Yesterday I came home from a trip to the library and the grocery store and the kids were, as usual, delirious with excitement. New library books?! And cereal? And cheese?! It’s very rare that I buy cereal these days, but I couldn’t resist getting three boxes of Mom’s Best for $0.50 each, and I bought a rare box of Velveeta to make queso for movie night. They were just thrilled, and I can only hope that they continue being so thrilled with such small things! :)
On a similar note, they stayed with their cousins a couple of weeks ago while Jeremy and I went out, and when I told them where they were going, they said, “Yay! We get to drink MILK at their house!” Apparently they consider that a special treat (they do drink milk at home on occasion, but not regularly).
Oh yes, so I went grocery shopping yesterday and you are probably questioning that if you remember that I said I had $100 leftover from my budget for the month. You can tell that I am new at the spending cash-only thing, because I somehow failed to remember that I don’t actually get paid until the 2nd or 3rd business day of the month. We run payroll once a month (which saves us money in our payroll processing service), so it’s not like my bank account is empty, but not full enough to take out all of the money that I need for a whole month. If there’s one thing that I’ve learned, it’s that in order to make cash-only work, I have to take out all of the money at once or I’m setting myself up for failure.
Anyway, so whereas before I’d planned on just getting through January 31st with our current stock of groceries, I realized that I wouldn’t actually be able to withdraw February’s money until Monday, and we definitely didn’t have enough groceries to go that long, at least not without the husband and children staging a revolt. So, I grudgingly took my $100 “extra” and spent about 75% on it on enough groceries to last through until Monday. I guess I just need to make my “month” from the 4th to the 4th. Good heavens, this is hard, and those of you who have done cash only for years are probably rolling your eyes.
Since I was gone during the afternoon yesterday, Jeremy cooked the pasta for our Crockpot Lemon Artichoke Chicken and I had to combination roll my eyes and laugh that he broke at least two pasta cooking rules that I just preached to you about the other day. But before that, when he got home earlier in the afternoon, he’d brought me flowers so I think I will keep him. :)
You know that my first goal for this year is to sleep through the night, so you also probably know that I am not the person to be giving baby sleeping tips. However, if you need advice on how to cope with not sleeping through the night, I am your woman. When I read chapter eighteen (Or was it nineteen? I can’t remember; I’m short on sleep.) of the book I mentioned yesterday, I wanted to write the author and told her she’d stole one of my tips. ;) Here it is:
One of the best things I ever did was to get rid of all the digital clocks in our bedroom so that I can’t see what time it is when I’m getting up with a child. When I got rid of the clocks, I also realized that not only did I not know what time I got up, I also couldn’t keep track of how many times I was up. That considerably cuts down on the amount of whining you can do, because the story becomes a whole lot harder to tell, when you can’t say “I was up at 1:30, 2:30, 3:45, and 5:31!” It sounds silly, but it really did help me have a better attitude. I’m not sure we’ll ever go back to having clocks you can see in the dark!
$1.99 for Pantry Essentials (gallon) at Safeway
Hey, Carrie! I think you’re doing great. Any time you make a change like the one to cash only, it’s an adjustment. We have the opposite going on here right now – my husband has a credit card that gives 10% cash back on grocery stores purchases this quarter, so he’s asked me to use it instead of cash. I actually made him put the cash into an envelope like always, so that each time I get home with groceries I can use the receipts to ‘settle up’. It’s embarrassing that I can’t just keep a running tally or something, but the very concrete part of it works for me, I guess! Maybe I should have him issue me monopoly money, lol.
We just have one child, and she was a pretty good sleeper even early on. I cannot imagine how tired I would be in your situation! Then again, I’m a lot older, and less flexible. Hang in there, Dearie!
Old habits die hard, no matter what they are, eh? :)
Laura, our credit card also gives us cash back on grocery store purchases, this includes if I buy grocery store gift cards. I agree, it’s way hard to keep track of spending on a credit card, so I buy the gift cards & use those instead. I have found I’m not disciplined enough with cash, it’s just too easy to spend on something else!
We don’t do much cereal or milk anymore at our house either! We’ve traded to more fruits and vegetables and water :)
We have trouble getting through a gallon of milk a week since we don’t eat cereal and don’t drink it regularly! Let’s just say that the “Milk Price Tracker” feature is and has always been something cool for other people, not something I did for myself, LOL!
I personally thank you for the milk price tracker! I am one of those crazy people that can drink nearly a gallon of milk a day. Every little bit of savings in that area adds up quickly for our family.
You are so funny, thanks for the chuckle. I feel like such a grinch after my son visits friends houses. “They have …..!”
Great job on working out the kinks in your budget. My sister is converting to all cash, easier said than done.
I do agree it is so easy to overspend on credit cards. But I have not bought anything that is not necessary and pay my card off every billing cycle so not to pay interest. And as a bonus, I get cash back. My Costco rebate coming this month is $200+. I just can’t see how that is a bad thing. Plus I don’t have to worry about carrying cash.
Any ideas on how ‘to strattle the fence’?
I, too, thank you for the milk price tracker! We don’t drink milk. Well, my husband and I don’t. We just use it in our cereal. But, our toddler drinks a fair amount of milk. So we always have about 2-4 gallons on hand. Or, at least, that’s my goal. I never want to have to run out to the store for a gallon of milk (or anything else for that matter!)