So. 7 days until pay day.
Last night, we checked the envelopes, and here is where we sat:
Food: $10
Gas: 0
Gifts: 0
Books/Clothes: 0
Fun: 0
We still have plenty of food for our meals, but we were getting low on snacks for the kids (And, ahem, us.), and some essentials. So we bought:
Bananas: $1 (always a good deal)
Eggs: $1 (ditto)
Pop: $5 (I know! We need to quit this. It's not good.)
Rice milk: $3 (Yikes! D's been "sicking up" lately, so we're eliminating dairy right now, fun fun.)
And I made peanut butter cookies. Mmm. I mean, for the kids. Yummm.
I don't really know how we're going to make it another week without money. I assume we'll end up dipping into some of our saved funds, probably the travel one or the clothing. I'm finding it hard to stick to the skimpy food budget, knowing that there's money sitting in another category. I better get to buying those clothes already.
Friday, September 7, 2007
Budget Update
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3 comments:
With the bananas, do you have any chocolate chips as you could dip them and freeze them as treats. An inexpensive bag of popcorn would make a nice snack. You could make flavored popcorn or popcorn ball treats, etc. I do understand about the rice milk, as it's expensive. I've not attempted it yet, but you could make your own if need be. We are on a limited food budget too (with food intolerances/allergies).
I bet you could spend less than your allotted amount on clothes (especially since you are hoping to transition in them). I would only buy what is truly needed for now & maybe skip out on any pieces not needed at the moment.
Rice milk is sooo expensive, isn't it. I have two kids who drink only rice milk and...yikes. Add to that a husband who only drinks soy and I swear half of my paycheck goes to milk. *sigh*
Groceries are very expensive. :) I'm an obsessive coupon user and I go to the store at off times when I can to get marked down items. (Ie: Two days ago I bought a salad kit, an salad entree kit and two yogurts for $2.15 total.) It does take some work, but it can be done, and it does not all have to be processed food or food your family will be allergic to.
E-bay can be great for clothes! Try on clothes in the store to be sure of size, then off to E-bay! Thrift stores are great, but if you need something NOW and don't have much time to dig through thrift stores, E-bay in an good choice. I've also gotten some of my clothes for free off Freecycle, but a lot of that is just luck! (freecycle.org)
Go to the all recipes website and look up the ingredient search- I've made tons of meals from weird things in my pantry by using the ingredient search. (You put in the things you have, and things you don't have, and it comes up with recipes.
Good luck! Dave Ramsey is a good place to start. Frugal living can be a challenge, but you're doing great and it will get easier. I keep a frugality blog- feel free to stop by sometime! (I'm also on the frugal blogroll.) I'll be watching your blog with interest!
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