Living on $20 per week part I

We had a few big expenses this year.  
First of all our daughter was married in May. Even though it wasn't a big fancy wedding all of the costs still add up to a big sum of money. (a little confession: I never added it up). It was lovely and we are very happy for her.
Second, our other daughter, who studies music, needs to upgrade her instrument to a professional quality one. She worked over the summer, and with her scholarship money she has most of the money, but we still need to help her out with some.  Professional instruments are really expensive.
Third, our 25th anniversary is coming up in October and we are planning to take a little trip.

    
During the month of September I decided to live on $20.00 per week to save some money and use our food storage items.  I came up with a few rules and exceptions.

1. All the bills will be paid, of course.
2. Gas money for the cars is not included in the $20 budget. 
3. Medical expenses are also not included in the budget.
4. We can use all the spare change we find around the house and in the car.
5. If someone takes us out to dinner we will take it.

It has been two weeks since we started this crazy money diet, and I am happy to report that we are doing great.  I mean, I miss having chocolate here and there, and I really feel like it is time for me to get some new shoes, but we are not starving or on a ramen diet yet. 

What I noticed is that I need to plan out carefully and ahead of time. We have eaten pretty well so far.  Homemade pasta and shrimp with butternut squash sauce. Tacos with homemade tortillas. BBQ chicken, green beans and baked sweet potatoes. Chicken stir fry. Homemade macaroni and cheese. These are just a few of our meals.

Here are some things I noticed over the last two weeks.

1. We bake more - bread, cookies, and brownies.
2. Homemade always tastes better - pasta, tortillas, pickles...
3. Ice cream is definitely a need - we paid $6 for it, but sometimes you just got to have it.
4. Busy schedules can totally ruin your plan - last Saturday we had a church meeting, and right after the meeting we went to watch a football game and didn't have time to eat dinner.  We spent $10 on chocolate milk, doughnuts, yogurt and M&Ms.  Half of our weekly allowance in one night.
5. Some busy days you can still make it work - just a few days ago I had a church activity, Mike was teaching a class, and our daughter was at work.  We all got home about 9:30 and still managed to put dinner together. All of us worked together and it was a great time. 

The next two weeks are going to be harder. We might have to try out that ramen diet... I hope not.  We have chickens to give us fresh eggs daily, and have all our other basic needs other than the meat.  We might try a vegetarian diet for a while.  Beans and rice sounds good.

Side note: We ran out of olive oil, Mike misses his soda, and our daughter has to buy her own snacks.