We’ve Got The Power (Will Power, That Is!)
Posted by Arianne | Filed under Arianne
It’s crazy how proper preparation made this week a breeze!
Last Sunday, I made a list and gave myself a grocery budget of $100; with coupons and a few treats thrown in, I only spent $56.84! I’m pretty sure I bought enough food to last me TWO weeks, so we’ll see how that goes. When I got home, I seasoned all of my chicken and separated them into single serving portions in ziplock bags. I did the same with my veggies; cut them, washed them and put them into baggies and stored in the freezer. This is something I’ve always done because I don’t have a lot of time to cook once I get home – these meals take a total of 20 minutes from start to finish and I love it!
Every morning, I’ve had a bowl of cereal (milk is free at the office). By mid-morning, I chowed down on some fruit. For lunch, I would bring leftovers from the previous night or have a frozen dinner which is super quick and convenient. In the afternoon, I curbed my usual vending machine chocolate bar cravings by eating apples with peanut butter OR oats and honey granola bars crumbled into a cup of vanilla yogurt (I bought a big tub of yogurt instead of the smaller, individual packs). While it may seem monotonous, I didn’t get bored at all! I looked forward to every meal, they were delicious and not entirely unhealthy. When I arrived home, the chicken had thawed out and I grilled, baked, fried or barbecued it while my veggies steamed. DINNER COMPLETE! I still had my usual cravings but I couldn’t be tempted because I didn’t have any money on me. I left my wallet and debit card in my filing cabinet and only carried a $20 bill as ‘just in case’ money (my daddy didn’t raise no fool!). That $20 is still completely intact. I’m exhilarated!
Hilarious side story: my company is offering cheap tickets to a Jays game at the end of the month and the tickets went on sale Monday. I actually called our receptionist and explained this challenge and pleaded that she’d have a guaranteed sale next week if she held three tickets for me. And she held them!!! I wanted to give you full disclosure that temptation was everywhere but I prevailed. I respect our unspoken honour system!
This Saturday, I will treat myself to a greasy, altogether-t0o-bad-for-me, Chinese delivery dinner and will probably replenish my fruits or maybe change up my snacks next week, but as of Monday – I’m going to do it all over again (But I will buy those Jays tickets because BRETT LAWRIE AND COLBY RASMUS MUST KNOW OF MY LOVE FOR THEM!!!)
Special shoutouts to @nearafar, @zsanett101, @maggiegiles_, @katiegiles_ and @MarigoldsDriver – we’ve all been keeping each other strong via Twitter with the hashtag #zeroweek. We did GREAT, ladies.
Now it’s your turn – leave your stories of temptation, success and everything in between in the comments section!
A single gal who just turned thirty and a first-time home buyer, Arianne is trying to defeat the monstrous debt she accumulated in her twenties. “That debt is the result of my biggest and most dangerous vice: Shopping” says Arianne.
May 3, 2012 at 8:42 am
way to go!
May 3, 2012 at 9:08 am
Can’t say I’ve been as good this week, I’m afraid, partly because I had a meeting at a coffee shop for work! — but I did give myself a budget of $20 and haven’t spent all of it, so I’m pretty pleased by that, and totally intend to do this again next week, too.
May 3, 2012 at 9:11 am
Well, in the traditional sense, I “failed” this challenge as I did do some spending. Some weeks Swiss Chalet isn’t so much an option, as it is a way of keeping your sanity intact. I also decided that if I did $20 of groceries yesterday, I could arguably not have to shop again until next Thursday (pay day) combined with what I have in the kitchen already. Since it was within my budget, I went for it. The only expenditure I wish I hadn’t had to make was for lunch yesterday at the office. I hadn’t planned on going in (I work from home), so I wasn’t ready with a packed lunch. I think I will start keeping one or two frozen meals at home as a “just in case” measure. But! I will say that my expenses this week were WAY lower than average (even since I have been tracking my spending) and was proof positive that some additional planning can make a huge difference. So I am calling it a win anyway.
Thanks so much for the challenge! It would be wonderful to try this once a quarter just a reminder to myself to keep my spending in check.
May 3, 2012 at 11:17 am
I have not bought any food out this week, which is one of my achilles. I did succumb and shopped online, completely forgetting that was taboo, but they were a business expense, so not a frill. I am planning on keeping my spending money down, and using it for more important things like a fitness kick my butt into gear class!
May 3, 2012 at 11:58 am
Well, I didn’t take up the challenge as I knew gardening stuff was in the works. i.e. I am making a raised bed. I did however get my cedar boards at Home Depot at 70% off as they had cracks at the ends. Well, I wanted 6 foot boards and they were 8 feet long. Got them to chop off the ends for me and I paid $43 for $110 in cedar. Now if it would warm up here I could start putting it together.
You did great for the week, although I’m not sure who you need to show your love too more. Guys in some kind of sport or yourself. I think your breakfasts, lunches and suppers are showing the proper person love.
