No Spend January Update
So Andrew and I trued up our expenses for this month and as of 1/26/16 we have $7.93 left out of our original $450 budget. Our spending consisted of the following:
- $170.24: Groceries
- $93.50: Coyotes tickets, parking and beer
- $68.10: Gas
- $42.23: Personal goods (contact solution, deodorant, hairspray)
- $33.00: Eating out
- $19.00: Lottery tickets
- $16.00: Tips for haircut/nails
- $442.07 Total
So we spent less than $200 on groceries, but of course there are a few caveats: we ate at least six meals provided by our parents, I was working late the first week of the month so I got dinner at work, and Andrew ate a lot of grilled cheese sandwiches (that was voluntarily). But this was still such a huge, eye opening experience. In 2015, in some months I was seriously spending $600 — $800 on food for myself (eating out plus my portion of groceries). How???
On this budget we still managed to go to a Coyotes game and buy (in my opinion excessive amounts of) beer at the grocery store. It was a really great exercise to see that if we have to or want to restrict our spending, we can do it. And if the stupid lottery hadn’t gone up to a billion dollars and I wasn’t afraid of the absolute 1 in 265 million chance of all my co-workers winning the lottery and leaving me behind, we’d have even more left over.
We made exceptions for a couple things: the actual cost of his monthly haircut and my monthly nails, my oil change and windshield wiper replacements (I have a separate savings account for car maintenance), Andrew’s three new tires, and a charitable donation to the Phoenix Children’s Hospital. I don’t think we skirted the rules too much.
In February we’re adjusting to a low spend February: $350 for groceries, household goods, and gas with $150 in spending money for the both of us, for a total budgeted spend of $650. This month we’ll have to pick up some household goods and pantry staples (soap, deodorant, butter, frozen fruit, rice, etc.) We’re trying to be more mindful about our eating by using correct portion sizes and trying to get our veggie, protein and fiber intake levels up and our fatty chip and cookie intake down. I can’t wait to visit the farmer’s market again and pick up fresh veggies.
I already am spending $60ish of my allowance for Rihanna tickets, but that’s something that was on my 2016 goals list, so more power to me, right?
2016 is also the year I’m going to slow cook and spiralize everything possible. Andrew’s sister and sister-in-law got me a slow cooker and a vegetable spiralizer. I combined two recipes to make a slow cooker Kalua pork that was hands down the best thing I’ve ever managed to create.
- 3 lbs of pork butt from Sodasopa AKA Whole Foods ($4.99/lb)
- 2 tbs Hawaiian Red Sea Salt ($5.99 a grinder)
- 1 tbs liquid smoke ($2.99 a bottle)
- Three pieces of bacon ($2.50 at Sodasopa because it’s $10.99/lb wtf)
- Five garlic cloves
I put the three pieces of bacon on the bottom of the slow cooker. Then I just pierced the entire butt (ha) with a fork, making sure to dust each side of the pork with the salt. I stuck a couple garlic cloves in the meat, then I left it on low for about six hours. I started checking around hour five and it was good from a temperature standpoint, but I let it keep going for another hour to cook it down some more.
Seriously, the flavor on this is insane. I felt like a gourmet chef who knew how to work magic with my bare hands. I had no idea slow cookers could do stuff like this! What have I been doing with my life? I don’t have an after picture because Andrew and I have been scarfing this down at insane rates alongside brown rice and broccoli. I bought a head of cabbage, which is a traditional mix in for this Kalua pork, but I’ve been too lazy to cut the cabbage.
Recipes I’m thinking of trying in February include the following:
- Slow Cooker Thai Yellow Curry with Grass Fed Beef Brisket
- Thai Chicken Zoodles with Spicy Peanut Sauce
- Miso Roasted Fish from Lucky Peach Presents 101 Easy Asian Recipes
Anyway, here’s WebMd’s Portion Size Guide for y’all to peruse. On Sunday at home I’m pretty sure I ate about 12 ounces of beef ribs. Sigh.
