January Grocery Challenge update: January 4th

 Well, we are just 4 days into January but we are doing great with our $60 challenge. You can read about it here. 

The last time I went grocery shopping was December 15th, and I plan on only spending $60 between then and Feb, 1st. So far we haven't spent any, and if that is the case for the rest of the month, that'll be great! I'll take that money and put it towards our next debt. 

Sunday, we had brunch right before church at about 10:45. Right now we are having services from home, as COVID cases have gotten pretty high in our area. But we had pancakes and turkey bacon. I buy the pancake mix in 10-pound bags and we prefer turkey bacon. I grew up on pork bacon, and my husband and I still enjoy it if we have some from a wild boar we may process, or if a farmer friend, gives us some, but we don't typically buy it. 

$5.98 for 10 lbs from Sam's

Then for dinner, we had Trader Joe's Orange Chicken, a bag of potstickers and a bag of broccoli. We have Trader Joes about 35 minutes from our house, and normally buy about 5 bags of Orange chicken and potstickers when we go. My family loves it! And it's a very special Chinese dinner for only $10 or so, even adding in the broccoli. 

We normally have 1-2 servings of this left for a lunch next week. 

For New Year's Eve, I thawed out some frozen strawberries from this past spring and made Strawberry Shortcake. I still had some of those thawed strawberries left which we had for a snack. We still have milk, and probably 4-5 pears, 5 or so oranges, a few apples and a few clementines as far as fresh fruit. We have a ton of frozen strawberries, blueberries and blackberries. As well as applesauce and canned fruit too. 

The kid's started school today and my husband is back to working ( from home). I have a few more weeks until my new semester official starts ( January 20th) but am doing some things around the house, some things for my classes to be ready etc. 

Do you all have a Trader Joe's? Anything there you LOVE?

Rebates, settlements and more

 I recently received a settlement in the mail for $16.15 from Kotex ( Kimberly Clark). I'm not exactly sure what it is for, but with a family that includes myself plus 2 teenaged daughters, I'm sure we have purchased Kotex in the past. We normally use disposables, but we have on occasion purchased Kotex products. 

So I put that money directly into my bank account and set up a debt payment in that amount. I think one way my thinking has shifted in the past. Normally I would think " woo-hoo" and maybe bought a book or something from etsy. But now, that I'm really into paying off debt and my purchases are minimal, that money is going directly to debt. 

My challenge for you this year is to set up a process for what you will do if you get these little bits of money here and there. If you follow Dave Ramsey's plan they are called snowflakes. But the point is, that they can add up over a year. In fact, I added another page in my debt spreadsheet for 2021 Snowflakes. I'll put little bits and pieces of money in that spreadsheet ( including what I did with that money) and keep a tally. Just for fun. 

What are your plans for your snowflakes this year? Any ideas for more little snowflakes this coming year? 

January Grocery Challenge: $60 or less

 The last few years I have been doing a $100 grocery challenge for January. I normally spend $400 for my family of 5 ( ages 15,13,9) and my husband and I. My husband and I both work full time, however due to the pandemic he is working 100% from home, and when I go back to work on January 21, I'll only be working 1 day in the office- the rest online. 

Not only is January going to be a low grocery month, but it's going to be a NO SPEND month in general. I didn't budget any fun money for any of us. ( Normally, we do $50 for my husband, $50 for me and $50 for the family). We are hoping to jumpstart our debt payoff with a bang come this new year. 

How can I keep our groceries so low?

We hunt.

My husband and oldest daughter and son more than me. But our family hunts. We have a freezer full of deer meat and some sausage as well. We have wild boars on the hunting lease we have and that makes some delicious sausage. So we have plenty of ground deer and sausage, as well as a few packages of deer steaks. One of our favorite ( warning, not healthy) meals is Tator Tot Casserole. 

We have chickens. 

We don't eat them. But we love their eggs. I guess we would eat them if it came down to it, but normally we just use their eggs. So we are getting about 6 eggs per day right now. So will have that this month. 

I can and freeze. 

A lot. I have 6 quarts of homemade veggie soup left, and one quart of that plus a pan of cornbread will be dinner for us. I have plenty of pickles, jams, jelly, relishes and such. I have a few quarts of green beans left from the garden, as well as frozen black-eyed peas and corn and about 5 quarts of frozen pesto. 

I can cook from scratch. 

I can make bread and soups and all kinds of goodies from scratch. And in November we did a pretty big Sam's trip with flour, sugar, yeast, rice etc. So we will be good for sure. 

We have quite a few fresh apples and oranges leftover from the holidays, and I have canned pineapple and other fruits. We also have lots of potatoes and sweet potatoes ( from our gardens) and onions and garlic and carrots ( not from our garden) but are fresh.  I plan on using the $60 for things for the kids lunches if we need it, and milk. I do have some boxed shelf stable milk, but keep that for a true emergency. If I don't spend all $60 I'll throw it at our debt. 

Are any of you planning on a no spend or low spend January?