Last day!!!

Today, I ate another toaster treat, but I only got half, since my dog Jake jumped up and got a taste for himself. For lunch, I ate a sandwich and carrots. For dinner, Lee ate ramen noodles, and I ate plain noodles with a little butter and salt. It sounded good, but we are definitely glad for the challenge to be over. Lee is already planning what to do tomorrow to celebrate. I am going out with my sister for lunch, which I am really excited to do! This challenge has taught us a lot, and I know it will help me to be more responsible in our spending.

Day 6

Today was ok. I will be so glad to eat better. My breakfast was a toaster treat, again. I would eat cereal for breakfast, but we do not have enough milk. I had a sandwich and carrots for lunch and beans with cheese and cornbread for breakfast. Lee had ramen noodles for dinner. I have definitely learned to appreciate what I have. The hardest part of this week was planning out everything for a week and avoiding random impulse buys. There have been several times where we have been too tired to fix a full meal but had to in order to have meals for the next few days. I know I will be taking a lot away from this experience.

Day 4 and 5

Yesterday I finished my conference and headed back. I ate more of the chili, which meant that I spent another 2 dollars. Lee and I had pinto beans and rice for dinner with cornbread. He ended up spending a little extra money while I was gone. An extra $12!

Today we had leftover beans in burritos for lunch and for dinner eggs and biscuits. He had a brownie craving, requiring us to buy oil. The mix was probably about $1.50 that I had in the cupboard. Since he went to the store for the oil, I doubt he shopped around. He said it cost about $5! It was my own fault for not giving him instructions to buy the smallest/ cheapest bottle.

40.35, total from before
2 my chili
12, lee's splurging
1.50 brownie mix
5 oil

Bringing us to 60.85! Still 2 days left. Looks like sandwiches for the next two days!

Day 2 and 3

Yesterday I ate a Kroger “toaster treat” for breakfast, after Lee claimed a difference between off brands and Poptarts. It is not healthy, but it was something I thought he would like to eat for breakfast. For a snack, I had a tortilla with some turkey lunch meat that I bought at the store. At lunch, I had leftover tuna casserole with broccoli that I had made the night before after class and my grocery trip. Since I couldn’t find the cooler to pack sandwich material, I ended up buying my dinner at Arby’s on the road to Nashville for $3.24. Lee ate the tuna casserole last night and again tonight for dinner. Normally, he is not a fan of leftovers, but he has been very supportive of the project for me.

Today I ate a continental breakfast at the conference. Since I will be eating 3 meals at the conference, I will at $9 for the meals I would be eating if I were not attending the conference. For dinner, my friend is making chili. She made a large pot of it. After accounting for serving size, we got $1.30 per person, but I will allow $2 for any miscalculations that were made.

Grocery trip: 16.10
Supplies at home: 10
Arbys dinner: 3.24
Conference meals: 9
Chili: 2
Total so far: 40.34, for 2 people

I am proud of how I am doing so far. It is still early, but I know that I can stay under my $80 limit.

Day 1

For breakfast, I ate Cherrios, which I bought last week with a coupon that made them free. For lunch, I had a turkey sandwich from the last bit of bread and turkey that I had from last week. After class, I went to the grocery store where I spent the least amount I had ever spent on groceries, 16.10! After figuring up what I had at the house, I probably spent $26 or $27. I have intended for this to get Lee and I through Sunday. I will need to add $9 to the meals that I would eat at the conference this week. I am really excited about the week. I feel as though this is going to teach me a valuable lesson in how to really monitor my spending. Granted, I have not bought as much fresh produce as I would like, but I was able to buy carrots, which I got for free through a coupon that I had. I am really excited to see how this week turns out. I feel pretty ahead of the game.

Pre-Food Stamp Challenge Game Plan

Unfortunately, I was not able to go to the store tonight because I had so much school work to get done tonight. I plan to eat lunch and breakfast from what I currently have in my kitchen and take that from my food money. My fiance is going to be doing the challenge with me, as well as two coworkers who were interested in the experience. I will be leaving for Nashville Thursday evening for a conference that I am attending all day Friday and Saturday morning. This will throw me off a bit, but I will stay within my budget as much as possible. Luckily, Lee is a fan of ramen noodles. However, I am the one concerned about providing healthy meals for us. I am making a grocery list to help me plan for the week, taking all my commitments for the week under consideration. To the rest of my classmates, good luck!

Just Trying this out

I just wanted to see how this would look before I really begin.