Cheese or No Cheese

 When going to the grocery store with teenagers you might need to make it fun.

Their goal: Buy dinner for under $30.  They both took on the challenge.

One got hamburgers and the other got steak sandwiches.  On the way home we realized that neither of them purchased any cheese for the hamburgers or cheese steaks.  I decided to return to the store.  Moral of the story have someone look over the ingredients before you are done.  The good news in going back into the store I only bought one impulse item for under $2.

Dinner for 5 for $26

Is it possible to get dinner for $26 and serve 5 people? Sure.  How often do we go to the grocery store for one meal?  My goal was to spend under $30.  I wasn't necessarily buying for one meal but most of what I planned to buy was for one meal.  

My thought process was buy eggs, bread and milk plus items for dinner.  Dinner is Perdue chicken patties, rolls, milk and pudding.  Everyone in my family likes chicken patties but they do not all like milk.  It is certainly easier to serve one meal for everyone but how often does that work out?  I also bought a frozen pizza that could be served another day.   

Could I put the same meal together but buy ingredients rather than premade items?  Would the results be the same or similar?  I guess you do need to look at the time that it takes to make the dinner and the cost of the electricity involved.  

Rounding all items up

Eggs $3 

Milk $5

Bread $2

Pizza $5

Chicken $5

Rolls $1

Pudding $3

Happy shopping!

Payday!

Today was a payday.  Last week I had a windfall of cash that I spent throughout the week.  So I figured since I was only using cash during my week off I would carry that trend this week.  

I had an idea to contribute to my daughter's 529 account each paycheck.  I was considering 1/3 of each paycheck.  Instead I paid money towards debt.  Clearing the debt is always a good move.

They always say to make your money work for you.  Obviously you are not going to make much with your dollars in a low interest checking account but you can make sure you know where every dollar is going.

This breakdown is based on two weeks of income rather than a month.

Gym 9.6%

Credit Card 26.7%

College Expenses 3.3%

Football Game 8%

School Clothes 24%

Luncheon 10%

Remaining 18%

This list does not include all expenses.  This is just what I plan to do with the funds.

Normally you have extra expenses that are not planned for and you need to readjust your plans.

I have three people that I am buying clothes for this week.  The actual amount spent could be less but hopefully not more.  That is where cash comes in.  It is harder to part with cash.

Have a great Friday.  Happy saving!

Budget Shopping

 I calculated that I could buy 12.8 items at the Dollar Tree with $17. This amount included tax just in case. We were in walking distance of another discount store so we took our money there instead.  My first thought was look for items that were a $1 each.  First problem, I did not see a dollar area.  My two shoppers were on board and one took to using the calculator.  We spent $14.89.  Not bad.  The only item for a dollar was a loaf of bread.  We did get two Ramon items for 56 cents.  A couple items were less than the Dollar Tree, red sauce and spaghetti with meatballs.  Eggs were $3.05 for a dozen.  I did find a clearance section at the store.  I am not sure if they had a food clearance section.  

For comparison, I would like to go to another store and buy similar items.  I know that milk has increased in price recently so I would expect that eggs might be on the rise also.

Grocery Shopping 2020

 I came across a breakdown of a food run from January 10, 2010.  I decided to breakdown a receipt from 2020.

Food 2010 / 2020

41.02 / 83.20; Including Milk 3.68 / 4.30

Drinks 2010 / 2020

21.18 / 16.41

Snacks 2010 / 2020

28.73 / 17.48

Household Supplies 2010 / 2020

25.92 / 15.97

Baby Products 2010 / 2020

82.26 / 0

Interestingly both food orders contain Lemonade and Pink Lemonade.  The price was pretty similar although in 2020 I needed to buy 3 bottles to get the sale price. The Lemonade was 1.49 in 2010 and 1.66 in 2020 buying 3 for 5 dollars.

The bread category varied.  One loaf was priced at 1.29 and one was 2.19 in 2010.  The bread in 2020 was 1.99.

Dishwasher detergent was 4.19 for 20 count in 2010 and a bottle of the same brand was 4.99 in 2020.

Diapers were 18.99 for 96 count size 3 in 2010.

Happy shopping!

Buying a Car During a Pandemic

Car dealerships are open.  Now what?  Does everyone need a new car?  Probably not.  If you do need a new car how do you go about it?
Chances are you will probably not be test driving a ton of cars.  Many dealerships and other companies will bring cars to your homes or places of employment.  You can have a contactless transaction. 
We bought a car during a pandemic in June 2020.  The vehicle was brought to us but we were not allowed to test drive it while they were there.  Luckily we had already test drove the make and model of the vehicle back in January. 

Happy car buying!

Halloween Costumes

Growing up I had three costumes that I put together rather than buy the costumes.  There was a cowgirl, a gypsy and an angel.  I also borrowed a costume one year and was a clown.  All of the other costumes from what I can recall were store bought.  Normally a plastic mask and a plastic costume were involved.  I enjoyed getting the candy but probably did not enjoy the costumes very much. 

Two of my children have made their own costumes but for the most part they are still store bought.  We have had a candy, leprechaun and a pot of gold, bat man, bat man and a princess.  A duck, Pokemon, dragons, Superman, a ghost buster, star wars characters, Harry Potter characters, scream ghosts, and a werewolf.

We have never had family themed costumes.  I do remember getting a shirt from a shirt transfer place so I could be a Pokemon Catcher for my Pokemon children.  Two of my children have a Halloween parade at school and would prefer not to dress up this year.  Maybe they could dress up for a career. 

I still enjoy the candy part of Halloween.  My daughter enjoys the decorating even if she starts in August.
Happy ghosting!