Weekly update- Savvy Spending Challenge- Week 3

It feels like it’s getting a bit easier. I’m not quite sure why, but perhaps because we’ve just gotten used to knowing that we can’t buy things! I’ve even stayed strong with the temptation of $2 ebooks at Biblical Womanhood– and I love books!

But with any challenge, there are always a few bumps in the road. Last night, we received a new (well, fairly old, actually) piano. My husband and four other men, transported it across town and up the stairs to our living room (I’ll post pics soon). My husband decided that it would be nice to take orders and actually buy all of them a hot drink from a local coffee shop, along with some donuts.

Between that, and giving some gas/thank you money to the man who towed and provided the trailer, we were out $30. Oops. However, when we receive help from others, we want to be gracious and as generous to them as they are being to help us. And hey, $30 for a gorgeous piano is a steal!

The second bump this week also happened last night, and will be payed for today. I have a confession to make: I cannot bake. at all. It’s a travesty. I will not bore you with the percentage of baking attempts that I ruin, but suffice it to say, I prefer cooking any day.

Yesterday, I was attempting to make scones for the tea party I am hosting for my daughter’s birthday tomorrow morning. I doubled the recipe, made a perfect looking dough, and then went ahead to bake according to the directions. Granted, it was on my really crummy, old baking sheets, and granted, the oven at this new house seems to be a bit off, and I haven’t really figured out how to compensate for it yet.

Needless to say, the scones did not turn out as planned. The bottoms were starting to char a bit (not fully burnt, mind you, but definitely getting close), so I took them out. The tops still looked perfect and golden, and I took off a little piece from the edge to nibble on- delicious! And so I thought to myself, "Who cares if they are slightly too dark on the bottom? They taste amazing!"

And then, my husband decided to try a piece, and thus came a swift end to my delusions of (almost) decent scones. A solid inch in the middle was doughy still. How could that be??? I tried flipping them over and baking them longer, but the damage was done.

Please, someone put me out of my misery!

Dramatics aside, I have conceded to purchasing scones. Our budget will take a small hit for my lack of talent in this area. Probably only a little over $5, but nonetheless, money I didn’t want to spend. Please, pray for my pumpkin cupcakes with cream cheese icing, which I will be attempting this afternoon.

Other than our "bumps" yesterday, the grocery budget is going fantastically well! While in Washington for an early American Thanksgiving last weekend, I did a bit of shopping. I spend about $60 (haven’t seen the exact amount after conversion yet). I bought canned pumpkin and tomatoes, a few household items, 6 L of organic milk (2L of those were raw milk), 4 lbs of butter ($1.63 a lb at Winco! In Canada, cheap butter is $3.30 a lb!), 2 boxes cream cheese, a few other odds and ends, and a big, beautiful, all natural turkey from Trader Joe’s. It’s a 13 1/2 lb turkey, and I paid $22.50 for it. Yesterday at the store I saw a 15 lb turkey (conventional, not natural) for $35 and I suddenly felt very pleased with my purchase.

My shopping yesterday included:
$18.91 at 2 EE’s (produce)
$15.50 at Superstore (grocery)

Total: $34.14, so I have $5.86 remaining until next Friday, in case we need a few small items. So total spent for two weeks was $100, $50 per week. Down from my first two weeks of $70 a week. Yippee!

You can check out my meal plan for this current week. I will get another one up next Monday.

I wish I could give you all the numbers for what we’ve saved so far this month, but I need to get my husband to figure it all out (he’s the one who runs our budget).

Let me just say that between our savings this month, and pulling out some investments we had (I’ll write more about what we did in my final calculation of all that we saved), we are close. Very close. We will have that car debt paid off before Christmas!

How are the rest of you doing? I’m curious to know!