So…I am being a bit of slacker on keeping you all updated on this shopping challenge.

Probably because I didn’t want to admit I was a complete failure.

Month 3 went smashingly. As I predicted, I made one small trip to the store right before Christmas for apples and Texas toast bread for our traditional apple fritters, French toast, and bacon on Christmas morning. What I took to my parent’s house on Christmas Eve, I had all the ingredients for – cavatini and banana bread.

I was well pleased with myself about Month 3. Month 4 has proven to be more difficult.

I started out making my monthly trip to the grocery store and Walmart a few days early due to my schedule. I spent $200 between the two stores for groceries at Aldi’s and pet food at Walmart. This was a little high in my opinion, but doable.

I also decided to take delivery of my Amazon Subscribe and Save for January because I had a lot of things on there that we needed. I had stuff on there for school lunches, pet treats, and some health and beauty items. I also placed a small order on Amazon for a few other needed things for the house.

Here is where the rest of the month went downhill quickly.

Did I explain what was going on in January? Rob was moving in. In fact, he did 2-1/2 weeks ago. He is not the reason or the excuse for my downfall. I had to adjust my food budget a little bit and prepare food for one more person which is not at all difficult. I did make another trip to the grocery store.

My downfall? I have been cleaning and purging, organizing and reorganizing, and generally tearing my house apart to make room for him. (I was not entirely successful.) The house also really needed an overhaul. There is a lot more work to do with bedrooms being moved and some repairs needing to be made. 

Taking on a whole house purge, organization, and reorganization is not conducive to a Once A Month shopping challenge. Not at all. I have been buying totes, baskets, small organization tools like hooks, and stuff to fix the broken things that I have finding. I have been trying to make do with what I have and have come up with good solutions that cost me nothing. 

I have no idea how much money I spent in month 4. I am pretty sure I busted my budget which is not okay, but life is goes on. I know I probably spent closer to $300-350 for the month. I try to keep the household expenses to under $300. 

In the process of this, I have lost my groove in meal planning and grocery shopping. I am hoping to get back on track in month five. At the very least, I want to keep the grocery trips down to twice a month. I haven’t been buying a lot of personal items because we are pretty well stocked up on those things. I did only shop for pet food once and only had to buy one more bag of cat food ($70 for pet food). I did take my Subscribe and Save for this month also totaling $54. So month five is looking a bit more promising.

How are you doing in the Once A Month Shopping Challenge? My friend Daisy at The Organic Prepper gives her update here. I want to hear about yours!

Thanks for reading,
Erica

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