meal-planning – The Frugal Chicks

I thought I would be much better about my spending during week 2. I was both planning and impulsive in my spending for the week. Let’ Susan dive in and see how it shook out!

At Christmas, I received $500 from my mom. For the last few years, she has given us cash as gifts to do whatever we want with. Being responsible adults, my sister and I typically have put this money toward a full tank of oil for the winter to help ease the pain of that purchase. This year, since money isn’t as tight as it has been in past years, I decided I would get myself something with it. I placed it in the bank until I figured out what I wanted, and one Facebook reel later, I knew what it was! An Accuquilt Go! fabric cutter.

I started to do research on the cost of one of the cutters, and I had quite the sticker shock when I saw their smallest machine was several hundred dollars. I was taken aback at the cost and asked myself if this was going to be a purchase that would be worth it or if it would just gather dust. So, off to YouTube, I went and watched several demos of the machine. I researched the different dies that were available and then saw I would be able to have custom dies made as well. The more I considered it, the more I thought it would be something I could use long-term and get through my crazy fabric stash.

I have started to think more about using the Facebook marketplace and other online tag sale sites to find the things I wanted secondhand. So, I started to search for one every day, and a few days into my search, someone posted one with several dies for $450. Completely within my budget! I met up with the seller, and they informed me their dad was the quilter in their family and were glad to see someone get used to it. Before I agreed to the purchase, I checked the prices of all the dies and machines. The retail cost of the dies, mats, and machine would have cost me $1198 for everything I received, a huge savings of $748 that will help me crank out some projects to sell at the Farmer’s Market this summer.

Next up were groceries. I went to the store and spent $112.19 on minimal groceries. I was able to snag a bunch of Progresso soup, pasta, and sauce. Froggy loves soup, and it was a cheap pick-up for their after-school snack or a light dinner when they didn’t like what I made. I snagged 16 cans of soup, 12 boxes of pasta, and 12 jars of sauce. The soup will last through the rest of winter, and the pasta and sauce are stockpiled for 1 pasta-based meal each month. Getting food at the lowest possible price is the best way to create a stockpile.

Something unique about my grocery spending is that I am a mystery shopper and will receive $80 back between the shopper fee and reimbursement fee. Without using any coupons, I was able to drop this cost down to $32.19. I try to pick up these shops at least once a month to help reduce my overall costs.

Lastly, there was the unplanned breakfast with my coworker. Typically, they will pay for our meal together, but I am the type of person who wants to make sure my friends don’t feel taken advantage of and paid for breakfast. It was $40 for the two of us. Well worth the time together.

A nice win I had this week was I remembered to bring lunch for each of my shifts and didn’t buy lunch out. I was able to use up the leftovers hanging around the house before they became science projects.

Looking forward to sharing more ups and downs with you next week!

-Chick

It’s funny how so many people make New Year’s Resolutions and goals and they are shot within the first week. I am no stranger to it either.

I typically work my regular job three days a week and I have been notorious for getting snacks from our break room and those prices are HIGH. I wanted to cut back the amount of food I was buying at work and eating out. I also want to cut down the amount of food waste that we have in our house, I used to be really good at it, but not every household member shares my desire for less. So, I had the bright idea that I would prep my meals at the start of the week and they would last me through my working days.

So far, so good on the making and bringing lunches, but I was still buying sodas and snacks in the breakroom. I spent about $20 over the course of the three days this week. It’s usually much hire, so I am taking that win! I also grabbed some McDonald’s before work one day but I had used a bunch of points to buy myself a Happy Meal, so I got it for free. Again, another win, but I only had it because I had bought so much before to earn the free meal.

Cooking at home and bringing the left overs for lunch for both my Roommate and I was the goal. It would significantly reduce the amount of food left hanging around in the fridge and neither one of us would be tempted to spend extra eating out. He is notorious for eating out every day at work. Since he works a day shift, it’s easier for him and realistically he doesn’t want to be bothered bringing something to work. Since I typically work nights, bringing something to eat is usually easier for me, since there aren’t many options open at midnight when I get lunch.

My Roommate and I talked about different ways we could combat the food waste we were currently having. Something he recommended was making a large casserole at the beginning of the week and then using it for lunches and food for when someone is hungry throughout the week. I thought it was a good idea in theory and we started to work on it last month. We didn’t have a great adherence rate to it and still ended up tossing about half of it since no one was eating it. I think we are going to keep trying it since it was helpful to not have to cook every meal.

My Amazon and Temu purchases were about the biggest spending I had for the week. I saw a bunch of handy craft tools on Temu that I was able to score pretty cheaply. My hobbies include lots of creative outlets and it can be expensive to buy retail. I bought a scale so I can also track my weight loss or gain and once this last order from Temu arrives, I plan to delete the app. It is too tempting to just quickly buy something cheap. I spent $56 there, that were wants and not needs, but they are a part of something that does bring me joy.

I had some outings that I had planned with friends and an unplanned visit from my mom. I spent a bit more than I had planned for my outing, but its atypical of me. I have budgeted to have the same outing once per month with a budget of $20 per visit.

I am hoping next week is better for eating at home and keeping costs lower.

See ya around

-Chick

Tag: meal-planning

Week 2 Recap

The week 1 recap!