So I know I said in my last spending roundup post that I was going to switch over to just talking about my $80mth spending but I realized that is not being honest. I want to be accountable for ALL of my spending, so here it goes.
Started With:$215
Refund from Target: $13.00
Payday/Allowance: $80.00
Total to Spend: $308
What IBought:
44.00 (Target) New set of silverware, shirt for hubby, faux leather jacket on clearance
45.00 (TJ Max) Bra & underwear set, nightgown,house decor
23.00 ( Goodwill) house decor, jeans for hubby
38.00 (Dollar Tree) house decor, organizational supplies, candy bar
5.00 ??? Somewhere I spent $5 b.c it is missing from my wallet but can not remember where and I can't find a receipt :/
Total Spent: $239
Remaining: $69
*I had a $30 gift card for Forever 21 from Christmas and decided to shop online. In order to get free shipping you had to spend $50, needless to say I spent more then $50. My total was $101 but after the gift card I only had to pay $74 oop
I am thinking I really need to have aNo Spend Month. Re-decorating this bathroom has taken quite a large amount of money from my spending and thankfully I am now done purchasing items for it. I can not really think what else I would need for the remainder of this month, but we will see!
I recently asked on my Facebook page for suggestions as to what topics I should write about on this blog. In doing so, I received a topic request in regards to money spent on fast food. This person said that she found that her family most struggled in terms of sticking to a budget especially when it came to fast food.
Convenience seems to play a huge factor in my opinion, as to why many people resort to fast food. Fast food is convenient, especially for busy families, young couples, and those who are constantly on the go. That being said fast food is a huge waste of money, unhealthy, and can destroy ones budget especially if purchased on a weekly basis.
In a few youtube videos I have mentioned that my husband and I rarely eat out and I mean rarely. We probably eat out at most a couple times a year. This generally occurs if one of our families comes to visit, we visit them, or someone takes us out to eat. Now the thing is when I say we do not eat out, that means fast food and sit down restaurants. Fast food however occurs extremely less then sit down resturants and for a few reasons which I will go over.
Reason #1: Gluten Intolerance....
Ever since going gluten free eating at fast food restaurants has become extremely difficult. In college I used to eat McDonalds probably once a day, mainly late at night (I loved their milkshakes and fries) However, once going gluten free I could no longer do this. In most cases 90% of the food sold at fast food places contain gluten. So unless I want a milkshake, a salad or baked potato my options are extremely limited. Most fast food places the fries are not even safe due to cross contamination or even may contain wheat. This is the #1 reason why I stopped eating at fast food and when I stopped hubby stopped as well.
Reason #2: Health...
I am not going to pretend that I am the healthiest eater because quite frankly I'm not and I have a long way to go in terms of my diet and how I eat. However, I do know that fast food is unhealthy and can lead to some serious health problems if consumed on a regular basis. Aside from weight gain, acne, and a possible increase risk for clogged arteries and heart problems, eating fast food can simply make you feel terrible. Go ahead, don't believe me...try eating a double cheeseburger, fries, and a milkshake every day for a week. You are not going to feel well and sadly many people do eat like that every day, or at least a couple times a week. Everyone knows fast food is bad for you but we still consume it. I honestly am glad that I stopped eating fast food though. Ever watch the video where they show what a year old McDonalds cheeseburger and fries look like? It looks exactly the same! After watching those videos and doing some research on my own I was literally disgusted by what I had been putting in my body. Why would I want to consume something that did not change or even grow moldy after a year of being left out...that can not be healthy! Now I am not saying fast food every now and then is a bad thing and by all means continue to eat it, but do so with caution and for your body's sake make it a rare occasion, not a daily occurrence.
Reason #3: Money...
I don't know about you but money does not grow on trees in my household and I do not have an infinite amount to spend on whatever I want. Money is valuable, you work hard for your money and with the economy how it is money is something that should be budgeted and spent wisely. It is easy to pull up to a drive through and spend $5 here and $2 there and not realize how quickly those amounts can add up. If someone bought a cheeseburger, fries, and a soft drink off the dollar menu every single day for a week that would equal out to $3 and some change every day, that is $21 a week, $91 a month, and that my friends equals over $1k a year just on fast food for three things a day. I don't know about you, but for $21 I could buy 1lb of ground beef, a package of buns, a 10lb bag of potatoes, and a 12pk of soda and create my own version of "fast food" at home and I guarantee I could create more then 1 meal with those ingredients.
