Saturday, May 7, 2011

30 Day Pantry Challenge: Unrealistic Goals?



I made my first trip to Walmart post challenge start. If you remember from my first post about our 30 Day Pantry Challenge, I have budgeted $200 for the entire month. Yeah, that was a joke. Needless to say I am a bit discouraged right now. My receipt shows a grand total of *cough* $67.55. Grant it, some of that is not food and I will break it down below to show exactly what I spent, but I don't expect it to be low enough to fit in the budget. So here it is broken down:

Bread-$4.06
Yogurt-$4.00
Chips-$2.18
Sprite-$4.28
Produce-$23.93
Lemonade-$5.00
Cheese-$4.18
Chocolate-$3.87
Food Total:$51.50



Now, to be fair, a few of those things aren't something I need to get every week (cheese and Sprite). And I will be cutting out the lemonade next week (Boo!) to cut back costs. I know some of it looks unnecessary but my DH is a very picky eater and those are his lunch items. They are non-negotiable. We are trying various healthier options, but for now it is what it is. This total also doesn't include our raw dairy which is $24 and again not an option to cut out. That total was not figured into my $200 budget though. What I do still have to figure in is my Azure order. That comes in on the 18th. While I am highly disappointed in how this shop went, I am still pleased that the total was less than 1/2 of what we normally spend so we are saving money. I think I may need to set a more realistic goal though.

2 comments:

Twinkle Mom @ Squirrel Academy said...

I wonder if inflation could be playing a part with the grocery bills too...seems the price of everything is going up these days.

Dana said...

I wish my husband had more realistic goals. He's the picky eater, here, too. :)

We're sort of going the opposite way, though, and stocking up the pantry. The goal here it to move to once a month shopping (other than my husband picking up milk and fresh produce). Trying to save through sparing the gas, which is a bit considering shopping is 40 miles away!