The past 10 days have been a roller coaster. First it was great and then it was horrible, and now I'm trying to pick up the pieces and put it all back together.
Days 13 and 14
My husband decided he wanted to celebrate our 20th Wedding Anniversary a couple weeks early so he took me on a short get away to Cincinnati. It was close enough that we could drive it in a couple hours but far enough to try some new restaurants. Since this was not in the plan when I started this challenge and he was footing the bill, I decided the best way to handle this turn of events was to add two more days to my grocery challenge and have it run to July 2nd.
Our children are finally old enough to leave alone for two nights. I left them a list of all the food that was ready to eat plus I made a pan of chicken enchiladas that they just had to heat in the oven for 20 minutes, then it was off to Cincinnati on Sunday night. We had a wonderful time and returned Tuesday afternoon.
Day 15
As I mentioned earlier I had a $10 ECB from CVS that expired today. Quite honestly there was nothing I needed at CVS and since I had been gone all weekend I hadn't had a chance to look at all the ads in depth and plan any shopping deals for things I might need in the future. I ended up giving the $10 ECB to my daughter because she wanted to buy make up.
Later that day the bottom fell out of my pleasant week. I found out one of my friends had killed himself the previous night.
Day 16
New grocery ad broke today but I was in no mood to look it over. Unfortunately, I also looked in the refrigerator and realized we had eaten all the fruits and vegetables in the house. My younger daughter was also reading a nutrition book and had a list of food she wanted... so, we went grocery shopping together... me without a list or a plan.
First stop was Kroger...
green pepper 0.99
head of lettuce 0.99
1.92 lbs of cherries 5.74 (ouch!)
1.11 lbs Roma tomatoes 0.77
1.11 lbs peaches 1.10
2.83 lbs bananas 1.56
cored pineapple 3.99
pint blueberries 1.67
half gallon skim milk 1.00
container of goat cheese 2.99
8 oz brie 4.99
Only coupon I used was $1 off the goat cheese that I found stuck to the container
Paid $24.79
Next stop was Meijer where my daughter primarily wanted a variety of Greek yogurt.
2 containers Meijer Greek yogurt @ 0.79 each
2 containers Siggi's yogurt @ 1.59 each
1 container Chia Pod @ 2.99 (aack!)
package of prosciutto 3.99 (I'm splurging so what the heck)
1 container mascarpone cheese 4.49 (daughter had to have it; it was over $6 at Kroger)
box of Medjool dates 5.69 (continuing my splurge...)
canister of oatmeal 1.99
8 oz cottage cheese 2.00
Total was $28.90. I used the balance of my gift card and paid $20.27 out of pocket.
So... Day 16 and I'm up to $136.35 spent.
Day 17
No spending. I think I ate about 5000 stress calories of food though.
Day 18
Today was Alex's memorial service.
Anger, guilt, emptiness, sadness. Those are some of a myriad of emotions I've felt this week. I suppose there are two things that stood out to me that I will always remember. One was that Alex and I had the same birthday - same day, same year. We were exactly the same age. We had joked once long ago that we were twins, then filed that information somewhere way back in our heads. Now it was somewhat disconcerting seeing your exact birth date in someone else's memorial service program.
Second was that Alex ran with me. He ran with me on my long runs back when I was trying to run my Boston qualifying time. He was the only one that ran my long runs with me. I didn't need anyone fast and I didn't need anyone to run the whole way with me but I just wanted someone to keep me company for part of the miles since long runs can get pretty boring when you're out there by yourself for a couple hours. He would run the first 5 or 6 miles with me. That was the lasting memory I had in my mind when I first heard the news. I got to his service and found that the photo of him next to his casket was the one of him after the 500 Festival Mini Marathon with his finisher's medal.
After his service a group of us went out to eat. I was beyond caring about my spending at this point.
Dinner with drinks... $19.62.
Since it was Saturday I stopped at Meijer to pick up 4 weekend papers. We were almost out of milk too so a gallon of milk... and, what the hell, I NEEDED some cookies so a package of 10 Lofthouse cookies... total $10.08.
Now I'm up to $166.05.
Quite honestly I considered throwing in the towel on this challenge on Saturday. I didn't want to be frugal anymore. I wanted to buy whatever the hell my mouth wanted. I have plenty of money. I don't HAVE to do this. I suppose though that this would not be a CHALLENGE if it was easy. So, I am continuing on, tracking my spending. I've come to the realization that I very well may go over $200 but I'll track it nonetheless to see how close I can get.
Days 19-20
No spending.
Day 21
As far as food for the family, I am doing pretty good. However... I wasn't going to compete at the Fair this summer... but then I had a change of heart... and suddenly I WANT to try out some new recipes. I SHOULD wait until July to do this but I have a span of days off this week and I had to try out some recipes... and I needed a couple of things...
From Marsh...
bag of walnut pieces 5.99 (ouch!)
cranberry bread 4.99 (don't even ask!)
pint heavy whipping cream 1.79
Used 0.50 coupon on the whipping cream. Paid $12.27.
Day 22
No spending.
Total spending for the month so far $178.32.
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