Tuesday, February 26, 2013

Weekly Spending Wrap Up + A Menu Plan

I'm all kinds of behind this week, after we were out of town this weekend, & a high mileage running week (28 miles this week, including my 12 mile run!) I need to put things back together, because there are only a couple of days left in February & I still have goals to complete. :-)

We were out of town over the weekend & stocked up on some fabulous deals in Oregon (tax free, & the Costco there carried items our Costco no longer stocks).

And, we're spending more on food again. It's just creeping up. S is growing like crazy & I swear there is never a moment that he's not asking for a snack. We try to keep things healthy, but it's so expensive!

  • Monday (2/18) - No spend day!
  • Tuesday (2/19)- $92.10 - gas
  • Wednesday (2/20)- No spend day!
  • Thursday (2/21)
    • $12.77 - postage for an eBay sale
  • Friday (2/22)
    • $80.94 - Osh Kosh. We stocked up on two winter jackets in the next size up, a couple of pair of pants (my oldest is growing like a weed) two pair of jeans & a pair of ski gloves for next year.
    • $226.33 - Costco (house stuff). This includes laundry soap, 3 containers of dish washing soap, paper towels, planters for our vacation house, soil, etc.
    • $107.70 - Costco (food)
    • $7.97 - two books for the kids
    • $14.97 - two toys for the kids (we had to kill two hours "in town"). Unnecessary, had I planned ahead.
    • $1.49 - soap at Rite Aid
    • $3 - last minute grocery items at the local shop to make spaghetti sauce.
  • Saturday (2/23)
    • $10 - spending money at the arcade
  • Sunday (2/24):
    • $1 for parking at a trail for my long run
    • $55.68 - more groceries at Costco
    • $5.35 - snacks while skiing
    • $9.71 - car wash after skiing
    • $119.75 - car tabs
Holy expensive week! In positive news, we ate at home for every meal (exception being the snacks while skiing). That's always impressive when we're on vacation. :-) $748.76 spent last week - more than double my goal.

Menu planning is more critical than ever, with our food spending. In awesome news, I've mastered crust in the bread maker, so we no longer have to purchase pizza crust - I make our own dough. Love cutting something on the list, & replacing it with a healthier, cheaper, homemade option!

  • Monday - Tacos (meat from the freezer)
  • Tuesday - Pasta with grilled chicken
  • Wednesday - Tacos, take two (leftovers). May try to convince the kids to go for burritos, to keep things interesting. ;-)
  • Thursday - I have a late meeting, so either grilled chicken over salad, or leftovers.
  • Friday - Salmon, rice, & roasted brussels sprouts
  • Saturday - M & I may try to do a date night, but if not, I'm going to make Chicken Risotto.
  • Sunday - Pizza after skiing
I also need to make more Chicken Taquitos, to stock the freezer.

What's on your menu this week? How are you doing with your February goals? Are you on track, with just a few days left?

10 comments:

  1. We are going to Oregon for a family wedding in September and are going to stock up there!

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    1. There are some great deals to be had, when combined with tax free!

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  2. Nooo idea what I'll be eating after today, haha. I do have some porkchops, but totally not in the mood for it. But hey, not my choice. So it'll probably be that with a heaping portion of vegetables. Congrats on mastering the pizza dough! I remember the first time I did, I thought I'd just make different pizzas for months at a time. Glad other things restricted me from doing so. (But hey, you can use pizza dough to make empanadas and other meat pies. They freeze perfectly.)

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    1. Oooh, empanadas sound fabulous! I think I'm going to be trying that. Have you ever tried tortillas?

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  3. Ouch! It adds up fast some weeks doesn't it!? We're doing ok... only have about $30 left for 2 days and need to get crickets with that (yum! lol!) and some 'snacky' stuff for my son when he leaves for Qc. in 2 days. So... we should ok. :)

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    1. It really does add up. Last week was spendy. This week is going better, but we've had two meals out. Super unusual, & a result of crazy work schedules.

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  4. It works about the same for us mist of the time. We will be good about our spending and then we have a week where we need to stock up on all the basic staples. A Costco opened here in the last 6 months. Do you think your savings is worth the membership?

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    1. It depends. What do you typically buy? We find the cost savings are worth it because I don't have time to clip coupons (household goods) & we eat a lot of produce. You could certainly find things cheaper at various stores, but we typically only go to one store/week. Given that I'm not going to drive aroudn for the best deal on apples at one store, bananas at another, tomatoes at a third, etc, it averages out to be better savings for us. We also have an executive membership (costs more, but you get a refund on the difference if it's not worthwhile) & save extra on that as well.

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  5. I so miss Orgeon. I live in BC and to go down and gt cheap US prices, and no sales tax!! Is heaven!

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    1. Oregon is awesome! We completely stock up when we visit - household stuff, clothes for the kids, WINE! :-)

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