Sunday, May 29, 2016

The home straight

Two days to go until no-spend month is over! And I can't wait, although to be honest I've been rather slack this week and broken it! I've been out twice this week and spent money. The first was a playgroup mum's dinner ($43 which included a lovely Ethiopian meal with a few wines - bargain!) and then last night was a catch up with my old housemates ($34 just on booze... when did beer get so expensive?!). Both events happen rarely and I really wanted to go to both -  so I decided stuff it! Both evenings out were good for my mental health and I'm glad I went. Earlier in the week I had some girlfriends over for drinks rather than go to a bar, so at least I saved us all some money there! I'm slowly working my way through my stash of wine, as well as the food cupboards.

Surprisingly, we still have a lot of stuff in the cupboards. I'm going to spend tomorrow pulling everything out and trying to work out how we can use it next month. Hopefully this will mean I can take some stuff off the monthly shopping list, as it's looking pretty huge at the moment. We are out of nearly all baking supplies, muesli supplies (we make our own), legumes, tofu, soy and oat milks, chocolate (!), peanut butter/vegemite and many other 'essential' items.

So I suspect our grocery bill next month will be pretty substantial due to all the restocking, but hopefully won't be as huge as in the past. I'm pretty pleased that our grocery spend this month should come in at $293, which considering our average spend over the 3 months prior was $1200 a month (I know, I know - outrageous) is pretty impressive! The $293 covered fruit and veg, and buying necessities that we ran out of like toilet paper, nappies and soy milk. (I know soy milk is not really a necessity, but as I haven't been going to cafes I consider it necessary!)

Other spending this week was on a gift for a 6 year old. Earlier in the month I found something to re-gift for another party, but there was nothing left that I could think of to re-gift so ended up buying something. I checked out the local opp shop and second hand book store first, but ended up with a very reasonably priced book (the 12 story tree house) from Kmart. I'm sure the birthday boy will enjoy his copy as much as my son does.

Hopefully I can get through the next 2 days without any spending. I just baked a loaf with the last of the flour and we have enough fruit and veg to last the distance. I just need to resist the cafes tomorrow. I've been organising lots of coffee catch ups at friend's houses which has been a useful way to get me over the cafe thing, but I'm still feeling drawn to them! I'm not really sure the challenge has changed my habits in that sense.


Tuesday, May 24, 2016

Week 3 - so busy I couldn't blog!

Baking is time-consuming and exhausting! That is the conclusion I have reached this week. I've been working my way through 10kg of flour, baking a loaf of sourdough bread each day, making biscuits regularly to use up leftover porridge and fill up the lunchboxes, and baking cakes and cupcakes for my daughter's birthday events last week. On top of the baking I've been cooking everything from scratch even more so since we have started running out of things over the month. By the end of my daughter's birthday last Friday I felt like collapsing from cooking exhaustion! We only had small gatherings but there were multiple and there was a lot of bread and pizza involved.

Anyway, today when I did the weekly fruit and veg shop I bought a loaf of bread and it feels very liberating not to be preparing the bread tonight! Once this month is over I think I'll go back to making bread a few times a week instead of every day. It will also be better for my waistline as I tend to eat half the loaf when it comes out of the oven! I also decided to get the fruit and veg at my local market this week, instead of ordering the usual CERES box, as the challenge of using everything up in the box has also been a bit exhausting. I know we'll easily eat everything in the fridge and fruit bowl this week.

Week 3 highlights are all to do with the kindness of my friends and family. People have been quite taken by this challenge and have been very kind in their support, both verbally and in kind!
  • My friend Mel who lives in Sydney sent me a 'no spend challenge care package'! One morning I was thrilled to find it on the doorstep. It included some yummy chocolatey treats as well as a selection of herbal teas (which coincidentally I had just run out of). It made me very happy!
  • Another friend Mel gave me a present of 'Orgram No Egg', which is an egg replacer. Very lovely and very handy for all my baking!
  • My sister-in-law had us over for dinner (lovely!) and on leaving donated us chillis, onions and garlic as well as some other stuff from their Hello Fresh boxes that they couldn't eat due to my brother's food intolerances.
  • My friend Laura shouted me and Ginger a coffee and babycino after our outing to storytime at the State Library. So good!!! I really miss cafe coffeee...
Speaking of cafes, I've nearly caved so many times this week, but have kept on walking. Good on me! Poor Ginger is having major withdrawals as well. It's usually such a regular part of our day that she just can't work out what is going on! However, I am really enjoying my stovetop coffee at the moment, so it's not actually the coffee that I'm missing.