May 3, 2012 at 12:17 pm
Thanks for the shout-out! I went into this with zero prep work, I decided after Monday passed with unintentional zero spending, I could manage 4 more days. I can work with what I have, right? I gave myself a 20$ budget for the week since I didn’t I pre-plan. So far I have spent 14$, my cars oil light came on yesterday (of course) so I had to take care of that, and I forgot my lunch, so I spent 4$ to feed myself!
I am thinking this is something I will do the last week of every month, it helps with all my first of the month payments! This time, I am going to prepare!
Thanks!
May 3, 2012 at 12:21 pm
I must say – this challenge was absolutely up my alley. Because I’ve always been a *ahem* frugal person, I definitely had my work cut out for me. Packed lunches and pre-planned snacks have always been my thing (ever since university, really), but my Achilles heel has always been good ol’ Timmies. There’s something about holding an XL cup of creamy hot chocolate or piping hot green tea (black, 2 bags in) that brings a sense of nostalgia only Mr. Hortons can. All those other bougie chains (i.e. Starbucks, Second Cup, Timothy’s) just won’t do. I easily justify spending $2 on a beverage at Tim’s because it’s much cheaper than a $6 coffee elsewhere. In my mind, I’m SAVING $4. No need to point out all the holes in this theory…
Anyway, I realized that by doing the math, numbers (and logic) will always trump feelings. $2 may not be much, but multiply that by 5 – 7 days a week, and you’re looking at $10 – 14. By year end, that’s potentially $520 – 728. Seriously?!? That’s how much I’m spending on tea bags and water? Un-freakin’-believable. I should be ashamed of myself. Even though I calculate this into my food budget every month, there’s no reason why I can’t (or shouldn’t) take it out. I work in an office where every single flavour of tea is available to employees – FOR FREE. Heck, the brand may be different, but green tea is green tea is green tea. I’ll learn to like it. We even have a bloody Keurig machine, for crying out loud. It doesn’t get any bougier than that.
So what exactly have I used to substitute that feeling of nostalgia, you ask? Well, once a day I’ve been going down to the concourse level of my office building and taking a looooong stroll through the aisles of Bath & Body. You’d be surprised at how entertaining free sampling can be, especially when you come across a scent that brings you back in time… a time when money was the last thing on your mind, and all you cared about was whether the boy who sat beside you in daycare had cooties. Now THAT’s nostalgia.
May 3, 2012 at 12:51 pm
It’s day 4 and I am very excited how well this has been going for me.
So far I didn’t buy the pita I usually do once a week for $7.83 (that’s with tax) but actually made one at home. What a concept, Gail would say, haha! Then yesterday I kind of wanted a Subway sandwich just because my co-worker talked about it, so that’s another 3.92 I didn’t spend and ate my own chicken sandwich. And also yesterday my husband wanted us to celebrate because I passed my driving test but I said: not when I am already half way through with this challenge! Gotta wait till the weekend!
I gotta add that I did have to give money to the instructor for letting me use his car for the test but that was like a bill payment to me, it had to be done and it was worth it.
And here we are today and I am craving a soup right now, would probably cost me $3-4 but I am gonna stick to my home made lunch and make that soup later tonight for dinner.
So I guess so far my saving is about $15.75 + whatever that celebration dinner might have cost us (somewhere between $20-30 I would say). Not bad at all. I am gonna wait till tomorrow night and then add up my no-spending again and move it to one of my savings account.
Thanks for the tweets and encouragement, Arianne!
May 3, 2012 at 3:37 pm
For Leslie: I work from home as well, but have an office that I can/do visit a few times a week. I use the single-serve flavored canned tuna and melba toast as my last-ditch savior – if you can keep it at the office it doesn’t go bad and you can have a mini-lunch anytime you need it. If there’s time to grab and apple from the fridge in the morning all the better. If you can’t keep it at work, you can make up a ziploc bag for the pantry so it’s always ready to go at a moment’s notice.
May 3, 2012 at 7:47 pm
Something that I always find interesting is that no one calculates how much their brown bag lunch cost them. I supply 4 adults and a 12 year old vegeterian with the fixings for lunches to take to work/school 5-6 days/week. It’s definately cheaper than all of us buying our lunches, but it’s not free. I try to use left overs, but that doesn’t always work. There is the cost of bread, buns, lunch meat, fruit, veg, snacks. I try to bake a few times/week, but I still have to buy the ingredients. I’ve thought about tracking the cost just to see how much it really makes a difference in spending on groceries to make lunches at home versus spending on actual prepared lunches at work or school.
May 3, 2012 at 9:53 pm
@Debby I don’t calculate the brown bag price because, sadly or not, we buy the same foods even if we end up buying lunch/dinner out. And yes it’s a waste of food and money, that’s why I think of every day of brown bagging as straight saving
By the way one of my co-workers tried to challenge me today to say that he can afford to buy some cheap lunch out because he doesn’t have to buy bus tickets like I do because he lives close to the office and walks to work. I just smiled and failed to mention to him that unlike him I don’t smoke.
