The month of February isn't over yet, and I have already trippled my monthly food budget. Yes, trippled! What happened? Did I slip and decide to stay down? No, I simply love to celebrate and eat good food. My husband loves this too. We had 2 birthdays, 1 dinner with friends, went out to eat 2 times, and then there was Valentines Day. After 1 week, I knew money went towards all this food, but where was all the food at? It was gone and we were left with nothing in our cupboards.
I realize now that when I want to celebrate, it has to includes good food. I forget about my goal because I choose to. As long as everyone is happy, I'm happy. (for the time being). I realize now that we could have went without the lobster tail for the whole family on Valentines Day, and the 90.00 worth of pizzas didn't have to be accompanied by a buffet of fresh fruit and shrimp for the birthday parties. Celebrations can be on a budget if I plan ahead and get creative.
My realization: I need to plan. I need to have a monthly meal plan, do all my shopping at the beginning of the month, and set aside 100.00 for fillers and fresh produce. That is 25.00 a week for fresh salads, fresh fruit, and milk. I realize this isn't fun, so I need a part of my budget for splurge (we all need a little sugar sometime :). However, with a monthly meal plan, it will minimize my trips to the store and the feeling of empty cupboards.
My Goal: To be financially smart with splurges and know my weaknesses. Look at the long term goal and not the temporal one. Last, work on finding ways to strengthen this skill and make it over this hurdle . (If you come over for dinner, We might just have top-o-ramen...jk)
5 comments:
Go Bethany! Can't wait to see what tips you learn from shopping ahead. Keep us posted...
I have to say when I do splurge, it's on food, you just have to be careful and avoid pre-made food and go for the make from scratch ingredients and stock up when you see a good deal.
You can DO it!!! :) I am rootin for ya.
I know the feeling. I doubled our food budget last time (we're trying two week cycles right now). So this time I'm being much more careful. Although I realized that I don't have to buy as much this go around because I stocked up so much last cycle. sigh...we just gotta keep at it though, huh? Hope the rest of the month is better for you and your budget. :)
Rachel- I think I have stocked up too for next month and it should be a lot less (lets hope my theory is correct), but then at the end of the next month I end up shopping and stocking up for the next month type of thing. Its a cycle...a viscious cycle.
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