Wednesday, June 10, 2009

I'm not MIA

I know it's been several days since my last post, and that one was scheduled to boot. I'm still here! We had a big weekend and Monday was such a good and productive day for me that I never got around to writing a post... though I did read everyone else's blogs :P Yesterday was still a good day but I ran out of time again.

Last night a huuuuuge thunderstorm rolled through. Plenty of lightening and thunder, though none of it happened right over us, we could hear it! We've had a couple in the past months where it lightnings and the thunder cracks simultaneously... the kind that make you wonder if it's the rapture! Even after the bulk of the storm was well past us, every now and then we could hear thunder rumbling... and they were looooong rumbles, like a train going past. It was pretty amazing. We got some good rain out of it - my rain gauge is an ice cream bucket that is on the back steps. It accumulated probably 3-4 inches the last rain, and this morning it looks to have at least another inch in it. I should get a proper rain gauge so I know how much water my garden is getting. I'm just glad that I haven't had to water it this week, and I didn't have to cart water out to our two little trees last evening :)

After the past couple weeks of grocery shopping and going over budget, be it a little or a lot, I was getting in a funk, wondering if a) I'm expecting too much out of $25 or b) I'm letting myself get to loose in what I'm getting.

With summer here, Gatorade is quickly becoming a real need item, and it's not cheap. Sidenote: Yes, the dry powdered mix IS cheaper. However, it makes Daniel sneeze, I guess something in it bothers his allergies, so we quit using it and shell out the $$ for the ready made. While it's cheaper than soft drinks, it's still a big hunk of $ to shell out when there's only $25 to start with.

And then when we feed extra people, either by guests or taking a meal to someone, it's nigh impossible... either before or after the fact. Before if we're out of something and so I have to buy extra to go around, or after when something has been used up and I have to replenish.

We're having 2 couples from our church to dinner tomorrow, and either way I sliced or diced it, I had to buy more _____. We didn't have enough of any one kind of meat in the freezer to feed 3 hungry men and their wives. And... I like to provide a good spread when we have company :)

I was drawing a complete blank on the menu. I wanted something summery, but we didn't have enough beef or chicken to do BBQ for that many people and I wasn't in the mood for pot-pie or casserole. I was looking for something light and simple, but yet super good. I had a lightbulb moment (don't you love those?!) Monday evening and figured it all out. But I will need to buy alot of stuff to make it work. A couple months later and I would have the veggies I want out of my garden, but it certainly helps that almost all the veggies I need for my menu are on sale this week!!!

Anyway, back to the budget topic, I went to Food Lion yesterday and bought just a few things that were on sale that were on the list for this week. More than 1/2 the budget was gone and I still have plenty more that I need to get! (Including toilet paper since we're almost out - and TP is another high $ item.)

Last evening Daniel and I were sitting outside enjoying the beautiful weather that included a nice breeze and I talked to him about it. Here's what we've come up with:

For just the 2 of us, we'll keep the $25 budget - but only use it for food things. Non-food stuff (toiletries, soaps, cleaners, paper stuff) will come out of a separate budget.

When we're feeding more than just the 2 of us (guests or taking someone a meal), it's fine to spend more than the $25.

Whew, that made me feel a lot better :) It's something that I've been hashing around and around and around the last several weeks. I don't spend lotsa $ on non-food, but at the same time for the past several months we've been living off our free toilet paper stash. Since free toilet paper is no more and I'm not ready to make the move to Family Cloth, we'll have to go back to actually paying money to wipe our behinds. Isn't it bizarre? You pay money for food to eat so you can stay alive and what your body doesn't use you have to pay money so you can be clean. Maybe we should just put in a johnny-house and go back to using newspaper and magazines :P We could kill two birds with one stone with our Sunday paper subscription that we only get for the coupons :P I wonder what people did back in the BC and early AD times? Leaves? Cloths? Bidets? Squatty-potties?

Uhh... I just realized that I've completely covered all topics from A-Z in this post. Sorry if it's a random jumble of subjects :P

For now I need to get a few things done and then go finish my shopping for the week.

4 comments:

Mama said... [Reply to comment]

Family cloth really helps out the budget... and it feels nice... and no lint... I'm just sayin'! ;)

Judi B said... [Reply to comment]

Thanks for the random assortment of topics! I was going to pass along a tip on the gatorade.
At Lowe's you can purchase the 15 pack of gatorades for 9.97. Inside there is a coupon for $10 of your next $50 Lowes purchase. We pick up a case just about every time we're in Lowe's lately (one to two times a week). $10/$50 equals a 20% discount which at the hardware store can be hard to come by. Not to mention a decent price on gatorade.

Sally said... [Reply to comment]

Uhhh, are there really those who use reusable toilet paper? I'm assuming that's what Family Cloth is. Hmmm, I guess I don't know what frugal is yet. Anyway, I'm glad you got some rain, and I'm glad you got the budget thing figured out to a livable solution. I'm sure you feel lots better.

Lucy said... [Reply to comment]

I like the johnny house idea...and recycling newspapers and catalogs. Be careful of paper cuts though!