Garden Harvest August 20, 2012

I came back from a two week vacation and the new neighbor had apparently forgotten about our arrangement. The one where I looked after her can and then she would water my plants. Hurrumph!!!

They are pretty much all dead, though we are trying to rehab the jalapeno. This is the only thing I was able to pull off the plants when I arrived home Friday... Le sigh, it's a San Marzano, in miniature.

Hop on over to Daphne's Dandelions to see what others are harvesting this week.

I feel whole...

Little things and small joys 

Make me feel whole

I am sitting on my balcony

A cool breeze skimming my shoulder

Hot coffee in hand

A morning worthy of being whole

August 19th, The Weekly Shop

Today I did the main shopping for the week. I hope to make only minor additions to these groceries during the week and in time, not at all. I am new to this concept though, so, ya know, it'll take me a while. Most weeks I am shooting for $50. Holidays, birthdays, etc will bump up the budget at some point though, Le Sigh.

This week I went to Publix:

Publix Dry Pinto Beans $2.99
Canada Dry Ginger Ale $1.50
Ragu Pizza Sauce (x4) $1.49
Publix Milk $1.09
Purity Buttermilk $2.59
Publix Coffee $4.99
Publix Baguette $1.99
Publix Foil (75ft) $2.99
Lemon $0.67
Publix Mild Cheddar (8oz) $2.50
Publix Sour Cream $1.50
Bibb Lettuce $1.89
Romaine Lettuce $1.99
Sliced Button Mushrooms (8oz) $1.99
Collossal Sea Scallops (3) $3.15
BLSL Chicken $5.03
Steak $4.55
GRAND TOTAL $47.37 (before taxes)
Saved 3.22

Back in the saddle again...

This has been a wild ride. I have GRADUATED from school with my A.A.S. in paralegal studies. I start next week at A.P.S.U. to get my B.S. in Legal Studies. And in about two months I am going to start planning my wedding. I am excited!

Now, in the meantime we are living off of one income and we are calling the budget the "Greek Budget" due to some *ahem* country's unfortunate circumstances. We hope that our budget cuts will prevent us from being confused as..Gre... poor planners.

One of our single biggest budget busters in food and Alcohol. I spend a lot of $$$ in both of those categories. We are implementing several strategies to combat our over indulgence. 

The first is freezer cooking. I am working hard and for cheap to fill our freezer with both comfort and convenience foods. This is saving us money in two ways. By stocking the freezer with quick cooking convenience foods like taquitos or pizza bites I am keeping both me and The Fella from stopping for fast food, that saves us $! The second reason for stocking the freezer is to keep us from running to the store when neither of feels like cooking or we just don't have the stuff to pull together a meal without a trip to the store.

The second over indulgence is Alcohol. We are an extremely social couple, and on our own. We often meet up or meet friends for a happy hour. We celebrate with drinks, and we commiserate with drinks. However, we rarely do any of these at home. We are enforcing, or so we hope, dry days. We simply have to turn down an invite to happy hour and (not that we will go out often) but shall not purchase a drink with dinner if out. So that we are feeling totally deprived we will still have days we enjoy a drink or meet up with a friend, just more in moderation. And will try to go through the bounty of booze already in the house before adding more to it.