With everything in life, when you are being hardcore about your spending and budget, something will challenge it. The challenge for my budget for at least 9-10 months out of the year is school. Something always comes up that is not planned on. With this week, Paige was going on a class retreat and need to help provide snacks. $6.00 for those snacks because homemade food is a no-no in this school district. I also bought a school shirt for Dane for $6.00 and ordered from his book order for $15.00. Those books will be part of his Christmas presents so I am justifying it that way.

We did not go to the store for anything but groceries. 

I did only fill my tank twice which was great considering some of the trips I needed to take. Not having the air conditioner running constantly while driving and keeping my lead foot light kept the gas mileage good.

I also spent $55 in my $130 grocery budget. I will be spending a bit more today because boneless, skinless chicken breasts are on a good sale. I stopped at Aldi’s yesterday for Paige’s milk which runs $.60-$.80 cheaper for each half-gallon. I got four half-gallons which should get her through the rest of the month.

I did stop at one garage sale to get Paige a few clothes that she needed. I spent $4.00 for three items.

I cut my own bangs for a savings of $5.00.

I canned 8 pints of sweet corn and froze 4.5 quart-size bags of sweet corn. We picked apples, crab apples, tomatoes, and peppers from the garden. I am hoping to have a few more apples, tomatoes, squash, and peppers ready this week. We were given tomatoes and sweet corn which is great!

We did not eat out at all! Yes! I took home popped popcorn to the football game and did eat one brat at the concession stand. I do struggle with the whole “support the concession stand, support the school” concept so I try for a happy medium. I had cash from various things so I used that.

I have started looking for stocking stuffers that I can make as well as ideas for homemade Christmas gifts. I am trying to do this with things I have on hand so creativity will be in high gear!

I work in town everyday and pick up Paige and a friend of hers from cross country as well as a couple more of their friends from a different school after their cross country practice. I save two families the cost of gas to get their kids from town and I only go a few miles out of my way to drop them off. Remember, frugality is not always about saving money yourself, but helping others save money and use resources efficiently.

I signed up for some great samples and freebies this week as well as downloaded some free books and printables. One note: Beware of the freebies of what you sign up for. Many of the freebies sound good until you find out you have to pay shipping for that item. That really defeats the idea of free! Another note: If you are required to sign up for other things like credit services, information for online schools, travel sites or sales sites to get the free items, walk away unless you want to get junk emails for a long time.

Pretty light week at our house! Onto this week! This week will be a tough one for the No Spend Challenge with two volleyball games, a birthday, a tournament, and a concert to attend. Yikes! I will keep you posted!

Thanks for reading!
Erica

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