Grocery shopping: $25.61
I stopped at Walmart tonight. They had the Boca Burger's in a bun 2 for $4. That made each complete sandwich $1. I bought 5 boxes of them. (They're pretty good - I've had them before.)
As I was driving home I was thinking about how much I could spend on my various meals per month if I didn't have too much variance.
30 days worth of breakfast - 2 large cannisters of oatmeal + 2 large containers of egg sub, maybe 4lbs of bananas = ~$20
Work lunches - 20 days - 20 Amy's burritos from Target at $1.69 ($33.80), 1 large bag frozen veggies ($2) -- ~$35.80
Home lunches (10 days) - pb & j sandwiches, boca burgers, etc - $10
Supper - 2 bags Quiona, 1 bag brown rice, 1 bag lentils, frozen veggies ~$30
Snacks - (string cheese, almonds,) ~$10
So, theoretically, I could get by on less than $110/month. Work lunches could cost even less when I make my own burritos (but not that much less really).
So, where does all the other money go in my grocery budget? Let's see . . last month I broke down and bought a pizza from Pizza Hut . . I also found a store that sold Nestle Treasures & had Orange Crush Jelly Belly's . . . I bought a couple varieties of squash (expensive stuff!) . . . I bought some unhealthy junkfood items . . plus other things not coming to mind right now.
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Before I even got started with all this thinking this afternoon, I'd asked to take Monday off as one of my vacation days.
I've gotten more and more behind in my housework and haven't been preparing meals ahead of time -- which has led to my doing a lot of the impulse convenience food shopping of the past few weeks.
This weekend I only am planning on going to church Sat. morning, then Sun afternoon I'll be doing my first RAoK meetup with the Salvation Army.
That means I'll have from 11:30 a.m. on Saturday until 4:30 p.m. on Sunday, and then all day Monday to be productive.
My plan is to give my apartment a through cleaning by Sunday afternoon. Then, on Monday I am going to plan out my meals for the rest of the month - attempting to use ONLY what I have on hand already as much as possible.
If I accomplish both the goal of having my apartment in Impress a Stranger Shape, and have my meals planned out (and prepared ahead as much as possible) for the month by 2 p.m. on Monday, then I'm going to treat myself to a movie. -- I want to go see "Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants 2". 
What that means is that when I get home tomorrow (after stopping at the library) with the 9th book in the Janet Evanovich Stephanie Plum series, I will have to make a decision between sitting down and reading that first, or get a head start on the cleaning. If last weekend repeats itself, Stephanie Plum will win.
Spending, Thinking, etc
August 8th, 2008 at 12:38 am
August 8th, 2008 at 12:58 am 1218157082
August 8th, 2008 at 12:58 am 1218157113
August 8th, 2008 at 02:00 am 1218160832
No, I've never made lentil burritos. They sound good - I would love the recipe. Also, the recipe for your cheeseball desert.
You don't happen to have any cooking shows for an SDA church in the Dallas area do you?
August 8th, 2008 at 02:10 pm 1218204630
August 8th, 2008 at 02:30 pm 1218205823
I'm picking up books 9 - 13 today. My name is on the LONG waiting list for #14 - they are such fast, easy and fun reads!
August 8th, 2008 at 04:02 pm 1218211366
August 8th, 2008 at 04:07 pm 1218211634
August 8th, 2008 at 05:00 pm 1218214833
You've already seen the 2nd movie?! How cool! Was it as good as the first one?? Have you read the books it was based on?
gamecock,
The normal shape of my apartment is the 'very lived in barely contained mess' shape. Then when I know I'm going to have anyone coming over I get motivated to pick it up enough to go into the "lived in but not too much out of place' shape. Once in (long)while I get in the mood to do a REAL big cleaning and manage to get it into the 'Impress a Stranger Shape' -- then usually manage to keep it pretty close to that for a few weeks, then slowly move back down through the Shape Stages.
August 8th, 2008 at 10:43 pm 1218235412
Hmmm... I may have to take your recommendation and try to check out one of the Stephanie Plum books when I'm at the library next. I look forward to it!
August 8th, 2008 at 10:48 pm 1218235716
Let me know what you think when you get a chance to read one!