Squats Challenge Day 11 - Done

got the squats done and also a lot of walking around.  I'm tired.  My fitness pal says I didn't eat enough, but one day of lower calories won't kill me.  Not as fast as the lifetime of super high calories anyway.  I'm just not hungry and I'll eat when/if I'm hungry.  the idea of food just sounds nasty right now.  I'll have some more cucumber water and enjoy some crocheting time and plan for a good breakfast.

The 300 - month one, shopping trip 1

Ham 14.35

chicken 3.45

chicken 3.54

chicken 3.57

tomato paste .39 (x3)

4 ears corn 2.49

bag of tangerines 2.49

green beans 2.50

diced tomatoes .89

hazelnut spread 2.49

shredded cheddar cheese 2.79

chicken broth 1.49

Gluten Free Bread 3.99

Tortilla chips 1.19

Sour Cream & Onion Chips 1.49

Spiral Sliced Ham 16.85

2 lt. Dr. Pepper 1.48

2 lt. Cream Soda 1

Apples 3.50

Pears  3.67

Pork Chops 6.17

Smoked Sausage 3.98 (x2)

6 bell peppers 4.00

24 bananas 4.00

3 yellow bell peppers 1.00

12 kiwis 2.00

7 limes 1.00

12 lemons 2.00

12 oranges 2.00

6 cucumbers 2.00

2 bags blood oranges 4.00

2 large sweet potatoes 3.00

2 lbs poblano peppers 4.00

10 Anaheim peppers 1.00

6 pomegranates 8.00

3 heads broccoli 3.00

2 cantaloupe 1.00

3 boxes of strawberries 3.00

For a grand total of 131.03

That leaves me 168.97 for the rest of the month.  I won't need more meat.  I have a chicken for each of the next 3 weeks plus two entire hams, pork chops and 4lbs of sausage.  I have some ground been in the fridge and some in the freezer, so I'm good on the meats.  I also have plenty of beans and rice.  I will spend about $40/week on more fresh fruit and that leaves me 48 for other things.  That's not bad at all.  

Next month will be more difficult.  I won't have some of the stuff in reserve like GF mac & cheese or potatoes.  I do however have quite a bit of canned and boxed foods that I need to use up.  I looked them over today and I will do an actual inventory sometime over the next week.

Month one will be doable and not even all that difficult.  I'm not sure I could go that low without the kick ass prices at our local market.  It's practically a produce wholesaler.  

Shopping

My week starts on Saturday really - being a balloon artist will really make your schedule different from everyone else's.  So I decided to start my menu planning on Saturday.

Made myself a simple (read, not ink intensive) planner and can print it out to add to my master calendar binder.  I also made a simple shopping list.  I can do both in just a notebook, but I always lose notebooks, I don't lose my master calendar.

Now I have to figure out why everything saves with gray background.  Right now I am using my husband's computer and he must have some odd settings.  When I do it on mine the background saves as white.  It printed from google docs with white.  I can't wait to be using my own computer again.  Ok, fixed it.  When I save things as jpg on this computer the background is gray.  That's why my squats pictures are so odd.  I save them with white, but this computer makes it crazy.  Saving as a png seems to have fixed it for now.

catching up

I've been keeping up with my squat challenge - just not with the posting

so here are my pictures

The $300 - planning

$300 a month for groceries is $392 LESS than the USDA says we should spend on a budget meal plan for a family our size.  It's even less than welfare figures - which is $4 a day per person.  I won't do it every month.  I'm going to try to for 3 months and if it doesn't work I will up it to $400 a month.  Still enough for me to save.  My goal is to spend $1.19 per person per meal and BANK $1.19 per person per meal.  That savings will come in handy during my slow season.  Work can be scarce during the winter and this year was tighter than most.  I don't want that kind of stress anymore, so I'm going to try to save 4x as much during the busy season this year.

That money is going to be set aside and not talked about.  Talked about money is vulnerable.  There is ALWAYS some crisis that sucks it up.  It's like the car or appliances know when I have extra money so they take it.  It's going to be my secret.

I have goals for the money.

1.  To have 3 months of income ready for the winter

2.  To have an additional 2 months of income ready for whatever

3.  To pay for the kiddo to take some classes at the community college.

4.  Race entry fees.  We love races and the community at them, but when you pay $30-80 per race per person it adds up!

That's a LOT I know, but my summer income is nearly triple my winter income, and food isn't the only place I am cutting back.  I'm trying to get the whole family in on it.  I know the kid is on board, just have to get the husband motivated!  His weakness is vending machines.  I'm going to assign each of us an allowance, so he can visit the machines SOME, but will know his limits.  

