Happy Sunday, my little frugal fannies! Lani and I had quite the afternoon at Trader Joe’s, and have a stocked fridge to prove it. Check out the goods that you can get for under $100:
1 container of cottage cheese
1 container of mini-pearl tomatoes
1 bag of corn chips
2 jugs of liquid egg whites
1 jug of vegetable broth
1 box of instant chocolate pudding
1 tub of earth balance butter
1 bag of basmati brown rice
2 bags of organic broccoli
1 jar of peanut butter
2 cans of kidney beans
2 lbs of organic ground beef
1 bag of roasted cashew pieces
1 block of extra sharp cheddar cheese
1 package of shredded mexican blend cheese
1 brick of light cream cheese
9 fuji apples
5 bananas
2 potatoes
2 red onions
2 yellow peppers
frozen salmon
1 half gallon of skim milk
2 cans of refried black beans
1 box of Puffins cereal
1 container of parsley
garlic (full pieces)
1 can of diced tomatos
1 bag of yellow onions
2 bags of spinach
nutmeg
7 clif bars
For a grand total of $97.32
And once we find chili power and pumpkin (both of which were out of stock at Trader Joe’s), we’ll have all we need for me to make chili and a creamy pumpkin soup for us to eat all week long.
Even with this big ol’ purchase, our dollars-per-day average is still only at $22.82. By being careful with our money all week long, we weren’t afraid to throw down the big bucks and not skimp on quality or quantity. I’ve got to say, we’ve been at this for just over a week, and I’m really proud of how we’ve done. And my lovelies, my dearest dears who are reading this and thinking ‘yeah, right, I could never do what they’re doing.’ If you take 10 minutes each morning to plan your meals, and 20 minutes before you go to the grocery store, you can do exactly this, and save an incredible amount of money. It’s really been a blessing to see that we can truly handle whatever comes our way and can handle it with grace and style.
As Miss L and I were looking at our spending, we saw that even with our $20/day budget, we’ve managed to give $15 in donations. While this doesn’t look like a whole lot, this is something I never thought we would be able to do. When we embarked on this little adventure, our big sticking point was ‘only spend what you need.’ And I really didn’t know if this was something we could do- it was a challenge, after all. But we’re practically at our $20/day goal right now (we will be back at $20 by the end of the day today), and if we hadn’t spent the $15 we did (one was a $10 donation towards a friend’s birthday, the other was $5 to a charity called PeaceFirst, which asked for donations during a holiday party we attended), our current dollars-per-day average would be only $19. By giving just a little bit, we’re still taking care of ourselves, but we’re not cutting ourselves off from the rest of the world. This challenge, while it is enabling our homebody tendencies, is not meant to make us social recluses. I’m really glad that we can still be involved in the world and watch our pennies.
So, while it’s the holiday season, even with the economy making you want to cry, I’m happy to say that giving a little bit here and there is not so hard after all.
Question for today- What’s your charity / non-profit of choice?
