The most interesting thing we’ve had to do so far is to dip into our supply of dry milk that I bought long ago for “emergencies.” Normally, I wouldn’t think anything of stopping at the store after work to pick of a gallon of milk if we had ran out but this week, we’ve already spent as much money as we’re allowed. So far, we made mac and cheese and tomato soup with the dry milk. The soup was just as good as normal. The mac and cheese was so-so. I don’t know if it was the milk or the slightly overcooked noodles.

For groceries this week, I spent $5.92 on (4) cans of tomato soup, (1) can of Select harvest soup, (1) box of Mrs. Grass’s soup, 1 lb of romaine for a dinner with friends on Tuesday, conditioner for a curly haired someone and a CHEAP bottle of flavored coffee creamer. Not too shabby. Next week we need milk, block cheese and bread. That might be all we have money to spend on.

Happy weekend!

Five!

Tonight we ate chicken nuggets and french fries for dinner. It’s healthy because the nuggets are breaded in whole wheat. That’s healthy, right?

This challenge couldn’t have come at a better time. We had yet another car expense to pay today that wasn’t planned for and after the mortgage check cleared, we were down to the smallest amount of money I think we’ve ever had in our bank account since we got married.

I keep reminding myself of the verse Ed Dobson spoke about in church on Sunday: “So don’t worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will bring its own worries. Today’s trouble is enough for today.”

I spend too much time thinking about how things will work out tomorrow, what else will cost us more money that we were trying to save. Sometimes it feels like we’ll never reach our long term goals because we keep getting kicked while we’re already down. All I can do is try to thank God we have enough to get us by today and remember that today is enough for me. He’ll take care of my tomorrows.

We soon discovered that since I have switched grocery shopping habits from buying what we needed to hardcore couponing, we had more food that two people could eat in many, many months. Our kitchen pantry is stocked; our downstairs storage is… overflowing.

(Enter the Eat-Out-of-the-Pantry Challenge)

Money Saving Mom and Fishmama have offered up the challenge of eating out of the pantry for the month of January. There are many reasons to do it so they encourage each participant to create her own goals best tailored to fit the needs of her family. Since we have so many different types of food stored away and an extra tight budget this month due to unexpected car repairs etc, I have based our family’s goals on those two things.

- Develop weekly meal plans around the abundance of food already in the house including ground beef, pasta, frozen veggies, and some forgotten items pushed to the back of the freezer.

- Purchase ONLY the necessary produce and fresh dairy items for less than $25 for the month. The remainder of our $200 grocery budget will go toward paying off the car repair bill.

There is a little leeway in the spending goal simply because the grocery budget also encompasses household paper products and toiletries and there are some things our family seems to always be short on like conditioner for a certain curly haired someone. Even so, I feel like $25 is a reasonable figure considering the amount of fresh veggies and fruit we eat during the winter.

I hope to be documenting this whole experience here on the blog so I can share any success (yay!) or failure (boo!) with you.

Questions?

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