craziness .....

This time of year is nothing but crazy.  We are not buying as many gifts this year but they seem to be costing us more.  We only really "buy" for our children and their spouses and our little nieces and new nephew.  Each year I try to tell my husband not to buy me anything but he does anyway.  We got ourselves a joint gift this year - a Keurig 2.0 series 300.  I have wanted a Keurig for a while so I am excited.

Our plan is January 1 to start hard and heavy with the Dave Ramsey material and get our finances in order.  I would love to be able to quit work by the end of 2015.

Last Day of Farmer's Market till Spring .....

Went to the farmer's market this morning to say good bye for the winter to some vendors I have grown used to seeing every week.  I also purchased a few things:

1 quart of local honey - $17
4 small zucchini for the iguana - $1
2 very large onions - $2 (from my favorite lady :) )

Total spent $20

Total spent so far:  $44.67

This week ......

I am trying to see how little I can spend on groceries.  Here is what I have done so far:

Kroger #1

case of water
golden oreos

$5.92


Kroger #2

1 can of pringles
1 lb turkey lunch meat

$6.10


Rite Aid

2 jars of peanuts
2 boxes of flavored water packets

$8.78


Kroger #3

1 zucchini
1 lb carrots
1 loaf of bread

$3.87

Grand Total so far:  $24.67

The pringles and peanuts are for my dh who is a snack fiend.  There HAS to be snacks in the house or he is very grumpy.  Lunch meat is for his work lunches as is the water bottles and flavor packets.
The zucchini is for his iguana in his classroom.  This morning I am going to the last farmer's market of the season.  I will report what I buy a little later.

Kroger Run

I stopped by Kroger for some groceries for next week.  Hopefully, other than some fried chicken I am picking up in the morning for a fellowship meal,  I won't need any other groceries.

Here is what I picked up:

bananas
1/2 gallon of milk
5 boxes frozen veggies
1 pot pie (free)
1 loaf of bread
1 magazine
1 bag of string cheese
1 pkg luncheon meat
1 pkg instant potatoes
1 bag salad mix
1 bag of pistachios
1 bag of raw almonds
1 pkg sliced cheese
1 pkg of whole mushrooms
2 candy bars
2 pkg ham cubes
1 pkg peanut butter crackers
1 bottle red wine vinegar
2 cans beef broth
1 large bag of dog biscuits

Total spent:  $59.35
minus magazine and dog biscuits:  $50.27

The red wine vinegar is for a new recipe that I want to try this week.  I will let you know what we think.

Farmer's Market

I went to the farmer's market this morning to buy zucchini.  I came home with zucchini, romaine lettuce and a little over a pound of stewing beef.  The beef is organic locally raised and looks amazing.  We are having beef stew for dinner tonight.

Here is the damage:

zucchini - $2
romaine lettuce - $3
stewing beef - $8.72

Total:  $13.72

I normally will not spend that much on meat but I have been wanting to try them and we are trying to eat healthier.  I am hoping my system likes this beef.  "Normal" beef, from the grocery store, upsets my stomach so we are going to try this.  My sweet man has been missing beef so this is a treat for him.

Kroger Run

Well l decided to do my Kroger run today as I work tomorrow night and I have things that I need to do before hand.  Here is what I bought:

2 bags Kroger wavy chips

1 loaf of bread

1 pkg peanut butter crackers

1 bottle vitamins

1 candy bar

1 zone bar (free)

1 bottle of mouthwash (free)

1 container of greek yogurt (free)

1 Jimmy Dean frozen meal (free)

1 bag of almonds

1 frozen pizza

1 16 oz bag of mozz. cheese

1 half gallon milk

1 pound ground round

4 boxes of kleenex

For a grand total of $34.27.  But wait,  I had a $5 gift card that I used so out of pocket was $29.27 !!!  

Previous Total:  $18.77

Grand Total:  $48.04

Left for week:  $1.96

New Name and shopping .....

I decided to change the name to a more realistic one as I was really struggling to keep my budget to $40 a week.  I am still going to try to keep it as close to that as possible.

I did some shopping today:

Farmer's Market:  $5
green beans
new potatoes

Sam's Club:  $47.15
bath tissue
green grapes
gala apples
cooking spray
angel hair pasta
white vinegar

The bath tissue will last at least 6 weeks, so $2.81 a week; the cooking spray will last most likely 12 weeks, so 50 cents a week; the angel hair pasta is for stock up as I already have one box of 6 but it was on sale, so 96 cents a package and the vinegar is stock up also.  Really for this week I spent $13.77.  The rest being for stock up.  I don't get by Sam's Club very often so that is why I stocked up.

Spent so far for this week: $18.77
Goal for week:  $50
Left for week:  $31.23