Need vs. want plan…for January

Turns out lots of folks are doing their own versions of the ‘need vs want plan’ for the New Year. Besides Samantha’s version I’ve been documenting, Mrs. Green on  Little Green Blog is doing it for a month! She’s been amazingly dedicated. Check her out.
This is how we’ve done so far…

HOW I DID:
1) I’ve been using more of my dried goods in the pantry and working recipes around what’s left in the garden. +$

2) I bought restaurant food 4 different times (meaning, just a sandwich, really at $5 a pop) the past 3 weeks, which is pretty bad for me, but my man was out at sea and there was absolutely NOTHING left in the fridge. I ate cereal and raw cabbage for days straight because I did not want to have to go to the store!! When I get into my writing mode or my burnt-out mode, I have no desire to leave the house. But, I’m back in the kitchen and making large messes of food and freezing it to keep that from happening again.
-$20

3) I put back two songs on Itunes. +$3

4) I pulled over on the side of the road to call my mother to talk me out of buying sugar-free candy (which she said if I wanted so badly I should just buy, but I turned the car around and didn’t do it). +$5

5) But I did buy beer. My latest chili recipe called for dark beer. Yeah, one bottle of it. Guess where the other 5 bottles are going? In my tummy. But then how could I purchase a pack of dark beer (that I like) and NOT grab a pale ale pack for my husband (who is the one that likes beer in the first place.) I’m telling you, I could talk myself in or out of anything! -$17

6) The day my husband arrived in from sea, even though steamed broccoli, baked butternut squash and BBQ chicken waited in the fridge, I told him I was in the mood for pizza. -$13

So, I saved $8, plus the food I used from the garden and in the pantry,  but spent $50. That’s HORRIBLE!

P.S. My husband thinks food shouldn’t count in the need vs want plan. Though take-out isn’t a “need” in my book, he says it’s still food and should count as a need. Hmm….we need a middle man on this one!!! 🙂  What do you guys think?

(Oh, and I bought a map for $5.30 when I was lost, but it didn’t really help me, so was that really a need? I’m going to say yes. It’s always good to have a state map in your car of the state you reside in, right?)

HOW HE DID:

1) My husband was mostly out at sea and couldn’t buy anything if he wanted to. He’s also working 7 days a week and says he hasn’t had time to go to the store except to pick up milk.

It’s ironic. I always think I’m going to do so much better than him because he’s a bigger spender. But when it comes to tightening the belt, I’m the one that has the difficult time! Augh!

Related articles

• “Eat Out of My Own Kitchen” Week in Review. (heatherlmassey.wordpress.com)
• Need vs want plan (militaryzerowaste.wordpress.com)
• A New Challenge… Create and Organize and Pantry Space (frugalrecipes.wordpress.com)