Frugal Grocery Shopping Week 1 (A New Hope)

Being a "foodie", spending too much on groceries has always been my vice.

I have cut back my clothing budget to next to nothing and have survived. Although I "splurged" on a tank top for $5 at Target. I stopped buying the occasional end-cap lipgloss that inevitably goes through the wash, and look at me, I am still breathing.

I call the kitchen "my happy place". It is one of few creative outlets in life that is required to live.

So I did it. I set a seemingly unrealistic grocery budget.

$50 a week.

Seeing as I adore fancy exotic veggies (Yes I have spent $8 on 2 artichokes) wine, cheeses, I squeal when I see squid ink pasta sold at Whole Foods...Well, it seemed unfathomable.

Poking around blogs I was shocked to see that the majority of blog posts on eating on $50 for the week were done by women who often had families of 6 or more. Well...It's just me and James...but we weren't exactly willing to eat Kraft Mac and Cheese every night.
Amazingly enough, the same day I reached this budgeting decision, a coworker told me about saving money at Aldi, another coworker offered to hook me up with bread.

Our society embraces an attitude of "spend what you have, charge what you don't".
Living frugally has been eye opening. I have become so aware of waste, excess and finding new ways to avoid it.

There seems to be a level of status involved in spending more for something just because you can.

Well, this week I am at $67 including veggies from the co-op. It's getting towards the end of the week, but there are few things I love more than being in the kitchen with a challenge.

So the adventure begins, I have started a vacation fund, and look forward to paying off my car.
If I can cut back on waste, save my money for things that are fun, and have a chance to be creative in the kitchen...Well...I accept this challenge whole heatedly!