And now, the grocery spending.
Since I went so over-budget early this month, I've been having to try to make up for it ever since. This week, only $74 of our October budget was left, so that was my goal.
Here's what I spent:
Aldi-$59.75
Weis-$23.46
Added up, that totals $83.21. That's over my $74 goal, but only by $9.21, which isn't too bad considering how deep a hole I dug for myself several weeks ago. Ahem.
In November, I'm giving myself a fresh start and I'm trying something different. Normally I pay cash at Aldi and use my credit card at Weis, because it gives me 3% back on my grocery spending). I'm going to use all cash for my groceries in November, though, and see if it inspires me to keep on track. I've already got the money set aside in an envelope, and hopefully I can manage to spend nothing but that cash on groceries.
Anyhoo, here's the food I bought. You will notice that there is very little produce and not much meat. Our meat this week is coming from my freezer stash, and I purposely didn't buy much in the way of produce because I need to use what is already in my fridge. Otherwise, I will have a very scary Food Waste Friday picture next week.
You may also notice that there are no stuffed animals. This is because none of us remembered in time. Zoe, bless her heart, remembered shortly after I had put most of the groceries away. Whoops.
I know that makes my food picture not as cute. So, here's a little something to make up for it.
Next week: my first cash-only grocery shopping trip!
Eee, she's adorable! Seriously, I may expire on the spot. 😉
What a cutie pie! 🙂
She is SOOOOOOOO CUTE!
I hope your new system works out for you--I've never tried using only cash for groceries, but I expect it would probably force me to be a bit more disciplined since when it's gone, it's gone!
I have to commend you on your grocery spending...I'm single and live alone and I spent $85 this morning...granted I haven't done a big shop in a few weeks, but it's still too much. I might just join you in the cash only adventure. It makes me nervous to only cut the debit card cold-turkey though :). Oh, and cute picture!
Yes, the stuffed animals are cute, but it's the little feet and legs that are REALLY cute.
It's also really adorable how you involve your kids in the whole adventure.
I know Kristen you put these pics up just to get compliments about how beautiful your children are 🙂
Adorable! 🙂
I've tried the cash-only routine, Kristen. I have to say: it worked for me! With a card I don't exactly care how much I spend. But when I have cash, something in my brain turns on and I'm aware of exactly what goes into the cart.
Btw: I'm not a kid person. At all (and tend to shy away from any child-to-Reese interaction). But I swear, if I had little girls as cute as this one, I think I would take 5. She's adorable! You must smile an awful lot looking at such a cutie like that 🙂
@Jenny Me? You can't be serious. I put cute pictures up solely for your edification and entertainment.
😉
And thank you, everyone. This particular picture cracks me up because she's doing such a picture-studio-like pose, and she did it all on her own. I just pointed the camera at her and she did the little arm-shelf thing. lol
Reese, she (and all my kids) do make me smile a lot. Zoe especially makes me smile when she talks, though. She has this adorable small voice, and she still mispronounces a lot of things, which I love. She says "f" instead of "th", so she says stuff like, "Fink I'm all done." She also sometimes says "b" instead of "th", so when I give her something and she wants to express appreciation, she says, "Oh, banks, Mom!" lol
I love it.
Keep this picture, it is adorable. Much cuter than the stuff animals!!!!!
How old is Zoe? My youngest is named, Alia. She will be 4 on January 15th.
Just precious...the little girl!
Kristen, do you bake a lot for the holidays? How will you budget that extra in your budget. I have started baking Christmas items rather than purchashing gift. I am cutting out a lot of extra holiday spending and baking instead.
One thing I do (And I'm sure Kristen does this too!) is to stock up on flour, sugar, butter, vanilla and eggs ahead of time. Eggs can be frozen for up to 6 months and so can butter.
Maybe you posted this before but I am new here...where do you live? I ask because I am in the Bay Area (CA) and prices are outrageous! Fun site...
Susan, I do some baking for the holidays. Happily baking supplies go on sale at that time, so that's usually when I stock up on flour and sugar.
Valetta, I'm on the other side of the country from you, so yeah, my prices will be cheaper than yours. Don't feel like I think everyone needs to survive on $100/week, though...just do the best with the situation you've got!
She's so beautiful!
How Sweet is She!!
Kristen - just recently stumbled upon your blog and I must say that I'm enjoying your archives. About this cash only at the grocery store...that's a 2010 goal for me. I started on Dec 28 w/$225 for 2 weeks (family of 4 including 2 teenage girls and the $225 includes household products too). So far so good. I have $35 left and I'll be using it today to get us through the weekend (payday on Monday so I'll start over with another $225). Paying with cash definitely makes me aware of what I'm spending and what I'm putting in my cart. A good thing. I don't want to be humiliated at the register by not having enough cash so I'm fully aware of what I'm doing as I stroll the aisles.