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Results of a little experiment

December 16th, 2006 at 02:14 am

... 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.

3 Responses to “Results of a little experiment”

  1. kealina Says:
    1166238528

    here are some old threads that you might find pretty interesting... sorry the links are so long...if someone else wants to post the shorter version, that's cool =)

    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

  2. janH Says:
    1166248363

    I made a list of stockpiled breakfast food. I am now ending week three of not buying any breakfast food except for milk. I wanted to see how long I could go using up my breakfast foods. It is an interesting challenge eating out of your stockpile, isn't it?

  3. Susan Says:
    1171646078

    Great idea...a friend from work and I grazed at Whole Foods at lunch one day and had a lot of fun besides tasting some really interesting foods--FREE. As a single person, I am astounded at how long food and basic ingredients last in my refrigerator and pantry. I play games with money to see how long I can hold out before spending money on food and just making do with what I have. I don't feel deprived but instead have created some really good meals with very little. It's Friday and I have not spent one single cent on food from our cafeteria at my job. A $1 bill is beginning to mean more to me than it ever has and I hope to get better at valuing my hard-earned money and not squandering it.

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