February Update

Hi friends,

Sorry to be away so long. We ended up being out of town for 10 days and then when I got home it was a busy week kicking off my new cleaning schedule. I'll write more about that later if I can figure out how to post excel files. Anyway, with all the cleaning I didn't make time for this blog. I'll try to be better!

My goal for February was to continue using food I had on hand and keep my grocery budget under $75. I didn't quite make it - I ended up around $85, but that included some gift card usage. In cash I only spent $62.90. Overall still good.



I am down to 20 boxes of cereal, 5 boxes of crackers and 9 cake/brownie mixes. That still sounds like a lot, but I am also out of lots of things I use frequently like chicken, macaroni & cheese, & croutons.

Speaking of croutons - I am still planning to try out making my own, but I have to find some time, a great recipe, and some old bread. =^)

Goals for March: Keep the grocery bill under $100. Sell 5 things on ebay to help the budget. Be more encouraging to DH about our finances instead of feeling so sorry for myself! Sheesh!

Also, I tried the pumpkin puree and it Did Not turn out. I would have posted pictures, but as you may remember our camera died. It probably didn't help that I was using old pumpkins from our fall garden. They were green in November when I pulled them all out, and over the next 8 weeks or so they slowly ripened. I thought I'd give them a try after a few more orange weeks, but they were pretty soft inside when I cut into them. I baked them in the microwave (like the directions I found on the internet said to) but they just kinda collapsed & it would have been difficult to remove the skins in that condition. It was also late and we were leaving for the 22 hour drive the next morning so I just bagged it. I'll try again in the fall with a new crop of pumpkins.