October Food Budget & Some MAJOR changes

I did better in October than I did in September. I would venture to say that I spent between $1700 - $1900 on food for the month of September. (Remember I didn't even bother to calculate the costs because I was so frustrated last month.)

This month I ended up spending $1238.94.

This amount is still a lot more than I want to spend, so I decided to make some drastic changes. First thing to note is that I went to the grocery store 20 times in the month of October! AND...because of the way this month fell I am only including the first 29 days of October in this month! I used to tease my grandmother - who am I kidding? I still do! - about her near daily grocery trips and how I am sure she was a on a first name basis with all of the grocery store employees. Well, I need to eat my words because that is now me! Anyway, going to the store that many times is ludicrous and costing me money. My goal is to cut that out for the month of November.

So here are the changes I made:

1.) I handed over the finances to Bob. (I know how much money he makes and how much money comes into this house which is why it was so easy for me to blow my grocery budget goal each week/month. If I am being completely honest with myself I fail at budgeting big time because I want what I want right now. Bob on the other hand is good at having a goal and then actually saving for that goal and doing what ever necessary to achieve that goal. I am impulsive. He is all about delayed gratification. Yin & Yang I suppose. He will be perfect at keeping me within my goal which is between $600 - $800 a month for food.

2.) I handed over both of our bank cards to Bob. We have two accounts. One at a local bank here in town and one with a national bank that just so happens to not have any branches here in town. (Go figure! Middle of the desert, not much around - I have no idea why my national bank wouldn't be here.) Because we knew that we would be moving again we decided to keep our national branch bank account assuming that we would once again move some where where we can use it once again. So, that card I don't use at the ATM, but I have been known from time to time to pull that baby out when I have gone over my cash limit at the store. I also handed over the local bank card because I have also been known from time to time to run to the bank for more cash during the week if I spent too much at the store. Basically, what I am saying here people is that I have absolutely no self control when it comes to money (and most other things, I am beginning to think). Because I now know this about myself I decided to eliminate the temptation to spend more money than I wanted to. It is kind of liberating and petrifying to have no access to cash other than what is in my wallet.

3.) I pay cash for everything now. No matter what.

4.) I am giving up buying 100% organic food. I cannot tell you the last time that I bought groceries for this house that was not organic. It is important to me to do so because I am afraid that the chemicals being strayed and used on our food are what is making diseases like Sarah's spring up. I am also afraid of GMO crops and I know that 100% organic, by law, cannot use GMO seeds. I cried yesterday when I went grocery shopping because I could not buy all organic items like I have been for the last year. I bought organic eggs, milk, chicken, and grass - finished beef, organic chicken stock, but the rest of my items were non-organic. It really upset me. I think Bob thought I was losing my mind that I was so upset over this, but feeding my kids 99% organic food is really, really important to me. Not being able to do this was heart breaking this week.

5.) My food budget will be changing week to week now. Bob has decided to take my food challenge a bit further (yeah, for me - note sarcasm) and has decided to give me a dollar amount each paycheck for me to use on ALL variable costs: food, gas, kids expenses, my expenses, Bob expenses. He is challenging me to learn to budget a small portion of our money, so that I will be a better steward with all of our money should I ever take over the finances again. I guess I understand why, but I hate it because the amount of money I used to spend on groceries each week has now become (most weeks) the dollar amount I have to spend on ALL expenses not just food. EEK!!!

Because I am only going to be shopping on Friday's now (I started yesterday) and maybe 1 other day for a quick run for fresh produce I decided to include the last 2 days of October in my November budget. We will see how it goes.