paying attention to what you’re spending money on, it makes you think twice about what you put in your cart. Even though we did buy junk food most of it was on sale. Buying in bulk is awesome. I pay more for the foil packets of tomato sauce instead of getting the cans, because one packet is the perfect size for one pizza, but I know I could buy a bigger can and split it. The “ethnic” section of the grocery store is the best place to buy staples. For some reason a bag of lentils from the Indian section is so much cheaper than a bag from the dried beans aisle. Good luck even finding a bag that big in the dried beans aisle.
In terms of our debt, we paid off two credit cards this month. We are on track to have three more, plus my lowest student loan, paid off in November. Husband has taken a side job of about 20 hrs/week doing more programming, and I’ve been experimenting with online surveys and being a ChaCha guide (more on my results later). Obviously his extra work will bring in more money than mine, but every bit counts.
September will have some extra budget issues: Bob’s birthday, buying a new carseat for Reese during the Britax sale, refinishing our starter emergency fund since we went over budget this month. Hopefully that will all be taken care of with the extra income. After that we’ll be setting aside some extra money for travel in December, and throwing the rest at debt. It’s a pretty awesome feeling to see those last payment dates creep up more and more!
August 31st, 2008
Purchased at HEB in Pflugerville
HEB large eggs (12) $1.99
HEB flour tortillas (10) $0.89
HCF 1% milk (gallon) $3.89
Dole orange/straw/banana juice (.5 gallon) $2.00
Fruity Pebbles (17 oz) $1 **sale/coupon
Crisco shortening $2.12
HEB tomatoes diced (14.5 oz) $0.68
HEB tomato paste $0.44
HEB mexican blend cheese $2.28
HEB pizza blend cheese $2.28
HEB ranch tortilla chips $2.00
Pork chops $3.01
Bananas (2.38 lbs) $1.17
Green bell pepper $0.88
Nectarines (2 lbs) $2.59
Avocado (2) $1.00
Total: $28.22
August 3rd, 2008
Since this blog is called Confessions of a Northern Transplant I probably should post a confession every once in a while, right?
Like most Americans, we’re in debt. I’m not going to give the actual number, but let’s just say it includes credit cards, student loans for me and the husband, and our car. It’s been a source of consternation for a while now, but recently something clicked and I hardly feel stressed out by it.
Part of the click has been from joining a local group centered on debt reduction. The support there is amazing and I’m learning a lot by reading their perspectives. The other thing was to actually write down all our debt in one place. I used the Debt Snowball worksheet, calculated out the number of payments, and figured out the corresponding month for each last payment. And suddenly everything was OK.
Well, not exactly, but I feel a lot better about the situation. There is a clear destination now, and the road map is pretty clear. Even though all it took was some simple math to get to this point, it is amazing the difference already, in my mind and actions.
As the posts below show, I’m tracking our grocery expenses here, and what we eat. Although we already don’t spend a ton on our food, I think this is still a pretty visible way of tracking our spending and habits. Plus I know lots of people are curious how to spend less money on food and still eat well. Hopefully I can give people some ideas!
August 3rd, 2008
Friday Aug. 1
Pizza (cheese with roasted garlic)
Ingredients purchased: none
OOP cost: none
Saturday Aug. 2
Vegetable lasagna (spinach, zucchini, onion)
Ingredients purchased: none, but I should have gotten more cheese and sauce
OOP cost: none
Notes: Lots of leftovers
Sunday Aug. 3
Pork chops w/ garlic mashed potatoes, salad, and bread
Ingredients purchased: Pork chops
OOP cost: $3.01
Notes: It was a pack of four, so two will be frozen and saved for another meal. The potatoes were leftover from last Thursday and I made the bread.
August 3rd, 2008
(we haven’t finished making the list for the month; I’ll edit this post when we have)
Pizza
Veggie lasagna
Pork chops
Fajitas
Orzo
Quesadillas
Peanut chicken
Pizza
ate at Pecan St. Grill & Deli
Beef-cornbread bake
Falafel
French toast
Leftovers
Chicken popovers
Pizza
dinner with friends
ate at Taco Cabana
Grilled Cheese
Tilapia
Veggie stir-fry
Pulled Pork
Pizza
ate at Chuy’s
Lentil Chili
Jambalaya
Mac & cheese
BLT
Chicken bacon pasta
Pizza
Burgers & onion rings
Chicken soup
Monthly budget: $200
August 3rd, 2008