Meal Plan Report

Day 3 of 2022

Day 3 is going down in the books as another success!

Still right on track with our meal plan, however, we still don’t have as many leftovers as I had imagined we would. Next week, I will definitely be adding some lunch options to the plan and/or increasing portion sizes. Ideally, I think increasing portion size would be better so I’m not actually cooking three meals, start to finish, every single day.

Biscuits, gravy, ham, and frozen cherries

Beanie Weanies, cheesy garlic mashed potatoes, and peas

Grocery Budget Report

We needed milk and to avoid the $6 charge for pick up at Wal-Mart for being under $35, I decided to stop in Aldi. Before going in the husband requested 3 boxes of his favorite snack and snacks for the kids.

I’ve debated whether I should add them in as part of my budgeted grocery expense. My husband is not onboard with a no spend challenge, at all, and I try to respect that. He’s fairly frugal, most of the time, so it isn’t a huge deal.

Since I am only basing this no spend challenge off of my spending responsibilities, I’ve decided that I am not going to add it in. I am responsible for feeding this family their regular meals, and I am succeeding at that. I also provide snacks. Just not exactly the type of snacks they want.

So, today I will be subtracting $1.59 for milk and adding back in $5 for the flashfood box since when I arrived to pick it up, they couldn’t locate my box and offered me a refund.

Grocery Budget: $37.63 + $5.00 – $1.59 = $41.04 Remaining

Day 2 of 2022

Today was another successful day!

Only, it was even better than successful!

I conquered today!

Home Spending Report

I came super close to caving and buying an item for the home today after I realized some pot and pan organizers, I had purchased a while back did not work for my set. It made it extra difficult for me knowing I left behind at our hold house, a very nice organizer.

I sat for a minute, my pans and pots scattered around me on the floor, feeling very defeated. I didn’t want to spend any money, but I also know I struggle to maintain these cabinets and it impacts my ability to feed us.

Which leads to take out.

Then, my husband spotted me in the floor, pouting, and asked me what was wrong. I vented a bit, feeling sorry for myself. He did was he does and immediately went into fix-it mode.

I could have let him fix it, but it would have cost me more than money.

Instead, I assured him it was ok and that I could figure something out. He said OKAY, but I knew if I didn’t figure something out, he would buy me a new organizer.

That’s when I started poking around in other cabinets, looking for anything that I could make work. I quickly realized that my bakeware fit into the slots meant for my pans and got to work on that cabinet. By organizing that cabinet, I freed up space in my bowl cabinet. Space in my bowl cabinet left me with a white, wire, expandable shelf with nowhere to go.

I sat back down at my pans and after some shifting things around, ended up with this!

Meal Plan Report

Our meals went according to plan today, but I’m realizing we don’t have as much leftovers as I expected we would. Going to have to either start fixing larger meals, or plan something for lunch.

Grocery Budget Report

I purchased a box of produce from the FlashFood app today. We are getting low on fruit and that is one thing my kiddos eat really well. It’s kind of a double bonus because it is marked down cheap, only $5, and it is food that would have been tossed for being not perfect or near going bad.

Grocery Budget: $42.63 – $5.00 = $37.63 Remaining

Decluttering

While getting the cabinets straight, I managed to get a small bit of stuff that I never used out and posted to my local free group. Hopefully it’ll be rehomed with someone who can make use of it soon.

More space and less to manage for me!

Day 1 of 2022

First day of the year and while I did do a bit of spending, it wasn’t unnecessary and I am well within my budget and right on track. My meal plan did get a bit derailed today, but it worked out in the end.

Overall…

Today has been a success!

Meal Plan Report

My meal plan didn’t go as planned, but I saved some overcooked tater tots by being flexible.

For breakfast, I fixed the ham and scrambled eggs as planned, and added tater tots and mandarin orange slices for sides. Unfortunately, I left the tater tots in the oven longer than needed. My bunch wasn’t thrilled about eating them.

I wasn’t feeling good about throwing them away on the first day of my no spend year. After a quick Google search, I found a solution!

Tater Tot Casserole!

Instead of vegetable soup as planned, I stuck this casserole in the fridge and popped it into the oven for dinner. We may do the vegetable soup tomorrow as there are no leftover from dinner.

Grocery Budget Report

I didn’t buy anything unnecessary, but I did buy some new flossers for the kids. I almost bought two packs, which is more than we need, and caught myself.

Technically, I did my grocery shopping for this week in 2021, but I will be counting it toward my budgeted amount for the week. I almost tried to cheat. I created my meal plan based of things I had on hand. I ended up spending $55.41 of my $100 grocery budget all together.

Grocery Budget: $100 – $55.41 – $1.96 = $42.63 Remaining

Birthday Budget Report

Our oldest kid’s birthday is the 8th of January. I spent a total of $23.88 out of her $100 budget so far. I looked at ordering a cake from our local grocery store, but it’s sort of expensive. I’m going to see if I can get or borrow a cupcake pan so that we can make our own to save costs.

Plus, I’ll get her and her siblings in the kitchen with me and we can make some memories for her 18th!

In the photo below, the copper basket, puzzle, embroidery set, and wrapping paper was free from a local free group! The baby spider plant I also picked up from my local free group! I’ll be repotting it into the white planter.

The planter and the watering jar were something I picked up for myself last year. While I didn’t purchase it this year, I’m still counting the cost. There is one other item coming.

She’s going to be super excited!

Birthday Budget: $100 – $23.88 = $76.12 Remaining

Holiday Budget Report

I got a jump on holiday gifts this year!

In a local free group I’m in, I was able to get 3 gorgeous matching photo frames. It was perfect timing because I had come across a code to get a free 8×10 from Walgreen’s. I had a photo printed out for my husband that will be part of his no spend Father’s Day gift. Each frame will eventually have a photo of him and each of our children.

Holiday Budget: $2,500 – $0 = $2,500 Remaining