First week in the 31 Days To No Spending Challenge

Click picture for Challenge information

This past week of the challenge was a short week because it started on Wednesday. But in all, we did well. It also helped that the hubby had Friday and today off, so there was no takeout food for lunch for him. 

I tend to cook from scratch pretty much all the time, so out food budget is cut down big time now. Most of the coupons out there are for processed boxed food that is so salty and bad for you. I have been thinking of stopping using coupons because I haven't used any in a few weeks and my budget is still low. I honestly have no budget for food, but I like to keep it around 60.00 or so every two weeks. 

This weekend I did need a few food items and ham was still on sale, so we grabbed a couple to put in the big chest freezer in the shed. Food items we got this week are: 

Two hams 10.51 and 9.52

Celery 1.58

Mozzarella Cheese 4.98

Whipping Cream 2.42

Gallon of Whole Milk 2.49

Total spent on food this week: 31.50

I might have saved more if I could have found coupons for the cheese and cream, but I didn't see any. We did buy two papers this Sunday for the coupons. A neighbor also gave me their inserts. There were 4 inserts total in each paper, so there should be some good ones in there. I have yet to look. My coupon binder needs to be cleaned up big time. Something that I do every year around this time anyway.

My menu for this week is all home cooked meals, including our dessert for the week. You can find the menu here: Dinner Plans for 1/6 ~ 1/12.

The hubby is working tomorrow, thank goodness cause he is driving me nuts, so I can get a few other things done. Like the freezer inventory (I have three freezers, two totally full and one partly full) so this will take awhile. I also need to look at my pantry stock. I know I am low on baking soda, so I will need to add that to my shopping list for this week. I tried to find some at Walmart today, but all the had were little boxes. I want a big box of it. I use it for cooking and cleaning, so it gets used a lot. 

Now if the hubby is a good boy and does not spend any money on food outside of my budget, we will be fine. He has a habit of spending money on lunch while he is at work and then not eating it. Drives me up the wall. I need to make sure I have some tuna or chicken salad ready for him for the morning. 

Well, week two is off to a good start. I will tell you all about it on Sunday.