So tomorrow is the last day of the month, and I must say I'm pretty proud of how I've done with this challenge. I didn't do perfect, but pretty good!
Week 3 I really had to make up for weeks 1&2 ($52 and $54), so I decided I was only going to spend $30 that week (especially because I surprised my husband with a weekend out of town for our anniversary). I made my list and only spent $25!
This week I did well too. I spent $44 on groceries... Buuuuttt, 2 days later there were a few things I needed. I made sweet potato and black bean burritos, but didn't have tortillas for the next day. Also, I had cilantro that was about to go bad, and I did NOT want to waste that so I really wanted to make salsa. I went to IGA with my limited budget in mind ($6!) I wanted tortillas, tortilla chips, and fruit for lunches. I realized this wasn't going to happen with my budget, so I had to rethink my list.
I saw these amazing looking portabello mushrooms, but they didnt have a price on them (grr!). One i got to the counter they told me they were 4.99 - no way! That was more than half my budget! Instead of getting tortillas I used the wonton wrappers I already had to make sweet potato/black bean wontons-yum! I ended up leaving with tortilla chips and sliced watermelon for under $5, and made a yummy new leftover recipe!
So, my totals were $52, $54, $25, and $49 equaling out to $180 for the month, give or take a few cents. It would be easy for me to spend more than that in just 2 trips to the grocery store, so I think I did really well.
This month has helped me to see that I can be much more frugal than I have been with groceries- and that was w/o couponing at all! It also helped me to see the benefit of making sure that i have a list when i go instead of just winging it. I am going to try to keep this mindset as time goes on. If any of you try a similar experiment let me know how it goes!
