I don't know about you but when I hear the word "BUDGET" my heart starts to beat a little faster and I break out in a sweat. Don't get me wrong, I don't spend money like it grows on trees, we try to live as frugally as possible. But every time we sit down and attempt to plan out a specific budget I end up completely stressed out that our finances don't neatly fit into all the categories. Usually I'm left in hyper-control mode and decide that I'm gonna hunker down in our house and just eat peanut butter and jelly sandwiches every day and not drive anywhere so as not to use gas and so the meltdown proceeds. For me, when not looking at all the numbers on paper I am able to do my best with what we have and trust that the Lord will stretch our funds to meet our needs. The past 10 years it has been a walk of faith and dependence for me.
Although I say all of that, I still long to have better control over our money. I look at friends who have budgets and use the cash system and seem to have a handle on this area of their lives and I desire that for my family. I would love to be able to give more freely without fear. So since I have my own expert in Laura I am ready and willing to embark on this challenge. I hope if you share similar struggles with this area of your life that you will join me this month in taking baby steps toward controlling your money. I'd love for you to comment and check in and let us know how it's going. I know I'm gonna need motivation to not give up!
For my first week of this challenge I prepared, as I usually do, a meal plan for the week. I scoured the grocery ads and decided what to cook according to what's in my freezer, fridge and pantry and what's on sale at the store. Personally, my two favorite places to shop are Publix with their Buy One Get One Free sales and Kroger. I cook 3-4 nights a week and then we eat leftovers in between.
With my grocery list and coupons in hand I headed off to Kroger.
Here's my shopping companion enjoying some turkey from the deli.
After I found everything I needed I added up all my items to make sure they didn't exceed my allotted funds. That's when I realized my first failure in this challenge. I FORGOT TO GET MY CASH! Being a newbie to this whole cash system thing I totally forgot to stop at the bank and get my allotted cash for the week! Ugh! Oh well. I'm not putting everything back on the shelves so I decide that we'll just chalk this up to part of the learning curve.
My total for this grocery trip was $76.95. It's within my budget and leaves me some wiggle room. I've planned out our breakfast/lunch/dinner meals but still never know if the food will go as far as I think so some leftover money is a relief!
I'll check in with you next week and let you know how I did.
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