I don't know how much I spend on food, but some of my spending is pretty junky. I need an incentive to stop buying "a block a week (etc)". I want to make my diet more simple. And I want to keep track of my money better. I want a challenge!
This is today's brilliant idea:
I'm going to put $60* in an envelope at the start of the month, and my food purchases will come out of that envelope. Simple! I have no idea if that's a realistic budget, it's only $2 a day. I actually hope it's a challenge, I hope I'm forced to think creatively about what I eat and how I shop. I'm sure I'll eat through my freezer and tupperware. If I'm eating self-raising flour and tomato sauce at the end of the month I'll feel a great sense of achievement.
The escape clause is that social eating doesn't count, because I don't want to limit Eat Street and other social things. I believe single people need to eat with other people, not eat alone in front of the TV. And 3 or 4 eat-outs a month would take most of my envelope. Takeaway DOES count; if you eat it by yourself, it comes out of the envelope.
So those are the rules!
I get paid in the middle of the month so I'll start my month on 16th. That way the month challenge will be finished before Christmas (If I go away for Christmas and eat my family's food that would be be cheating!). I won't blog boring shopping lists, but if I learn anything profound, I will share it. Also keen to know if you are doing it with me.
Oooh, I'm excited about this one!!!!!
* I really want it to be $50, but I'm afraid I'd do one shop and spend half my envelope and freak out and not eat enough fruit and veg and meat for the rest of the month. $60 makes me feel like I can afford a balanced diet. If I have $$ leftover at the end of the month, I'll do something special with it.
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You can totally do it Jess!
ReplyDeleteMy husband and I can basically feed the three of us (plus my baby, though to be fair he only eats spoonfuls of mashed fruit/vegies) for $80. And I also make sure we only have pasta/high carb meals once a week, so we eat pretty well.
Woo! Thanks Soph! Some are doubting, and I'm wildly unsure myself, but it's worth a red hot go. 5 days until.
ReplyDeleteI should have added that $80 doesn't include meat, which I buy once every two months on a separate budget...
ReplyDeleteoops okay, and I think I totally read your post wrong - I thought you said $60 a WEEK, not a month! $80 is what we spend in a week! But that does include household items like detergent, toothpaste, etc...foodwise I'd say we'd be close to $40 a week, so $160 a month. Sorry, that's a whole lot more than $60 a month :(
ReplyDeleteI suspected that! Even so, I'm trying to live off $14 p/week for food for only a short time, so an average $20ish p/person p/w for food as a habit is really good. It's meat that's the blow-out.
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