Still Brown Baggin It

I must say I am ultra proud of myself! I took my lunch every day this week and I saved some money! YIPPEE! I also only bought one pop this week at $1.59. Not too bad!

So now I'm thinking what else can I do to save some money. Well there are three things we go through like mad in our house... Milk, Eggs and bread.... don't ask me why because I really don't know, what I mean is, yes we eat them but we seem to eat ALOT of them...

So what can I do about the milk? Hmmm not too much, the kids need it to help them have strong healthy bones and I cook with it alot so I don't think there is much I can do about that part of it except try and find a cheaper source...

OK so eggs... what can I do about the eggs? Well again, we eat them and we cook with them, sometimes though, I use an egg substitute. I happen to work for a company that makes that type of product so I can get it at a discount (otherwise I couldn't afford to buy that week after week). But the catch is that even with my discount a 14 egg count of egg substitute is still $1.40. So not too much I can do about that...

Bread... hmmm yep I can do something about that... I have to say I love Rotella Bread and I'm one of those people who do pay $2.00+ for a loaf of bread.

Before you ask, no I cannot buy the expensive bread for myself and then cheap bread for the kids because the kids... well they won't eat the cheap bread either!

The Bakery is actually really close to our house and I drive by it occassionally... and I happen to see a sign that said Retail Store... well I always assumed that they had a retail store because not every store sells Rotella Bread and I assumed that the pricing was just as high at their retail store as it is in a chain store. RIGHT and WRONG... one day I decided that I wanted to stop and take a look around... I was right in that they do have fresh frozen bread at regular retail prices but they also have over run and day old bread at huge discounts.

Now usually we go through 3 - 4 loaves of bread in a week. That is $6 - $8 a week. Now keep in mind that this is just for regular ole sandwich bread... yes we eat that much of it!

But if I go to the Bread Store I can get 4 loaves of bread, 2 packages of hamburger buns, 2 packages of hot dog buns, ciabata bread, dinner rolls and pizza dough for $7.40. So I figured out that when I buy all of this at the store I spend around $25 a week on that... so for a month I spend $100 and in a year $1,200. But if I go to the bread store... I only spend about $355 a year.... hmmm the bread store it is!

I'm starting to see where all my money goes... and it isn't because we don't make enough... it's because we don't spend it wisely! We need to spend it wisely!

Where does all my money go?

Ok can I just say I'm tired of feeling like I'm broke all of the time... we both make good money but there never seems to be enough... I'm seriously thinking I must be spending my money on things that are bleeding me dry...

So one thing I decided to take a look at was how much money I spend on lunch each week. So here is what I did... I tracked how much money I spend on lunch each day. What I found was that I spend $8 a day on lunch... $40 a week... $160 a month... $1920 a year... WOW. I could definately use that on new floors in my kitchen or a new refrigerator or maybe a new washer and dryer! Hmmm, so that got me thinking... what can I do to reduce the amount of money I'm spending on lunch...

Here is what I came up with:

1. Leftovers are my friend. I've already spent money to make it a meal... why not get one more meal out of it and pocket $8
2. If I don't quite have enough leftovers to make it a whole lunch then I'll still save it and add a little something more to my lunch like an apple or a bigger handful of grapes or something along those lines again... I get to pocket my $8.
3. If there aren't any leftovers, then yeah I could do a sandwich but in our house more times than not that lunch meat goes to waste... we just don't eat it quick enough... so I look to the frozen food case and see what is on sale. Now sometimes the thing that is on sale... well tastes... a little less than scrumptious... so I try to make sure I pack some chives, or some type of spice that will give the food a little flavor.

Yes all of this costs money but think of this... If I take leftovers just 50% of the time and then frozen entrees (remember on sale the most expensive @ $2) the rest... here is how the math works out...

That is $5 a week... $20 a month... $240 a year... that is a HUGE difference!

Another thing that I thought of is gee... I bet I'm spending a TON of money on pop as well. So here is the math on that... I pay $1.59 for a 32oz cup of pop... usually I drink two of those a day aside from the one I get at lunch time... now that is an additional $3.18 a day... $15.90 a week... $63.60 a month... $763.20 a year... hmmm not as much of an expense as lunch every day but still... so my solution... buy a 12 pack of pop for $4.99 a week... $19.96 a month... $239.52 a year... again not a huge savings but still a savings!

Another thing to think of is that if I substituted just one drink a day with water instead of soda... I could cut all my soda expense in half!

So now my challenge is one... to stick with it and two keep thinking of other ways to cut back costs!