May 3, 2012 at 10:30 pm
I was tempted this week to go off our budget; I want a new dress for a party later this month, however, things are really tight. Hubby ran out to go grocery shopping and forgot the coupons. LOL this gal has a power chair. I hightailed it after him & said you almost forgot this. Our bill was $84 with a 35% savings. Tonight we made a nice tray of mac and cheese, broccoli and fruited sugar free jello for dessert. The casserole will last us a few nights. Saturday is Cinco De Mayo so we’re having tacos and refried beans. Sunday we’ll go back to the mac and cheese and make a ham slice with salad. I enjoy eating home. I know what’s in my food. No wondering if the cook didn’t wash their hands or oversalted foods. I think having a tight budget is a great thing; we are eating better and eating at home. Thanks for this article, Arianne.
May 4, 2012 at 6:49 pm
@Debby – I make my lunch everyday, even if that just means throwing two pieces of bread in a container, into my bag. I keep a jar of peanut butter at the office, along with jam and cinnamon honey, so I can mix up my lunches in several ways, even if I’m feeling lazy.
That said, my goal is to keep my lunches at or under $2.00 a day (I must admit, peanut butter certainly helps with that).
A usual meal these days (so that I can go to the gym and work out during my break) is a sandwich, a yogurt, some fruit, and water. The last three days, I’ve had peanut butter sandwiches, pineapple, and vanilla yogurt.
Bread – $3.49 for the loaf of rye bread, which works out to at least 15 2-piece servings (23 cents / serving)
Peanut butter – $3.99 for 1 KG (that does at least 15 servings, though I’m certain it’s more than that) – at 15 servings, 20 cents per. I added cinnamon sugar, but I regularly update that using stock in the office kitchen, and anyone is welcome to use it
Pineapple – $2.99 and I ate it over three days, sharing with coworkers ($1 per day). If I didn’t share it, then I potentially could have had it last another day
Yogurt – $3.99 for 8, I eat one per day (50 cents each)
Combined with my water, snacks and lunch was kept under $2 ($1.93) – that means $10 can keep me fed throughout the day at work, and gives me all of my food groups (dairy, grain, protein, fruit/veggie).
As for the week’s challenge, I got groceries, but used points to buy them. I also forgot my May metropass at home on Tuesday morning, but TTC is still cheaper than any other transportation, and walking the 8 KM because I forgot my metropass was really not on my agenda (especially since I was wearing ballet flats and not appropriate attire for walking 8 KM)!
Last night’s meal was kept under $10, so I think that fared well – we went for a walk along the harbourfront, enjoyed the park and the decent weather, and kept dinner light. Had it been raining earlier, we would have just gone to one of our apartments, but we had really wanted to get outside and were hoping the weather would cooperate long enough.
May 5, 2012 at 11:43 am
Zero week success! Yay I did it. So here were my temptations: toonie Tuesday, guess the price of gas, and payday celebration.
Let me explain . I am fairly frugal usually, and am an avid brown bagger, however my lunch table group tends to be swayed very easily away from our home made lunches every Toonie Tuesday. However, anyone who’s been hoodwinked by Toonie Tuesday knows that by the time you add a side and a drink, that bill is upwards of $6 easily.
Next temptation is my gas lotto as i call it. I will put in $25 worth of gas on Sunday or Monday morning, and listen to gas prices daily to see if they go up or down, before i run out of gas on the highway! LoL. The downside to that is that by gassing up three times a week, , its three times more likely that while I’m inside the gas station ( and NO I do Not pay at the pump, been compromised one too may times) i will grab that Timmies, or pack of gum or newspaper or Slushie. Lastly its the ” got paid today and i deserve it” celebratory lunch at Swiss Chalet or Red Lobster, where the lunch special by the time you add appetizer or salad and drink, you’re up to $15.
So by consciously thinking about not spending this past week, I easily avoided $35 worth of impulse spending , over the month $140 , over the year if I keep it up’ almost $1,700.
What an eye opener, and this is just impulse spending.
So I’m going to try again this week, I’m not saying I wont be swayed by one of my old habits, but I will definitely think twice before I indulge!
Thanks for this challenge, it just shows that no matter how frugal you think you are, there’s always somewhere you can improve upon.
May 6, 2012 at 6:33 pm
Congrats Arianne to you and everyone who met the challenge! It was a great idea! I admit, I read it and was tempted but decided it was a no go for me. We had 3 events this week for which we needed a sitter and as someone mentioned, sometimes it’s a matter of sanity so I bought pizza for everyone – easy to feed sitter, kids and there’s leftovers for lunch.
I did manage to go 2 whole days without my Tim’s coffee – which is HUGE! But honestly, even with the amount it costs all year, I don’t care. We have a coffee brewer and I’ve tried bringing coffee to work but it just doesn’t taste the same. I love that first sip of steaming hot coffee that’s been brewed just right to jump start my day! When I need the boost to teach for the day, I think the cost is worth it so I’m willing to sacrifice.
But way to go! I love your idea of wrapping chicken and veggies seperately and then pulling them out – such a simple idea! I admit I often am organizing work stuff, house stuff and kids stuff so dinner can get overlooked but it’s a great idea!