Well, today is the 15th and that means that I am half-way thorough my Keep Your Money May experiment (well technically tomorrow at noon it will be half-way). Even eating through my pantry and freezer, it's been hard. To date I have spent $245 total this month. It's way more than I thought I would spend by this point, but I seriously do NOT know what I could have done differently, because I have only purchased needed grocery items. Things like milk, bread, fruit, greens.
The other day I was at Costco, getting something for work and I caved in to the 2 loaves of "whole grain white" bread for $4.59. Two huge size loaves for that price? That will make a lot of lunches for 3 hungry kids. It said "no high fructose corn syrup and no trans-fat" - so I was tempted because it was cheap and I didn't have a lot to spend. So I bought it. Even though I know that this bread is not what I would consider a healthy choice. I don't consider any store bought bread a great option except for sprouted breads because they are all so highly processed, full of chemicals and give essentially no real nutrition. But when you have $20 in your wallet, you do crazy things!!
On the plus side, I have spent nothing on clothing. Yea me! Now about that Tuesday Anthro sale.................
I have been gifted items this month that total $385!! Many were items that I had on my wish list for a long time! Amazing!
I have run out of my Clinique moisturizer, my Cover Girl 415 Blushberry shine lipstick, my Neutrogena Pure lip gloss - I even had the q-tip out scraping the bottom of the tube! I've walked longingly through Target wanting to buy another lipstick, but I decided I'm going to use up all the ones I already have so I got out my Burt's Bees lipgloss and the Clinque lipstick I got in the last free gift with purchase set!
My friend Rachel, got me interested in the Natalia Rose books and putting more raw foods into our diet. I wanted to go buy her book so badly today - but guess what I did? I went to the bookstore, found a nice seat and read over several chapters! I also requested it from the library and hope it comes in soon. Now because of what I learned in those books, I want a Breville Juicer, so I will have to start saving for that purchase!
At any rate, I've spent WAY less on groceries than I normally do, so that is a plus for this month! After my pantry is used up, I am going to change to a different method of shopping where I make a menu, and only buy what I need for that week's meals. I have a good friend at church who does this very successfully and I want to give it a go. I guess that will be my June experiment!
Ohhhhh...you did sooo good! Increasing one's awareness about spending is like increasing one's "moral responsibility" in life! I've been doing some major reality checks lately on my spending as well! I almost pulled the trigger on three J. Crew tops but resisted and now they are gone! I'm still smilin'! And by the way...you have a "SUPERSMILE" girl!
ReplyDeleteyou are really doing very well! I do think it is worth it to spend $$ on healthy options, even if it does jack up your total expenditures for the month.
ReplyDeleteIt is definitely a problem that a nutritious diet costs more- this is such a debate all the time. It is counter intuitive to everything we know about health care costs and preventative medicine. Working in a school I see the garbage they serve to students - even when they think it is healthy, it's still cheap processed food that wreaks havoc on the system. Healthy options should be affordable to everyone regardless of income level. As they say, pay now or pay later. wow, tangent much? haha.