January challenges...

I can't believe it is already January 6th - time is already flying!! I really wanted to try and put extra money away this month and now we'll be working hard to stay within budget. How did that happen 6 days in you may wonder?! Well, we ordered a couch for the basement and put a deposit down to order it.

I decided to put the deposit under our monthly household expense to force us to cut spending (dh is all about the bottom line so I'm tweaking it a bit LOL). We have $120 left in our household budget for January... the good news is that we don't need much and I've already bought dog food and heartworm meds so dog expenses are complete for this month. We're stocked on TP, paper towels and most other household items. I have a specific list for Target and CVS and should be able to get through both for $50 at the most (hopefully less). I won't hit those stores until later this week when I'm on that side of town.

I did sit down and create menus for 3 weeks. These menus take me through most of January. I shopped for the next week (with some sales extras included) yesterday at the grocery store and spent $98. This total included Lean Cuisines for dh while the girls and I are away for 5 days later this month ($12 for 6 plus a free container of skinny cow ice cream treats). The Lean Cuisines are healthier and cheaper than dh eating heaven knows what while we're gone! I also stocked up on yogurt for dh and I since it was on sale and I had coupons. I was pleased with my grocery total.

I also made it to Costco and stocked up on ground beef, chicken, bread, OJ and organic chocolate milk boxes for the month. The chocolate milk boxes will last for a few months since they are a Friday lunch box treat - the girls drink water at lunch during the rest of the week. I spend $126 for the month. I should not have to walk back in... and the best part was that I stuck to my list and did not buy anything that was unplanned! Mission accomplished.

I did take an hour or so yesterday to separate and prep the ground beef for freezing. I cooked up 5 pounds of it and separated out an additional 1.5 pounds to freeze uncooked for meatloaf. I'll use the 5 pounds of cooked meat in chili, pasta sauce, casseroles or tacos. And the best part is that it is already cooked which will make meal prep easier down the road. It took some time up-front, but I multi-tasked and got some other things done in the kitchen at the same time.

We did go out to eat over the last week in spite of my goal to avoid that very thing. The only good thing I can say about it is that dh and I used our allowance money to pay for it so nothing came out of the budget. I am hopeful we can avoid eating out over the next week and I've planned menus and lunches to avoid that very thing!

My goals for the following week are to avoid eating out and to exercise 3 times (baby steps). I also need to work on cooking and freezing "egg mcmuffins" for dh to have at work for breakfast. Right now he doesn't eat anything for breakfast, eats a normal size lunch and eats WAY too much for dinner and snacks later in the evening. We're working to balance it out better for our overall health and food budget health :) I'm also looking forward to my Friday wrap up at Getting Ahead!