Game over for me

But, I’m still proud of $33 per week for a family of 4.

Last month, I started a challenge here and on HCW.  Yesterday I caved, game over for me.  I started this week with about $18 left in my wallet, plus many catalinas, ECBs, and gift cards for various stores. I also had plenty of gas to get through this week and next. I went to Acme about mid-week to get milk, bread and produce, and spent $18.24, leaving me with nothing except two $5 rebate checks I hadn’t yet cashed.

Yesterday we wanted pizza for dinner and I wanted a bottle of wine. My total for both came to about $25, so I’m out. I could have made it until Monday or Tuesday, have enough gas & milk to get there, could have said no to the pizza and wine, but I didn’t. I’m still owed quite a bit of money from rebates and other ventures like surveys and focus groups, and I was trying to hold out at least until Monday’s mail……but oh well.

On $100, a tank of gas and a book of stamps, I made it three weeks, one day. For a family of four. So I’m proud of that and it was a real learning experience. It definitely made me refocus on every dime I spent, and I was much more focused on not letting perishable food go to waste before we used it. We’ve been throwing out quite a bit of produce and bread, much more than I’d like to admit.

We didn’t sacrifice nutrition, as we ate plenty of fresh fruits and veggies from the farmers’ market. We didn’t sacrifice fun–we went swimming several times, to various state & county parks several times and to the zoo once.  For those of you still doing it–congrats and you’re doing great. If you’re a new reader, this is something you may want to challenge yourself to, to see how frugal you really can be without sacrificing your lifestyle.