One Hundred Dollars a Month

Last week was kind of an odd one at our house.

The HH had a crazy schedule {that included 3 paid business meals} and wasn’t home much. I had dental work {a 1 1/2 hour appointment that turned into 2 hours and 45 minutes}. My mouth was super sore on top of getting over a cold and all I wanted was soup and smoothies for the better part of the week. Our meals were pretty simple and I did try a few new recipes though so I guess it all worked out in the end.

Fred Meyer $13.83

Fred Meyer had their milk on sale for $0.99 a half gallon so I stocked up. It seems like the milk goes on sale every two weeks and the limit is 6 half gallons which seems to work out perfectly for our family. The HH isn’t a milk drinker {unless it’s in oatmeal or cereal} and Monkey Boy only occasionally drinks a glass of milk with dinner.  I also spent a whopping $6.19 yeast and picked up a bunch of bananas for $0.69 lb.

In the past I’ve bought yeast in bulk at Costco because the price is so much better. But these days, I just don’t go through it fast enough and I actually had to throw out my remaining yeast last week because it became inactive.

Harbor Greens Market $3.99

10 oz bags of spinach were on sale for $1.00 each and broccoli was $0.99 lb. Funny thing. Each week Harbor Greens offers a few really good deals on produce {which reset each Wednesday}.

Anywho, when I went in early Wednesday morning to pick up the sale items I was interested in they hadn’t changed the price of the broccoli in the system yet. So instead of taking the time to reset the price real quick {or doing simple math}, the cashier just charged me for 1 pound {$0.99} instead of the 1.44 pounds on the scale.

Trader Joe’s $5.14 remaining balance after gift card

As I mentioned in my goals for 2016 post, one of my huge goals this year is not to spend money on nonessential items. After going an entire month without buying anything, I was feeling the need for some retail therapy. So I decided to pop over to Trader Joe’s and BUY some “fun” foods I wouldn’t normally buy with the gift card my parents gave us for Christmas.

Things I wouldn’t normally buy unless I had a gift card: fancy olives, blue cheese, pork roast, sauerkraut, fancy mustard, steamer clams, tamales and sundried tomatoes. I don’t know, maybe I’m a little goofy, but I’d rather have a gift card to a specialty food store instead of a new pair of pj’s for Christmas.

Here are some of the things we ate last week {snacks not included}:

Monday

Breakfast – Oatmeal with frozen strawberries, smoothie
Lunch – Lentils and rice
Dinner – Chicken stir fry and brown rice

Tuesday

Breakfast – Steel cut oats with frozen blueberries
Lunch – Leftover chicken stir fry and brown rice
Dinner – Grilled cheese sandwich and tomato soup

Wednesday

Breakfast – Malt O Meal with Bananas and brown sugar
Lunch -Egg salad sandwhich
Dinner – Chicken Noodle Soup and Cinnamon raisin bread

Thursday

Breakfast – Cinnamon raisin bread and an orange, strawberry and banana smoothie
Lunch – Leftover chicken noodle soup
Dinner – Spinach quiche

Friday

Breakfast – Tea and cherry danish at Panera
Lunch – Cobb salad from Panera {to go order}
Dinner – Leftover quiche

Saturday

Breakfast – Leftover quiche
Lunch – Chicken soup
Dinner – Costco Food Court

Sunday

Late Breakfast – Eggs with spinach and mushrooms, pot of yogurt and toast
Linner – Huge Plate of Chicken Nachos with guacamole

How did you do with your grocery budget last week? Did you buy anything exciting?

~Mavis

Total Spent This Week $22.96

Total Spent in Janaury $105.36

Freebies we’ve been gifted or were earned in 2016:  $200

• $100 gift card to Whole Foods {Christmas gift from my parents}
• $100 gift card to Trader Joe’s {Christmas gift from my parents}
• 22 Packets of Vegetable Seeds

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