Monday, January 4, 2010

A Small Success

Irv and I did our grocery shopping yesterday morning. If you recall, when our new budget starts on Friday, we are going to attempt to only spend $150 a week on food and household items. That includes any carry out food we happen to buy.

Well, I am happy to report that we only spent $100 at the store yesterday. Now before you start jumping up and down celebrating our success, let me add that we didn't need any laundry soap or softener or coffee or any "big ticket" items.....so this was strictly food for the week. I'm not sure what will happen when we need those things.

We shopped carefully, and I had looked in the cabinets and freezer to see what we already had so we weren't buying things we really didn't need. I didn't add things up as we went because I really wanted to see if we could do it and still buy what we wanted. We have plenty of food for the entire week and if we were on our budget, we would have $50 to spend on carry out if we wanted to.

Today I start working out and walking too, and I'm not sure how that is going to go. It's a lot to try to fit into an already busy schedule....but my plan is to put me first and that is what I am going to try to do. With that said...it's time to get going. I have to work today!

Make it an awesome day for yourself.

12 comments:

Lanyardlady said...

Congratulations on both the budget and the exercise! I know how hard it is to manage both. I can spend $100 in 15 minutes if I'm not vigilant.

My Inspired Reality said...

Kathy, great job on the budget. Congratulations, you need to celebrate all the small victories:):) As for the exercise, I know you can do it. Once you get through a week, you will find that it becomes part of the routine. For me, getting through the first week is always the tough part:)

Cathryn said...

I read a long time ago that it only takes 3 weeks to form any habit. So congratulations on both the budget and exercise! You're on your way to building new habits!

Joyce said...

Great job on the shopping! I am going to try my best too, to do better at the store. Get organize with my time so I can put in more hours from home, do more in my etsy shop (haven't yet) and blog visit, take some classes, along with other things tossed in the mix. You are for sure off to a great start. xo

Anonymous said...

Success right away! Yay!

Oklahoma Granny said...

Congrats on your successful shopping trip. Maybe when the real budget starts, if you have that much $ left over you could put a little aside for when you need the big ticket items and still have carry out food $?

Ms Sparrow said...

Now that the little girls are gone,
I have to stock up on groceries too. Like veggies and salad stuff.
I'm really looking forward to making a pot of grown-up soup. No more spaghettios or Dora soup.

Kittie Howard said...

Congratulations, Kathy! You're doing it! Yippee! Why not forgo carry-out and put that $50.00 aside? One week without carry-out isn't much.

Holly (me.) said...

Yay, you for starting to exercise and coming in under your planned budget!
Have you heard of the Grocery Game? It's a system that can help one learn how to use coupons and sales together to trim the budget. It is a subscription service ($10 per month?), but the savings on cleaning supplies and toiletries will likely make up for the fee.

Matty said...

It's interesting that you include non-food items like soap, laundry detergent and such in your grocery budget. I guess it's easy to do that since most people get those items at the supermarket.

For us, we only count consumables in our food budget, and take-out. But that's what works for us.

Glad to see you stayed under budget.

gayle said...

I knew you could do it!! Yea!! The weeks you have to by big ticket items just try to cut something out ..you can do it.

I too started working out today !!! We can do this!!!

Beth Anderson said...

Way to go! Stick with it. I agree with Kitty - can you forget about the take-out this week and "bank" that money???
Pat yourself on the back Kathy!

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