... or an idea single frugal guys should consider.
Based on my comment at the beginning of the month, I started the month with an unobtainable goal - no food expenses for the month. Of course I knew the food cost something, even if bought before the month, but I was looking to spend nothing new for the month.
It didn't last long, nor did I expect it to. I finally went to the store Thursday (the 14th) and spent $20, a little under what I used to spend weekly. The effect seemed to be I was able to do without one week's worth of grocery shopping.
OK, so what did I learn? Actually a number of things. As someone that tries to buy when on sale, sometimes things are put away and forgotten. No surprise, but my effort to do without groceries forced me to dig into things I had forgotten, and now wouldn't go to waste. Like the frozen loaf of bread I forgot I had. And the iced tea mix. Certain canned veggies. I even used the noodles from Ramen noodle packages my ex-renter left as noodle filler to help my pasta mixes go farther (I use them for lunches). While it wasn't a ton of food used, I am happy to use them when they may have just gone to waste.
Well, as I still have a lot of food that should be eaten and is sitting in the back of cabinets, I am thinking of making this a monthly event. Instead of buying food once every week, one time each month I will now try to go two weeks between store visits and force myself to dig into the back of cabinets and use what is there.
Save money and be less wasteful. Now that sounds like a plan.
Results of a little experiment
December 16th, 2006 at 02:14 am
December 16th, 2006 at 03:08 am 1166238528
http://www.savingadvice.com/forums/showthread.php?t=20644&page=2&pp=20&highlight=spend+challenge
http://www.savingadvice.com/forums/showthread.php?t=20268&highlight=grocery+challenge
http://www.savingadvice.com/forums/showthread.php?t=22422&highlight=grocery+challenge
December 16th, 2006 at 05:52 am 1166248363
February 16th, 2007 at 05:14 pm 1171646078