In other week 3 news, we ran out of nappies and toilet paper! So I did an Aldi run and bought a pack of each. And also bought some ground coffee as I really haven't been enjoying the one I had in the freezer. It will make the final week a lot more bearable.

This has made us think about what we are going to do next month. Adrian and I have decided that in terms of groceries we'll continue on with a similar method, but will plan a lot better. So this will mean a monthly meal plan and one massive shop at the start of the month, with the fruit and veg box or shop each week. I've also decided to try and avoid Coles/Woolworths all together, as I think I can now get most stuff at Aldi (they now have tofu and vegan snags/burgers, nuttlex) with the remainder from my local shops (health food store and greek importers). I've already started a list of things we have run out of and will do a general meal plan to ensure we can do most meals. We actually still have a lot of food in the cupboards that needs to be eaten, so I'll try to incorporate that into the meal plans.

Although I'm not quite sure how I'm going to use up 5 tins of sliced beetroot! My obsession with keeping the cupboards well stocked has meant some serious over-supply of certain things. Creating a very detailed meal plan and shopping list and then sticking to it will be quite a challenge for me!

Sunday, May 15, 2016

Week 2... not so good

This week's 'no spend' has not gone so well! Where do I start... today I was hungover I had to go to see the Sound of Music with 2 of my kids and my sister in law, who kindly got the tickets for my birthday.

However, the hangover meant that I decided we should catch the train into town rather than deal with the stress of city parking and driving. We got to the station and I realised that my son's Myki was out of funds, and that my Myki was not in my bag. Luckily I have a spare card, but I ended up spending $15 to top up both cards. Next, I was so very hungover that I needed a second coffee before the performance. And so I bought my first cafe coffee for the month. It wasn't even very nice! So a $19 spend today. Not great.

I've been really missing going to cafes still. I think once the month is up I'll allow myself to go once or twice a week, as it makes me very happy!

Other unexpected expenses this week included new shoes for Ginger, two big bags of flour so I can continue to make bread (I bought a bag, and Adrian didn't realise and also bought one!), a block of Lindt for my mother's day present (I said I didn't want anything, but did enjoy it!), and in addition to the fruit and veg top up, we bought some more Bonsoy as we are about to run out. Usually I go through 1 litre a week, but since the cafe ban we've been drinking 2-3 litres a week! I suppose I should just be drinking black coffee, but I just can't do it...

One thing I'm really noticing with the fruit and veg boxes, is that we're not doing the top up until there is absolutely nothing left. In the past, I'd start to freak out when the fruit bowl was getting low, but now we actually eat the stuff that I often left to get old and sad. For example, I have discovered that my kids LOVE oranges, pears, and celery with peanut butter. These are things that I never even tried giving them in the past.

I'm also learning to bake biscuits, using oats and whatever else I can find in the cupboard. I've been surprised how easy and delicious they are!

Sunday, May 8, 2016

Week 1 done!

Well, week 1 of my no spend month is over and although it wasn't a complete success, I spent substantially less than usual.

Positives of the week:
No cafe visits! I embraced my stove-top coffee machine and didn't miss the actual cafe coffee at all. But I did miss actually going to cafes. I've realised that my little outings to grab a coffee and a few things from the shops are enjoyable because I'm interacting with people. I love the staff at my favourite cafe, and even love the surly ladies who serve me at the fruit and veg shop (I'd be surly if I worked there too - it's freezing!). My son is in prep and learning about his community at the moment, which incorporated a visit to our local shopping plaza and library last week. I scoffed at the time, but have realised how much I do love living (and shopping) in my local community.

More park/playground visits! Due to cafes not being an option, I've made sure my daily outings with the girls are a bit more exciting than the usual park that we go to post-cafe. So I've packed snacks and we've headed to playgrounds a bit further afield. I even managed to go to the Edinburgh Gardens playground without spending money! Normally after the playground I'm tempted by the Clifton Hill shops. This usually involves a cafe visit and a fruit/veg top up at the overpriced veg shops there. I can easily spend $50, so good on me for avoiding that this week.

Thinking outside the square food-wise. I had a big bowl of leftover porridge the other day that I managed to turn into rather delicious chocolate biscuits! And when we ran out of bread, my son's sandwich was replaced by rice cakes. And by saving celery ends in the freezer for stock, my soup was saved.

