Saturday, June 21, 2014

Getting to July

I went grocery shopping this morning, so I should be set through Friday at least. I have $31 in my wallet -- the remains of this month's grocery and shopping money. I have a lot of stuff "in stock" too -- dried beans, coffee, milk, flour, a few eggs, some cheese.... But I don't have much gas left. And starting July 1 my CC will give me 5% back on gas, so I was hoping to wait til then to fill up. Not sure I can make it, unless my biking plan *really* takes off!

It's June 21 and I think I'm going to have an impromptu "no-spend" week. I should have enough food, so barring the possibility of some gas, I'm going to try to avoid dropping any cash at all. (=NO AFTERNOON COFFEE EXCEPT WHAT'S IN THE OFFICE ALREADY, DAMN IT.)

It would be so cool to make it through the last ten days on only $31 plus what I already have. If I can tame the impulse coffee buying and think of something cheap to feed the people who are coming for dinner on Friday, I should be fine. Just need a little discipline. Which has been in short supply around here for the last few decades!

[Extra boring part starts here: my farmer's market/grocery bill today:

$2.50 for asparagus
$2.00 for celery
$1.00 for a basil plant
$4.00 for goat cheese
$6.00 for bacon
$6.15 for fruit
$.50 for a can of tomatoes
$3.74 for vegetables
$11.22 for dairy (milk, feta, cottage cheese, ricotta) at the grocery store

Total for the week: $34.62, but this relies on my using a bunch of stuff I already have in stock to get me through the week. I'm going to try hard in July to only use the $200 I budgeted for food, but that may have to get expanded. Or I guess I could give up dairy; cheese is by far the most expensive line in the list!]

8 comments:

  1. Good luck I think you can do it!

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  2. 5% cash back on gas is a pretty good perk. I don't use my credit card enough to really notice the benefits but I suppose that's not such a bad thing, haha. Happy summer solstice :D

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    1. Yeah, on 10 gallons of gas it adds up to like $2.00, which isn't going to send me to Bermuda or anything. But I'm trying for an "every little bit counts" mentality :)

      Thanks, and you too!

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  3. My problem with pushing my expenses from no spend weeks is that it just catches up with me in the next week. Which I suppose is fine in this case because you're waiting for the start of the new month and another pay. But I've never been able to transition from a no sorbs week to an actual decrease in my overall monthly budget.

    Good Luck with making it 10 days on $31!

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    1. Oooh, I can totally see how that could happen. In my case, my plan involves basically eating down my pantry -- so yeah, expenses will increase eventually. But right now I just want to stay inside my grocery budget for June!

      Thanks :)

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  4. Haha, my credit card also gives me 5% for Jul-Sept, but I dont think I'll make it. I'll probably have to refill Thu, and then again the following week. From my list of every day things to buy (well, whenever I actually do go grocery shopping for myself), cheese and meat are my highest expenses... But cheese just goes on everything and with everything, and such a good snack to stop the munchies! Good luck feeding your guests for Friday. Wonder what menu you will come up!

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    1. I bet we have the same one -- Chase Freedom? So far, I'm ok, but there's a long way to go still.

      I adore cheese. I wish it weren't so expensive or I'd just eat nothing but that :)

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