February 2015 Grocery Money Journal

Going into this month I'm carrying forward a deficit of $51.28. However, due to my husband's cost-of-living increase, I can increase our budget to $175 for the month. So, for February, I have a total of $123.72 for the grocery budget.

Feb. 4. Fred Meyer -- I found a lot of markdown items this shopping trip. Sour cream, 16-oz 79cents (4), cottage cheese, 16-oz $1.09 (2), 2% milk, gallon, $1.50 (9), ground turkey, 1-lb $2.49, extra lean ground beef 1-lb (2), $3.89, spinach-leafy greens salad blend, 99cents (3), broccoli florets 99cents (4), sliced mushrooms, 8-oz 79cents (11), large eggs, $1.25/dozen (4), garlic flakes 64cents. Spent $50.37

Feb 6. back to Fred Meyer with daughters to buy more eggs at $1.25/dozen. We buy 8, spend $10.

Feb. 8. Dollar Tree for soy milk (4), flour tortillas (1), frozen sweet potato fries for Valentine's dinner (1), animal cookies for babysitting (1), vegetable seeds, 25cents (4). spent $8.10

So far this month, I've spent $68.47.

Feb. 10.  Fred Meyer for butter ($2/lb, limit 2), whole milk (half-gallon, 99 cents, limit 4, good for making yogurt), bulk dried onion (for making French Dip sandwich meat w/ground beef, 40 cents), bulk celery seed (for making au jus to go with French Dip sandwiches, 19 cents). Spent $8.55

Feb. 13. Cash & Carry has butter on sale for $1.69/lb, 30-lb case (you can also buy 1 lb at a time, at this price, but I need a case), total for 30 lbs.$50.70. Also buy 35-lb container of vegetable oil (soybean) for $18.75 (that's about $4.29/gallon), another 40-lb case of navel oranges for $15.48 (about 39 cents/lb), several lbs of bananas for 44 cents/lb, dried cranberries, 3-lb bag for $5.87, 2 heads of green cabbage ($1.42 each), 5 lbs of carrots ($2.15), and 50 lbs of onions ($5.97). Total spent today $104.15.

So far, I've spent over $180 for the month. While this is discouraging, as you can see, I'm not buying junk. With this rough patch I've been going through with my health, eating optimally has become imperative for me. For example, I'm eating more animal protein than previously. For both breakfast and lunch, I add an egg to whatever else I'm fixing for myself. So, I may have some chicken or turkey for lunch, along with an egg. And I'm eating veggies at both breakfast and lunch (spinach is pretty good with breakfast). All of my snacks need to have protein, as well. In addition to all of my needs, right now, I'm also spending now to save later. For instance with the butter, buying a 30-lb case now will save us quite a lot in the future. It's not likely that butter prices will match that price again very soon. So, we're set for the time being with butter. While the dried cranberries sound like a treat, believe it or not, these dried cranberries are currently cheaper than raisins, here.

Our fridge, freezer and pantry are super-well-stocked right now. I keep thinking, "what could I possibly buy next month?" But then again, I didn't think I'd be buying much this month, either.

Feb. 16. Fred Meyer, pick up 2 10-oz containers of spring leafy greens, on markdown, 99 cents each. Spent $1.98

Feb. 18. Dollar Tree, buy 4 bags of clearance, foil-wrapped, chocolate hearts (we'll use these this spring and summer for making s'mores), 50 cents/each, and 1 package of flour tortillas for an easy Sunday supper of bean burritos. Spent $3.00

Feb. 19. Bartell's Drugs store. They have bags of decaf French Roast. As I've now pared my caffeine down to just a half-cup of caffeinated coffee per day and 1 caffeinated tea bag, I now make myself 1 mug of half-caff coffee everyday, and want it to be goooooood. So, I buy 3 12-oz bags at $4.99 each, and spend $14.97.

For the month, I spent $201.12, going over the amount for the month by $77.40. So, best I can do is work at it next month, and hope that the budget works better in March. we are fairly well-stocked, so that is a good thing. I have no need to buy butter for a long time, and most of my other staples are holding out. I'll just do my best.

Hope your budgets worked out well last month!
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Up to my neck in tax work

This has been my week to figure our tax obligations for the past year. Every year, our taxes get just a little more complicated. Every year, I have one or more new forms to fill out. This year is no exception. And I do our taxes all long hand.

I think the IRS is in cahoots with the manufacturers of OTC headache medicines. I had a headache on Tuesday, again on Wednesday, in the night Wednesday night and again on Thursday afternoon. I'm done figuring our taxes, but still have to proof everything. I'm not out of the headache woods just yet.

But there is an end in sight. Ah light, beautiful light at the end of the tax tunnel.

You may be thinking, "why doesn't she just use tax software?" At this point, I'm now wondering that very same thing. Oh, there's a part of me that likes a mental challenge (or is it that I'm mentally challenged?). And then there's that old-fashioned part of me that has always done the taxes long hand, so why change things now? But the real answer is this, sometimes I am just too plain old cheap to spring for the $12.99 for tax prep software. After all, if I CAN do the tax work, why not just do it.

So, I spent about 10 hours doing our taxes, and I saved $12.99. So, in effect, I earned myself a whopping $1.29 per hour. Arrrrrgh! Some frugal activities may not really be worth the time spent -- just an FYI. But of course, you already knew that!

Hmmm, on the positive side, my little gray cells got quite the workout this week. Maybe keeping my mind sharp is worth 10 hours of my time. Yep! That's how I'm gonna spin this.

Have a great weekend!

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