My spending has been under control, THANKFULLY! We still go out on the weekends (as most of you know, this is my budget killer). We’ve been doing really good though. We spend around $50 on drinks over the weekend and that’s it. Which is a big improvement over a couple hundred every weekend. My friends would always have me buy shots and put it on my tab, but they would never return the favor, so now I just close my tab whenever I’m done, so that I’m not tempted to buy everyone drinks anymore. Kind of annoying when you buy a round and everyone takes it, and then no one buys a round back even though they say they will.
We’ve been doing good with food also. I went grocery shopping last week and I spent around $70 or $80, and this week I bought fresh vegetables, fruits, milk and bread for around $15. So I should be good for another week. I have a lot of ground beef again though, what can I make with it besides tacos, chili and pasta? HELP!
We haven’t gone out to eat at all this week. That’s if you don’t include the daily Lion’s Choice that the BF gets. So we are doing pretty good, I’m happy. Our food budget came in pretty low for the month. We have definitely improved ever since I started this blog, because I realized how much less other people spend on food and how much we are wasting.
I’m still completely addicted to Pinterest, and I waste a ton of time on it everyday. I wish I would have never looked at it!
How’s everything going for you?
Holly says
Great job!!! 🙂 And I agree that's really messed up that no one would return a round. :/We went grocery shopping today and …oh man..spent way more than we should have. We did the worst…we went grocery shopping hungry! Yikes!!! Next time I'm going to make sure that we eat before we go. Congrats you're doing great!! 🙂
e says
Great job on keeping it all under control! I know what you mean about buying a round for people and then spending way more than you intended, not cool at all.Also we get ground beef all the time. Have you tried making burgers? We love making protein burgers (wrapping them in green leaf lettuce), seasoned in seasoned salt, garlic powder and pepper. It's so good!!
Anonymous says
hmm I'm good with tacos, chili and spaghetti and burgers! I think I've seen some recipes for stuffed peppers and cabbage rolls that use ground beef. taco soup but that's similar to chili.susanna
Melissa says
How about a meatloaf? Or meatballs which you can make in a crockpot very easily. Do a pinterest search for ground beef recipes! I am totally addicted also!
Louise says
with the beef you could make mince with veggies & gravy, really nice on toast on a cold day. home made burgers, meatloaf, spaghetti bolognaise, meatballs in tomato sauce, cottage pie, cabbage rolls.pinterest is bad for wasting time but great for finding things I like and not having to buy them 🙂
~Carla~ says
That's great tat your weekend spending has gone down so much!! Buying alcohol sure adds up, especially when you're buying rounds & nobody else reciprocates! :/As for the ground beef, I was going to say meatloaf as well, my husband loves it with a layer of cheese melted in the middle! 🙂
Juhli says
Great job! It sounds like you are finding strategies that you can use consistently to help with your spending and still have a good time.
Astra says
well done on your budget, I know how satisfying it is to be happy with what your spending. I always freeze extras till i fancy some again 🙂 x
leanne 14 says
try meatloaf, pasties, makes great curry puffs,cabbage rolls, nothing beats home made hamburgers mini garlic meat balls, seasoned pin wheels heaps of things to make and all freeze well.
Practical Parsimony says
Meat loaf, spaghetti, sloppy joes, stuffed peppers if you can afford peppers. You can always just freeze the hamburger in portions and thaw when you need it. Think:$50 x 52 weeks=$2600 each year. Can you find cheaper entertainment? Go out once each month and spend $50 x 12 months=$600. You could have $2000 more each year. I don't know what you spent before, but $50 each week for drinks/entertainment is still not good. Can you develop a group of friends who might come to your home or you go to theirs and play games, or just sit and talk? Make it a potluck or whatever. You may find others who would like to cut back on spending too, but don't want to appear to be cheap.
Lindy Mint says
Oh wow, the previous commenters have some great ideas for ground beef. I put it in my husband's burritos, or sprinkle it onto a homemade pizza (all you need is yeast, flour, salt & honey for the dough).
Practical Parsimony says
I hope I did not sound harsh. I certainly did not mean to sound so critical. Is there any reason you do not eat chicken more? I can find boneless, skinless chicken breasts for less than $2/lb. I limit the meat I eat but still eat lots, so that I will have meat everyday and still not eat what will cause health problems. If you are going to eat ground beef, try switching to ground round for a healthier meat, less fat. Saving money to travel could be easy if you can control spending on food and weekend fun. Think how nice it would be to go to whereever you want to go. Could you take a $2K trip each year and be happy? Would you want to save that money for five years and spend $10K trip?You may think I am just an old fogey, but find hobbies for the weekend that bring satisfaction–knitting classes, visiting nursing homes, going to the park for a picnic, inviting friends over for a frugal night, or any variations on these. A friend once told me that she was wealthy because she quit going out with people who like to spend money at the mall.Staying away from spending places is the way to not spend. Oh, keep Christmas spending under control.Glad to have you at my blog!
Michelle P says
Thanks everyone for the comments! There's so many new recipes that all of you said, and I will definitely try making them.@Practical Parsimony, the $200 that we spend now on going out is pretty much our entire entainment budget for the month, as there is pretty much nothing else to do around here. Thanks for all of the suggestions of other things to do. We know that we have to limit our going out, but it's difficult because I con myself into saying that I deserve it and that's what kills the budget!Thank you.
Michelle P says
Also, we do eat chicken, but we just ran out of steak and chicken, and all we have left is ground beef, that's why I was asking. We need to mix it up and eat more ground beef! 🙂
Stephanie says
I'll echo the meatloaf suggestion, make some mashed potatoes and steamed broccoli to go with it, so good! Halupki (stuffed cabbage) is also a tasty option! My mom has a recipe for a halupki casserole (for if you're feeling lazy and just want to mix all the ingredients together and be done with it) that is also quite delicious. 🙂
Tanner says
Wow, so many good suggestions! I'll second/third(etc) the meatballs and burgers, but also would like to add lasagna and meat pies/empanadas to the mix. I started to look into Pinterest, but I cant say it has me hooked… not sure if I'm missing something.
lifeisfullofsunnyday says
You need new friends. What they are doing is not cool. For the ground beef, make shepherd's pie or what I like to call "dirty rice". Brown ground beef add in some frozen veggies like corn & peas then mix it into rice.