I hit my food budget and went slightly beyond it on Monday.
Take a look at my food expenses this month.
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Eating out $41.69
Blueberries $32.92
Long grain enriched rice $19.98
Coconut water $15.53
Chicken $12.35
Chocolate bars $10.97
Snack bars $9.00
Black beans $8.91
Sweet potatoes $8.90
Maple syrup $6.99
Avocados $6.25
Fruit juice $4.09
Bananas $3.98
Red bell peppers $3.75
Yellow onions $3.49
Organic beets $2.49
Jumbo eggs $2.19
Baby Bella Mushrooms $1.99
Microwaveable Food $0.50
- Drink less coconut water.
- Find produce suppliers that are cheaper. Also switch to in season produce.
I should also look up what's in season and try to get in on those deals. Blueberries aren't in season until May/June, but I've been eating a ton.
- Replace chocolate bars and snack bars with cheaper sweets.
- Improve my cooking.
Overall, I need to start making better shopping choices. This month I had a lot of food that I had bought in previous months, so the fact I shopped poorly didn't have as great an effect on what I could eat. For example, I had garlic in nearly every meal because I had around 9 garlic bulbs in my cabinet from prior months. I also have a bunch of spices and vegetables that were bought in the past. In the next two or three months, I'll start running out of prior stock and will need to replenish in a cheap way or stop buying certain items if that's not an option. The goal of better food budgeting may get harder (as I run out of previously bought food items and learn to cook and shop better) before it gets easier.
Resources on improving my grocery budget
TheRedHare's thread on how to cut back food spending: viewtopic.php?t=10586
cmonkey's thread on how much folks spend on food: viewtopic.php?t=6683
Day 3 of the 21 Day Makeover: http://earlyretirementextreme.com/day-3 ... pping.html
Amy Dacyzyn's Tightwad Gazette Compendium
Learning to Cook Saves at Least $5,000 a Year: http://earlyretirementextreme.com/learn ... -year.html
Pilaf: To Really Slash Your Grocery Budget: http://earlyretirementextreme.com/pilaf ... udget.html
Cookbooks related to the foods I want to make and the tools I have to make food (ie electric pressure cooker specific and general cookbooks)
Although it's one thing to read all of the above and another to put it into practice enough to be second nature. I'm still very much consciously incompetent at many of the tips, tools, and tricks outlined above. Seems like a long road to unconscious competence which is the point at which I can probably move on to other problems. Hopefully I'll get a decent way there over the coming year.
Update on housing
I decided to wait another month or two before moving. I think there will be similar housing opportunities like the one I mentioned in my last post. If I wait, my SO said they may move in with me and also I won't be double paying rent since my current lease doesn't end for another couple months. I was in a rush to move because I wanted to bike more and didn't think I'd be able to get myself to do so without moving, but I've found biking to my SO's place on the weekend is sufficient for now.
Update on work
I've been focusing on remembering the things I like about my job whenever I start to get down about it. This helps a bit.
It seems like it'd be more useful for me to start honing in on what I like day to day and reducing all things other than that. I have a decent amount of flexibility in what I work on, so trimming should be feasible. Also increasing my competence in my core skills should help me get into flow more often at work.
Coming back from my long holiday break was really hard, but as the days pass I get back into the habit of going to work and have been feeling a lot better. I'm rethinking whether I should take a multi-week vacation next year around the holidays. It's so hard to get back into it when I've been off for such a short time. If I'm off for a few months, I might be raring to get back, but when it's only a few weeks, I dread going back because it feels like it's too soon.