A tight $100 budget!! Image by hoboton
Dear Friends, readers of the Serious Budgeting series, and fellow “preppers,” the final verdict is in. BUT – before we draw back the veil, let’s first take a look into last week’s success menu-wise, and then we WILL reveal whether or not we made our $100 grocery budget. Finally, we’ll talk about some of the trials and temptations we endured, and we’ll close with a “What now?” section.
Grocery Budgeting – Last Week’s Menu
Last week was a delicious week. (In my mind there are two types of weeks: delicious and “blah”) Last Sunday and Monday, we ate leftovers from the previous week (Mexican bean casserole) and scrumptious swai (fish) in addition to a huge mess of fried broccoli … mmmm. Tuesday and Wednesday, we ate thawed-from-the-freezer steak and zucchini + onion stirfry. Thursday and Friday, we ate steamed broccoli, fritatta, and “lasagna bowls.” (I was making this huge lasagna casserole for Saturday, but it wasn’t done yet at dinnertime, so we just ate all the stuff that wouldn’t fit into the lasagna pan for dinner. It was good.) To this day, Monday, we still have one more meal’s worth of casserole! It’s DElicious. Now onto the exciting part…
Did we MAKE IT???
This would be me – acting crazy at the beach. (joy) – Image by KS
Let’s see. There were four weeks of budgeting. The first week, we spent $15 – not bad. Week two: we spent $18. During week three, we spent $32 (eek!) and in our last week of budgeting, we spent another $36 (double eek!!)
Okay, so our goal was $100 on grocery bills maximum right. Well, let’s see, 15 + 18 + 32 + 36 = (drumroll please)
One Hundred and ONE dollars!! Yes, I am not kidding!! Through much tribulation, we practically made our goal! *pats self on the back*
Read on to see how we did it and what happens next!
Budgeting and Resisting Temptation:
Don’t get trapped by temptation!! – Image by Johngard
Sure we stuck to the budget, but it was tough at times. Just as I predicted, the hardest to resist were luxuries like cream, steak, etc. (It wasn’t even part of our grocery fund, but boy! that blown tire sure took it out of our budget!) The very hardest to resist were new shoes, new makeup, and, sadly, we all had moments of “Look at that shirt – it’s so cute! Let’s buy it!!! – oh wait. We can’t splurge …” or “Let’s get some steak! Hold on a sec – zucchini is 3 lbs for a dollar, and steak is 3 dollars per pound. Aww, man..”
Disappointed, but determined, we drove our cart past tempting pleasures and reminded ourselves over and over that we could DO it. We resisted temptation, and we DID it. (Lemme see, I think there’s about one dollar’s worth of loose change around the house..)
Serious Grocery Budgeting: What now?
Okay, so we made our goal.. what next? Remember, our goal was changed from Disneyland to the 4 Jesus Perez fund. So, we made our goal and what do we have left over? Three hundred green ones, which will soon be on their way to Jessie’s fundraising page. Please keep prayers with this family, and thanks so much for tuning in to the last week of Serious Budgeting!!
Mega props on sticking to the budget. I can’t believe how close that was.
And I totally know how it is to pass those things in the store and think, that’s a good price, I’ll buy that, and not a second thought goes into it until you CAN’T buy it. What a difference.
I love what your family has done for Jesus. I know he’ll be blessed, and so will his family. And yours will feel really good about being able to help him.
So, will y’all try again soon for the Disney trip?
Thanks! I know – I was amazed myself how close we were to going over-budget… it would have been cooler if we’d used exactly $100 though.
YES! I do that all the time – I say “oh! Look at that set of dishes! We need a new set of dishes, and it’s only $20; let’s buy it!!” then “I guess we can’t, can we?”
Thank you so much Erica, I hope him and his family will be blessed :)
Yes, we’re thinking about going to Disneyland after the first few weeks of September, but it’s still just a “maybe.”