Again convenience plays a factor here for most, it is so much easier to pick food up then it is to create it at home, but at what cost. In my opinion choosing fast food you are jeopardizing your health and wasting money that could be spent elsewhere. My advice if you are choosing fast food for convenience go grocery shopping buy items you can make at home that are similar to fast food items. Prep meals for the week...create burger patties and keep them in your fridge or freezer for quick meals. heck make the whole burger and freeze it and warm it up in the oven. There are plenty of "fast food" items that can be created at home that are healthier and more cost effective...and if you haven't ever made home made fries...do so NOW! I guarantee you will never want fast food fries again, nothing beats homemade fries.
You may have noticed that this weeks blog post is not titled $100 grocery shopping, that is because we have lowered our budget. We will now be trying to stay under $340 for the month ( 4 shopping trips) Instead of trying to stay below a certain amount each week, I am going to simply try and stay below $340 for the month. This may change, only time will tell, but for now it is what I am trying! This Weeks Menu:
-Pot Roast Au Jus w/ potatoes
-Baked Tacos & Cornbread
-Chicken thighs w/ parm. potatoes
-Almost lasagna w/ salad and garlic bread
-Steak & roasted potato kabobs w/ salad
-Pizza w/ breadsticks
Our Groceries:
Aldi: $40 soda water 2x sliced cheese whipped cream lettuce tomatoes gushers frozen pizza 2x fruit rope bread garden salsa chips ground beef 1lb yukon potatoes party peanuts eggs chx. drumtsticks
I spent ALOT of money this past week and I mean ALOT. That being said a good deal of money went towards buying items to re-do our half bath, something I have been wanting to do for quite awhile now. Anyways, here is what I bought this week.
Started with $433
What I purchased:
23.00 Sewing Items
102.00 Bathroom decor/Clothes
28.00 More Sewing Items
8.00 Drill bit, Power Strip
4.00 Thrift Store (bath decor)
17.00 soup, milk, medicine
17.00 P.O. Box Renewal (3months)
19.00 Cold Medicine
Total Spent: $218
Total Remaining: $215
Tomorrow hubby gets paid and it starts a new pay period so I will be getting spending money. We decreased our spending money for this upcoming pay period from $100mth to $80mth. Reasoning behind that to come later.
So $215 + $80 spending leaves me with $295. That being said, I think I may switch these posts over to only showing what I spent with the $80mth, as I would like to save the $215 which is my remaining Christmas Money.
I found out some awesome news this week! Aldi now carries an organic line called Simply Nature. This made me happy to hear because Aldi is known for their low prices, so even with offering organic their prices for these items were still a great bargain. I also found out that they will be carrying gluten free chicken nuggets from a brand called Kirkwood for only $4.99. Yes Please!
Our Groceries:
Total Budgeted: $100
Total Spent: $136
This week I was over budget by $36 but I kind of expected it. I went over budget for 2 reasons.
1. I used my debit this week opposed to cash (yes I was that lazy and did not go to the ATM first). I realized today that using cash opposed to debit really helps to keep me on budget. I have stayed on budget for 3 weeks so that goes to show using cash is the way to go.
2. I strayed from my grocery list. Generally I do not stray from my list with the expection of maybe 1 or 2 items. This week I found some awesome gluten free products at walmart that I wanted to try. Also I called home while in Sams Club and Colby asked for big box of cheeze-its which also were not on my list.
So two big No No's this week. However with that being said. My total for the whole month's spending (4 weeks of grocery trips) is only $436... so only $36 over budget for the whole month. I think I can handle that haha
This week sadly I spent more then I really wanted to. That being said it was alot of little things needed for the home, and Colby needed a haircut. Instead of taking the money out of our account I opted to use my money to pay for it. That being said here is what I bought this week:
Imake this cake every year for my Hubby's birthday. It is the ONLY time I will make it for him. This cake contains very simple ingridents that most of us have on hand anyways, however it is a very time consuming cake. Creating the cake batter alone takes me close to an hour, then add in bake time, cooling time, time to make the icing, and chilling the cake so the icing can harden. Like I said, a very time consuming cake. That being said Hubby LOVES this cake and it is well worth the efforts to give my husband something he loves for his birthday. Another plus with this cake is that since it is flour-less it is naturally gluten free. That being said lets move on to how to make this bad boy.