The not quite successful bits:
Planning issues. I totally stuffed up in terms of making sure I had enough basics to get me through the month. We have nearly run out of flour, which is a problem if I'm going to make my own bread, pizza dough etc. (and keep my starter alive!). And the tissue and toilet paper supplies are a lot lower than I thought - but we might just make it through - and I'm sure we have a hanky stash somewhere. Anyway, I'm going to buy a big 10kg bag of flour to get us through - a lot cheaper than buying bread, wraps, pizza bases etc.  Also, we went away for the weekend and although I took a lot of food with us, I ended up buying some food at the supermarket for one of the meals. Nothing outrageous, but I could have planned better and taken more stuff with me.

Getting a 5 year old on board. There was a mother's day stall at my son's school and we were asked to send $5 to $8 with our child so they could buy us something. I explained to Lewis that we weren't spending money this month and that I didn't want a (probably crappy!!) gift. All I wanted was a nice home-made card. He was pretty unhappy about this and was upset, as all the other kids had money that morning. Anyway, it turns out that the parents running the stall felt sorry for him and gave him stuff for free! It was just a card and a bookmark, but now I just feel bad. Also, Lewis's friend just gave him some of his money, which he brought home. Disaster all round.

Unexpected expenses. In addition to the mother's day stall fiasco, Lewis's school announced that the school concert tickets were on sale FOR $25 EACH! I was (and still am) outraged. My son is in Prep and is singing one song, and for that we must pay $50 to see him sing. I've written an email to the school expressing my outrage, but had to buy the tickets. Lewis tells me he won a prize for best dancing the other day, so hopefully it's worth the $50! Other expenses include Ginger's only pair of (non summer) shoes literally falling apart - her socks get wet when it rains - so we'll be off to the shops this week. But of course I'll shop around for a bargain!

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So all up, it's been a fairly successful start to the no spend month, with a few minor hiccups. Although the week did go VERY slowly! But I think that was just my cafe withdrawal...



Monday, May 2, 2016

Day 2: Minimal hurdles

I spent $1 today on the hire of tap shoes for Ginger's ballet/tap class. I had totally forgotten about this expense, which we have to pay each week. But it's a lot cheaper than forking out for a pair of shoes which she'll grow out of within months, so I didn't feel too bad about breaking the 'no spend' rule.

I also had a bit of a win this evening when Adrian wanted to go out and buy eggs so he could make bread and butter pudding. [We had lots of white bread crusts left over from fairy bread that needed using, and bread and butter pudding is his favourite food - yes, really!] But instead of going to the shops for eggs, I convinced him to rifle through the cupboards and find some custard powder to mix with milk (also left over from the party; we don't normally have dairy in the house). Anyway, he's happy as apparently is was actually quite nice.

I also spent money today on a doctor's visit, but health/medical isn't included in the challenge so that's all good. And the GP actually saved me money as I had decided that I needed to take Darcy and myself off to sleep school, but he convinced me that I had all the tools to work it out myself. So I'm now feeling motivated to actually try and fix her sleep issues and he's given me lots of good ideas. So fingers crossed!

I've also gone through the fridge today and meal planned for the rest of the week and decided I won't need a fruit and veg box until next Tuesday, which is pretty good.

I have also realised (following lots of FB queries) that I don't have enough flour to make my usual bread for the rest of the month. We used a heap making cakes for the girls' birthday party last week. I'll be okay for another week or so, but then will have to decide whether to buy some or to beg/borrow from the neighbours. I could repay them in loaves of sourdough if they provide enough flour!

Another problem that I hadn't foreseen is that I have a playgroup night out scheduled for later in the month that I really want to go to. Not quite sure how to get around that one. Will probably just have to miss it or go at the end for a drink (... of water!).

Sunday, May 1, 2016

Day 1: Easy as!

Today was the first day of my 'no-spend' month of May, and it was remarkably easy. It's a Sunday and I spent the morning at home reading the paper (we have an ongoing delivery so I'm not counting that as spending) and cleaning the house (we had a birthday party at home yesterday). I got my coffee fix at home (I'm fortunate to have a machine as well as a stovetop coffee maker). In the afternoon we went to a playgroup child's 2nd birthday party and I cheekily re-gifted a present. Dinner was easy as we have plenty of veggies in the fridge and Adrian made veggie/lentil dahl.

So I had no real need to go out today and spend money. But yesterday I went to a cafe and had coffee and brunch, which I was trying not to do... However cafes are my escape and I love nothing more than sitting in one for an hour reading and sipping coffee. When I'm child free it's what I do, so I'm not sure what I'll do instead this month. I guess I could go hang out at the library and read! Any suggestions?