It is Friday, November 12th, and I have 63 cents left. 🙂 This was our first month doing the 41% giving challenge, and yes, it does make for an adventure, I will say that. Please hear my heart in this, I am not sharing about our giving percentage to toot our own horn or to imply that any of you need to do this. This is just what we’re doing as a fun adventure, and I’m learning some fun tidbits about frugality and I’d like to pass along. I pray that in all our frugality and giving that it is fueled by a heart of love and worship, above all.
So yes, this was a challenge. We had only $300 to cover all our grocery, household, gas, clothing, gifts, haircuts, co-pays, personal, etc. Can I just state the obvious and say that that is not very much! Again, not saying that needs to be the standard, and not saying that we will stick with that for forever, but you know what? It’s fun to see how little you can get away with living on. It simplifies a lot! A few thoughts:
God always provides. We had some unexpected expenses, specifically with gas, and we needed to do a lot of driving this month. But, I also was generously paid for speaking at a conference, so I was able to tuck that money away and use it to cover our extra gas expenses (and still have some left over to get my hair highlighted next month! Yes, I’m still a sucker for the salon.) So even though unforeseen expenses came up, we had enough to cover it.
During the first two weeks of the month there were tons of great sales at local grocery stores, so I found myself stocking up and using all my grocery money real quick. So … on October 30th I was down to … $4. 🙂 Yes, two weeks left, $4. Could we do it? Yes!! Sure there were plenty of times I thought of things we “needed” but then a little dose of creativity and asking God to stretch our food, and we ended up being fine! In fact, last night, Jeff was really sick and couldn’t sleep so he asked if I’d go go the store and get him some Nyquil. So, I went, knowing I had $4 left. (Of course I’d be willing to use my debit card if I had to, for my husband, since he’s the king of our home!). But guess what? Generic Nyquil was on sale for $3.99. 🙂 You better believe I had the biggest smile on my face and about bounced out the door and the storeclerk probably thought I was nuts.
So, all that to say that it is November 12th and we have 63 cents left. But, Monday we get paid and we’ll start over and it’ll be great. So far so good!
Here are a few more frugal recipes. This is what we ate this week when we had no grocery money left! (We were also very blessed by several friends who invited us over for dinner this week–perfect timing and we’re thankful!)
Yummy Thai Noodles
- (8 ounce) whole wheat pasta
- 1 tablespoon oil
- 1 onion, chopped
- 1 zucchini, diced (I used frozen shredded from summer’s garden)
- 1 pound skinless, boneless chicken breast meat (I used 1 cup shredded chicken from whole chicken I roasted last week)
- 3 tablespoons fish sauce
- 1 teaspoon curry powder
- 2 tablespoons sugar
- 1 (10 ounce) can coconut milk
- 2 tablespoons chopped cilantro (I didn’t have any on hand so I skipped this)
Cook pasta. Saute onions and zucchini, add chicken and rest of ingredients. Combine. Yum!
Cheap Chili
- 1 cup dry black beans
- 1 cup dry pinto beans
- 6 cups water (Soak overnight in crock pot)
- 1 cup brown rice
- 1 quart homemade chicken stock
- 2 packets taco seasoning
- 2 cups frozen organic corn
- 2 cups frozen shredded zucchini
- (optional) 1 cup pureed cooked chickpeas (thickens and adds protein and fiber)
Add all ingredients (including uncooked brown rice) and cook all day. Yum! Makes TONS, so yummy, so healthy, and so cheap.