A daunting task yet to finish !
Wow, you might be wondering if I have disappeared to Timbatu ? No, not really, in fact, this $1000 Frugal Challenge 2009 is more daunting than I thought it is.
Look at these receipts that I have to tally since I did not post some of the things that I bought.
I went a few trips to CVS, Wallgreens and Publix and some of the products I got.
I did buy a few diapers as I was invited to a girlfriend baby shower and I also bought some diapers for a girlfriend for gifts.
Yes, I did get the Ragu and peanut butter deal in Walgreens and I cannot believe it is butter deal in Publix.
The break down of what I spent :
CVS : $9.09
Publix : $11.40
Walgreens : $16.27
Total Spend $36.76
Running total = $89.59, Total left to spend = $947.17 – $36.76 = $910.41
We have ate out 3 times this month.
Total eat out :
Subway = $5.34
McDonald = $8.09+$10.32=$18.41
Total Spend = $22.75
Left to spend on $200 = $177.25
After this month experience, I decided that I would use cash for my purchase. What I will do is I will put 5 $20 bills in an envelop and this will keep me on track of what I have spend.
I also decided that I will allocate an extra $200 for gifts for friends, dine out and hosting dinner at home. If I spend consistently $100 a month, that will make it $1200 a year. Let’s us see if I can do it or not.
And bear in mind that this budget include the lunches that I take to my work 3 days a week , hubby’s 5days breakfast and lunches when he goes to works, my boy’s school lunch. My husband eats his breakfast that I fix him in the car while he drives to work. I remember I used to spend like $13 a week for my boy’s school lunch and if you add up 40weeks, that is $520 a year. Just imagine that !, it is 1/2 of my yearly budget.
So, this $1000 budget + $200 entertainment budgets include all breakfast, lunch and dinner for the year and dinners at home for friends and dinning out with friends.
I still have a pack of chicken leg quarters and 3 packs of pork in the fridge, the meat which I gotten earlier and which I post on the post titled :”Albertsons and Publix“.
Some of the left over that I used to cook fried rice;
and I made this breakfast for my family when I was off on the weekend.
I started couponing last year, I bought a lot of house hold products such as tooth paste , tooth brush, shampoos for free or 1/2 of what it costs but I have never seriously sat down and wrote down every penny I have spent, this is quite a daunting project as I keep track of every penny that I spend so I can report to you guys/gals who are reading my site. If I am successful this year, I want to write an ebook on how I did it and I might be able to start a class on the internet on how to do it consistently. I have categorized all the posts related to frugal challenge 2009 and these posts can be found on the left column of this site titled : “A Frugal Challenge 2009” or you can look it up at the top menu bar of my site titled : Frugal Challenge 2009.
I hope you are inspired by what I have done and if you are not, you might be inspired by these 2 women, check these out :
I found these video clips very inspiring, they show you how these woman save money through coupons. and this TV show.
Coupon Note this week :
There are few good egg deals this week.
Walgreens has this 99cents for a dozen eggs and this deal will last till 1/24 so today is the last day to get your 99cents eggs. Even though the price label is 2 for $1.50 but you can find hot deals for the month fryers along the shelves.
Also this week (the deal end on next Wednesday). Egg beater is $2 each and you can find $1 for 2 pack of egg beaters in Publix’s advantage booklet and you can also print $1 coupon from HERE.
Total 2 egg beaters before coupon = $4
Use $1 coupon from Publix’s advantage book = $1
Use 2 x $1 internet print coupon = $2
Total for 2 egg beaters = $1, that is 50cents each.
When you go to Publix, this is how the advantage fryer looks like :
Thank you for your support ! Jamy
