Luckily, we've had everything work out in the end, but there have been a few times where we've had to look at all our accounts and figure out what order to pay which in, and what can wait another week.
That's certainly not a fun place to be.
And guess who gets to be there even more! Err, more like, guess who gets to fall farther into that hole.
Yeah.
Our rent is going up. Our apartment lease is up, and we have to stay here for another 2 or 3 months. Because we're moving, yay! Well, we're 80% sure that we're moving in 2 or 3 months. More on that later. But, our lease is up and they won't let us sign a 3 month lease, so we get to pay not only the normal increase in rent, but also the no-lease premium (which is 100$).
So, we'll be paying just shy of an extra 200$ a month. For no extra benefit. Woo. We're thrilled. Can you see my sarcastic face? I hope so.
This means we're in the process of battening down the hatches and hunkering down (and doing nothing whatsoever, essentially).
Luckily, I've had a head start.
A few years ago, I had no grocery budget. We were a two income household and had plenty of extra funds. So, groceries were whatever I wanted to buy. Sure, I tried to save money, but there was no hard and fast number to live by (though paying anything more than 60$ was ridiculous, and I tried to avoid that).
Then, I was no longer working. So, I set a budget of "well, about 50$."
Then, it got to a strict 50$.
For a while, that worked for us. We had wiggle room, and I certainly wasn't spending that much every time.
Then rents went up (as they do - thanks, everyone, for moving to the Portland area!), we acquired another vehicle (motorcycles are ridiculously expensive for being a cheaper vehicle, by the way), and we were in a much tighter situation.
So, I went down to 40$ a week. It was better.
Things have gotten tighter. The money wiggling has gotten worse. And now this?
For the past few weeks, and from here on out, I'm down to 35$. At most. And that's it.
That's all the money there is. That's all I can spend.
I'm very thankful that the Mister has decided to try and give up his Mountain Dew habit, which has certainly helped cut spending. I'm also thankful that my coupon using practice has helped get us to a point where we could eat for a week without needing a full grocery shop if push came to shove (from stocking up on sale prices and planning farther ahead than just for the current week).
At the same time, we've still not given it all up (which we'll discuss later this week, with May's reverse meal plan) and it's easy to get caught up in the idea of "deserving."
"We've done so good, we deserve hamburgers...we've been smelling BBQ for the past week when we walk the dogs each night, we deserve to have some, too." And that's how we ended up having Carl's Jr for dinner last weekend. It was so good. But, hot damn, is it expensive.
But, we have the food in the house to cook. I went and bought it. And brought it home and lovingly put it away (because a well stocked kitchen brings me joy) and I know what can be made, and I always try and have at least a few things that can just be thrown in the oven as options to eat.
I may deserve to have something that somebody else cooked. But we can't afford to have something that somebody else cooked.
Which is why I'm instilling a no-spend. No, I haven't told the Mister. But I know that if I keep my mouth shut about fast food, that will be half the battle of not eating it (because the majority of the time we end up getting something because I say I don't want to cook, then he says he doesn't wan to cook, and then we spend about 20$ on dinner - which is insane).
Groceries are the only thing I am allowed to buy. And that's only 35$ a week. That's it. No fast food. No trickery of convincing myself that if the Mister pays for it, I didn't buy it (I'm good at that particular sort of mental gymnastics).
We have to. There's an extra 200$ a month we have to find somewhere, and I know it won't be found in a hamburger or a pizza - though, wouldn't that be great?
And so, here's where I ask a silly question. What can we eat for 2 months that won't leave the Mister hating me? Because, the way I see it, we'll be eating lots of mac and cheese and spaghetti - which will definitely not make him a happy camper. If you have any suggestions, I'd love to hear them!
~ Havok
P.S. Grocery budget, in this case, means anything bought from the grocery store. So toiletries count, dog food counts, cleaning supplies count, etc. So, this week when I'm buying dog food (I may even be at the store *right now* while you're reading this!), that will have to come out of that 35$. I know some people count groceries as only what they eat, and we are not that kind of household.
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I'm a big fan of rice dishes, and they can have a lot of variety- mexican style, chinese style, etc. You are doing a great thing! Learnign to live well on a budget was something my husband and I did after we got married, and he wasn't allowed to work in Canada while he went through the immigration process (he's from the UK) so we had to live on my salary alone. Being that frugal for a year made it easy to save up for a down payment to buy our first home, because when he did start working, We just gave ourselves a little bit more wiggle room, and aggressively saved. It's been worth it- each year life gets a little sweeter! You don't deserve a hamburger, you deserve financial freedom to live a good life. That's worth so much more, and gives you a much longer lasting joy than anything you could possibly eat.
ReplyDeleteWe're definitely having Mexican rice burritos this week - and we'll have a stir-fry-esque dinner also, I'm thinking. I spent a good portion of Saturday afternoon in the kitchen eyeing ingredients and going through my cookbook, because I was just at a loss of what to do, ha.
DeleteAnd I thank you so very much for sharing this - we've been able to get by perfectly fine until now, and our feet are, essentially, next to the fire. We're not used to it at all, though we've known it was coming. And while I do enjoy food and cooking and everything that goes with it, financial freedom is most definitely more important. It may not seem like it now, but that's the truth.
Thank you so much for stopping by and sharing (and encouraging!). It means a ton :)
Great post! We keep a grocery budget but it seems to be more lax on some weeks. It's hard! We do a lot of rice and beans, eggs which a cheap protein and sandwiches like grilled cheese. You can also ask for cheese ends and your deli counter (basically the will come to the last bit that won't fit in their slicer and sell the last piece at a discount). That's great for Mac and Cheese too!
ReplyDeleteThank you!
DeleteI've been lax before and it was fun to not have to worry about it...now I'm doing math when making the list, when I'm at the store writing down prices and double checking myself that it all adds up to less than what I need, lol. Grocery shopping was never my favorite of tasks, but now it's much, much more complicated! xD
Also, cheese ends?! I am going to have to do some investigating on this one. They recently discontinued the larger size of pepperjack that I buy, which means more time between cheese sales and that's going to be horrible. If they have pepperjack at the counter and I can get it discounted? Oh, I'll be one happy lady! :D Thank you for sharing!
And thank you so much for stopping by! :D
Brown rice and black beans...add cumin, salsa and a little cheese or sour cream when you go to eat them. Yummy!!
ReplyDeleteWe are cumin fans - spicy is the way to go! :D I will have to give that a try, it sounds like something we would enjoy (rice, cheese, salsa, we're in!).
DeleteThank you so much for stopping by! :D