Saturday, August 3, 2013

Grocery budget and the harvest




There are some things that didn't do well this year so we bought them at the produce auction that is ran by some Amish in our area.. What is coming in from the garden right now is tomatoes...I worry I won't get enough and will have to buy sauces and such again this year and green beans. These seems to be doing good plus I just put in some more for fall.The only thing besides tomatoes that it looks like I am not going to have enough of is cabbage and winter squash. I didn't get much zucchini, what can I say besides I never do and I must be the only person in the world that can't grow zucchini. I am blessed with a friend that does very well with 2 plants so he shared his zucchini and what beets he didn't want to deal with.

Still with the garden coming in I have blew the grocery budget through the summer. I was checking the blogs I read and saw where Mary over at www.owlhaven.net is having a grocery challenge of getting back on track and saving some money herself so I joined in. Everything is easier if I am held accountable and have "friends" doing the same thing.

My goal for food and non-food is $200 for the money. It's usually $350 but the last few months it's crept up to $600 with eating out also. We have a cookout this month with our family that we provide the meat and some of the sides so that is included in that $200.

We have 6 debts to finish paying off. Goal is set to be debt free (we rent because we live where hubby works not where our families are so we didn't want to buy since he is close to retirement) by Jan 2017, I would like to cut 2 yrs off that which means I have to stay on budget and I have to roll what I pay on the other debts on to the next debt as they get paid off. Kind of like snowballing.We will have 2 paid off  by the end of this year and 3 paid off by fall of next year.

It's going to be interesting to see if I can bring the grocery bill down and put that money towards getting that debt paid off faster.

Have a good week.

Blessed be