Or very little, anyway. David was paying bills yesterday before leaving on his business trip and I offered to forgo my bi-weekly household allowance to help cover Christmas charges on the credit card. He would never have asked me to do so and I had to insist. I have $102 and a bunch of change in my wallet which should easily see me through the next two weeks if I make a point of using up what we have in the pantry and freezer.
I hadn’t planned this in advance and hadn’t even done any major grocery shopping in awhile but I still think this will be easily done because I have a bit of a hoarding tendency. I don’t really like shopping and I especially don’t like to run to the store for a couple of items we have run out of unexpectedly. Therefore I maintain a pretty good stock of food and other household items at all times. This is my opportunity to put my creativity to use and use up some of the surplus. It’s about time to defrost the freezer anyway so it will be good to see what’s in there and use some of it.
I know that many people would love to have $100 to spend on groceries and household items for two weeks and I’m under no delusion that this is going to represent any real hardship around here. Rather, I am approaching it as a personal challenge of sorts. Whenever I read the blog, “These Days in French Life”, I am astounded and humbled by Rhiana’s family’s ability to live a meaningful life while buying almost nothing. I’m especially impressed with the gourmet meals she concocts out of seemingly nothing. That’s where my focus is going to be with this…the opportunity to stretch myself and see what I can come up with using what I have on hand.
I have plenty of wheat, organic all-purpose flour and corn meal so I can bake our bread products. Our chickens are laying well and I have a surplus of eggs. I had bought a case of Tongol tuna from Amazon when they had a very good sale recently. I haven’t surveyed the depths of the freezer yet but off the top of my head I know we have tilapia, shrimp, beef ribs and a turkey in there. We have plenty of basics like rice, pasta, canned goods, baking ingredients and an extensive collection of herbs and spices.
In the household goods department, we have plenty of toilet paper, something I always keep plenty of as there are no acceptable substitutes for me. I’m almost out of shampoo but have plenty of conditioner which I use in place of shampoo at least part of the time anyway. We also have a big drawer full of little bottles from our hotel stays. Most of my cleaning is done with basics like vinegar, baking soda and Dr. Bronner’s liquid soap, all of which I have plenty of. I buy Amway detergent by the case and have oodles of it. I also have plenty cream facial cleanser, moisturizer and makeup.
I know I’ll be buying some fresh produce and milk over the next two weeks. I also need a bag of pine shavings for the chicken coop. And there may be something I haven’t anticipated yet. However, my goal is to see how little of that $102 I can spend over the next two weeks.
Instead of posting my menu for the week in advance as I usually do on Mondays, I will try to post our meals daily…perhaps even with photos! I will also note anything I purchase so you can see how I’m doing with this challenge. If anyone else would like to do something similar (make your own rules) I’d love to hear about it. If you blog about it, let me know and I’ll link to yours. If several are doing it I’ll add a list to the sidebar. And who knows? I might continue something similar even when the two weeks are up.
I rarely buy shampoo anymore. I do buy conditioner BUT I use dish soap for shampoo..Dawn works great but I am trying a cheap no name version. My hair gets squeaky clean and then I use conditioner occasionally. Not daily. So a bottle of dish soap lasts a long time and much cheaper than shampoo. My favorite that I’ve use is Palmolive Green Apple.. yummy
Oh yeah and I’m doing a $21 challenge this week and maybe next week too.. I’m allowing myself to spend only $21 on groceries IF and on IF I need something.
Louise
We eat out of the freezer a good bit during the winter, because I HATE getting out when it is cold, so I only grocery shop on days that the weather isn’t too cold. I think that at some point, I’m going to try and do some serious budgeting of just how much I spend, but we are going to Tulsa this weekend and they have a WHOLE FOODS! So, I’m not starting this week!
Louise: See, I knew my $100 for two weeks wasn’t anything drastic. Are you going to continue blog about your challenge? I hope so! As for the shampoo thing, I think dish soap might be a little harsh for my hair since I have it colored every 5 weeks. I’ve read a lot about the so-called “no poo” method(s) and am doing a bit of experimentation.
Roz: If I had the opportunity to go to Whole Foods I wouldn’t have suggested that David not give me my allowance! Love that place!
I’m game – after today. I had plans to buy groceries today but will shop keeping in mind my pantry and freezer items. We already produce much of what we eat. And I’m very “green” so I buy many personal care items in bulk and use things like vinegar and baking soda for cleaning. I’ll try to keep you posted on my blog
I don’t know if this would be a challenge at all for me haha. I’m cheap. We won’t be doing our monthly grocery shopping in the two weeks so unless we have to buy more meds for Justin there shouldn’t be anything really.
Now if we count this weekend I’m in trouble because we had to buy homeopathic meds, organic soup, a humidifier, and some spicy food for the sick boy. But if he hadn’t been sick we would be good.
Other than that we have bought glass straws (a bit pricey but something we will have forever and saves in the long run if you use straws) and milk. I think that is really all.
Like I said I could do this all the time other than grocery shopping. I have 5 starbucks gift cards and like $15 in my wallet I’m set for a few months lol.
deanna, this is great! i wish you loads of success and know that you will. sounds like you are stocked up! give me a shout if you find random things and want me to figure out a meal from them.
blessings
Thanks, Riana! (Do our names rhyme?) Maybe one day next week I’ll dig through my stores, pick three random items and see what you would do with them. That might be fun, don’t you think? You have truly been an inspiration to me and while I don’t quite aspire to your level of *non-consumerism*, I learn something from you almost every time I read your blog.