cheap skate, tightwad call me what you will...

I came across something called the $21 Challenge from Fiona Lippey & Jackie Gower at SimpleSavings.net.  It is a pretty neat idea - basically how we are programmed to over-buy especially in grocery and household items.  The $21 challenge is supposed to be for one week when cash is tight.  I am taking that to the next level and my goal is to spend $50 weekly on food items (not including milk).  Somehow a good friend of mine managed to keep this up for little while!  Way to go D!  Milk usually makes up $10+ of my grocery bill so I bumped the $50 to $60 to account for that.

I am 5 weeks in...week 2 was the hardest by far.

week 1 : $56.45 - yay!
week 2: $127.50 - hubby's list was way too long - hopefully we will convert him soon!
week 3: $38.43 - making up for horrible week 2!
week 4: $85.82 - hubby's grocery list again...ugh!  Damn pistachios $7.99 a bag!
week 5: $54.72

average = $72.58...much better than my normal grocery bill

I also came across a recipe for homemade dishwasher detergent that works wonderful!  Still trying out the homemade laundry soap recipe. So far works great on towels and I have a HE washer.

Helpful tips I've found out thus far:

• Breakfast for dinner is yummy and super cheap
• Homemade oatmeal is pretty disgusting but God love hubby he is eating it every morning and not complaining!
• That year old frozen smoked shoulder was actually good thanks to the crockpot.
• Soups are another super cheap dinner, my favorite is baked potato soup.  I just need to find a good crusty roll recipe.
• Be prepared for a lot of home cooking and good old fashioned baking for anything like this strategy to work...stock up on flour, sugar, brown sugar, baking powder, baking soda, butter, eggs

my sister is doing her own challenge, see her progress at Sharing Our Shenanigans

My goal is to take this savings and apply it to finishing the rest of the house...this could take a while!