First day of the month ~ balancing the bank account. When i get paid,.. the money is already allocated and has been for about two months. When i say I am doing my budget, it is for the months ahead. That way I am sure not miss anything coming up.
But there is very little money to budget. And as I type this I am almost $400 in the hole. Why? Because i got hungry. And I got sick of an empty fridge and pantry and scavenging my kitchen like an animal instead of cooking meals. I was eating one piece of chicken with nothing (or on a bun) I would tons of cereal. But no meals. I would just graze all day. My 'main' meal is never usually big. It's usually one meat pie (with nothing) or one piece of meat with nothing. I really do eat very little.
But no flavour! Just beige food wt\ith more beige food. My taste buds haven't had anything exciting in months and months. Today I broke down and made a Walmart grocery order. Usually they come to about $150. And it's my total food for the month. And believe me when i say it's nearly immpossible to live off of $150 of groceries a MONTH. Over the years I have learned to stretch everything I buy. But this time I made a $250 order. I didn't actually get anything you might call a 'treat'. (Ok, ginger snap cookies are considered a treat,...) But I got MEAT. I got pork shishkabobs,... and a small pot roast. And with this I got produce. FRESH produce. I never get fruits or vegetables anymore so this could be called a treat I guess. I got potatoes and carrots and onions. I know the produce will only last the first few weeks but I don't mind. For the first week of November I am going to make crockpot meals. REAL meals,... meat, potatoe, veg,... meals. I wasn't able to buy a lot more but now I can have a real meal twice a week. So now I am planning a home cooked crock pot meal every Wednesday and Sunday.
I decided to do this because I have noticed I have been feeling hungry lately. Especailly at night when I go to bed and try to sleep. It's hard to fall asleep when your tummy is growling. And the other day after I was brushing my hair out after my shower - handfuls were coming out on the brush. My body is showing signs of not eating well. All the boxed, stodgy, starchy food is not healthy at all. My father had an allottment where he grew vegetables when we were growing up. I miss FRESH food. So this month, even though I knew I didn't have the money and would have to find it next month to replace it, I didn't care. I have been CRAVING fresh vegetables. I have been dreaming about fresh vegetables,... I am NOT a box of KD kind of girls. I grew up having three very healthy wholesome meals a day. And when I had a family I carried on this tradition. It was only when I fell on hard times that I had to start giving up the healthy stuff.
Helathy food is twice the cost of crap food. So to make ends meet I buy a lot of boxed and frozen food. But now,... my body is rebelling. It wants something more substantial than cereal and meat pies every day. So I am considering this my early Christmas present to myself. FOOD!!!! I still have to give up that $100 I spent this month in December leaving me with a smaller budget again - but I don't care. Tonight I am having crockpot chicken with potatoes,... carrots,... and onions. And I am NOT going to feel guilty about it.
I have actually been watching a lot of Youtube videos on storing food properly to go furthur. i find my fresh carrots and potatoes only last a few weeks in my dark cool pantry. I need them to last for a whole month!! So if anyone has any secrets for this I would open to listen.
So I paid all my bills and bought everything I needed and am nearly $400 in debt. ALL SO I CAN EAT! Each month I am dipping into the 'buffer' amount and now it's nearly gone. I need to pay it back. So the next six months are going to be very, very tight as I will have to be giving up even more to balance the budget.
Not even a loonie extra for a Christmas,... so I don't even think about one. I just know it will never happen so don't look forward to it. just know it will be a day like any other day. No friends or family,... no festive dinner,... no presents,... no carol singing,... just another day. When you know this ~ it makes it a tiny bit easier as you don't hope so your not disappointed. I instead watch my football.
So,... panic over. Groceries have been bought and received and I can eat for another month. :)
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