Today being the last week of January I am doing my weekly expenditures a bit early since I also want to do a review of the month. This week's expenses:
1/27: $103 for cell phone bill; $50 for my portion of the expenses for upcoming 50th Anniversary party for oldest sister and brotherinlaw; $21.96 for ice cream for birthday party
1/28:$0
1/29: $46 for gas for SUV
1/30: $0
1/31: I anticipate spending $0 today. It is dinner date night but I will be cooking a special meal at GF's house this week for us.
All in all I am satisfied with how things have gone moneywise this month and really happy with how I managed to stay within the pantry challenge grocerywise. All the bills have been paid in full and with my taxes done and filed I am looking forward to paying off that personal loan and being able to put the amount I spent monthly for that into my savings in February.
Outside of the regular bills I spent:
Gas: $130 (thanks to GF who used a gift card to fill up my SUV one weekend since he'd done a lot of driving in it..monthly budget: $180) 
Pets: $6 (monthly budget $20 since middle son is responsible for dog food and I am responsible for cat food /litter)
Assorted Household items (apron, lamp, baskets,travel mug,boot holder, nightlight): $71.84 (monthly budget $50..I was over)
Cleaning/health & beauty/paper goods: $83.03 (monthly budget of $100)
Leisure and Entertainment (includes bowling, dining out, crochet supplies, .): $107.34 (budget is $110 mostly for bowling)
Birthday party expenses including gift: $117.52 (expensive but I only do parties for my two youngest and since this was a joint party for my nephew it ended up being quite a bit less money than an individual party would be if I'd had the expense of main food and paper goods).
Special events: $50
The Pantry Challenge: Here is my original blog about the challenge with the specific goals I wanted to acheive:http://www.aroundakitchentable.blogspot.com/2012/12/pantry-challenge-and-menu-making.html
Goal 1: Eating down the freezer/pantry: We did this very well although we still have quite a bit of stuff so I think I may be able to extend this in a minimal way into February. We do need to restock meat and poultry.
Goal 2: Keeping under $150 for grocery expenses: I spent: $146.11
Goal 3: Less waste..although I was forced to toss out a few leftovers the kids declined to eat and which got stuck at the back of the fridge and forgot about I did not have to throw away perfectly good food I'd purchased and never used before it went bad. Keeping fresh produce and dairy purchases to a minimum each week has helped tremendously here. There is still room for improvement. I need to keep a closer eye on the leftover situation and get things in the freezer that the kids won't eat up right away.
It was another expensive week although I did have some extra expenses I also did manage to finish both my federal and state income tax forms and efile the state and have my federal ready to go on the 30th. Healthy returns in both cases means I can meet a couple of financial goals I have set for myself.
This has been one long cold week. Monday was a school holiday that I'd originally planned on spending doing all things domestic. A death in the extended family put an end to those plans. Life happens and the morning was spent saying our farewells. Dinner was Chicken Paprikash soup made from Sunday's roasted chicken and totally off the menu plans. Temperatures dropped into the single digits and snow hit us hard overnight and Tuesday became a Snow Day! I did a few of the domestic things I had planned, baking a batch of Coconut Crisp cookies, 
catching up laundry, and having lunch with my oldest son and his wife since they were both home as well. At it was bowling night 
as well and I decided to ignore my menu again and do a homemade white pizza for dinner, simple and quick and it used up the rest of a container of grape tomatoes that were starting to look wrinkled. Wednesday temps were still frigid and we woke up here to a lot of falling snow. However schools were in session so off to school for the kids and off to work for me. A two hour long white knuckle commute as it turned out. Scary but when I finally reached my destination it was to find that they had no snow and the sun was shining. Just us folks along Lake Erie who got blessed this time.
getting the family dinner and spending $20.50 from my entertainment budget. 
Marzetti light slaw dressing 
and a well drained can of crushed pineapple 
.
.This week not quite as frugal as last week. We needed some cleaning supplies, the SUV needed feeding, I picked up a couple of useful household items, we needed fresh produce, and I returned to my weekly bowling league on Tuesday. In addition I paid all of the remaining monthly bills with the exception of my cell phone bill (I am on a family plan with an older sister and I pay her...this will get done next weekend).
and added the onions.
. In a medium sized bowl I beat 6 eggs with about 1/4 cup of milk, added a pinch of nutmeg, 1/4 teaspoon of chervil, and a grinding of black pepper. Then I shredded a block of New York sharp cheddar I'd bought at Aldi and ran some hot water over a cup of frozen spinach to defrost it quickly. Both of these items I added to the egg mixture. I poured the entire thing over the onions and mixed it well. 
Mediterranean Lentil Soup (Easy Home Cooking cookbooklet)
My estimate of the cost of this meal for two people was $3.56 ( 6 eggs bought at $1.09 per dozen, one package of organic bacon, $3.33 and four slices of bread bought at $1.39 for a 12 slice loaf), I didn't count the cost of the pot of coffee we shared since if we'd gone out coffee is included in the breakfast price at the little local diner we enjoy. We still saved more than half the cost of eating out since this same meal plus tip for two of us at the diner runs just under $10.
as well as a box of scalloped potatoes 
he had on hand and salad fixins from his fridge and put together a nice meal for the two of us. 
I chopped up the leftover corned beef , add this and a bag of frozen hash browns, some beef broth, worcestershire sauce and salt and pepper and let the hash cook about 10 minutes until it was good and crispy on one side. I served the hash with a simple side of pickles. 
Simple and filling.
A few months ago I would've run out and grabbed something from Wendy's or eaten at the bowling alley since Tuesday is my normal bowling night. It felt good to just put together a quick and simple supper for myself and not spend any extra cash doing it.
Yesterday was my first day back to work from a two week vacation and I have to confess I was more than ready to get back in the saddle. Wanting to be more organized this year (a goal I have set for myself) I made a list of things to accomplish after the workday. On my list were a stop at the farmer's market and a run to BJs for the organic milk I intended to buy Saturday but never did. I found out however as I pulled into their parking lot that the farmer's market is closed until January 14th, the owners taking a two week vacation themselves. So off to BJ's I went. I figured I could get the produce I wanted there just as easily. I spent a grand total of $32.93 and came home with a gallon of organic 1% milk (and was pleasantly surprised to see the price had dropped to $6.49 from $7), a half gallon of Breyer's Vanilla ice cream, 1/2gallon of organic orange-peach-mango juice, 2 lbs lemons, 5lbs. sweet onions, 8 lbs. red grapefruit and 5 lbs. clementines. Lots of vitamin rich citrus products to help me fight the lingering cold!
Not having any cabbage in the house for the side dish I had planned on I went ahead and just did simple buttered egg noodles and then a fresh salad. I had romaine lettuce, carrots and grape tomatoes all on hand and needing to use up the lettuce before it went bad I opted for this. 
These were our side dishes. The planned over roast will make a nice meal for the gentleman friend tonight as well as the basis for the stroganoff I have planned for Dinner Date Night this week!
using the planned over rice from Thursday's night dinner and adding a small amount of sugar, milk, and cinnamon I popped it all in the microwave to warm up and voila I had my mom's breakfast rice!
Intending to use the last remaining days of my vacation wisely I chose to dedicate today to cleaning the house and doing laundry. I began by tossing the couch slipcovers into the washer. I am also laundering all of the polar fleece throw blankets as well as catching up the laundry in the hamper. I will be hanging up as much clothing as possible on hangers from the basement ceiling and using the dryer for the blankets, towels, and slipcovers only. My next assignment was cleaning out the refrigerator in preparation for January shopping. I am ashamed to say I had to toss out more things than I care to. We really need to tighten up in this area. 