I guess getting my stuff together financially was one of my New Year's Resolutions, even if I didn't realize it a month ago.  :-)

Squat challenge Day 6 - Done

It took me all the way up until 11pm to finish.  I cant say I was too busy.  I just did not make it a priority.  Part of me wanted to say screw it and just skip the day, but I couldn't.  That was the same part of me that wanted to eat guacamole and chips at 10pm.  I wasn't hungry, but it looked tasty and I was dealing with a bit of stress eating.    I told myself I didn't need it and made some decaf coffee instead.  I did splurge on some creamer, but the 35 calories was much better than 500 from the snack!

Squat Challenge Day 5 - Done!

took me awhile to get them in today.  I just got sidetracked, but I got it done!

5 down 45 to go!!!

The 300

My goal for the next 3 months is to stay below $300 a month for food for the family.  That includes our eating out money, but I have a separate budge for the milk.  I guess I could put eating out in a different category and then include the milk, but I did it this way since I always set money aside for meeting my farmer.

The $300 is for a family of 3 two of who can not eat gluten.  That's $3.57 a day per person for food for Feb.   There is not way to afford much junk food on that.  OR we can eat only junk food. I'll go with the first one.

I'm estimating that 160 of it or so will be spent on fresh fruit and veggies at the market.  That number goes up and down, but $40 a week is a good guess.


It will take some planning, but the savings will be worth it.

Farmer's Market Bounty

Eating healthy is often not as easy or cheap as eating crap.  I'm lucky enough to live somewhere with a nice market.  During the summer it's a great source for locally grown produce, meat & eggs.  Year round it's basically a produce wholesale outlet.  Some things will be cheaper at Aldi's and lot of times you have to pick through to find the good stuff, but the trip is worth it.  I spent $40 on all this

That's quite a bit for a family of 3, especially since there are a couple of onions and packages of berries that you can't see well.  I still have some eggplant, cabbage and potato left over from last week, so we should eat well this week!

My money goal for February is to feed the family for less than $300.  I have quite a few beans and stuff in storage so it should go well.  Maybe I can do it for March too.   That's $1.19 a meal per person.  That amount has to include any we spend on eating out and meals out can really impact a budget.

Squat Challenge Day 4

Was a bit harder to fit them in today.  I went shopping and that took up quite a bit of time.  Made myself find the time.  I have to remind myself that I'm worth the extra effort.

Squat Challenge - Day 3

Hanging in there on Day 3.  It's Friday, so keep your fingers crossed that the weekend goes well!  I can get sidetracked, but it's not the busy season, so maybe I"ll keep it together.

Squat Challenge - Day 2

Managed day 2 and no real additional soreness.  I'm feeling it, but not FEELING it.  Optomistic right now.  After I do the 50 days I'll think about upping the daily amount.

Of course I often get ahead of myself.  One day at a time.

Squat Challenge - Day 1

I said to myself - Self, let's do a squat challenge.  100 squats a day for 100 days.    If I do them in sets of 10 throughout the day I should get it done easy peasy.  So I started

at 50 squats on day 1 I decided to do 50, because you know - walking.

Day 1 left me a bit sore, but a good sore.

Join me if you're in the mood.

Honey on Lemons

I've been fighting a cold the past couple of days.  It's giving me some odd cravings.  Honey & Lemon is pretty common for colds, but I've been crazy for honey ON lemon wedges.

I would say I can't get enough of them, but since I've run out of lemons I guess I got too much of them.  For today anyway.  Buying more lemons tomorrow.  Last night it really really helped and I woke up feeling better than I have ever in the early stages of a cold.  Congestion and brain fog are drifting back in tonight.  Drinking water with lemon juice and honey, but it's just not the same.

Hopefully I will be able to shake this.  It's supposed to be a beautiful weekend and I'm looking forward to getting some balloon work done.

Farmer's Market Haul

Got some good stuff last week. I've a weekly trip on my official calendar.  it's easy to "not have time" but if I want to eat well and healthy on a budget I have to go out that way.

I was especially happy with the pablano peppers.  Those are my favorite.  

Made my daughter some cucumber sushi.  She loves it as a snack and there really isn't much cream cheese in it.  

new bookstore

my  friend is opening a new bookstore  Angela's Book Orphanage.  She's rehoming used books.  :-)

I helped unload some from the truck. It was quite a workout!  I may have to go help her more often.

In praise of lemon water

Like a lot of people I can be awful at getting all my water.  Nothing works for me quite as well as adding some lemons.  I prefer fresh, but the juice will do if I have to.

and it looks good too.  

2015 Resoltuion - day 2

This year most of my resolutions are things i didn't not accomplish from my list last year.

two days in and here's where I am.

Minimaizing  - started in on the bedroom. threw away a bag and got a bag ready for donation.

organizing - moved my books down to the craft room

exercise - no overt exercise, but a lot of cleaning which can be a workout.

reducing my yarn stash.  Made small flowers with the left over bits from two balls.  Not sure exactly what I am doing with them yet.

diet - no fast food yesterday.  Didn't drink all my water and did have 8oz of soda. Today I am starting a milk fast.  Just to get myself in the better diet frame of mind and to lose my taste for junk food again.