Ingredients Needed:
12oz semi-sweet chocolate chips 8 eggs (separated) 1/8 tsp cream of tartar 1/2 cup butter pinch salt 1 tsp vanilla 1/2 cup granulated sugar
Icing: 8 oz heavy whipping cream 8 oz semi- sweet chocolate chips
How to Make the Cake:
*Preheat oven to 350 degrees*
1. Melt chocolate chips and butter together in a double boiler on med-low over the stovetop
2. Once melted and combined place aside to cool
3. In a mixing bowl whip egg whites until soft peaks form
4. Next whip sugar into the egg whites (2tbs of sugar at a time)
5. Set aside
6. Whip the egg yolks in a separate mixing bowl until thick and lemony in color
7. Slowly add in vanilla and cream of tartar
8. With your mixer on low speed slowly incorporatethe chocolate butter mixture and the salt
9. By hand gently but brisklyfold in the meringue mixture
10. Bake at 350 degrees for 35-45 minutes in a water bath
11. Once removed from the oven turn onto cookie sheet and place in fridge to chill
How to make the Icing:
1.On the stove top bring the heavy cream to a boil sitrring often
2. Once cream has reached a rapid boil remove from heat
3. Immediately add chocolate chips to the cream and stir until melted
4. Let the mixture cool to room temperature but still pourable
5. Remove chilled cake from fridge and pour icing onto the cake
6. Place iced cake bake into the fridge and let chill until icing hardens.
So this week for groceries I found myself needing quite a few household items. I was worried because those items generally aren't cheap and can add up quite quickly. However, that being said I remained within my $100 budget for the third week in a row. WOO HOO!!! Hubby is so proud that I am staying on budget with groceries this month. It has def. required ALOT of work, patience, and sticking to a list (if it isn't on my list, I have not bought it) So with that being said onto the meals of the week that I will be making with my lovely items I purchased!
This weeks meal plan:
Breakfast (eggs, bacon, strawberry french toast)
Breaded fish, homemade chips, mac n cheese
Burgers w/ fries and corn
Cheese stuffed meatballs and salad
Shrimp Pasta Alfredo w/ broccoli
Garlic butter chicken and cheesy hashbrowns
and finally Tacos
***This week I let hubby choose 4 out of the 7 meals. I have come up with a new meal planning board/system that will allow him to contribute his thoughts on what he wants to eat that week. More on this to come in future video/blog post.
Our Groceries:
We ran out of drinks 2 days before I normally go grocery shopping, so I had to make a quick trip to the store for drinks.
Total: $15.00
Giant Eagle: $35.00
kitchen cleaner
stove top cleaner
dishwasher tabs
quart milk
juice
mushrooms
apples w/ caramel packets
tomatoes
cuties
Aldi: $50.00
shredded hashbrowns
10lb potatoes
2lbs ground beef
4 cans soup
dish detergent
2 pks sliced cheese
2 bags choc. covered chips
pasta sauce
alfredo sauce
boxed pasta
italian bread
2x chicken cordon bleu
sour cream
shredded cheddar
shredded mozz.
flour tortillas
crunchy taco shells
lettuce
3x paper towels
aluminum foil
Total Budgeted: $100
Total Spent: $100
I really cut it close today but I paid attention to every item that was scanned and was ready to put back any items we didn't absolutely need.
***One thing I should point out, is why you will never see numbers such as 49.97 or 10.50, etc. The reason being is I ALWAYS round up. If my total was $49.97 I automatically raise it to $50. Any change I may receive back goes into the pouch I carry for this purpose. Once the pouch is full I will take it to Coinstar. The change that we save doing this will go to other categories such as our Christmas fund or Vacation fund.
Today Colby (my hubby) turned 24 years old! Seems crazy that 7 years ago we started dating. That is ALOT of birthday's to celebrate together. We did not go out for his birthday or even do anything special. We simply spent time at home relaxing.
I did however make him a special dinner (Steak with loaded Mashed Potatoes , his favorite)
I also made him his Chocolate Decadence Cake which is his all time favorite cake. Unfortunately it is a very time consuming cake and so it is a "Special" cake and he only gets it once every year, on his Birthday!
With that being said I hope my husband had a great day and enjoyed his presents, dinner, and cake!
