Friday, October 2, 2009

No Spending Challenge: Day 2

The challenge went much better today. We spent $20 for an optometrist visit, necessary for sure but I think it should be counted because it is not a regular expense. With all this illness going around I have a sinking this won't be the last.

All this money talk got us thinking about our future retirement (far future!). So we lifted the lid and peaked in the box to see if things had settled down in there and indeed we were quite surprised to see our 401k's behaving, dare I say it... pretty darn good. A shocker really, I haven't dared to look at any tallies since January, I just put those envelopes straight into my filing cabinet unopened because I vowed not to panic and sell a thing until this economic mess was over. So it was good to refresh our future outlook and think, eh not so bad!

Tally for the Day:
Day 2 Baseline Avg Spending: $89.58
Day 2 Actual Spending: $20
Savings/Loss: $69.58
Check out the running tally in the middle column, that's where I am keeping track.

Economic Meal of the Day:
Tonight I made white turkey chili with the 2 for 1 shady brook farms ground turkey, some Whole Foods canned pinto beans, corn, leftover rice and other odds and ends. It was a hit. I also made my favorite cast iron skillet cheesy corn bread from Bon Appetit,Y'all by Virginia Willis and we rounded that out with some simple organic greens with a yogurt dressing from Wegman's (Bolthouse Farms makes an excellent version if you can find them).


The tally for dinner was $1.60 per person or $6.40 for a meal for 4.
If you are a math geek like me lets break it down (per serving): The turkey chili was $1.21, organic salad was $0.21 (this was from a bulk pack on sale, see organics can be cost effective), and the homemade corn bread was $0.18. I didn't bother trying to calculate the costs of the spices, all of which I already had on hand - in fact I pretty much just poured in anything that sounded good. You could probably round the overall cost up to $1.80-$2.00 for pantry incidentals. Still, a reasonable price for a great meal.

I have a sneak peek of the shower remodel, it is so close we are just itching to take a shower in that baby but we have to wait for the sealer coats to be done, a final caulking, install the new hardware and install the soon to be refurbished shower doors (that's my job this weekend).

Here ya go (just a peek).

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